What should I bebut just what I am?

― Edna St. Vincent Millay

If you are lucky enough to live in a city with several independent or niche bookstores, savor it. Not all of us have that luxury. I live in Memphis, where there are a couple of independent shops I love, but as my personal taste has evolved, I’ve found that I can’t always rely on them to stock what I’m looking for — or, more importantly, to surprise me with the next book I didn’t know I needed.

For that, I go to Womb House Books. WHB is a feminist bookstore I’ve been devoted to for years, one that recently opened a brick-and-mortar shop in Oakland, CA. They amplify the voices of women and non-binary writers, queer authors, and writers of color — offering both new and vintage books (including children’s books). When I say I am a devotee, I’m not exaggerating. I follow them on Instagram, I’ve ordered more than my fair share of titles from their Etsy storefront, and I regularly screenshot their posts just to keep a running list of authors I want to read next. They have become one of my most trusted sources of inspiration when I feel that restless itch for something different, something I haven’t yet tried. AND, there’re here on Substack as The Womb House Books Review!!!

If wearing a business’s merch is the clearest display of loyalty, then call me branded head to toe.1 I proudly carry their tote bags, keep their mugs on my desk, use their bookmarks, and — YES — own one of their infamous author hats. You’ve probably spotted them in the wild without realizing they all come from WHB. This is a shop with a cult following, and I get goosebumps knowing I might be introducing some of you to them for the first time. Following their daily drops on Instagram is truly one of the greatest thrills of my reading life.

The reason WHB feels singular is simple: Jessica Ferri made it that way.

Jessica is a writer and critic as well as the founder of Womb House Books, and her sensibility runs through every decision — from which titles get spotlighted to the daily Instagram drops that keep readers like me hooked. When she agreed to answer my questions, I was thrilled. I trust her taste completely: if she likes a book, I’ll read it, no questions asked. Jessica has a rare ability to combine rigor with delight, to champion books that might otherwise be overlooked and make them feel essential. Her recommendations are less about discovery than recognition: the sense that someone else has already seen what you’ve been circling and simply hands it to you, without fuss.

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about the role of taste in our reading lives: how to define it, how to trust it, whether cultivating a particular sensibility sharpens us as readers or boxes us in. I’ll explore those questions more fully in my next post. For now, I want to celebrate Jessica as someone who shows how taste, when pursued with curiosity and integrity, can be expansive rather than limiting. She reminds us that what we love can be more than private preference. It can shape community, nourish imagination and even change culture.Jessica Ferri — let’s talk about your reading life!

Tell me a little bit about yourself. What role do books and reading play in your personal and your professional life?

Books are my life! I’m a writer, a critic, and the founder of Womb House Books, a feminist bookshop and imprint. This is all another way of saying that I am a reader. The way that I think about my life is through literature.

In Alphabetical Diaries, Sheila Heti writes that she just wants to get back to being seventeen and reading all the time. That’s also my goal.

On an average week, how much do you read and when?

Not as much as I’d like to, but it’s probably a good thing I have social obligations and non-reading work otherwise I’d be a total shut-in. I’d say I read between three to five hours a day. If I need to read something quickly in one day I will, or if I really love a book I’ll finish it in less than 36 hours. I read over 100 books a year.

PKG: I shared this response with my husband and we had the longest conversation about whether this sounds like reader hell or reader heaven. It sounds like a dream to me but Kyle said that when he had to read like that for work while he was a college professor, it totally killed the joy of reading for him.

What do you like to read? How has your taste changed over the years?

I love to read novels most of all. I truly worship the novel as a form. It’s as close to practicing a religion as I have. I love novels that have no plot, and no character development, where nothing happens and everything is carried by the strength of the writing. I don’t know that my taste has changed over the years, but certainly my patience for poor writing has completely run out. If something is not well written I will not continue to read it.

What's a reading ritual or habit you've developed that's unique to you?

I don’t know that anything is unique to me, but I love to underline as I read and then when I’m writing about a book or thinking about a book I go through and I make notes of all the passages I’ve underlined before I start to write. This becomes nearly impossible with someone like Annie Ernaux or Jamaica Kincaid because I underline every sentence.

Do you take notes while you read? If yes, are you particular about your materials - notebooks, pens, highlighters vs. pencils, etc?

Oh yes, see above. I like to underline rather than highlight. And I like to underline in pen, not pencil. And I never read on an e-reader or my phone, ever. If there’s an essay or review I need to read, I print it out.

How do you keep track of what you want to read? How do you decide what to read next?

For forthcoming titles, I take screenshots or I save them to my Instagram.

Where do you get ideas about what to read?

I let my own taste guide me and I don’t really take recommendations unless they are from someone I trust. There are a few people whose taste feels like mine: Claire Foster, Jackson Howard, Maggie Nelson, Hedi el Kholti, Lisa Locascio Nighthawk . . . I have lots of writer friends who I love to discuss books with and who I respect but we don’t share the same taste.

How do you decide what to read next? Are you a mood-reader or a planner?

I need to read everything for work first: books for our book club at Womb House Books because I facilitate the meeting, books I’m reviewing, books for teaching, books for my own research for writing projects, books for events that I’m moderating or authors I’m interviewing.

PKG: I know that I am starting to develop a reputation for being a bookclub hater but looking through the event list for WHB, I was overcome with envy. I wish I could attend all of them… and in person, too.

My bookseller friends think I’ve lost it, but I don’t really feel comfortable recommending books I haven’t read in the shop. I try to read as many of the new titles as I can, and I read all of our stable authors. If I’m lucky, I’ll get a non-sequitar in there occasionally, but for me, there’s no such thing as pleasure reading. Everything is pleasure and everything is work.

When people ask me how come I read as much as I do, I frequently just give them a list of things that I don’t do as regularly as I probably should: exercise, clean house, spend time with friends. What do you choose NOT to do in favor of reading?

All of the above. I often forget I have a physical body so exercise is a completely foreign idea. If I’m in a mode, I won’t eat, I won't drink water, I won't get up from my chair.

Do you have any tips or advice for people who wish they were reading more?

Just do it. We can help at Womb House Books. I know lots of people who love audio books, but I don’t. I love the act of reading, and I need a physical book in my hands.

What is one book that you find yourself recommending to people over and over and over again?

Oh, Lord. In the bookshop I am always recommending Jamaica Kincaid, Annie Ernaux, the standalone novels of Elena Ferrante, Marlen Haushofer’s The Wall, Fleur Jaeggy, Sheila Heti, Sarah Manguso, Constance Debre, Chris Kraus’ I Love Dick, Katie Kitamura, the list goes on and on and thankfully it is eternal and never-ending. The reading project never ends.

I hope that reading this inspires you to visit Womb House Books — in person or online — and if you do, please come back and tell us what you bought! I feel like every little romp through their inventory ends up in a fun discovery.

If you live in the States AND are interested in participating, let me know which author hat you would love to have! On Sunday, I will draw a name and one lucky duck will get their own hat — just my attempt to share my appreciation for Womb House Books.

? And…. now some questions:

• Were you familiar with Womb House Books before reading this?

• Jessica says that “everything is pleasure and everything is work”… which I found so oddly liberating… why separate? And do you think of reading as one or the other?

• Which author hat are you ordering?