The Bookstore

Latest Episodes:

161 - The Yield Dec 04, 2023

Show notes

Action Items - US Campaign for Palestinian Rights

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

160 - Death With Interruptions Nov 15, 2023

Show notes

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.

Get two audiobook credits for the price of one at Libro.fm when you sign up using the code BOOKSTOREPOD.

Website | Patreon

159 - The Dispossessed Nov 01, 2023

Show notes

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.

Get two audiobook credits for the price of one at Libro.fm when you sign up using the code BOOKSTOREPOD.

Website | Patreon

158 - Babel-17 Oct 24, 2023

Show notes

Action Items - US Campaign for Palestinian Rights

Action Items - Jewish Voices for Peace

Free Ebooks - Haymarket Books

Open Letter from ArabLit

*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.

Get two audiobook credits for the price of one at Libro.fm when you sign up using the code BOOKSTOREPOD.

Website | Patreon

157 - Present Tense Machine Oct 10, 2023

Show notes

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.

Get two audiobook credits for the price of one at Libro.fm when you sign up using the code BOOKSTOREPOD.

Website | Patreon

Detroit Festival of Books 2023 Sep 26, 2023

Show notes

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.

Get two audiobook credits for the price of one at Libro.fm when you sign up using the code BOOKSTOREPOD.

Website | Patreon

156 - Gorilla, My Love Sep 19, 2023

Show notes

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.

Get two audiobook credits for the price of one at Libro.fm when you sign up using the code BOOKSTOREPOD.

Website | Patreon

155 - The Book of Goose Sep 05, 2023

Show notes

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!

Get two audiobook credits for the price of one at Libro.fm when you sign up using the code BOOKSTOREPOD.

Website | Patreon

154 - Crazy Brave Aug 23, 2023

Show notes

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.

Get two audiobook credits for the price of one at Libro.fm when you sign up using the code BOOKSTOREPOD.

Website | Patreon

153 - Woman of Light Aug 08, 2023

Show notes

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!

Get two audiobook credits for the price of one at Libro.fm when you sign up using the code BOOKSTOREPOD.

Website | Patreon

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected