50
Used, New, and Out of Print Books - We Buy and Sell - Powell's Books
Cart |
|  my account  |  wish list  |  help   |  800-878-7323
Hello, | Login
MENU
  • Browse
    • New Arrivals
    • Bestsellers
    • Featured Preorders
    • Award Winners
    • Audio Books
    • See All Subjects
  • Used
  • Staff Picks
    • Staff Picks
    • Picks of the Month
    • 50 Books for 50 Years
    • 25 Best 21st Century Sci-Fi & Fantasy
    • 25 PNW Books to Read Before You Die
    • 25 Books From the 21st Century
    • 25 Memoirs to Read Before You Die
    • 25 Global Books to Read Before You Die
    • 25 Women to Read Before You Die
    • 25 Books to Read Before You Die
  • Gifts
    • Gift Cards & eGift Cards
    • Powell's Souvenirs
    • Journals and Notebooks
    • socks
    • Games
  • Sell Books
  • Blog
  • Events
  • Find A Store

PowellsBooks.Blog
Authors, readers, critics, media − and booksellers.

Portrait of a Bookseller

Portrait of a Bookseller: Justin W.

by Powell's Books, December 19, 2016 11:17 AM
Portrait of a Bookseller: Justin W.

How would you describe your job?
I have the distinct pleasure of functioning as a conduit between authors and readers. When we write a recommendation, give a book prominence on display, or host one of our many events, we are in direct conversation with two sides of a magical equation. (All while combating the encroaching threat of sentient dust monsters.)
 
Where are you originally from?
I hail from the Buckeye side of the Ohio-Michigan border, spitting distance from Lake Erie.

What did you do before you came to Powell’s?
Edward McKay Used Books and More in Greensboro, North Carolina, took me in and gave me my calling. Go Grasshoppers.
 
What is the best part of your job?
As booksellers we are tasked with taking all those wonderful moments we have experienced in bookstores ourselves and distilling them into personalized journeys of discovery for the variety of readers that visit us every day. Having the opportunity to be a tribune of the curious and servant to the written word is a constant reward; being able to meet and interact with a slew of intellectually insatiable weirdos is just a bonus.

Recommend a book or author you think everyone should read.
I have an inkling I'm not the only Breece D'J Pancake devotee among Powell's staff. The departed West Virginian has been heralded by luminaries from Kurt Vonnegut to Chuck Palahniuk on the strength of a mere sliver of raw, ashen work. As his champions continue to earnestly press these stories into the hands of readers, so too will his legend rightly grow.

Last book you loved:
Max Porter's Grief Is the Thing With Feathers is a slim, scraggly sheaf of enormous empathy.
 
Do you collect any particular types of book?
We're blessed with access to so much of the latest and the greatest, the bright and the shiny, but it's those rare artifacts that make me go googly-eyed. These require patience and persistence, though thankfully not always a high level of financial investment.
 
A few of my most prized acquisitions include Don Delillo's pseudonymous 1980 hockey farce, a gorgeous copy of Marian Engel's novel Bear, and a first edition of Terry Southern's Candy found at the wonderful West Side Book Shop in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
 
What’s your biggest literary pet peeve?
The sometimes insular nature of American publishing can lead to a preponderance of novels set in New York City. As such, this can feel a bit like a literary safety blanket that comes prepackaged with a well-established lexicon and comfortably familiar reference points, neither of which make for very interesting reading.
 
It's a heck of a town, I get it. I'm just more liable to gravitate toward compelling work set in such comparatively unsung American hamlets as Terre Haute or Duluth or Flagstaff or Wilkes-Barre or [INSERT YOUR NON-NYC CITY HERE].
 
Do you have any odd reading habits or book rituals?
I'll admit it, I'll admit it. My preferred literary form is the oft-maligned short story. It pains me to hear even the most enlightened of readers reflexively state that they don't bother with what I consider to be the very lifeblood of literature. But instead of bemoaning my admittedly dubious pariah status, I'll do as a bookseller should and proselytize for a few of the magnificent collections released this year. I wholly endorse Callan Wink's Dog Run Moon, Amie Barrodale's You Are Having a Good Time, Greg Jackson's intensely cerebral Prodigals, and Jen George's The Babysitter at Rest, which is nothing short of a perception-altering turbine blade. Give these a shot and if you still prefer the novel, I promise, I'll understand.

Why do you think bookstores remain so popular in the digital age?
At this point, shopping at your local independent bookstore is a moral act. It signifies the kind of community you want to live in during a time when the rapidly diminishing "third place" between home and work seems more vital and necessary than ever, especially as our ideological chasms widen. Indie bookstores exist due to the thoughtful, conscientious individuals who support them. Thank you, Powell's shoppers.

Tell us about your first memorable reading experience.
I recall dutifully reading Camus as a teenager out of some vague sense of wanting to seem "deep" or "cool." In the intervening years it has becoming glaringly apparent that this particular brand of sweaty desperation pays few-to-zero dividends. It has, however, served as an avenue toward discovering great books I may not have otherwise read. If social anxiety is what it takes to get you into Anaïs Nin or Jean Genet, then so be it. Expanding your reading habits may never win friends or influence people, but it can certainly reap great personal rewards.



Books mentioned in this post

Grief Is the Thing with Feathers

Max Porter

Candy

Terry Southern

You Are Having a Good Time Stories

Amie Barrodale

Dog Run Moon: Stories

Callan Wink

Bear

Marian Engel

Prodigals

Greg Jackson

The Stories of Breece D'J Pancake

Breece D'J Pancake

Amazons An Intimate Memoir By The First

Don Dellilo, Cleo Birdwell

The Babysitter at Rest

Jen George
{1}
##LOC[OK]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##

Most Read

  1. Best Fiction of 2020 by Powell's Books
  2. 25 Books to Read Before You Die: 21st Century by Powell's Staff
  3. Midyear Roundup 2021: The Best Books of the Year (So Far) by Powell's Staff
  4. The 11 Best Places to Read by Will Schwalbe
  5. 25 Books to Read Before You Die: Pacific Northwest Edition by Powell's Staff

Blog Categories

  • Interviews
  • Original Essays
  • Lists
  • Q&As
  • Playlists
  • Portrait of a Bookseller
  • City of Readers
  • Required Reading
  • Powell's Picks Spotlight

3 Responses to "Portrait of a Bookseller: Justin W."

Melissa Crytzer Fry January 5, 2017 at 08:59 AM
Like Israel, below, I am among those who veer far away from NYC-based novels. I've visited, of course, and enjoy NYC's glitter and art scene for a day or two, but then need to get back to wide, open spaces. When there are so many wonderful settings and backdrops for fiction, the NYC-slanted ones are a sure way for me to IMMEDIATELY take a "pass" and look for something else. We're not all city slicker 20- to 30-somethings.

Israel January 5, 2017 at 07:22 AM
Hello, I just wanted to reach out to your staff member, Justin, regarding his bio thing on the email blast. I thought I was alone in being aggravated about a saturation of New York-set reads. So, thanks. There are two of us out there and possibly more. Israel Weber

Ken Jones January 4, 2017 at 08:04 PM
I share Justin's love of short stories, and he lists some very good collections here! I'd like to add Dog Years by Melissa Yancy, which won the 2016 Drue Heinz Literature Prize for short fiction.

Result(s) 3

Post a comment:

*Required Fields
Name*
Email*
  1. Please note:
  2. All comments require moderation by Powells.com staff.
  3. Comments submitted on weekends might take until Monday to appear.
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • Instagram

  • Help
  • Guarantee
  • My Account
  • Careers
  • About Us
  • Security
  • Wish List
  • Partners
  • Contact Us
  • Shipping
  • Sitemap
  • © 2022 POWELLS.COM Terms