This is an archived issue. Click to return to the current issue . Seattle's Elliott Bay Book Company has the feel of a place in which discoveries are made, secrets shared, trysts kept and broken. Books here are not only sold but discussed, pondered, laughed over and reviled.
Books live here.
If you can catch him as he darts through the cedar-shelved stacks, you'll find Rick Simonson to be the ideal guide to the kingdom he helped store owner and founder Walter Carr create. He's also the master of a literary switchboard that extends from Puget Sound to New York and beyond, and a man of quick speech, strong opinions and a deeply informed devotion to books. In short, the right person in the right job. People who visit will see books on prominent display that other stores don't carry. Salman Rushdie, Toni Morrison, Jimmy Carter, Raymond Carver, Amy Tan, Haruki Murakami and Paul Theroux are among those who have come to participate in the renowned readings program he initiated.