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A coastal drive, a hard pivot, and a bookstore built on happy endings. 

In this episode, I chat with Mae Tingstrom, founder and owner of Smitten Books in Ventura. Mae explains how a former tech professional learned to say no, embraced a niche, and turned a retail space into a community hub. From digging trenches and pulling drywall to stocking shelves with books written by women and non-binary authors, her journey is equal parts grit and heart.

We trace the moment she left the Bay Area for a smaller town, why construction took twice the time and three times the budget, and how boundaries saved both her energy and her mission. Mae shares how coffee retail led to a bigger idea: a bookstore that online shopping can’t replicate, because the value isn’t just the book—it’s the community. Think six free book clubs across genres, writing and tarot circles, live music, and workshops that give adults a place to meet outside bars and school pickup lines. Purchases don’t just stay local; they fund the programming that keeps neighbors connected.

Romance is the store’s backbone for a reason: it sells, it heals, and it promises a satisfying ending when the world feels unstable. But listening to readers broadened the catalog—fantasy, general fiction, and a women-authored horror and suspense club now thrive alongside rom-coms and self-care. We also get into Main Street dynamics, from parking advocacy with neighboring shops to the serendipity of foot traffic that still discovers Smitten daily. To cap it off, Mae walks us through a jam-packed Valentine’s Day and two-year anniversary lineup—sales, raffles, live music, hands-on workshops—and a used book fundraiser for a local dog rescue.

If you care about independent bookshops, community building, and the business realities behind feel-good spaces, you’ll find practical insight and plenty of heart here. Subscribe, share this episode with a friend who loves indie bookshops, and leave a review to help more listeners discover these stories.

Smitten Bookstore

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This week, I chat with Ann Kjellberg, founding editor of the literary magazine Little Star and Book Post, a bite-sized newsletter-based review delivery service, sending well-made book reviews by distinguished and engaging writers, direct to your inbox.

Start with a single question: who gets to decide what matters in books—algorithms, crowds, or critics who sign their names? We sit down with editor and publisher Ann Kjellberg to trace a life spent inside literature, from Yale and Farrar, Straus and Giroux to The New York Review of Books, Little Star, and her Substack, Bookpost. Along the way, we explore how clarity, curiosity, and community can still hold the center in a noisy culture.

Ann shares how working with émigré writers, including Joseph Brodsky, shaped her view of editing as a craft of ethical clarity—making difficult ideas legible without flattening a writer’s voice. We look at the mid-century boom that birthed the paperback revolution and an expanded reading public, then contrast it with today’s attention economy, where BookTok trends and Amazon ratings often drown out patient, thoughtful criticism. Ann doesn’t dismiss reader enthusiasm; she pairs it with the need for accountable reviews that analyze, cite, and argue—skills that teach us how to think rather than what to buy.

We also celebrate indie and radical bookstores as engines of civic life. From hand-selling that starts lifelong reading relationships to nonprofit partnerships that put free books in schools, these shops build the pluralist spaces many communities lack. Ann explains why Bookpost rotates partner bookstores to steer purchases locally, and why a weekly, well-matched review can re-anchor conversation in substance. If you care about the future of reading, criticism, and the free exchange of ideas, this conversation offers a map—and a reason to keep showing up for books and each other.

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Ann Kjellberg - Book Post

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In this episode, I chat with Lovestruck Books owner and founder, Rachel Kantor. Rachel traces the thread from her years in classrooms and nonprofits to the moment she opened a shop that treats joy and access as serious cultural work. We dig into what it means to put the world’s best-selling fiction genre at the center of an academic neighborhood and how that choice reshapes conversations about taste, representation, and who gets shelf space.

Rachel shares the tightrope walk between mission and margin, revealing how a cafe and wine bar aren’t add-ons but engines of community: inviting readers to linger, meet, and return. We explore the store’s 75% romance focus alongside kids’ books, general fiction, and targeted nonfiction—from memoir to sexual health and wellness—plus a slate of events that range from bestselling rom-com authors to a sold-out pelvic floor workshop and visits from award-shortlisted historians. The mix is intentional, reflecting a wide and lively demographic: students, professors, longtime locals, tourists, and readers across the gender and orientation spectrum.

Representation sits at the center. We talk about the ongoing rise of queer love stories, poly relationships, Indigenous and BIPOC authors, and why fighting book bans and expanding access matter for a healthier literary ecosystem. Rachel offers gateway picks for skeptics, like Alice Hoffman’s Practical Magic, alongside current obsessions in sports romance and romantasy, and she explains how recognition, like a member-voted Best Bookstore award, signals that community is choosing this model of joyful, inclusive culture. Join us to rethink what a bookstore can be, and to leave with a stronger, more curious TBR.

If this conversation sparked a new read or reminded you why you love indie bookshops, tap follow, share it with a friend, and leave a quick review—your support helps more listeners find the show.

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Start with the truth: technology keeps changing the book world, but the love of reading isn’t going anywhere. That’s our springboard for a rich, candid conversation with publishing analyst and author Thad McIlroy about what AI can actually do for writers, publishers, translators, and readers—and where it crosses lines that matter. We trace his arc from bookstore floors to indie publishing, investigative journalism, and desktop publishing, then into the fast-moving landscape of modern AI.

We get practical fast. Want a sharper pitch, a cleaner description, better metadata, and smarter keywords? Use AI as a drafting partner—then apply human voice and judgment. Thinking about acquisitions or submissions? Run a secure, opt-out upload and ask the model who the audience is, what comp titles make sense, and how to position the work. We talk tools—Claude for colloquial nuance, Gemini for reasoning, ChatGPT with training opt-outs—and how to protect manuscripts while you explore.

We also tackle the hard edges. Headlines predicting the “death of authors” are noisy, but real concerns remain: training on copyrighted books without compensation, contracts that quietly assign AI rights, and the limits of AI detection tools. Thad breaks down recent rulings vs. piracy, separates legal allowances from ethical responsibilities, and shares what to renegotiate now so creators aren’t boxed out later. On translation, we sketch a hybrid workflow—machine draft, human craft—that can open doors for books that would never otherwise travel, while preserving the nuance great translators bring.

Through it all, we return to the point of the industry: a reader choosing a book, a poet on a shelf, an indie bookseller who knows your taste. AI can help us market smarter, iterate faster, and reach farther—but it shouldn’t replace the human spark that makes literature worth saving. If that balance resonates with you, follow along, share this conversation with a friend, and leave a review to help more book lovers find the show.

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In this episode, I chat with author and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Mirta Ojito about her novel Deeper Than The Ocean. This book is one of my top reads of 2026!

A century-old shipwreck with no survivors. A journalist haunted by dreams. A family secret whispered across oceans. Mirta Ojito shares the real history behind Deeper Than the Ocean and the intimate choices that make a sweeping story feel startlingly close.

Ojito takes us from Spain to La Palma in the Canary Islands, to Cuba, and to Florida, tracing the hidden currents that shaped migration from 1919 to today. She opens the archive on the Valbanera, the “poor man’s Titanic,” and shares how one chance encounter with a Spanish-language book in Key West became the seed for a dual-timeline novel. 

We explore Spain’s post–World War I turmoil, the Spanish flu’s shadow, and why economic windfalls can deepen inequality when systems fail. Along the way, silk traditions, natural dyes, and island geography anchor the narrative in physical detail that lets history breathe.

We also talk about craft and conscience. As a newsroom standards leader and Pulitzer-winning reporter, Ojito explains how trust is built word by word, why details matter, and how to tell the truth without exploiting suffering. Her fiction draws on lived experience—from the Mariel boatlift to the tenderness and terror of motherhood—and on the unsettling idea that trauma can cross generations. The result is a story about courage, belonging, and the complicated love we carry for places we cannot return to, and places that no longer exist.

If you’re drawn to literary fiction rooted in real events, migration history, and ethical storytelling, this conversation will stay with you. Listen, then share your answer: what does home mean when it spans more than one shore? 

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Mirta Ojito

Deeper Than The Ocean, Mirta Ojito

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In this episode, I chat with Amanda and Anthony Stromoski, co-owners of Rough Draft Bar & Books located at Kingston, New York's historic four corners.

What if your favorite bookstore also poured a perfect espresso and kept an impeccable tap list? Amanda and Anthony explain how a 1774 schoolhouse became a living room for the Hudson Valley. From Brooklyn careers to a life anchored in community, they share the turning points—personal loss, a craving for connection, and a decade of dreaming—that led to opening a bookstore-bar where people want to linger.

We dig into the choices that shape trust and atmosphere: building with reclaimed wood and approachable furniture, prioritizing comfort over polish, and crafting a bar and coffee program that serves readers from morning to late night. On the shelves, their mantra—something for everyone, not all things to all people—guides a curated mix of literary fiction, evolving genre sections, and a standout local interest collection: Catskills hiking guides, Hudson Valley geology and architecture, and beloved regional cookbooks. They break down how staff picks, customer requests, and real-time feedback keep the selection fresh and relevant.

Beyond the shop, we map the region’s creative heartbeat. Expect insider recs for Overlook Mountain, Huckleberry Point, and the rugged Devil’s Path, plus a post-hike stop at West Kill Brewing. We also spotlight neighboring indie bookstores—Spotty Dog Books and Ale in Hudson and the Golden Notebook in Woodstock—that helped inspire Rough Draft’s hybrid model. The conversation closes with two standout reads: Álvaro Enrigue’s You Dreamed of Empires for its empathy-forward perspective on history, and David Litt’s It’s Only Drowning for the lessons of learning hard things as an adult.

If you love independent bookshops, Hudson Valley travel, Catskills hikes, craft beer, and the art of thoughtful curation, you’ll feel right at home here. 

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Rough Draft Bar & Books

You Dreamed of Empires, Álvaro Enrigue

It’s Only Drowning, David Litt

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In this episode, I chat with Bruce Holsinger about stories, community, publishing, teaching, and the craft behind his latest novel, Culpability. 

Bruce brings a rare lens to contemporary fiction. As a medievalist at the University of Virginia, he teaches medieval literature and applies his enthusiasm to craft classes where the basics—point of view, character arcs, structure—become living tools. He explains why paratext—chat logs, interviews, and excerpts from Lorelei’s AI book—lets a novel breathe beyond exposition, capturing how we really encounter the world: through fragmented feeds, competing voices, and the uneasy mix of intimacy and spectacle.

 Culpability Synopsis:

When the Cassidy-Shaws’ autonomous minivan collides with an oncoming car, seventeen-year-old Charlie is in the driver’s seat, with his father, Noah, riding shotgun. In the back seat, tweens Alice and Izzy are on their phones, while their mother, Lorelei, a world leader in the field of artificial intelligence, is absorbed in her work. Yet each family member harbors a secret that implicates them in the accident.

During a weeklong recuperation on the Chesapeake Bay, the family confronts the excruciating moral dilemmas triggered by the crash. Noah tries to hold the family together as a seemingly routine police investigation jeopardizes Charlie’s future. Alice and Izzy turn strangely furtive. And Lorelei’s odd behavior tugs at Noah’s suspicions that there is a darker truth behind the incident—suspicions heightened by the sudden intrusion of Daniel Monet, a tech mogul whose mysterious history with Lorelei hints at betrayal. When Charlie falls for Monet’s teenage daughter, the stakes are raised even higher in this propulsive family drama that is also a fascinating exploration of the moral responsibility and ethical consequences of AI.

Culpability explores a world newly shaped by chatbots, autonomous cars, drones, and other nonhuman forces in ways that are thrilling, challenging, and unimaginably provocative.

Subscribe, share with a reader friend, and tell us: which moment changed how you see the story?

Culpability, Bruce Holsinger

Bruce Holsinger

Bruce Holsinger Episode #163 The Bookshop Podcast

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In this episode, I'm chatting with author Laura Resau about her novel The Alchemy of Flowers.

A walled garden in the south of France. A woman carrying the weight of infertility and the ache of what might have been. An author who believes that myth, nature, and careful attention can turn pain into something living. That’s the ground we walk together with Laura Resau, whose debut adult novel, The Alchemy of Flowers, blends sensory delight with hard-earned hope.

We start with Laura’s unusual path—trilingual, trained in cultural anthropology, shaped by seasons in Provence and Oaxaca—and how immersion in other cultures taught her to write with reverence for place and people. She shares why she shifted from award-winning children’s books to adult fiction, carrying forward wonder while making room for layered reflection. Magical realism isn’t a trick here; it’s a way of telling the truth. Laura draws on myth to map inner journeys, then roots that map in the real work of a healing garden: herbs, salves, teas, and the slow patience of tending.

At the heart of our conversation is the compost metaphor that sparked the novel: how do we turn our crap into flowers? Eloise, our protagonist, manages literal compost while metabolizing years of loss, guilt, and tightly controlled routines. We explore restraint versus freedom, the cultural noise around fertility, and the relief of stepping off that hamster wheel—even inside a garden with walls. Found family deepens the story’s warmth, especially through Mina, whose act of writing through trauma echoes Laura’s real-life collaboration on The Queen of Water, a testament to storytelling as a path to repair.

Come for the rich textures—French meals that stretch past midnight, treehouses and yurts, a garden that feels both sanctuary and crucible. Stay for the craft insights, the mythic threads, and the gentle insistence that transformation is possible. If you’ve ever needed fiction that meets your pain without flinching and still promises bloom, this conversation is for you. 

Subscribe, share with a friend who loves literary fiction and magical realism, and leave a review to help more readers find the show. What part of your life is ready to turn into flowers?

Laura Resau

The Alchemy of Flowers, Laura Resau

The Compound, Aisling Rawle

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In this episode, I chat with Mary Morris about her latest novel, The Red House.

A lost button at an airport. A plaque on a modest olive tree. A red monolith on a hill that once held people in limbo. My conversation with Mary Morris reveals how these small, stubborn details evolved into The Red House, a propulsive and intimate novel about a daughter following her missing mother’s trail across Italy and through the overlooked corners of World War II history.

Mary shares how speaking Italian—and loving languages—let her move beyond postcards and step inside local memory, building the kind of empathy that makes fiction feel true. 

The heart of this episode beats with maternal absence and creative courage. Mary reflects on the teacher who named her a writer, the dream that pushed her to New York, and the decision to return to the sheer pleasure of story over market expectations. We chat about the joy of reading books translated into English, reading for texture, and why art—visual, poetic, and narrative—can hold what direct speech cannot. If you’re drawn to literary fiction, historical mystery, Italian settings, WWII history in southern Italy, and novels that braid love, loss, and identity, you’ll feel at home here.

If this conversation resonates, follow the show, share it with a friend who loves books, and leave a quick review—your notes help more curious readers find us.

Mary Morris

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Hi, this week I'm chatting with Amy Joyce and Gayle Weiswasser, co-owners of Wonderland Books in Bethesda, Maryland.

What turns a bookstore into a place where people feel part of a community? We asked Wonderland Books co-owners Amy Joyce and Gail Weiswasser, whose Bethesda shop blends sharp curation, joyful whimsy, and real community care—right down to a wall of Polaroids featuring every visiting dog.

We trace their unlikely routes into bookselling—Amy from nearly three decades at the Washington Post and Gail from law and corporate communications—and how those skills power everything from lease negotiations to handselling, newsletters, and event strategy. They open up about curating beyond their own tastes by leaning on staff with different genre passions, why a quarter of the store is devoted to children’s books, and how representation in kids’ publishing shapes what young readers reach for on the shelf.

Community is the through line. Hear how a creative Indiegogo campaign funded shelves and inventory while transforming donors into co-creators who curated displays, joined after-hours previews, and saw their book clubs’ names on the wall. We dig into school partnerships that put author-visit titles in students’ hands, hospital library donations made from damaged returns, and dog adoption events that turn the kids’ section into a gentle reading nook—even for a blind pup named Rex.

We also get practical about social media that works without a budget: staff-forward videos, playful trends, and a voice that feels human. Amy and Gail share what’s selling now—from dystopian classics to big-hearted novels—and offer thoughtful recommendations that build empathy, including Demon Copperhead, Nickel and Dimed, Nomadland, and The Secret Lives of Church Ladies. The philosophy is simple: welcome warmly, never hover, and let curiosity lead. If you love bookstores that feel like a sanctuary and a spark, this conversation will make you want to visit, linger, and read.

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Wonderland Books

Demon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolver

Nomadland, Jessica Bruder

Buckeye, Patrick Ryan

Some Great Nowhere, Ann Packer

The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny, Kiren Desai

The Road to Tender Hearts, Annie Hartnett

Nickel and Dimed, Barbara Ehrenreich

The Secret Lives of Church Ladies, Deesha Philyaw

Mandy Jackson-Beverly - Lunch With An Author Literary Series

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