When I recently went looking in search of the publication date of Thad Carhart's book,
THE PIANO SHOP ON THE LEFT BANK,
I couldn't believe it came out fully 15 years ago.
It feels like everyone was talking about that book just last year

And maybe they were -- it has wonderful staying power. Carhart -- once Apple's PR person in Europe -- writes a wonderfully engaging memoir about the tiny piano shop he discovers, its remarkable proprietor, Luc, and, of course, the piano he comes to own (along with an unforgettable account of its travel up multiple flights of stairs with nothing more than a pair of hands and a deliveryman's broad back).

One thing that's always struck me about Paris is how it supports this entire ecosystem of tiny, specialized stores. Or maybe it doesn't support them: I always wonder how this tiny shop of puzzles, or that one of antique sports equipment, makes it. Who are the buyers?

Carhart, in this case. It's a wonderful story, and it was wonderful news when I saw that he was touring with a new memoir, Finding Fontainebleau: An American Boy in France. An account of his growing up (for a spell) in Paris as the son of a NATO officer, it's a book I'm eager to read -- and more to the point, buy, from as small a shop as I can find.