I’m very interested in The Alternatives, and I appreciate your advice about reading it in print - noted!
As for book discovery, my only local new-book bookstore is our beloved Barnes and Noble and I adore going there to wander for as long as I want and sit on the floor and get a drink and lose my daughters (they’re not little, don’t worry!) in the aisles as we all get lost in our own worlds. But I also love practicing bookstore tourism by making indie bookstores a destination in themselves when I travel. I know many people love used bookstores, but they are usually just too disorganized and chaotic for me to handle ~ it’s sensory overload and I get overwhelmed quickly. I also of course love the library and when I have time to do more than pick up holds, I’ll wander back into the stacks and just start grabbing. It’s so fun to find something I have never heard of before in these places! One I just picked up at BN is Still True by Maggie Ginsberg, and its is blurbed with “I could stay in this story for years!” By Luis Alberto Urrea and is set in my own state of Wisconsin! I can’t wait to read it.
One last thing ~ re: book fairs at school, as a librarian I have stopped hosting these because the inequity is just too sad for me to see. The haves come and shop, the have-nots don’t get to, and Scholastic has now made their fairs so heavy with toys and non-book items that the books seem almost like an afterthought. Many schools are forced to hold these book fairs to raise money for necessary supplies and it just breaks my heart that our public education system is so broken. Our school now has a book cafe every year where each kid can get two brand-new books and one used one, and this is funded via Title I dollars. We’re hoping to expand it to twice a year next year!
Whew, that was a lot - thanks for your amazing newsletters ❤️
I loved The Scholastic book fairs as a kid too. As far as in person browsing these days, my favorite place to browse is my local Barnes and Noble. Their shelf talkers aren't great but I always end of finding a book or 2 I hadn't heard of
My favorite way to be hand-sold books I wouldn’t have found otherwise is the Fiction Matters Biblio Brunch! I also love to browse my local indies (The Book Catapult and Verbatim Books in North/South Park San Diego). I might take pictures of the books I’m interested in and then do a little research before going back and purchasing them. Sometimes books do just hop into my arms and I have to buy them based on a feeling (this is how I found Fresh Water for Flowers - a book I dearly loved). Listening to the podcast season previews and monthly reading recaps (and especially Sara’s Ranked Reading Recap) are what makes my TBR so out of control, in the best possible way.
I am SO excited you read The Alternatives – I've been eyeing that one because it just sounded so good. Your review has made me both more eager to read it but also a little nervous that it might be too demanding of me. I have it on Netgalley so maybe I'll just give it a try!
You've got me even more excited for The Alternatives now! One place I love going to for book discovery is Book Bar UK. They have a really great curation of lists on their website and I often find new to me books since the publishing cycle is a bit different over there!
I've been struggling when browsing my beloved indies (Moon Palace Books in Minneapolis and Black Garnet in St. Paul) because I feel nervous about picking something that hasn't been vetted, so to speak, by someone I follow on Bookstagram or someone I know personally. I have so many books I want to read...what if it is a lemon? But I miss making discoveries on my own, and would like to get back to it.
I’m very interested in The Alternatives, and I appreciate your advice about reading it in print - noted!
As for book discovery, my only local new-book bookstore is our beloved Barnes and Noble and I adore going there to wander for as long as I want and sit on the floor and get a drink and lose my daughters (they’re not little, don’t worry!) in the aisles as we all get lost in our own worlds. But I also love practicing bookstore tourism by making indie bookstores a destination in themselves when I travel. I know many people love used bookstores, but they are usually just too disorganized and chaotic for me to handle ~ it’s sensory overload and I get overwhelmed quickly. I also of course love the library and when I have time to do more than pick up holds, I’ll wander back into the stacks and just start grabbing. It’s so fun to find something I have never heard of before in these places! One I just picked up at BN is Still True by Maggie Ginsberg, and its is blurbed with “I could stay in this story for years!” By Luis Alberto Urrea and is set in my own state of Wisconsin! I can’t wait to read it.
One last thing ~ re: book fairs at school, as a librarian I have stopped hosting these because the inequity is just too sad for me to see. The haves come and shop, the have-nots don’t get to, and Scholastic has now made their fairs so heavy with toys and non-book items that the books seem almost like an afterthought. Many schools are forced to hold these book fairs to raise money for necessary supplies and it just breaks my heart that our public education system is so broken. Our school now has a book cafe every year where each kid can get two brand-new books and one used one, and this is funded via Title I dollars. We’re hoping to expand it to twice a year next year!
Whew, that was a lot - thanks for your amazing newsletters ❤️
I loved The Scholastic book fairs as a kid too. As far as in person browsing these days, my favorite place to browse is my local Barnes and Noble. Their shelf talkers aren't great but I always end of finding a book or 2 I hadn't heard of
My favorite way to be hand-sold books I wouldn’t have found otherwise is the Fiction Matters Biblio Brunch! I also love to browse my local indies (The Book Catapult and Verbatim Books in North/South Park San Diego). I might take pictures of the books I’m interested in and then do a little research before going back and purchasing them. Sometimes books do just hop into my arms and I have to buy them based on a feeling (this is how I found Fresh Water for Flowers - a book I dearly loved). Listening to the podcast season previews and monthly reading recaps (and especially Sara’s Ranked Reading Recap) are what makes my TBR so out of control, in the best possible way.
I am SO excited you read The Alternatives – I've been eyeing that one because it just sounded so good. Your review has made me both more eager to read it but also a little nervous that it might be too demanding of me. I have it on Netgalley so maybe I'll just give it a try!
You've got me even more excited for The Alternatives now! One place I love going to for book discovery is Book Bar UK. They have a really great curation of lists on their website and I often find new to me books since the publishing cycle is a bit different over there!
I've been struggling when browsing my beloved indies (Moon Palace Books in Minneapolis and Black Garnet in St. Paul) because I feel nervous about picking something that hasn't been vetted, so to speak, by someone I follow on Bookstagram or someone I know personally. I have so many books I want to read...what if it is a lemon? But I miss making discoveries on my own, and would like to get back to it.
Selfishly, I’m asking..,was this in the Denver metro area?
Louise being able to watch these incredible women play basketball 🥹