Reading about the reading life: March 1, 2020 edition

Welcome to another edition of "Reading about the reading life" here at The Itinerant Librarian. This is where I collect stories about reading and the reading life. Basically, these are items related to reading, maybe writing and literacy, that I find interesting and think my four readers might find interesting as well with a little commentary. As with other features I do on this blog, I do it when I have time or feel like it. Comments are always welcome (within reason).

A few interesting things I have been reading.

Bookstores doing interesting things:

• Via the Atlanta Journal Constitution, a profile of black owned bookstore For Keeps in Atlanta. The owner "hopes her bookstore banishes the idea that black people are uninterested in learning about their roots." 
• Via Glamour, a look at Ripped Bodice, the first bookstore dedicated to romance literature.
• Via Metro (UK), there is a bookstore in Canada that is as close as heaven as you might get. They have kittens roaming the store, and the kittens are up for adoption. 
• Meanwhile, in Istanbul, a bookstore is pledging its profits to help stray animals. Via Hürriyet Daily News.
• Via De Zeen, there is a bookstore in the middle of a paddy field in China; it is built inside an old house.
• Want to build your own bookstore? LEGO now has one of their Creator Expert sets that let's you do just that. Via 9 to 5 Toys. 

In crime and books:

•  Via Lecturalia (Spanish language), a look at the lucrative trade in pages torn out of old and rare illuminated books. 
• Via ABC-15 out of Mesa, Arizona, a man stole over $16,000 worth of rare books. Sounds like some high end antiquarian book thief. Not really. In a story that qualifies as one of the "Signs the Economy is Bad," the man said "he took the books to get money to pay bills since he was recently diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and claims he was given a year to live." Yes, that is the kind of country the U.S. is where people have to turn to crime in an attempt to afford medical care. With luck, he will get treatment in prison.

In other interesting stories I have been reading:

• This article in Inc. highlights some of the science that supports the importance of reading. 
• The BBC reported earlier that audiobooks are rising in popularity. Personally I enjoy a good audiobook when I can, especially nonfiction titles. This year once again I am even doing the Audiobook Challenge. 
• Yes! Magazine looks at African American culinary historians and how they are rewriting the history of U.S. food. 
• Via Iran Review, read about the ancient city of Gundishapur, which featured "the world's oldest known medical center, which also included a university and a library with an estimated 400,000 books." 
• A look at classics education and working class Brits before the 20th century via Aeon.