At the end of the world, Philip Lorish (University of Virginia) decided to open a bookstore. He says that despite the cultural moment that audiobooks are having and that impenetrable, digital mass distribution behemoth who shall not be named – bookstores matter. He’s the owner of Commerce Street Books. And: As a child, Lamar Giles (William & Mary) was allowed to read anything he wanted. And he took full advantage of that on his weekly library visits. Everything from DC comics and Stephen King novels, he read it all. There was nothing called “young adult” literature when he was coming up. Now, he writes it. And he says it's important to him that kids today have the same freedom to read.

Later in the show: When you think of trees in Charlottesville, Virginia, what comes to mind? Probably not the willow oaks lining the eight-block downtown mall. But MaKshya Tolbert (University of Virginia) became entangled with the trees. Her book is Shade is a place.