Epigraph

Welcome to Episode 18, our first ever LIVE show, recorded on September 28th at King's Books in Tacoma, WA. We rapid-fire interviewed three booksellers and two authors. Surprisingly, the audio is better than episodes recorded in the comfort of our homes.

Listen on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, our website, or subscribe using your podcatcher of choice.

Support the show! All books in our show notes link to Indiebound, a website that connects you with your local independent bookstore. Purchases made through our affiliate links help fund Drunk Booksellers, so you can support your favorite indie bookstore and your favorite podcasting booksellers. #win

If you want to get our show notes delivered directly to your inbox—with all the books mentioned on the podcast and links to the books we discuss—sign up for our email newsletter.

This episode is sponsored by Soft Skull, Counterpoint, and Catapult. Special thanks to Joe and Stephanie Douglas, Big Hair Studios, Allen Watke, Phil Heaven and the Midnight Mystery Players, and George Kaas for the equipment loan that made this recording possible. And of course thanks to Sam Kaas (who longtime listeners may recognize from Episode 7) our production manager without whom this whole episode would not have been amplified, recorded, nor kept on track.

Chapter I: [2:51]

In Which We Order a Mistress, Discuss Female Rage, and Are Def Profesh at This Whole Live Show Thing

Kim's Drinking: Hop Valley Citrus Mistress

Emma's Drinking: Elysian Men's Room

Kim's Reading:

• The Book of Dust 1: La Belle Sauvage by Philip Pullman

Emma's Reading & Excited About:

• Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower by Brittney C Cooper
• Good and Mad by Rebecca Traister

Emma is really into female rage right now, nbd.

Kim's Excited About:

• Vanishing Twins: A Marriage by Leah Dieterich
• also mentioned, And Now We Have Everything: On Motherhood Before I Was Ready by Meaghan O'Connell because (spoiler alert) we interview both authors later in the episode!

Chapter II: [7:25]

In Which We Talk About Big Books and Definitely Lie, Kim Gushes Over Leah Dieterich, and We Suggest People Stop Listening to Us and Buy Books Instead

sweet pea Flaherty, owner of King's Books in Tacoma, WA

For the record, A Room of One's Own is still a feminist bookstore

King's Books has fourteen book clubs, including one that only reads books about cults and one that only reads books about medical issues. They also have such unconventional events as virtual reality film showings and 80s workout nights (#Cher).

sweet pea's Reading:

• Before She Sleeps by Bina Shah

sweet pea's Excited About:

• Training School for Negro Girls by Camille Acker
• Nanny Helen Burroughs (she's a person, not a book—but sweet pea wishes there was a book about her)

sweet pea's Desert Island Pick:

• a book large enough to act as a sun hat

• Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

sweet pea's Bookseller Confession:

• "being a bookstore owner and event planner and bookkeeper and etc... that I don't have a lot of time to read"

Uh, can all the booksellers whose "confession" this is raise their hands?

sweet pea's Favorite Bookstore:

• a bookstore in the back of an antique store in Knoxville, TN (if you know what bookstore this is, tweet us!)
• Dixon Street Bookshop in Fayetteville, AR

Find sweet pea On the Internets:

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Instagram
• King's Books
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram

Facebook doesn't let you have "queer" in your name and challenged sweet pea's legal name twice

Our first guest author, Leah Dieterich, is the author of Vanishing Twins (Soft Skull)

Leah's Reading:

• Amateur: A True Story about What Makes a Man by Thomas Page McBee

This is an artistic rendition of Kim's reaction to Leah's "what are you reading" answer:

The back covers of Soft Skull's galleys are on point:

Leah's Favorite Bookstore(s):

• Skylight Books in Los Angeles, CA
• Powell's in Portland, OR

Find Leah on the Internets:

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Instagram

Chapter III: [22:03]

In Which We Discuss Sex With Frog Men, Realize America Is Doing Bookstores Wrong, and We Make the Audience Curse In Unison

Ariana Paliobagis, owner of Country Bookshelf in Bozeman, MT

Ariana's Reading:

• Mrs. Caliban by Rachel Ingalls
  • "a woman falls in love with a frog man; [he] shows up at her door... and she takes him in, in all the ways"

Ariana's Excited About:

• Trinity by Louisa Hall (also mentioned, Speak by Louisa Hall)

Ariana's Station Eleven Pick:

• What Money Can't Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets by Michael J Sandel

We are impressed by Ariana's practicality and thus let her, and the audience, in on our secret post-apocalypse library. 

Ariana's Impossible Handsell:

• English, August: An Indian Story by Upamanyu Chatterjee (also mentioned, My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh)

Ariana's Favorite Bookstore:

• Librairie Actes Sud (it's in France, be jealous)

Find Ariana On the Internets:

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Instagram
• Country Bookshelf
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram

Our second guest author is Meaghan O'Connell, author of And Now We Have Everything (Little, Brown and Company)

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Epigraph

Welcome to episode 17! We're interviewing the a.m.a.z.i.n.g Holland Saltsman, owner of The Novel Neighbor in Webster Groves, MO.

Listen on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, our website, or subscribe using your podcatcher of choice.

Support the show! All books in our show notes link to Indiebound, a website that connects you with your local independent bookstore. Purchases made through our affiliate links help fund Drunk Booksellers, so you can support your favorite indie bookstore and your favorite podcasting booksellers. #win

If you want to get our show notes delivered directly to your inbox—with all the books mentioned on the podcast and links to the books we discuss—sign up for our email newsletter.

This episode is sponsored by Books & Whatnot, the newsletter dedicated to books, bookselling, and bookish folk; check out their newsletter archive here. Follow Books & Whatnot on Twitter at @booksandwhatnot.

Chapter I

In which We Discuss Bookstore Bathrooms, Discover that Staff Picks Work, and Talk About... Books...

Before we start drinking, check out Novel Neighbor's bathroom:

We’re Drinking

It's too hot for bourbon, so we're rocking dirty gin martinis out of mason jars, coffee mugs, and martini glasses (apparently Kim's the classy one this episode).

Holland's Reading

• Amazing Adventures of Aaron Broom by A E Hotchner (for Novel Neighbor's Subscription program)
• Paperback Crush: The Totally Radical History of '80s and '90s Teen Fiction by Gabrielle Moss (pubs 10/30/18)
• The Good Neighbor: The Life and Work of Fred Rogers by Maxwell King (the audiobook is read by LeVar Burton!)
• Harry's Trees by Jon Cohen
• The Anna Karenina Fix: Life Lessons from Russian Literature by Viv Groskop (pubs 10/23/18)

Emma's Reading

• I'm Fine, But You Appear to Be Sinking by Leyna Krow
• They Can't Kill Us Until They Kill Us by Hanif Abdurraqib
• Betwixt-And-Between: Essays on the Writing Life by Jenny Boully
• Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover

Kim's Reading

• Unbound: Transgender Men and the Remaking of Identity by Arlene Stein
  
• When Katie Met Cassidy by Camille Perri
• Juliet Takes a Breath by Gabby Rivera

Forthcoming & Newly-New Titles We're Excited About

Hannah's Excited About

• The Diary of a Bookseller by Shaun Bythell
• What If This Were Enough? by Heather Havrilesky (pubs 2018 Oct 2)
• The Disasters by M K England (pubs 2018 Dec 12) - The Breakfast Club meets Guardians of the Galaxy!
• Hungover: The Morning After and One Man's Quest for the Cure by Shaughnessy Bishop-Stall (pubs 2018 Nov 20)
• Time's Convert by Deborah Harkness

Kim's Excited About

• Washington Black by Esi Edugyan (author of Half-Blood for folks who love Sing Unburied Sing and The Underground Railroad. author of Half-Blood Blues)
• Monstress Volume 3 by Marjorie Liu
• Vengeful by V E Schwab (follow up to Vicious)
• The Fifth Risk by Michael Lewis
• Shade: A Tale of Two Presidents by Pete Souza (author of Obama: An Intimate Portrait)

Emma's Excited About

• Severence by Ling Ma
• Rosewater by Tade Thompson
  • Also mentioned: The Murders of Molly Southbourne
• Exit Stage Left: The Snagglepuss Chronicles by Mark Russell and Mike Feehan (author of the Flintstones comic reboot)
  • Bonus Podcast Recommendation: Super Skull
• All You Can Ever Know by Nicole Chung (pubs 2 Oct 2018)
• Friday Black by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah (pubs 23 Oct 2018)

Y'all. Hot take here. Staff picks work! Emma had a staff pick on All the Lives I Want and Holland actually picked it up at Elliott Bay while visiting Seattle before our episode! (Shout out to our episode with Amy Stephenson from The Booksmith, who initially recommended it to us, and to our favorite audiobook provider, Libro.fm.)

Picked this up @elliottbaybookco from their #stafffavorite shelf, cracking it open tonight. #essays #hollandreads #literarytourism #shoplocal @grandcentralpub

A post shared by The Novel Neighbor (@novelneighbor) on Jul 29, 2018 at 4:54pm PDT

---

Chapter II [26:37]

In Which No One Tells Holland She's Crazy, People Love Their Greeting Cards, The Drunk Booksellers Marvel at Novel Neighbor's Ability to Handsell Events, and We Reiterate that Bookstores are a Business (whaaaa?)

The Novel Neighbor: More Than A Bookstore

The Novel Neighbor is not just a bookstore. In addition to author events, they host birthday parties, summer camps, bookstore yoga, and adult classes (like continuing ed, but sexier), among other things (sorry Amanda!).

Recommended reading for staff retreats:

• StrengthsFinder 2.0

Epigraph

Y'all. It's been a minute (or, ya know, 8 months). But we're back with a brand new episode featuring Julia Turner and Christen Thompson Lain, the founders of Itinerant Literate, a mobile bookstore in Charleston, SC.

Listen on iTunes, Stitcher, our website, or subscribe using your podcatcher of choice.

Support the show! All books in our show notes link to Indiebound, a website that connects you with your local independent bookstore. Purchases made through our affiliate links help fund Drunk Booksellers, so you can support your favorite indie bookstore and your favorite podcasting booksellers.

If you want to get our show notes delivered directly to your inbox—with all the books mentioned on the podcast and links to the books we discuss—sign up for our email newsletter.

This episode is sponsored by Books & Whatnot, the newsletter dedicated to books, bookselling, and bookish folk; check out their newsletter archive here. Follow Books & Whatnot on Twitter at @booksandwhatnot.

Chapter I

In which a local coffee shop assists in alcohol acquisition, we want more spaceships and dragons, and a book brings Emma to tears.

We’re Drinking

Christen and Julia were given some free beer from their local coffeeshop, Orange Spot Coffee: Stillwater Artisinal's Stateside Saisan and Sake-Style Saison. As our cocktail for the evening, we're drinking the Lime of the Ancient Mariner from Tim Federle's Tequila Mockingbird.

Christen's Reading

• War Storm by Victoria Aveyard

• I’ll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara

  • Shout out to Joan Didion's Slouching Towards Bethlehem

Julia's Reading

• Girl in Snow by Danya Kukafka (audiobook via Libro.fm)

• How to Change Your Mind by Michael Pollan

• Monsoon Mansion by Cinelle Barnes

• Daphne by Will Boast

Kim's Reading

• Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann (audiobook via Libro.fm)
• Amateur by Thomas Page McBee (pubs August 14, 2018)
  
  • McBee's previous book, Man Alive, is also excellent

Emma's Reading

• Circe by Madeline Miller (audiobook via Libro.fm)

• The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai 

Forthcoming & Newly-New Titles We're Excited About

Julia & Christen are Excited About

• The White Darkness by David Grann (pubs Oct 30, 2018)

• My Sister the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite (pubs Nov 20, 2018)
• Cult X by Fuminori Nakamura

Kim's Excited About

• So Lucky by Nicola Griffith (audiobook via Libro.fm)
  • also check out her bestselling historical fantasy novel, Hild
• Any Man by Amber Tamblyn

Emma's Excited About

• There There by Tommy Orange

• Fight No More by Lydia Millet
• Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik (pubs July 10, 2018)
  • her previous book, Uprooted, is one of Emma's faves
• Half-Witch by John Schoffstall (pubs July 17, 2018)

Chapter II [23:30]

In which we discuss how bookstores work (and how you keep books on the shelves in a bookstore that moves), Julia and Christen give advice to future bookmobile owners, and the mobile bookstore finds a forever home!

Customer: So, is this a library?

Interested in breaking into publishing (then abandoning your fancy degree to become a bookseller)? Check out the University of Denver Publishing Institute. Julia and Christen met there, so that bodes well.

Shout out to Blue Bicycle (founder of YALLFest, Charleston's Young Adult Book Festival)

Fun fact: the aunt in Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson is described as itinerant. Maybe not the best role model, but not the worst!

The bookmobile is so purrrrrrrrrty:

Books that Itinerant Literate must have in stock:

Epigraph

We are thrilled to welcome our new BFF to Drunk Booksellers: Javier Ramirez, manager of The Book Table in Oak Park, IL and co-host of industry get-together Publishing Cocktails.

Listen on iTunes, Stitcher, our website, or subscribe using your podcatcher of choice.

If you want to get our show notes delivered directly to your inbox—with all the books mentioned on the podcast and links back to the bookstore we’re interviewing PLUS GIFs—sign up for our email newsletter.

This episode is sponsored by Books & Whatnot, the newsletter dedicated to books, bookselling, and bookish folk; check out their newsletter archive here. Follow Books & Whatnot on Twitter at @booksandwhatnot.

Introduction

In which we apologize profusely for the delay in our episode posting, bond over Kelly Link, and get excited about books that are... already out

We had the pleasure of chatting with Javier nearly every week for a month while trying to record this episode (#techfail), then ran into a few other delays (#lifefail), but WE HAVE PREVAILED. That said, we talk about books that are already out as if they're forthcoming and we're drinking a nice "summer" drink because it was, you know, still summer when we first started this wild ride of an episode. Just pretend you're a time traveler visiting the halcyon days of late August 2017. 

We’re Drinking

Vodka & Tonics with NO FRUIT

Javier's Reading

• a bunch of nonfiction for the Kirkus Nonfiction Prize

• The Sun in Your Eyes by Deborah Shapiro

• Heartbreaker by Maryse Meijer

• The Seventh Function of Language by Laurent Binet

• Ranger Games by Ben Blum

Kim's Reading

• Mother of All Questions by Rebecca Solnit

  • (and check out the Huffington Post article about being mansplained to while reading about Solnit's Men Explain Things to Me)

• You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me by Sherman Alexie

• The Store by James Patterson... 'cause Patterson is awesome, gives booksellers (including your grateful hosts) money for fancy things like student loan debt and ridiculous urban rent, trolls Amazon for funsies, and rocks a photoshopped Santa hat like a boss:

• Kim's reading aloud: My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George

Emma's Reading

• MIS(H)Adra by Iasmin Omar

• Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado... Emma's favorite story from the collection is “Inventory”

• Lumberjanes: Unicorn Power! by Mariko Tamaki

• Spinster by Kate Bolick

Forthcoming Titles We're Excited For

Kim's Epic List of Titles that Are Already Out

• The Golden House by Salman Rushdie

• Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward

• Miss Kopp’s Midnight Confessions by Amy Stewart

• What Happened by Hillary Rodham Clinton

• Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng

• Afterglow by Eileen Myles

• Never Stop by Simba Sana

• The Origin of Others by Toni Morrison

Javier's Excited About

• The Heart’s Invisible Furies by John Boyne

• Release by Patrick Ness (if you haven't read Ness before, Javier recommends you start with The Chaos Walking series, which beginning with The Knife of Never Letting Go)

• Dinner at the Center of the Earth by Nathan Englander (also mentioned The Ministry of Special Cases and What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank)

• The Gone World by Tom Sweterlitsch (pubs 2/6/18)

• The Grip of It by Jac Jemc

Emma's Excited About

• The Glass Town Game by Catherynne M Valente

• In Other Lands by Sarah Rees Brennan

• We Were Witches by Ariel Gore (How to Become a Famous Writer Before You’re Dead)

• A Loving, Faithful Animal by Josephine Rowe

Chapter I [26:50]

In which Javier conquers the Chicago bookselling scene

Javier started at Tower Records (RIP)

He currently manages the Fiercely Independent Chicago-area bookstore, The Book Table.

Javier has worked at pretty much every bookstore in Chicago. Other than the OG Powell's. Unless you're talking time travel.

Javier's epic Tour de Bookselling (chronologically):

Tower Books --> Crown Books --> Barbara's Bookstore --> The Book Cellar --> Seminary Co-op Bookstores --> 57th Street Books --> Newberry Library Bookstore --> Book Stall --> City Lit Books --> The Book Table 

Chapter II [33:45]

In which we talk Publishing Cocktails and how to network IRL in the internet age

Publishing Cocktails, created by Javier and Keir Graff (senior editor at BookList) brings Chicago-area book industry folk from around the country together. They have two primary meetup events: Book Swap & Cash Mob.

Follow Publishing Cocktails on Twitter at @PubNight.

Sign up for the Publishing Cocktails email list for future updates.  

Chapter III [38:20]

In which Emma is, once again, deeply disappointed

Book Description Guaranteed to Get You Reading

Anything not blurbed by Lena Dunham (shout out to Gary Shteyngart’s epicly excessive blurbing). Anything blurbed by Kelly Link or George Saunders. Check the blurbs on Patrick Rothfuss’s Name of the Wind. Plus time travel! Kim and Javier bond over All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders (shout out to the Booze and Lasers Book Club at Third Place Books Seward Park), with references to Michael Crichton’s Timeline and, you know, Harry Potter. Emma ruins the ending of one of the stories in A Guide to Being Born by Ramona Ausubel.

Desert Island Pick

The entire body of work of Agatha Christie

Station Eleven Pick

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, which has Javier’s favorite first line: It was a pleasure to burn.

In case you were wondering, Emma’s favorite first (and second) line(s) come from Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House. Javier’s posting staff’s favorite lines from literature in his store and he drunkenly promised Emma that he’d post hers too. Pics or it didn’t happen, Javier.

Wild Pick

The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben

Bookseller Confession

HAS ANY BOOKSELLER ACTUALLY READ HARRY POTTER? JESUS, YOU GUYS.

Go-To Handsell

Geek Love by Katherine Dunn

Here's Javier's blurb, blatantly stolen from The Book Table's website:

When confronted with the "What is your favorite book of all time?" query, most people will often pause, looking over the inquisitors head while thoughtfully scratching his or her chin. I, on the other hand, will not hesitate when I tell you this. Geek Love is my favorite book. Of all time. Period. This oddball masterpiece (a National Book Award Finalist in 1989) shaped me as a reader and more importantly as a bookseller 20+ years ago. It's one of those reading experiences that make you feel like you're in on some life-changing secret. A novel that will chill you, move you and make you laugh, often at the same time. Help celebrate the 25th anniversary of the publication of Geek Love, quite possibly the best novel you've never read.

Master & the Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov: There's a cat

Epigraph

For the third year in a row, the Drunk Booksellers drove all over Seattle (and the surrounding regions) for Indie Bookstore Day. We asked booksellers at each of the 21(!!!) stores we visited to tell us what they're recommending in the current political climate. We also collected recommendations from past guests and #SEABookstoreDay Champions! (For an epic TBT, check out our episodes from Seattle Bookstore Day Year One and Year Two.)

Chapter 1

In Which Your Fearless Hosts Wake Up Far Too Early, Take a Ferry, Drink an Obscene Amount of Caffeine, and Get Our First Round of Bookseller Recommendations

Emma, Eagle Harbor Book Co.

American War by Omar El Akkad

Madison Duckworth, Liberty Bay Books

Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Ron Woods, Edmonds Bookshop

The Nix by Nathan Hill

Robert Sindelar, Third Place Books

Exit West by Mohsin Hamid

Annie Carl, The Neverending Bookshop

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

Ruth Dickey, Seattle Arts & Lectures

The Fire This Time by Jesmyn Ward

Chris Jarmick, BookTree

Dark Money by Jane Mayer

Red Notice by Bill Browder

Laurie & Marni, Island Books

Why We March: Signs of Protest and Hope

It Can't Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis

What We Do Now: Standing Up for Your Values in Trump's America ed. Dennis Johnson

The Book of Joy by Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu

Hallelujah Anyway by Anne Lamott

Larry Reid, Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery

American Presidents by David Levine

Amber, Seattle Mystery Bookshop

Golden Age mysteries by authors like Agatha Christie and Elizabeth Daly

Chapter 2

In Which Kim and Emma Make it Back to Seattle-Proper and Still Have... a Lot of Bookstores to Visit

Tegan Tigani, Queen Anne Book Company

Your Heart Is a Muscle the Size of a Fist by Sunil Yapa

Georgiana Blomberg, Magnolia's Bookstore

Bobcat & Other Stories by Rebecca Lee

Lara Hamilton, Book Larder

Soup for Syria by Barbara Abdeni Massaad

Madison, Secret Garden Books

Exit West by Mohsin Hamid (2nd mention!)

I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith

Tom Nissley, Phinney Books

Ghettoside by Jill Leovy

Billie Swift, Open Books: A Poem Emporium

Whereas by Layli Long Soldier

In the Language of My Captor by Shane McCrae

Trophic Cascade by Camille T. Dungy

The Boston Review's Poems for Political Disaster

If You Can Hear This: Poems in Protest of an American Inauguration by Bryan Borland

Resist Much / Obey Little: Inaugural Poems to the Resistance

Water & Salt by Lena Khalaf Tuffaha

Into Each Room We Enter Without Knowing by Charif Shanahan

Sea and Fog by Etel Adnan

Pam Cady, University Bookstore

Make Trouble by John Waters

Christina, Third Place Books Ravenna

Against Equality: Queer Revolution, Not Mere Inclusion ed Ryan Conrad

Garrett, Ada's Technical Books

No Place to Hide by Glenn Greenwald

Chapter 3

In Which Guests from Episodes Past Return to Give Their Recommendations

Pete Mulvihill, Green Apple Books (episode 8)

Dear Ijeawele, or a Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Make Trouble by John Waters (2nd mention)

Stranger in the Woods by Michael Finkel

White Tears by Hari Kunzru

The Dark Dark by Samantha Hunt

Leah Koch, The Ripped Bodice (episode 13)

Prime Minister by Ainsley Booth & Sadie Haller

A Promise of Fire by Amanda Bouchet

Paul Constant, The Seattle Review of Books (episode 14)

Give Us the Ballot: The Modern Struggle for Voting Rights in America by Ari Berman

Chapter 4

In Which the Seattle Bookstore Day Champions Tell Us What They're Reading

Katie

The Origins of Totalitarianism by Hannah Arendt

The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin

The Queen of the Night by Alexander Ch

Epigraph 

The Drunk Booksellers get stoned on this 4/20 themed episode with Paul Constant of the Seattle Review of Books.

Listen on iTunes, Stitcher, our website, or subscribe using your podcatcher of choice.

This episode is sponsored by Books & Whatnot, the newsletter dedicated to books, bookselling, and bookish folk; check out their newsletter archive here. Follow Books & Whatnot on Twitter at @booksandwhatnot.

If you want to get our show notes delivered directly to your inbox—with all the books mentioned on the podcast and links back to the bookstore we’re interviewing PLUS GIFs—sign up for our email newsletter.

Introduction

In which we make pot jokes and get excited about books

We're switching up our intoxicant of choice this episode and getting stoned rather than drunk (mostly). Paul's rocking Mr. Moxey's Mints (of the peppermint/sativa variety). Emma's smoking CBD (not to be confused with William Steig's children's picture book, CDB!). Kim stops talking while stoned—which would make for a really awkward podcast episode—so she's drinking the hoppiest IPA she could find instead. Everyone's a little too high to explain the varieties of weed particularly well, so you should just read David Schmader's Weed: The User's Guide: A 21st Century Handbook for Enjoying Marijuana.

Paul's Reading:

• Up South by Robert Lashley
• The Nameless City by Faith Erin Hicks
• A collection of books from Mount Analogue Press
  • Manners by Ted Powers
  • Final Rose by Halie Theoharides
    (a comic book tone poem about love and loss made up screenshots from The Bachelor)
• Reading Through It book club pick: What We Do Now: Standing Up for Your Values in Trump's America, edited by Dennis Johnson

Emma's Reading:

• First Position by Melissa Brayden (thanks to a recommendation from our episode with The Ripped Bodice)
• Giant Days 4 by John Allison, Max Sarin, Lissa Treiman, Liz Fleming, and Whitney Cogar
• All the Lives I Want: Essays about My Best Friends Who Happen to Be Famous Strangers by Alana Massey (thanks to a recommendation from our episode with Amy Stephenson)

Kim's Reading:

• We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
• Hope in the Dark by Rebecca Solnit
• On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century by Timothy Snyder
• The Aisles Have Eyes: How Retailers Track Your Shopping, Strip Your Privacy, and Define Your Power by Joseph Turow 

Forthcoming Titles We're Excited For:

• You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me by Sherman Alexie (out June 13)
• Love and Trouble: a Midlife Reckoning by Claire Dederer (out May 9)
  • also mentioned Poser: My Life in Twenty-Three Yoga Poses
• Theft by Finding: Diaries (1977-2002) by David Sedaris (out May 30)
• Hunger: a Memoir of (My) Body by Roxane Gay (out June 13)
• Priestdaddy by Patricia Lockwood (out May 2)
• Borne by Jeff VanderMeer (out April 25)
• Book of Joan by Lidia Yuknavitch (out April 18)
• Woman No. 17 by Edan Lepucki (out May 9)
• Isadora by Amelia Gray (out May 23)
• Dreaming the Beatles: the Love Story of One Band and the Whole World by Rob Sheffield (out April 25)
• Witches, Sluts, Feminists: Conjuring the Sex Positive by Kristen J Sollee (out June 13)
• Modern Tarot: Connecting with Your Higher Self Through the Wisdom of the Cards by Michelle Tea (out June 13)
• The Perfect Mix: Everything I Know about Leadership I Learned as a Bartender by Helen Rothberg (out June 20)

Chapter I [18:50]

In which we learn what The Seattle Review of Books is, talk about book reviews as a meta art form, and get advice on promoting diversity and being a safe, welcoming place for people who aren't white bros

The Seattle Review of Books is a book news, review, and interviews site. This isn't consumer reports, with a thumbs up or down on each title; each review aims to have a conversation with the book. It's a site that aims to look like your bookshelf, without genre classification.

Emma & Kim don't quite understand Paul's assertion that people don't organize their bookshelves, but we roll with it.

SRB makes all their money through a single sponsor (which changes each week). If you're interested in their sponsorship program, you can learn more here.

Paul wants to promote young, new writers and help them build up their clip file. So you should probably pitch him with your brilliant, bookish ideas. Email submissions@seattlereviewofbooks or fill in the contact form on their about page.

Emma particularly loves the Help Desk by Cienna Madrid. Ask Cienna an awkward book-related question at [email protected].

Being a couple of white guys, Paul and his co-founder Martin McClellan are extremely concerned with diverse representation. You can learn more about how SRB encourages diversity in both the books they review and the reviewers they publish on their about page (or by listening to this episode...). But you should know right off the bat, they are not here to promote the new Franzen novel and they will not pander to bros. 

Chapter II [33:10]

In which we talk about life in the US post-election, say something negative about a book, and discuss Paul's past (and current) life as a bookseller

Reading Through It is a post-election book club hosted by Seattle Review of Books, the Seattle Weekly, and Third Place Books Seward Park. They meet the first Wednesday of every month.

On our post-election world, Paul Constant says: "This is what books were made for. Books are engines of empathy... the only way to do a deep-dive into an issue. It's our stored knowledge... This is the moment for books."

The next Reading Through It book group pick is The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion by Jonathan Haidt. They'll be meeting Wednesday May 3rd at Third Place Books Seward Park.

Read Paul's article on his time at Borders: Books Without Borders: My Life at the World's Dumbest Bookstore Chain

Though he's not technically a bookseller anymore, Paul is still "on team books." Keep an eye out for our "I'm On Team Books" t-shirts, which may or may not be a thing we sell one day.

Chapter III [43:20]

In which Paul is better at explaining our questions than stoned Emma is at asking them, Emma and Kim give Paul major side-eye due to his bookseller confession, and Emma continues to push Uprooted by Naomi Novik

Desert Island Pick (what would you read that you never had the time to read before): The Years of Lyndon Johnson by Robert Caro (beginning with The Path to Power)

We couldn't find a video of the following clip of Caro on the Colbert Report, so we'll just leave you this series of gifs to explain why you, too, should consider bringing an epic five-volume biography of Lyndon Johnson as your desert beach read:

Epigraph

On this episode we discuss ALL THE ROMANCE BOOKS with Bea & Leah Koch, owners of The Ripped Bodice—America’s only Romance bookstore. The Ripped Bodice is celebrating their one year anniversary this month!

This episode is sponsored by Books & Whatnot, the newsletter dedicated to books, bookselling, and bookish folk; check out the newsletter archive here. Follow Books & Whatnot on Twitter at @booksandwhatnot.

We now have an email newsletter! If you want to get our show notes delivered directly to your inbox—with all the books mentioned on the podcast and links back to the bookstore we’re interviewing PLUS GIFs—sign up HERE.

Introduction

In which we feel real fancy, learn more about geography, and can’t stop asking for recommendations.

We’re drinking French 75s and feeling classy as fuck.

We’re Reading

Bea is reading Murder on Black Swan Lane by Andrea Penrose (out June 27). And she recently finished An Extraordinary Union by Alyssa Cole, which she thinks will be a great gateway romance (out March 28) about a female spy posing as a slave. Fun fact, Alyssa Cole lives in Martinique, and Kim and Emma’s geography lessons continue.

Leah is reading Kiss Me That Way by Laura Trentham and Flirting with Disaster by Victoria Dahl.

Emma is reading Hot Dog Taste Test by Lisa Hanawalt—a graphic foodie memoir that is weird and delicious. She also just started Kim & Kim by Magdalene Visaggio, which is a comic about punk rock bounty hunters in space.

Kim is reading Love Is Love a graphic anthology written in response to the Orlando shooting curated by Marc Andreyko; an important, but difficult read. All proceeds for the book go to the victims, survivors, and families affected by the Orlando Pulse shooting. Which is to say, everyone should buy this book. She’s also reading The Book of Joan by Lidia Yuknavitch (out April 18) a futuristic space Joan of Arc story, which hits weirdly close to home in its political content.

We’re Excited About:

Bea and Leah have so many frontlist romance novels to tell you about:

An Extraordinary Union by Alyssa Cole (more than worth a second mention and out March 28)

Full Mountie (#3 in the Frisky Beavers series) by Ainsley Booth & Sadie Haller (out April 4)

First in the Frisky Beavers series is Prime Minister “and is basically about if Justin Trudeau weren’t married and liked kinky sex.”

Ramona Blue by Julie Murphy (author of Dumplin’; out May 9)

The Thing About Love by Julie James (out April18) 

Julie James will be making an appearance at Ripped Bodice on her author tour!

The Devil in Spring by Lisa Kleypas (#3 in The Ravenels series, with the kids of characters from her Wallflowers series)

Emma is excited for Tender by Sofia Samatar (writer of A Stranger in Olondria and out April 11 from Small Beer Press) and Next Year, for Sure by Zoey Leigh Peterson, which is the only book about polyamory she has read so she asked for more recs...

SIDETRACK: Polyamory Recommendations

Laid Bare by Lauren Dane (#1 in the Brown Family series)

Maya Banks

Glutton for Pleasure by Alisha Rai

Back to frontlist...

Kim is looking forward to

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

Whereas: Poems by Layli Long Soldier

The Mother of All Questions by Rebecca Solnit

Dear Ijeawele, or a Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Chapter I [19:00]

In which we discuss Bea & Leah’s Romance Origin Story, Talk Vaginal-Looking Covers, and Get ALL THE ROMANCE RECOMMENDATIONS

Bea loved historical fiction (and historical fashion) and introduced Leah to The Bridgertons series by Julia Quinn (which is great for people who want to test the waters of regency romance)

First in the series is The Duke and I

Leah ultimately came to love contemporary romances and became a hardcore romance fan with the help of Nora Roberts—The Bride Quartet series is one of her favorites

First in the series is Vision in White

Also mentioned: Julie James, whose newest book is The Thing About Love (mentioned earlier and out April 18) and Susan Elizabeth Phillips whose newest book is First Star I See Tonight

Where to Start with Contemporary:

First, what level of heat are you looking for? Super graphic and dirty? Or cloaked in metaphor?

Not Quite As Dirty

Nora Roberts

It Had to Be You (Chicago Stars #1) by Susan Elizabeth Phillips. You know, the one with the boobs on the cover:

Heroine Complex by Sarah Kuhn (for geek fandom readers)

Really Dirty Recs

Beautiful Bastard (Beautiful Series #1) by Christina Lauren

Vampire Romance Recommendations (because we love Buffy)

Dark Lover (Black Dagger Brotherhood #1) by J.R. Ward (super dirty)

Nice Girls Don’t Have Fangs (Jane Jameson #1) by Molly Harper (funnier romance)

The Care and Feeding of Stray Vampires (Half Moon Hollow #1) by Molly Harper

Famous people make appearances as vampires—people like Dick Cheney

Witchbian Romances (because we love Willow)

Better Off Red by Rebekah Weatherspoon (Vampire Sorority Sisters #1) (lesbian vampire sorority)

Dance Upon the Air (Three Sisters Island Trilogy #1) by Nora Roberts

Dark Witch (Cousins O’Dwyer Trilogy #1) by Nora Roberts

Lunatic Fringe by Allison Moon (Kim rec: werewolf lesbian feminist)

Two Sexy Nonfic Picks

Girl Sex 101 by Allison Moon

Come As You Are by Emily Nagoski

Side note: Send us a pic of your favorite vaginal cover (via email or Twitter)! Like this:

Non-Paranormal Queer/Diverse Recs

Rebekah Weatherspoon (also has non-vampire lesbian romances)

For Real by Alexis Hall (author of some gorgeous MM romances)

Damon Suede writes super hot romances, which are frequently about firemen; his newest title is Lickety Split (out March 17)

The Prince’s Psalm by Eric Shaw Quinn (a Biblical gay romance)

First Position by Melissa Brayden (lesbian ballerinas)

I’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson (MM YA)

Georgia Peaches and Other Forbidden Fruit by Jaye Robin Brown (FF YA)

The Soldier’s Scoundrel by Cat Sebastian (gay regency)

K.J. Charles (also writes gay regency, but they’re not all dukes)

Wanted, A Gentleman is one of her newer titles

The Spare and the Heir (Lords of Time #5) by Jenn LeBlanc (gay victorian)

LeBlanc is also a photographer and illustrates many of her romances with super hot photos.

Glutton for Pleasure by Alisha Rai (mentioned earlier as poly rec)

Epigraph

On this episode we becomes best friends with Amy Stephenson, Events Director at Booksmith in San Francisco and co-creator/host of Shipwreck, a competitive literary erotic fan fiction live show.

This episode is sponsored by Books & Whatnot, the newsletter dedicated to books, bookselling, and bookish folk. We were too excited about hosting Books on the Nightstand to mention Books & Whatnot on air, but you should definitely check out the newsletter archive here. Follow Books & Whatnot on Twitter at @booksandwhatnot.

Introduction

In Which We Discuss Sad Sociology Books and Amy’s Twitter Life Coach, and Furiously Take Notes On the Books We’re Recommending Each Other (but oh wait look, show notes!)

We’re drinking Manhattans—Amy’s go-to, “I’m fancy on a Friday night” drink—and making jokes about robotripping.

We’re Reading:

Amy is reading Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell (and Kim & Emma are SO excited) and Fever Dream by Samanta Schweblin.

Kim is reading Necessary Trouble by Sarah Jaffe, The Undoing Project by Michael Lewis, and The Revenge of Analog by David Sax—which is her favorite book of 2016.

Emma is reading My Favorite Thing Is Monsters by Emil Ferris (out from Fantagraphics Feb 14) and The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson. 

Also mentioned: Shirley Jackson’s memoir(ish) essay collections Life Among the Savages and Raising Demons and the new biography on Jackson, Shirley Jackson: a Rather Haunted Life by Ruth Franklin. She recommends all the Shirley Jackson book. Because Shirley Jackson is a #bosswitch

Emma’s favorite book of 2016 is Trainwreck by Sady Doyle. Amy’s is Evicted by Matthew Desmond (paperback out Feb 28). If Kim were allowed to pick two favorites, her other favorite would be While the City Slept by Eli Sanders (paperback out Feb 7).

We’re Excited About:

Amy is looking forward to so many books in 2017, but, when pressed, narrowed it down to these six:

All Grown Up by Jami Attenberg (out March 7)

All the Lives I Want: Essays about My Best Friends Who Happen to Be Famous Strangers by Alana Massey (out Feb 7)

Alana Massey is Amy’s “Twitter life coach,” so you should probably follow her too: @alanamassey

The Road to Jonestown by Jeff Guinn (out April 11)

Woman No. 17 by Edan Lepucki (out May 9)

And We’re Off by Dana Schwartz (out May 2) 

Dana Schwartz is also the creator of Guy In Your MFA. Amy says, “She’s so talented it makes me angry.”

Emma is excited about

Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders (out Feb 14)

Seriously. Read this book. It’s his debut novel and it’s amazing. Or listen to the record-breaking audiobook.

What We Do Now: Standing Up for Your Values in Trump's America edited by Dennis Johnson and Valerie Merians 

shout out to Melville House for putting this out with a quickness.

Always Happy Hour by Mary Miller

the cover is done by the amazing painter Lee Price.

And Kim is looking forward to The Animators by Kayla Rae Whitaker because she’s pretty sure it’s queer.

Chapter I [19:50]

In Which We Discuss How Kids Book Authors Write The Best Erotic Fan Fic, Dick Jokes, and Shipwreck in Seattle

Amy works at Booksmith in San Francisco, California. She is their Events Director, does all their social media, and is their de facto HR dept. Because bookstores. 

Booksmith recently celebrated their 40th anniversary and they’re opening a new store called The Bindery—a sort of wine bar/living room space/events annex—across the street.

Amy is also the co-creator and host of Shipwreck, “a competitive literary erotic fan fiction live show,” which began in June 2013 and runs once a month at Booksmith (and sometimes travels to Comic Cons). They record ALL the shows so you can enjoy crazy dick jokes from the comfort of your own headphones.

They were inspired by the competitive reading series Write Club, which also has  a podcast!

Shipwreck is such an amazing concept, that Grand Central Publishing wanted to collect the stories in a book: Fanfiction Parodies of Great (and Terrible) Literature from the Smutty Stage of Shipwreck edited by Amy Stephenson and Casey A. Childers

Hey, Seattleites, does this sound awesome? You too can enjoy live erotic fan fiction at Emerald City Comic Con this year on March 2nd.

The line-up includes: 

Seanan McGuire (whose most recent book is Dusk or Dark or Dawn or Day and who wrote for the very first Shipwreck)
Peter Mountford (author of The Dismal Science)
Scott Westerfeld (who has a graphic novel called Spill Zone coming out May 2nd) 
Matt Fraction (who writes Sex Criminals, so you know his erotic fanfic will be excellent). 

They’ll be writing fan fiction for Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman comics. And their San Francisco performer, Baruch Porras-Hernandez, will be reading for both shows.

Buy tickets here. There will be two shows, one at 7pm and another at 9:30pm. BONUS: we, the Drunk Booksellers, will be there selling books and representing Elliott Bay Book Co.

Chapter II [40:00]

In Which We Reveal Bookseller Secrets and Are Super Supportive of Each Other

The book description guaranteed to get Amy reading is: “strong female character written by a women involved in a murder somehow and you won’t believe the twist… bathtub gin reading.”

If you need a gateway mystery, Amy recommends Tana French, specifically The Likeness.

Her desert island pick is The Comedians by Graham Greene because she already reads it every year.

Her Station Eleven pick (aka the world is falling apart, which it kind of is) is Erich Fromm: The Sane Society (NOTE: this is still in print, despite what we say in the episode) and On Disobedience by Eric Fromm

Her Wild pick: something Didion “because Didion teaches you how to see the world.” 

Bonus bookseller confession: neither Kim or Emma have read Didion. So where do you start with Didion?

• If you want to read something that’s going to make you cry: The Year of Magical Thinking
• If you want astute cultural commentary: Slouching Towards Bethlehem

Amy’s bookseller confession: she can’t get into Ferrante

Go to handsells:

• Tana French
• Margaret Atwood’s contemporary fiction: Cat’s Eye and The Robber Bride
• Fred Vargas, who writes police procedurals that are weirdly witty, funny, and entertaining; her newest book, A Climate of Fear is out March 7th
• go to non-fiction: A Thousand Lives by Julia Scheeres (who also wrote a memoir called Jesus Land

The book Amy wants to champion to other booksellers: Spare and Found Parts by Sarah Griffin, which she describes as “a modern, feminist telling of Frankenstein, sort of”

Chapter III [50:40]

Epigraph

We are fucking thrilled to have Michael Kindness and Ann Kingman on Episode 11. Michael and Ann are the hosts of the late, great Books on the Nightstand podcast and sales reps for Penguin Random House.

This episode is sponsored by Books & Whatnot, the newsletter dedicated to books, bookselling, and bookish folk. We were too excited about hosting Books on the Nightstand to mention Books & Whatnot on air, but you should definitely check out the newsletter archive here. Follow Books & Whatnot on Twitter at @booksandwhatnot.

Introduction

In Which Ann Doesn’t Let Us Set Anything on Fire, Emma Makes Coworkers Awkward, Michael Activates Host Mode, and Kim Finds a Book Too Relevant

We’re drinking Cider House Drools (local hard cider, shot of rum, dash of bitters). The alternate drink is the Out-cider (sub bourbon for rum). Or, if you’re Michael and rockin’ the cold medicine, tea.

Ann had originally planned to have us drink Charles Dickens’s punch, which involves a shit ton of alcohol and, uh, fire. If you’re braver than we are, here’s the recipe: https://food52.com/blog/18626-the-punch-you-add-a-spoonful-of-fire-to-literally

What We’re Reading:

Emma is reading: Where Am I Now?: True Stories of Girlhood and Accidental Fame by Mara Wilson and Life Among the Savages by Shirley Jackson (Bonus reading! Check out The New Yorker article about the new Shirley Jackson bio: The Haunted Mind of Shirley Jackson)

Michael is reading: Shadow Man by Alan Drew (pubs 23 May 2017... also mentioned: Gardens of Water)

Ann is reading: The Stars Are Fire by Anita Shreve (pubs 2 May 2017)

Kim is reading: Trainwreck: The Women We Love to Hate, Mock, and Fear... and Why by Sady Doyle

Emma and Kim just read Vicious by V E Schwab (shout out to book club!)

Chapter I [11:00]

In Which We Discuss the Noble Role of the Bookseller to Booksellers and How To Be an Introvert in a Socially-Focused Industry

Ann and Michael work for this little publishing house you’ve probably never heard of named Penguin Random House. Yeah, we think they should have called themselves the Random Penguin House, too.

Be among your people at BookRiot Live. They have designated reading rooms, for all y’all introverted book nerds. We see you.

Chapter II [19:20]

In Which We Unveil the Creation Story of Books on the Nightstand, Michael Issues a Mea Culpa for not Reading Ann’s Recs Sooner, and Kim Wonders About Knitting Podcasts

Books on the Nightstand readers voted on what Michael should read over the summer. The results:

So, due to popular demand, Michael finally read Ann’s recommendations from yeeeeeeears ago: Stoner by John Williams and The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood. He also recently discovered how great Stephen King is and treated himself to Salem’s Lot for Halloween.

Ann recently reread The Secret History by Donna Tartt. She also loved The Nix by Nathan Hill and Hero of the Empire: The Boer War, a Daring Escape, and the Making of Winston Churchill by Candice Millard

Check out the last eight years of Books on the Nightstand episodes at their website: http://booksonthenightstand.com/podcasts.

BTW, Booktopia is still alive via Northshire Bookstore in Manchester, VT. Field trip?

Michael’s Recent Favorite Comics/Graphic Novels/Graphica:

• The Vision by Tom King
• DC: The New Frontier by Darwyn Cooke
• Paper Girls by Brian K. Vaughan

Emma follows up with a rec for Joyride by Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly, then we all nerd out about Lumberjanes. (Seriously, y’all. it’s awesome.)

Chapter III [35:10]

In Which Ann Wants to Read The Road Set at a Boarding School, Kim is Uncomfortable with Magical Realism, and We Crush on Bookstores

Ann’s book description guaranteed to get her reading: A dark and disturbing apocalyptic story collection of thrillers set in boarding schools.

• The Unfinished World: And Other Stories by Amber Sparks
• The Secret History by Donna Tartt
• The Secret Place by Tana French
• Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel
• The Road by Cormac McCarthy

Favorite Short Story Collections

• Strange Pilgrims: Twelve Stories by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
• Emma has to name drop Kelly Link (obvi) and everybody flips out. 
• Ann: Tenth of December by George Saunders. She also loves the individual stories “Anything Helps” by Jess Walter (from We Live in Water) and “Governor’s Ball” by Ron Carlson (expanded upon in Ron Carlson Writes a Story)

Desert Island/Station Eleven/Wild Books

• Michael used to say The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, but he doesn’t actually... like reading Shakespeare, so maybe not. So then he thought he’d pick 100 Skills You'll Need for the End of the World (as We Know It) by Ana Maria Spagna, illustrated by Brian Cronin. But, naw, nevermind. He’d bring DC: The New Frontier by Darwyn Cooke.
• Ann would take The Complete Essays by Michel De Montaigne, because she got a crush on him due to How to Live: Or a Life of Montaigne in One Question and Twenty Attempts at an Answer by Sarah Bakewell.

Go-To Handsell

• Michael: Any Human Heart by William Boyd and Stoner by John Williams
• Ann - The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell (IT’S ABOUT JESUITS IN SPACE, GUYS)

Bookseller Confessions

• Michael still hasn’t read Great Expectations. But, I mean, he read A Christmas Carol, so he’s read Dicken’s okay? Also, he hasn’t read Sandman by Neil Gaiman. Neither has Emma. Or Kim. But we’ve read Alan Moore’s Watchmen, so that balances out, right? Right??
• Ann convinced hundreds of people to read War and Peace with her, but only got to page 75. At least she’s inspiring.

Bookstore Crushes

• Ann: Green Apple in San Francisco, CA (featured in Ep 8 with Pete Mulvihill)
• Michael: Powell’s Books in Portland, OR (featured in Ep 3 with Kevin Sampsell)

Favorite literary podcasts

• The Readers
• Literary Disco
• What Should I Read Next

Chapter IV [52:45]

In Which Michael and Ann Tell Us About Two Three Books They Can’t Wait for Us to Read

Michael:

1. Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah
2. Gilded Cage by Vic James (pubs 14 Feb 2017)
3. The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley by Hannah Tinti (pubs 28 March 2017)

Ann:

1. The Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit by Michael Finkel (pubs 7 March 2017)
2. American War by Omar El Akkad (pubs 4 April 2017)
3. Standard Deviation by Katherine Heiny (pubs 23 May 2017)

Epilogue [1:05:50]

You can follow Ann and Michael on Twitter at:

• Ann: @annkingman
• Michael: @mkindness 

They’re also on Instagram, Litsy, and Goodreads, so look them up there.

You can find us on Twitter at @drunkbookseller and everywhere else as DrunkBooksellers (plural). 

Aaaaaaand, we’re about to launch an Instagram account, so you should probably start following that @DrunkBooksellers. Our dear friend and fellow bookseller is in charge

Epigraph

Oh hai, friends. Remember us? Sorry for the hiatus, but we’re back! For episode 10, we’re thrilled to be chatting with Amy Stewart and Scott Brown of Eureka Books in Eureka, CA. Get psyched.

We apologize for the extended delay in episodes, and promise to post more often now that Emma has completed her cross-country move. Apparently moving across the country is time-consuming and stressful. Who knew?

This episode is sponsored by Books & Whatnot, the daily newsletter dedicated to books, bookselling, and bookish folk. Brought to you by Beth Golay. Check out the newsletter archive here. Follow on Twitter at @booksandwhatnot.

Introduction

In Which There Will Be Cats. And Gin. And Books.

Amy Stewart is the author of (among other things) Drunken Botanist, Girl Waits with Gun, Lady Cop Makes Trouble. She and her husband, Scott, are co-owners of Eureka Books in Eureka, CA.

We’re drinking Girl Waits with Gin (gin & tonic). Amy recommends using tonic syrup (available at your local fancy liquor store), but Fever-Tree tonic is a solid backup.

Emma is reading: I’ll Tell You In Person by Chloe Caldwell, Joyride by Jackson Lanzing, Collin Kelly, Marcus To, and Irma Kniivila

Scott is reading: Chaos Monkeys: Obscene Fortune and Random Failure in Silicon Valley by Antonio Garcia Martinez 

Amy is reading: The Gypsy in the Parlour by Margery Sharp (who, fun fact, wrote the Rescuers!) and Rules of Civility by Amor Towles

Kim is reading: On Trails: An Exploration by Robert Moore, You Can't Touch My Hair: And Other Things I Still Have to Explain by Phoebe Robinson

New & Forthcoming Books We’re Excited About

• Footnotes from the World's Greatest Bookstores: True Tales and Lost Moments from Book Buyers, Booksellers, and Book Lovers by Bob Eckstein
• The Artists' and Writers' Cookbook, edited by Natalie Eve Garrett and illustrated by Amy Jean Porter
• The Undoing Project: A Friendship That Changed Our Minds by Michael Lewis (pubs 6 Dec 2016)

Also mentioned: Legs Get Led Astray by Chloe Caldwell, So Sad Today by Melissa Broder, Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy by Cathy O'Neil, Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman 

Chapter I [22:25]

In Which We Learn About Fake Harry Potter Books, Bullshit California Laws, and LITSY!

Eureka Books is really pretty. Check it:

Antiquarian books are weird to booksellers in the new book world. Here’s a primer from the ABAA.

A first edition signed copy of Ready Player One by Ernest Cline is apparently worth shit. Kim’s annoyed at herself for failing to monetize her book collection.

More on the California Autograph Law

You guys. Fake Harry Potter books are a thing and they are... weird. LOOK AT THIS SHIT:

You’d think weed folk would dig Cannabis Cocktails, Mocktails & Tonics: The Art of Spirited Drinks and Buzz-Worthy Libations by Warren Bobrow. Sorry, Amy.

Litsy is great. It’s Instagram for books. Come experience the internet sans trolls. The internet isn’t just trash, y’all. Check out #getindie for all the fuzzy bookstore feels.

Join the Out of Print t-shirt club. We just made that up organically. It’s cool. We’re cool. You can be cool too.

Chapter II [36:40]

In Which We All Have Too Many New Yorkers Piled Up In Our Apartments/Houses, Junot Diaz is the New Shakespeare, and You Can Learn to Craft Vagina Ornaments

Amy’s desert island picks: Charles Dickens: David Copperfield or Great Expectations. Or all of those New Yorkers that pile up in your house that you keep meaning to read.

Scott’s Station Eleven picks: The Road by Cormac McCarthy, The Walking Dead series, A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway

Junot Diaz = Shakespeare

Scott’s Go to handsell: The Sisters Brothers by Patrick DeWitt

The epic LOL/OMG Display: Crap Taxidermy by Kat Su, books by The Oatmeal, Crafting with Feminism: 25 Girl-Powered Projects to Smash the Patriarchy by Bonnie Burton, How to Talk to Your Cat about Gun Safety: And Abstinence, Drugs, Satanism, and Other Dangers That Threaten Their Nine Lives by Zachary Auburn 

Scott’s impossible hand sell: A Void by Georges Perec

Bookseller confession: Once again, they haven’t finished Harry Potter. 

Favorite bookstores (other than Eureka): Powell’s, natch. Also, all the feels for Bookshop Santa Cruz.

Favorite lit media: Amy. Also, RIP Bookslut & The Toast.

You can find Amy all over the internet:

• Website: Amystewart.com

Epigraph

Episode nine has finally dropped! We speak with the lovely and talented Benjamin Rybeck, Marketing Director and Events Coordinator at Brazos Bookstore and author of The Sadness.

Introduction   [0:30]

In Which Emma and Kim Have a Sponsor and Make Terrible Puns, Plus Ben Invents the Phrase “Page Turner”

Currently drinking: screwdirvers with Stolichnaya, inspired by Sabbath’s Theater by Philip Roth

This episode is actually brought to you by a sponsor! Books & Whatnot is an excellent and informative newsletter for booksellers; it’s quick to read and filled with tips! Brought to you by Beth Golay. Check out the newsletter archive here. Follow on Twitter at @booksandwhatnot.

Ben is reading: Nick Flynn’s memoirs, Maggie Nelson, The Other Side by Lacy Johnson, and Madeline E. by Gabriel Blackwell

Shout-out to cool indie publisher: Outpost 19!

Emma is reading: … spreadsheets? No, but seriously, she finally started Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel—but also the apocalypse causes her some anxiety, so she might have put it down.

Kim is reading: Uprooted by Naomi Novik, Shrill by Lindy West

When Kim started reading Uprooted, Emma was like

Kim recalls possibly the best customer interaction ever, in which a male teacher from an all-girls school requests recs for a primer on feminism; Shrill by Lindy West, We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozie Adiche, and Rad American Women A-Z by Kate Schatz and Miriam Klein Stahl (illus.) are among her recs.

New & Forthcoming Books We’re Excited About

• Underground Airlines by Ben Winters (pubs July 5 2016)
• The Well-Stocked and Gilded Cage by Lawrence Lenhart (pubs Aug 2 2016)
• Here Comes the Sun by Nicole Dennis-Benn (pubs July 19 2016)
• The Sunlight Pilgrims by Jenni Fagan (pubs July 19 2016)
• Sons and Daughters of Ease and Plenty by Ramona Ausubel
• The Crimson Skew by S.E. Grove (pubs July 12 2016)
• Collections: Birds Bones and Butterflies by Leah Sobsey (pubs July 12 2016)

What do you do when a customer asks for a happy read? 

Emma tries to make them into a romance reader and, if that fails, recommends Beauty Queens by Libba Bray.

Kim recommends graphica (though Emma’s first three thoughts when she says graphica are Watchmen, Persepolis, and Fun Home—not the happiest of reads…)

Chapter I   [21:21]

In Which Ben Walks Into a Bookstore and Receives a Job, Coins the term “litizen,” and Says the Word Smartypants a Lot. Plus Emma Freaks Out About Events Coordinators/Drunk Booksellers’ Guests Not Reading Harry Potter

Longfellow Books of Portland, Maine was Ben’s childhood bookstore.

We discuss the joy of bookstores, record stores, and video stores—half-retail and half-cultural places where you go to meet friends and discover gems.

Ben’s advice for getting a job at a bookstore? Walk into said bookstore with no intention of getting a job (it worked for him!)

Learn more about Brazos Bookstore here. They do “down and dirty highbrow” bookselling.

In Houston this summer? Here are a couple fun things going on:

Houston Shakespeare Festival

Summer of Kubrick

Have you heard about this new Harry Potter book coming out? Kim imagines that it will be mostly about ennui of adulthood, and compares it to Ben’s book The Sadness. 

Chapter II   [37:46]

In Which Ben Pitches His Book Succinctly—It’s a Book About Film and Failure— and We Discuss Adulting

“Booksellers as adults is a strange thing; you’re asking people to become adults and go out into the world where their primary relationship to anything in their lives has been sitting alone in a room…that’s not going to end well.”

Chapter III   [44:34]

In Which We Speculate Alice Munroe’s Drinking Habits, Declare Adult Connect-the-Dots as The Next Big Thing, And Bring Up the Fact That Ben Hasn’t Read Harry Potter Again

Ben wants to drink with John Updike to see if he’s as insufferable a person as Ben finds him as a writer. Kim mocks his reasoning. His second choice is Alice Munroe (who may or may not listen to this podcast? We’re pretty sure she doesn’t. But we can dream.)

Ben’s bookseller confession is he doesn’t keep up with trends—but it’s ok, Emma and Kim haven’t read Knausgaard or Ferrante either.

Ben’s Station Eleven/Wild/Desert Island Books

• 2666 by Roberto Bolaño
• Collected Stories of Joy Williams
• How to Read a Film by James Monaco
• Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace
• ALL the Harry Potter books by J.K. Rowling

Go-to Handsells

• Fortune Smiles by Adam Johnson
• Faces in the Crowd, The Story of My Teeth, and Sidewalks by Valeria Luiselli

Impossib