Hey everyone. Before we start the show, I want to point you to a CNN podcast that's been doing daily

reporting on the war in Israel. It's called Tug of War. And it's a show that's covered issues and

conflicts from Syria to Sudan and Ukraine. And the team has been doing excellent reporting on the

Israel-Hamas war with CNN correspondence in the field. And it feels

different from the coverage that you might be used to. So we'd love for you to give it a try.

Please subscribe wherever you get your podcast. And in the meantime, we're going to talk today

about some of the things people turn to for comfort when times are tough.

Love and books.

So I hope you enjoy this episode.

The story we'd heard for a while about bookstores, especially indie ones, was that they were destined to wither away.

That what was started by Barnes and Noble and borders and other big

chains, Amazon finished when it made it possible to snag any book, any time, at an unbeatable

price with a click. Then there was the industry panic over e-readers, and well, you know the rest.

Bookstores are now feeling the burn.

They're just big and bulky and they're not convenient to have with you at all times.

Digital distribution has steadily eroded physical sales, causing some traditional brick and mortar

chains to go under.

Today comes news that borders will close and liquidate all 399 of its store.

Barnes & Noble, which owns B. Dalton, says it's shutting down all of its small stores,

and that means Laredo, Texas, population 250,000, is a city without a bookstore.

But out of the ashes of those trend stories arose a new business model, the single genre

bookstore. Ooh, sexy. Baby, model, the single genre bookstore.

...