IBD 2024
Plus, my new favorite video game inspired post-apocalyptic show, The Notebook forever, and the rest of the Weekly What
Happy Independent Bookstore Day!
Today is a day to celebrate independent bookstores and all they offer our communities! Indie bookstores across the U.S. are hosting events and sales (both in-store and some online) in honor of the celebration.
5 Ways To Celebrate Indie Bookstore Day
Visit Your Local Indie(s)
Duh, this is obvious, right? The best way to partake in the festivities is to visit your favorite local bookstore (or stores!) to celebrate with them in person and purchase books, merch, and/or IBD swag while you’re there!
We all know indies have the best recs, vibes, and people AND every dollar you spend supports a local business, win-win-win. Grab some of your bookish besties and make a day of it!
But maybe you’re not able to partake in-person. That’s ok, you can still participate! Here are ways to celebrate Indie Bookstore Day from home:
Give Your Favorite Indie(s) a Shout-out
Use your socials to let people know what your favorite independent bookstore(s) is/are and what they have going on IHO IBD.
Shop Your Favorite Indie(s) Online
Many bookstores offer very reasonable shipping rates and/or in-store pickup options.
Shop Bookshop.org
Maybe your favorite local indie doesn’t offer online sales, or you don’t have a favorite but still want to support indie shops. Created to help independent bookstores compete with mega online retailers, every Bookshop.org purchase supports indie retailers. You can directly choose an indie to support with your purchase or Bookshop.org will add a portion of your sale to a collective profit pool shared among all their affiliate shops.
Shop Libro.FM
Audiobook listeners, listen up, this one’s for you! If you like audiobooks, but want to support independent bookstores Libro.FM is the way to do that! Like Bookshop.org, a portion of all purchases are shared with the indie bookstore of your choice. They offer both monthly memberships and a la carte purchase options.
IHO of Independent Bookstore Day Libro.FM has some of their bestselling audiobooks on sale and they’re offering THREE audiobooks for the price of one for all new memberships (that’s 3 audiobooks of your choice for $14.99, which is an excellent deal!)
Tell me:
How are you celebrating Independent Bookstore Day?
What are you currently reading?
Anything, let’s chat!
What I’m…
Reading
Mr. and Mrs. American Pie by Juliet McDaniel. This is the inspiration behind AppleTV’s Palm Royale and you know I have to read before I watch! While a touch uneven I did enjoy this story of a spurned 60s socialite rebuilding her life post-divorce. The MC is messy and plucky and begins the story with an epic meltdown that was LOL funny. I can imagine this will make for a good adaptation and the cast is stellar!
The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde. Read for the
book club. It’s been a minute since I read a play and I enjoyed this one.The Garden by Clare Beams. The vibes in this novel are impeccable. Set in the late 40s at a gothic mansion where husband and wife doctors use experimental treatments to help women with a history of loss carry their pregnancies to term. It’s like The Haunting of Hill House meets The Secret Garden to become something entirely new.
Listening
2020: One City, Seven People, and the Year Everything Changed by Eric Klinenberg. I’ll be honest, when this book first hit my radar I was like 🚫 I read a lot of shit other people don’t wish to steep in, but something about a deep revisit of the COVID pandemic was beyond boundaries I didn’t know I had. But theeeen I heard Klinenberg interviewed on a podcast and he basically said many people’s knee-jerk reaction is similar to my own, but most find exploring 2020 therapeutic. Because I know Klinenberg is a respected sociologist and because I believe we as a society have experienced a collective trauma with that pandemic that we’re basically just trying to ignore (very on brand) I decided to pick up the book after all and, as promised, I’m glad I did. I found it honest, revealing, informative, and even touching as the author reminds us of our lived experience and shortcomings, but also our resilience and successes amidst hardship.
Ours Was The Shining Future: The Rise and Fall of the American Dream by David Leonhardt. So then I went right into another light and fluffy read, this one about how politics and culture have shaped American economics throughout our history. I just finished this one and am currently a curious combination of both hopeful and distressed, which is a familiar spot TBH.
The Ezra Klein Show: This Conversation Made Me a Sharper Editor. Interesting conversation about the art of editing, but also just art more generally. As a reader I deeply understand the value, skill, and magic of editing.
Watching
The Notebook (Prime). This movie is cheesy as hell and yet I still love it. It came out when I was in high school and going through a real Nicholas Sparks phase. Pure nostalgia. Ryan Gosling as Noah, he builds her a HOUSE! I cannot.
Fallout (Prime). I knew very little about this show before watching: it’s inspired by a video game (not exactly a selling point in my book, though it worked out with The Last of Us so there’s that) and it’s post-apocalyptic, which is the reason I decided to give it a shot. Welp, I ended up LOOOOOOVING this show! It’s sort of like The Last of Us meets Blast From the Past (surely we’ve all seen this one?!) in the absolute best way imaginable! I’m going to need a season 2 immediately (and by that I mean I’ll likely be waiting years for another 8 episodes 🙄)
The Girls on the Bus (Max). Not hating, not loving. Though I just finished episode 8, which I thought was the finale, and discovered there are 2 more episodes yet to release 🫠
Eating & Drinking
Put together this Chicken Pot Pie Casserole on the fly and it was a delicious use of shredded chicken I had stashed in the freezer + random veggies I had on hand. Perfectly chilly Sunday meal!
These Teriyaki Turkey Burgers are a grilling season favorite. I serve them with sweet potato “fries” (basically just seasoned, dry roasted sweet potatoes that are cut like fries.)
Quick Burrito Bowls in the Instant Pot for Taco Tuesday
Ranch Pork Chops and Potatoes Sheet Pan + broccoli I added to the mix
Links + Loves
Interesting exploration of the vagueness of money in modern novels (Lit Hub)
Appreciated this interview with Emily Henry where she touches on romance as a genre and how she feels about identifying as a romance writer. (NYT)
The Women’s Prize for Fiction shortlist was announced this week! (Women’s Prize) I appreciated Enter Ghost (which just read the Aspen Lit Prize!) and I definitely plan to read Soldier Sailor. I need to explore the other titles.
Why Does Every Famous Woman Have a Book Club Now? (The Cut) How exactly does one become a book concierge? It sounds so much more prestigious than an bookfluencer!
Restocked on my new favorite dry shampoo. I’m still so impressed by this stuff!
ICYMI
This week’s blog posts:
That Bookish Life {Stacked} is a weekly newsletter publishing on Saturdays. If you enjoy my rambles please consider subscribing, sharing, liking, or recommending to a friend.
I sometimes share affiliate links. If you make a purchase I may earn a small commission at no cost to you. Thank you for supporting my work in this way.
If you’d like to keep up with me between newsletters I’m on IG @that_bookish_life
Until next time!
I really want to see Civil War!