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Books have a special place in my heart – even if I don’t read as much as I used to. I put the blame on social media, but of course that's an excuse. As readers of this blog will know, I once co-owned a bookstore, The Globe, which was both a dream job and a bit of a nightmare (owning a business, even one you love, is no walk in the park). Bookstores play a huge part in the lives of cities (try thinking of a great city without also thinking of a great bookstore), yet the Internet appears to be slowly killing off this most civilizing of institutions.

Last year, I received a message that one of my favorite bookstores anywhere, and my candidate for the best English-language bookstore in Eastern Europe, Bucharest’s “Anthony Frost,” was closing for good after more than nine years in operation. Just another sad story, I thought. Yet, this tale appears to have had a sequel. On my most recent trip to Bucharest, I discovered that “Tony” had reopened, and the future looks brighter than anyone might have hoped.