The BookPeople holiday catalog—our annual year-in-review publication—is here and, like most things in 2020, it’s gone virtual for the occasion! And while you can’t hold a physical copy this season, there’s still plenty to enjoy about it!
This year’s theme, This Is My Favorite Book…of the Pandemic highlights the titles our booksellers found comfort in during a year that was anything but. You’ll find them among the gorgeous spreads and loads of other stellar books and gifts we’ve discovered and loved in 2020—enough to complete those shopping lists for the holidays! To enhance the virtual experience, today we’re kicking off a limited series of features spotlighting the booksellers that made it into the catalog. They’ll be telling you a little bit about their favorite book and themselves. Next up is bookseller, Molly!
Bookseller Q&A
BP: How long have you been working at BookPeople?
Molly: 4 years now!
BP: What is your favorite BookPeople memory?
Molly: Oh, so many. My absolute favorite times at BookPeople though are when we are packed to the gills with people feverishly excited to see their favorite author speak. From hearing 800 people erupt with laughter throughout the store at a David Sedaris one-liner to Roxane Gay holding a room full of people so captive you could hear the cash register ringing downstairs, I love the energy that comes with authors and their readers gathering together.
BP: How has your job changed during the pandemic?
Molly: Oh goodness. I don’t even remember what my job was like before the pandemic!
BP: What has brought you joy and comfort during 2020?
Molly: I’ve become very fond of long walks around my neighborhood. I have a few new friendly faces near me after weeks (months) of stomping the same grounds, which has been a real delight! That and nightly bike rides before having the time to make an elaborate dinner and settle in with some terrible horror movie (I’m obsessed).
BP: If you could make a safe COVID pod with 2-5 literary characters, who would they be and why?
Molly:
- Cal and Gus from Lonesome Dove because they know how to pass a long Texas afternoon (so many card games) and hopefully I could convince me to teach me how to ride a horse.
- Selin from The Idiot because it would be fun to analyze every minute detail of our limited, brief interactions with passing neighbors and grocery store clerks together. Plus she makes me laugh.
- Noemí from Mexican Gothic because she knows how to make even the dreariest mansions sparkle with party energy and she fights for what is right.
- Gandalf because he’s a wizard.
- I do have to say none of these characters would take particularly well to being quarantined.
BP: What would your favorite literary character be doing during a pandemic?
Molly: Sophia and her grandmother from The Summer Book would do very much the same things that they always do — dare each other to swim down in deep dark underwater caves, camp outside even though lions may be crouched nearby, and orchestrate elaborate cat swaps between other families in their quarantine pod.
BP: What’s your go-to feel good show or movie?
Molly: I’m a huge fan of British cozy mystery shows when I’m feeling blue. Murder, She Wrote and Rosemary & Thyme are my absolute favorites.
BP: If you could only eat one thing what would it be?
Molly: Burrata and a crusty bread (oops two things but what is one without the other?).
Check out the rest of our holiday catalog and explore our favorite adult fiction books of 2020 here. Titles mentioned in this post are also available for purchase in-store and online today.
Stay tuned and join us here later this week to learn more about booksellers featured in this year’s holiday catalog!
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