"One of Lit Hub's Most Anticipated Books of the Year" "Winner of the Heartland Booksellers Award in Nonfiction, Midwest Independent Booksellers Association" "Longlisted for the Non-Obvious Book Awards" "A Scholarly Kitchen Best Books Read and Favorite Cultural Creations of the Year" Jeff Deutsch is the director of Chicago's Seminary Co-op Bookstores, which in 2019 he helped incorporate as the first not-for-profit bookstore whose mission is bookselling. He lives in Chicago.
From a devoted reader and lifelong bookseller, an eloquent and charming reflection on the singular importance of bookstores
Do we need bookstores in the twenty-first century? If so, what makes a good one? In this beautifully written book, Jeff Deutsch-the director of Chicago's Seminary Co-op Bookstores, one of the finest bookstores in the world-pays loving tribute to one of our most important and endangered civic institutions. He considers how qualities like space, time, abundance, and community find expression in a good bookstore. Along the way, he also predicts-perhaps audaciously-a future in which the bookstore not only endures, but realizes its highest aspirations.
In exploring why good bookstores matter, Deutsch draws on his lifelong experience as a bookseller, but also his upbringing as an Orthodox Jew. This spiritual and cultural heritage instilled in him a reverence for reading, not as a means to a living, but as an essential part of a meaningful life. Central among Deutsch's arguments for the necessity of bookstores is the incalculable value of browsing-since, when we are deep in the act of looking at the shelves, we move through space as though we are inside the mind itself, immersed in self-reflection.
In the age of one-click shopping, this is no ordinary defense of bookstores, but rather an urgent account of why they are essential places of discovery, refuge, and fulfillment that enrich the communities that are lucky enough to have them. "I guarantee there is someone in your life who will love Jeff Deutsch's In Praise of Good Bookstores. (That person may very well be you.) This elegant little book offers the most moving and erudite justification for the survival of bookstores I have ever read."---Ron Charles, Washington Post "Deutsch's paean is charmingly erudite."---Mia Levitin, Financial Times "An eloquent and inspiring paean to the community bookstore. . . . A deeply read and engaging guide. . . . Give this a prime spot on that Front Table." "What function do modern bookshops serve? And how might they go about delivering it? In Praise of Good Bookstores dives into these questions with brio and scholarship."---Oliver Balch, Times Literary Supplement "In this unabashed celebration of good bookstores, Deutsch poses the question: What exactly, in this day and age, makes a good one? He offers many ideas and includes thoughtful reflections. . . . What bibliophile could get made a cheerleader this passionate about something as inclusive and inspiring as a good bookstore."---Michael Magras, Shelf Awareness, starred review "
An eloquent argument for making the experience of buying a book more meaningful than acquiring a toaster. . . . In a culture that fosters rampant aliteracy and homes devoid of any books, Deutsch is extolling not just good bookstores but also the vanishing world of thoughtful lives. His effort deserves praise."---Steven G. Kellman, Forward "With In Praise of Good Bookstores, Jeff Deutsch offers a manifesto for their survival. He argues that physical bookstores give readers what online merchants cannot, a special kind of reflection nurtured by wandering among the aisles."---Danny Heitman, Wall Street Journal "Deutsch writes passionately and eruditely about the value of literature, the community it can engender, and the patience required to sell books with integrity but In Praise of Good Bookstores is more than a mere paean to independent brick-and-mortar shops. Deutsch also presents models for their con
