One of Melbourne’s biggest bookstores is closing, and it’s hard not to feel nostalgic. “Do I protest too much? Metropolis was just another place of consumption, much like a cafe or a bar or a chemist. Let’s not get sanctimonious about a bookstore. Maybe my mother is right; maybe I am a literary snob. Maybe I should watch more TV, drink more Coke, get in touch with the mainstream. Who am I to say Acland Street, post-Metropolis, has gone to the dogs?”