Bookseller and enthusiast Ronald Rice discusses a collection of essays he edited, My Bookstore: Writers Celebrate Their Favorite Places to Browse, Read, and Shop (Black Dog & Leventhal, 2012), the future of bookstores, bookselling and more, with Joseph Planta.

My Bookstore: Writers Celebrate Their Favorite Places to Browse, Read, and Shop Edited by Ronald Rice (Black Dog & Leventhal, 2012). Click to buy this book from Amazon.ca: My Bookstore

Text of introduction by Joseph Planta:

I am Planta: On the Line, in Vancouver at TheCommentary.ca.

I went down by train to Portland one weekend several weeks ago. The main purpose of going to Portland since I don’t drink beer is to hit up Powell’s Books, that marvellous Oregon institution that is said to be the world’s largest independent used and new bookstore. I only had a day and a half and had to fly back, so what I brought back was limited. Even with a checked in suitcase, I’d brought more books than I could carry back. In the airport in Portland, they have a couple of bookshops, and I spied a copy of the book, My Bookstore: Writers Celebrate Their Favorite Places to Browse, Read, and Shop. I was due at the gate and didn’t buy it then, but I made a point to buy it when I got home. It’s a wonderful read. In it, 84 writers contribute essays on their own favourite bookstores and booksellers across America. From Martha Ackmann to Simon Winchester, and every type of writer in between, these essayists talk about their own favourite bricks-and-mortar store in essays that are lovingly written. Some other contributors include Isabel Allende, Douglas Brinkley, Timothy Egan, Fannie Flagg, Pete Hamill, as well as previous guests to this program, Pico Iyer, Mike Leonard, and Abraham Verghese. The book’s editor, Ronald Rice joins me now. We’ll discuss this book, bookstores and more. Will they survive? And why they must. Ronald Rice is a publishing industry consultant, and a four-time nominee for Publishers Weekly Sales Representative of the Year, who spent more than 25 years as a sales and marketing professional. This book is published by Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers. The book’s introduction is written by Richard Russo, and its afterword is by Emily St. John Mandel. Please welcome to the Planta: On the Line program, in Philadelphia, Ron Rice; Mr. Rice, good morning.

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