Having run the viral Sotheran's Twitter account for several years, Oliver Darkshire brings his flair for dramatic hyperbole and keen sense of whimsy to this memoir of life in the antiquarian book trade. Darkshire deftly mixes absurd anecdotes—customers he suspects of secretly being cryptids, bumbling shoplifters, journeys into the mysterious cellar—with bracing meditations on the joys of reading and the fleeting nature of life. Blending carefully observed detail with dry humor, he sneakily reminds us why books are fundamental to a fully rounded life. (BH)