Julia Fleischaker, who opened Greedy Reads bookstore in the Fells Point neighborhood of Baltimore, Md., earlier this year, was featured in a conversation with BmoreArt's Cara Ober. Among our favorite exchanges:
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| Julia Fleischaker | |
How many books do you own?
Who knows! A lot. Honestly, I haven't had time to unpack them since getting to Baltimore, so I could count the boxes?!?
We discussed the elegant beauty of book cover design in your shop and you said, "Cover designers are the unsung heroes of publishing." Can you talk more about this?
I do think covers are so often beautiful! I'm generally envious of people that have a good eye, or a great sense of color, or an impeccable sense of design, and cover designers certainly fit that bill. So, I definitely enjoy the aesthetic part of it and consider it art. But cover designers are also great readers! Check out the covers of some of your favorite books…you'll probably see that the designer was able to pull out themes from the book and incorporate them. At Melville House, where it was small enough that we all worked closely together, I realized that having early conversations with the designer helped me to read books more carefully and notice things I may have missed.
What do you think about Baltimore so far? What has surprised you? What are you most looking forward to doing here?
I am loving Baltimore! I really could not have asked for a better and more genuine welcome, from the neighborhood and the whole city. I'm totally enamored of my customers, and I love to see what they're buying. I have to say, they have great taste (according to me).
Probably the most surprising thing has been the sense of community, and the number of small businesses and independent artists that are making it work here. It's totally inspiring, and I love being able to stock the store with the work of local artists and makers. What I'm really looking forward to is finding the time to explore everything that is going on around the city. I read everyone else's event calendars and listings with a mix of envy and FOMO. I'm working on it.