Ah December! It's a month filled with so many lovely smells. Christmas cookies, pine, latkes, panatone, and (for my family, as well as countless New Mexicans and Mexicans) tamales. There's another scent people encounter this time of year: that book smell. You know it. It's a curious combination of leather, paper and glue. People walk into our store, inhale and comment on it all the time.

I have to confess that I don't notice the smell of books as easily as many people. I think it's because I'm surrounded by it most of the time. It is my pleasure and honor to work among books "full time." Though I work primarily with the new books, the used and rare books are all around. After a day of working with books I go to a lovely home, its walls -- and many available surfaces --covered with books.

Books can make a home lovely, indeed can make a home, in many ways. They soften sound in rooms, look great on shelves, and even make the occupants look smart. Books also help people make their homes in that other way: readers can learn to cook and even clean, to repair, to paint, to decorate and arrange. Most importantly books enlighten and entertain us; draw us into other worlds while comfortably ensconced in our own. When I go home at night and close my front door on the world, I open another one when I sit on the couch and pick up whatever book I'm reading. It's delightful. I don't think I'm the only one who believes that a person who is happy when she is home is in a good home.

You too can fill your home and the homes of your friends with that book smell, and the joy that accompanies it. All you have to do is find the right books. It is our pleasure to assist you.

Happy Reading. Happy Holidays. And Happy New Year.