At Gramercy Books, we call ourselves a carefully curated neighborhood bookstore. To better understand “curated,’ I asked members of my personal book club. Here’s what Ruth, Tanny, Jamie, Suzy, Joy, and Teckie thought, and how their definitions compared with us—the booksellers who do the curating.

I’ve been in love with books as long as I can remember. A trip to the library or bookstore continues to be a deep-seeded pleasure. After all, books are filled with answers to every question every person has ever considered. Standing inside a “house of books” feels like an adventure. No wonder I became a writer.