INDIE BOOKSELLER SPOTLIGHT

New releases at City Books

City Books

908 Galveston Ave., North Side. citybookspgh.com

Wildblood

by Lauren Blackwood (Macmillan)

Macmillan describes this story of a young woman, whose magical powers are exploited to protect travelers in a fictional, monster-filled version of Jamaica, as a “fierce, lush fantasy.”

Code Name Sapphire

by Pam Jenoff (HarperCollins)

make house calls to go look at stuff if they know what I’m looking for or interested in.”

He’s most interested in finding early original printings, with a heavy emphasis on literature (especially modernist texts, I notice), art, and film.

“What I feel confident I know about kind of fizzles out in the ‘80s. But I find things all the time.” He emphasizes affordability as an important metric, too. “I price things based on what I could find them being sold online for, but I’m trying to go below that. I’m always looking for things that are cheap ... There are a lot of things on the shelves that are $5, because I don’t want people to feel like they can’t buy something.”

Bottom Feeder Books

415 Gettysburg St., Point Breeze. bottomfeederbooks.com

“There’s a lot of stuff that’s going to be very particular for the right person,” McLennan remarks.

He has a point. I think about the list of the books I’ve picked up at Bottom Feeder over the past few months, something that — like perusing someone’s playlist — reveals more about me than about the books themselves: P. Adams Sitney’s avant-garde film Bible Visionary Film, an art book focusing on pioneering feminist artist Carolee Schneeman, a beat-up old copy of an early Henry James novel I’d never even heard of. Later, I’m thrilled when he pulls out a gorgeous old coffee table book about the films of Pier Paolo Pasolini, which he tells me is “one of my favorite books in here … I’ve never seen another one before.”

McLennan has also started branching out into hosting events with local independent publishers, such as Todd Sanders of Air and Nothingness Press and Emma Honcharski of local food publication Dinner Bell Magazine. “I want to do more events because it does bring people into the store.”

McLennan shows me a small room in the back under construction. “I’m still working on the ceiling, I need to paint it … but this is essentially a gallery space.” He’s hoping to host art shows in the space, in addition to expanding the shop’s events lineup with more signings and readings ,or maybe even film screenings.

Towards the end of our conversation, I mention that I’ve been haunted by the copy of filmmaker Eric Rohmer’s Six Moral Tales that’s been on display for the past few months. McLennan lights up immediately, telling me that he can’t believe no one’s bought it yet. “It’s super hard to find,” he says, and tapping the counter for emphasis continues, “and I have it priced cheaper than anywhere I’ve ever seen it!”

Reader, I bought the book on my way out. After all, if the books at Bottom Feeder are just lying in wait for the right person to find them, why delay the inevitable once they’ve been found? • by

Set in World War II Europe, this novel finds its protagonist, Hannah Martel, escaping Nazi Germany and joining a resistance movement in Brussels, Belgium.

The House of Eve

Sadeqa

Johnson (Simon & Schuster)

The respective dreams of a teen girl in Chicago and an ambitious woman in Washington, D.C. are affected by love, class and racial divides, and familial expectations in this 1950s-set story.

Someone Else’s Shoes

by Jojo Moyes (Penguin Random House) Moyes delivers a feel-good narrative about two women — one struggling to support her family, another cut off from her glamorous life by a sudden divorce — brought together by a lost gym bag.

Victory City

by Salman Rushdie (Penguin Random House)

The latest release from one of the most influential authors of his time follows a girl who becomes a vessel for the divine, tracing her epic story over 250 years from its origins in 14th-century India. •