Navigating the Pages of Indie Bookstore Ownership with Shelf Life Books' Chris and Berkley McDaniel

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Speaker 1: Hi, my name is Mandy Jackson-Beverly and I'm a

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bibliophile.

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Welcome to the Bookshop Podcast .

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Each week, I present interviews with authors, independent

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bookshop owners and booksellers from around the globe,

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publishing professionals and specialists in subjects dear to

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my heart the environment and social justice.

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Okay, now let's get on with the show.

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You're listening to Episode 248 .

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Formerly known as Chop Suey Books, shelf Life Books is the

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largest independent bookstore in Richmond, virginia, and has

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served the community for over two decades.

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Located in the heart of Richmond's Kerrytown district

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and owned by Chris and Berkeley McDaniel, the story is staffed

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by longtime patrons and is a hub for local authors and book

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lovers alike.

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They offer new books on their lower level and five rooms of

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used books upstairs, along with their two cats, paige and Myla.

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Hi, chris and Berklee, and welcome to the show.

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It's great to have you here, thank you it's great to be here.

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I like and appreciate your Read Banned Books t-shirt Berklee.

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Is that one from your store?

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Speaker 2: No, this is from the Bitter Southerner.

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It's a southern literary magazine, bittersouthernercom,

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and they have all kinds of fun stuff there.

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Speaker 1: I'll make sure to put their link in the show notes.

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Speaker 2: Oh, they'll love that .

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Speaker 1: Well, let's begin with learning about you both and

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what you were doing before becoming independent bookshop

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owners.

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Chris, why don't you begin?

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Speaker 3: Sure, I'll start.

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I was, and still am, a full-time technology product

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manager for the Federal Reserve.

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Speaker 1: Oh, my goodness, that sounds like more than a

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full-time job.

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It is so why did you buy the bookshop?

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Speaker 3: We both always sort of dreamed that it would be fun

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to have a bookshop or a coffee shop when we retired from

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corporate America, to have a bookshop or a coffee shop when

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we retired from corporate America.

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And Berkeley was lucky enough to retire from corporate America

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first and he worked for one of our local bookstores, fountain

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Bookstore, with Kelly Justice- Volunteered and worked.

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And she's a wonderful human and has a wonderful bookstore and

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we've been very fortunate to know her and have her support

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and, um, I really think you should tell this, okay, okay,

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okay.

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Speaker 2: So, um, I was at the, I was at fountain, I was

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working in the receiving in the back, where I spend most of my

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time.

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I like to do that kind of thing and, uh, I got a email and I

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just popped up on my phone and it was from the owner of the

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bookstore that we purchased and it said, hey, this is just crazy

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and out of the blue, but I'm gonna either sell the bookstore

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or shut this down.

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And I thought maybe you would have interest in buying it.

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And I said that's hilarious.

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I closed it and went back to receiving and thought about it

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and thought about it, and at the time when I would get home from

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work, it would usually be about the time that Chris was

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finishing her day and we would take our dog for a walk around

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the neighborhood to just catch up on the day and I said, hey,

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this hilarious thing happened today, got this email about

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buying the bookstore.

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Man, that's crazy.

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And Chris said, huh, we should do that.

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Speaker 1: Oh my goodness, A year and a half later or felt

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like that.

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Speaker 2: No, it was only 10 months.

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Speaker 3: But, yeah, we decided to look into it and see if we

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could make it happen.

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And we were lucky enough to make it happen.

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So the timeline wasn't perfect, because in a perfect world we

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would both be able to dedicate full time effort.

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But you know, it was a, it was a huge opportunity and so we

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decided to take it.

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Speaker 1: I happen to think that sometimes you just got to

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grab that hook and go with it.

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You know, life is short.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Okay, so let me get this straight, Berkeley were you

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working in corporate America before you retired and started

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working at the bookshop?

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Speaker 2: Yes and no, I was a telecom technician.

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I managed operations regionally for the state of Virginia for a

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company that repaired damaged cell sites.

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So I worked on 60 hours, 70 hours, 80, sometimes even 100

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hour work week.

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So I was out in the field repairing things and also in

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front of a computer taking care of everybody else's schedules

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and working with the customers too.

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So yes, corporate America, but I got my hands dirty pretty much

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every day.

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Speaker 1: How are you finding being in a bookshop every day?

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Speaker 2: pretty much every day .

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How are you finding being in a bookshop every day?

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I love bookstores.

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I was a customer of the.

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You know that's how the previous owner, you know, knew

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to send me an email.

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He just looked up my information from the last

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special order from his store.

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So but yeah, I mean I prefer the behind the scenes kind of

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things.

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I'm more of an operational person in that sense, but I do

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love, you know, being on the floor talking to customers and

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hand selling.

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So yeah, it's a, it's a happy place for sure.

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Speaker 1: Yes, I'd agree with that wholeheartedly.

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Now, one of the changes you made to the store was bringing

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in new books.

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What was the impetus for this change, and what other changes

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have you made since taking over ownership from the store's

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founder, ward Teft?

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Speaker 3: The first thing that we did, both just us and then

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with our staff, was we came up with a set of values, and the

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idea was that we would let the values guide everything, guide

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all the decisions from there on out.

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And so our values they're kind of lengthy.

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I have them up if you wanted me to read them.

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Yes, I'd love to hear them.

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One of them is that we center marginalized voices.

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Another is that we aspire to be a safe space, and so we don't

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tolerate misogyny or racism or homophobism or any of the

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transphobia Like we don't tolerate it.

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And that begins with the staff and that begins with the books,

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and so we made sure that the staff we hired was diverse and

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inclusive in their outlook on things.

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And as we went through and inventoried books and we came

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across titles that we did not feel aligned with our values, we

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purged them.

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Speaker 1: What a wonderful idea .

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I would love to hear more of the values on that list.

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You know I'll get them wrong if I don't actually read them.

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Speaker 3: It's fine, of course we believe in the ability and

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responsibility of individuals, communities and societies to

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evolve toward more just, peaceful, tolerant, sustainable

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and joyful ways of being.

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We believe in the transformative power of art,

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especially the written word.

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We talked about marginalized voices and safe space, and the

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other is we will listen when our community tells us we have

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failed and we will make amends and reparations wherever

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possible.

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Speaker 1: I think we need to put that in every town hall

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across America.

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It's timely and beautiful, thank you.

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When I was researching the bookshop, I read that when you

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bought the place, you also inherited a mascot.

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Was the sale dependent on your adoption of this mascot, or have

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Myla and Paige taken over?

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Speaker 2: adoption of this mascot, or have Myla and Paige

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taken over?

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Oh, wani, he had been there for a very, very, very, very long

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time and you know, wani and I were friends when I was in the

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store.

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There were people that he tolerated and there were people

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that he didn't, and I was one of the lucky ones.

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He was a rock star, is a rock star, and people came into the

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store specifically to see him.

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A lot of the social media was revolved around what was Wani

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doing any given day, and so we knew it was an integral part of

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the story and we knew he needed to stay with us, so that was

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part of the deal.

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Speaker 1: And just for our listeners, Wani is a kitty cat.

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Speaker 2: He is, he is.

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Speaker 1: He was an older cat, so is he still with you.

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Speaker 2: He passed in the fall .

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Speaker 1: He was something like 17, right.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, they give or take.

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They weren't positive on that number.

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Some said older, some said a little bit younger, but he had a

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fairly significant heart condition that he had been

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dealing with for some time and he had a cardiologist that he

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went to every six months.

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He just started to slow down and, you know, we knew that the

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time would come eventually.

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So we hired some interns and let the interns, Mylar and Paige

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, be trained by Wani, and then Wani retired to our house and in

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the late fall, sometime just before Thanksgiving, he just he

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told us it was time and he stopped eating.

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Speaker 1: And Mylar and Paige are tuxedo kitty cats, aren't

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they?

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Speaker 2: They are Not quite as the full tuxedo that Wani had,

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but definitely tuxedos and they're sisters.

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Speaker 1: Well, I love the photographs of them on your

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website.

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They're so cute.

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Okay, we'd better get back to the bookshop, because otherwise

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I could talk about cats all day.

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What are you enjoying most about being independent bookshop

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owners and what have you learned about yourselves since

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purchasing the store?

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Speaker 2: I love the individual conversations that I have with

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people, sometimes about books, sometimes not about books at all

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, sometimes about ideology and things that are going on in the

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world.

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So just being in that space, in a community space, those are

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the kind of things that should and do happen, and I think

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that's my favorite part.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and what I've noticed whether you're a

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bookseller in an indie bookshop or a customer, you can overhear

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people having conversations with each other, and indie bookshops

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make you feel safe to do that.

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You can just start talking to someone about a book.

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People who read are interesting people.

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I've mostly always read fiction , but lately I've been reading

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creative nonfiction.

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Creative nonfiction has that element of storytelling and

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quite often you are still asked to be in another's point of view

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, and I see this as helping us develop our empathy skills.

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Everything in our life comes back to stories.

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Speaker 3: Storytelling is important.

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I say storytelling is important , even in corporate America.

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You know what is our story, what are we saying?

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What do we stand for?

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Speaker 1: Yes, I mean, that's how we learn.

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Human beings learn through stories.

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And, chris, what have you learned from being an

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independent bookshop owner?

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Speaker 3: Well, I'll say, something that I really like is

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feeling like we're part of the fabric of our local community,

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and nothing touches my heart more than when I, you know, when

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I hear someone say, oh, you know, it meant so much to me

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when I, you know, went here and felt safe, or that excitement

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that you feel when a customer comes in the store and we have

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that book that they're jazzed to read, you know, and that

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excitement, and so I really just love, I think, you know, when

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you're in corporate America, sometimes you can't help but

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feel like you're a cog in a wheel, and independent bookstore

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life is anything but that.

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We're doing all kinds of things , wearing all kinds of different

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hats, interacting with all kinds of different people and

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material, and it's all just fresh and wonderful.

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Speaker 1: Well, while we're on the subject of community, for

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anyone with a few days in Richmond Virginia, what historic

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sites do you recommend they visit hiking trails to explore,

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and perhaps you could give us an idea of a few other independent

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businesses that are great to visit?

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Speaker 3: Well, I love that.

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You're a big hiker, I love to be outside, and Richmond has a

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tremendous outside presence.

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In fact, outside Magazine voted Richmond the America's best

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river city in 2012, and we have miles and miles of trails all

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along the James River.

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You can go 12 miles and never know you're in the heart of a

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capital of a state in the United States of America.

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It's just beautiful wooded trails and everything.

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So I definitely recommend that seeing the river, seeing the

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James River Park system and all of its trails.

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The neighborhood that we're in is Carytown, which is a unique

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district.

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When I travel, I always like to see what makes the town

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different from every other town, and I think Carytown and the

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James River are two of those things.

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The neighborhood where our store is located has tons of

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locally owned boutiques.

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It has an old theater with a Wurlitzer organ that they still

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play before some of the movie showings.

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There's tons of great food, and if you stop in our bookstore,

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you can pick up books that have guides to Richmond.

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There's tons of great food and if you stop in our bookstore,

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you can pick up books that have guides to Richmond.

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There's a great one that sells really well called Really

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Richmond.

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And then a third thing about Richmond.

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I think that makes it unique, and we have a book about it in

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our store is called the Mending Walls Project, and I definitely

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encourage your listeners to look up mendingwallsrvacom.

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They're a group of people who have created murals all around

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Richmond and their motto is we need to talk, and the murals are

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created by artists who come together from different

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backgrounds and talk about issues, and the murals reflect

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diversity and things that are important to our community, and

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it's just really motivating and inspiring.

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And we actually have a mural inside our store as well, as our

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store signage was created by one of the Mending Walls artists

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, lizzie Brown, so there's a nice connection there too.

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If you go on their website or if you pick up their book, you

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can see, like, where in the city the murals are, and it's a

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great way to get to know the city Is that a coffee table book

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?

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Speaker 1: Yeah, it's really beautiful.

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The photography is phenomenal and it's laid out just

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beautifully it sounds like a fabulous book and what a great

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introduction to Richmond.

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Would you say that Cary is a creative, independent hub or

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suburb of?

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Speaker 3: Richmond.

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It's not a suburb, it's in the city.

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It's not downtown where all the tall buildings are, but it's

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definitely within the city and, yeah, I would say it's an

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independent shopping area.

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Richmond has a huge creative base.

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The Barton Agency is here.

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I think Richmond has one of the premier advertising and

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creative agency kind of presences outside of New York

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City in America, which is kind of surprising for a small city

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our size, but I don't know that Carytown itself is

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representative of that.

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We're not far from Virginia Commonwealth University though,

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which has a tremendous.

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The Brand Center at VCU is world-renowned, and it also has

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a very prestigious art school.

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They're also one of the first universities to have a master's

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in innovation program.

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So yeah, there's definitely a creative mindset to our city and

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we're happy to be a part of that.

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Speaker 1: I've interviewed a few authors from the Richmond

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area.

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One of them is Bruce Holsinger.

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He wrote a book called the Displacements.

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I mean he's written many, many books.

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The Displacements is one of my all-time favorite reads.

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Anyway, my question is do you find you have a strong local

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author presence?

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Speaker 2: We do Very large, very robust.

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Speaker 1: Can you tell me about some of them?

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Speaker 2: Oh, you're going to put me on the spot there.

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There are some wonderful poets on our list.

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We've got Ryan Kent, who is local here.

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We have Rachel Beanland, who has a really wonderful

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historical fiction about the fire in the early 1800s here.

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That, for a very, very long time, was the single largest

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catastrophe in the United States .

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For a very, very long time.

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That's called the House is on Fire, and that is really good.

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Speaker 3: Rachel's been a huge advocate for the store.

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She's run all her book clubs through us and just been a

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really good showed what an independent bookstore author

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partnership can look like.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, building that relationship with an author and

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a bookseller, it's magic.

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Speaker 2: We have a writing group here called the James

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River Writers, which is a nonprofit that meets several

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times a month, and the list of authors there is just mind

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boggling.

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But those are just a couple that I picked up very quickly,

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but there are a whole lot more.

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Speaker 1: While we're on this subject, I can't stress enough

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to authors the importance of building up relationships with

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independent bookshop owners and booksellers.

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I've had self-published authors who've come to me and said I've

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been to see booksellers in independent bookshops but they

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won't carry my books.

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And I say to them well, where do you buy your books?

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Do you buy them from that online place or do you support

00:17:24
your local indie bookshop?

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I mean, it's so important to build those relationships with

00:17:29
independent bookshop owners and the booksellers.

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Let's face it, bookshops only have a certain amount of room on

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their shelves.

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So if you're that person who's friendly with them, I think

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they're going to probably think about your book and the

00:17:43
customers that you can bring to their store.

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Speaker 3: I think Birdway was on a panel for the James River.

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Speaker 2: Writers.

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I was on it.

00:17:49
Almost exactly that recently it was indeed.

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We talked about the big A in the room.

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Speaker 1: Yes, Amazon has been brought up on this podcast many,

00:18:00
many times.

00:18:01
Let's talk about book selling and owning a bookshop and the

00:18:07
hard work that you have to put into it.

00:18:09
I mean it's hard work and it's hard on your body.

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Speaker 2: It is, it is.

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Speaker 1: Did it take a lot for you to get used to the work in

00:18:18
the store Berkeley, Especially the lifting of all those heavy

00:18:21
boxes?

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Speaker 2: There's a lot of lifting, there's a lot of

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walking, there's a lot of stairs .

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Did I mention there's a lot of lifting.

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There's a lot of walking, there's a lot of stairs.

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Did I mention there's a lot of lifting?

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Yeah, you know, being a new and used bookstore, yeah, you're

00:18:33
moving a lot of books very often .

00:18:35
Hang in there.

00:18:37
I've had some surgery.

00:18:39
I've had shoulder repair technically related to the store

00:18:43
, but it definitely helped.

00:18:44
Speaker 1: Oh gosh, I'm sorry to hear about your shoulder.

00:18:46
One of the other things about working in an independent

00:18:50
bookshop is shelving books, and I'm fine shelving fiction, but

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put me in a bookshop and asked me to sort out and shelve all

00:18:59
the nonfiction.

00:19:00
Oh my goodness, I find that tricky.

00:19:02
Speaker 2: It is a challenge all the time with nonfiction and

00:19:07
every once in a while I think it was yesterday I found a novel

00:19:13
that was in nonfiction and I think I had been putting it in

00:19:16
the nonfiction for probably a few months.

00:19:19
Myself, I don't normally do the floor restocking.

00:19:21
Our staff is fantastic at all of those things and I try to

00:19:25
stay as out of their way as possible.

00:19:27
I mean, I do the buying, but I do the buying with help from

00:19:31
them.

00:19:31
I do the buying with help from our community, because that is

00:19:34
the most important thing you listen, you listen and you

00:19:38
listen and then that's what you put on the floor.

00:19:40
But I was putting a fiction novel on the nonfiction and I

00:19:43
guess they had just been moving it back where it belonged and

00:19:45
just like a fiction novel on the nonfiction, and I guess they

00:19:47
had just been moving it back where it belonged and just like

00:19:49
bless his heart and just moving on.

00:19:50
Yeah, there are a lot of those moments.

00:19:51
There are a lot of those moments.

00:19:53
Speaker 1: Well, berkeley, I'm sure you are not the first

00:19:56
independent bookshop owner to have done that and for all of

00:19:59
the booksellers?

00:20:00
Just to quietly move it back to its position, I can relate.

00:20:04
Would you say that new or used books are more popular, and

00:20:09
would you say you sell more fiction or nonfiction, and what

00:20:12
genre of fiction is your most popular?

00:20:15
Speaker 3: We sell more used books than we sell new books and

00:20:20
one of the things you know, along with our values, is we

00:20:23
really embrace the used books because it makes quality

00:20:27
literature affordable for anyone and it's also, you know, a more

00:20:30
sustainable model than buying new books all the time, maybe

00:20:34
not quite as good as a library, but it's still a good way.

00:20:38
And as far as genres, fiction outsells everything else two to

00:20:44
one, outsells everything else two to one that doesn't even

00:20:52
include, like special genres, like graphic novels and manga,

00:20:56
and also like fantasy.

00:20:56
Those aren't even included in the fiction numbers that outsell

00:20:59
everything else two to one and those are big sellers for us.

00:21:02
Speaker 2: Those categories Sci-fi, manga, translations,

00:21:07
fiction.

00:21:07
Translations are really big as well.

00:21:10
Speaker 1: Oh, that's good to hear.

00:21:11
That makes me happy.

00:21:12
I also love reading books in translation and one of my

00:21:16
favorites recently is Days in the Morisaki Bookshop.

00:21:21
I just love that book.

00:21:22
But when I'm asked what the book is about, I guess it's

00:21:26
about relationships.

00:21:27
I couldn't pinpoint a plot point or anything like that.

00:21:31
All I know is I came away after reading it wanting to read it

00:21:35
again and it was just charming.

00:21:37
I just thought it was absolutely wonderful.

00:21:41
Speaker 2: Translated fiction helps you to understand the

00:21:44
culture of that country, and I love the cadence and the rhythm

00:21:49
of the writing are kind of an untapped area of books for most

00:21:52
Americans and for most bookstores, although that's

00:22:10
quickly changing and the publishers are catching up.

00:22:12
So I think that's it's a really important.

00:22:15
Going back to what you were talking about earlier, I don't

00:22:18
read nonfiction.

00:22:19
The brain over here reads the nonfiction and then explains it

00:22:22
to me later.

00:22:23
I'm an emotional reader and I learn about history through

00:22:30
fiction that has truth woven in it and you will pick up a lot on

00:22:34
different backgrounds, different communities, different

00:22:37
countries and just ideology and things across the board, from

00:22:41
the translations for sure.

00:22:43
So those are the locked room mysteries.

00:22:45
Lots of good locked room translated mysteries are big

00:22:49
sellers for us.

00:22:50
Speaker 1: Oh, that sounds interesting.

00:22:52
I've not read a translated locked room mystery.

00:22:54
Is there a specific author you'd like to recommend?

00:22:58
Speaker 2: Sadeshi Yokomizu Pushkin is the publisher.

00:23:03
Look for the Hanjin Murders H-O-N-J-I-N.

00:23:08
I believe I don't think I'm misspeaking here, I think it is

00:23:11
still since we reopened the store.

00:23:14
I believe it is our number one we reopened the store.

00:23:15
I believe it is our number one selling title in the store.

00:23:17
Speaker 1: New.

00:23:17
Do you think you personally have had a lot to do with that

00:23:20
by hand-selling the books?

00:23:22
Speaker 2: It's not just me, and actually that series has been

00:23:26
around for a couple of years, but the whole staff, for sure

00:23:30
Most of us, have read and enjoyed that series.

00:23:33
He wrote over a hundred murder mystery novels in his lifetime

00:23:39
and I think that there's a new one every year that's being

00:23:43
published by Pushkin, and I just saw the advanced reader copy

00:23:48
popped up this morning for the newest one and I'm really

00:23:50
excited about that.

00:23:51
Speaker 3: But for sure what you said is important, like what we

00:23:54
get excited about.

00:23:54
What our staff gets excited about is what?

00:23:55
But for sure what you said is important, like what we get

00:23:55
excited about.

00:23:55
What our staff gets excited about is what's going to sell in

00:23:58
our store, right you?

00:23:59
Just there's no substitute for that enthusiasm and passion and

00:24:03
emotion that's associated with something you just read and

00:24:07
you're so excited about and you want to share.

00:24:09
I mean, that sells a book faster than anything.

00:24:11
Yep.

00:24:12
Speaker 1: It really does, and it's fun Speaking of which.

00:24:15
What are you both currently reading?

00:24:17
Speaker 2: Okay, so I'm reading two and listening to one,

00:24:21
because I you know there's a lot of books out there and I'm new

00:24:25
to listening.

00:24:26
I'm listening to Fathom Folk by Eliza Chan, which is comes out

00:24:31
today Almost done with that.

00:24:33
It's wonderful.

00:24:34
So happy pub day to her.

00:24:35
And I'm reading.

00:24:38
I have a morning book, whatever you want to call it.

00:24:41
And then I have my before bedtime book and I'm reading

00:24:45
Navola by Paolo Bacigalupi.

00:24:49
I love saying his name, love saying his name.

00:24:53
He is Paolo Bacigalupi, it just rolls off.

00:24:56
He is primarily a cli-fi fiction writer, climate fiction,

00:25:01
but this is the beginning of a fantasy series for him and it's

00:25:09
really wonderful.

00:25:10
His writing style is just beautiful.

00:25:12
His choice of words always just makes me happy.

00:25:16
And I'm also reading All the Colors of the Dark by Chris

00:25:25
Whitaker, and both of these books are coming out this summer

00:25:27
.

00:25:27
Chris Whitaker wrote we Begin at the End, which came out, I

00:25:28
believe, two or three years ago, which is still one of my

00:25:31
favorite books.

00:25:32
I cried so hard, which is still one of my favorite books.

00:25:34
I cried so hard Again, I'm an emotional reader, so that's

00:25:37
where I come from.

00:25:38
So those are the three I'm doing right now.

00:25:40
Speaker 1: And what about you, Chris?

00:25:41
I've just finished up with.

00:25:44
Speaker 3: Mahmoud Darwish's prose poem Memory for

00:25:47
Forgetfulness.

00:25:48
It's his recollection of the siege of Beirut in 1982, August

00:25:55
of 1982.

00:25:57
And we were just talking about how?

00:25:59
Translation.

00:26:00
You know what an appreciation for translated literature.

00:26:02
This is nonfiction, but it's a work of art in translation.

00:26:09
Even I can't imagine what it would be like in its original,

00:26:11
but it's just beautifully written, it can appeal to anyone

00:26:16
at any time.

00:26:17
But reading it in this moment, with the siege of Gaza, and the

00:26:22
parallels are so poignant, but his language is just incredible.

00:26:29
There's some really beautiful passages about coffee.

00:26:33
There's some really beautiful passages about coffee, the idea

00:26:43
of memory and forgetfulness sort of being these axes for

00:26:44
recalling an event.

00:26:45
And you know, he also sort of juxtaposes the everyday, the

00:26:47
getting of coffee, the watching of soccer, with the

00:26:50
extraordinary events that are happening and it's just a

00:26:54
masterpiece.

00:26:55
So I'm kind of actually sitting with that for the moment.

00:26:59
Speaker 1: Can you repeat the name of the book, because I love

00:27:02
that name?

00:27:04
Speaker 3: The title is Memory for Forgetfulness.

00:27:07
Speaker 1: Just beautiful.

00:27:08
Anything else you're reading at the moment.

00:27:12
Speaker 3: I'm looking forward to Kava Akbar's Martyr.

00:27:14
It's already selling well in our store, even just a few weeks

00:27:18
in, and it just looks delightful.

00:27:20
So I'm actually sitting with the Darwish for a minute because

00:27:23
it was a lot and I've reread passages and I'm still thinking

00:27:28
about it.

00:27:28
So I kind of don't want to let go of it.

00:27:30
I'm giving myself a little space, but that one's next up on

00:27:34
my nightstand.

00:27:35
Do either of you reread?

00:27:37
Speaker 1: books.

00:27:43
Speaker 2: Sometimes I'll reread parts of books at times but Not

00:27:45
usually.

00:27:46
Speaker 3: But this one really grabbed me and I've gone back,

00:27:49
I've read passages aloud to myself, I've read passages aloud

00:27:56
to other people.

00:27:56
I mean, it's just like he reached right in my chest and

00:27:58
ripped out my heart and it's really moved me a lot.

00:28:00
So I definitely am giving myself some space for it.

00:28:04
Speaker 1: I love what you said about sitting with it in that

00:28:07
space for a while.

00:28:08
That's the beauty of reading to me.

00:28:10
We come up with all these emotions, whether it's joy,

00:28:15
grief, sadness.

00:28:16
It all needs to be sat with for a little while.

00:28:21
Speaker 2: I was having the conversation in the store with a

00:28:24
customer a couple of weeks ago that there needs to be and there

00:28:29
may be out there somewhere a word for the feeling you have

00:28:34
you have finished a book that is so good that you can't possibly

00:28:41
think the next book you read is going to be anything in

00:28:43
comparison, and you need to give it time to just kind of sit.

00:28:47
Speaker 3: And then you'll find another one.

00:28:48
Speaker 2: That's just that good .

00:28:49
It may not be the next one, but sometimes you you got to clear

00:28:52
the palette and go from there.

00:28:54
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'd say books need to be digested.

00:28:57
What I love about children and YA readers is when they get a

00:29:01
book they love and hopefully it's a series.

00:29:04
They cannot wait for that next book to read, and that's what

00:29:09
catches them, what hooks them into reading.

00:29:11
Seeing children reading warms my heart.

00:29:13
It's wonderful, for sure.

00:29:15
Chris and Berkley, it's been lovely chatting with you both

00:29:18
today about Shelf Life Books and I wish you all the best with

00:29:22
everything.

00:29:23
And, chris, I hope you get to spend more time in the bookshop

00:29:26
soon, that's the hope.

00:29:28
Speaker 3: Thank you very much.

00:29:29
It was really good for you to have us and we enjoyed our time

00:29:31
with you.

00:29:35
Speaker 1: You've been listening to my conversation with Chris

00:29:37
and Berkeley McDaniel, co-owners of Shelf Life Books.

00:29:39
To find out more about the Bookshop Podcast, go to

00:29:43
thebookshoppodcastcom and make sure to subscribe and leave a

00:29:47
review wherever you listen to the show.

00:29:49
You can also follow me at Mandy Jackson Beverly on X, Instagram

00:29:55
and Facebook and on YouTube at the Bookshop Podcast.

00:29:58
If you have a favorite indie bookshop that you'd like to

00:30:02
suggest we have on the podcast, I'd love to hear from you via

00:30:05
the contact form at thebookshoppodcastcom.

00:30:08
The Bookshop Podcast is written and produced by me.

00:30:12
Mandy Jackson Beverly.

00:30:13
Cast is written and produced by me Mandy Jackson-Beverly, Theme

00:30:15
music provided by Brian Beverly , Executive assistant to Mandy,

00:30:18
Adrian Otterhan, and graphic design by Frances Perala.

00:30:22
Thanks for listening and I'll see you next time.