This book had me wondering what it was about regularly and then slowly but surely it all came together and I ended up thinking it was a good read. The book is about a bookshop, it's owner and various members of staff working there. Some of the author events lead to weird situations, not always unbelievable . This is a book that takes some concentration when reading, partly because of the writing style and partly because it is written with different narrators with their own way of thinking, which are quite different. I suppose the binding factors are the news bulletins from the new floor manager and the bookshop itself.
Now I have finished, I would say that this is an entertaining read, during reading it felt like wading through treacle at times.
Thank you to Net Galley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review .

Sophie Bernstein is an independent bookseller in Washington, D.C.. Her staff is made up of people with their own eccentricities, a pet turtle named Kurt Vonnegut Jr. and a vacuum cleaner which has it's own agenda. A controversial poet is scheduled to speak at the shop which is causing stress for Sophie who repeatedly asks Clemi, the events manager to cancel the event. For reason of her own, Clemi does not. Throughout all of this Sophie is still morning the loss of her husband and is obsessed with hiding away, like the Frank family, in a secret nook in her bookshop.
While some may find the storylines to be comedic, I did not. Not that I do not have a sense of humor, but I could not find a central thread that wove this all together. The narrative was messy and actually put me off from trying to tie these quirky events together. It seemed much more a book of ideas for stories rather than a polished cohesive offbeat comedy that I was hoping it would be., I truly hate writing review for books that did not work for for me if only because I know how much work goes into every publication. It's like telling a parent you don't like their kid. Unfortunately, this is not a child I would invite over for another playdate.

My thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I wanted to read the book because of the cute cover and amazing plot line but I was disappointed. This book just didn’t hit. Maybe it was the writing styles because I was left so confused most times and sometimes it was worse because I didn’t know who’s POV it was. This book just left me confused but to some extent the plot was good. I did struggle with finishing this book. Those were the major things that made it annoying for me to go through the book and that’s why I gave the book a 2-star rating.

This book was amazing! I enjoyed every single chapter, and it kept me hooked the entire time, which I loved!

I hate to write a review of this book as I could not finish this book. The story was hard to follow and just not enjoyable. Choppy would be the best word I could use. I didn’t get attached to any of the characters as I don’t feel like any of them were around long enough.

Also, nothing against the author here, but the giant Harper Muse logo throughout the ARC made it incredibly hard to follow the actual story.

Thank you for the ARC.

I usually love books about books and bookstores, but I had a hard time getting into this one. I wasn't pulled in my the characters and the plot seemed a bit messy to me. Also, through no fault of the author, the actual galley was extremely rough and my Kindle version had the Harper Muse logo randomly scattered throughout paragraphs of the book, which was distracting and confusing because I kept thinking it signaled the end of a chapter or section.

Thanks to Netgalley and Harper Muse for the opportunity to read and review this book.

I was intrigued by the premise of this novel and love a good book about books, but this just didn't do it for me. There was a lot going on but didn't really seem to be any point to it all. LOTS of characters that I had a hard time keeping straight. And the chapters were SO LONG. All in all, it was okay. But I won't be recommending it anytime soon.

I loved the title of the book and am grateful for the review copy. It was a good attempt by the author and I wish the book all the best.. Somehow though it didn't work for me. But then. liking a book depends on personal opinion. So, do give it a go, if you wish to.

I am so sad to say that I was disappointed with this book. I couldn't even finish it. I could not get into the story because of the writing style. The author just seemed to tell instead of show which really took away from the story. I didn't feel connected to the characters either. I was really looking forward to it because it seemed like a great book for me, but I couldn't get past the writing.

I recently read Bookish People by Susan Coll.
I had such high hopes for this book, it sounded delightful and right up my alley
Kind of a riff off of "The Reading List"

So dissapointed.

The book is set in Washington DC just after the Charlottesville neo-nazi incident.
--Story issues - the biggest issue I had with this was that the protagonist keeps comparing herself to Anne Frank as she considers going into hiding in a secret room. In some twisted perverse way, she has romanticized one of the saddest chapters of Holocaust history. It was incredibly offensive to me that she would think her thoughts of "hiding away" because of her grief over the loss of her husband were somehow equivalent to the experience of the Frank family in wartime. I just couldn't get past this- and it was unbelievably offefnsive to me.

---The story itself started slow and there were multiple POVs, it was not always clear whose POV we were on.

It was also incredibly technically challenging to read this book.
I did receive an ARC of this book from NetGalley and Harper Muse, so I understand it was a galley but,

1. I typically read across multiple platforms - sometimes on a tablet, sometimes a phone...
There were no chapter numbers or chapter place/book marks.
The point at which you stopped did not sync over to another platform, so I had to read exclusively on one device.
2. Again I realize it is a galley but every 3 or 4 pages half of the entire page was taken up with a Harper Muse splash screen.

I cannot recommend this book under any circumstances
My opinion is my own, and as mentioned I received a free ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Fifty-four-year-old Sophie Bernstein runs an independent bookstore in the Washington DC area. Snapshot of her current situation-Jamal, her store manager is off to law school, her events coordinator /aspiring writer Clemi just booked a controversial poet who she suspects is her biological father to speak at the store, recently fired employee Florence who fancied herself a soothsayer uttered a dire prophecy in her ear, an interested party is contacting her to buy the bookshop, her store vacuum cleaner gave out (once again) and a customer’s dog scared another customer’s baby which leads to a potential lawsuit. Sophie is at her wit's end in juggling it all.

Recently widowed, she is still grieving her loss and her college graduate son Michael, shows no interest in the bookstore and aspires to be a yoga teacher. She has designed a small nook hidden behind the walls of the store where she would like to spend some alone time but hardly gets the chance, given the chaos that descends in her store every day. Unbeknownst to Sophie, Clemi and Noah, another employee who Clemi has a crush on, purchase a pet tortoise, Kurt Vonnegut Jr. who they end up keeping hidden in a closet in the store as neither of them can take it home which is the source for a mysterious odor that has the rest o the staff perplexed. As the story progresses, we get to see the daily workings inside Sophie's store, customer interactions, mishaps, scheduling issues, inventory issues with unread galleys piling up, authors and publishers and aspiring authors with whom Sophie interacts and as the day of the scheduled events approaches she also has to deal with the different protest groups who camp outside her store, protesting the poet who might have driven his wife to suicide and another author whose work has animal activists enraged- both of whom are scheduled to speak at the store. In a nutshell, Sophie has a lot on her plate and it is interesting to see how she manages it all.

While Bookish People by Susan Coll has potential and an interesting premise, the execution falls short. I enjoyed the end-of-the-day emails and the camaraderie among the characters. With genuine laugh-out-loud scenarios and a likable protagonist with an interesting cast of characters- the story has its moments! That is precisely the problem. It has its moments! If I look at this novel as a collection of vignettes instead of one story, this book would rate higher. However, in the process of bringing so many moments in the novel together, the writing becomes disjointed in some places and in others, a tad repetitive. There is a lack of cohesion among the different elements in the story- too many sub-plots and the convergence of all those subplots feels forced. I find it hard to resist stories set in bookstores or libraries and while this book had promise, I could not help but feel a tad disappointed. Overall, while parts of the narrative are entertaining, I did not find it to be an engaging read and had to struggle through it.

My favorite quote from the book:
“She sometimes thinks the world divides into two types of people, those who think books are for reading when there’s nothing else to do, and those who avoid other things to do in order to read books—and unsurprisingly she’s in the latter camp, but really, is that so awful?”

Many thanks to NetGalley and Harper Muse for a complimentary digital review copy of this book. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Don't judge this book by its cover. The characters inside weren't what I would call bookish. There was so much politics just in the first few chapters that it was very off-putting. Did not finish.

What do a hot summer week in DC, a quirky independent bookstore owner, an events manager, and a tortoise named Kurt Vonnegut Jr. have in common? They're all the focus of Bookish People, the newest from Susan Coll.

This book was charming and chaotic, but I wish I got more of the storyline that made me want to read this book to begin with. If you enjoyed Anxious People, this book might be right up your alley! The multiple POV, kind of scattered story all taking place over a short timeframe feels pretty similar.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Muse for the opportunity to read this in exchange for my honest review!

This book is set to publish August 2, 2022! I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Ouch... this book was a struggle. I don't have much to say even though the book had a lot of words happening. The first chapter I was thinking that this was similar writing to Fredrik Backman. He is the type of author that I end up loving but his writing style takes me a little bit to get into. I figured this would be the same with this book but unfortunately, I didn't.

I was expecting a humorous fluff read within a bookstore. This book has a lot of telling, multiple POVs (with no warning), a lot of subplots and rabbit trails. Right when I was starting to connect to a character- BAM! You're hit with a new POV and you're left floundering to try to figure out what just happened.

Overall, the book cover is adorable, the synopsis promising but the writing style is confusing, chaotic and frankly a mess.

I first would like to say thank you to NetGal and HarperMuse for this Arc of The Bookish People in exchange for my honest opinion.

Before I begin with my thoughts I just wanted to say that I had very high hopes for this book. The cover was absolutely adorable and the premise sounded intriguing. As an avid reader what more could I ask for then a book about people who work in a bookstore, however as I began reading the story I found that this book just wasn’t for me.

Unfortunately I felt that throughout the story there seemed to be too much happening at once for me within the plot along with all the characters point of view. There were many times I just became confused and lost as to what I read. I was hoping that as I pushed myself to continue reading that I would enjoy it more as I truly wanted to love the book.

Sigh. I wanted to love this and was expecting a fun, quirky read about the various people working in a bookstore. This is in fact set in a bookstore, but it was chaotic and confusing. So much going on, so many subplots and sideplots, so many different characters' POV's..... I needed more structure.

"Nazis or no Nazis, isn't some people's ideal to live inside a bookstore?"

If the inevitability of an apocalypse woke up the world in panic, I would love to end up in a bookstore to survive extincrion. Whenever I watch apocalyptic movies with friends, we'd end up talking about where to we should go to survive the 'end of the world.' The mall always come to mind and while others think about looting food, I am away imagining looting the bookstores inside the mall. Surely a world without books is the worst apocalyptic event to happen.

This book brought me back to nostalgia as I devoured the different stories of the people who came across Sophie's bookstore. A bookstore does not only hold stories created by writers who meet their readers on printed pages but also the never-ending stories of the people who go in and out of a threshold full of boiks. Peole are walking libraries of meaningful stories. And that is surely the thing you are going to get from this book- stories of people who you might associate with people you will meet in a bookstore.

I love the way this book made me feel cozy and nostalgic. A worth read if you are into book-themed stories.

DNF. Did not finish. I did not connect with the writing style/format or plot and decided not to pick this one up. Thank you publisher for the early copy!

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

It had me at book store. It had me at a widow character, as I am widowed. It had me because it was someone I hadn’t heard of and I was stepping out of my usual comfort zone list of preferred authors.
Sadly that’s all that had me.

The writing style and phrenetic pace of flicking back and forward between characters left me wondering what was happening at times. It left me wondering if I was going to finish it, or if this would be my first book that I’ve never finished. I persevered. It was not an easy book to read. It was hard to say what it was actually about. I felt that there was a lot of ‘telling’ the reader what was going on, rather than using description to put the reader in the scene and feel what was going on.

For the first time ever, I’ve been disappointed by a book.

Like a lot of other avid readers, I’m a sucker for a book that’s centered around my love of books. Bookish People is the story of a DC bookstore run by Sophie Bernstein. Sophie just lost her husband nine months ago and is in the process of grieving, while also dealing with the strange politics of 2016. Though the bookstore is owned by Sophie, there are many protagonists and points of view that made it a bit difficult to read at times. However, I really enjoyed this fun, fast moving story of the antics happening in Sophie’s bookshop.

At the risk of making a strange and unrecognizable comparison, this book felt like Fredrik Backman re-wrote the 90’s classic teen movie, Empire Records, as a novel about a bookstore. As a huge fan of Backman and Empire Records, I recommend picking this book up.

Thank you to NetGalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.