The Bookstore

Today's book discussion is on Underground Barbie by Maša Kolanović, translated from Croatian by Ena Selimović. We get slightly off-topic talking about the top news stories from the 90s and reminiscing about playing with Barbies. Content warning: war (mentions of bombing and snipers), swearing Our next book discussion will be Brown Girl in the Ring by Nalo Hopkinson. 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 join us on The StoryGraph to see what others are reading for each month and get ideas for your TBR: The Bookstore Challenge 2025. Get two audiobook credits for the price of one at Libro.fm when you sign up using the code BOOKSTOREPOD. Website | Patreon

Becca's pick for April's prompt to read a book based on its cover or title is Nonfiction: A Novel by Julie Myerson, because the contradiction between the title and genre was too compelling to pass up.  Content warning: drug addiction Our next book discussion will be Underground Barbie by Maša Kolanović. You can find it at your local bookstore or library and read along with us. 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 TBR: The Bookstore Challenge 2025. Get two audiobook credits for the price of one at Libro.fm when you sign up using the code BOOKSTOREPOD. Website | Patreon  

The March prompt is to read a book published by an indie press, and Corinne's pick is Witches by Brenda Lozano, translated by Heather Cleary, and published by Catapult. Content warning: brief mentions of violence, including sexual violence Our next book discussion will be Nonfiction by Julie Myerson. You can find it at your local bookstore or library and read along with us. 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 TBR: The Bookstore Challenge 2025. Get two audiobook credits for the price of one at Libro.fm when you sign up using the code BOOKSTOREPOD. Website | Patreon

Becca's pick for March's prompt to read a book published by an indie press is Earthlings by Sayaka Murati, translated from the Japanese by Ginny Tapley Takemori, and published by Grove Atlantic.   Content warnings: sexual assault, death, murder, violence, cannibalism   Our next book discussion will be Witches by Brenda Lozano. You can find it at your local bookstore or library and read along with us.   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 TBR: The Bookstore Challenge 2025. Get two audiobook credits for the price of one at Libro.fm when you sign up using the code BOOKSTOREPOD. Website | Patreon

February's prompt is to read a book with a non-human narrator or from a non-human perspective. Corinne's pick, that we'll be discussing today, is Visitation by Jenny Erpenbeck, which is about a house/plot of land. Content warning: swearing, Nazism, repressive regimes, book has sexual and physical violence March prompt is to read a book published by an indie press, our first book is Becca's pick, Earthlings by Sayaka Murata, translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori, and published by Grove Atlantic. Corinne's pick is Witches by Brenda Lozano, translated by Heather Cleary and published by Catapult. If you want to read along with The Bookstore Challenge 2025, you can join us on The StoryGraph to see what others are reading for each month and get ideas for your TBR: The Bookstore Challenge 2025. Get two audiobook credits for the price of one at Libro.fm when you sign up using the code BOOKSTOREPOD. Website | Patreon

Romantic Goat sex on today's episode. We read The Story of a Goat by Perumal Murugan. Next time we will read Visitation by Jenny Erpenbeck Content Warnings: Violence, sexual violence 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 TBR: The Bookstore Challenge 2025. Get two audiobook credits for the price of one at Libro.fm when you sign up using the code BOOKSTOREPOD. Website | Patreon

Last episode for January is Pastoralia by George Saunders, this is a book of short stories that all have the trademark Saunders satirical edge. Content warning: swearing, brief mentions of death and a sick child Our next book discussion will be The Story of a Goat by Perumal Murugan. You can find it at your local bookstore or library and read along with us. 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 TBR: The Bookstore Challenge 2025. Get two audiobook credits for the price of one at Libro.fm when you sign up using the code BOOKSTOREPOD. Website | Patreon

New year, same us. We discuss (more like complain about, to be honest) Maggie O'Farrell's novel After You'd Gone. January's prompt is to read a book published in the year 2000. Our next book discussion will be Pastoralia by George Saunders. You can find it at your local bookstore or library and read along with us. 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 TBR: The Bookstore Challenge 2024. Get two audiobook credits for the price of one at Libro.fm when you sign up using the code BOOKSTOREPOD. Website | Patreon  

We are back and we have a recap of our reading in 2024, along with the challenge prompts for 2025, since I don't know how we chose books before we starting following these prompts. The challenge prompts start around 37:04.  Prompts from past years. Our books for January are After You'd Gone by Maggie O'Farrell and Pastoralia by George Saunders. If you want to read along with The Bookstore Challenge 2025, you can join us on The StoryGraph to see what others are reading for each month and get ideas for your TBR: The Bookstore Challenge 2025. Get two audiobook credits for the price of one at Libro.fm when you sign up using the code BOOKSTOREPOD. Website | Patreon 

Unfortunately, we are not releasing an episode today because we're going on hiatus. We are fine in terms of physical health and have not experienced personal family tragedy, we just need to take a break right now. I am sorry to be springing this on everyone without advance notice, it's just something we have to do right now. Thank you to all of you who subscribe, who have ever listened to any of our episodes, gave us a good review, and absolutely all of our lovely patrons. We will absolutely be back, the world needs our book opinions! This feed will be the best way to keep up with our timeline to return, I will give another update in December as to what our plans are. Talk to you all soon, thanks for sticking around! 

We were in Chicago during the week we should have been recording and editing this episode, so apologies for the lateness! Today we talk about The Empusium: A Health Resort Horror Story by Olga Tokarczuk.  Next time we'll be talking about our first choice for November's prompt to read a book about a lost city or civilization, and that is Hav by Jan Morris. The second November book is Four Lost Cities by Annalee Newitz. Find them at your local bookstore or library and read along with us! Content Warning for episode: misogyny, abuse, assault, general swearing and vulgar language Books mentioned: The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson, Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney, and Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy. The quote Becca couldn't think of is by Marilyn Frye The TikToker Corinne mentioned 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 TBR: The Bookstore Challenge 2024. Get two audiobook credits for the price of one at Libro.fm when you sign up using the code BOOKSTOREPOD. Website | Patreon 

Google Doc for Helene Recovery Resources LESBIAN. VAMPIRES.  We read The Gilda Stories by Jewelle Gomez for October's prompt to read a book in one of the following genres: monster/vampire/gothic.  Content warning: We briefly talk about violence and murder. The book also contains scenes of the main character experiencing racism. Our next book is The Empusium: A Health Resort Horror Story by Olga Tokarczuk and translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones. 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 TBR: The Bookstore Challenge 2024. Get two audiobook credits for the price of one at Libro.fm when you sign up using the code BOOKSTOREPOD. Website | Patreon

This book has everything, except for an idea of how novels are formulated. Our next read will be The Gilda Stories by Jewelle Gomez.  

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. You can find it at your local bookstore or library and read along with us. 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 TBR: The Bookstore Challenge 2024. Get two audiobook credits for the price of one at Libro.fm when you sign up using the code BOOKSTOREPOD. Website | Patreon

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 bookstore or library and read along with us. 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 TBR: The Bookstore Challenge 2024. Get two audiobook credits for the price of one at Libro.fm when you sign up using the code BOOKSTOREPOD. Website | Patreon

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 will be Every Fire You Tend, by Sema Kaygusuz. You can find it at your local bookstore or library and read along with us.  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 TBR: The Bookstore Challenge 2024. Get two audiobook credits for the price of one at Libro.fm when you sign up using the code BOOKSTOREPOD. Website | Patreon

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 Command in other English speaking countries). Find it at your local bookstore or library and read along with us. 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 TBR: The Bookstore Challenge 2024. Get two audiobook credits for the price of one at Libro.fm when you sign up using the code BOOKSTOREPOD. Website | Patreon

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 English editions). Content warnings: domestic violence, sex, we spoil the entire book and make fun of Colleen Hoover's writing 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 TBR: The Bookstore Challenge 2024. Get two audiobook credits for the price of one at Libro.fm when you sign up using the code BOOKSTOREPOD. Website | Patreon

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 find it at your local bookstore or library and read along with us.  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 TBR: The Bookstore Challenge 2024. Get two audiobook credits for the price of one at Libro.fm when you sign up using the code BOOKSTOREPOD. Website | Patreon

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 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 TBR: The Bookstore Challenge 2024. Get two audiobook credits for the price of one at Libro.fm when you sign up using the code BOOKSTOREPOD. Website | Patreon

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 the characters right down to the last page.  Content Warning: incest, death, grooming 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 TBR: The Bookstore Challenge 2024. Get two audiobook credits for the price of one at Libro.fm when you sign up using the code BOOKSTOREPOD. Website | Patreon

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 TBR: The Bookstore Challenge 2024. Get two audiobook credits for the price of one at Libro.fm when you sign up using the code BOOKSTOREPOD. Website | Patreon

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 death Our next book discussion will be The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives by Lola Shoneyin. Find it at your local bookstore or library and read along with us! 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 TBR: The Bookstore Challenge 2024. Get two audiobook credits for the price of one at Libro.fm when you sign up using the code BOOKSTOREPOD. Website | Patreon

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 Williams and The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives by Lola Shoneyin. 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 TBR: The Bookstore Challenge 2024. Get two audiobook credits for the price of one at Libro.fm when you sign up using the code BOOKSTOREPOD. Website | Patreon

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 by Arthur C. Clarke Dune by Frank Herbert Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer The Membranes by Chi Ta-Wei Babel-17 by Samuel R. Delany I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman Other Art Mentioned: Mr. Weekend by Mike Simi Meow Wolf Severance (Apple TV) Arrival (movie) Our next read is The Quick and the Dead by Joy Williams. Find it at your local bookstore or library and read along with us. 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 TBR: The Bookstore Challenge 2024. Get two audiobook credits for the price of one at Libro.fm when you sign up using the code BOOKSTOREPOD. Website | Patreon

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 join us on The StoryGraph to see what others are reading for each month and get ideas for your TBR: The Bookstore Challenge 2024. Get two audiobook credits for the price of one at Libro.fm when you sign up using the code BOOKSTOREPOD. Website | Patreon

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 with us.   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 TBR: The Bookstore Challenge 2024. Get two audiobook credits for the price of one at Libro.fm when you sign up using the code BOOKSTOREPOD. Website | Patreon

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, an enslaved woman from Barbados who became the first person accused of being a witch during the Salem Witch Trials. Content warning: sexual assault, suicide, violence Our next book discussion will be The Extinction of Irena Rey by Jennifer Croft. You can find it at your local bookstore or library and read along with us.  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 TBR: The Bookstore Challenge 2024. Get two audiobook credits for the price of one at Libro.fm when you sign up using the code BOOKSTOREPOD. Website | Patreon

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: Introduction to Chicano Literature, Chicano Literature Next time we'll be reading Corinne's choice: I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem by Maryse Conde. Find it at your local bookstore or library and read along with us! We have also chosen our books for April's prompt (Environmental Fiction) Latitudes of Longing by Shubhangi Swarup and The Extinction of Irena Rey by Jennifer Croft. ______ 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 TBR: The Bookstore Challenge 2024. Get two audiobook credits for the price of one at Libro.fm when you sign up using the code BOOKSTOREPOD. Website | Patreon

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 about her home, Antigua, called A Small Place. March's prompt for the Bookstore Challenge 2024 is to read a book with a name in the title. Becca's pick, Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya, will be first. Followed by Corinne's choice: I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem by Maryse Conde. And then Becca is way ahead of us and has already chosen her read for April's prompt (Envirionmental Fiction) Latitudes of Longing by Shubhangi Swarup. ______ 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 TBR: The Bookstore Challenge 2024. Get two audiobook credits for the price of one at Libro.fm when you sign up using the code BOOKSTOREPOD. Website | Patreon

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 if you're patient, a new edition will be available from Picador in July 2024. In March we will be reading I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem by Maryse Conde and Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya. Content Warnings: Sexual assault, religious trauma, infertility. Books mentioned: David Sedaris (general) No One is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood How to Say Babylon by Safiya Sinclair _________ 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 TBR: The Bookstore Challenge 2024. Get two audiobook credits for the price of one at Libro.fm when you sign up using the code BOOKSTOREPOD. Website | Patreon

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, sexual assault, violence, violence against women, violence against children, adult topics, sex, body anatomy, swearing Our next book discussion will be Priestdaddy by Patricia Lockwood, and following that will be My Garden (Book): by Jamaica Kincaid. You can find them at your local bookstore or library and read along with us.  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 TBR: The Bookstore Challenge 2024. Get two audiobook credits for the price of one at Libro.fm when you sign up using the code BOOKSTOREPOD. Website | Patreon

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 violence, sexual assault, pregnancy, fatphobia, offensive language Our next book discussion will be True North by Jim Harrison. You can find it at your local bookstore or library and read along with us. 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 TBR: The Bookstore Challenge 2024. Get two audiobook credits for the price of one at Libro.fm when you sign up using the code BOOKSTOREPOD. Website | Patreon

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 us on The StoryGraph to see what others are reading for each month and get ideas for your TBR: The Bookstore Challenge 2024. Get two audiobook credits for the price of one at Libro.fm when you sign up using the code BOOKSTOREPOD. Website | Patreon

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 for the holidays when we recorded this, so her audio has some background noise, apologies for that! If you want to read along with The Bookstore Challenge 2023, you can find Instagram graphics for your story or grid in this Google Drive folder. You can also join us on The StoryGraph to see what others are reading for each month and get ideas for your TBR: The Bookstore Challenge 2023. The Bookstore Challenge 2024 will be out soon! Get two audiobook credits for the price of one at Libro.fm when you sign up using the code BOOKSTOREPOD. Website | Patreon

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-Chuck Palahniuk, Deep Water-Patricia Highsmith, In a Lonely Place-Dorothy B. Hughes, Empire of the Senseless-Kathy Acker Our next reads are Y/N by Esther Yi for December, and Daughters of Eve by Lois Duncan for January. If you want to read along with The Bookstore Challenge 2023, you can find Instagram graphics for your story or grid in this Google Drive folder. You can also join us on The StoryGraph to see what others are reading for each month and get ideas for your TBR: The Bookstore Challenge 2023. The Bookstore Challenge 2024 will be out soon! Get two audiobook credits for the price of one at Libro.fm when you sign up using the code BOOKSTOREPOD. Website | Patreon

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 of his Aboriginal language's words, combined with brief stories from his life. And the final narrator is Reverend Greenleaf, a white minister who runs a mission for Aboriginal people in the distant past. Content warning: violence, racism, sexual assault, colonization, destruction of culture Our next book discussions will be Ice by Anna Kavan and Y/N by Esther Yi. You can find them at your local bookstore or library and read along with us. If you want to read along with The Bookstore Challenge 2023, you can find Instagram graphics for your story or grid in this Google Drive folder. You can also join us on The StoryGraph to see what others are reading for each month and get ideas for your TBR: The Bookstore Challenge 2023. Get two audiobook credits for the price of one at Libro.fm when you sign up using the code BOOKSTOREPOD. Website | Patreon

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 sprinkling of regular people's reactions to no one dying. And then, in the third act, death enters the picture. Content warning: death Our next book discussion will be The Yield by Tara June Winch. You can find it at your local bookstore or library and read along with us. And to finish off the year, in December we'll be reading Ice by Anna Kavan and Y/N by Esther Yi.  If you want to read along with The Bookstore Challenge 2023, you can find Instagram graphics for your story or grid in this Google Drive folder. You can also join us on The StoryGraph to see what others are reading for each month and get ideas for your TBR: The Bookstore Challenge 2023. Get two audiobook credits for the price of one at Libro.fm when you sign up using the code BOOKSTOREPOD. Website | Patreon

Action Items - US Campaign for Palestinian Rights  Action Items - Jewish Voices for Peace This week was an extra week for October (yes, technically it's November, apologies, I've had some personal stuff going on), so we had our Patreon Patrons pick the book and they chose Ursula K. Le Guin's The Dispossessed. The novel is one of the six major novels of The Hainish Cycle. Though The Dispossessed is the sixth published book in the cycle, chronologically, the story takes place before the other novels.  Our main character, Shevek, is an Odonian physicist working on a theory - both mathematical and philosophical. When the government of A-Io offers Shevek an award and he is being prevented from publishing his work by a jealous superior on Anarres, he agrees to travel to Urras and continue working on his theory. The Last Archive podcast: The Word For Man Is Ishi Content warning: Adult language for body parts, sex Our next book discussion will be Death with Interruptions by Jose Saramago. You can find it at your local bookstore or library and read along with us. If you want to read along with The Bookstore Challenge 2023, you can find Instagram graphics for your story or grid in this Google Drive folder. You can also join us on The StoryGraph to see what others are reading for each month and get ideas for your TBR: The Bookstore Challenge 2023. Get two audiobook credits for the price of one at Libro.fm when you sign up using the code BOOKSTOREPOD. Website | Patreon

Action Items - US Campaign for Palestinian Rights  Action Items - Jewish Voices for Peace Free Ebooks - Haymarket Books Open Letter from ArabLit Recommended titles: Minor Detail by Adania Shibli and Qissat: Short Stories by Palestinian Women edited by Jo Glanville* *These are NOT affiliate links, The Bookstore will NOT receive commission from Bookshop from any purchases made while visiting these links. This is simply the most convenient non-Amazon related listing to link to. Please also use your local library for resources. This week we read Babel-17 by Samuel R. Delaney, a sci-fi about a polyglot poet and a rag-tag crew of star-shipmen who are tasked with translating an unknown language to fight an unknown enemy known as Invaders. Content Warnings: brief discussion of how the book handles suicide.  Spoiler Warning: We do spoil the ending, but there is warning in the episode. If you want to read along with The Bookstore Challenge 2023, you can find Instagram graphics for your story or grid in this Google Drive folder. You can also join us on The StoryGraph to see what others are reading for each month and get ideas for your TBR: The Bookstore Challenge 2023. Get two audiobook credits for the price of one at Libro.fm when you sign up using the code BOOKSTOREPOD. Website | Patreon

Our first book for October's prompt to read a book set in an alternate dimension or different planet is Present Tense Machine by Gunnhild Øyehaug. This is a dreamlike, speculative novel about a woman who is pulled into an alternate universe. Content warnings: None that we can think of. Our next reads will be Babel-17 by Samuel R. Delaney. You can find them at your local bookstore or library and read along with us. If you want to read along with The Bookstore Challenge 2023, you can find Instagram graphics for your story or grid in this Google Drive folder. You can also join us on The StoryGraph to see what others are reading for each month and get ideas for your TBR: The Bookstore Challenge 2023. Get two audiobook credits for the price of one at Libro.fm when you sign up using the code BOOKSTOREPOD. Website | Patreon

Just a teeny tiny mini episode about Becca's experience at the Detroit Bookfest this past summer.  Our next reads will be Present Tense Machine by Gunnhild Øyehaug and Babel-17 by Samuel R. Delaney. You can find them at your local bookstore or library and read along with us. If you want to read along with The Bookstore Challenge 2023, you can find Instagram graphics for your story or grid in this Google Drive folder. You can also join us on The StoryGraph to see what others are reading for each month and get ideas for your TBR: The Bookstore Challenge 2023. Get two audiobook credits for the price of one at Libro.fm when you sign up using the code BOOKSTOREPOD. Website | Patreon

We read Gorilla, My Love by Toni Cade Bambara. This short story collection was first published in 1972 and features 15 stories, and the incredible voices of folks in New York City and sometimes in the rural south. Content Warnings (for the book, less so for the episode): sexual assault, child abuse, murder Our next reads will be Present Tense Machine by Gunnhild Øyehaug and Babel-17 buy Samuel R. Delaney. You can find them at your local bookstore or library and read along with us. If you want to read along with The Bookstore Challenge 2023, you can find Instagram graphics for your story or grid in this Google Drive folder. You can also join us on The StoryGraph to see what others are reading for each month and get ideas for your TBR: The Bookstore Challenge 2023. Get two audiobook credits for the price of one at Libro.fm when you sign up using the code BOOKSTOREPOD. Website | Patreon

Our first book for September's prompt to Read a Book with an Animal in the Title is The Book of Goose by Yiyun Li. We loved reading about this obsessive, codependent relationships between two girls in post-war France.  Content warnings: mentions of violence and sexual assault (not graphically described) Our next book discussion will be on Gorilla, My Love by Toni Cade Bambara. Get it from your local library or bookstore and read along with us! If you want to read along with The Bookstore Challenge 2023, you can find Instagram graphics for your story or grid in this Google Drive folder. You can also join us on The StoryGraph to see what others are reading for each month and get ideas for your TBR: The Bookstore Challenge 2023. Get two audiobook credits for the price of one at Libro.fm when you sign up using the code BOOKSTOREPOD. Website | Patreon

For our last book in August, Corinne picked Crazy Brave by Joy Harjo. Content Warning: racism, abuse, alcoholism  Our next book discussion will be The Book of Goose by Yiyun Li. You can find it at your local bookstore or library and read along with us. If you want to read along with The Bookstore Challenge 2023, you can find Instagram graphics for your story or grid in this Google Drive folder. You can also join us on The StoryGraph to see what others are reading for each month and get ideas for your TBR: The Bookstore Challenge 2023. Get two audiobook credits for the price of one at Libro.fm when you sign up using the code BOOKSTOREPOD. Website | Patreon

Woman of Light by Kali Fajardo-Anstine follows several generations of a family in the Colorado area. Fair warning, we have some criticisms about this book's writing, so if you loved it, you may want to skip this episode.  Content advisory: violence, sexual assault, racism Our next book discussion will be on Crazy Brave by Joy Harjo. Find it at your local library or bookstore and read along with us! If you want to read along with The Bookstore Challenge 2023, you can find Instagram graphics for your story or grid in this Google Drive folder. You can also join us on The StoryGraph to see what others are reading for each month and get ideas for your TBR: The Bookstore Challenge 2023. Get two audiobook credits for the price of one at Libro.fm when you sign up using the code BOOKSTOREPOD. Website | Patreon

Or: A Fantastic Journey Across Seven Borders, five languages, And Three Major Religions, not counting the minor sects. Told by the DEAD, supplemented by the AUTHOR, drawing from a range of BOOKS, and aided by IMAGINATION, the which being the greatest natural GIFT of any person. That the WISE might have it for a record, that my compatriots REFLECT, laypersons gain some UNDERSTANDING, And Melancholy Souls Obtain Some Slight Enjoyment Content warning: antisemitism, violence, frank talk about sex Our next book discussion will be on Woman of Light by Kali Fajardo-Anstine. Find it at your local library or bookstore and read along with us! If you want to read along with The Bookstore Challenge 2023, you can find Instagram graphics for your story or grid in this Google Drive folder. You can also join us on The StoryGraph to see what others are reading for each month and get ideas for your TBR: The Bookstore Challenge 2023. Get two audiobook credits for the price of one at Libro.fm when you sign up using the code BOOKSTOREPOD. Website | Patreon

July's prompt for The Bookstore Challenge 2023 is to Read a Book Over 500 Pages, and/or a Graphic Novel. Our pick for the 500 pager is coming up later this month, but in the meantime, we have a graphic novel, Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands by Kate Beaton. Is it this generation's The Jungle?! We think so!  Content advisory: sexual assault, sexual harassment, workplace safety, capitalism Our next book discussion will be The Books of Jacob by Olga Tokarczuk. You can find it at your local bookstore or library and read along with us. If you want to read along with The Bookstore Challenge 2023, you can find Instagram graphics for your story or grid in this Google Drive folder. You can also join us on The StoryGraph to see what others are reading for each month and get ideas for your TBR: The Bookstore Challenge 2023. Get two audiobook credits for the price of one at Libro.fm when you sign up using the code BOOKSTOREPOD. Website | Patreon

This week we read Weetzie Bat and Witch Baby by Francesca Lia Block (both can also be found in the anthologized book Dangerous Angels). These books were massively popular with off-beat teens in the 90s and have a huge following. Will they still manage to charm jaded 30-somethings in the 2020s? Content warnings for the books: some dark themes including sexual assault and addiction. Also some really egregious cultural appropriation and outright stereotyping/tokenizing. If you want to read along with The Bookstore Challenge 2023, you can find Instagram graphics for your story or grid in this Google Drive folder. You can also join us on The StoryGraph to see what others are reading for each month and get ideas for your TBR: The Bookstore Challenge 2023. Get two audiobook credits for the price of one at Libro.fm when you sign up using the code BOOKSTOREPOD. Website | Patreon

Becca's DNF book pick for June's prompt is The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri. The novel is Lahiri's follow-up to her Pulitzer Prize-winning story collection, The Interpreter of Maladies.  Our next book is actually two books, Weetzie Bat and Witch Baby by Francesca Lia Block. Find it at your local bookstore or library (it's on Hoopla!) and read along with us. Content warnings: near-death experience, (possible) sexual assault If you want to read along with The Bookstore Challenge 2023, you can find Instagram graphics for your story or grid in this Google Drive folder. You can also join us on The StoryGraph to see what others are reading for each month and get ideas for your TBR: The Bookstore Challenge 2023. Get two audiobook credits for the price of one at Libro.fm when you sign up using the code BOOKSTOREPOD. Website | Patreon

As chosen by our Patrons (plus Corinne), our extra book for May is Time Shelter by Georgi Gospodinov. Gospodinov is Bulgarian, thus fulfilling the prompt to read a book by an author from a country you've never been to, as neither of us have been to Bulgaria. And as a bonus, Time Shelter was announced as the winner of the International Booker Prize recently! Content warnings: mentions of suicide, euthanasia, Alzheimer's, war, none of which we go into great detail about Our next book discussion is The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri, find it at your local bookstore or library and read along with us! If you want to read along with The Bookstore Challenge 2023, you can find Instagram graphics for your story or grid in this Google Drive folder. You can also join us on The StoryGraph to see what others are reading for each month and get ideas for your TBR: The Bookstore Challenge 2023. Get two audiobook credits for the price of one at Libro.fm when you sign up using the code BOOKSTOREPOD. Website | Patreon