Just when you thought our entire globe had relegated itself to Netflix binge watching and TikTok karaoke, I have refreshing news: People are ordering books.

That’s right – actual books that have covers and pages and smell like books!  “I can’t say that we’re seeing as many sales as we do with our actual doors open, but it’s been great to see so many book readers come out of the woodwork these last few weeks,” said Laguna Beach Books General Manager Lisa Childers.

Each day, Childers devotes several hours in her “home office” (formerly the dining room table) to answer questions, offer suggestions and fulfill orders from the many online purchases at the store’s website, LagunaBeachBooks.com.

“We decided against doing pick up of orders at the store, so we’re doing shipping from our warehouse direct to people’s homes. It’s almost as fast and much more efficient all around,” she said.

Escapism Is Real

Childers noted that reading tastes over the last few weeks have pivoted more toward “escapism,” imagine that. Current big sellers include Where the Crawdad Sings by Delia Owens and Mark Christie’s book, Greenwood.

“Greenwood is one of the best books I’ve ever read,” said Childers, who devours books on a daily and weekly basis like the rest of us devour bags of Fritos these days.

“It’s a timely book, too. It’s set in 2038 after a pandemic has come through and killed all the trees except for a stand of trees on one island,” she noted. “It’s sort of a ‘where do we go from here?’ book that requires a new community of solution-based thinking.”

Four Big Releases Happen Today

Today (Tuesday, April 21st), four highly anticipated books are being released, and Childers noted that pre-orders have been significant.

All best-selling authors, the publisher releases include Janelle Brown’s new Pretty Things; Stephen King’s If It Bleeds, a collection of four novellas; David Baldacci’s Walk The Wire, with the return of the FBI Consultant Amos Decker in the popular series; and A Moment of Tenderness, a series of never-before-published short stories from Madeline L’engle.

Childers noted that Laguna Beach Books still has plenty of stock of each new release.

New Virtual Events Feature Best-Selling Authors

Thanks to a world forced into virtual events of late, Laguna Beach Books has also found a way to continue its popular in-store Author Events with newly scheduled Zoom events.

The store’s new Virtual Author Event format has allowed the bookstore to reach out to globally known authors who might not have otherwise planned for Laguna Beach on their book tours. The events are just one hour in length, from 5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.

On Friday, May 1st, best-selling author Janelle Brown will be discussing her newest release, Pretty Things, with Laguna Beach local and fellow author Kaira Rouda.

Known for always housing best-sellers and eclectics combined, Laguna Beach Books sells many copies of “The Night Watchman.”

And, on Friday, May 15th, best-selling author (and a fellow independent bookstore owner) Louse Erdich will be discussing her latest novel, The Night Watchman, a fictionalized story of the extraordinary life of her grandfather who fought for Native Americans’ rights during Congress’ “emancipation bill” in the 1950s.

Register for Virtual Author Events at the Website

“People aren’t required to purchase the books to be a part of any of the Virtual Author Events, but they do need to register for access to the Zoom call,” said Childers.

“We’re just so pleased with all the support we’ve seen from our readers that we wanted to try to do something nice for our community in return. It’s opened up a whole new world of authors to all of us.”

Go to LagunaBeachBooks.com to register for the Author Events and browse for your next good read.