The Reading Spirit Bookstore, specializing in genre fiction, has opened at the corner of Main St. and Second Ave. in Midport, Mass. A lifelong reader, owner Jim Fremont said that since he was a boy, he's had a recurring nightmare about opening his own bookshop.
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| Owner Jim Fremont living his nightmare. | |
"My dream always starts out kind of positive," he noted. "I'm in something that looks like a bookshop or library, with lots of shelves and displays surrounding me. But the lighting is dark and I can’t really see anything like walls or windows or doors to the outside world. Then things get really weird... in different ways each time. Obviously, the dreams were not quite the same when I was a boy, but they've always scared me."
Initially he considered opening a horror fiction-focused bookshop, in a kind of tribute to his inspiration. But ultimately he expanded his inventory to include a wider range of primarily genre and general fiction.
Fremont admitted that he has noticed for years how often new bookstore owners say that opening their shops is the fulfillment of a lifelong dream, and he envies their experience: "I wish I'd had been on that path, but however you get there, it's crossing the finish line that matters. And maybe this will put my nightmares behind me at last."