Between Seattle and the Canadian border, is a small town called Bellingham, a town which wears more than one hat: home of Western Washington University, fishing boats, tourists, and a deep community. In that town is a an old bookstore with rambling aisles and passionate booksellers. Village Books.
Book bloggers are often the first to tweet book news, the brains behind book memes, and of course, the first to review new releases. I called up Candace of Beth Fish Reads, a blog covering both books and audiobooks, to talk about blogging and her favorite types of books.
We sat down with veteran bookseller Erin Ball, assistant manager at Third Place Books to discuss bookselling, the philosophy behind Third Place Books, and what’s on her to-be-read list.
Dolen Perkins-Valdez follows the rabbit hole of historical footnotes, adds robust, nuanced characters, rhythmic dialogue, and intricate subtexts, and produces some of the best historical fiction around. She took the time to speak to me about both books over the phone, while she was visiting her home state of Tennessee.
If you already follow Amanda Palmer, author of The Art of Asking, on Twitter, then you probably know that lately she’s been busy grieving, battling Lyme Disease, recording with her father, and preparing to have her first baby with her husband Neil Gaiman. So we were incredibly pleased that she took time out from her nonstop, go-go-go life, to answer a few questions for us via email.
Jess Walter and I sat down and talked about his podcast with his friend and fellow author Sherman Alexie, Beautiful Ruins, and how he’d feel if someone made him into a character in their novel.
We talked to actor and narrator Edoardo Ballerini about Beautiful Ruins, the differences between acting and narrating, and his dream audiobook gig.
We turn to indie booksellers all the time for advice on everything from marketing to what to read. So when I was in San Francisco a couple of weeks ago, I popped in at Green Apple Books, to chat with co-owner Kevin Hunsanger.
What’s the worst part about narrating an audiobook? For Kathleen Wilhoite, the narrator of Where’d You Go, Bernadette, it’s driving in rush-hour traffic. Wilhoite talks about narrating, how she met Maria Semple, and her favorite parts of the book.