Read This! Handpicked Favorites from America’s Indie Bookstores

Twenty-five indie booksellers share the joy and wonder of books with must-read lists that put a bookseller in your pocket.

An ode to the art of traditional bookselling and independent bookstores, 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 check-list style contribution includes a bookseller’s top fifty books, anecdotes, and interviews about the life of being a bookseller, reader, and engaged citizen. Introduced by Ann Patchett, the book exhibits the range and diversity of these booksellers’ tastes and the stores in which they work. But it goes beyond a typical book of lists to show how independent bookstores are havens for readers where individual tastes, location, and personality matter and where the staff provide an expertise and wisdom about readers and books often lost in large and online retail spaces. One hundred percent of royalties will go to the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE).

Publication date: August 21, 2012

Format: Trade Paper

Dimensions: 4.4 x 6.4

Page count: 200 pages

ISBN: 9781566893138

Hans Weyandt is the manager of Milkweed Books, an indepedent bookstore owned by Milkweed Editions, in the Open Book building at 1011 Washington Avenue South, Minneapolis, Minnesota.

A Fall 2012 Nonfiction Great Lakes Great Reads Pick by the Great Lakes Independent Booksellers Association

“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

“Read This! compiles . . . expertise of booksellers from all over the country into one cheerful red volume.” 

—The Los Angeles Times

“[Read This! is] 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 isn’t quite meant for them?” 

—The Chicago Tribune’s Printers Row Journal

“If 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.” 

—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 guarantee you’ll 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

“Let’s celebrate the books, and the people that bring us together over those very same books.”

—Hazel & Wren

“An INDISPENSABLE book guide.” 

—Books are My Boyfriends