Bookish People

Written by Susan Coll

Narrated by Alexa Morden

A perfect storm of comedic proportions erupts in a DC bookstore over the course of one soggy summer week—narrated by two very different women and punctuated by political turmoil, a celestial event, and a perpetually broken vacuum cleaner.

Independent bookstore owner Sophie Bernstein is burned out on books. Mourning the death of her husband, the loss of her favorite manager, her only child’s lack of aspiration, and the grim state of the world, she fantasizes about going into hiding in the secret back room of her store.

Meanwhile, renowned poet Raymond Chaucer has published a new collection, and rumors that he’s to blame for his wife’s suicide have led to national cancellations of his publicity tour. He intends to set the record straight—with an ultra-fine-point Sharpie—but only one shop still plans to host him: Sophie’s.

Fearful of potential repercussions from angry customers, Sophie asks Clemi—bookstore events coordinator, aspiring novelist, and daughter of a famed literary agent—to cancel Raymond’s appearance. But Clemi suspects Raymond might be her biological father, and she can’t say no to the chance of finding out for sure.

This big-hearted screwball comedy features an intergenerational cast of oblivious authors and over-qualified booksellers—as well as a Russian tortoise named Kurt Vonnegut Jr.—and captures the endearing quirks of some of the best kinds of people: the ones who love good books.

Praise for Bookish People:

“A smart, original, laugh-out-loud novel . . . If you sell, buy, or simply love books, Bookish People is for you. I wholeheartedly recommend this quirky gem.” —Sarah Pekkanen, New York Times bestselling co-author of The Golden Couple

• Witty, hilarious, and heartwarming contemporary book about books
• Stand-alone novel
• Book length: approximately 84,000 words
• Also by the author: The Stager, Beach Week, Acceptance, Rockville Pike

• Language: English
• Publisher: Harper Muse
• Release date: Aug 2, 2022
• ISBN: 9781400234110

Susan Coll

Susan Coll is the author of seven novels, including Bookish People and The Stager—a New York Times and Chicago Tribune Editor’s Choice. Her third novel, Acceptance, was made into a television movie starring the hilarious Joan Cusack. Susan’s work has appeared in publications including the New York Times Book Review, the Washington Post, Washingtonian magazine, Moment Magazine, NPR.org, and Atlantic.com. She is the events advisor at Politics and Prose Bookstore in Washington, DC, and was the president of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation for five years. Visit Susan online at susancoll.com; Instagram: @susan_keselenko_coll; X: @Susan_Coll; Pinterest: @susancollauthor

Reviews for Bookish People

[hcnewton · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader as part of a Quick Takes Catch-up post, emphasizing pithiness, not thoroughness.---Coll tried so hard—you could feel the effort on every page. There were some truly amusing moments, and even a little sweetness here. But every storyline was entirely predictable—and not in the way that can be comfy and reassuring, but in a disappointing way. The madcap/slapstick moments felt disorganized and chaotic. The earnest parts felt like a Hallmark card.The parts of the book that were about the ups and downs, travails and semi-triumphs, of a small bookstore made me like this enough not to resent the experience. But that's about the best thing I can say.

[randymetcalfe · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

What a mess! Wait, I mean a zany, chaotic, maelstrom of humour, sadness, profundity (a little bit), and vacuum cleaners. Well, that does sound a bit like a mess. But it’s a mess with its heart in the right place. And that place, of course, is a bookstore. Sophie Bernstein’s bookstore seems larger than most independent bookstores that I’ve encountered, yet still not large enough for a children’s section. However, it does appear to have everything else, including a secret (by which I just mean forgotten) nook where Sophie might just have to go hide. Because everything, not just the store and her life and the lives of her staff, is a mess. There might as well be a hurricane and a total eclipse of the sun. Oh, there is. Yeah, everything is a total mess.In truth, the story does suffer from its messy virtue. We get to learn very little about the many characters who periodically seem central to the plot. And even parts of the plot end up not really mattering to the overall plot. I’d even go so far as to say that the bookstore itself is not essential. This level of zaniness could happen in any setting of overworked colleagues, I suppose. Plus, is it really true that virtually everyone who works at or even frequents an independent bookstore is in the midst of writing a novel? That seems unlikely. Of course the novel I’m writing is…It’s not great literature. It’s just a bit of fun. And with that proviso firmly in place, it’s easy to recommend. Enjoy the mess!

[twink_2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Oh my gosh - Susan Coll's new novel, Bookish People, had me laughing out loud so many times!If you love books, bookstores and/or have ever worked in a bookstore, this one's for you. I have indeed worked as a bookseller. Coll's depiction of an independent bookstore and it's patrons, staff and authors had me wanting a shift on the front desk.Bookish People is told from two points of view. First from the owner, Sophie, who is tired. She's had enough of the bookstore and really, of the world in general. She's got a plan to cope with things though. (I really love her solution!) The other voice belongs to Clemi, the store manager. She's at a different stage in life, but is feeling the pressure everyday as well. There's a character for every reader - younger, older, married, single and more as they all navigate the bumps and joys along the road of life - and the stacks of the store. There are two other 'characters' that figure into Bookish People. One is Kurt Vonnegut Jr. - a tortoise and the other is the bookstore vacuum. (It actually figures quite prominently!) Coll's work benefits her expertise as the Events and Programs Director at a Washington DC bookstore. (The author events were hilarious!)I chose to listen to Bookish People. The narrator was Alexa Morden. She was a great choice! Her voice is clear and clean, enunciated well and pleasant to listen to. She brings different voice to the various characters, making it easy to know who is speaking. She captures Coll's plotting with her pacing, pausing and the tone, tenor and emphasis of the words. Her voice suited the mental images I had created for the players. An easy five stars for this listener.

[jetangen4571 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

verbal-humor, situational-humor, contemporary, fiction, small-business, burnout, frustration, bookseller, books, angst, writers, wry-humor, grieving, ageingThe characters are quirky, and the humor had me alternately snurfling and laughing out loud. No way I'd try to summarize because my overwhelming response is laughter of one sort or another. FUN!I requested and received an e-book copy from Harper Muse via NetGalley. Thank you!

[chasidar_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Cute. A little kitschy over the top at times but generally enjoyable.

[murderbydeath · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I don't know what to say about this one; it's a departure of sorts, while also being right in my wheelhouse.  I liked it, but I'm not sure why I liked it.  I read it digitally, and I feel like my comprehension suffered a bit too, so that maybe I'd have gotten more out of it if I'd read a printed copy.Bookish People is a snapshot of one very chaotic week in a DC bookstore.  It's written in 3rd person present tense, which I found a bit jarring at first, and it centers around 2 female characters, the owner of the store, recently widowed, and the events manager, with occasional forays into the head of a Ted Hughes-like poet who is having his own personal crises.  The rest of the staff orbit around these two women and add their own eccentricities to the mix.It's billed as comedy, and it's definitely humorous, but I didn't find it to be laugh out loud funny.  There are times that the humor feels tinged with a manic sort of panic that dampened any desire on my part to giggle, although there was a scene with a turtle and a Roomba that made me smile broadly.If you're looking for a story with a beginning, a middle and an end, this book will frustrate; there's very little resolution to any of the conflicts and the only HEA is the turtle's.  But it is a very well-written vignette of a sort, of a crazy week in a bookshop.  

[bell7_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

*E-book ARC received from the publisher through Edelweiss Plus - thank you!*Sophie owns an independent bookstore in Washington, DC, but between mourning her husband's death and hearing about the violence at the protests in Charlottesville, she's ready to move into a nook in her bookstore. One of her employees, Clemi, is working hard at event planning and has a controversial poet coming: people are protesting their event, but she really wants him to come because she suspects he's her father.The narrative switches back and forth between Sophie and Clemi in this quirky tale. I had a hard time buying the more and more over-the-top situations Sophie (with a vacuum cleaner) and Clemi (with running the events, dealing with the bookstore, and a tortoise named Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.) find themselves in. Having such hijinks up against the serious issues that Sophie and Clemi were going through was probably supposed to make me laugh and lighten the mood, but instead I had a bit of whiplash. This would make an excellent screwball movie, in fact, but for some reason it doesn't quite work for me on the page.

[poolays · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Another bookstore book! In this one Sophie Bernstein Is an independent bookstore owner in her mid fifties in Washington DC. The store is always busy, has events all the time, and has multiple employees, some of whom are developed in the story. Mrs. Bernstein, as all her employees call her is having a rough year. It's the summer of 2017, and the book starts at the time of the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville. Her husband has recently died unexpectedly, her young adult son has dropped out of college to be a yoga instructor, and is somewhat distant from her, one of her young employees was injured while protesting at the rally, and Sophie is pretty sure the end is coming. The bookstore is full of drama, controversial authors doing signing events, protests, poorly behaved pets, nutty people, all interspersed with regular folks just looking for a book. So much going on! It's kind of a madcap fast-paced story, with pretty normal people, experiencing regular if a little out there crises. It's a fun book, quick read, likable characters.