Years ago, I interviewed a crystal healer for a story for Well+Good. She gave me careful instructions for buying gems and stones, advice I wasn't seeking at the time, given that I made $32K a year and didn't have the supplementary income for decorative amethysts and geodes. And yet, her words stuck with me: "When you enter a crystal store. Don't think. Just go to the first rock that catches your eye and hold it. Let it choose you."
In other words, "the wand chooses the wizard.” Yada, yada.
This whole line of thinking implies that there's intuition in participating in capitalism, which feels like a clever trap. At the same time, I have entered a bookstore and felt a certain "call" toward titles for mysterious reasons. I’ve experienced a gravitational pull toward something I didn't come looking for, the experience like free-associating my way across the shelves.
this author
now this title
now this blurb
now this cover
Intuition takes over—if I allow it.
If you live much of your life on Bookstagram (like I do), it's easy to let other people determine the direction of your bookstore visits. I have a long TBR list on my phone that I’m always growing and editing. For a couple of years now, I've gone into my favorite shops with very specific intentions in mind. I want to find this book or that one, and when I inevitably don't find what I wanted, it feels like a failed trip. In looking for the flashy new lit fic title I heard about on the NYT Book Review Podcast, I close myself up to the bookstore's serendipity.
So last weekend, when I somehow had nothing in particular to look for, I fell into my old groove. I floated through the bookstore like I was catching a wave, drifting from shelf to shelf and considering titles I'd never heard of before. I read first sentences and middle sentences and blurbs. In the end, I found five books, five books that felt like a creative act to choose rather than a contrived exercise in searching.
This is not to say that recommendations are not welcome. It's just a note to say that unscripted time at the bookstore often offers us something better than walking out with exactly what we wanted.
In the video above (FWIW, I wish I could put the video below, Substack), I’ve tried to explain my thoughts as I selected the following five titles. I hope this post inspires you to take yourself on a bookstore date with no agenda, no “goals.” Just go because being surrounded by stories is like being surrounded by precious gems—and one (or five) may just speak to you.
Bookstore Spoils
A Woman’s Battles and Transformations, Édouard Louis
Hangsaman, Shirley Jackson
Evening, Susan Minot
The Writing Life, Annie Dillard
Stones for Ibarra, Harriet Doerr
Video Credits
“Eleven Hours a Night,” Yehezkel Raz via Artlist
In Favor of Intuitive Book Shopping ✨