"I'm sometimes very frustrated at our industry, probably more than ever now, but there are no days when I don't think that what we do is important. There are no days that I don't think about what life would look like if we didn't have bookstores like mine.
"Human connection is so important for us. We are meant for connection. And that's what bookselling is, that's what books are. They are connection. And I think that's what a bookstore is. The connection you get from a bookstore, even if you don't know anyone there, is so important. And that's why we do it. Bookselling is a labor of love."
--Christine Onorati, owner of WORD Bookstores in Brooklyn, N.Y., and Jersey City, N.J., who has served on the ABA's board of directors and as board president, in a "125 Years of ABA" q&a with Bookselling This Week