280 episodes
The Bookstore Awkwardly Social Media
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- Arts
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4.2 • 97 Ratings
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It's like a book club, but we actually read the book. Join hosts Becca and Corinne as they recreate their days working and hanging out at their local independent book store.
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171 - The Extinction of Irena Rey by Jennifer Croft
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 -
170 - I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem
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, 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 -
Bless Me, Ultima
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.
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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 -
168 - My Garden (Book): by Jamaica Kincaid
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.
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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 -
167 - Priestdaddy
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
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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 -
True North
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
Customer Reviews
The heart is a lonely hunter
I wanted to drop a point that you may not have considered here—you talked about how you don’t understand Singer’s fixation on Antonopoulos, but his fixation on him totally mirrors all of the other characters’ fixation on Singer. They come to him to project all of their thoughts and feelings, never sure how much he understands but reassuring themselves that he understands all. Singer does the same thing to his friend. All of these lonely hearts make a god of Singer, and he in turn does this to Antonopoulos. We can see that Singer is just a man and doesn’t have any more understanding of the world than anyone else, and we can see that Antonopoulos is severely ill and incapable of living up to Singer’s impression of him, and that’s kind of the point.
Great Book Podcast with Many Female Authors
I enjoy how Becca and Corinne focus on female authors purposefully and also focus on multicultural books. Their intentions are much appreciated. I don’t often enjoy many of the books they feature, but I suppose that’s more my problem. I also like how they have minisodes that don’t necessarily review books.
One constructive comment: I think it would be great if they created more of a dialogue with their listeners.
They can be a little annoying sometimes when they get giggly. Again, probably more my problem.
Please include spoilers!
If you are announcing a book in advance the audience has time to read it or listen to the archived episode after they have read it. Not discussing the end of The Heart is a Lonely Hunter is so disappointing. Avoiding spoilers irritates the listener who spent 50+ mins anticipating a full discussion of the book.