IT’S OFFICIAL: Titlewave Books has closed. The jam-packed li’l used book store on Lower Queen Anne, where I and many other writers gave readings, lasted 20 years. Since the average lifespan of such a business can be roughly figured in cat years, you can do the math for yourself and be even more impressed by Titlewave’s longevity.

(It can now be told that owner Nickie Jostol asked me to buy the place. I had to decline, but felt flattered that she would mistakenly think I had money.)

The store’s demise makes even more poignant the last thing read at the last live reading event there. Our ol’ pal Doug Nufer, who’d run the Titlewave reading series for the previous nine or so years, closed the last edition by reading a piece he’d created out of the final sentences of several dozen classic novels.