Above: Florence of READ Books looks for reaction to a book recommendation
TERA is spotlighting Eagle Rock small businesses to support our neighborhood’s recovery from the pandemic. For June, we are spotlighting READ Books, Eagle Rock’s charming local bookshop, which hosts a wonderful range of reasonably priced used books.
Below is an interview with co-owner, Jeremy Kaplan:
What is the story behind READ Books?
Jeremy Kaplan and Debbie Schiffiler met in 1994 at Book Soup in West Hollywood, where they were both employed as glorified booksellers. They got married. Jeremy became a school teacher. Debbie became a librarian. After a decade of this nonsense, with the additional responsibility of two sons (Donald & Steven), the couple made a pact to never again hold another job. Bosses are bad news. February of 2007, using the book collection we’d been accumulating over a lifetime, we opened READ Books on Eagle Rock Boulevard. We were joined in 2012 by Florence, a dog, who fills multiple roles (greeter, security, belly scratchee, and Queen of Social Media).
What is one of your favorite books to handsell (the bookshop art of thoughtful recommendation) to customers?
Two categories:
1. Important works that shape world views:
– If This Is A Man by Primo Levi
– Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown
– The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson
– Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman
2. Neglected titles/authors
– Fat City by Leonard Gardner
– Deptford Trilogy by Robertson Davies
– Housekeeping by Marilyne Robinson
– Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner
What kind of customer question or recommendation request makes you really excited?
It’s great whenever a person who loves literature engages us in conversation, be it about a book they found in the store, or one they read and wanted to tell us about. Makes me feel like a bartender interacting with interesting, articulate drunks. Even better when the metaphorical drunk is a little kid or an almost adult. Gotta get ‘um hooked on lit while they’re young!
What are your favorite books set in/about Eagle Rock or Los Angeles?
For a historical perspective of Los Angeles, the best book is Carey McWilliams’ Southern California: An Island on the Land.
The best L.A. fiction book, we believe, is Nathaniel West’s Day of the Locust. Interestingly, one of the scenes in the movie adaptation was shot in an Eagle Rock garage.
We’ve encountered very few books that are based in Eagle Rock. For historical purposes, you’ve got Eric Warren’s Pioneers of Eagle Rock. Local author P.R. August wrote an entertaining novel called Eagle Rock Heat, featuring a brief cameo by our very own Florence, a dog. [pictured above]
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READ Books
4972 N Eagle Rock Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90041
@readbookseaglerock / (323) 259-9068
Monday-Thursday 11am-6pm
Friday-Saturday 11am-7pm
Sunday 11am-5pm