Ep.67 Buy Books Before the Bedlam with Sam Miller 11-4-20

It isn’t unusual for shops to begin playing Jingle Bell Rock or Baby, It’s Cold Outside about a minute after summer ends, which shoppers either love or abhor. 2020 has been weird in numerous ways, and shopping for the winter holidays, whether it is Hanukkah, Kwanzaa or Christmas, is going to prove to be unusual. Our little goblins and ghouls may still be counting their candy from Halloween and Thanksgiving is still several weeks away but small businesses including bookstores are encouraging shoppers to start grabbing those gifts early this year for multiple reasons. So today we talk to our favorite bookseller, Sam Miller of Carmichael Books in Louisville, about what books and gifts readers may want to check out this holiday season. Sam tells us why independent bookstores across the country called October the new December, which new books will be hot this holiday season and what books that came out earlier in 2020 have had staying power. Finally Sam gives some suggestions to shoppers about what they can do, in addition to buying their gifts from local businesses, to help stores financially through this weird weird year to still keep their doors open in 2021. Books Mentioned in this Episode: 1- A Promised Land by Barack Obama 2- The Lost Words by Robert MacFarlane and Jackie Morris 3- The Lost Spells by Robert MacFarlane and Jackie Morris 4- Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer 5- Shit, Actually: The Definitive, 100% Objective Guide to Modern Cinema by Lindy West 6- Shrill by Lindy West 7- Ottolenghi Flavor: A Cookbook by Yotam Ottolenghi and Ixta Belfrage 8- Modern Comfort Food: A Barefoot Contessa Cookbook by Ina Garten 9- This Will Make It Taste Good: A New Path to Simple Cooking by Vivian Howard 10- Black Sun (Between Earth and Sky) by Rebecca Roanhorse 11- Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse 12- The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu 13- To Hold Up The Sky by Cixin Liu 14- The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson 15- Once and Future Witches by Alix Harrow 16- Pirenesi by Susanna Clarke 17- Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norell by Susanna Clarke 18- Secret Santa by Andrew Shaffer 19- We Are Santa by Ron Cooper 20- A Literary Holiday Cookbook by Alison Walsh 21- The Official Downton Abbey Cookbook by Annie Gray 22- A Cloud a Day by Gavin Pretor-Pinney 23- Men to Avoid in Art and Life by Nicole Tersigni 24- Stranger Planet by Nathan Pyle 25- The Louisville Anthology edited by Erin Keane 26- A Charity Anthology for COVID -19 by Neil Gaiman 27- The Call Me Ishmael Phone Book: An Interactive Guide to Life- 28- Changing Books by Logan Smalley and Stephanie Kent 29- Estranged by Ethan Aldridge 30- The Changeling King by Ethan Aldridge 31- Olive, Mabel & Me by Andrew Cotter 32- The Searcher by Tana French 33- Metropolitan Stories by Christine Coulson 34- The One & Only Bob by Katherine Applegate 35- The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel 36 - Dreyer's English by Benjamin Dreyer 37- The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo 38- Red Comet: The Short Life and Blazing Art of Sylvia Plath by Heather Clark 39- All Adults Here by Emma Straub 40- The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett 41- Three-Martini Afternoons at the Ritz: The Rebellion of Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton by Gail Crowther 42- Literary Rogues: A Scandalous History of Wayward Authors by Andrew Shaffer 43- This House is Haunted by John Boyne 44- The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne 45- The Heart's Invisible Furies by John Boyne 46- Brain on Fire by Susannah Cahalan 47- The Daily Coyote by Shreve Stockton 48- The Milk Lady of Bangalore by Shoba Narayan 49- The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating by Elisabeth Tova Bailey 50- Hiddensee: A Tale of the Once and Future Nutcracker by Gregory Maguire 51- Last Christmas in Paris by Hazel Gaynor 52- The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley 53- The Guest List by Lucy Foley 54- Winter Solstice by Rosamunde Pilcher 55- Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris Games Mentioned: 1- Dreyer's Board Game 2- Bowie Bingo 3- Bless Your Heart   Movies Mentioned: 1- The Lemon Drop Kid 2- It Happened on Fifth Avenue 3- A Christmas Story 4- Love Actually