Save the Shop Around the Corner!

A note on books. ❤️

Hey, friends!

I hope you don’t mind Meg Ryan¹ + I popping into your inbox an extra time this month with a note instead of a full letter. I wanted to let you know that this Saturday is a big day.

It’s National Independent Bookstore Day!

(Yes, Claire, but—who cares?)

You do. Here’s how I know: I’ve written about everything from sex trafficking to contraception to domestic violence to vocation discernment int these letters, but some of my most popular posts have been our booklists. Y’all are some readers. Our comments sections are often filled with book recommendations, book quotes, and book requests. We’re bookish people.

There was a time in my life when I would have perhaps tsk-tsk’d you for buying those books at Amazon. Amazon is, after all, bad for the publishing industry. Jeff does not need your money. And a world without small, cozy, twinkle-lit bookstores run by hardworking shopkeeps makes me tear up.

But I do agree with what Lore Wilbert wrote—”There are a lot of layers of culpability between my $20 probiotics and 195 billion dollars in someone’s pocket.” It is not my fault that Amazon has decimated the publishing industry, and it isn’t yours, either. Shopping on Amazon is not a sin.

That being said…we don’t need to loan them our swords, either.²

I don’t think people realize quite how easy it is to shop at a local bookstore. For instance:

• Think your bookstore doesn’t carry a book you want? Ask them to order it for you! Most bookstores can order most in-print books for no extra charge.

• Love Audible³? Libro.fm has almost every single title Audible has, but it links up with local bookstores instead. It’s a very similar, simple interface and the prices aren’t typically different.

• Can’t make it to the store? Many stores offer shipping as well. Will it get there in two days? Likely not, but also—do you actually need it in two days? Do you need it more than Amazon employees need to pee in something that’s not a water bottle?

• You can preorder books at your local indie! Local preorders help authors just as much as Amazon ones.

At the end of the day, local bookstores aren’t going to exist unless we shop at them. That’s it. That’s the TLDR. Nobody is swooping in to save them. No angel investor is going to whack them on the head with a fairytale wand and make it rain. It’s you, and I, choosing where to spend our eighteen bucks.

So today, I just wanted to pop a quick note to you and remind you that this weekend, you should go shop at an independent bookstore. You should take some of your hard earned dollars and buy your kids a picture book biography, or buy yourself a lovely volume of poetry, or buy your mother-in-law a biography of someone she’s watched every documentary on. Buy a book for your godchild. Buy a book for your spouse. Buy a book for your grandmother. Help support independent bookstores so that our kids can have the experience of walking into a beautifully arranged shop, where a local author has an event that weekend and the staff is ready to help you and there are displays of seasonal picture books and reimagined classics and graphic novels. Fight the algorithm with connection, not mindless consumption. Look someone in the eye.

If you need recommendations, paid Letters subscribers have access to all of the booklists from our Year of Books last year.

In the spirit of horn tooting, many of you know that my “day job” is a fiction writer with HarperCollins. I’ve written multiple award-winning books for kids and my first novel for adults, The Funeral Ladies of Ellerie County, released last month.⁴

My most recent middle grade book, What Happened to Rachel Riley, was widely acclaimed. It deals with sexual harassment in a way that’s accessible for middle schoolers to understand. In 2023, it was a:

• ALA Notable Children's Book

• Indie Bestseller

• Audie Award Winner

• Edgar Award Nominee

• Cybils Award Nominee

• YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults

• New York Public Library Best Book of the Year

• Chicago Public Library Best of the Best

• Amazon Best Book of the Year

• SLJ Best Book of the Year

• Texas Lone Star Reading List

• Capital Choices Noteworthy Book for Children

• BookPage Best Book of the Year

I also have a new middle grade book coming out in November called Take It From the Top about some former besties at a musical theater summer camp that’s available for preorder.

You can learn more about my fiction work on my author website, and I would be so honored if Funeral Ladies was one of your indie purchases this weekend. You can order signed copies of all of my fiction works at my local indie, Books and Company, which ships anywhere in the US.

I’m opening comments on this note to all subscribers, something I don’t usually do (so be nice, punks.) Please let us all know a book you’ve loved lately—or if you wrote a book, toot that horn along with me! I also thought it would be so fun to have a book recommendations chat—if you’re seeking recs, leave us a book or two you’ve loved lately and what you’re looking for. Commenters, let’s help each other find books to add to our TBR!

Happy reading.

In Him Through Her,

Claire

1. If you haven’t seen YOU’VE GOT MAIL I apologize profusely because this entire note is one long Nora Ephron reference

2. I also understand that for some people living in poverty, Amazon feels like a godsend. I am in a privileged position where I am not necessarily needing to count pennies, and can afford more just/equitable choices. Others aren’t. I get that + acknowledge it + want to work for a world where we can all afford to shop small.

3. Audible was a significant sponsor of the Catholic Feminist Podcast. When you know better, you do better. 🤷🏼‍♀️

4. This has swear words in it. If that bothers you, that’s fine, but please avoid the compulsion to email me telling me that you can find “more entertaining trash for free on Facebook”. :)