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.

Sophie Bernstein, a bookstore owner, is overwhelmed with the state of the world, the death of her husband, and the loss of her manager. Even books have lost their touch. Raymond Chaucer, a poet, is seeing his publicity tour canceled because of rumors he’s the cause of his wife’s death. Sophie’s store is the only place he’s currently to appear. Clemi, the events coordinator for Sophie’s store, has been asked to cancel his appearance. But Clemi feels he may be her biological father and does not want to miss the chance to find out.

Bookish People is a quirky character driven story. The characters are its strength that I do believe many readers would enjoy. There’s even a turtle named after Vonnegut. I loved the setting of the bookstore as well. This is an example of a book that has a great premise, but some of the execution was problematic. It was at times hard to follow as numerous subplots got in the way of further character development and attachment. While the story itself may not resonate with all readers, the characters are memorable.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and author the chance to review this for my honest review.

Despite this being just my usual kind of premise, I didn't enjoy the way the story was broken down and had a had time relating to the story. It has some interesting characters and plot points.

The characters were the best part of the book. The story was boring. I would not recommend the book.

Unfortunately it was difficult for me to finish this book. I didn't get attached to any of the characters and never got immersed into the story line. It all felt a bit disjointed and chaotic for me.

Thank you to netgalley for my copy in exchange for an honest review.

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59609061-bookish-people" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="Bookish People" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1644889333l/59609061._SX98_.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59609061-bookish-people">Bookish People</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/288420.Susan_Coll">Susan Coll</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4668093172">3 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
Unfortunately it was difficult for me to finish this book. I didn't get attached to any of the characters and never got immersed into the story line. It all felt a bit disjointed and chaotic for me. <br /><br />Thank you to netgalley for my copy in exchange for an honest review.
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/58275821-alisha-noelle">View all my reviews</a>

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book. Unfortunately, it did not live up to the potential in my head. The story was slow and boring.

DNF. I was drawn to this book by the premise and the fact that it was set in a bookstore, but that’s as far as my rave goes. I found this story frantic at times and I couldn’t follow it. Half the time I didn’t know who’s POV I was reading from. I found this one really dragged (especially in the beginning) while setting up the characters and story line. Unfortunately it just felt messy.

Thank you to NetGallery and Harper Muse for this eARC. I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

It's not often I DNF a book or write a less than glowing review. I can be patient and understanding when there are plot holes, grammar, bad characterization, or the like. But this book is just tedious. It is like listening to someone talk about one thing but stretch it for five hours and encapsulate everything else that was unessecary to make the story purposeful.

There is a lot (and I mean a lot) of telling, not showing. This is why the majority rule is never overly described in any literary piece. It overinflates your story to the point where it feels like it's bursting with things and ideas. Yes, it can work, but it didn't work for this. I got a migraine.

Chapter one should have been an indicator of what this book held because it was just there? It didn't serve a purpose and was repetitive and superfluous. Pretty cover though.

Book lovers unite! A book about books set in a book store! The writing style of this book was interesting. The characters are quirky and the writing style was slightly chaotic. While sometimes difficult to follow, it was also wonderful that the writing reflected the characters. An interesting and fun story.


Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the digital ARC in exchange for my review. All opinions expressed are completely my own.

A very engaging story that takes us into the world of books, bookstores, and the quirky people who sell and write books. Readers always seem to enjoy books set in bookstores, and this is a great one. I look forward to recommending this title.

Sophie Bernstein is down on her luck - the local bookstore owner is a a cross road. Recently widowed, she has fallen out of love with her books. Her favorite store manager has left, her son lacks ambition, the political state has her anxious, and on top of all that - her vacuum won’t work.

Things are about to change when poet Raymond Chaucer is set to come to her bookstore to promote his latest work. The only problem is, all other bookstores have cancelled his appearances due to rumors he’s the cause of his wife’s suicide. Sophie’s employe, Clemi. was supposed to cancel his tour stop, too. But she secretly wants to meet him to find out if her suspicions that he could be her biological father are correct.

The story had potential, but overall it fell flat. There were so many jumping narrations and sub-plots, it was hard to follow. At the end it all came together, but the journey to get to the ending felt scattered and chaotic.