Like every year, we’ll be heading out to the bookstore on Independent Bookstore Day, which is tomorrow, Saturday, April 27.
With stores closing, expecting to close, or going up for sale, it seems even more important than ever to get out and support a local bookstore. Or two. Or … more?
In some cities, like San Diego and Seattle, you can take a bookstore crawl to multiple stores. And unlike its inspiration, the pub crawl, you won’t have to hold your friends’ hair back should they overdo it in the fiction section.
One of my colleagues is A Big Reader, and she’ll be doing the San Diego Book Crawl and talked to me about it.
“I have not done it before and I am excited. One of the things that tipped me over the edge toward doing it is that they added a bus, so I don’t have to try to navigate and park,” said my colleague, who enjoys the podcast “From the Front Porch,” which focuses on the business of running a bookstore. “I want more bookstore content.”
As she prepped for Independent Bookstore Day, I asked what she looks for in a bookstore.
“The merch, like shirts and tote bags and the store bookmarks and stuff. I like the cute bookstore branding,” she said. “The shelf cards. I like to see what the staff picks are and I am annoyed when it’s too obvious like the NYT bestsellers or things I’ve already seen everywhere. I love a curated table or shelf.”
And she’s thinking ahead.
“I have a plan for what I want to buy at each store (I’m going to at least six on the book crawl bus), but what I hope happens is that I will discover something I don’t know about and buy that instead. I am hoping for serendipity, but planning things I know I want to buy just in case,” she said.
Finding the Golden Tickets
What are you hoping for? Finding a good book, for sure. But how about a Golden Ticket? Libro.fm, which partners with independent bookstores to sell audiobooks,
has hidden them in bookshops, including some in our area.
“If folks find the Golden Ticket at a participating bookstore, they’ll win 12 free audiobook credits,” said Albee Dalbotten Romero, marketing and publicity director. “We are so excited that it is back and even bigger this year, with 500 Golden Tickets hidden across the country.”
Find out more about the Golden Ticket promotion here.
10 tips for Independent Bookstore Day
So we’ve established that Southern California has plenty of bookstores to visit on a self-guided crawl of your own. Here are a quick 10 suggestions – plus a whole bunch more – of stores to visit:
Bel Canto Books in Long Beach will have its grand opening at its new location on 4th St. Cellar Door in Riverside will welcome author Monica Mancillas, author of the brand new middle-grade book, “Sing It like Celia.” Malik bookstore in Culver City has giveaways, snacks and music and a ticketed event, too. North Figueroa Bookshop in Highland Park will have flash tattoos, tarot and more. Octavia’s Bookshelf in Pasadena will kick off a day of events with a 10 a.m. performance by Crown City Drum Squad. Manhattan Beach’s Pages: A Bookstore will celebrate with authors from Alta Journal’s new issue. Montrose’s Once Upon a Time will have authors and more. Reparations Club in L.A. has a day of events. Village Well in Culver City has authors coming, and Zibby’s Bookshop in Santa Monica has treats, giveaways and more.
Is that all? Of course not. How about Abril, Annabelle’s Book Club, Book Carnival, Children’s Book World, DIESEL, LibroMobile, The Ripped Bodice, Skylight Books, Tia Chucha’s Centro Cultural & Bookstore, Underdog Bookshop, Vroman’s, and more (call ahead to find out what, if anything, the stores have planned as not all will have specific events). Or just visit one of the many great used bookshops around Southern California like The Iliad in Burbank, The Book Rack in La Verne, Lost Bookstore in Montrose or Alias Books East in Atwater Village. Or visit the library or … you get the point.
Enjoy your day and I hope you get to celebrate it with other book people.
Books. (Getty Images)
Late-night librarians
World Book Day was this past Tuesday, and bookish viewers of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” got a pleasant surprise as the host introduced a segment featuring Los Angeles-area librarians offering some salty talk about book bans, Judy Blume and not making use of the reshelf cart. (Plus, if you’ve ever wondered what a librarian says after “Shh…” prepare to find out.)
One librarian I recognized was the delightful Christina Rice, senior librarian for the Los Angeles Public Library’s photo collection, so I reached out to her about it.
Q. What was it like to film the video?
We all had a blast. Everyone on the show was incredibly nice and encouraging. I appreciate that they wanted to highlight the absurdity of this moment in our country’s history and used actual librarians for it. … The director came over and gave high fives once I was done filming, and we all seriously need more high fives in our day, so I was delighted.
Q. Have you gotten any feedback?
Loads of feedback! As soon as it went up on YouTube, which is before the Pacific Coast airing, people were contacting me saying how great it was. My dad texted [the colorful phrase bleeped out in the video] and nothing else, which I thought was hilarious.
My favorite message was from one of my LAPL colleagues who emailed: “Just saw the clip from Kimmel. You spoke for all of us there. I actually got a bit teary-eyed watching it, even though it was funny.”
Q. Do librarians really curse?
More than any sailor I’ve ever met!
Check out the video on the Jimmy Kimmel Live! Instagram
Poetry in Motion (Pictures)
Tonight, April 26 at 7 p.m., Beyond Baroque is kicking off its International Poetry Film Festival, Los Angeles with a screening of “Life Is a Saxophone,” the 1984 documentary about poet Kamau Daáood, along with three other poem-based films. There will also be a conversation about “Life Is a Saxophone” moderated by poet Benin Lemus featuring S. Pearl Sharp, Roberto Miguel Miranda, Gale Fulton Ross.
Tomorrow, April 27 from 1 p.m.- 6 p.m., the festival will screen nearly 40 poetry-based films from around the world. For more, go to poetryfilmfestival.org.
Author Myah Ariel thinks of one book cover often
Myah Ariel is the author of “When I Think of You.” (Photo credit Berkley Romance)
Myah Ariel is the author of just-published debut contemporary romance “When I Think of You.” The novel follows a pair of former film school classmates – and former flames –who meet again in Hollywood while also dealing with the entertainment industry’s treatment of young women and BIPOC creatives.
Q. What are you reading now?
I recently started the audiobook of Adriana Herrera’s “A Caribbean Heiress in Paris” and was instantly drawn in!
Q. What’s something – a fact, a bit of dialogue or something else – that has stayed with you from a recent reading?
Kennedy Ryan’s latest romance, “This Could Be Us,” opens with a Zora Neale Hurston quote that reads, “There are years that ask questions and years that answer.” I love this callback to one of America’s great thinkers and creators. The sentiment itself also stopped me in my proverbial tracks, with its comment on life’s ebb and flow and the clarity it provides.
Q. Do you have any favorite book covers?
I probably think about the cover of Tia Williams’s “Seven Days in June” at least once a week. The mixed media aspect is so visually striking and unique for the genre. Pair that with the almost aching sensuality and longing in their embrace, and it makes for an image that perfectly evokes the depth of the novel.
Q. Is there a genre or type of book you read the most – and what would you like to read more of?
Romance is by and far my favorite genre to read. I’ve been drawn to love stories since growing up in the nineties and being immersed in R&B music on the radio. That, coupled with seeing iconic pairings on popular sitcoms and experiencing first-hand the golden age of theatrical rom-coms, I’ve been properly primed for HEAs [Happily Ever Afters]. I would however, like to branch out into reading other genres like thriller and mystery.
Q. What do you find the most appealing in a book: the plot, the language, the cover, a recommendation? Do you have any examples?
In a book I’m most looking to become hopelessly engrossed in the voice of the central character– their interiority, how they engage with their world, their relationships, their passions and challenges. If I can connect early on with a protagonist, even an unreliable one, I’ll be hooked!
Books, authors and bestsellers
Rachel Khong says her new novel “Real Americans” explores issues society still faces. (Photo credit Andria Lo / Courtesy of Knopf)
Get ‘Real’
Why Rachel Khong says novel “Real Americans” explores issues society still faces. READ MORE
• • •
All aboard
José Vadi’s “Chipped’ explores the skateboarder’s experiences in Southern California. READ MORE
• • •
After shooting album covers and movie posters, photographer David Alexander is releasing his debut book “PICTURES OF TIME: Seeing Time in the Ordinary World.” It will be published on Earth Day April 22.(Photo courtesy David Alexander)
Human nature
Rock star photographer David Alexander focuses on ordinary people for debut book. READ MORE
• • •
Author Micaiah Johnson, who grew up in Southern California’s High Desert, is the author of “Those Beyond the Wall.” (Photo credit Rory Veteck / Courtesy of Del Rey Books)
SoCal sci-fi
How High Desert cities inspired the sci-fi novel “Those Beyond the Wall.” READ MORE
• • •
The poet Kim Young, right, attends an evening of poetry in tribute to American poet and professor Dorothy Barresi at Beyond Baroque in Venice on Friday, Feb. 16, 2024. ..(Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)
Finding a writing group
Have dreams of being an author? Here’s how to find a writing group near you. READ MORE
• • •
Sociologists (L-R) Stefan Timmermans and Pamela Prickett are the author’s of “The Unclaimed: Abandonment and Hope in the City of Angels.” (Photo credit Jeff Fitlow / Courtesy of Crown)
LA’s unclaimed dead
What happens to the more than 1,500 who die in Los Angeles and go unclaimed each year. READ MORE
• • •
20 books being published this Spring. (Courtesy of Random House, Soho Press, Simon & Schuster, Counterpoint, Catapult, Knopf, Great Place Books, MCD)
Season’s readings
Here are 20 new books out this spring you won’t want to miss. READ MORE
• • •
Jason De León, a professor of anthropology and Chicano studies at UCLA and the executive director of the Undocumented Migration Project, spent years researching his latest book, “Soldiers and Kings: Survival and Hope in the World of Human Smuggling.” (Photo credit Michael Wells / Courtesy of Viking)
Human smuggling
Why UCLA professor Jason De León embedded with human smugglers – not traffickers. READ MORE
• • •
“Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder” by Salman Rushdie is among the top-selling nonfiction releases at Southern California’s independent bookstores. (Courtesy of Random House)
The week’s bestsellers
The top-selling books at your local independent bookstores. READ MORE
Bookish (SCNG)
Next on ‘Bookish’
Adam Gopnik, author of “All That is Happiness” and Suzanne Park, author of “One Last Word” are the next guests on Bookish on May 17 at 5 p.m. Sign up for free now.
• • •
Have you read anything you’d like to share with other readers? Email epedersen@scng.com with “ERIK’S BOOK PAGES” in the subject line and I may include your comments in an upcoming newsletter.
And if you enjoy this free newsletter, please consider sharing it with someone who likes books or getting a digital subscription to support local coverage.
Thanks, as always, for reading.
Sign up for The Book Pages
Miss last week’s newsletter? Find past editions here
Dive into all of our books coverage