Lit Hub Staffers Share Their Bookish Joys

Lit Hub staff are marking the end of summer with personal achievements and literary discoveries. As summer comes to a close, the staff is celebrating milestones and looking autumn square in the face. Editor Drew Broussard cracked an especially tricky part of his novel-in-progress, a section that had been bedeviling him for over two years, to much rejoicing. Meanwhile, staffer James Folta fell for a new bookstore on a wedding jaunt to Hudson, New York.

A Tiny Literature Shop

James Folta visited A Tiny Literature Shop, which is exactly what it sounds like. The store's gimmick is that everything is a little book, focusing on mini-lit like essays and novellas. Folta noted that almost every selection included a note from the staff, making browsing feel like getting a curated look at a cool friend's bookshelf. The shop also offers bespoke gifts, including a tiny book box and a tiny tote bag.

Editor Jonny Diamond was also inspired by a new bookstore. He and his family recently made the acquaintance of Better Days Bookshop in Cairo, New York, describing it as a mecca where one can load up on new titles and enjoy drinks like a beer or a coke on the back porch.

Paper Inspiration

Writer Brittany Allen has had paper on the brain, thrilled to discover the Sherwood Forest Zine Library in Austin, Texas, apparently the largest of its kind. Occupying a living room, the library includes dozens and dozens of print zines on everything from capitalism to magick.

Nostalgic Reading

Brittany Allen also dove into nostalgia with a binge-able book recommendation. A friend suggested Holly Brickley's novel Deep Cuts, which chronicles a music-fueled situationship from its Y2K beginnings through the mid-aughts. Allen describes the book as laced with fan energy and a discography resonant to anyone duped by LCD Soundsystem's "last" concert, calling it an heir apparent to High Fidelity, a novel it name-checks. She found it extremely fun to read, especially with playlist accompaniment, and praised Brickley for perfectly recreating the feeling of falling in love with that first good music and that first dubious musician. Her rabbit hole ended in a serendipitous Hell Gate profile of the Williamsburg tailor who kept Interpol in fine threads.

Analog Archives

Community editor Oliver Scialdone is collecting OVAs (Original Video Animations) on VHS as part of a lengthy archiving project, with spreadsheets involved. He recently picked up a few volumes of Record of Lodoss War, a Japanese fantasy franchise plotted like an RPG. Scialdone said the visual style of 1990s fantasy anime scratches a specific aesthetic itch and that VHS is the most correct format to watch it in. He finds it special to locate copies from defunct US distributors, noting the biggest joy is in the hunt.

Wishing you a weekend of fresh pages, warm hearths, and analog rejoicing.