Book ‘em Danno: Three Ways to Read Up and Support San Antonio’s Lit Scene During the Coronavirus Outbreak

Look, we get it — not all of us have a raging book-collecting addiction.

But, for anyone who’s suddenly found themselves with a bunch of free time and empty shelves at home, here are three great ways to get lit(erary) that also support San Antonio booksellers and authors.

Libro.fm
If you like to listen to your literature, Libro.fm is a great alternative to corporate behemoth Amazon’s Audible service. The audiobook subscription service is currently running a promotion that will put money directly in the pockets of independent booksellers. When purchasing a membership, simply enter the code SHOPBOOKSTORESNOW. You’ll get two audiobooks for the price of one ($14.99), and 100% of the payment will go directly to the bookstore of your choice. Both Pearl’s The Twig and up-and-coming bookstore Nowhere Bookshop are participating in the program. Anyone that continues the membership will receive one audiobook of their choice monthly.
$14.99 monthly, libro.fm.

Fantastic Strangelings Book Club
Nowhere Bookshop founder Jenny Lawson — known to many by her online moniker The Bloggess — simply couldn’t wait for the brick and mortar location of her store to be ready before getting books into the hands of enthusiastic readers. And it’s a good thing, too, since the store’s opening is now indefinitely postponed. Now in its fourth month, the Fantastic Strangelings Book Club works like this: each month, copies of an awesomely weird book that’s unlikely to get mainstream love wend their way to the mailboxes of all the members, who can then read and discuss the selection on either Facebook or thebloggess.com. “We're incredibly lucky that we have such a great community of book club members because that support is sustaining us and our employees until we can open,” Lawson told the Current. The latest book is Wow, No Thank You, a collection of “edgy, hysterical essays” by Samantha Irby. $25 monthly (plus $10 enrollment fee), nowherebookshop.com.

Mega Corazón 2020 Livestream
URBAN-15’s streaming Hidden Histories program is presenting a special spoken word marathon in celebration of National Poetry Month for its April show. With local luminaries including San Antonio Poet Laureates past, present and future — Carmen Tafolla, Octavio Quintanilla and Andrea “Vocab” Sanderson — plus National Book Award Finalist John Phillip Santos and Amalia Ortiz of the Canción Cannibal Cabaret, the stacked lineup is definitely worth checking out. The livestream will be divided into two sessions — a youth-focused morning stream and a general audience stream in the evening. Free, 10 a.m.-1 p.m. and 6-10 p.m. Tuesday, April 6, urban15.org/live-stream.

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