The Christian Science Monitor

In bookstores, immersion – and volumes of refuge

Jan Weismiller has been noticing a lot of new faces in her Iowa City bookstore over the past few weeks.

And they all want one book, says Ms. Weismiller, co-owner of Prairie Lights: "Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House."

That this year's biggest title so far – with 1.7 million copies sold in its first month, and a featured reading at Sunday's Grammy Awards – is political doesn't come as a surprise, bookstore owners say. But underneath a hunger for what some have dubbed "resistance" books, they see something more: Readers seeking to connect and make sense of a tumultuous time.

Weismiller and others say that books – and the stores that sell them –

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