On this episode, Francesca Musumeci and I discuss the wealth of indie bookstores we have in Chicago, how school can make reading less fun, and why it’s important to read what you like. She also tells some pretty great stories about her years working at Half-Price Books, including a hilarious mystery request from a customer that she manages to solve.

Books mentioned in this episode:

What Betsy’s reading:

His Name is George Floyd by Robert Samuels and Toluse Olorunnipa

Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros

Victim by Andrew Boryga

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

Books Highlighted by Francesca:

Chain Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

World War Z by Max Brooks

The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai

Verity by Colleen Hoover

The Push by Ashley Audrain

Columbine by Dave Cullen

Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls by T Kira Madden

Other Books Mentioned in the Episode:

All books available on my Bookshop.org episode page.

The Once and Future King by T.H. White

The Iliad by Homer

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

The Mothers by Brit Bennett

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid

The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix

How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix

Marlena by Julie Buntin

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway

The Woman in Me by Britney Spears

High on Arrival by MacKenzie Phillips

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Story of the Eye by Georges Bataille

Nightbitch by Rachel Yoder

The School for Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan

The Body of Evidence Series by Christopher Golden

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Queen Bees and Wannabes by Rosalind Wiseman

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris

A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway