To me, it seemed like the worst of times. A big, bright, multinational bookstore had opened up directly across the road from my favourite independent bookseller. Book lovers were miffed. How could one little Bookshop compete with the might of a huge chain? Would it survive the competition? I was attending university around the corner at the time and had been long enough to have lost my heart to the local bookshop. I sized up the new one suspiciously, entering to find out what we were up