A behind-the-scenes look at the woman who founded one of the nation's great independent books stores relies on testimony from the customers, employees, and writers whose lives were changed by their relationship with Books & Co. 25,000 first printing. Every few years a new book comes along that belongs to a select category one might label "the bookstore bio." Comprising such titles as Old Books, Rare Friends or 84 Charing Cross Road , these few, these happy few biographies are purportedly about the proprietors of a particular store. In reality, however, they are as much about the relationships booklovers forge as they are about books. Certainly this is true of The Bookstore , Lynne Tillman's entertaining history of a New York literary landmark, Books & Co. Founded in 1977 by IBM heiress Jeannette Watson, the shop became a legendary stomping ground for everyone from Woody Allen to Salman Rushdie. When it finally closed its doors in 1997 due to a rent dispute with the Whitney Museum, it was a blow felt by bibliophiles round the world. Though Books & Co. is gone, its hold on the hearts of its admirers is still strong, and Tillman has had no trouble rounding up a slew of former patrons to sing its praises; the history is punctuated with anecdotes covering the full spectrum of bookstore life. John G. Hanhardt, describing Books & Co.'s philosophy section, remarks "I think of Books & Co. as a curated space," while sales rep Ed Solowitz wryly comments on the store's buying policies: "We don't even want to talk about returns. I tell people, I don't even watch election results because they say 'We're going to the returns.' I get very nervous. Returns, I get very nervous." The likes of Brendan Gill, Fran Liebowitz, Paul Auster, Amy Hempel, Susan Sontag, and many, many more writers and readers weigh in with their memories as well. And weaving in, out, and around these various reminiscences is Watson's personal account of her enterprise from its earliest inception to its final days. Books & Co. will be sorely missed; The Bookstore reminds us of why. --Alix Wilber Books & Co., located on Madison Avenue in Manhattan, was a leading independent bookstore from 1977 to 1997. The store was a booklover's dream: it sponsored a fabulous series of readings and became a place where writers and readers gathered. The store's closing (due to a rancorous rent dispute with its landlord, the Whitney Museum) became a cause c?l`ebre, epitomizing the death of the independent bookstore. Here the bookstore's founder, Jeannette Watson, detailsAvia Tillman (No Lease on Life)Athe story of the bookstore's founding, its daily life, and its death. Woven together with Watson's narrative are the words of the bookstore's friends, some of them notable contemporary writers. This narrative technique is at once the book's strength and its greatest weakness. Some of this testimony gives insight into bookselling and publishing, but mostly it contains far too much repetitive grandiloquence on the store's importance. For comprehensive collections on publishing and bookselling.APaul A. D'Alessandro, Portland P.L., ME Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. When Jeannette Watson opened the doors of Books & Co. at 939 Madison Avenue in New York in 1978, she began, intentionally, to build a community of book lovers. For nearly 20 years, until the store closed in May_ 1997, in a very public rent dispute with the Whitney Museum of Art, Books & Co. was a gathering place for writers, publishers, and lovers of quality literature, a place to meet and greet, to discuss books; it was the community that Jeannette had envisioned. With the exception of Tillman's brief but fascinating introduction outlining the history of bookselling in America, the story is told in the first-person voice of Jeannette Watson, based on hours of interviews with Tillman. Skillfully interwoven are contributions from employees, customers, and writers, including Steven Aronson, Susan Sontag, Brendan Gill, and the wonderfully humorous Fran Lebowitz. The result is a rich tapestry comprising many viewpoints. The book is a fitting tribute not only to Jeannette but also to book lovers and to an industry that is once again undergoing profound changes. Grace Fill The rise, great ride, and fall of a Manhattan bookstore that was a literary icon for two decades. Before relating the heartbreaking loss of Books & Co.'s lease at 939 Madison Avenue in 1997, the author gives readers enough background on the owner to help them understand why Jeannette Watson took on the ``pleasant adventure'' of a bookstore. Watson was the shy bookworm daughter of glamorous, rich parents. (Her father was the head of IBM; her mother was once named one of the ten most beautiful girls in New York.) After a divorce and debilitating hip surgery, hobbling young Jeannette had a dream about a well-stocked, cozy bookstore. Fortunately for New York book lovers, Daddy had the start-up money and much respect for reading. The