To the Well-Organized Mind

Yes. That's Albus Dumbledore speaking on page 297 in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.

"After all, to the well-organized mind,
death is but the next great adventure."

I've been trying to think of something to say about Joe Drabyak, my fellow bookseller who died just over two weeks ago. All of us in the bookselling community and especially at Chester County Book & Music Company are shocked and saddened by his death. Joe was a staunch supporter of independent bookstores, and of new authors who had slipped between the cracks and were left behind by the big chains. Joe was the only bookseller I knew who had at least a dozen characters in books named for him. You can read more eloquent obituaries here and here and especially this touching one from Michelle of Michelle's Minions.

I wanted to say something here, but I didn't know what to say. But then I thought of Dumbledore.

It's not such a stretch. Joe was a wizard of a bookseller. And although he sold adult fiction and nonfiction and didn't know much about kids' books, Joe agreed to portray Dumbledore once for a midnight Harry Potter party. Unfortunately, I have no pics of that momentous occasion.

But you can see the resemblance, right?

Rest in peace, Joe. Hope you are having the next great adventure.

And that it involves lots of books.