larry bird magic johnson when the game was ours

Yes, I get a little preachy when it comes to the topic of independent bookstores. Without such a place, our community would be impoverished. On almost any night, one can find a crowd gathered at Collected Works for an author's reading, a fundraiser, or a community gathering of some sort. Paying full price also keeps one of my town's important cultural centers alive. In the scheme of things, it's seems far more socially valuable than hitting a leather-bound ball with a wooden stick.

Phil's salary seems a small price to pay for what he does. Apparently there is a sport profession where batting 30% will earn you millions. (I wasn't wild about Olive Kitteridge.) When I take into account his services, I think paying full retail price is worth it. Like a wine steward, he learns of my tastes and guides me to a selection. So when I wander into the fiction section of the store, I'm as lost as a Thunderbird drinker looking at a rack of chardonnays. I spend my days reading and writing the stuff. What is it we get when we pay full price at an independent bookstore? In the case of Collected Works, the answer is simple: You get Phil. That 34% price difference is on my mind every time I visit Collected Works, Santa Fe's oldest locally owned independent bookstore and one of the nation's finest bookstores, along with Elliott Bay, Tattered Cover, and Politics & Prose, among others. Amazon will sell it to you for $19.79, or you can wander down to your local bookstore and pay $29.99. You will have a choice when it comes to buying my new book when it comes out in February.

McGrath's Pulitzer: A Life in Politics, Print, & Powe r will be published early next year. The following is an editorial by James McGrath Morris in this month's edition of the Biographer's Craft.

Larry bird magic johnson when the game was ours