Synopses & Reviews
There is no greater joy for a bookseller than introducing a reader to a book they will love for the rest of their lives. Those of us in this business are, after all, matchmakers at heart. So consider this little book you now hold in your hands a sort of catalog of matchmakers.”Ann Patchett
"If I were still a bookseller, I'd be thrilled to share this wealth with my customers. As a reader, I'm deeply intrigued by the range of selections. . . . Do yourself a favor. Add Micawber's Top 50 project to your must-read list."Robert Gray, Shelf Awareness
This book offers lists of favorites that have flown under the radar, but off of bookstore shelves. First published on Hans Weyandt's blog for Micawber's Books, each list includes a bookseller's top fifty books, anecdotes, and interviews about the life of being a bookseller, reader, and engaged citizen. All proceeds will go to American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE).
Contributing bookstores include Book Passage, Tattered Cover Book Store, Three Lives and Company, Boswell Books, City Lights Bookstore, BookCourt, Harvard Book Store, Carmichael's Bookstore, Prairie Lights, The King's English Bookshop, Square Books, Magers and Quinn, Micawber's Books, Unabridged Bookstore, Regulator Bookshop, Subterranean Books, Faulkner House Books, Skylight Books, Maria's Bookshop, Inkwood Books, Rakestraw Books, RiverRun Bookstore, Sherman's Books and Stationary, Iowa Book, and Fireside Books.
Hans Weyandt is a co-owner at Micawber's Books, an independent bookstore in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Ann Patchett is the best-selling author of five novels, including Run, Bel Canto, and most recently, State of Wonder. She owns Parnassus Bookstore in Nashville, Tennnessee.
Review
Selected as the nonfiction pick in the Fall 2012 Great Lakes Great Reads by the Great Lakes Independent Booksellers Association!Late Night Library, Recommended Books for February(2/1/13)
"There is no greater joy for a bookseller than introducing a reader to a book they will love for the rest of their lives. Those of us in this business are, after all, matchmakers at heart. So consider this little book you now hold in your hands as a sort of catalogue of matchmakers." Ann Patchett, From the Introduction
[R]ead This! Compiles ... Expertise of booksellers from all over the country into one cheerful red volume.”Los Angeles Times
Read This! Is a handy guide . . . Compil[ing] lists of recommendations from booksellers across the country. Along with each list, booksellers offer short essays that give you a sense of their taste and perspective. Its a smart approach that guides readers through a subjective minefield. With only so many hours in our lives to read, who wants to waste time on a book that isnt quite meant for them?”Chicago Tribunes Printers Row Journal
"These professionals demonstrate exceptional curatorial care and a discernible passion for the art of bookselling, a craft Weyandt calls a 'combo platter of bartender/barista and priest.' [E]ntertaining, informative, satisfying and funeverything books should be."Kirkus
Not sure which book to buy? Stop in Micawbers and theyll tell you. Theyre so good at recommending books that co-owner, Hans Weyandt, just released his own book called Read This! Handpicked Favorites From Americas Indie Bookstores. [I]f you really want to be a good gift-giver this season, pair this book with one of your favorites.”Southwest Journal
If books are conversations between people through the ages, then our booksellers are those keeping the communication alive. Thats why Read This! is a deceptively powerful book.”The Rumpus
Read This! . . . will make a perfect curl-up-under-the-covers autumn companion for your favorite bookworm.”Twin Cities Daily Planet
"If I were still a bookseller, I'd be thrilled to share this wealth with my customers. As a reader, I'm deeply intrigued by the range of selections. . . . Do yourself a favor. Add Micawber's Top 50 project to your must-read list." Robert Gray, Shelf Awareness
I love this little book, and I think you might, too. . . . I guarantee youll come away with a whole slew of things on your to-read list and a renewed affection and appreciation for your neighborhood bookslingers.” Knight Arts Blog
Although Weyandt is now often introduced at events as an editor or author, he said (with a generous measure of bookish intensity): First and foremost, forever and always, I will be a bookseller."Shelf Awareness
Hans nails what I think is the point of this book on the head: lets talk about how independent bookstores are succeeding, lets talk about the ways in which they are thriving . . . Lets celebrate the books, and the people that bring us together over those very same books.”Hazel and Wren
Take it with you as a tour guide on your next visit to one of the cities, or use it to figure out which book youre going to pick up next. A gem among gems.”Hazel and Wren, The Liter-nerdy Holiday Gift Guide”
[A]n INDISPENSABLE book guide.”Books are my Boyfriends
Synopsis
Twenty-five indie booksellers share the joy and wonder of books with must-read lists that put a bookseller in your pocket.”
About the Author
Hans Weyandt: Hans Weyandt is a co-owner at Micawber's Books, an independent bookstore in St. Paul. He lives in Minneapolis.