By andy thibault

“Decade after decade, artists came to paint the light of Provincetown, and comparisons were made to the lagoons of Venice and the marshes of Holland … ”

Norman Mailer tells us this in his fun novel, “Tough Guys Don’t Dance,” about a writer who finds a severed head in his marijuana patch.

I got my copy at Tim’s Used Books, which is just a few feet from the Provincetown Book Shop on Commercial Street. Pound for pound, these two shops constitute perhaps the best book haven in New England for readers in search of inspiration, comfort and adventure.

The poet …read more