Go Around the World with Book Culture

Travel across the globe and gets insights into other cultures -- all from the comfort of your couch (or other favorite reading spot). Starting this month, you can sign up for our Around the World book subscription. Each month will feature a book from a different continent. These books, all chosen by indie bookseller Devon Dunn, capture the essence and locales of countries from around the world. This subscription is perfect for fans of Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche, Jorge Luis Borges, or Arundhati Roy.

Learn a little more about this subscription, and the bookseller behind it, by checking out our Q&A with her below. Have questions about the program or want to know more? Email us at subscription@bookculture.com.

Talking travel, hobbies, and Hogwarts with the bookseller behind our Around the World subscription, part of Book Culture Selects.

Why did you decide to create the Around the World subscription?
I'm a homebody with perennial wanderlust, so I love books that help me connect with people, places, and cultures that are totally unlike mine. Writing and reading are both generally private activities, yet books allow two people to commune and communicate across vast distances in space and time. I also like to seek out authors and titles that help give a voice to underrepresented experiences: What's it like to be queer in Nigeria? How does someone preserve their indigenous heritage in the face of colonialism? Are Russian winters really that cold?

Why do you work in an independent bookstore?
Where else would you get to work on an awesome project like Book Culture Selects?

If you could speak any language, which would it be?
I'm fascinated with dead languages, so maybe Akkadian or Middle Egyptian--gotta be able to banish a mummy when the need arises!

Which talent would you most like to have?
Read music--I would love to be able to look at a score and hear a whole orchestra in my head.

Which Hogwarts House would you be in?
When I was in middle school I went to an exhibit of the original props from Sorcerer's Stone and THE sorting hat told me I was in Hufflepuff. At the time, I was crushed (I was very convinced I was a Gryffindor). But over the years I've come to realize that movie prop was right all along and I'm finally comfortable in my Hufflepuff-ness. GO BADGERS!

If you could visit any country, which would it be?
New Zealand. I'm not sure if I could stomach all those hours on a plane to get there, though.

How many times have you missed a subway stop while reading?
I've only honestly missed it once or twice, but I'll admit to staying on the train longer than necessary if it means finishing a chapter.

What would you eat for your last meal?
A really spectacular mac and cheese.

Cats or Dogs?
Both.

What question should we have asked you?
What books are you recommending now?
Fiction: What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours by Helen Oyeyemi -- A really well-polished collection of interlocking short stories that read like modern fairy tales in the best possible sense.
Non-fiction: The Argonauts by Maggie Nelson -- Part critical essay, part memoir, part love letter, The Argonauts is a meditation on love, gender, parenting, philosophy and everything in between.

Learn more about Devon's Around the World subscription or explore our other book subscriptions options here. Have questions about the program or want to know more? Email us at subscription@bookculture.com.