• 📖 “Somewhere out beyond the edge of the universe there is a library that contains an infinite number of books, each one the story of another reality. One tells the story of your life as it is, along with another book for the other life you could have lived if you had made a different choice at any point in your life.” TW: suicide (in this post & in the book) When he was 24, Matt Haig planned on killing himself but stopped one step away from the edge of a cliff. 16 years later, he wrote Reasons to Stay Alive, a memoir sharing his own experiences with depression, treatment, and the reasons he is thankful he stayed alive.  5 years after that, he wrote The Midnight Library, which is, in some ways, the fictional counterpart to the nonfictional Reasons to Stay Alive. ⭐ “A beguiling read, filled with warmth and humour, and a vibrant celebration of the power of books to change lives.” — Sunday Times 👉 READ FOR: a book about books; and a gentle, optimistic exploration of the best reasons to be alive.
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    📖 “Somewhere out beyond the edge of the universe there is a library that contains an infinite number of books, each one the story of another reality. One tells the story of your life as it is, along with another book for the other life you could have lived if you had made a different choice at any point in your life.” TW: suicide (in this post & in the book) When he was 24, Matt Haig planned on killing himself but stopped one step away from the edge of a cliff. 16 years later, he wrote Reasons to Stay Alive, a memoir sharing his own experiences with depression, treatment, and the reasons he is thankful he stayed alive.  5 years after that, he wrote The Midnight Library, which is, in some ways, the fictional counterpart to the nonfictional Reasons to Stay Alive. ⭐ “A beguiling read, filled with warmth and humour, and a vibrant celebration of the power of books to change lives.” — Sunday Times 👉 READ FOR: a book about books; and a gentle, optimistic exploration of the best reasons to be alive.
  • It’s Prime Day, which means you’re probably seeing a lot of really great deals on Amazon. And we get it — they offer good products at good prices, and it’s really convenient. But there’s a hidden cost to that convenience, and real people are negatively impacted with each Amazon purchase. When it comes to books, Amazon’s prices and practices undercut and devalue the work of authors, publishers, bookstores, and booksellers. Amazon sells books at costs lower than wholesale prices because they can afford to take that loss in the short-term — pricing out everybody else — while they work toward becoming a monopoly in the long term. And when that happens, they’ll be able to sell books for whatever prices they want, and we promise, they aren’t going to be altruistic about it. Sure, Amazon is a convenient option for now, but is that convenience worth allowing it to be the ONLY option later? Amazon’s effect on books and publishing are just a small slice of their negative impact overall. They’re hurting almost every industry, and it’s not “ingenuity” or good-natured “disruption” when it comes at the cost of real people, including their employees. If you love books and visiting local bookstores (including ours), help us stick around by shopping local. Chances are, you'll have a far better experience anyway because we love books as much as you do, and we definitely care more than an algorithm does. Check out the link in our bio for references and resources.
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    It’s Prime Day, which means you’re probably seeing a lot of really great deals on Amazon. And we get it — they offer good products at good prices, and it’s really convenient. But there’s a hidden cost to that convenience, and real people are negatively impacted with each Amazon purchase. When it comes to books, Amazon’s prices and practices undercut and devalue the work of authors, publishers, bookstores, and booksellers. Amazon sells books at costs lower than wholesale prices because they can afford to take that loss in the short-term — pricing out everybody else — while they work toward becoming a monopoly in the long term. And when that happens, they’ll be able to sell books for whatever prices they want, and we promise, they aren’t going to be altruistic about it. Sure, Amazon is a convenient option for now, but is that convenience worth allowing it to be the ONLY option later? Amazon’s effect on books and publishing are just a small slice of their negative impact overall. They’re hurting almost every industry, and it’s not “ingenuity” or good-natured “disruption” when it comes at the cost of real people, including their employees. If you love books and visiting local bookstores (including ours), help us stick around by shopping local. Chances are, you'll have a far better experience anyway because we love books as much as you do, and we definitely care more than an algorithm does. Check out the link in our bio for references and resources.
  • In the late 1950s, Jerry Tisserand roamed from Barcelona to Paris to Kentucky to New Orleans, keeping his camera close at hand. He wanted to take photos that “no one else had taken,” capturing over 400 shots of everyday life: cobblestone vistas, backcountry roads, classic cars, young love, and brilliant revelers at Mardi Gras. So he did, and then he stopped. Sixty years later, his son, Michael Tisserand (@michaeltisserand) found two grey steel cases, each containing tidy rows of Kodachrome slides. At first, he didn’t understand what he was seeing.  Here was the work of a photographer with a curious eye and a unique perspective. An artist. Then he realized the photos had been taken by his dad before he became Dad. Now published in My Father When Young, Jerry Tisserand’s work adds a brief but vivid chapter to American street photography, introducing an artist who documented “sights seen, strangers encountered, friends loved, passions felt.” 👉 We wholehearted recommend this collection for fans of photography, Southern culture, or for anyone hoping to get to know their parents before those titles took hold. My Father When Young is available at a handful of local NOLA bookstores — swing by or send us a message to grab your copy. Happy Father’s Day! ✍️ Michael Tisserand is a New Orleans-based author who has written Krazy: George Herriman, a Life in Black and White; Sugarcane Academy; and The Kingdom of Zydeco. Michael’s work has also appeared in The New York Times, the Oxford American, the Nation, Daily Beast and Lit Hub. Michael is the former editor of Gambit Weekly, and his eleven-part Hurricane Katrina series Submerged was published by alternative newsweeklies across the country. Michael is also a founding member of the Mardi Gras parading group Laissez Boys Social Aide and Leisure Club.
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    In the late 1950s, Jerry Tisserand roamed from Barcelona to Paris to Kentucky to New Orleans, keeping his camera close at hand. He wanted to take photos that “no one else had taken,” capturing over 400 shots of everyday life: cobblestone vistas, backcountry roads, classic cars, young love, and brilliant revelers at Mardi Gras. So he did, and then he stopped. Sixty years later, his son, Michael Tisserand (@michaeltisserand) found two grey steel cases, each containing tidy rows of Kodachrome slides. At first, he didn’t understand what he was seeing.  Here was the work of a photographer with a curious eye and a unique perspective. An artist. Then he realized the photos had been taken by his dad before he became Dad. Now published in My Father When Young, Jerry Tisserand’s work adds a brief but vivid chapter to American street photography, introducing an artist who documented “sights seen, strangers encountered, friends loved, passions felt.” 👉 We wholehearted recommend this collection for fans of photography, Southern culture, or for anyone hoping to get to know their parents before those titles took hold. My Father When Young is available at a handful of local NOLA bookstores — swing by or send us a message to grab your copy. Happy Father’s Day! ✍️ Michael Tisserand is a New Orleans-based author who has written Krazy: George Herriman, a Life in Black and White; Sugarcane Academy; and The Kingdom of Zydeco. Michael’s work has also appeared in The New York Times, the Oxford American, the Nation, Daily Beast and Lit Hub. Michael is the former editor of Gambit Weekly, and his eleven-part Hurricane Katrina series Submerged was published by alternative newsweeklies across the country. Michael is also a founding member of the Mardi Gras parading group Laissez Boys Social Aide and Leisure Club.
  • Juneteenth honors the day slavery ended in Texas on June 19, 1865. Newly a national holiday, Juneteenth is a day inherently in conversation with another: July 4th, 1776, the day America marks its independence while many of its people remained people enslaved. Annette Gordon-Reed grew up in Conroe, Texas, a town about 50 miles north of Houston, where she was the first Black student to be integrated into the public schools. Now a Pulitzer Prize-winning historian, Annette Gordon-Reed brings us On Juneteenth, a brief history of Texas told through vignettes of her Texan upbringing, tracing the legacy of slavery from the early American republic through the Jim Crow era to today. With an obvious affection for her home state, Gordon-Reed writes through the most popular myths — stories of a wild west with larger-than-life cowboys — and provides a more accurate portrayal of Texas’s identity and history. ✍️ “Love does not require taking an uncritical stance toward the object of one’s affections. In truth, it often requires the opposite.” — Annette Gordon-Reed 👉 READ THIS: for a historically-informed, deeply-personal exploration of the tangled relationship our nation continues to have with slavery and an earnest celebration of Black Americans’ resilient, enduring spirit.
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    Juneteenth honors the day slavery ended in Texas on June 19, 1865. Newly a national holiday, Juneteenth is a day inherently in conversation with another: July 4th, 1776, the day America marks its independence while many of its people remained people enslaved. Annette Gordon-Reed grew up in Conroe, Texas, a town about 50 miles north of Houston, where she was the first Black student to be integrated into the public schools. Now a Pulitzer Prize-winning historian, Annette Gordon-Reed brings us On Juneteenth, a brief history of Texas told through vignettes of her Texan upbringing, tracing the legacy of slavery from the early American republic through the Jim Crow era to today. With an obvious affection for her home state, Gordon-Reed writes through the most popular myths — stories of a wild west with larger-than-life cowboys — and provides a more accurate portrayal of Texas’s identity and history. ✍️ “Love does not require taking an uncritical stance toward the object of one’s affections. In truth, it often requires the opposite.” — Annette Gordon-Reed 👉 READ THIS: for a historically-informed, deeply-personal exploration of the tangled relationship our nation continues to have with slavery and an earnest celebration of Black Americans’ resilient, enduring spirit.
  • Saturday Morning Memes Vol 6 (These are mostly for us but we hope you like them too.)
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    Saturday Morning Memes Vol 6 (These are mostly for us but we hope you like them too.)
  • We’ve got new Kitty Meow-approved book plates in stock 😻 (quite the exclusive honor)
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    We’ve got new Kitty Meow-approved book plates in stock 😻 (quite the exclusive honor)
  • In Minor Feelings, poet and essayist Cathy Park Hong (@cathyparkhong) blends memoir, cultural criticism, and history to explore the racial experiences of Asian Americans. This collection is vulnerable, humorous, and provocative as it pursues vital questions around friendship, art, politics, and identity. ⭐ “With radical candor, Cathy Hong Park critically examines what it means to be Asian American today and challenges herself and her readers to abandon the idea of a monolithic Asian American experience and instead acknowledge a range of racialized emotions which have been heretofore dismissed.”—Ms. 👉 READ THIS: For a powerful, often-funny, often-painful portrayal of the Asian American experience through Hong’s personal experiences and wry cultural commentary. This book is deeply personal and unabashed.
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    In Minor Feelings, poet and essayist Cathy Park Hong (@cathyparkhong) blends memoir, cultural criticism, and history to explore the racial experiences of Asian Americans. This collection is vulnerable, humorous, and provocative as it pursues vital questions around friendship, art, politics, and identity. ⭐ “With radical candor, Cathy Hong Park critically examines what it means to be Asian American today and challenges herself and her readers to abandon the idea of a monolithic Asian American experience and instead acknowledge a range of racialized emotions which have been heretofore dismissed.”—Ms. 👉 READ THIS: For a powerful, often-funny, often-painful portrayal of the Asian American experience through Hong’s personal experiences and wry cultural commentary. This book is deeply personal and unabashed.
  • Happy Pride, y’all 🌈 These are some of our favorite reads to celebrate & honor the LGBTQ+ community & its history. 📘 Lot by Bryan Washington / Bryan Washington's brilliant, viscerally drawn world leaps off the page with energy, wit, and the infinite longing of people searching for home. With soulful insight into what makes a community, a family, and a life, Lot is about love in all its unsparing and unsteady forms. 📘  Tinderbox by Robert W Fieseler (@wordbobby) / Tinderbox chronicles the tragic event that claimed the lives of thirty-one men and one woman on June 24, 1973 at a New Orleans bar. Fieseler creates an indelible portrait of a closeted, blue- collar gay world that flourished before an arsonist ignited an inferno that destroyed an entire community.  📘  Red, White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston (@casey.mcquiston) / First Son Alex Claremont-Diaz is the closest thing to a prince this side of the Atlantic and a beautiful marketing strategy for his mother, President Ellen Claremont. When photos of a confrontation with his longtime nemesis Prince Henry leak to the tabloids, the PR strategy calls for a fake friendship between the First Son and the Prince. But soon, Alex finds himself hurtling into a REAL secret relationship with Henry that could upend the two nations. 📘  A Quick & Easy Guide to Queer & Trans Identities by Mady G. (@madygcomics) and Jules Zuckerberg (@juleszuckerberg) / In this quick and easy guide to queer and trans identities, cartoonists Mady G and Jules Zuckerberg guide you through the basics of the LGBT+ world, covering essential topics like sexuality, gender identity, coming out, and navigating relationships. 📘  With Teeth by Kristen Arnett (@kristen__arnett) / If she's being honest, Sammie Lucas is scared of her son, a sullen, unknowable boy who resists her every attempt to bond with him. Uncertain in her own feelings about motherhood, she tries her best while growing increasingly resentful of Monika, her confident but absent wife. When her son's hostility finally spills over into physical aggression, Sammie must confront her role in the mess--and the possibility that it will never be clean again.
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    Happy Pride, y’all 🌈 These are some of our favorite reads to celebrate & honor the LGBTQ+ community & its history. 📘 Lot by Bryan Washington / Bryan Washington's brilliant, viscerally drawn world leaps off the page with energy, wit, and the infinite longing of people searching for home. With soulful insight into what makes a community, a family, and a life, Lot is about love in all its unsparing and unsteady forms. 📘  Tinderbox by Robert W Fieseler (@wordbobby) / Tinderbox chronicles the tragic event that claimed the lives of thirty-one men and one woman on June 24, 1973 at a New Orleans bar. Fieseler creates an indelible portrait of a closeted, blue- collar gay world that flourished before an arsonist ignited an inferno that destroyed an entire community.  📘  Red, White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston (@casey.mcquiston) / First Son Alex Claremont-Diaz is the closest thing to a prince this side of the Atlantic and a beautiful marketing strategy for his mother, President Ellen Claremont. When photos of a confrontation with his longtime nemesis Prince Henry leak to the tabloids, the PR strategy calls for a fake friendship between the First Son and the Prince. But soon, Alex finds himself hurtling into a REAL secret relationship with Henry that could upend the two nations. 📘  A Quick & Easy Guide to Queer & Trans Identities by Mady G. (@madygcomics) and Jules Zuckerberg (@juleszuckerberg) / In this quick and easy guide to queer and trans identities, cartoonists Mady G and Jules Zuckerberg guide you through the basics of the LGBT+ world, covering essential topics like sexuality, gender identity, coming out, and navigating relationships. 📘  With Teeth by Kristen Arnett (@kristen__arnett) / If she's being honest, Sammie Lucas is scared of her son, a sullen, unknowable boy who resists her every attempt to bond with him. Uncertain in her own feelings about motherhood, she tries her best while growing increasingly resentful of Monika, her confident but absent wife. When her son's hostility finally spills over into physical aggression, Sammie must confront her role in the mess--and the possibility that it will never be clean again.
  • “I suppose it was inevitable that as my word-base broadened, I could for the first time pick up a book and read and now begin to understand what the book was saying. Anyone who has read a great deal can imagine the new world that opened. Let me tell you something: from then until I left that prison, in every free moment I had, if I was not reading in the library, I was reading on my bunk. You couldn’t have gotten me out of books with a wedge… In fact, up to then, I never had been so truly free in my life.”
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    “I suppose it was inevitable that as my word-base broadened, I could for the first time pick up a book and read and now begin to understand what the book was saying. Anyone who has read a great deal can imagine the new world that opened. Let me tell you something: from then until I left that prison, in every free moment I had, if I was not reading in the library, I was reading on my bunk. You couldn’t have gotten me out of books with a wedge… In fact, up to then, I never had been so truly free in my life.”