When Life Hands You Lemons
A small fire, fun links, and five great books to read
I was thinking about some bookish topics, but realized this February, I can only write about one thing. The dear little bookshop where I work, Middleburg Books, had a small fire about a month ago. I wasn’t there when it happened, and when I got the text, it seemed like a little blip. I won’t go into all the details, but some decor caught on fire, and our staff and a heroic customer quickly put out the flames. We initially thought a few days of cleanup, and we would be back in business. Not so. Our insurance provider determined that our entire inventory was a loss. I know! Everyone asks why at this point, and again, I won’t drown you with too many details, but residue from the smoke and extinguisher fluid is very hard on paper products.
So rather than happily hand-selling our favorite books, our staff is working to reopen the shop as soon as possible. We continue to hold as many scheduled events as we can, including book clubs, author events, craft nights, and supper clubs. Our little town and loyal customers have stepped up, and we have had so many offers of help and shows of support.
My main task, along with another bookseller, has been to rebuild our entire book inventory. It is not often in life that you get a chance for a total redo, and we are viewing the job of restocking our inventory as an opportunity rather than a problem. There are always books that, for whatever reason, don’t sell. Now is our chance to replace those with what we think our customers will like more.
Here is a glance at our methodology. First, our tech expert downloaded data on every item we sold last year into a giant spreadsheet. It’s 32,000 rows!!! Not only does it show we sold The Correspondent, it tells us we sold 181 copies of that fantastic book last year. Then we created a sheet that rolled up all the same items, allowing us see the unique items sold. Now we are only working with approximately 7,000 individual titles or products. We broke out each genre/category into its own tab. The genre designations make it easier to divide up the work according to staff expertise, and allow us to visualize the books in the shop. Next, we went through every book, line by line, giving it a yay or a nay. A bit like Marie Kondo’s directive to hold up every item in your house and ask if it sparks joy. We have literally done this with every item that passed through the store last year (funny enough, Marie Kondo’s 2025 memoir did not spark joy; we only sold three last year). All this has been interspersed with many book discussions and references to our sales data.
We are now less than two weeks away from opening. The cleaning crews, contractors, and our team remain busy, and there is still much to be done. I just wanted to share a small piece of this crazy puzzle I have been working on for the past month. Next week, I am off to Winter Institute, the ABA’s annual independent booksellers conference, and I couldn’t be more excited.
Bookish Links
While I love Heirloom Art Co for unique house decor, gifts, and seasonal items, they also carry a beautiful assortment of special collection books that I have not seen together in one place before. Also, don’t miss this short but sweet article about the rise of sending Valentine’s Cards.
This is a good list of 26 books set in my home state of California (I have read 16 of them). Do you like to read books set in your home state?
This year is a doozy for book adaptations! This list caught my eye - I am especially excited about Project Hail Mary and Dog Stars. And here is another list.
Ann Patchett calls out the NYT for its scathing review of George Saunders’ new book, Vigil. She loves it and thinks everyone should read it.
Recent Reads
Saoirse is a book that grabbed my attention, my heart, and kept me up late turning the pages. This is a beautiful story about a young woman who does what it takes to escape and survive. Sarah and her sister live on the fringe, neglected and abused; their mom is an addict, and their stepdad is a dealer. When, as a teen, she finally sees an opportunity to escape, she takes it. She flees to Ireland using a stolen passport.
Years pass. She struggles in Ireland but pieces together a life. She has children, a partner, and has become an artist. But one day, her carefully constructed house of cards begins to collapse. The author takes you back and forth between past and present to create a picture of Saoirse’s predicament. Told with emotion and thoughtfulness, it completely pulled me in. This book picks up speed, like a snowball racing down the hill. Though not the same, it did have the emotional resonance of last year’s standout Broken Country. I also loved being transported to Ireland. Definitely one of my favorites of the year so far. [Published: 2/24/26, Pages: 256]
Good People is fantastic. I have written before about my love of immersive immigrant stories, and this one is unique. Told from multiple perspectives, you are thrown in right away and start learning about the Sharaf family. The family fled Afghanistan 20 years ago, landed in Northern Virginia, and were welcomed into the Afghan refugee community. As their family grows, so does their wealth. They are, by many accounts, a happy, prosperous family living the American dream. But then cracks appear, particularly regarding their gorgeous but rebellious daughter. I don’t want to share too much about the plot. I knew almost nothing going in, and I think that is a great way to approach this book. What the author does is amazing; she creates a full and complex picture of this family and community using only third-person accounts. People share details and events surrounding a traumatic event. As the story unfolds, you wrestle with understanding what truly happened. I love a novel with an interesting but not too esoteric structure, and Sabit writes this so well. I was worried that the sheer number of perspectives would make this hard to follow, but that is not the case. Some people we hear from throughout the story, other people just make an appearance only once or twice, and that is fine. This is perfect for a book club as there is so much to discuss at the end. [Published: 2/3/26, Pages: 400]
Another new release I could not put down is This Is Not About Us. Did I read this book because of the fabulous cover? Yes, but also because I saw this book on every “what to read this month” list I looked at. Allegra Goodman is having a moment as an author. She wrote last year’s historical fiction hit Isola, which I still have not read, but I hear only great things about. This Is Not About Us is a contemporary family story. The book opens up with three older sisters, the matriarchs of the Rubenstein Family. Sadly, one is terminally ill, and the other sisters are coming to terms with this loss. But then there is a squabble about an apple cake that does irreparable harm to the sisters’ relationship. From there, the story takes us through snapshots of the rest of this family. I am usually not a fan of novels structured with loosely connected stories, but I could not put this book down. I was there for every perspective, every slice of life. I love this family with all its quirks and faults. This is not a book about resolution or plot, and yet I was riveted by each chapter. I enjoy well-written, realistic family novels, but often there is too much dysfunction for my tastes. Here, the dysfunction is mild, it’s real, it’s entertaining. These characters all feel like people you might know. The book feels complete by the end, though I wouldn’t mind spending more time with this family. [Published: 2/10/26, Pages: 236]
A backlist paperback:
Essex Dogs is the first of a trilogy by Dan Jones. Jones is known for medieval historical fiction and nonfiction books. His book, Henry V, came out in the fall of 2024 to much acclaim. I picked up Essex Dogs, the first in a trilogy, after hearing really good buzz about it. The term Essex Dogs refers to a group of mercenaries that wage war for the English Crown. They hire themselves out for months at a time in the hopes of surviving to bring home the spoils of war. The book unfolds with the Dogs arriving by ship to storm the coast of Normandy, France. The King of England, Edward III, and his son, heir to the throne lead the charge. The book follows the highs and lows, wins and losses of the various battles. This story is darkly humorous, visceral, and violent, but it also has a lot of heart. The Dogs are just trying to survive and keep each other alive. There are political machinations, multilayered strategies, and luck involved. While I listened to this book (the audio is fantastic), I could not help comparing it to the film Saving Private Ryan, as they arrive in a similar location and have to fight enemy armies to attain a singular goal. In this case its to take over France. They scout out small emptied villages, make camp at night, and watch for snipers. I am excited to continue this series. [Published: 12/23, Pages: 464]
The Castaways is a twisty missing person thriller that went straight to paperback in January. Set in Fiji, it makes a great winter escape novel as we wait for warmer weather. Two years ago, sisters Erin and Lori went on vacation together. They were supposed to catch a small plane to a luxury resort off the main island, but after the sisters argue, only Lori shows up for the flight. The small plane never arrives at its destination. Now two years later, Erin’s life is a mess as she can not come to terms with her sister’s disappearance. When the pilot of the plane turns up alive in Fiji with no memory of the crash, she heads back to find out what happened. This book is told in two timelines. One is from Lori’s perspective, so you gradually learn what happened to Lori and the other passengers on the plane. You also follow Erin’s search for answers in present-day Fiji. The Castaways is well-paced, and the author creates an excellent sense of tension. There are some twists and turns at the end that I appreciate. This would also make a great poolside or vacation read. [Published: 1/26, Pages: 400]
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That’s terrible about the fire!! Hopefully your data pays off, that’s a fascinating process
I was so, so sorry to hear about the fire. I can’t wait for the re-opening and I’m excited to see all the wonderful new selections in the shop as well as get your terrific recommendations on new books! Have fun next week!