A Cave with Windows: Bookstore as Building
This time on Open Stacks: We explore the rabbit warren of the Co-op’s original location in the old Chicago Theological Seminary with manager emeritus Jack Cella and veteran bookseller Katy O’Brien Weintraub, then emerge from the underground with architect Margaret McCurry, who was integral in the creation of our new space in the sun. Paul Yamazaki, legendary book buyer at City Lights in San Francisco, gestures toward a spatial theory of bookstores—how the shape of the room and the number of books on a shelf can encourage the symbiosis of reader and bookseller—and Co-op manager Bryce Lucas takes an ecological (and mycological) squint at the Front Table.
Thanks to listener Ariana for sharing an autumnal passage from Rilke's Letters on Cézanne. If you'd like to share a passage with us, and with other Open Stacks listeners, send us a voice memo. We love hearing where you find meaning in your reading.
Open Stacks is hosted by Alena Jones and produced by Jackson Roach. This episode features music by Loyalty Freak Music, Blue Dot Sessions, Rui, and Daniel Birch.
Below, a list of every book discussed in this episode:
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