To celebrate our bookshop's 4th birthday weekend, we want to tell you a little about our staff! This is our bookshop team, proudly working each day to bring you new books and new recommendations all the time, whether they're behind the scenes or in the store with you.
Did you know you can browse each staff member's recommendations on our website and buy right from there? You can also read more about each bookseller on our team's page. But today we're bringing you a bit about each of them, right to your inbox. I also asked each of them, if you could recommend one book to read this summer, what would it be? Keep reading to see their answers.
Richard & Colleen
Meet our owners! If you don't know them, Richard and Colleen Peddie own River Bookshop, and they're big champions of reading for all. They're always coming up with new ideas that make the shop a fun community space for everyone.
Richard's Summer Pick: Cities for People by Jan Gehl
Colleen's Summer Pick: The Truths We Hold by Kamala Harris
You can see Richard's other recommendations here and Colleen's here!
Meghan
That's me—I'm the manager and Lead Bookseller at River. Lately I've been reading literary fiction, fantasy, and psychology, but I love jumping around different genres. I have a publishing background and love to keep up with what indie publishers are doing in Canada.
Summer Pick: Toward Eternity by Anton Hur
You can see Meghan's other picks here!
Taylor
Taylor is responsible for so much that goes on behind the scenes, and we rely on him a lot. He loves horror, anything dark and weird, and bonus points if it's queer. He's also a big sports fan, and happy to chat if you strike up a conversation about the Leafs or the Jays.
Summer Pick: The Devil All the Time by Donald Ray Pollock
You can see Taylor's other picks here!
Cindy
Cindy is a huge reader, and she even smokes most of us in number of books read every year. She reads from all genres, but loves classics and reading about other cultures. She also coordinates our local author events, and is a big champion of local writers from Windsor & Essex County!
Summer Pick: Paradise Problem by Christina Lauren
You can see Cindy's other picks here!
Julienne
Julienne is an expert in the local scene as well, as she's also part of the team at Windsor publisher Black Moss Press. She loves poetry, history, historical fiction, and true crime. She is also a published author! Her book The Marble Walled School is a history of Queen Victoria Public School.
Summer Pick: Summer Romance by Annabel Monaghan
You can see Julienne's other picks here!
Darrie-Ann
Darrie-Ann is our children's event coordinator. She runs our Junior Book Club, school field trips and book fairs, and now Story Time as well. She loves historical fiction as well as anything her kids recommend to her. She brings her sunny energy to the store and is always happy to chat!
Summer Pick: The Women by Kristin Hannah
You can see Darrie-Ann's picks here!
Natalie
Natalie is the newest addition to our team! She loves animals, and reads mysteries, thrillers, and memoirs. She also runs The Jellycat Scoop, our new social media series highlighting all the fun Jellycat we receive in store, to keep you up to date.
Summer Pick: One Perfect Couple by Ruth Ware
You can see Natalie's picks here!
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Come say hi! And while you're here, check out the Staff Highlights table. Every bookseller now has their own section, and since we read such different things, there's a wide range of options. We believe there's something for everyone here. We're always updating it when we read new books that we're excited about.
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As a reminder, we hope you'll join us today and tomorrow for our birthday festivities. Come check out our staff highlight table, grab a free bookshop treat with any purchase (courtesy of Evelyn's Candy House!), enjoy 14% off almost anything (excluding Jellycat or TWSBI), and bring the little ones to Sunday Story Time at 11AM for a free gift.
Thanks for reading! And thank you, sincerely, for your support.
Meghan &
The River Team