At the tail end of a long, inauspicious alleyway, off Tel Aviv’s bustling Allenby Street, is a door. Pass through it, and you’ve entered Halper’s world, a labyrinth of over 60,000 books spanning five rooms, packed from floor to ceiling, winding in and out. He’s been here, behind his cluttered counter, for over thirty years, in his faded T-shirt, incongruous North Jersey accent, and world-weary smile, collecting books and book people, and writing stories.
The Bibliomaniacs, Tales from a Tel Aviv Bookseller is a collection of odd, funny, and often outrageous stories, revealing the surprising and sometimes disturbing relationships between books and people.