Waiting-room Reading

Because our next issue doesn’t come out until May 17,
and because your to-read book pile can never be too high.

The best way to choose a book is by spending four to five hours in an independent bookstore obsessively plucking books from shelves and reading page 70 of each one until you find the book you can’t put down.

The second, less time-intensive way is to ask a friend with good taste for a recommendation. We asked our Barter Members — for who is friendlier and has better taste than a Pipe Wrench reader? — is to tell us what the last books they read and loved were. Here are some of their recommendations, with the opening line of each book for further decision-making support.

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Deep Pockets

No, literally. Y’all have deep pockets in your outerwear.

As part of our Issue Five launch National Popcorn Day observance, we asked several thousand of our best friends on Twitter:

We can’t help but admire both the extent of the smuggling and the commitment to the bit in this response. Other excellent answers included:

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Books for Giving to Very Specific People

If you’re a fan of Pipe Wrench, chances are pretty good that you’re that person who always gives books as gifts. And with good reason: reading is the best. Books transport, they teach, they inspire, they move. And you can never have too many, because you can always use them to construct end tables or fill non-working fireplaces.

For ease of gift-selecting, collected here are all the books recommended in Pipe Wrench this year along with books written by Pipe Wrench contributors, organized by gift-ee appropriateness. Is there something for everyone on this list? Probably not; we can’t keep track of everyone’s kooky interests. But for the right person, there’s something perfect.

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