When I visit a new place, one of the things I love to do is pop into any bookstores or tea shops in the area. I had the opportunity to visit Nantucket Island off the coast of Massachusetts a few days ago and found a gem of a bookstore. Nantucket Bookworks is a lovely and fun store that not only offers a lovely selection of books, it also offers what we, book lovers, enjoy most: a fertile landscape for the imagination.  

Nantucket Bookworks creates an atmosphere that …you wish to wander and explore. There are knick-knacks and bowls full of items that stir the mind to contemplate, ‘Why is this here?  What is its purpose? What could I use it for?’  For instance, as I began to explore the bookshelves, I came across a small bowl of tiny loose clock hands.  My mind immediately tried to reconcile why this was here…this is not a clock store…what else could these be used for?  Is there a symbolic meaning? Could it remind us how time can stand still or move quickly while enjoying a good book? Or how a good book can invite us to travel through time and visit foreign places while sitting at home?   Or is it meant to be even more existential…what is time when it comes to enjoying literature or just contemplating life? Or is it just a quirky little bowl full of tiny metal clock hands?