Independent Bookstore Day is on Saturday, April 26, and it offers the perfect excuse to stop by Charlottesville-area bookshops to find a title or two to enjoy amidst these tumultuous times. For inspiration, local booksellers share their reading recommendations below.—Sarah Lawson
2nd Act Books
Charlie Newman-Johnson, manager
The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell “The plot, ‘Jesuits chasing an alien radio signal to the other side of the galaxy,’ is as cool as it sounds.”
The Hurting Kind by Ada Limón “Her poetry is insightful and wonderful in a way that makes me feel glad to be alive.”
Dead Wake by Erik Larson “Brings compelling tension to hundred-year-old events and brings the humans caught up in them to life.” 2ndactbooks.com
Bluebird Bookstop
Tyler Atwood, bookseller
The Antidote by Karen Russell “An ambitious historical novel imbued with just enough magic to make it come alive, it altered the way I think about (collective) memory and regret.”
Night Sky with Exit Wounds by Ocean Vuong “Vuong writes with disarming sincerity about topics deeply personal to his identity and to his lived experiences.”
Black in Blues: How a Color Tells the Story of My People by Imani Perry “An exquisitely written and intimate inquiry about the color blue and its inexorable ties to Black history and culture.” bluebirdcrozet.com
Daedalus Books
Daedalus staff
The Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini “Ever wondered how accurate Shakespeare’s depiction was of life 500 years ago? Pretty dead on, as you’ll see in the true memoirs of a hilariously narcissistic artist.”
The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes “[Hughes] was a jazz poet of the Harlem Renaissance, and much of his work will transport you to New York City in the Jazz Age.”
The Passion According to GH by Clarice Lispector “A novel by a singular writer working outside of any school or tradition. … Reading this book can be a catalyst for change.” instagram.com/daedalusbookscharlottesville
F12 Infoshop in The Beautiful Idea
Senlin Means, co-owner
Welcome To Dorley Hall by Alyson Greaves “Greaves is a relatively unknown trans author, whose second novel is a wildly inventive and philosophically rich meditation on gender and morality.”
Pansy by Andrea Gibson “I think of Gibson as something of a queer poet laureate, but their poetry speaks to everyone on an intensely human level.”
And the Band Played On by Randy Shilts “A lengthy but riveting book that tells the story of the AIDS epidemic with clock-like precision, and righteous anger.” thebeautifulidea.gay
New Dominion Bookshop
New Dominion staff
An Authentic Life by Jennifer Chang “[Chang] pulls from the experience of motherhood, the intensity of lockdown, and family memory, and was a 2024 National Book Critics Circle finalist.”
The New Internationals by David Wright Faladé “Follows a cross-cultural romance through post-WWII Paris.”
I’ll Come to You by Rebecca Kauffman “Her prose brims with wisdom about love, grief, and reconciliation.” ndbookshop.com
Charlie Newman-Johnson, manager of 2nd Act Books, recommends three very different titles. Photo: Eze Amos.
