Significance of bookstore

Book Out Below!, the bookstore where Jessie eventually finds a job, symbolizes a kind of oasis of home in the middle of the unfamiliar landscape of LA. Upon entering, Jessie remarks that she "[feels] at home" and that "[this] is what my house in Chicago used to smell like" (73). As a well-read, intelligent individual, Jessie finds solace in the immutability and permanence of books and literature, especially given that her mother liked to read as well.