Do we need bookstores in the twenty-first century? If so, what makes a good one? In this beautifully written book, Jeff Deutsch—the former 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.
Awards and Recognition
- 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
- A Commonweal Best Book of the Year
"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."—Booklist, starred review
"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 continued survival."—Jonathan Russell Clark, Minneapolis Star Tribune
"Deutsch, director of the Seminary Co-op Bookstores in Chicago, reflects on the importance of bookselling in his moving debut. . . . A resonant elegy to a changing business, this will hit the spot for literature lovers."—Publishers Weekly
"Admirable reflections on a bookshop’s value to a community."—Michael Dirda, Washington Post
"Deutsch’s book is an earnest, even idealistic consideration of what we gain from a good bookstore, and what we risk losing if we don’t overcome the failure of imagination—and of economics—that has allowed so many bookstores to close."—Max Norman, New Yorker
"In Praise of Good Bookstores. . . is not just for me, but for anyone who thinks of bookstores not as retail businesses but as sacred spaces that bring out essential aspects of our individual and collective humanity."—John Warner, Chicago Tribune
"A glorious, philosophical treatise on the values, structure, and importance of bookstores as cultural institutions."—Todd Carpenter, The Scholarly Kitchen
"[Deutsch] ponders the ingredients that make a bookstore worth visiting….a pleasant bibliophilic excursion."—Kirkus Reviews
"It is hard to improve upon Jeff Deutsch’s definition of the bricks-and-mortar bookstore as “a necessary part of the habitat of a lively intelligence in touch with the world""—Matthew d’Ancona, Tortoise Media
"A heavily and colorfully aphoristic book. . . . The next time you see an Amazon delivery truck blocking traffic on your street or read about another suit brought by an Amazon warehouse worker against a company obsessed with speeding up everything, think about Jeff Deutsch's book. He has something valuable to tell you."—David Emblidge, Publishing Review Quarterly
"[Deutsch’s] manifesto celebrates browsing as essential to the thinking life. . . . In Praise of Good Bookstores clearly articulates the positive contribution good bookstores can make. . . . Good bookstores don’t bring redemption; they help us live together without it. By keeping the Seminary Co-op’s doors open and its shelves well stocked, Deutsch contributes daily to this essential work."—Aaron Tugendhaft, Jewish Review of Books
“Utterly fascinating.”—Dave Eggers
“Jeff Deutsch is one of the most learned and passionate booksellers in America, and this profound and poetic book yields as many untold wonders as an impeccably curated store.”—Ada Calhoun, New York Times–bestselling author of St. Marks Is Dead
“Deutsch’s long experience as a bookseller and a reader—that is to say, as someone on both sides of the counter—has allowed him to produce an entertaining, richly intelligent book on an institution that is essential to a literate society.”—Alberto Manguel, author of A History of Reading and The Library at Night
“A promiscuously erudite love letter to bookstores, books, readers, writers, and the unique community that they constitute, Deutsch’s hypnotic book is generously laced with memorable and often hilarious quotations, and offers the exquisite pleasures of browsing through the book-lined mind of an omnivorously literate reader and bookseller.”—Wendy Doniger, author of The Hindus
“A compendium of delights for the thoughtful reader. Deutsch, a gifted writer and riveting storyteller, has written a concisely elegant topography of the good bookstore that also illuminates the seemingly opaque craft of bookselling. This book is bound to be the fulcrum of discussions—among readers, booksellers, editors, and publishers—about the meaning and role of bookstores.”—Paul Yamazaki, City Lights Bookstore
“In eclectic, humane style, Deutsch shows how communities need bookshops like ships need sails; a joyful, flowing, erudite river of a book. Jump in.”—Martin Latham, Manager, Waterstones Bookshop, Canterbury, UK, and author of The Bookseller’s Tale
“In this charming work, a revered bookseller puts into words the strong but often inarticulate feeling that many booklovers have about the importance of bookstores. Deutsch makes an eloquent case for the way bookstores educate readers as no classroom or library can. His wide-ranging reflections teach us to value the bookstore as a site not of goods but of experiences.”—Leah Price, author of What We Talk about When We Talk about Books
“Maintaining an open society requires educated citizens, book culture, and bookstores, one of the few truly democratic institutions, open to all. Infused with a deep love of his profession, bookselling, Jeff Deutsch’s reflection on reading, learning, and well-run bookstores is breathtaking. Read and share this compelling and engaging book.”—Haki R. Madhubuti, founder of Third World Press and author of Taught by Women: Poems as Resistance Language
