The Art of Independent Bookstore Day

Independent Bookstore Day is just around the corner (Saturday, April 29th!) and we've been busily preparing for all the fun. But Third Place's own in-house graphic designer, Stephen Crowe, has been extra busy with some special Seattle-specific Indie Bookstore Day projects. He's designing this year's Seattle Independent Bookstore Day Challenge Map, and he's also working on a lovely Insignia Print that will feature all of Seattle's favorite bookstores.

Click here for more information on Independent Bookstore Day.

And read on for our interview with the artist!

What is your art background?

I graduated in English, but the year after my graduation I started a project to illustrate every page of by Finnegan's Wake James Joyce. Needless to say, I never finished, but I developed a small following of passionate nerds on the Internet, and in 2014 I was commissioned by a (very very very) small press to illustrate a new edition of Dubliners. After that, I started to focus more on comics, especially an ongoing story called The City that I make with my wife, Melanie Amaral.

How did you come to work at Third Place Books and what does your job entail?

After I finished the Dubliners job, I realised that I couldn't make enough money to live on illustration alone. I'd loved Third Place ever since I'd first come to the States from the UK in 2004. After twice missing the opportunity to apply, I began obsessively checking Craigslist for openings until one finally came up. I'm a general bookseller in charge of the poetry, essays, reference and bargains sections, but I've also become the store's unofficial in-house designer, responsible for the website, posters and displays, bookmarks, shelf talkers and whatever else needs to look like something.

What was your inspiration for the look and colors of the 2017 Seattle Bookstore Day passports?

I did the map in a digital "cut-out" style that I like to use. Initially I tried to avoid going green, because last year's map was green. But this is the Emerald City, so there's no getting away from it. The other colours I tried looked like a band-aid, apparently, so it's hard to deny we're better off.

Why do you think Seattle Bookstore Day is important to our community?

There are so many great bookstores in this area, and each plays such an important part in reflecting and maintaining the culture of its community. Customers tell me all the time how much they appreciate our store, and it's wonderful that there's a day to celebrate that appreciation. Especially in These times, an independent bookstore represents so many things that are absolutely vital: a strong local economy, literacy and free expression, and a community gathering together for companionship and the exchange of ideas.

Have you celebrated Seattle Bookstore Day in previous years? If so, what did you experience?

My first Seattle Bookstore Day was last year, and I was at work! It was a really fun, celebratory atmosphere, and the cake was delicious. I'll make sure I'm there for the cake.

What is your favorite book (or a great book you have read recently)?

I find it impossible to choose one favourite book, but maybe the one that I think about the most lately is How To Be Happy, a beautiful and emotionally raw collection of short comics by Eleanor Davis (published by Fantagraphics!).

Other than Third Place Books, what are some of your favorite local bookstores?

Elliott Bay has a very friendly atmosphere, and my son loves to read in the castle. I read a lot of comics, so if I go to south Seattle and don't pop into Fantagraphics, it feels like a wasted journey. I go to the University Bookstore for my art supplies. And the Neverending Bookshop is a really cute little bookstore in Bothell opened by one of our former Third Place co-workers.

Tell me more about your bookstore insignia project for Seattle Bookstore Day.

I was asked to make some kind of commemorative print for the occasion, in the style of the bookstore-intersection illustrations that Kevin Cannon did for Minnesota bookstores. I'm a big fan of Kevin Cannon, so I was more than usually keen to avoid the possibility of comparison! I hit on the "insignia" idea from looking at old national park patches, and it's been a lot of fun to try to represent each store's individuality in patch form.

Click here for more on Stephen's designs and illustrations.

Bookseller Spotlight!

Christina at Ravenna

It was probably always Christina's fate to wear big glasses and work with books.

How long have you worked at Third Place? Less than six months. Before that I worked in speciality coffee for several years.

What section(s) do you shelve? History, Gardening, Crafts, Fashion/Beauty, Art/Architecture/Photography, Adult Coloring Books (a burgeoning section if ever there was one!), African-American Studies, Native American Studies, Women's Studies, LGBT, Economics, Business, Nature, and Environment. (editor note: Christina also handles Ravenna's Instagram account, go see her beautiful pictures.)

Most underrated/ book in your section? I am always very happy when people take home a copy of An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz!

What's your favorite section in the store? Probably history. There is always, always something to learn, and I think the more familiar one can be with history, the greater perspective and compassion one can gain. Also, history has Mark Kurlansky and that guy loves cod enough to make it interesting, which is pretty miraculous (see his 1997 book, Cod: A Biography). I think about Kurlansky's cod monomania and the paths his wonkish interest took him down almost as often as I think about how Joanna Newsom and Andy Samberg are married.

What book do you recommend most? Right now I'm recommending my November staff pick, Sofia Samatar's A Stranger in Olondria from Small Beer Press. I'll quote from my review: "Samatar is an incredible writer and [her novel's] plot of a naive young man drawn into matters over his head will speak to anyone whose travels have made them both sick with excitement and the longing to go home. "

Favorite bookstore, besides Third Place? My favorite bookstore will always be Book People in Austin, TX. I pretty much grew up there! My summers as a kid were often spent there, dropped off at my request with lunch money and quarters for the pay phone. My family were late adopters of cellphones so that line about pay phones probably makes me sound older than I am.

What are you reading now? Right now I am reading Eichmann in Jerusalem, by Hannah Arendt and also a Georgette Heyer omnibus. I suspect I am not alone in wanting to leaven heavy reading with something light.

Do you have to finish a book once you've started, or do you give up on books? Uh, I give up on books all the time. I try to give every book a fair chance but sometimes the book is awful or you just aren't in the right mood. Also, the grim satisfaction to be found in discarding a book that's driving you up a wall is not to be missed. My grandmother and mother both claim that Gravity's Rainbow is the only book they've ever (independently within their own histories as readers) thrown across the room. I didn't throw it. I set it down very firmly.

A book you regret not reading sooner or a book you regret never having read? I wish I had read
Octavia Butler sooner! Everyone should read Butler as soon as possible.

Favorite author, or three, or five? Susanna Clarke, Octavia Butler, Fumiko Enchi, Nnedi Okorafor, Dorothy Sayers, Karen Armstrong, Ursula LeGuin, Natsuo Kirino, Gao Xie, Yoko Ogawa, PD James, Barbara Tuchman, Per Petterson, Tove Jansson, Miyuki Miyabe, Roxane Gay, Karen Lord, Junichiro Tanizaki, Rabih Alemeddine, Sofia Samatar, Janet Mock, the Bronte sisters, Wilkie Collins, NK Jemisin...

Do you have an all-time favorite book? What is it? I'll say instead that a book I wish I'd written is The Ill-Made Mute, by Cecilia Dart-Thornton.

Guilty reading pleasure? I am firmly in the camp of "there is no such thing as guilty reading". If we feel guilty about reading something--romance novels, erotica, thrillers, whatever--it is probably because there is a problematic social stigma against it that has nothing to do with the work's content or value, and everything to do with narratives about whose words are important or what subjects are "legitimate".

Do you keep books? Borrow them? Lend them? Borrow and lend! I love that a thing my coworkers do at Third Place is buy multiple copies of their favorite books expressly for the purpose of loaning them out with no expectation of getting them back. That's awfully cute.

How are your bookshelves arranged at home? My bookshelves at home are like a messed-up Tetris level. There are floor stalagmites of books which I have tried to arrange aesthetically. There are two booksellers in my household, so...

A book you loved that you wouldn't have read if someone hadn't recommend it to you, who recommended it? Eden, a graphic novel/comic by the Argentinean artist Pablo Holmberg. My partner recommended it to me!

Favorite movie version of a book, or a movie that most ruined a book? The news that a favorite book is being adapted into a movie usually causes either wild panic or a headache. Like, the Golden Compass adaptation was cringeworthy. But the BBC miniseries adaptation of Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell is amazing. I was so scared it would be bad, but it's not! 

Bookseller Spotlight!

Wesley at Lake Forest Park

Wesley has been with Third Place for a year, but he's been a bookseller for nearly 17 years. Lots of knowledge here folks. So much knowledge that he's one of our main used books buyers. He also dabbles in computer orders, social media, and shelves Sociology, Ethnic/Gender Studies. and True Crime.

Wesley's favorite food is pho, and he's pretty passionate about it. He's had a pen pal since junior high with whom he has an agreement to never meet or communicate via anything other than pen and paper and maybe a phone call every few years. Although he has no pets of his own, he claims vicarious ownership of old and cranky Jack Rusell Terriers he encounters on the street. He names them either Gary or Howard, depending on the day.

I usually summarize and edit the answers to this inane questionnaire. But Wesley's answers are so fantastic, I simply cannot deny you the pleasure of his own words.

Favorite book in your section?  Right now, my favorite is Dale Peck's Visions and Revisions. A hybrid of memoir and cultural history, it is a refreshingly direct and opinionated examination of AIDs literature and growing up in the thick of the crisis. No punches pulled, no political correctness or apologies employed.

What's your favorite section in the store?  To browse, fiction. For a chuckle, new age kookery.

What book do you recommend most? Julie Orringer's The Invisible Bridge and Vendela Vida's Let the Northern Lights Erase Your Name are my back pocket crowd-pleasers. Whether you read for character, atmosphere, plot, meaning, or emotion, they fit the bill.

Favorite bookstore besides Third Place?  Even split between Grey Matter Bookstore and Troubadour Books in Hadley, Massachusetts and Mast Books in New York. Grey Matter and Troubadour are two separate used shops that share a sprawling basement space in western Massachusetts and provide, to my mind, the most enjoyable rainy afternoon browsing experience known to man. Mast is a small space in the East Village, a used shop curated within an inch of its life and a better store for it. The literature section doesn't represent a single dog and the selection of art books is staggeringly on point. Blindfolded, I could empty my bank account in there without the slightest regret.

What are you reading now?  Mary Karr's The Art of Memoir (September 15th). I have no desire, discipline, or talent (nor do I possess interesting enough battle scars) to write an autobiography BUT IT'S MARY KARR. That voice, even instructionally, is an inimitable pleasure.

Can you read more than one book at a time?  Usually. I keep nonfiction and fiction that requires deeper investment by the bed or reading chair and keep something lighter that's easy to digest in fits and starts with me on the bus and at work.

Do you have to finish a book once you've started?  Ennui is the only thing with which I like to wrestle. My ex did a fantastic imitation of me that's very easy to emulate. At the first point of irritation/boredom: make a short, sharp frustrated noise, toss the book out the window and mutter "who cares?" Repeat with every third or so book. I currently live on the ground floor but the pedestrians in my neighborhood still see a lot of free reading material.

A book you regret not reading sooner or a book you regret never having read?  I wish I had started reading Fran Lebowitz at three instead of thirty. Could've saved myself a lot of hassle and unnecessary apologies.

Favorite author, or three, or five? Mary Robison (not to be confused with Marilynne Robinson, please), Julie Hecht, Lydia Millet, Mary Gaitskill and Ann Beattie. Heidi Julavits. Valerie Martin. Claire Messud. Vendela Vida. Joy Williams. An old co-worker used to tease that "if you show Wesley a book by a thin-lipped lady he won't sleep until he's sold ten."

Least favorite author?  Bret Easton Ellis. I would never refuse to sell a book but American Psycho gives me serious pause. Argue with me all you like but Alberto Manguel said it best: "The only book I ever banished from my library was Bret Easton Ellis's American Psycho, which I felt infected the shelves with its prurient descriptions of deliberately inflicted pain." Truer words. 

Do you have an all-time favorite book?  To name one favorite is a suffocating task that brings me close to tears. Safekeeping by Abigail Thomas, Edward Hirsch's Wild Gratitude and Mary Gaitskill's Veronica are three works I make a point to reread annually and feel more like security blankets than books at this point. Hypocritically, there's a line from a John Berryman that I think may be the single most beautiful thing in the English language.

Guilty reading pleasure? Hippie communes. Religious cults. Don't get me started.

Do you keep books? Borrow them? Lend them?  I keep only the books that are emotionally irreplaceable or financially idiotic to part with. When I was moving back to Seattle and fretting and wringing my hands over what I would keep and what to sell, a friend gave me the greatest piece of advice I've ever gotten where my library is concerned. He handed me a small sheet of paper and a pencil and told me to list every book I owned off the top of my head. After a shockingly short list emerged, he tucked the list in my pocket, told me to go home and sell whatever I hadn't written down. Twenty odd boxes were sold, four were kept and I have absolutely no regrets.

How are your bookshelves arranged at home?  Alphabetical by author (though art, poetry, and vintage paperbacks are segregated and a bit more of a fly-by-night operation).

Do you judge books by their covers?  Unquestionably. Dismissing things out of hand based on aesthetic is one of the greatest pleasures of living in a democratic society.

A book you loved that you wouldn't have read if someone hadn't recommend it?  Julie Hecht's Do the Windows Open? was recommended (nee forced upon me) by the ex with excellent mimicry skills. The soft, borderline Thomas Kinkade cover, the New Yorker sensibilities. Both enormously off-putting, but I'll be damned if it didn't feel tailor-made for me with the neurotic, befuddled protagonist who just can't get on board with these modern times.

Favorite movie version of a book?  They Shoot Horses, Don't They? elevates its source material to phenomenal effect and Play It As It Lays is a wonderfully executed but woefully forgotten adaptation.

Favorite book as a kid? The Digging-est Dog by Al Perkins, a VERY minor title in the Seuss
Library. I still have my copy from childhood and flip through it every so often, mystified I developed a love of reading through something so flat.

Have you read Ulysses? Nope.

Moby Dick? Nah.

What is a book you've recently read and are raving about?
Blackout by Sarah Hepola has really reawakened my love of confessional nonfiction and reminded me of the importance of the addiction memoir. To my mind, there really hasn't been a work about alcohol abuse since Caroline Knapp's Drinking that has felt this humble and forthright. As she's the personal essay editor for Salon, it really shouldn't be too surprising that it's so compulsively readable and relatable but her ability to steer clear of navel-gazing and address past transgressions and personal reckoning so frankly and without sensationalizing her drunkalogue is inspiring.

Bookseller Spotlight

 Annie
Annie has been a bookseller for 11 years and with Third Place for about four of those. You'll usually find her shelving the Pets Section, or being the Intergalactic Overlord of the Science Fiction/Fantasy sections. Seriously, she knows her spaceships and elves. And she really should get a medal for all the times she's cleaned our DISGUSTING staff fridge (seriously, we are animals).

When not reading, Annie enjoys knitting, watching movies, and learning dressage from a 36 year-old horse named Drifter who she describes as the "epitome of elderly gentlemanliness."

Favorite book in your section, or most underrated book in your section? Pets: Most underrated- Tales from a Dog Catcher by Lisa Duffy-Korpics. It's full of funny, sad stories about her career in animal control. The essay about watering cats definitely had me giggling in public. SciFi:  I love the entirety of Science Fiction. Except, maybe not Game of Thrones so much... GASP, I know, the only person on the planet who isn't into the series.

What's your favorite section in the store? Science Fiction/Fantasy. And Young Adult. And Pets. And Fiction. And Mystery. Oh, and the knitting section!

What book do you recommend most? Depends on the customer, but probably Sabriel by Garth Nix. It's THE book that really cemented my love of fantasy, and it's completely different from anything else. I cannot even contain my excitement for Clariel, his latest book in the series. It comes out in October!

Favorite bookstore, besides Third Place? Tie between Mr. B's Bookery and Powells. I love the intimacy of a small bookstore, but also the gigantic-ness that is Powells. Plus, traveling to Portland by train is part of the fun.

Can you read more than one book at a time? Nope. Even if the books are completely different I start mixing up characters and scenes.

Do you have to finish a book once you've started? I have a 50 page rule. That sometimes turns into a 5 page rule. I'm a big believer of the "right book, right time, right reader" theory. A book that I wasn't interested in 5 years ago I might love now. But some books I do put down and never go back to.

Guilty reading pleasure? I don't believe in guilty reading. I fully enjoyed the Twilight series and plan on rereading it again soon; Timothy Zahn has written some of the best Star Wars Extended Universe material ever; and Nora Roberts is my favorite romance author. I read mostly for myself and also to support my favorite authors and bookstores. It's hard to feel guilty about that.

Do you keep books? Borrow them? Lend them? I definitely keep books. This weekend my husband and I are heading to Ikea to buy more bookcases. I think we'll round out at an even 20 after that trip. I do on occasion borrow from friends. I've been know to lend books out to a small, select group of people.

How are your bookshelves arranged at home? Pretty helter skelter. I have bookcases scattered throughout my house, and I try to keep authors together. Other than that, if there's a spot that a book will fit, that's where it lives until I find it again. It's kind of fun actually. I'll be browsing for something to read in the living room or guest room and come across a book I've completely forgotten about.

A book you loved that you wouldn't have read if someone hadn't recommend it to you? most recently I read a book called Dove Arising by Karen Bao that's coming out in February. My friend Rene reviewed it on her blog. Anything she recommends, I will read. She has impeccable taste!

Favorite movie version of a book, or a movie that most ruined a book? My favorite movie based on a book is hands down the Lord of the Rings trilogy. and maybe Hayao Miyazaki's interpretation of Howl's Moving Castle. On the flip side, I've seen so many horrifically bad movies based on books. One that really sticks out though is Eragon. That movie had so much potential and a great cast. But I couldn't even get through the first hour, it was so bad.

Favorite book as a kid? The Neverending Story. And Matilda. And The Animorphs series. Oh, and Young Jedi Knights series.
the

Have you read Ulysses? Nope. My dad kept on and on about it, but I bet you can guess by now that it was not my particular brand of good fun in the reading department. I think I may have read the first page, but swapped it out for whatever Animorphs book I was on almost immediately.

Currently reading and raving about? 
Afterworlds by Scott Westerfeld (out in September)

Afterworlds follows the story of Darcy Patel, who at 18 has landed a publishing deal and a substantial advance for her first YA novel. She decides to put off college and move to New York to see if she can hack it as a writer. Every alternate chapter follows Lizzie, the protagonist of Darcy's novel. It's an awesome premise as the reader gets to both read the author's own story and the one she's put down on paper. Brilliant and very well written, it's worth picking up this fall!

Bookseller Spotlight!

Michael

Get ready. Drum roll, please. You're about to meet Michael, one of my all-time favorite booksellers.  And I'm not just saying that because he's my boss. Michael has been with Third Place for about six-ish years. He's the fearless leader of our Ravenna location. He really didn't want to answer this next question, but Michael has been a bookseller for 44 years. In addition to wrangling us unruly Ravenna booksellers, Michael shelves the art books, the cooking section, and the bargain tables. In his free time he likes taking long bike rides and hanging out with his cats.

What's your favorite book in your section? James Beard's American Cookery

What's your favorite section in the store?  Fiction, art, cooking...it changes everyday.

What book do you recommend most?  Right now I'm recommending All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. It's the best book I've read this year, the best book I've read in a long time actually. My old stand-by recommendation is anything by Flannery O'Connor.

Favorite bookstore besides Third Place? Three Lives & Company in New York City.

What are you reading right now? I just finished Euphoria by Lily Tuck, and really enjoyed it. I'm also reading Neverhome by Laird Hunt. It's a new title that will be released in August.

Can you read more than one book at a time? Yes

Do you have to finish a book you've started it? NO!

What book do you regret not reading? Anna Karenina.

Favorite author, or three, or five? Flannery O'Connor, James Salter, Raymond Carver

Guilty reading pleasure? Mysteries.

Do you keep books? Borrow them? Lend them? I keep books.

How are your bookshelves arranged at home? Fiction is arranged alphabetically by author.  Biography is arranged by subject.  And art and photo books are arranged by theme.

What book have you loved that you wouldn't have read unless someone recommended it to you? Who recommended it? All the Light We Cannot See. It wasn't something I was really interested in, but
then I heard from so many booksellers that it was just phenomenal.  They were right.

What's your favorite movie version of a book? East of Eden with James Dean. (editor's note: seconded)

Favorite book as a kid? The Black Stallion series by Walter Farley.

Have you read Ulysses? No, and it is not on the list of things to read anytime soon.

What is a book you've recently read and are raving about?
I am Pilgrim: A Thriller by Terry Hayes

This is the perfect beach read- smart, fast-paced, and impossible to put down.  The fact that the author is a screenwriter is evident, but while the novel is cinematic, it is by no means an extended screenplay.  Hayes has created three-dimensional characters, including a villain who is somehow understandable in his single minded effort to bring down the United States.

Bookseller Spotlight

Jim

Jim has been working out at Lake Forest Park for a little over three years, but he's been a bookseller for about nine years. So he pretty much knows everything. His favorite food is eggs Benedict, and one day he wants to own a Bluetick Coonhound. He likes to cook and golf; I'm guessing not at the same time, but who knows, Jim is kinda weird. On weekends, when not reading, Jim does stand up comedy.


What sections do you shelve? Political Science.

What's the most underrated book in your section? Thomas Paine’s Common Sense, written when he was 37 years old.

What's your favorite section in the store? Poetry.

What book do you recommend most? Currently, This Is Between Us by Kevin Sampsell, but next is Nicole Krauss’ The History of Love.

Favorite bookstore besides Third Place?  Faulkner House Books in New Orleans.

What are you reading now?  Here and Now: Letters 2008-2011 (correspondence between Auster and Coetzee,) and Happiness: Ten Years of n+ 1 by n+1 (a wonderful collection coming out in September).

Can you read more than one book at a time?  I do, but not very well.

Do you have to finish a book once you've started, or do you give up on books? As Milorad Pavic said, "If you put it down tomorrow, you may find it like a stove gone cold, with no hot supper waiting for you any more"… I try not to let that happen too often.

A book you regret never having read? I still haven’t read The Alchemist by Paolo Coehlo.

Favorite author, or three, or five? T.C. Boyle, Fernando Pessoa, Eve Ensler, Joan Didion’s earlier non-fiction… Paul Auster, Cheryl Strayed.

Do you have an all-time favorite book? The Dictionary of the Khazars by Milorad Pavic, it comes in both a Male and a Female edition.

Guilty reading pleasure?  Cookbooks or anything about cooking.

Do you keep books? Borrow them? Lend them?  I’m currently paring down my collection and trying to give more to neighborhood free libraries. I think they’re a great way to filter books you like into the universe.

How are your bookshelves arranged at home? By the peculiar way that my brain allows me to find certain titles again.

Do you judge books by their covers?  I do, and it’s been some of the best reading.

A book you loved that you wouldn't have read if someone hadn't recommend it to you?  Fear of Dreaming: The Selected Poems by Jim Carroll… my sister’s boyfriend recommended this when I was in my last year as a teenager.

Favorite movie version of a book, or a movie that most ruined a book? Favorite: Pride and Prejudice, with Matthew Macfadyen as Mr. Darcy.  Worst: Watchers with Corey Haim.

Favorite book as a kid? War and Peace, I was a fourth grader and I didn't actually read it, but I turned in a book report.

Have you read Ulysses? No.  All the way through? Yup.  Are you lying? No.  (editors note, pretty sure Jim is making fun of my questions)

Currently reading and raving about? 
What Narcissism Means to Me: Poems  by Tony Hoagland

A beautiful collection of poetry I've been visiting on and off for the last year when I need a smile. He writes with insight and a biting wit.

Bookseller Spotlight

Wendy

Wendy has been with Third Place, in her words, "since before the dawn of time." Or 16 years.  You'll find Wendy out at Lake Forest Park working hard coordinating all the great events at both locations and buying all those adorable sidelines and gifts.  She's into Crossfit, really, really into it.  And she's got two adorable chihuahuas named Mimi and Harriet.  She was once obsessed with Elvis Presley...but who hasn't been?

"I was obsessed with Elvis Presley my 8th grade year, only listened to Elvis music and only watched Elvis movies, documentaries and made for TV movies. I used to have a gold poofy cover Elvis book that cost $30 (a ton of dough at the time) that I kept in my locker and would only let my friends look at it if they washed their hands. I miss that book."

How long have you been a bookseller? I got my first job as a bookseller in Everett Washington at a small store called Port Gardner Bay books when I was 21...so that long.

What's your favorite section in the store? Fiction.

What book do you recommend most? The one I have a chance at selling is Confederacy of Dunces, you're a dunce if you haven't read it. The one I WISH I could sell more of, The Ice Trilogy.

Favorite bookstore, besides Third Place?  I really like Elliot Bay's new digs. And there was a super cute store in Palmer, AK that I loved (editor's note: I think she means this one).

What are you reading now? Uhhhh...textbooks and really poorly scanned pages from books provided by my professors. I'm in school. 

Can you read more than one book at a time? Yes, but only fluff books.

Do you have to finish a book once you've started, or do you give up on books? I give a book 30-50 pages, if it hasn't grabbed me I let it go. There are waaay too many books I'm NOT reading to spend more time with a book I don't like.

A book you regret not reading sooner or a book you regret never having read. There are a lot, in high school my English teacher ONLY assigned Steinbeck...and maybe a little Shakespeare. I love Steinbeck, don't get me wrong...but I wasn't introduced to the broader world of literature until I started working at bookstores. I really wish someone would have introduced me to Daniil Kharms, Joan Didion and Balzac.

Favorite author, or three, or five. Daniil Kharms, Joan Didion, Edith Wharton, Balzac!!!

Least favorite author. Norman Mailer.

Do you have an all-time favorite book? Count of Monte Cristo AND The Confederacy of Dunces

Guilty reading pleasure. Vampire novels...so embarrassing but NOT Twilight..puhlease.

Do you keep books? I only keep 50 books in my house, if I start to get over the limit, I purge. I DO have multiple copies of The Confederacy of Dunces and Daniil Kharm's book Today I Wrote Nothing, to give away.  Borrow them? No. Lend them? I give books away, I don't want them back...see 50 book rule.

How are your bookshelves arranged at home? Size.

Do you judge books by their covers? Yes, of course.

Favorite book as a kid. Little Women, I still have my original copy!

Have you read Ulysses? No, and I won't.

Wendy didn't mention a book she's read lately and loved, mostly because she's working hard in school AND at work AND at Crossfit.  So I'm going to mention a book she convinced me to read which I loved.

The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham

In 1951 John Wyndham published his novel The Day of the Triffids to moderate acclaim. Fifty-two years later, this horrifying story is a science fiction classic, touted by The Times (London) as having “all the reality of a vividly realized nightmare.” 

Bill Masen, bandages over his wounded eyes, misses the most spectacular meteorite shower England has ever seen. Removing his bandages the next morning, he finds masses of sightless people wandering the city. He soon meets Josella, another lucky person who has retained her sight, and together they leave the city, aware that the safe, familiar world they knew a mere twenty-four hours before is gone forever. 

But to survive in this post-apocalyptic world, one must survive the Triffids, strange plants that years before began appearing all over the world. The Triffids can grow to over seven feet tall, pull their roots from the ground to walk, and kill a man with one quick lash of their poisonous stingers. With society in shambles, they are now poised to prey on humankind. Wyndham chillingly anticipates bio-warfare and mass destruction, fifty years before their realization, in this prescient account of Cold War paranoia.

Bookseller Spotlight!

Ami

Ami has been with Third Place at the Ravenna location for a year and a half.  If you've been in the store in the past year, you've no doubt heard her spontaneous and resounding laughter at some point. 

Ami is pretty hip and awesome.  I am forever intimidated by her interesting and unique reading taste.  She's also pretty well versed in loads of social justice matters.  Her favorite food is, in her words, "probably all sandwiches." 

When she's not reading or being generally hip and awesome, Ami enjoys playing Pokemon.  (that's not a joke)

What do you do at the bookstore? I shelve biography, drama, film, music, home, garden, homesteading. (editor's note: Ami also works on returns to publishers, she puts the Ravenna calendar together, and she makes sure that all of us choose a book for our monthly staff picks.  She should probably be given a medal for that last one; we aren't the most cooperative bunch)

The most underrated book in your sections? I Await the Devil's Coming by Mary MacLane.

What book do you recommend most?  I Love Dick by Chris Kraus (editor's note: she really does love this book... see)

What's your favorite bookstore besides Third Place? Book Thug Nation in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

What are you reading right now?  Cubed: A Secret History of the Workplace by Nikil Saval.

Can you read more than one book at a time?  I'm usually only reading one novel.  But I can read more than one nonfiction book at the same time. I'm currently (still) reading The Noonday Demon and Open Veins of Latin America. And I'm occasionally reading from Kay Ryan's The Best of It: New and Selected Poems.

A book you've given up on recently? The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt. (editor's note: GASP!)

Favorite author, or two, or five? Top five favorite authors: Lorrie Moore, Ann Beattie, Lydia Davis, David Foster Wallace, Alice Munro.

Least favorite author?  Jonathan Safran Foer.

Guilty reading pleasure? The Animorphs Series.

How are your bookshelves arranged at home?  I have NYRB books together and the Vintage Contemporaries together, the rest of them are just wherever, on the floor, holding up other things, etc..

A book you loved that you wouldn't have read unless someone recommended it to you?  Pan by Knut Hamsun, which Mark B. recommended. I rarely read books in translation.

Favorite book as a kid?  Harry Potter (duh).  Also So You Want to be a Wizard? by Diane Duane (just the first one though).

Have you read Ulysses?  Nope.  Probably never will.  Oh well.

What's your favorite movie version of a book? (editor's note: Ami responded to this question in two additional emails after her initial responses to the above questions.  This is how those emails read...)

Email #1:  OH favorite movie version of a book:  American Psycho.

*two minutes later*

Email #2:  NO WAIT it's TWILIGHT (just the first one)!!!!  DEFINITELY TWILIGHT!

Bookseller Spotlight!

Robert
Robert is Managing Partner of Third Place Company and you'll usually find him out at our Lake Forest Park store.  He's been a bookseller for 22 years and with Third Place  for 14 years.  He's also a current board member of the American Booksellers Association.  So yeah, he's kind of a big deal.  Robert doesn't have a favorite food (which I've suddenly realized is an odd question to ask a person in a getting-to-know-you-type survey, but we're just gonna roll with it).  He says he'll eat everything but will avoid sea urchin if possible...how picky.  When not reading, and he reads a lot, Robert enjoys spending time with his family, cycling, going to the theater, watching basketball (don't get him started on Seattle not having a basketball team).  He also enjoys cooking, though presumably not sea urchin.

What's your favorite section in the store? Essays.

What book do you recommend most? The Tiger: A True Story of Vengeance and Survival by John Vaillant. This true account of a man-eating tiger attack in remote South Eastern Russia is an amazing adventure story, an environmental story and great “guy” book. I also recommend it as a strong crossover for teen boys just starting to read adult books.

Favorite bookstore besides Third Place? I love The Strand in New York and Powell’s in Portland. Their size and mix of used books make them places I always stop at when I'm in those cities.

What are you reading now? I'm mid-way through a great non-fiction book by Walter Kirn, Blood Will Out: The True Story of a Murder, a Mystery, and a Masquerade. It’s a creepy fascinating account of the author’s ten year friendship with a con-artist and murderer. It’s coming out in March and will definitely be one of the big books of early 2014.

Can you read more than one book at a time? I’ll read fiction and non-fiction together, but I can’t do two novels at once. A great novel deserves all your attention. I feel like I am cheating the book and myself if I don’t fully commit to it.

Do you have to finish a book once you've started, or do you give up on books? There are too many great books out there to stick with a mediocre one. I will toss books aside after 50 pages if I'm not hooked. My big clue is how long I'll allow between reading sessions. If a few days pass and I'm reading magazine and newspaper articles but not carving out time for the book I've been reading, it’s a sign that it's just not doing it for me.

A book you regret not reading sooner? There are a couple New York Review of Books Classics that I’m surprised I wasn't forced to read in school. The Pilgrim Hawk by Glenway Wescott should be on the same reading list as The Great Gatsby and The Sun Also Rises. Stoner by John Williams is simply gorgeous.

Favorite author, or three, or five? Living : Cormac McCarthy (many authors are compared to him but his voice is truly singular). Dead : Samuel Beckett (reading his novels is like reading poetry, I can go back to them and read a few pages and reignite everything I love about literature)

Least favorite author? Not my least, but I’ll confess to having never liked David Foster Wallace, and I tried.

Do you have an all-time favorite book? I don’t. My favorite novels are too closely associated with who I was when I read them.

Guilty reading pleasure? Listening to celebrity memoirs on audio books. I walk to work and listen to non-fiction audio books on the way. I just finished Dr. J: The Autobiography by Julius Erving which was a lot of fun. The best one I've ever listened to is the Keith Richards memoir, Life. It has three different narrators, starting with Johnny Depp. It’s so conversational, you feel like you’re hanging out it your living room with Keith telling stories.

Do you keep books? Borrow them? Lend them? I had to make a rule some years back to keep our house from overflowing with books. I only keep hardcovers of books that I loved or are by authors I love and am planning to read. I’ll read a paperback but won’t keep it. I have to own my books. I don’t lend them. I’ll buy someone a copy of something I think they should read, but I won’t lend them mine.

How are your bookshelves arranged at home? Living authors and dead authors. Then arranged by country of origin, then by similar writing styles. No alphabetization. I also have a separate section for plays and books about playwrights and theater.

Do you judge books by their covers? I do. There is definitely an aesthetic part of the reading experience. I hate it when a book I heard is good or I was looking forward to comes out with an ugly cover. I’ll avoid reading it as long as possible.

A book you loved that you wouldn't have read if someone hadn't recommended it to you? There are a lot. This past year I read Philipp Meyer’s The Son. I had stayed away because it kept being compared to Cormac McCarthy and that comparison is always bound to disappoint me. But a number of booksellers from other stores kept telling me how great it was, and they were right.

Have you read Ulysses? Yes

All the way through? Yes

Are you lying? No

Currently reading and raving about?
The Infatuations by Javier Marias

I love how this novel argues with itself. It's a novel you read not for plot but for the long, no stone left unturned, passages of thought about the potential motivations behind human behavior. Making it all the more rewarding when you discover that, underneath the philosophical debates the narrator has with herself, there are pieces of a plot that feel like an homage to the greatest Hitchcock films.

Bookseller Spotlight!

New year, new blog features!  A big part of the reason you shop with us is because of our awesome and knowledgeable staff.  At least we hope so.  We thought you might enjoy meeting some of those awesome and knowledgeable people through this new Bookseller Spotlight.  We'll feature a different bookseller every few weeks or so.  You'll get to enjoy their interesting, (hopefully hilarious and weird) answers to questions about the store and books and reading and such.  Plus a look at what they're currently reading and loving right now.  Up first...

Emily A.
Emily has worked at our Lake Forest Park store for seven years.  Phew! That's a lot of bookselling.  Her favorite food is Perohi  or pierogies to the rest of us.  "I love to make food to share, but when I make a batch of perohi, I want to eat every single one. They bring out my inner hoarder."  She also claims she could eat pizza every single day.  Emily has lived at at least 25 different addresses in seven different states.  When not reading (or moving) she likes to ride her bike, bake delicious treats, and bask in the sun.

How long have you been a bookseller? 14 years

What do you do at the bookstore? I shelve cooking and maps. Plus I'm the book club coordinator, and a buyer

Favorite book in your section? I'm smitten with A Commonplace Book of Pie by Kate Lebo, a collection of recipes and delightful prose-poems, like pie-horoscopes, by a local poet and pie-slinger. Jessica Lynn Bonin's gorgeous illustrations make this a beautiful, homey little book.

What book do you recommend most? Depends on who's asking. For bakers, it's The Dahlia Bakery Cookbook or Rustic Fruit Desserts. Sherman Alexie's Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, Haruki Murakami's The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Kurt Vonnegut's Mother Night, anything by Mo Willems but especially the Knufflebunny books and Elephant and Piggie: We Are in a Book!

What's your favorite bookstore besides Third Place? My mother and I met in San Francisco for a weekend of bookstore hopping, and we enjoyed all of the stores we visited. I loved Book Passage's store in the Ferry building. For a tiny space, they have an incredibly well-stocked store. One of the booksellers actually sang Maurice Sendak's Chicken Soup with Rice (ala Carole King) for me.

Can you read more than one book at a time? Rarely. If I put a book down, I rarely go back to it.

Do you have to finish a book once you've started, or do you give up on books? I used to finish compulsively, but that was before I became a bookseller. There are just too many great ones to slog through one I'm not enjoying.

Favorite author, or three, or five? Haruki Murakami, Kurt Vonnegut, Shel Silverstein, Mo Willems, Richard Brautigan, Sherman Alexie, Bonnie Becker, Barbara Kingsolver, just scratchingt the surface.  

Do you have an all-time favorite book? What is it? Where the Sidewalk Ends. I will never forget listening to I'm Being Eaten by a Boa Constrictor and Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout Who Would not Take the Garbage Out in my 6th grade reading class. Is there anyone alive who doesn't love this book? If so, they probably just haven't met it yet.

Guilty reading pleasure? Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series. They are a fast paced, detailed, addictive, genre-bending mashup of romance, swashbuckling adventure, time travel, and all the best elements of historical fiction. I'm excited that the new installment comes out June 10th, and we will be hosting her at the LFP store on July 1st.

How are your bookshelves arranged at home? I have a few shelves of things a won't part with, an overflowing and constantly rotating shelf of cookbooks, stacks of recently acquired books and cookbooks on the kitchen table (I really need to deal with that pile. There's not much room left for eating), and a big bookcase of random stuff that is shelved variously by size, author, kid-appropriateness, and subject. I desperately need to build another bookcase. To anyone else it probably looks like complete chaos, but I know where everything is. I also have a box of old falling-apart mass market paperbacks that I unearth every now and then. Oh, I just remembered there are big teetering piles in the bedroom that I should probably go through....  

Do you keep the books you buy?  I pass most of my books on to my mom and my friends. My partner jokes that no one else is allowed to bring books into our apartment, they are only allowed to take them away. I often buy used Vonnegut paperbacks just to have around in case someone comes by who hasn't read him. I'm a Vonnegut pusher. 

Favorite movie version of a book? Smoke Signals (Alexie) and Mother Night (Vonnegut), the first Harry Potter (owl post!) and the Fellowship of the Ring (the Shire!) for their movie magic 

Favorite book as a kid? In the small town in Maine where I lived until age 7, the Carnegie library was the only authorized stop on the walk home from school. I checked out all of the forest tales of Thornton W. Burgess and read them sitting on the floor in the hallway between my bedroom and the kitchen. The only book that I kept through all of my moves is a copy of One Morning in Maine.

Have you read Ulysses? Nope. Not a word. 

Currently reading and raving over?  

Under the Wide and Starry Sky by Nancy Horan

Before I read this book, I didn't give a fig about Robert Louis Stevenson and had only read his poetry as a child. Now I want to read all of his books and journals! Nancy Horan (author of Loving Frank) brings the colorful Stevensons to life in this vibrant work of historical fiction, full of bold characters who buck the conventions of their time, following their hearts wherever they might lead. From France to California and from Scotland to the South Pacific, they are plagued by illness and must balance the demands and expectations of family with the need to make a living and an appetite for adventure.

Also, read The Goldfinch. It's awesome. Erin was right.

So, that's it from Emily. Now that you know a bit about her, come out to LFP and ask her tons of questions about biking, baking, and books!

(I would just like to take a moment to clarify that I did not solicit the "Erin was right." comment...though I often am, and definitely in this case...Goldfinch plug!!!!...I should be getting commission for this)