20 Years

Our official 20th anniversary is December 1.

It was on that day in 1989 that we first opened our doors for business with about 3000 used books, no employees, no cash register, no credit card processing, no computer, and pretty much no money.

We've got a lot more of all of the above 20 years later (except for money) and, of course, many amazing memories. I hope to write about some of these in the coming months.

But one memory comes to mind because of the day I spent yesterday.

At the end of that first day of business 20 years ago, one of my longest-lasting friends in the world, Chuck Reece, and I had a celebratory dinner up at the awful Chinese restaurant that was located where the Brewhouse is now in Little 5 Points. Afterwards we retired to his house for a nice glass of brandy and hopes for a long and prosperous future.

We've accomplished at least half of that.

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of visiting Chuck's office at the design firm at which he now works, Unboundary, for a day of sharing favorite pieces of writing among his fellow writers and artists. Along with us was another of my oldest and best friends, acclaimed singer/songwriter Richard Buckner, who was in town to play at the Earl.

Richard performed a couple of his songs as well as a section from Edgar Lee Masters' Spoon River Anthology, which he set to music years ago for his magnificent album, "The Hill."

Chuck and company read and talked about meaningful passages and opening lines from their favorite works (and many of mine) by writers including Flannery O'Connor, Philip Roth, Tom Robbins, Billy Collins, Rick Moody, Janisse Ray, Tim O'Brien, Pat Conroy, Jack Kerouac and dozens of others.

It's good to know that a firm responsible for helping such companies as Fed Ex and Charles Schwab communicate can take time to focus on what makes writing meaningful.

And, of course, it's good to know that good friends are, themselves, doing meaningful work.

Now, meaningful or not, my work continues to be trying to keep A Cappella Books moving forward as we approach our 20th anniversary, and some days the task seems more daunting than others.

When in doubt, lately at least, my answer has been: celebrate! Starting today, our 20th anniversary celebration commences with EVERY USED BOOK IN THE STORE on sale for 20% off its regular price.

We'll come up with more ideas as the actual date approaches, but for now, we hope this will encourage many people to come visit the store and check out our wonderful selection of always reasonably-priced books, now even moreso.