Dana's Picks
Dana is the shop owner, and has been a bookseller for over twenty years.
Plotline pet peeves?
1. _________ had the perfect life, then _______ happens & everything goes to hell.
2. Dad/mom/grandparent dies & the main character returns home, where long buried secrets... blah blah blah...
Both are just plain lazy and formulaic.
Dogear or bookmark?
Bookmark--I have a stash and match them to the mood/subject of the book.
Any classics you refuse to read?
This isn't going to make me popular, but Austen & Dickens. Tried 'em. We didn't get along.
First book that made a big impression on you?
The Talisman by Stephen King when I was 11--it was the fattest book I had ever read; what a sense of accomplishment.
Then, at 15, Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut taught me how truly original and unconventional literature could be. It changed everything.
What's your most terrifying book experience?
I discovered I hated my book 30 minutes into a 4hr flight and didn't have a back-up.
Your mission as a bookseller?
To connect people to books that surprise them & open new words/avenues of reading.
Anything else of note??
1. There needs to be an 8th day of the week where nothing is expected of anyone except reading. The world would be a better place. Libroday?
2. I will always have a soft spot for the people who 1st introduce me to books I fall in love with.
If Fredrik Backman and Sy Montgomery ever had a literary love child, this is it. A novel of outcasts and octopuses (octopi?), it delves into loss and creating community in an utterly charming manner. I usually run from a book described as "charming", so I was really surprised how much I loved this one. ~ Dana
Reminiscent of Shirley Jackson, Gallant is a haunting tale, beautifully rendered in both words and images.
I'll read anything Schwab puts out - I don't even read the jacket copy to see what it's about & instead just dive right in. She's that reliable. This is technically YA, but will appeal to her adult fans as well.
For fans of Bear and the NIghtingale, TIme Traveler's Wife, and - yes, truly - The Night Circus.
Backman once said that he makes his settings very small so readers can really get to know the characters. And this setting is very concentrated indeed - much of it takes place during an open house in a little apartment after a botched bank robbery. (In fact, some of my favorite scenes happen in the closet.) He loves his characters and the reader does too. Even when - or especially when - they're at their most infuriating. Maybe because this is when they're most human and relatable. This is one of my absolute favorites of the last few years. ~ Dana
