Some good books both to help you operate more effectively and some just to enjoy, always with bookselling in mind.
We have a new contributor at The Bookshop Blog, something just for the guys. Here’s some info: ManBookRead is a men’s book club that was established to unite men around America (and beyond) under one interesting, quality, and genuinely awesome book each month. If it helps to use an example, think of Oprah’s Book Club … Read more
by Carrie Bailey While writing my thesis earlier this year, I was so eager to leave grad school behind me, like it was a candy wrapper and I was late to catch a train, that I hardly had time to process the controversial nature of the material I was studying. I wasn’t reading steampunk. Maybe … Read more
The Spider Orchid—Celia Fremlin–1977 –Used. I admit I originally had this on my Best 100 Mysteries of All Time list. I remember loving Ms. Fremlin, and thought this title was the best of what I read. But upon rereading this and another, I found I favored the other much more, so have switched this from … Read more
The Red Right Hand-–Joel Townsley Rogers–1945–used It’s almost impossible to describe The Red Right Hand. It’s kookie. Odd. Seemingly disjointed and nonsensical. It’s none of those things in the end, but it is something of a gigantic guffaw. Because you really need to set your suspension of belief at a very high level to believe … Read more
Of all the pleasures that compensate a bookshop owner for his low wages none can beat introducing customers to books they were unaware of, and then, after a couple of weeks, hearing a happy review. I am not extremely well read, owing both to my weakness for watching sports and to the plodding pace of … Read more
The So Blue Marble—Dorothy B. Hughes–1940–used ‘One delighted voice said, “Griselda, fancy seeing you!” The other one was laughing, “We’d thought you’d never come!” She could see the tall silk hats, the shining white scarves, the dark coats, the sticks under their arms. Even in shadow, she knew she had never seen their faces.’ This … Read more
Mystic River—Dennis Lehane –2001–IP Dennis Lehane can write. No, that’s not a given for this list. Some books I love may not be written eloquently or in a compelling manner. Lehane does both, and far far more. “When Sean Devine and Jimmy Marcus were kids, their fathers worked together at the Coleman Candy plant … Read more
I thought the weird road-trips my husband and I went on were the end all be all of strange vacations. But Sarah Vowell unquestionably wins the dubious nonexistent prize as–Best Ghoulish, Yet Fascinating, Entertaining, and Educational Vacation. I finally finished reading her part political, part historical, part macabre, part travelogue, part opinion, part essay, part … Read more
