Every Tuesday we publish an article about our bookstore, Bookmarx Books in Steubenville, and the world of books in general. Every Friday we publish something more personal and unpredictable. Our life here in Steubenville has proven interesting: we’re booksellers in one of the poorest, most neglected neighborhoods in America. The downtown - which once was a thriving city of tens of thousands of people, with multiple theaters, department stores, parishes, and more - doesn’t have a bank or a supermarket or even a fast food restaurant. Its Catholic cathedral is a rotting, abandoned hulk. But the town has a bookstore, and a good one. And that makes sense: this is a town full of ideas and full of people whose lives have been changed by books.

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