The Bookstore (Awkwardly Social Media)

Hey CATS-heads - this week we are releasing a Patreon exclusive episode because we ran out of ideas. Hope you're ready for 53 minutes of us talking about CATS, Old Possum's Book of them, stage productions, insane CGI monstrosities, which CATS is horniest, Becca's better theory about Deuteronomy. All of it.

We will be back next week with our discussion of Barn 8 by Deb Olin Unferth. You can get it from a local bookstore or library and read along with us.

Take a quiz. 

An article by Jia Tolentino. 

Discussion and review of The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree by Shokoofeh Azar for the April challenge prompt: a book that won or was shortlisted for a literary award in 2020.

Next time we will be reading Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu. You can find it at your local bookstore or library and read along with us.

Get two months for the price of one at Libro.fm with code 'bookstore' at checkout. See the Independent Bookstore Day details here.

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Action Items - US Campaign for Palestinian Rights 

Action Items - Jewish Voices for Peace

Free Ebooks - Haymarket Books

Open Letter from ArabLit

Recommended titles: Minor Detail by Adania Shibli and Qissat: Short Stories by Palestinian Women edited by Jo Glanville*

*These are NOT affiliate links, The Bookstore will NOT receive commission from Bookshop from any purchases made while visiting these links. This is simply the most convenient non-Amazon related listing to link to. Please also use your local library for resources.

This week we read Babel-17 by Samuel R. Delaney, a sci-fi about a polyglot poet and a rag-tag crew of star-shipmen who are tasked with translating an unknown language to fight an unknown enemy known as Invaders.

Content Warnings: brief discussion of how the book handles suicide. 

Spoiler Warning: We do spoil the ending, but there is warning in the episode.

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.

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

Website | Patreon

October's prompt for The Bookstore Challenge 2022 is to read a book that's a retelling of a folktale or fairytale. Our first book is Corinne's pick, Baba Yaga Laid an Egg by Dubravka Ugrešić. 

Next book discussion episode will be on Love in Color by Bolu Babalola. Find it at your local bookstore or library and read along with us!

Get two months for the price of one at Libro.fm with code 'bookstorepod' at checkout. 

Website | Patreon

Well, well, well. It's our 100th episode and our 2nd anniversary and in this moment we swear, we're infinite.

This week Becca and Corinne take a walk down memory lane, all the way back to the early 2000's and discuss their favorite books from when they were teens. For Becca, it's Hairstyles of the Damned by Joe Meno. For Corinne: The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky. What were they like in high school? Why did they love these books? And how do they hold up 15 years later?

Next time we will be discussing The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead. Get it and read along with us!

Corinne screwed up so this week we bring you a short little piece from last summer when we visited the Detroit Festival of Books because she also always liked this episode and no one paid enough attention to it before.

Next week we'll make sure our mic batteries are fresh and we'll be bringing you a discussion of Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh so pick it up at your local bookstore or library and read along with us.

This week we read the classic noir novel, In a Lonely Place by Dorothy B. Hughes. We love it for subverting typical noir tropes and tackling American machismo at the same time.

March's promopt for the 2023 Bookstore Challenge is to read a book by an author with a disability or about disability. Becca's pick, An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon, is up first. And then we will be reading So Lucky by Nicola Griffith. You can find both at your local bookstore or library (at least one of them is available on Hoopla) and read along with us.

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, The Bookstore Challenge 2023.

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Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Mystery, Thriller, Literary Fiction, Horror, NEW WEIRD. There's a lot of genre out there. But what does any of it even mean? We have a lot of questions. And maybe some answers. (No guarantees).

This episode was inspired by two articles:

Nunnally, Mya. "A Beginner's Guide to the New Weird Genre." Book Riot. 2017 October.

Gaiman, Ishiguro. "'Let's Talk About Genre': Neil Gaiman and Kazuo Ishiguro in Conversation." The New Statesman. 2015 July.

Please ignore the fact that I don't remember how to properly cite internet articles ALA style.

Our next book discussion is going to be Turtles All the Way Down by John Green.

As the title suggests, today we bring to you a few graphic novel recommendations. Becca recommends Monstress, Kaptara, and The Old Guard. Corinne recommends Dancing After TEN, Cosmoknights, and Pretending is Lying. We also mention a few other graphic novels and comics that got us into the genre, and talk about why we like graphic novels. As always, find all the books mentioned in the episode on our website. 

Our recommendations can be purchased here.

https://www.thebookstorepodcast.com/ 

Next week we'll be discussing The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones.

Use code "bookstore" at libro.fm to get two months for the price of one.

Patreon | Website

Action Items - US Campaign for Palestinian Rights 

Action Items - Jewish Voices for Peace

November's prompt is to read a book about death and Becca’s pick is The Yield by Tara June Winch. The novel has three different narratives, one being about August, an Aboriginal Australian woman returning to her hometown after her grandfather, Poppy, dies. The second narrative is Poppy writing a dictionary of his Aboriginal language’s words, combined with brief stories from his life. And the final narrator is Reverend Greenleaf, a white minister who runs a mission for Aboriginal people in the distant past.

Content warning: violence, racism, sexual assault, colonization, destruction of culture

Our next book discussions will be Ice by Anna Kavan and Y/N by Esther Yi. 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 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.

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

Website | Patreon

After a bit of a mis-speak, we realized that we've read more books published by independent publishers and presses than we thought. So we're here to highlight the great work by publishers you suggested and publishers that we think are putting out great work. There's so many to talk about that we couldn't fit it all in!

Next week we will be reading Notes of a Crocodile by Qiu Miaojin. You can find it at your local bookstore or library and read along with us.

A list of titles and publishers discussed in this episode can be found on the episode post on our website www.thebookstorepodcast.com.

This week we're really putting ourselves out there (get it?) discussing Lois Duncan's 1981 classic suspense thriller about astral projection twins, Stranger With My Face. The book was a childhood favorite of both Corinne and Becca, so there's all sorts of nostalgic feel happening here!

Next time we will be reading Swing Time by Zadie Smith. Get it from the library or your local indie and read along with us!

Notes: The Jezebel article I mentioned that Lois Duncan does a Q&A in the comments of.

Our next award-winner is Celestial Bodies by Jokha Alharthi, winner of the International Booker Prize.

Check out photos of Oman in NYT.

Next book is Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison, as picked by our Patreon.

Get two months for the price of one at Libro.fm with code 'bookstorepod' at checkout. 

Website | Patreon

This week we read and discussed Heavy by Kiese Laymon and we think you should, too.

Our next book will be The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro. Find it at your library or local bookstore or from Libro.fm with code BOOKSTORE for the audio and read along with us.

This week we read Weetzie Bat and Witch Baby by Francesca Lia Block (both can also be found in the anthologized book Dangerous Angels). These books were massively popular with off-beat teens in the 90s and have a huge following. Will they still manage to charm jaded 30-somethings in the 2020s?

Content warnings for the books: some dark themes including sexual assault and addiction. Also some really egregious cultural appropriation and outright stereotyping/tokenizing.

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.

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

Website | Patreon

We read and discuss 2020 Booker International Winner The Discomfort of Evening by Marieke Lucas Rijneveld, translated from the Dutch by Michele Hutchison. Content warning: language, discussion of difficult topics.

Next time we will be discussing The Twilight Zone by Nona Fernandez.

Get two months for the price of one at Libro.fm with code 'bookstore' at checkout. 

Website | Patreon

Here we are with reflections on our year in reading and talking about books. Auld Lang Syne and all that, too.

Next time we will be reading Scruples by Judith Krantz. You can find it at your local library or bookstore and read along with us.

This week we wanted something very chill, and so we picked the cozy mystery queen, Agatha Christie. Other than the main question of the book, which is who did the murdering, we also wonder if people are really climbing in and out of windows, and why is blancmange so popular? 

Next time we're reading Little Eyes by Samanta Schweblin. 

Get two months for the price of one at Libro.fm with code 'bookstore' at checkout.

Website | Patreon

The Round House by Louise Erdrich came up 2nd in our Instagram poll of what we should read next. This book made us furious at the legal system and made us laugh at the teenage antics Joe and his friends get into. It's a crime thriller, but also a coming-of-age story. 

Next time we'll be discussing Kiese Laymon's memoir Heavy. 

Support Black Lives Matter

Our first book for July's prompt "Read a Book Under 200 Pages" is also the third James Baldwin book we've read for the podcast. Giovanni's Room is charmingly Parisian but also heartbreaking. 

Next book is Death in Spring by Merce Rodoreda. Find it at your local library or bookstore and read along with us!

Get two months for the price of one at Libro.fm with code 'bookstorepod' at checkout. 

Website | Patreon

Sorry for the delay! But I think I'll get this baby out with about 32 minutes of Tuesday to spare! This week we hear some listen email, talk about how to rate our books, and what we do now that the literary world is coming to terms with #metoo.

Our next discussion is I'll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara, and after that will be I Am Thunder by Muhammed Khan. Find them and read them with us!

This week's mini has some themed book news.

• What's an embargo? You're about to find out.
• Big companies bum us out, but we keep punching up until we reach the obvious ending.
• And Corinne travelled all the way to Madison, Wi to talk with Gretchen at A Room of One's Own Books about Bookstores Against Borders and how bookstores make your community.

We lied in the episode and said that next week we'd be reading Notes of a Crocodile by Qiu Miaojin, which we'll actually be reading in a couple more weeks. NEXT week we'll be discussing Trick Mirror by Jia Tolentino.

Sources:
After Tor Experiment, Macmillan Expands Embargo on Library E-Books

What happens when you give a monopoly a dystopian text: They learn how to be badder

Find Voter Information Here

This week we read Luster by Raven Leilani. Like Ottessa Moshfegh's writing it really captures the mood of a generation. We discuss older men, being bad at parties, and getting caught on very unimportant details.

Next time we will be reading Modelland by Tyra Banks and you might be able to find it at your library or used, because it's out of print. But there is this video.

Use "bookstore" at check out to get two months for the price of one at Libro.fm

Website | Patreon

Corinne and Becca discuss two short stories by the late Ursula K. Le Guin and fall in love.

The stories read for this episode: She Unnamed Them and The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas

Our next discussion will be about An American Marriage by Tayari Jones, get it from Oprah and read it with us!

We talk about book settings.

Next month the prompt is to read a book by an author you have loved before and Becca's choice is Mr. Loverman by Bernardine Evaristo. You can find it at your local bookstore or library and read along with us.

Get two months for the price of one at Libro.fm with code 'bookstore' at checkout. 

Website | Patreon

We return to the well of socially anxious nightmares this week when we read The Lottery and Other Stories by the queen of such fiction, Shirley Jackson for our final episode of Genre: Spooky October.

Next time we will be in Non-Fiction November reading Somebody's Daughter by Ashley C. Ford. You can find it at your local bookstore or library and read along with us.

Get two months for the price of one at Libro.fm with code 'bookstore' at checkout. 

Website | Patreon

October's prompt for The Bookstore Challenge 2022 is to read a book that's a retelling of a folktale or fairytale. Our second book is Becca's pick, Love in Color by Bolu Babalola. 

Next book discussion episode will be on Shine Bright: A Very Personal History of Black Women in Pop by Danyel Smith. Find it at your local bookstore or library and read along with us!

Get two months for the price of one at Libro.fm with code 'bookstorepod' at checkout. 

Website | Patreon

This week we read Friday Black by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah and Becca says something along the lines of "I'm usually pretty empathetic, but I just can't care about a school shooter's feelings."

We're going to be off next week, but we will be back the following week with a discussion and review of My Sister the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite.

Becca and Corinne make good on their promise from Episode 8.5 to read a romance novel. This week they discuss how the literature world at large has often maligned romance and they talk about the book they chose, A Week To Be Wicked by Tessa Dare. Becca pitches her perfect romance novel and the ladies pick out their pen names. Does this podcast have an HEA? You'll have to listen to find out.

Our next discussion is going to be An American Marriage by Tayari Jones.

CALL US! Leave us a voicemail at 616-730-1656.

Referenced Articles:

Roundup of the Season’s Romance Novels by Robert Gottlieb for the NYT Book Review September 2017 https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/26/books/review/macomber-steel-james-romance.html

Here’s How Not to Critique Romance Novels - Kelly Faircloth for Jezebel https://jezebel.com/heres-how-not-to-critique-romance-novels-1819188174

For the Love of Independence: Romance Authors are Literature's Unsung Heroes by S.E. Smith for Bitch Media https://www.bitchmedia.org/article/the-case-for-romance-authors

Unfortunately, we are not releasing an episode today because we’re going on hiatus. We are fine in terms of physical health and have not experienced personal family tragedy, we just need to take a break right now. I am sorry to be springing this on everyone without advance notice, it’s just something we have to do right now. Thank you to all of you who subscribe, who have ever listened to any of our episodes, gave us a good review, and absolutely all of our lovely patrons. We will absolutely be back, the world needs our book opinions!

This feed will be the best way to keep up with our timeline to return, I will give another update in December as to what our plans are. Talk to you all soon, thanks for sticking around! 

Way back in 2017, the first year of The Bookstore Podcast's existence, we read Hollywood Wives by Jackie Collins. When the documentary about her life popped up on Becca's Netflix Recommended, we figured we'd watch and discuss. We have a lot of laughs talking about Collins' fascinating life and work. 

Barbara Cartland song

Next time we will be discussing Magma by Thora Hjorliefsdottir. It can be found at your local bookstore or through Hoopla if your local library uses that service.

Get two months for the price of one at Libro.fm with code 'bookstore' at checkout. 

Website | Patreon

This week Claire Handscome joins The Bookstore to talk about her work on Brit Lit Podcast, Brit Lit Blog, and her upcoming novel Unscripted. She also recommends several incredible new books from the UK that we cannot wait to check out.

You can listen to Claire's podcast, Brit Lit Podcast wherever you're listening to this right now. You can find her work at www.unscriptednovel.com.

The books that Claire recommends in this episode are:

• Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
• Anatomy of a Scandal by Sarah Vaughan
• I am Thunder by Muhammad Khan
• The Lido by Libby Page
• (bonus) Unconventional by Maggie Harcourt

Next week we are discussing and reviewing Stranger With My Face by Lois Duncan. Read it with us, please!

For our last February prompt book, Corinne picked Sally Rooney's Beautiful World, Where Are You. We discuss how maybe this book isn't for us, and also confess we don't know much about Ireland!

Get two months for the price of one at Libro.fm with code 'bookstorepod' at checkout. 

Website | Patreon

This week we discuss Terese Marie Mailhot's memoir Heart Berries. Listen to find out why it's unlike any memoir we've ever read.

A list of media related things we bring up:
-Roxane Gay's Hunger
-Native American memoirists Joy Harjo and Leslie Marmon Silko
-Native American poet Natalie Diaz
-Chimamanda Ngozie Adiche's TED Talk "The Danger of A Single Story"
-Hannah Gadsby's Netflix special Nanette

Next time we'll be reading The Only Harmless Great Thing by Hannah Bolander.

For September's prompt to read a book by a celebrity, Corinne has chosen The Morning Show Murders by Al Roker and Dick Lochte. Al Roker is a tv personality and the resident weatherman of NBC's Today show. 

Content warnings: swearing, discussion of different types of murder, offensive accents (in the book, we do not quote the book), sexism

Our next book discussion will be Swan by Naomi Campbell. 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

This week we delve into some Book Twitter news; explaining the supply chain, revealing our ignorance of how the British government works, and encountering yet other stubborn man unwilling to rethink his preconceived notions. 

National Book Critics Circle

The Booker Prize

Next week we'll be discussing The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro.

Our first read for Non-Fiction November is a memoir called Somebody's Daughter by Ashley C. Ford. The story of her childhood and teen years, the memoir does cover some sensitive topics related to child abuse and sexual assault. Please listen and read with caution.

Our next read will be The Undocumented Americans by Karla Cornejo Villavencencio.

Get two months for the price of one at Libro.fm with code 'bookstore' at checkout. 

Website | Patreon

Ermahgerd! We're living in spooky times (it is the fourth week of October after all) so we're talking about nothing but the most chilling classics on this weeks Bookstore mini-episode. That's right, R.L. Stine's lauded and revered Goosebumps Series. Get ready to talk memes, mysterious giggles, and bookstore shenanigans!

This week we read Welcome to Dead House by R.L. Stine, you can get it at your local bookstore or library, or maybe just ask your mom or dad if your copy from 1993 is still in their basement or if they sold it at a garage sale a while back for a nickel.

Next week we will be discussing My Favorite Thing is Monsters by Emil Ferris, and you know the drill: find it and read along with us!

After that we're reading Turtles All the Way Down by John Green. Just wanted to give a super early heads up! That episode is coming 11/14/2017.

Follow us on IG/Litsy/Twitter/FB - @thebookstorepod (sometimes podcast) or send us an email at thebookstorepodcast@gmail.com!

This week we introduce a new corrections segment and talk about our year in books with some recommended reading you haven't heard us discuss on the podcast.

Books mentioned:

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin

Infomacracy by Malka Older

Fever Dream by Samanta Schweblin

You Don't Have To Say You Love Me by Sherman Alexie

Thrice the Brinded Cat Hath Mew'd and The Sweetness At the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

The Idiot by Elif Batuman

Our next discussion will be about both Fever Dream (above) and The Vegetarian by Han Kang.

This week we read and discuss The Collection by Nina Leger which is about a lady who commits her sexual partners penises to memory. It's explicit. I literally cannot imagine any of you listen to this with children, but just in case you normally do, don't this time. There's also a quiz about the Bad Sex in Fiction Award at the end of the episode, plus a Mad Lib. So, what I'm saying is. This one is fun.

Our next book discussion is going to be Weather by Jenny Offill. We mean this always, but this time we really mean it when we say get it from a local independent bookseller. They need you now more than ever.

www.thebookstorepodcast.com
www.patreon.com/thebookstore

This week we read and discuss the new novel Melmoth by Sarah Perry. It's a little spooky just to ease you out of that All Horror October hang over.

Our next discussion will be If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin. Get it and read along with us.

Books mentioned: Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier, The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe, and A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness.

Podcast Mentioned: Library Talks with Sarah Perry

Woman of Light by Kali Fajardo-Anstine follows several generations of a family in the Colorado area. Fair warning, we have some criticisms about this book's writing, so if you loved it, you may want to skip this episode. 

Content advisory: violence, sexual assault, racism

Our next book discussion will be on Crazy Brave by Joy Harjo. Find it at your local library or bookstore and read along with us!

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.

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

Website | Patreon

First some news and a correction (and a phone call!), then we review and discuss False Bingo, a book of short stories by Jac Jemc.

Next book is How to Write an Autobiographical Novel by Alexander Chee.

Other books mentioned:
Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado
Friday Black by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

That song:
88 Lines About 44 Women by The Nails - And on listening, yeah, a little problematic.

Patreon | Website

We read this year's YA sensation, Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi, and... we've got some questions.

Next time we will be discussing Wind/Pinball by Haruki Murakami. Get it and read it and talk to us about it.

Check out the website! www.thebookstorepodcast.com

We round up a ton of recent book news: adaptations, new series installments, well deserved awards, book business news, one famous ex-pharmacutical rep turned romance novelist turned private school board member gone bad, one ex-sex crime prosecutor turned mystery novelist turned bad, and more Outrages about Naomi Wolf.

A full list of sources for our stories this week can be found on the episode post on our website

Our next book discussion is Women Talking by Miriam Toews.

In this episode Becca and Corinne discuss what bums them out about the Canon of Western Literature and how it could be improved. They shoot the Canon out of a cannon. I've been trying to make that joke in one way or another since we recorded this thing, and honestly, it's not even a good joke and I kind of regret it now. Also! An offer for a bad-sexy Valentine's Day postcard.

Next week we discuss Thi Bui's The Best We Could Do. Read it and listen!

Way back in 2019, Becca and her partner Zac visited Zac's friend Tom, who is the adult services librarian of a library in Michigan. We were onsite at the library, so there are some audio issues, sorry! This episode is quite different from our normal Between the Books episodes, but we thought we'd mix it up a bit.

Next book discussion will be Heavy by Kiese Laymon.

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

Our second book for July's prompt "Read a Book Under 200 Pages" is the first book translated from Catalan that we've read for the podcast. Death in Spring by Merce Rodoreda trippy, nightmarish, but ultimately an interesting read. 

Next book is Minor Detail by Adania Shibli. Find it at your local library or bookstore and read along with us!

Get two months for the price of one at Libro.fm with code 'bookstorepod' at checkout. 

Website | Patreon

Content Warnings: violence, self-harm, so much blood, sexual violence, we also swear

If you really enjoyed this book, we’re sorry, you may want to skip this one.

A Darker Shade of Magic is a contemporary fantasy novel that’s short on background info, long on every trope, and not a series we will be continuing.

Our next book discussion will be All This Could Be Different by Sarah Thankam Mathews. 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 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.

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

Website | Patreon

Oh shit we just discovered that detective novels are our romance. This week we read Bluebird, Bluebird by Attica Locke.

Next time we will be discussing Fear of Flying by Erica Jong. Your grandma probably has it around here somewhere...

Check out www.thebookstorepodcast.com for more info related to the episode.

We've reimagined the childhood fortune telling game MASH to be about our dream bookstore. Play it with your friends and tell us what wonderful places you dream up!

Highlight this week: Becca calling children's story time "a reading to children event."

Next week we will discuss Heart Berries by Terese Marie Mailhot.

We read Gorilla, My Love by Toni Cade Bambara. This short story collection was first published in 1972 and features 15 stories, and the incredible voices of folks in New York City and sometimes in the rural south.

Content Warnings (for the book, less so for the episode): sexual assault, child abuse, murder

Our next reads will be Present Tense Machine by Gunnhild Øyehaug and Babel-17 buy Samuel R. Delaney. 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 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.

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

Website | Patreon

Content warning on this one! We don't go into great detail about the awful events described in the books we recommend, but as these are true horror stories, it might not be suitable for all listeners. Cannibalism, pandemics, more cannibalism, you get the idea. 

A list of titles discussed on this episode can be found on the episode post on our website www.thebookstorepodcast.com

Costa Concordia article

We attempt to make cozy fall reading recommendations, but we're not exactly the coziest gals. We talk about tea, a tweet, and several books that remind us of fall, as well as what we'll be reading for All Horror October (Awoooooo!). You can find all of our reading recommendations and what we will be reading for All Horror October (awoooooo!) on the website: www.thebookstorepodcast.com.

Our next book discussion will be Fear of Flying by Erica Jong. You can get it at a used bookstore, probably.

It's All Horror October and you know what that means: we're talking all horror, all October. This week we cover 2017's banned books and the scariest collection of stories aimed at 10 year olds ever written, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz with legitimately bone chilling illustrations by Stephen Gammel. This is a truly fun packed episode. We've got anecdotes, an original song recording, and a quiz. You won't want to miss it. Promise it's not too scary.

Next week we will be reading The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson. Find it in a haunted house and then read along with us!

Scandals are back in this all new STAR STUDDED episode of The Bookstore! Learn how to game The NYT Bestseller List, and how to befriend your favorite author with the help of just a fax machine and a party city wig.

If you're new to the podcast and like this episode, we recommend you check out episodes 9.5 and 12.5 for more scandals and literary gossip.

This episode we take some time to share a few books we're looking forward to reading in the remainder of 2020, as well as a couple news items we found interesting. 

Next week will be a discussion of Hurricane Season by Fernanda Melchor.

The Bookstore Podcast

This week we read The Wedding by Dorothy West, Becca pronounces "chagrin" wrong, and Corinne has been saying "Marjane" wrong for several weeks now, so we actually don't know anything except that The Wedding is a very solid book from the backlist that you should definitely check out.

Next week we'll be reading Persepolis I & II by Marjane (don't worry Corinne has it figured out now) Satrapi so you should, too.

New year, same us. We discuss (more like complain about, to be honest) Maggie O'Farrell's novel After You'd Gone. January's prompt is to read a book published in the year 2000.

Our next book discussion will be Pastoralia by George Saunders. 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

Hello Daaahhhlings. This week we read the splendiferously kaleidoscopic Modelland by Tyra Banks. It's out of print, so if you couldn't get your pretty little hands on a copy, we've got an exhaustive 2 hour breakdown of exactly, or precisely (?) what we think we might have read. It really cannot be missed so get your Smizes ready.

Next time we will be reading Memorial Drive by Natasha Trethewey. You can find this one at your local bookstore or library and read along with us.

Use code "bookstore" to get two months for the price of one at libro.fm.

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Becca's in DC so we have an actual mini-length mini this week. It's a quick news round-up and also there's a NaNoWriMo quiz so you'll know all of the NaNoWriMo facts! But not necessarily all of the other regular facts because Corinne said that Citrus County was in California even though it said Florida right there in her notes and who also said "Revolutionary Warrrddd(???)" even though she was literally googling "Revolutionary Road" while she said it. 

We're probably going to be reading Trust Exercise by Susan Choi for our next episode unless you become a patron and vote for Autumn by Ali Smith. So maybe vote!

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.

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This week we review The Book of X by Sarah Rose Etter. Thanks to Two Dollar Radio for providing us with copies in exchange for our honest review.

If you have any other indie pubs you recommend, please let us know! 

Our next discussion will be Trick Mirror by Jia Tolentino. You can find it at your local bookstore or library and read along with us!

We talk about one of our favorite subjects, literary scandals, specifically the ones involving Jonah Lehrer and Cristiane Serruya. 

Sources: Jonah Lehrer, Cristiane Serruya 1, Cristiane Serruya 2, Cristiane Serruya 3

Books mentioned: So You've Been Publicly Shamed by Jon Ronson

Next week we're discussing Modelland by Tyra Banks! It's out of print so look for it at your local library.

So we're not actually talking about memoirs, that was just a funny line that I said when we were recording this. But we are talking Literary Scandals! All of the dirty, wordy, fraud you can handle this week on My Favorite Literary Scandal.

We're off next week, but we'll be returning on December 5 with a discussion of NK Jemisin's The Fifth Season. Find it at your library or local independent bookseller and read along with us.

Corinne's pick for our March prompt (a book published by an indie press) is Little Blue Encyclopedia (for Vivian) by Hazel Jane Plante. 

Get two months for the price of one at Libro.fm with code 'bookstorepod' at checkout. 

Website | Patreon

Get two months for the price of one at Libro.fm with code 'bookstorepod' at checkout. 

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

This one might be a little divisive. We read My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh and talk about loving books with characters who are gross and mean. 

This discussion will include topics related to sexual assault and drug addiction.

Our next book discussion will be Friday Black by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah. Get it at your local bookstore or library and read along with us.

First book for our April prompt (read a book by an author who shares your birthday month or zodiac sign) is Becca's pick of Outline, by fellow Aquarian Rachel Cusk.

Next episode will be on Deep Water by Patricia Highsmith.

Get two months for the price of one at Libro.fm with code 'bookstorepod' at checkout. 

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This book has everything, except for an idea of how novels are formulated.

Our next read will be The Gilda Stories by Jewelle Gomez.

First up for June's prompt "Reread a Book You Loved" is Corinne's pick, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers. Published in 1940, this novel is about several characters in a small southern American town. 

Get two months for the price of one at Libro.fm with code 'bookstorepod' at checkout. 

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Coming in late with our discussion of Nobel Laureat Kenzaburō Ōe's The Silent Cry. This book is difficult in basically every way a book can be, so be warned.

Content warnings: suicide, sexual assault, violence.

August's Challenge prompt is to read a book that won an award for translation. Our first read will be the graphic novel Shubeik Lubeik by Deena Mohamed (also published as Your Wish is My Command in other English speaking countries). 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

Episode 130.5

Today we have a very special Between the Books episode! We are thrilled to be interviewing Bobby Finger, the author of The Old Place, which is Corinne’s pick for December’s prompt to read a book published in 2022. Yes, we will also be discussing the novel in depth in December, but for now, to encourage you to buy it, we have a little chat with Bobby about this heartbreaking and heartwarming debut.

Next book is Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger, find it at your local library or bookstore and read along with us!

Get two months for the price of one at Libro.fm with code 'bookstorepod' at checkout. 

Website | Patreon

This week we bring you weirdly specific book recommendations for some people that might be on your list. As well as solid book giving advice (read that picture book all of the way through before you give it).

You can find our list of recommendations - with links for where you can buy them - on our blog post for this episode. www.thebookstorepodcast.com

Next week: If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin

On this episode we preach to the choir and discuss why book banning is a bad thing.

Next time we will be discussing Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters. You can find it at your local library or bookstore and read along with us.

Sources for this episode:

Penn Live - Ban on books by or about minorities sparks protests, national news in York County

York Daily Record - Book ban by Central York school board of racial justice materials spurs student protests

Fresh Air - Uncovering Who Is Driving The Fight Against Critical Race Theory In Schools

Get two months for the price of one at Libro.fm with code 'bookstore' at checkout. 

Get two months for the price of one at Libro.fm with code 'bookstorepod' at checkout. 

Website | Patreon

Welcome back to The Bookstore, citizens of Earth! This time Becca and Corinne talk about their Read Around the World Challenge and discuss Svetlana Alexievich's Nobel Prize winning oral history, Voices from Chernobyl. Becca's actually been there! We've got personal experience all over this thing!

send us an email at thebookstorepodcast@gmail.com

follow us on instagram!

Find a local bookstore and buy Voices from Chernobyl by Svetlana Alexievich.

Read along for next episode with My Sweet Audrina by V.C. Andrews.

Rate, subscribe, and review!

NOTES:

1. Deep Vellum Publishing

2. Read Around the World Book List

3. A year of reading the world blog

Join us this week for a discussion of Sigrid Nunez's National Book Award Winning novel The Friend. In some ways it was a little too real for our real life events, and in others it wasn't quite real enough.

This episode contains more expletives than normal.

Next time we will be discussing Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss. Read along with us!

What's this? Another new episode this week! Recently we had the chance to chat with graphic novel writer Mariko Tamaki (Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me, This One Summer, Skim) about her latest novel for DC Ink, Harley Quinn: Breaking Glass. We chatted about how one goes about writing a graphic novel, writing popular characters, and, of course, got some book recommendations (which you can find at www.thebookstorepodcast.com).

Our final book for Non-Fiction November is The Undocumented Americans by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio. Our theme for December is Books Published Before 1950.

Our next read will be My Great, Wide, Beautiful World by Juanita Harrison, first published in 1936.

Get two months for the price of one at Libro.fm with code 'bookstore' at checkout. 

Website | Patreon

We talk about a very fun and very quick read, My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite.

Also we have news! We just launched a Patreon and if you're interested in helping support the podcast you can check it out at www.patreon.com/thebookstore. We love you.

Our next read has us returning to our incest obsessed Queen of Bonkerstown when we read Heaven by V.C. Andrews.

They say that women apologize for way too much stuff, and so I'm just going to come out and say NOT SORRY and also SUPER PROUD to bring you this episode in which my mic is a little wonky, but not that bad promise, where we talk about Halloween stuff, short spooky stories you can find online, and try to explain bad internet jokes to one another.

Here's the link to this years jezebel scary story contest, enjoy at your own risk!

I'll probably link to a couple of the more specific ones we mentioned on the blog.

The subreddits we mentioned were r/creepypasta, r/nosleep, r/letsnotmeet, and r/unresolvedmysteries.

Next time we will be discussing Melmoth by Sarah Perry, it's available now. Read along with us and let us know what you think!

We're putting our gift guide out a little early this year to give you time to order from your favorite indie bookstore! We have a list of Black-owned bookstores on our website. The books we recommended on this episode can be found here.

Next week we'll be discussing How Much of These Hills is Gold by C Pam Zhang.

Get two months for the price of one at Libro.fm with code 'bookstore' at checkout.

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This week we read the our final book for the March prompt (read a book you already own). Because it is a 3 book episode month, we turned to Patreon to pick between our respective choices. Becca's pick won and so we read A Question of Power by Bessie Head. The book itself is a little hard to get a hold of, though it seems plenty of fairly priced used options exist. Either way, we hope you'll join us for our discussion of this auto-fiction novel about a South African ex-pat living in Botswana in the 1970s while struggling with mental illness.

Next time we will be reading The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree by Shokoofeh Azar for the April prompt, a book that won or was shortlisted for an award in 2020. You can find it at your local bookstore or library and read along with us.

Get two months for the price of one at Libro.fm with code 'bookstore' at checkout.

Website | Patreon

If you are a die-hard Jane Austen fan, you may want to skip this one. We read Corinne's pick for our January prompt, "A book you think you really should have read by now." P&P is embedded in our cultural consciousness and it was time for us to see what the fuss is all about. Note: Even though Austen is G-rated, this episode contains swearing.

Next up is Becca's pick, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou.

Get two months for the price of one at Libro.fm with code 'bookstore' at checkout.

Website | Patreon

Review and discussion of The Women of Brewster Place by Gloria Naylor for our first pick for the March book prompt: Read a book you already own.

Next time we will be discussing The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi.

____

Since scandals were so much fun, we thought we'd try our hand at talking literary feuds! It's sort of like an episode of Ryan Murphy's Feud, but in a podcast and about people who write books instead of a TV show about glamorous actresses.

Next week we will be discussing Future Home of the Living God by Louise Erdrich.

Citing sources:

Seeing Mary Plain. The New York Times.

Cavett, Dick. Lillian Hellman, Mary McCarthy, and Me. The New Yorker.

Armistead, Claire. Richard Ford should swallow his pride over Colson Whitehead's bad review. The Guardian.

Massara, Kathleen. 10 Notorious Literary Spats. Flavorwire.

Our February reading prompt is to read books published by an Independent Publisher. Because we've received so many questions from people interested in how to find more independent presses, we have decided to rerelease an episode we did a couple of years back introducing you the wonderful world of Indies.

Next week we will be reading and discussing Frontier by Can Xue, published by Open Letter at the University of Rochester. You can find it at your library or local bookstore and read along with us.

Original Description:

After a bit of a mis-speak, we realized that we've read more books published by independent publishers and presses than we thought. So we're here to highlight the great work by publishers you suggested and publishers that we think are putting out great work. There's so many to talk about that we couldn't fit it all in!

A list of titles and publishers discussed in this episode can be found on the episode post on our website.

We celebrate one year of podcasthood by answering your burning questions. We laugh a lot and talk about ourselves, truly a millennial woman's dream come true.

We have read Children of Blood and Bone for next week's episode, you have probably heard of it.

The long awaited call-in episode is here! We finally get to hear your beautiful voices and answer your questions/respond to your stories and we have absolutely the most fun we've ever had recording an episode. Also there is a thunderstorm in the background - so it's basically one of those white noise CD's, too!!

If you'd like to give us a call (you do.. you know you do) our phone number is 616-730-1656, or you can email us a voice memo at thebookstorepodcast@gmail.com.

Next week we will be discussing Bluebird, Bluebird by Attica Locke. Find it at your local bookstore or library and read along with us!

Our first book for September's prompt to Read a Book with an Animal in the Title is The Book of Goose by Yiyun Li. We loved reading about this obsessive, codependent relationships between two girls in post-war France. 

Content warnings: mentions of violence and sexual assault (not graphically described)

Our next book discussion will be on Gorilla, My Love by Toni Cade Bambara. Get it from your local library or bookstore and read along with us!

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.

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

Website | Patreon

Thank you to Brilliant Books Monthly for sending us Nella Larsen's Passing! We liked it so much we decided to do an entire episode about it.

Next book we'll be reading is Abigail by Magda Szabo. Order online from your local indie bookstore or from Bookshop.org!

Content warning for sexual assault on this episode. We read Diadem From the Stars by Jo Clayton as Becca's pick for June's prompt, Genre: Romance, Fantasy, or Beach Read. It's a pulpy 70s space fantasy that left us confused and maybe even a little irate.

Next time we will be discussing Beach Read by Emily Henry. You might have to find this one used, or from your local library.

Get two months for the price of one at Libro.fm with code 'bookstore' at checkout. 

Website | Patreon

Corinne's pick for The Bookstore Challenge 2023 prompt to "read a book by an author from a country you've never been to" is An African in Greenland by Tété-Michel Kpomassie. Kpomassie writes about his childhood in Togo and his fulfilled ambition to move to Greenland and experience life there. 

Content warnings: animal death, addiction

Mentioned in the episode is a Tiktoker who lives in Svalbard, @sejsejlija

Our next book discussion, as chosen by our Patreon Patrons, will be Time Shelter by Georgi Gospodinov. 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 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.

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

Website | Patreon

We attempt a timeline of the events that have been shaking up Romancelandia, and rhapsodize about the genius of Greta Gerwig and her version of Little Women.

Sources:

https://www.pajiba.com/miscellaneous/a-timeline-and-explanation-of-the-romance-writers-of-america-controversy.php

(and lots of time spent refreshing Twitter!)

Next book discussion will be Silvia Moreno-Garcia's Gods of Jade and Shadow! 

This week we have a very special guest: the guy who helps us produce this and also the guy who is married to Corinne, Josh Bourdon. We're discussing Turtles All the Way Down by John Green. And also John Green in general. And also mental illness, and being in high school, and other things tangential to the subject. But mostly Turtles All the Way Down. A reminder that this is a book club-like discussion and spoilers abound, if you're not looking for that, meet  back up with us after you've read the book.

Our next book discussion is NK Jemisin's The Fifth Season. Find it at a library or your local independent bookstore and read along with us.

Our second book published by an independent publisher for the February prompt is Frontier by Can Xue. We don't actually know how to explain it or talk about it, but we try!

Next time we will be reading our first March Prompt book (something we already own): The Women of Brewster Place by Gloria Naylor. You can find it at your local bookstore or library and read along with us.

Get two months for the price of one at Libro.fm with code 'bookstore' at checkout.

Website | Patreon

Our last pick for December's prompt to Read a Book Published in 2022 is Becca's choice, You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty by Akwaeke Emezi. It's also our last book for 2022! While we are not romance fans, as you will be able to tell in this episode, we still enjoyed discussing the wild journey this book took us on. Explicit content and spoiler warnings all-around!

We'll be releasing an episode going over all of The Bookstore Challenge 2023 prompts soon!

Next time we will be discussing Maud Martha by Gwendolyn Brooks. You can find it at your local bookstore or library and read along with us.

Website | Patreon