Aaron Cometbus (née Cohen) started his eponymous zine as a teenager in the early 1980s, reviewing punk shows and records in the Bay Area. The zine evolved along with his sensibilities and his formidable talents as a writer, such that we now have several decades worth of stories of life and love and pain and perseverance among people who willfully (or wantonly) occupy the outskirts of conventional society. The man is an inspiration, not only for his longevity, but for the expansive empathy of his big punk heart. In A Bestiary of Booksellers, Cometbus relates his experience among the eccentric sorts who make a living in the second-hand book trade in New York City. If you like books and/or people, it will make you feel good. ( )