Sophie Bernstein has owned an independent bookstore for over 20 years in her Washington D.C. community. She has spent her life choosing and handselling books to her friends and neighbors. She has led her team of booksellers until they move on to graduate school or motherhood or whatever. She has kept the lights on and the bills paid and has made thousands of readers happy.
And then her husband died. And everything changed.
All the joy that Sophie had felt all those years has fallen away. She wants to find that happiness in her store again, in the books she sells, but she doesn’t know where that is or how to get it back. But she knows that there is a hidden nook that no one else in the store knows about, and Sophie keeps thinking about it. She thinks about getting away from all the pain and violence in the world, and just move in to her nook and read. But the more time she spends back there, the more she realizes how dusty it is, and trying to clean it up starts her epic war with the bookstore’s vacuum cleaner.
Clemi works at the bookstore, scheduling the events and making sure everything is set up and taken down each night. She finds it stressful, as there is no way of knowing in advance how many readers will show up for a reading, so she’s never quite sure how many books to order. Then there are the specific demands of the authors and publicists, and finding the balance of authors to keep their customers happy.
This week is especially stressful, as Clemi has a couple of controversial authors scheduled. There is the author whose non-fiction book about how cats are bird killers and should be kept inside or fitted with bells or something to warn the birds of their presence. The cat people are very upset with the idea of their beloved felines not being free to hunt at will, and the bird people are appalled at how much damage the cats have already done to their winged friends and wants to cur the violence. And the next night is a poet who is a known misogynist and may have pushed his wife towards taking her own life, which he insists was merely a very upsetting oven accident.
Meanwhile, Clemi is dealing with a roommate who is vacillating between a mental breakdown and near psychic insights, her crush on coworker Noah, her unhappiness with her own novel-in-progress, pressure from her former high powered literary agent mother, a new pet tortoise named Kurt Vonnegut Jr, and the fact that the embattled poet she has invited to appear at the store may or may not be her biological father.
Add in lots of rain (and a leak or two a the bookstore), a solar eclipse, a good-bye party for the store manager heading for law school that featured an unusual golden liquor tasting remotely like gasoline, more than one cranky European appliance, lots of doodle jokes (that’s doodle, the dog breeds, not doodle, the mindless artistry), protestors in costume, a towed car, a missing van, an $8 bagel, and an NPR radio interview gone completely awry, and you have one crazy week in the life of an independent bookstore.
Bookish People is a charming and funny look at the lives of those who sell the books we all crave. This wacky week made for genuine laughs, but there is also a lot of heart and genuine emotion as these characters work hard to live their best lives, even if their appliances, their customers, their authors, and maybe even the stars are against them. Author Susan Coll brings her bookstore experience to this story, giving it authenticity and poignancy.
I really loved Bookish People. I think it’s a mix of screwball comedy and love letter to bookstore customers, reminding us of everything we love about our fellow book lovers, from the publicists to the authors to those who handsell us our next favorite read. Those who love bookstores will want to grab this book and devour it.
Egalleys for Bookish People was provided by Harper Muse through NetGalley, with many thanks.
