The Bookstore

For September's prompt to read a book by a celebrity, Corinne has chosen  The Morning Show Murders by Al Roker and Dick Lochte. Al Roker is a tv personality and the resident weatherman of NBC's Today show.  Content warnings: swearing, discussion of different types of murder, offensive accents (in the book, we do not quote the book), sexism Our next book discussion will be Swan by Naomi Campbell. Y...

Our last book for August's prompt to read a book that won a translation award is  Every Fire You Tend by Sema Kaygusuz. Very poetic and beautifully written, it might have been too spiritual for us to fully engage with. Content warning: mentions of ethnic cleansing and genocide, rape, sexual assault Our next book discussion will be The Morning Show Murders by Al Roker. You can find it at your local...

Our first book for August's prompt to read a book that won a translation prize is  Shubeik Lubeik by Deena Mohamed. Corinne picked this one, and we both loved it. It's a beautifully illustrated graphic novel split into 3 stories, all revolving around 3 First Class Wishes. What are first class wishes? Listen and learn about the incredibly imaginative world Mohamed created! Our next book discussion...

Coming in late with our discussion of Nobel Laureat Kenzaburō Ōe's  The Silent Cry . This book is difficult in basically every way a book can be, so be warned. Content warnings: suicide, sexual assault, violence. August's Challenge prompt is to read a book that won an award for translation. Our first read will be the graphic novel Shubeik Lubeik by Deena Mohamed (also published as Your Wish is My...

Look! You just got another free Patreon Episode of Corinne spoiling the ever living life out of It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover. Next week we will have our discussion of Kenzaburo Oe's The Silent Cry . Then August's prompt is to read a book that won a translation award and our first selection for that will be Deena Mohamed's Shubeik Lubeik (otherwise known as Your Wish is My Command in other Eng...

Corinne's pick for July's prompt to read a book published 20 years before you were born is  The Stud by Jackie Collins . It's a wild ride with lots of rich and rich-adjacent people exhibiting poor impulse control! Contains: sex, swearing, discussion of homophobia and transphobia, other offensive behaviors, attempted rape Our next book discussion will be The Silent Cry by Kenzaburo Oe . You can fin...

Let this be a sign that if the only Nabokov book you've read is Lolita , you should remedy that. Despair  is Corinne's pick for June's prompt to read a book about twins or doppelgangers.  Content warning: mention of suicide, murder, Dostoevsky Our next book discussion will be The Stud by Jackie Collins. You can find it at your local bookstore or library and read along with us. If you want to read...

Today we discuss  Wise Children by Angela Carter, a book about twins, fulfilling June's prompt to read a book with twins or doppelgangers. It's Angela Carter, so everything is in excess, not just one set of twins, but multiple, plus all the twins share the same birthday. There's a confusing family tree, there's a housefire, there's an attempted Hollywood career, and there's bizarre behavior from t...

You ready for a messy book? This week we read The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives by Lola Shoneyin. Next time we will be reading Wise Children by Angela Carter. Content warnings: sexual assault, domestic violence, fertility issues. If you want to read along with The Bookstore Challenge 2024, you can join us on The StoryGraph to see what others are reading for each month and get ideas for your TB...

We're back! Becca's still suffering from a sinus infection, but we're pressing on anyway. The Quick and the Dead by Joy Williams is Corinne's pick for May's prompt to read a book recommended by your favorite author. Joy Williams (in general) is recommended by many authors, among them Catherine Lacey and Sigrid Nunez.  Content warning: suicidal ideations, mention of genitalia, violent death, animal...

Due to some unforseen circumstances this week we are bringing you an episode from our Patreon about Colleen Hoover's massively popular novel It Ends With Us in leiu of our regularly scheduled book discussion. We will hopefully be back with that next week. Here is the Slate article by Chels Upton mentioned at the top of the episode. Our next book discussions will be The Quick and the Dead by Joy Wi...

Perhaps our most referential episode, ever. The book: The Employees by Olga Ravn The art it was created to accompany: Consumed Future Spewed Up as Present by Lea Guldditte Hestlund Books (many are also Movies/TV shows) Mentioned: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Phillip K. Dick (movie is titled Bladerunner) Neuromancer by William Gibson The Expanse by James S.A. Corey 2001: A Space Odyssey b...

April's prompt is to read a book of ecofiction, and Becca's pick is  Latitudes of Longing by Shubhangi Swarup.  Content warning: miscarriage, death in childbirth, sexual topics Our next book will be The Employees by Olga Ravn, as chosen by our Patreon Patrons. Find it at your local library or bookstore and read along with us! If you want to read along with The Bookstore Challenge 2024, you can joi...

It's a book by a translator that's a book by a translator that's translated by a translator about translators translating a book and we loved it. There are also some major time spoilers, but we give good warnings this time. The Extinction of Ireana Rey by Jennifer Croft Next time we are reading Latitudes of Longing by Shubhangi Swarup . Find it at your local bookstore or library and read it along...

Correction: in the epsiode we say that the book was published in Barbados, but Condé is actually from the island of Guadeloupe - a French department in the Carribbean. Now THIS is the type of historical fiction that we love. Corinne's pick for March's prompt to read a book with a name in the title is I, Tituba: Black Witch of Salem by Maryse Condé . This novel is a fictionalized account of Tituba,...

Today we discuss Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya . This is one of the first books of Chicano/a Literature, with Rudolfo Anaya considered one of the founders of the literary movement. It's a coming-of-age story that weaves Catholicism with traditional and indigenous beliefs, and the duality of identity that Antonio, the main character, experiences. Content warning: violence, bodily fluids Sources...

This week we read and discussed My Garden (Book): by Jamaica Kincaid. It's memoir, it's essays, it's history, it's botany, it's maybe not what you'd normally choose to read if you're a fan of our typical fare, but it has a lot of great ideas to think and talk about. You should still read Jamaica Kincaid even if this one isn't for you. Becca recommends the novel Lucy or another work of nonfiction a...

For our first read of the February Bookstore Challenge Prompt (read a memoir written by a writer) Corinne chose Priestdaddy by Patricia Lockwood. It's a memoir about being a poet and having your dad literally be a Catholic priest. And we're of divided opinions for once. Next time we will read My Garden (Book) : by Jamaica Kincaid. This is out of print, but can be found at the library or used. Or i...

Our second book for January's prompt to read a book set in a place where you're from is Jim Harrison's  True North.   True North  is set mostly in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and follows David Burkett, descendant of lumber barons as he struggles with his family's tarnished legacy.... hahaha jk it's really just a guy talking about his dick constantly. We do not recommend. Content warning: rape...

Our first book of the year! Daughters of Eve by Lois Duncan is set in the fictional town of Modesta, Michigan, thus fulfilling January's prompt to read a book set in the place where you're from (we're both from Michigan). A new teacher has come to town and she begins to help a group of teenage girls stand up for themselves against sexism... but will they take it too far? Content warning: domestic...

Happy New Year! Out with the old (reviewing last years reading) and in with the new (walking through the 2024 Bookstore Challenge prompts). Books we will be reading in January: Daughters of Eve by Lois Duncan (look for one published before the 2010s to avoid any contemporizing editions). True North by Jim Harrison This is a great resource for finding out what books authors read. You can also join...

Last book of the year! It's Becca's pick for December's prompt to read a book by an author who shares the first initial of your surname is  Y/N   by Esther Yi. We follow a young woman as she descends further into an obsession with a member of a boy band, leading her to even move to another country in order to find him. Content warning: sex, body parts, death Technical note: Corinne was traveling f...

First book for December's prompt to read a book by an author who shares your surname or first initial of your surname is Ice by Anna Kavan . This is a sci-fi or slipstream novel about a man searching for a girl in a world that is slowly being consumed by ice.  Content warning: sexual assault, violence Books mentioned: Wide Sargasso Sea-Jean Rhys, A Song of Ice and Fire-George RR Martin, Fight Club...

Action Items - US Campaign for Palestinian Rights  Action Items - Jewish Voices for Peace November's prompt is to read a book about death and Becca's pick is The Yield by Tara June Winch . The novel has three different narratives, one being about August, an Aboriginal Australian woman returning to her hometown after her grandfather, Poppy, dies. The second narrative is Poppy writing a dictionary o...

Action Items - US Campaign for Palestinian Rights  Action Items - Jewish Voices for Peace November's prompt is to read a book about death and Corinne's pick is Jose Saramago's Death With Interruptions . This book is about an unnamed country where suddenly one New Year's, death stops happening. It reads like a textbook at times, going over logistical issues and government responses, with a sprinkli...