When I was twenty-two years old and getting my Master's degree, I got a part-time job at Borders. What could be better, I thought, than working in a place that had heat in the winter and air conditioning in the summer, where I would be surrounded by two of my very favorite things: books and coffee – to say nothing of the glorious Rice Krispie Treats from the cafe that were the size of my head?

Turns out a visit to the gynecologist would be better than some of those Borders days, but those days were rare and usually only on rainy Sundays when every person on Long Island decided to wait out the storm in a bookstore.