Round-ups

Staff Blog: Jenna's Top 10 for Ten Years /  by Time Out Bookstore

By Jenna Todd

In the midst of this lockdown madness, I’ve celebrated ten years of both working at Time Out and being a bookseller. I fell into this book world by accident (with a sprinkling of fate) and have since become completely immersed - I can’t imagine doing anything else.

Starting in 2010, I worked the 9pm nightshift, sharing the counter with our tiny shop kitten Lucinda (now in early retirement) and spent the days devouring book recommendations from my colleagues such as Donna Tartt’s The Secret History, Elizabeth Strout’s Olive Kitteridge and Eleanor Catton’s The Rehearsal.

Since then, it’s been a joy to work with the most incredibly smart, caring and passionate coworkers, collaborate with our generous and hilarious owner Wendy and connect with our likeminded community - including customers and industry colleagues - who all share an overwhelming love and enthusiasm for our wee store.

Here are my favourite reads for the last decade, I’m sure I’ve shamefully missed a few out - but this is to the best of my memory:

2010 Just Kids by Patti Smith
The Spirit Level by Richard Wilkinson & Kate Pickett

2011 Once Upon a River by Bonnie Jo Campbell
Swamplandia! by Karen Russell

2012 The Orphan Master’s Son by Adam Johnson
Civilisation by Steve Braunias

2013 The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton
A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki
Life after Life by Kate Atkinson

2016 Deleted Scenes for Lovers by Tracey Slaughter 

2017 Sour Heart by Jenny Zhang
Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders
The New Animals by Pip Adam

2018 My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh
The Ice Shelf by Anne Kennedy

2019 The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead
The Friend by Sigrid Nunez
Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellman