Ep 8: Pete Mulvihill, Green Apple Books

Drunk Booksellers: The Podcast

It’s episode 8 of Drunk Booksellers, and we’re here with Pete Mulvihill, co-owner of Green Apple Books in San Francisco, CA. Get psyched, y’all.

You can also stream the episode on iTunes and Stitcher. Follow us on Twitter at @drunkbookseller for updates, book recs, and general bookish shenanigans.

Check out our show notes, after the jump!

Epigraph

Bitches in Bookshops

Our theme music, Bitches in Bookshops, comes to us with permission from Annabelle Quezada. It’s amaze-balls, and Kim just discovered Annabelle’s other literary Kanye parody, Hardcover Bound 2 AND IT’S ALSO AMAZE-BALLS (and, uh, you should stick around at the end of the episode for a nice lil hidden track). Check it:

Introduction [0:30]

In Which, If You’re Interested in Reading Anything Where a Story Ends with a Boy Jumping on Top His Parents Bed Right After They’ve Finished Having Sex, Dumping Out the Ashes of Their Dead Cat onto Them, Then You’ll Probably like Ramona Ausubel.

Currently drinking: Boulevardier (don’t forget the orange peel...)

Pete’s reading: The Fear Project: What Our Most Primal Emotion Taught Me about Survival, Success, Surfing... and Love by Jaimal Yogis & Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi (pubs 7 June 2016)

Emma’s reading: Uprooted by Naomi Novik (again) & Hammer Head: The Making of a Carpenter by Nina Maclaughlin

Kim’s reading too many books rn, incl: Marrow Island by Alexis M. Smith (pubs 7 June 2016; also mentioned: Glaciers), A Mother's Reckoning: Living in the Aftermath of Tragedy by Sue Klebold (also mentioned: Far from the Tree: Parents, Children, and the Search for Identity by Andrew Solomon), Klickitat by Peter Rock, Paper Girls Vol 1 by Brian K. Vaughan, Cliff K. Chiang, and Matt Wilson

Everyone’s REALLY EXCITED about Black Panther #1 by Ta-Nehisi Coates (of Between the World and Me fame). Available at your local indie bookstore soonish? Maybe? Or go to your local indie comic shop, ‘cause those places are great too.

New/forthcoming books we’re excited about:

• Lab Girl by Hope Jahren
• Grunt: The Curious Science of Humans at War by Mary Roach (pubs 6 June 2016)
• Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi (pubs 7 June 2016)
• Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging by Sebastian Junger (pubs 24 May 2016)
• Zodiac Starforce: By the Power of Astra by Kevin Panetta & illustrated by Paulina Ganucheau (pubs 31 May 2016)
• I’m Just a Person by Tig Notaro (pubs 14 June 2016)
• Sons and Daughters of Ease and Plenty by Ramona Ausubel (pubs 14 June 2016; also mentioned: A Guide to Being Born)
• The Assistants by Camille Perri (pubs 3 May 2016)
• Everything is Teeth by Evie Wyld & illustrated by Joe Sumner (pubs 10 May 2016; also mentioned: All The Birds, Singing)
• The Noise of Time by Julian Barnes (pubs 10 May 2016)
• The Gene: An Intimate History by Siddhartha Mukherjee (pubs 17 May 2016)
• The View from the Cheap Seats: Selected Nonfiction by Neil Gaiman (pubs 31 May)

Chapter I [16:25]

In Which Bookstores Can’t Count to 25, Pete is a Closeted Straight Man, and We Learn About Bitcoin

Read more about Green Apple’s history here.

But seriously, y’all. Those masks, amirite?

And, in case anyone other than Kim is interested in WTF Bitcoin is, here’s Wikipedia. Unfortunately, a bit of Pete’s audio was cut out, during which time he regaled us with the story of Dread Pirate Roberts (no, not that one). Interested now? WIRED has a pretty great read for you.

Originally posted by meeshmatched

Chapter II [31:40]

In Which We Discuss California Bookstore Day, the Rise of INDEPENDENT BOOKSTORE DAY, and Get to Hang Out with Samantha

Independent Bookstore Day started as California Bookstore Day, which was initially inspired by Record Store Day.

April 30, 2016 (Kim’s Birthday!!) will be the second official Independent Bookstore Day.

Lauren Groff is the author ambassador. You might have heard of her. She wrote Obama’s favorite book of 2015: Fates & Furies.

Green Apple is doing a shit ton of events, including an appearance from Green Apple’s mascot, Mergatroid; Kate Schatz, the author/illustator of Rad American Women A - Z; a local poet, Sylvie, writing custom poems; prize wheels; KEGS; and a free-throw shooting contest.

Mergatroid welcomes you to Independent Bookstore Day.

Chapter III [45:05]

In Which Pete is Not THAT Old, But He’s Totally On the Sleep Game

Pete’s Station Eleven, Wild, & desert island book: The Complete Stories of Flannery O’Connor (or maybe Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra)

Go-to Handsell: The Tenth of December by George Saunders, Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness by Richard H. Thaler, The Plover by Brian Doyle

Impossible Handsell: Native Son by Richard Wright

Also mentioned: The Sleep Revolution: Transforming Your Life, One Night at a Time by Arianna Huffington

Originally posted by heartsnmagic

Readerly Confession: Pete doesn’t read nearly as much as he wished he did. Neither do we. #BooksellerLife

Epilogue [49:50]

In Which Pete Gives a Shoutout and You Should Look Up Green Apple On YouTube Immediately

Pete wants everyone to visit Omnivore Bookstore in SF. It looks fucking awesome.

Pete can be found on the internets via Green Apple’s Facebook & Twitter

Go watch all of Green Apple’s videos on YouTube, particularly: Goooooogly Books (2011), The Book vs The Kindle (2009), and The New Hire (2013).

In other news, if you’re not following us on Twitter by now, it’s probably because you don’t have Twitter. But here’s where you can find us, in case you decide to join the Twitter-sphere: @drunkbookseller.

Emma tweets @thebibliot and writes nerdy bookish things for Book Riot. Like, seriously nerdy, as evidenced by a recent post titled What the Cats of Neko Atsume are Reading.

Originally posted by popnographic

Kim tweets every few months or so at @finaleofseem, but mostly uses her Twitter account for off-the-clock communication with coworkers, who tend to send group messages on Twitter rather than just texting each other like normal people. Anyway, you can follow her there if you feel like it.

Make sure you don’t miss an episode by subscribing to Drunk Booksellers from your podcatcher of choice. Also, if you read this far in the show notes, you are awesome and we love you and you should totes rate/review us on iTunes. Emma and Kim both have birthdays at the end of April, so a nice review would be the best of birthday presents. Other than copies of The Lesbian Sex Haiku Book (with Cats!) by Anna Pulley, which we’d both happily accept as well. Please send to WORD and/or The Elliott Bay Book Company, ATTN Drunk Booksellers. Thanks, and happy birthday to us.

Originally posted by fineleathergifs