Archive

Summit Books closing after 32 years in Mono

April 8, 2018   ·   0 Comments

By Jasen Obermeyer

Leslie Sabo has ended a big chapter in his life, closing his bookstore Summit Books, after 32 years of providing countless number of book lovers the chance to expand their vocabulary and interests.

The store, located in the Mono Plaza, first opened on April 25, 1986, and closed its doors over the Easter weekend. Now 85, Mr. Sabo will still be selling books online, as he has a few thousand of them in storage.  “It’ll be much smaller…it’ll be a lot simpler.”

He recalled how it began when he lived in Grand Valley, and put shelves on his sun porch for paperbacks, then set up a little table in his front yard. It continued after he began selling books when the plaza was a flea market, and was then offered a store in the plaza, and has been there ever since. “I couldn’t turn down the price.”

Asked what he likes about books, Mr. Sabo simply said everything about them. “I write books, I read books. As soon as I sit down to have my lunch I take out a book.”

He explained he enjoys reading short stories, and the odd novel and non-fiction. “I like to read something with a little meat in it.” He started writing short stories on mystery detectives in his early twenties, with one of his favourite short story authors being William Trevor. “I’m not really stuck on one type of book.”

Mr. Sabo said he determines whether he’ll like the author’s book based on reading the first couple pages. “I don’t look at the best sellers list and say ‘well I’ve got to read these books,’ I look at a book and I decide whether I want to read it.”

Some of the things he looks at during those pages are spelling mistakes, wording, how tight or loose the story is, and if the author challenges himself to expand his vocabulary. “I like reading a writer that I have to sit with my dictionary beside me.”

Mr. Sabo said he stayed for his love of being around books, and enjoys the store for its quietness, even when customers come in. “I’m ready to go.”

The author of the book I Am Not Me: The Orangeville Novel, Mr. Sabo has written a sequel to it, I Am Me: The Orangeville Novel 2, and encourages book lovers to attend his signing at Booklore, on Saturday, May 5th, beginning at 11:00 a.m.

Readers Comments (0)