Beware the Monkey’s Paw? Fiddlesticks, I Say.

We had driven to Toronto during the summer of 2006 and were spending a few days wandering about the city on foot. I remember that we went to some bookstores, though not one of them stands out to me as anything special. I do recall that I bought a nice newish Penguin Classics edition of Malcolm Lowery’s Under the Volcano—it had a cover I admired and had not seen. Flash forward to this afternoon as I leisurely read the The New York Times. Stephen Fowler opened up a tiny bookshop in Toronto … in 2006! The Monkey’s Paw is the very form of what an ideal bookshop might be … eccentric in every aspect. I won’t bother describing it … just read the article. Rest assured that on our next visit to Toronto, I will be stopping in and buying some of these treasures. And I’m sure anyone who knows me or has seen some of the odder corners of my book collection will know why this place and its owner resonate so much with me.