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Browse: The World in Bookshops Ed. Henry Hitchings Pushkin Press, 2016
Don't mistake Browse for a collection of breezy tributes to writers' favorite bookshops. The essays in this little red book are glimpses into the lives of fifteen international writers. Ali Smith opens the collection going through second-hand books in an Amnesty International shop where she volunteers. Postcards, photographs, receipts: "this seeming detritus" we leave behind in our books becomes part of the story in Smith's hands. As the essay continues, Smith goes deeper, revealing her mother's influence on...