#bibliophile asks

I’m in love with this question list, thank you for for asking darling! 💖

1. Tell me about that imaginary bookshop you dream about running.

Ok, this got long, apologies in advance! So like The Last Bookstore (in LA) meets Bart’s Books (in Ojai) meets the Harbor from Erin Morgenstern’s The Starless Sea? 

The feeling of never-ending miles of shelves and curiosities from the Harbor, and the sense of stepping into a space not quite part of the world you’re used to. I’m in love with little corridors off the beaten path and armchairs tucked into secluded corners. From The Last Bookstore, I’ll take the inspiration for art and architecture made from books. Their front counter looks like 4 feet of books stacked on top of each other, and for the life of me I can’t figure out quite how they’re all attached, because it looks like it should just topple over. Same thing goes for the book tunnel upstairs, which is both fascinating and super Instagram-able, which is why hipsters love the place. And above the staircase there’s a typewriter on a desk on the top landing, and it has pages spilling from it that are suspended in the air and curl partway down the stairs, so they’re the first thing you see when going up. And from Bart’s I’ll take the sense of coziness. It feels very peaceful and homey inside- which makes sense because it was actually a house with a central courtyard, and they just kind of removed most of the furniture, took off the doors, and put in bookshelves. Also I’m stealing their cats. 

Towards the front of my store are new books, current bestsellers, etc. But everywhere else it’s used and secondhand books. I find those much more intriguing than shelves of brand new books. For certain clients, the bookstore functions as a library, because I understand that even discounted secondhand books can be expensive, and I never want money to stand in the way of someone having access to books they want. Some parts of the store may have different types of music playing- current pop quietly in the front of the store for the people who just come in for that one new 50 Shades-adjacent book. But further back, hidden in corners and hallways, snippets of a waltz, a piano nocturne, a solo violin, soft jazz, something slightly haunting that you can’t identify all the instruments in. 

Tea, coffee, and cocoa are all available on request- free of charge, though donations are appreciated to help keep up the supply. There’s a little station towards the center of the store where guests can help themselves, and I make sure to do occasional rounds of the shop, checking for individuals curled in those secluded armchairs with the cats to keep them company, and I take orders. Beverages are served in mugs or cups that are somehow always matched to the book one is reading. No two mugs are alike- they’ve been donated and collected, accumulated over the years. Some of them are cracked or chipped slightly, but they are still happy to serve. Delicate china teacups and saucers for the Austen readers, unusually shaped mugs for stories like Alice in Wonderland, one printed with Calvin and Hobbes for the young man reading his way through our comic books. Later in the day, cocktails are offered in elegantly cut glasses to match, reserved for our guests of an appropriate age. 

Everyone who comes in finds something they were looking for, whether they knew it or not. The perfect book, the perfect picture, the perfect tea blend, the perfect poem. The store has a bit of a mind of its own, and sometimes it knows its guests even better than its owner does. 

2. Do you like reading aloud? Are you good at it?

Huge yes, I absolutely love it, especially if I’m excited about the book! I’d love to record audiobooks, too. I’m told I’m pretty good at it, too! 

3. How do you organize your bookshelves?

So my bookshelves at home lost any and all hope of organization years ago- they’re stuffed to the brim, and when I ran out of normal space I just kinda started stacking them horizontally in front of the books lined up vertically lmao. But the handful I took with me that are in my apartment now are organized by size- the hardback one to the far left, then the paperback one the same size, and they get smaller going to the right. I’m also using candles for book ends to keep them upright lol

4. Tell me about that one book that you can’t remember the title of and maybe you just made it up except you remember that one specific thing so clearly.

A necklace of beaded wishes is used to make an art model have to scratch his balls so badly that he has to leave the session? 😂

5. Do you write in the margins?

Thank you! I love that 4. is apparently striking a curious chord with people today, I wish I could think of a second possibly-imaginary work, but for now, I have an answer here.

11. What book do you find yourself recommending the most?

Recently it's been To Calais in Ordinary Time by James Meek. A friend keeps ominously mentioning that the author was kind of a dick when she met him, and I didn't buy it for myself because I don't trust male authors I know nothing about, but a friend bought it for my birthday and it was such a wonderful surprise...

It's set during the fourteenth-century as word of the Black Death is just reaching the shores on England. A mixture of characters is drawn together on a journey to catch a ship to Calais and the book is about their interactions, perceptions of each other, the way the land and people are changed - or not - by the disease.

It felt contemporary even before lockdown: conspiracy theories and cruelty exist in it, little Englanders and grotesque misogyny and abuses of power haunt the characters. In that it reminded me a little of Ishiguro’s Buried Giant, at least in terms of the atmosphere of a strangely emptied, oblivious land. It's probably even more striking to read now, with the way some in the book refuse to believe in the seriousness of the plague, but people fight to continue life as normal and to carve out acts of kindness and compassion.

It's also, all round, just astonishingly kind. There's a mlm romance in it that is just written with such generosity and sweetness in a setting where it could easily not have been, and around it there are also loads of examples of people crossing boundaries: it contemplates class and gender and nationality and what is universal about love across these things.

Aw thank you so much! 💖

1. Tell me about that imaginary bookshop you dream about running. 

It’s tall and narrow with books filling nearly every surface. Every surface lacking books has either plants or candles on it. On the top floor there would be a little coffee shop called “The Sleepy Bean” where people could read and drink coffee out of mismatched thrift store mugs and look out over the street. I would also have a grey shop cat!

11. What book do you find yourself recommending the most? 

The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco and Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed

13. Pick a book you would adapt for the screen, given unlimited budget and creative freedom.

4. tell me about that one book that you can’t remember the title of and maybe you just made it up except you remember that one specific thing so clearly.

oh, god! it's a YA/children's series! it might be about dragons? i think it's got gems or colors or something associated with each book?? i can remember so clearly what the little colored ovals look like on the spine of each book, and the vaguely purple-ish covers, but i can't remember anything else. except that the boy had a hawk. or an owl?? something that landed on his arm, at any rate.

6. have you ever physically destroyed a book?

yep! um, i guess... trigger warning for light mention of abusive boyfriends.

i normally wouldn't advocate for wanton destruction, but i had a jane austen anthology that was a gift from a boyfriend who... did a bad thing to me. (the austen was supposed to be an apology. some things... you can't apologize for. not even with books.) after finally coming clean with them about what happened, i asked my parents if i could burn everything he'd given me, so they set up a barrel in the back yard and let me go ham for one day. it was the single most undstanding thing they've ever done for me.

i shredded that book, and then threw the shredded pages into the fire.

i don't regret it.

i have also used old books (and many harry potter books, weirdly) for craft projects that require some destruction, but those were all given to me for that express purpose.

4. Tell me about that one book that you can’t remember the title of and maybe you just made it up except you remember that one specific thing so clearly. 

holy shit so when I was like 6 or 7 I went to my grandma’s place for the weekend and was super bored. I went through her bookshelf and found this little book that had some illustrations so I picked it up. the one thing i can remember is that the main character was asian, and I think her family harvested rice for a living. I looked for it when I was older but my grandma had no recollection of it and I never found it again unfortunately (if anyone has any idea what book this is pls let me know lol)

7. Tell me about learning to read.

I don’t remember it exactly but I do remember that one of my classmates accidentally misspelled “Pluto” (the disney dog) as “puto” which is a curse word in portuguese and everyone laughed and the teacher almost died

1. Tell me about that imaginary bookshop you dream about running. 

I'm actually really hoping that in a couple years it won't be so imaginary. It's going to be a small queer bookstore with a little cafe inside where we serve vegan pastries, coffee, tea, etc. The walls will be painted either a light yellow or a light blue (actually-i could do some walls yellow and some walls blue? that could be interesting) There will be plants everywhere and a couple pride flags. Board games too. We'll have poetry nights, open mic nights, all sorts of things. It will be lovely and homey and safe.

10. Tell me about the sort of cover you cannot resist. 

I'm like a magpie-anything shiny. I can't resist it. Really though, just anything that looks interesting.

14. Is there a specific kind of book you collect? 

Emmy!! You’re welcome to send me whole lists of questions anytime you like, I’m just thrilled you know I exist cause you’re so incredible and like I’m just little ol’ me 😅

1. Tell me about that imaginary bookshop you dream about running.

Answered here, and I had so much fun writing this out! 😊 

7. Tell me about learning to read.

I learned super quick, and loved it early. So by the time I was in the first grade, we were taken each week to the school library, which was divided into sections by grade. Lower grades were not permitted to look at books in higher aged categories, which I thought was bullshit from the start. So, first time I’m in the library, we’re allowed to browse our designated shelves. Well I, looking across the room, soon found the Nancy Drew books (which I had already read several of at home). They were slightly newer editions than I’d seen, because my mom had the older copies from like the 60s. So I ran right over and picked up the next book in the series, and sat down on the spot to read it. I was soon interrupted by both my teacher and the librarian telling me that I wasn’t allowed to read that book, because it was in the 4th grade section. So my bold little curly-haired self stood there and explained that I had already read several of them, and explained the plot lines of a couple others I could see on the shelf to convince them that I was telling the truth. I walked out of there having been permitted to check out the book, and was allowed further access to rest of the Nancy Drew books 😎 (The librarian figured out pretty quick after that I was much more invested in books than my classmates, and she let me have a lot of wiggle room when it came to library rules. When I was in the sixth grade, we had a whole discussion on Pride and Prejudice during a recess period lol)

11. What book do you find yourself recommending the most?

My number one recommendation every time is ‘The Night Circus’, by Erin Morgenstern. And I’ve never had a bad review of it! 

13. Pick a book you would adapt for the screen, given unlimited budget and creative freedom.  

Also ‘The Night Circus’! But I’m putting Erin Morgenstern in charge, and so help me god I’d make sure it was a perfect adaptation of the book. I can’t decide whether or not I trust myself to play Celia in it, but even if I didn’t I’d certainly sneak into a more minor role just to be a part of it. 

I’d also love to see/be in an adaptation of the Septimus Heap series. I feel like Netflix could do pretty well with it if they made it a series. Not to mention that Marcia Overstrand is my spirit animal and I’d be so honored to play her. 😊 

2. do you like reading aloud? are you good at it?

i love reading aloud. like, love it. there are actually few things i love more than reading aloud to people. when we're on road trips, i tend to read books aloud to my family/spouse/whoever i'm with instead of listening to audiobooks or music. and because i'm mostly a verbal processor, but also my learning style is a blend of reading/writing, i retain so. much. more. from stories when i read them aloud. i think that's why i like doing it so much—because i'm both entertaining other people and myself.

but am i good at it? i would say i'm a very good reader—decent pronunciation and vocabulary, good at reading ahead and doing slight changes in dialogue voices—but my fatal flaw is that i'm originally from the pittsburgh, pennsylvania-ish area (a place with a notoriously horrible accent, as well as a whole host of ugly, made-up words!), so my voice and accent (despite years of effort and practice!) are pretty annoying. basically, it's a toss-up! people who aren't bothered by my accent would probably find me good at reading aloud, and people who are... would probably find me horrible to listen to!

5. do you write in the margins?

not presently, but there was a period when i tried to. most of my reading is, at this point, not academic or even really educational, so there's really no need for me to insert my two cents. i did annotate (and highlight stuff) while reading atlas shrugged, though. (which i do not advise, lmao. not... in terms of marking up the book. i just don't advise reading it... it's exhausting.) mostly because i had Opinions™ about it, and was trying to understand that particular philosophy. so, if there's something i'm trying to take away from a book, i might mark it up in the margins. but otherwise, no.

7. tell me about learning to read.

is it weird that i don't remember? i started reading really, really young and, unfortunately, lots of memories of that period are lost to the annals of trauma time. but i had (and still have) a kid-version of jane austen's pride and prejudice that was gloriously simplified, and it made me so eager to read The Real Thing that i read pride and prejudice far too young, before i really understood all the words in it.

14. is there a specific kind of book you collect?

not particularly! just... i guess books i want to re-read, or just really want to have? i have a lot of poetry books and a few books of essays, and i really enjoy my collection of those. i tend to not be a collector, though, because i live in a very small space and have no room to store anything!