Utrotningshotade x 2

[I]t achieves a weirdly ironic overlap in which two cultural spaces, both\non the verge of extinction, at least in Western Europe - and I'm\nreferring here to the Christian church and to the bookshop - come\ntogether to form a kind of last gasp for either entity.

It's as if books, sensing that they are even now moving toward a\ncurious state somewhere between resurrection and purgatory, have\ndecided to retreat, repositioning themselves inside the stone vaults of\na church - which happily welcomes these learned visitors - and there\nthe books and the church embrace, like doomed friends all too aware of\ntheir age, biding their time together amidst the dust and sunlight\nuntil another renovation comes through.