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Motihari, India

George Orwell Birthplace

The author of Animal Farm and 1984 was born to a civil servant in British India.
Ketchum, Idaho

The Community Library

This independent library is rooted in community service and lifelong learning.
Bengaluru, India

Blossom Book House

One of India’s largest second-hand bookstores, with more than 600,000 volumes lining its walls.
Fernandina Beach, Florida

The Book Loft

Amelia Island’s oldest independent bookstore is a cozy oasis for literary exploration.
La Salle, Illinois

Hegeler-Carus Mansion

A sprawling historic mansion with connections to a notable industrial and publishing dynasty.
Sweden

Lergravsbibiloteket (The Lergrav Library)

This old phone booth in the countryside is now a haven for book lovers.
Charlotte Temple’s grave
graveyards

Here Lies Charlotte Temple, the Woman Who Never Existed

Why have so many people made the pilgrimage to a fictional character’s grave?
The Podcast Team September 16, 2025
Los Angeles Central Library fire of 1986
disasters

Unusual Love Stories: Traveling Unprepared With Susan Orlean

Author Susan Orlean talks travel romance, burning books, and how ditching the itinerary can make a trip better.
The Podcast Team September 8, 2025
The <em>Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam</em> bound by Sangorski & Sutcliffe 1909-11
astronomy

The Bejewled ‘Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam’ at the Bottom of the Ocean

This luxurious edition of the Persian poetry collection went down with the Titanic in 1912.
The Podcast Team August 7, 2025
The Codex Gigas (the Devil’s Bible) open to the portrait of the devil.
monks

Codex Gigas: Who Drew the Devil in This Massive Medieval Bible?

The Codex Gigas, also known as the Devil’s Bible, is the largest medieval manuscript still in existence—with an even bigger legend behind it.
The Podcast Team July 15, 2025
Burros Alfa and Beto, seen here with Luis Soriano in 2008, have been helping the teacher deliver books for more than 20 years.
libraries

How One Man and His ‘Biblioburro’ Spreads Literacy in Rural Colombia

Luis Sorriano straps his books to two trusted donkeys and brings the classroom to children in hard-to-reach towns.
The Podcast Team July 5, 2025
London, England

St. Govor’s Well

This ancient spring in central London was featured in a Peter Pan story.
Fontenoy-la-Joûte, France

Village du Livre de Fontenoy-la-Joûte

This village in the northeast of France is packed with book shops.
The glass-ceilinged atrium of the Bradbury Building was inspired by Edward Bellamy’s utopian literature.
architecture

The Bradbury Building Featured in ‘Blade Runner’ Was Inspired by a 19th-Century Utopian Novel

The Los Angeles office building draws heavily on the futuristic architecture described in Edward Bellamy’s ‘Looking Backward.’
The Podcast Team May 29, 2025
Dallas, Texas

Half Price Books Flagship Store

A Texas-sized secondhand bookstore features 54,000 square feet of books, music, and media.
“There may be a collective sense of a dark loneliness,” Dahl says, referring to Norway's natural landscape.
crime

In Norway, Easter Means Tucking Into Crime Stories

For a century, Norwegians have practiced the dark and cozy phenomenon of Påskekrim.
Jessica Furseth April 18, 2025
New Orleans, Louisiana

Community Book Center

The oldest Black-owned bookstore in New Orleans was started by a substitute teacher on a mission.
A brown rat peeks out from the grass.
science

What Makes an Animal a Pest? AO Wants to Know.

Animal-human conflict expert Bethany Brookshire explains why we put cats before rats.
Andrew Coletti January 24, 2025