I interviewed Andrew Colarusso of Taylor & Co Books, the highly anticipated bookstore that opened its doors in the old Brooklyn Art-ery space on Cortelyou Road (The Brooklyn Art-ery is now across the street from its previous location). On a sunny day in May, Andrew and I had a chance to chat in his brick-walled space, surrounded by thoughtfully curated books ranging from Jean-Paul Sartre's Being and Nothingness, to Nikki Giovanni's anthologies, to the Babysitters' Club. SR: Tell me about yourself. "I was born and raised in Brooklyn. I grew up for 31 of my 34 years on Beverly Road, in this neighborhood, sometimes referred to as Ditmas Park, sometimes Kensington, sometimes broader Flatbush, or Prospect Park South. The diversity of this neighborhood was my norm growing up. Which I didn't realize till I left the neighborhood and realized, 'oh boy, no - the world is not this kind of incredible mosaic.' There are pockets elsewhere of homogeneity and uniformity that can be terrifying. But I liked what this meant to me in that this was a unique neighborhood. I grew up with a love and passion for literature, storytelling, arts, books. These are things that were instilled in me and encouraged by my parents - my mother, my father, my stepfather, my stepmother, an incredible cast of characters I grew up with who were loving and generous in extending their kindness. And that love of literature blossomed into a passion for writing, for art making, for storytelling. I taught writing for many years and this bookstore is a new opportunity and a new adventure." SR: What are your favorite books from childhood, adulthood? "My favorite books from childhood include Hooper Humperdink, Not Him, initially published by Theo LeSeig, which is an anagram for Theodore Seuss Geisel, also known as Dr. Seuss. It's not among his most recognizable books, but it's about a little boy who's excluded from a party. And the narrator goes through the alphabet of all the people they'll invite to the party, but makes it a point to say 'Not Hooper Humperdink. He is not invited.' Until the end of the book. In which he is invited ultimately. What is there to glean from that? This poor boy the whole time wants to be a part of this party and then he's finally let into the party. And as an adult, my critique of this book, my favorite book, is that at some point Hooper Humperdink should really divest from whatever this institution is that's excluding him. He should have enough self-awareness to be like, 'Look, I don't need to be a part of this party, I can have my own party.' They reprinted it with new illustrations and it's still quite colorful, and in moments of Hooper Humperdink being denied entry you can see he has his own world he's constructed for himself like playing a trumpet, or a little horn, communing with trees, and nature, and taking care of his dog, and my thought is like 'Hooper, you don't realize how beautiful you actually are, buddy. You have this wonderful life,  you don't need to be part of this spectacle of a thing.' So I don't know how instructive that book is on a spiritual and sociopolitical level for a kid. Honestly, I would rewrite it so that Hooper is like 'No thanks. I'm good' But it was very helpful for me in terms of literacy, because it made the alphabet very visual and fun for me. In high school I gravitated toward William Faulkner - I liked the gothic and uncanny of it. Deep, dark, strange, which felt to me like the more accurate representation of the unmanageable strangeness of life. It's not the cookie-cutter, it's not the platitude. Life will defy your expectations at every turn. For good and bad. I fell in love with his prose and recognized that the sentence could be a unit of measure and beauty. Those were enticing and alluring things for me. Also dealing with this messiness of life which will give you the kind of sadness you can't avoid, but also the kind of joy that, however flawed you are,  you will not miss. It will find you. So..life. Literature." SR: Tell me about Taylor and Co - how it began, and why you decided to open it "It felt and feels like kismet. I was teaching at Brown for the past seven years and after that time I didn't have a sustainable place there at the university that included what I needed, like healthcare, a sabbatical. I came back here, back to Beverly Road where I grew up. A summer where I was enjoying the summer and trying not to be stressed about the world - I would take walks to the local comic book shops in Park Slope and Crown Heights and, I like a long walk...but...it is a long walk. I thought, what if we have a comic bookshop or a bookstore in the neighborhood? I noticed that the Brooklen Art-ery had moved out across the street. There was a lot of enthusiasm and support about the idea of having a bookstore here. The name was going to be either Taylor and Co or Zafra, which refers to a sugarcane harvest in Puerto Rico. But then I thought I do want my family names in here. Arthur Taylor is my dad, and my name is from my biological father, Richard Colarusso. The Co is from Colarusso." SR: (Incidentally, Arthur Taylor had walked in, arms full of books that he had handed over to Andrew, a few moments earlier) ​ "The name is an homage to that man, who shows up. Which really matters to  me." ​ SR: How did you decide to curate Taylor and Co Books? "This bookstore is a general interest bookstore, and I wanted it to reflect the diversity of the neighborhood. I've seen how diversity can be artificially manufactured at institutions using racial and socioeconomic markers, and that's fine, it's a reparative gesture, but it's artificial still. I have the fortune of being in a location where it is organically itself very diverse and I had the good fortune of meeting Farhana who wrote Ammu, and other bilingual books. I want this to reflect diversity, but it's in a place where diversity will permeate anyway because of the variety of people who love books, storytelling, language." SR: Favorite restaurants? Favorite haunts? "Last summer I spent a lot of lunches at Mimi's. I like Onigiri from What's the Scoop? I always crave the salted plum one. The honey mascarpone ice cream from Sweet Lea. I would like to try King Mother. I like Kumo sushi. I love Purple Yam. I also ate at the Garden recently, and I enjoyed the food there. Also, Andrew's Fried Chicken Sandwiches. They're very deliberate about the pickles. Every bite, you're gonna get pickles. By design. It's pretty genius." Taylor and Co Books is located at 1021 Cortelyou Road.