What to Read During the Big Game
For copyright reasons, it is ~Big Game~ Sunday.
Welcome to another edition of Amateur Bibliotherapy, my weekly newsletter about book-y things. Use this Google Form at any time to tell me about what you’re reading—you might be featured here or on my Bookstagram! I’m an affiliate of Bookshop.org, which means that I may make a small commission if you make a purchase through my affiliate links.
Howdy pals. It’s snowing in New York again, which means I am waffling between books and flitting from one blanket-clad chair to another in a quest for supreme comfort.
My sports-literate friends kindly reminded me that today is also the ~Big Game~ and that it might be prudent to mention it in my newsletter. So there you have it.
I plan to have the ~Big Game~ on for some ambient television while I peruse other diversions, like the murder-mystery-ghost-pirate-ship video game Return of the Obra Dinn. I’ll probably have a book or two handy as well, but it’s hard for me to turn pages while dropping nachos down my gullet.
The Books
This week I finished Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, which was slow-paced but enjoyable. Folks tell me that her 2020 smash hit Mexican Gothic is even better, so I suppose I’ll have to finally get my hands on a copy. I also added her upcoming book, Velvet Was The Night, to my reading list following its cover reveal.
I’ve started a few different books in the meantime. Much like this snow, we’ll see what sticks by next week.
The Bookstores
I miss aimlessly browsing bookstores. I miss studying little handwritten book recommendations from staff members, and being shushed in rare book rooms, and taking shelter among books from unexpected rain, and discovering little notes and postcards in esoteric used tomes, and comparing book covers, and all that jazz. Hell, I miss using bookstore bathrooms. With that in mind, I would love nothing more than if you sent me photos and memories of your favorite shops and stories to feature here. (Bonus points if those stories feature me, resident attention gremlin.) Something like the below, perhaps.
Shop: The Last Bookstore
Location: Los Angeles, California
Support ‘em during the pandemic: They ship new books nationwide through their main website, sell used and collectible books through eBay, and have hyper-specific curated book bundles available for purchase.
The Last Bookstore is LA’s biggest independent new and used bookstore, and it is a worthy tourist attraction. I visited the bookstore during my first trip to LA, right around Halloween. As such, I wandered into their Sci-Fi and Horror section, where I found a suspiciously old selection of L. Ron Hubbard books and felt haunted by Scientology for the rest of my trip.
Bye!