We created prompts for each month to help us choose our podcast books, and decided to again release it as a reading challenge. Feel free to use however works for you! If you want to do July‘s prompt in January, that‘s your right, we support it. Join us over at The StoryGraph where we set up the challenge as The Bookstore Challenge 2022. Happy New Year!

For December's theme, A Book Published Before 1950, Becca picked My Great, Wide, Beautiful World by Juanita Harrison, first released in 1936. It's the travel journal of a young Black woman who journeyed to 22 different countries.

New episode out now! We both loved this classic autobiography by Maya Angelou. Only complaint is that we wished we had read it years ago!

Our January prompt for #thebookstorechallenge2021 is “a book that you feel you really should have read by now.” I‘ve had so many people recommend Mistborn to me, I‘m about 100 pages in and I have to say, they‘re right, I think this is right up my alley!

#wondrouswednesday @Eggs
? No, I live in a very small city in MI, but I‘m somewhat close to Detroit and the first book set there that I can think of is them by Joyce Carol Oates.
?I just finished Iza‘s Ballad so that would be Hungary!
? Might be a cliché answer but the March family.

Thanks for the ?!

In an attempt to structure our book picks (and the podcast schedule) for 2021 we have come up with 12 months of prompts. We thought it would be fun to release as a challenge in case anyone wants to join in. As you can see, ours is just one prompt a month, so maybe you can use it with any of the many other challenges out there to spice up your reading in 2021!

Our first book for January is Pride and Prejudice, which neither of us have ever read!

Spent my long weekend reading in a hammock! How about you?

I‘ve never bought four new books at the same time, but I wanted to support a local indie bookstore, and treat myself at the same time! I‘m so excited about all of these, not sure which to start first!

In our year end Instagram poll KNOW MY NAME by Chanel Miller was the book respondents mentioned as the best book they read in 2019. They were not kidding. What an important, thoughtful, affecting read. Thank you all for spreading the word and thank you to Chanel for putting them to paper.

🌹 New Episode 🌹 This week on the podcast we discuss Alexander Chee‘s book of essays HOW TO WRITE AN AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NOVEL. Find it wherever your get your podcasts.

🐸 New Episode 🐸
This week we had a phone call correction as well as some recent book news. Plus our review and discussion of False Bingo by Jax Jemc. You‘ll have to listen to hear what we thought, but I want to know: how do you read short story collections? Straight through? Or do you use them as a break from other reading? Let us know!

🎺 New Episode 🎷 This week we read and discussed Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. Unfortunately, not exactly our cup of tea. You‘ll have to listen to find out why - new episode is available wherever you get your podcasts.

Snowed in on a Sunday, short stories at breakfast. HUMILIATION by Paulina Flores is a collection of 9 short stories from Chile translated by Megan McDowell (Fever Dream by Samanta Schweblin). To my knowlege, I‘ve never read a translator more than once - at least not their translation of more than one author. I‘m excited!

Grab a tiny hat and quit whatever committees you might be in, because this week on the Podcast we‘re talking the Romance Writers of America scandal and all of our favorite things about Greta Gerwig‘s Little Women. Listen wherever you get your podcasts!

✨ ICYMI ✨ Last week‘s episode was all about SCRUPLES by Judith Krantz, a classic in the bonkbuster genre. You know it‘s important because I used page flags to mark the line “she had the disposition of a woman who had lived her whole life in pants” and the words “tumid lips.”
You can check out our thoughts and other great insights about this wild book wherever you get your podcasts.

🚨 Interview Alert 🚨 Recently we had the chance to chat with Mariko Tamaki (This One Summer, Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me) about writing for graphic novels, and reimagining Harley Quinn for her latest book Harley Quinn: Breaking Glass. It was a great conversation and the book is great, too!

You can check out the interview wherever you get your podcasts or here: https://link.chtbl.com/Mariko-Tamaki

⭐️ New Episode! ⭐️ Alternate title: We Are Not Historians. But Jenny Erpenbeck‘s THE END OF DAYS did blow us away with it‘s masterful ability to tie everything together. We might have had an existential crisis, but we recommend this history of the 20th century as told though what might have been in one woman‘s life. Check out our discussion wherever you get your podcasts!

Just finished up Carmen Maria Machado‘s IN THE DREAM HOUSE. I don‘t really know where to start with this one. On the one hand it‘s an incredibly personal account of domestic violence in a lesbian relationship and on the other it‘s an explosion of genre and folktale tropes. A really fascinating piece that I fully recommend!

🌟 New Episode 🌟 Did we just read the most divisive book in all of The Bookstore‘s history?
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We know people are all over the board on this one. Tell us what you thought of TRUST EXERCISE!

On the blog this week: aside from our holiday shopping guide, we‘ve got a great list of read-alikes for all of the books we‘ve read so far in 2019! Add to your TBR! www.thebookstorepodcast.com

🌟 New episode 🌟
This week we talk (ok rave) about Olga Tokarczuk‘s novel Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead. You can find the episode wherever you get your podcasts (and as always the link in bio).
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Have you read it? What did you think?

Lindy West was fantastic on the DC stop of her book tour. I got to meet her and only semi-embarrassed myself! Meeting authors makes me so nervous I‘ve only recently been able to. Do you like to meet your favorite authors? -Becca

Taking a departure from my normal reading fare for this weekend. After the unexpected death of her husband, Long Litt Woon found solace and meaning in her life through mushroom hunting. Mushrooms are absolutely fascinating and I‘m enjoying reading about the very passionate world of mycologists.
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What are you reading this weekend?

This week on the podcast we discuss and review The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa. It‘s a literary fantasy/dystopia and despite its sparse prose left us with a ton to think about. Have you read it? What did you think?

We loved the first part of this one. Leila‘s life was vividly remembered and compelling to read about, but we were totally thrown by the change in tone of the second section as her group of friends attempts to recover her body. You can hear more of our thoughts on this week‘s episode of the podcast.
Have you read it? What did you think?

One of my biggest fears is being lost at sea (which is why you‘ll never catch me on a cruise ship). So this sounds like the perfect #spooktober read for me.

There‘s not much scarier than a serial killer and rapist who breaks into people‘s homes and goes undiscovered for decades. #spooktober

I liked this book, but I didn‘t LOVE it. Reimagining Lovecraft is great, I just needed a bit more character development to really connect with the characters. Black Tom is badass though. #spooktober

For the second day of my own personal #spooktober is modern gothic horror. Plus the cover is fantastic. Melmoth the Witness is always watching. We read this for Episode 34!

First pick for #spooktober is The Haunting of Hill House. Frightening and creepy, with a heroine who I identified with strongly. Love this book!

I‘ve been slowly working my way through the Women‘s Prize for Fiction longlist. After I finish this, I‘ve got four more to read. Do you have any favorites from the longlist? So far, mine are Ghost Wall and Circe. -Becca

Our latest episode is now available! We read The Nickel Boys, a novel inspired by the real-life tragedy of the Dozier School for Boys. This was my first Whitehead novel, and I was blown away. Definitely going to pick up The Underground Railroad soon. -Becca

Went to see Jia Tolentino speak at Literati Bookstore in Ann Arbor, MI.

Okay, it seems like everyone is talking about this book, so while traveling for work I stopped by an indie bookstore to buy it. Because if I‘m paying list price for a hardcover, I want to buy it from an indie. I‘m so excited to read it, but I have 3 books checked out from the library. Such is my life. -Becca

Went to see a play my friend was performing in this past weekend, and I got the time wrong, so I showed up a full 45 minutes early. Walked down the street to the closest coffee shop to wait. This is why I always have a book with me!

Away for the weekend for a bridal shower, of course I brought books. This is one of them. I‘m enjoying it so far, but I have to say, I liked Madeline Miller‘s Song of Achilles so much that it‘s hard for me to get into Barker‘s Achilles. If you‘ve read both, did you prefer one over the other?

Starting The Friend this weekend for our upcoming episode to be released April 23rd!

We‘re back! Today‘s episode is all about MY SISTER, THE SERIAL KILLER by Oyinkan Braithwaite, a fast and fantastic read. Check it out wherever you get your podcasts!

We also announced the launch of or Patreon. If you‘re interested: www.patreon.com/thebookstore

Very into essays at the moment. What is your favorite essay collection? -Becca

I loved Katalin Street, so I had to read The Door ASAP. It‘s even better than Katalin Street! -Becca

Fever Dream was my favorite book of 2017. I tell everyone about it. I still think about it often. I was so excited to see Samanta Schweblin had a collection of short stories being published in English. They‘ve got the same feeling as Fever Dream, but they‘re so much more fleeting. It makes for a disorienting reading experience - I‘d expect nothing less.

Just finished this, and I think I want to read everything Magda Szabó has written. -Becca

NK Jemisin‘s The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms is one of my all-time favorite books, but I wasn‘t thrilled with The Fifth Season. I think this collection of stories is somewhere in between the two for me. It‘s fun to read really imaginative, speculative fiction in the winter.

💫 New Episode 💫We‘ve got an old update on an old story, a gossip sesh about a new scandal, and a lot of unpopular opinions about a fan favorite book. Check is out wherever you get your podcasts.

I‘m catching up on some e-galleys this weekend, starting with SABRINA & CORINA, a really beautiful collection of short stories about Latinas and indigenous women in Colorado and the American West.
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What are you reading today?

Bookmail from indie publisher Two Dollar Radio. I‘ve been trying to read more from indie presses lately. Do you have a particular independent publisher you really like?

Continuing on with our project of reading books we already own, today we have a new mini episode discussing the illustrated memoir PERSEPOLIS by Marjane Satrapi. You can find it in your podcast feeds or wherever you listen to podcasts.

This week: we read and discuss THE WEDDING by Dorothy West. It‘s a remarkably complete history of several generations of a family up to their daughter‘s impending wedding in 1950. It tackles race and class in really thoughtful and interesting ways and you should definitely check it out.

You can find the podcast wherever you download your podcasts!

I got a @barnesandnoble giftcard for Christmas and instead of buying a couple of paperbacks, I had to get My Year of Rest and Relaxation because literally every one of my favorite readers have been raving about it and I can‘t stand the FOMO anymore.
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Have you picked up anything new lately?

I first learned about New Erotica for Feminists on Instagram, so I was delighted when my good friend gave this to me for my birthday last weekend. The short satirical sketches are very funny and great to read a few at a time when I‘m between bigger reading projects.