Bookstore Explorer

This week, we talk with Evan Friss, author of The Bookshop: A History of the American Bookstore, out now from Penguin Random House. Starting with Benjamin Franklin and moving up to the present day, it is a love letter to bookstores that The New York Times calls "A spirited defense of this important, odd and odds-defying American retail category."

Books We Talk About: The Death and Life of Great American Cities by Jane Jacobs and the works of Donna Tartt, Haruki Murakami, Kurt Vonnegut and George Saunders.

Today, we’re visiting Happy Magpie Book & Quill in Ogden, Utah. I’m joined by owner Patrick Ramsay, who operates the shop on a unique pay-what-you-want model.

Books We Talk About: Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed, Red Rising by Pierce Brown, Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller, The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen by KJ Charles, and Instructions for Traveling West by Joy Sullivan.

John Evans opened Lemuria Books in Jackson, Mississippi, in 1975 and joins me to discuss his five decades in bookselling.

Books We Talk About: From Moby Dick to Eudora Welty, we cover a lot in this one!

Our theme music is Whiskey River II by Erin Eades. Check her out wherever you stream music or visit ErinEadesMusic.com.

After 14 years, Dane Ferguson knows a thing or two about the bookselling business, and he walks me through the ups and downs of the trade as we visit Ferguson Books & More in West Fargo, ND.

Books We Talk About: The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah, Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid, The Quiet Tenant by Clemence Michallon.

Our theme music is Whiskey River II by Erin Eades. Check her out wherever you stream music and visit ErinEadesMusic.com.

Long-time podcast listener Thalia Lewandowski and her business partner visited Matt’s bookstore Airbnb in January to learn all they could about opening their own bookshop. Now they’ve done it! Thalia joins the pod to discuss Paper & String Books, a shop that seamlessly blends reading and crafts.

Books We Talk About: Mary Jane by Jessica Anya Blau, North Woods by Daniel Mason, James by Percival Everett, A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas, and the works of Jane Harper and Amor Towles.

Our theme music is Whiskey River II by Erin Eades. Find Erin's music wherever you stream or visit ErinEadesMusic.com.

We're back for Season 3! Today, we are in Capser, Wyoming, to visit Wind City Books. Owner Miranda Berdahl and her bookseller son, Rhys, discuss taking over ownership of the shop during the pandemic, what it's like working for your mother, and more!

Books We Talk About: Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, Monkey King: Journey to the West by Wu Cheng'en, Intermezzo by Sally Rooney, I'm Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom by Jason Pargin, Shad Hadid by George Jreije.

Our new theme music is Whiskey River II by Erin Eades. Hear her music wherever you stream and visit ErinEadesMusic.com.

Queer Haven Books is a new shop whose mission is to provide a place of safety and refuge for the queer community in the South. Owner Baker Rogers joins me to discuss what inspired the shop and what's ahead for its future.

Books We Talk About: The Thirty Names of Night by Zeyn Joukhadar, Confessions of the Fox by Jordy Rosenberg, Delilah Green Doesn't Care by Ashley Herring Blake, Less by Andrew Sean Greer, The Guncle by Steven Rowley, Rubyfruit Jungle by Rita Mae Brown, Polysecure and Polywise by Jessica Fern

This week, we visit with Jessie Canute, owner of Canute Books in Portland, Tennessee, and her daughter, Sessily. Their brand-new shop is located inside of Bloomin’ Deals, a 4,000 square foot thrift boutique home to more than 40 vendors. They tell us how they want from being "book dragons" to bookshop owners!

This week, we're joined by author Jonathan Corcoran to discuss his new memoir, No Son of Mine, and his lifelong love of bookstores! In addition to No Son of Mine, Corcoran is the author of the short story collecction The Rope Swing, which was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Awards and long-listed for The Story Prize. His essays and stories have been published and anthologized widely, including in Salvation South, Still: The Journal, Best Gay Stories, and the Oxford University Press textbook, How Writing Works.

Books We Talk About: Sugar Run by Mesha Maren, The Prettiest Star by Carter Sickels, Black Tickets by Jayne Anne Phillips, and Fierce Attachments by Vivan Gornick

This week, we're in Huntington, WV, to visit Cicada Books & Coffee. This family-owned spot was opened in 2018 by mother-daughter duo Dawn Hylbert and Katie Norman, who join me to discuss the store’s history, its place in community, and its unique blend of books, coffee, and art.

Books We Talk About: Manhunt by Gretchen Felker-Martin, Devil House by John Darnielle, Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters, The Devil Takes You Home by Gabino Iglesias, and Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts by Crystal Wilkinson