Episode
Quit Your Job & Open a Bookshop: 3 Reads You'll Love | Reads with Alicia
- Published
- May 18, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 1230
- Processing state
not_requested- Canonical source
- http://www.whattoreadnextblog.com
Actions
POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/what-to-read-next-book-recommendations-for-romance-thrillers-escape-reads-9873/episodes/quit-your-job-open-a-bookshop-3-reads-you-ll-love-reads-with-alicia/transcription-requests
Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode.GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/what-to-read-next-book-recommendations-for-romance-thrillers-escape-reads-9873/quit-your-job-open-a-bookshop-3-reads-you-ll-love-reads-with-alicia.md
Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource.
Summary
This post contains affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. What if your dream bookshop was hiding inside the pages of a book? This week's guest is making that fantasy feel very real. London-based bookworm and Substack newsletter writer Alicia joins us to share her love of a very specific and very delightful trope: woman quits job to open a bookshop. If you've ever fantasized about leaving it all behind for a life surrounded by shelves and the smell of old paper, Alicia has three gorgeous, lesser-known reads that will feed that daydream beautifully. From translated Japanese fiction to a moving Korean novel, these books explore healing, community, and the quiet courage it takes to build a life you actually want — even when you're not sure you're ready. 📚 Books Mentioned The Bookshop Woman by Nanako Hanada — Buy on Amazon | Nonfiction / Memoir | A quiet, insightful look at the world of bookselling and how small changes create big impact. Days at the Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa — Buy on Amazon | Japanese Translated Fiction / Contemporary | A healing, character-driven story about a woman who finds herself — slowly — through books. Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop by Hwang Bo-reum — Buy on Amazon | Korean Translated Fiction / Contemporary | A raw, courageous story about a woman who opens a bookshop from a place of grief and finds herself living her values anyway. ⏱️ Timestamps [00:00] Welcome & introduction — meet Alicia from London [01:00] What Alicia reads: contemporary, literary, historical fiction & nonfiction [02:00] Alicia's nonfiction picks: memoirs, economics, music [03:30] What led Alicia to start Reads with Alicia on Substack [05:00] Building a bookish community online — Substack, BookTok & beyond…