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Cody’s Books on Telegraph Avenue closed last month, causing untold numbers of hands in Berkeley to wring with self-righteous indignation at the heartless march of capitalism, the encroachment of mega-onliners like Amazon and the decline and fall of literacy in west coast civilization. 

There’s been plenty of press coverage of the Berkeley icon’s closing; Anneli Rufus’ long and thoughtful piece in the East Bay Express is the best one I’ve read yet.  She covers the sturm and drang of the demise of Cody’s with just the right amount of gentle skewering…

When Berkeley looks in the mirror, it perceives a book town, a lit-cred Lourdes linked with so many bards and rebels and laureates alive and dead that reciting their bibliographies would take all day. Not just uninflected authors but, to a large part, activist authors with a cause. Rare is any city so spellbound by its own legacy. For better or worse, Berkeley is a living theme park, forever conjuring a heyday that Cody’s crystallized. “Tie-dyed Tears,” one blogger proclaimed.

Worth reading if you spent money at Cody’s, have ever stepped foot on Telegraph Ave., or have an interest in retail bookselling…