In 2017, when Brad Johnson raised $165,000 through a unique community-lending program to become the owner of East Bay Booksellers, formerly known as Diesel, he put his future in the hands of customers and co-workers.
In 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic shutdown, the allegiance has proven to be the store’s salvation.
“We have weathered the first wave of the COVID-19 crisis better than some,” he wrote in an email. “This is primarily due to our amazing customers who, when we told them in explicit terms what would be most helpful (buy gift cards and primarily what’s in the store right now), did so in bulk.”
Johnson said a business partnership with the Chocolate Dragon Cafe (several doors down at 5427 College Avenue) and pent-up demand because libraries have been closed and people working at home resulted in enough pick-up orders to keep bookstore staff employed.
Plans for re-opening as the lockdown guidelines are eased will err on the side of caution, he said. “Alameda County’s go-ahead is secondary to our own risk-assessment to ourselves and our community. We will approach any sort of re-opening with the same sort of nimble, improvisational spirit that got us through the Spring, amending procedures as necessary.”
What’s popular now
In the meantime, a short list of popular titles indicate the topics most on readers’ minds; racism, social justice, romance, diversity and global cuisine. Among the books in demand are Ibram X Kendo’s How To Be An Antiracist (One World), which Johnson said has become a runaway world-wide success. “Kendi’s thesis is relatively simple: that racism is best attacked as decisions made and actions taken, rather than an evaluation of people’s opinions or feelings. His book is partly an examination of this, as well as biographical examination how this has informed his life’s course.”
Jasmine Guillory’s Party of Two (Berkeley Jove) confirms the Oakland-based author as an “international icon for Romance readers,” according to Johnson. Orders from all over the globe anticipate a June 23 release and have him proud to call Guillory “a friend and neighbor.”
A collection of incendiary poems from National Book Award for Poetry winner Justin Phillip Reed puts The Malevolent Volume high on the poetry recommendation list. Johnson suggests Reed’s poems, which call for a revolt from the violence visited on Black lives, make for challenging but invigorating reading.
For lighter fare, explore the vegan dishes and culinary imagination found in Vegetable Kingdom (Ten Speed Press). The delightful new cookbook from Bay Area chef Terry Bryant features accessible plant-based recipes and Bryant’s signature soundtrack that pairs music with each dish for complete sensory pleasure while dining at home.
Johnson said that while it is not a new children’s picture book, he’s pleased to see a surge of interest in Matt de la Peña’s Last Stop on Market Street (Putnam). The story is exquisitely illustrated by Christian Robinson and carries to readers of all ages a message about seeing and appreciating the diversity in urban life.
With two final recommendations, Johnson noted that appreciation for nature writing and diverse authors has increased as people seek wisdom and direction for entering the “new normal” of life beyond the pandemic. Robin Wall Kimmerer’s Braiding Sweetgrass (Milkweed) is a book he recommends. And Fernanda Melchor’s Hurricane Season (New Directions) he said had renewed his hopes for contemporary literature. “I’ve struggled the past few years to find a novel that truly inhabits me the way the best art should. Mexican literature has pulled me from the literary doldrums before, and it has done so yet again with Melchor’s challenging, wonderful novel.”
While admitting to continued worry about subsequent waves of the virus and how they will test the bookstore, Johnson is encouraged by the “can-do, active solidarity being shown on many fronts these days.”
Taking nothing for granted, counting the blessings of community, he said, are good lessons not only for our current crisis, but long after it is over.
Learn more at www.ebbooksellers.com
