April's prompt is to read a book of ecofiction, and Becca's pick is Latitudes of Longing by Shubhangi Swarup. 

Content warning: miscarriage, death in childbirth, sexual topics

Our next book will be The Employees by Olga Ravn, as chosen by our Patreon Patrons. Find it at your local library or bookstore and read along with us!

If you want to read along with The Bookstore Challenge 2024, you can join us on The StoryGraph to see what others are reading for each month and get ideas for your TBR: The Bookstore Challenge 2024.

Get two audiobook credits for the price of one at Libro.fm when you sign up using the code BOOKSTOREPOD.

Website | Patreon

It's a book by a translator that's a book by a translator that's translated by a translator about translators translating a book and we loved it. There are also some major time spoilers, but we give good warnings this time.

The Extinction of Ireana Rey by Jennifer Croft

Next time we are reading Latitudes of Longing by Shubhangi Swarup. Find it at your local bookstore or library and read it along with us.

If you want to read along with The Bookstore Challenge 2024, you can join us on The StoryGraph to see what others are reading for each month and get ideas for your TBR: The Bookstore Challenge 2024.

Get two audiobook credits for the price of one at Libro.fm when you sign up using the code BOOKSTOREPOD.

Website | Patreon

Correction: in the epsiode we say that the book was published in Barbados, but Condé is actually from the island of Guadeloupe - a French department in the Carribbean.

Now THIS is the type of historical fiction that we love. Corinne's pick for March's prompt to read a book with a name in the title is I, Tituba: Black Witch of Salem by Maryse Condé. This novel is a fictionalized account of Tituba, an enslaved woman from Barbados who became the first person accused of being a witch during the Salem Witch Trials.

Content warning: sexual assault, suicide, violence

Our next book discussion will be The Extinction of Irena Rey by Jennifer Croft. You can find it at your local bookstore or library and read along with us. 

If you want to read along with The Bookstore Challenge 2024, you can join us on The StoryGraph to see what others are reading for each month and get ideas for your TBR: The Bookstore Challenge 2024.

Get two audiobook credits for the price of one at Libro.fm when you sign up using the code BOOKSTOREPOD.

Website | Patreon

Today we discuss Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya. This is one of the first books of Chicano/a Literature, with Rudolfo Anaya considered one of the founders of the literary movement. It's a coming-of-age story that weaves Catholicism with traditional and indigenous beliefs, and the duality of identity that Antonio, the main character, experiences.

Content warning: violence, bodily fluids

Sources: Introduction to Chicano Literature, Chicano Literature

Next time we'll be reading Corinne's choice: I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem by Maryse Conde. Find it at your local bookstore or library and read along with us!

We have also chosen our books for April's prompt (Environmental Fiction) Latitudes of Longing by Shubhangi Swarup and The Extinction of Irena Rey by Jennifer Croft.

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If you want to read along with The Bookstore Challenge 2024, you can join us on The StoryGraph to see what others are reading for each month and get ideas for your TBR: The Bookstore Challenge 2024.

Get two audiobook credits for the price of one at Libro.fm when you sign up using the code BOOKSTOREPOD.

Website | Patreon

This week we read and discussed My Garden (Book): by Jamaica Kincaid. It's memoir, it's essays, it's history, it's botany, it's maybe not what you'd normally choose to read if you're a fan of our typical fare, but it has a lot of great ideas to think and talk about. You should still read Jamaica Kincaid even if this one isn't for you. Becca recommends the novel Lucy or another work of nonfiction about her home, Antigua, called A Small Place.

March's prompt for the Bookstore Challenge 2024 is to read a book with a name in the title. Becca's pick, Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya, will be first. Followed by Corinne's choice: I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem by Maryse Conde.

And then Becca is way ahead of us and has already chosen her read for April's prompt (Envirionmental Fiction) Latitudes of Longing by Shubhangi Swarup.

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If you want to read along with The Bookstore Challenge 2024, you can join us on The StoryGraph to see what others are reading for each month and get ideas for your TBR: The Bookstore Challenge 2024.

Get two audiobook credits for the price of one at Libro.fm when you sign up using the code BOOKSTOREPOD.

Website | Patreon

For our first read of the February Bookstore Challenge Prompt (read a memoir written by a writer) Corinne chose Priestdaddy by Patricia Lockwood. It's a memoir about being a poet and having your dad literally be a Catholic priest. And we're of divided opinions for once.

Next time we will read My Garden (Book): by Jamaica Kincaid. This is out of print, but can be found at the library or used. Or if you're patient, a new edition will be available from Picador in July 2024.

In March we will be reading I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem by Maryse Conde and Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya.

Content Warnings: Sexual assault, religious trauma, infertility.

Books mentioned:

David Sedaris (general) No One is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood How to Say Babylon by Safiya Sinclair

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If you want to read along with The Bookstore Challenge 2024, you can join us on The StoryGraph to see what others are reading for each month and get ideas for your TBR: The Bookstore Challenge 2024.

Get two audiobook credits for the price of one at Libro.fm when you sign up using the code BOOKSTOREPOD.

Website | Patreon

Our second book for January's prompt to read a book set in a place where you're from is Jim Harrison's True North. True North is set mostly in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and follows David Burkett, descendant of lumber barons as he struggles with his family's tarnished legacy.... hahaha jk it's really just a guy talking about his dick constantly. We do not recommend.

Content warning: rape, sexual assault, violence, violence against women, violence against children, adult topics, sex, body anatomy, swearing

Our next book discussion will be Priestdaddy by Patricia Lockwood, and following that will be My Garden (Book): by Jamaica Kincaid. You can find them at your local bookstore or library and read along with us. 

If you want to read along with The Bookstore Challenge 2024, you can join us on The StoryGraph to see what others are reading for each month and get ideas for your TBR: The Bookstore Challenge 2024.

Get two audiobook credits for the price of one at Libro.fm when you sign up using the code BOOKSTOREPOD.

Website | Patreon

Our first book of the year! Daughters of Eve by Lois Duncan is set in the fictional town of Modesta, Michigan, thus fulfilling January's prompt to read a book set in the place where you're from (we're both from Michigan). A new teacher has come to town and she begins to help a group of teenage girls stand up for themselves against sexism... but will they take it too far?

Content warning: domestic violence, sexual assault, pregnancy, fatphobia, offensive language

Our next book discussion will be True North by Jim Harrison. You can find it at your local bookstore or library and read along with us.

If you want to read along with The Bookstore Challenge 2024, you can join us on The StoryGraph to see what others are reading for each month and get ideas for your TBR: The Bookstore Challenge 2024.

Get two audiobook credits for the price of one at Libro.fm when you sign up using the code BOOKSTOREPOD.

Website | Patreon

Happy New Year!

Out with the old (reviewing last years reading) and in with the new (walking through the 2024 Bookstore Challenge prompts).

Books we will be reading in January:

Daughters of Eve by Lois Duncan (look for one published before the 2010s to avoid any contemporizing editions).

True North by Jim Harrison

This is a great resource for finding out what books authors read.

You can also join us on The StoryGraph to see what others are reading for each month and get ideas for your TBR: The Bookstore Challenge 2024.

Get two audiobook credits for the price of one at Libro.fm when you sign up using the code BOOKSTOREPOD.

Website | Patreon

Last book of the year! It's Becca's pick for December's prompt to read a book by an author who shares the first initial of your surname is Y/N by Esther Yi. We follow a young woman as she descends further into an obsession with a member of a boy band, leading her to even move to another country in order to find him.

Content warning: sex, body parts, death

Technical note: Corinne was traveling for the holidays when we recorded this, so her audio has some background noise, apologies for that!

If you want to read along with The Bookstore Challenge 2023, you can find Instagram graphics for your story or grid in this Google Drive folder. You can also join us on The StoryGraph to see what others are reading for each month and get ideas for your TBR: The Bookstore Challenge 2023. The Bookstore Challenge 2024 will be out soon!

Get two audiobook credits for the price of one at Libro.fm when you sign up using the code BOOKSTOREPOD.

Website | Patreon

First book for December's prompt to read a book by an author who shares your surname or first initial of your surname is Ice by Anna Kavan. This is a sci-fi or slipstream novel about a man searching for a girl in a world that is slowly being consumed by ice. 

Content warning: sexual assault, violence

Books mentioned: Wide Sargasso Sea-Jean Rhys, A Song of Ice and Fire-George RR Martin, Fight Club-Chuck Palahniuk, Deep Water-Patricia Highsmith, In a Lonely Place-Dorothy B. Hughes, Empire of the Senseless-Kathy Acker

Our next reads are Y/N by Esther Yi for December, and Daughters of Eve by Lois Duncan for January.

If you want to read along with The Bookstore Challenge 2023, you can find Instagram graphics for your story or grid in this Google Drive folder. You can also join us on The StoryGraph to see what others are reading for each month and get ideas for your TBR: The Bookstore Challenge 2023. The Bookstore Challenge 2024 will be out soon!

Get two audiobook credits for the price of one at Libro.fm when you sign up using the code BOOKSTOREPOD.

Website | Patreon