Ask a Bookseller: Katy and Caroline from Waystone Books

What is your favourite part about selling books? – Ellie

Connecting with strangers. Yesterday, I noticed a man in the corner looking carefully at every book in our fantasy and sci-fi section. Afterwards, he turned around and caught my eye, declaring that he'd read almost everything (we are a small, heavily-curated shop). This prompted conversations about genres and subgenres, and with each shared title or author we'd both read, his smile grew broader and conversation flowed faster. Soon, the recommendations were flowing thick and fast between us both, and others in the shop joined in. We've only been open since February, but in the last few months, I've had the most wonderful experiences meeting folk of all ages and nationalities, often finding commonalities or connections over a book.

If I could only buy one book from your shop today, what would you recommend? – Jenny

One of my absolute favourite reads this year has been Contrapposto by Dave Eggers. The novel follows two friends from childhood to old age, through richly lived and palpably real lives. They fall in and out of each other's orbits, always meeting to create and engage with art and the art world. Cricket is a talented but somewhat awkward artist, and Olympia is an intuitive curator, art buyer and champion schmoozer. It's a beautiful, personal, and stunning read, which I think would appeal to a broad range of readers. I kept tracking down my partner to read lines aloud to her, a true sign of a top tier book, at least in my experience.

What LGBTQ+ books do you and your readers love? I want to expand my collection! – Abby

Anything by Douglas Stuart is a solid choice – your heart will be wrenched from your chest! Also Matrix by Lauren Groff, it's weird and wonderful historical fiction with nuns in love. The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri is a great one for fantasy fans – what's better than ladies in love wielding magic and swords? The Left Hand of Darkness is a foundational work of sci-fi, and all about gender. Also check out Ursula K. Le Guin's essay on how she would have approached this differently had the book not been written in the 60s! Stag Dance by Torrey Peters is a stunning work of fiction exploring trans identity.

I recently visited Scotland with my family... and we loved it! I would love to read some great fiction that's set in Scotland! Please could you recommend one or two good books/authors to get me started? Thank you. – Christian

We've got a 'Fiction Set in Scotland' shelf in our shop for this very reason! Only Here, Only Now by Tom Newlands portrays a Scotland not easily seen while visiting, but a vital part of it nonetheless! It's the story of a teenage girl with undiagnosed ADHD in 90s small-town Fife. Sunset Song by Lewis Grassic Gibbon is a classic, very atmospheric and evocative of the Highlands. Jenni Fagan also writes great moody and magical fiction, often set in Scotland.

Just how important do you think the book cover is? – Jacky

We talk about this all the time! Very important. From a bookselling perspective, the cover often determines which books get coveted table space or are turned face out on the shelf. Book covers are works of art and particularly stunning, striking, or surprising book covers sell more books!

Our working theory is that in a world where the cost of living is increasing, books are small luxuries, a treat that's less expensive than a meal out. They're also solidly real and tactile, opposing the ever-increasing onlineness of our culture. Book covers are a reader's first impression of a book, and if buying a book is a compromise in a tight budget, the book being physically beautiful adds another layer to the savouring of it.