This mini episode of The Write Question features used bookseller Crystal Koosman, owner of Last Best Books in Missoula, Montana. What does her used book ethic look like? What’s trending right now? (Spoiler alert: East of Eden by John Steinbeck!)
If you can go in[to a used bookstore] with kind of an unstructured attitude, and just let the right book find you, you’re going to find amazing treasures. I have found life-changing books at used bookstores.
There’s a magic to a used bookstore, where there’s a sweet spot between shabby and chaotic and well-organized, and that sweet spot is where the magic happens.
Learn more about Crystal soon!
Mentioned in this episode:
Lost Beauties of the English Language: A Treasure Trove of Archaic Words Culled from Old English by Charles McKay
Out of Africa and Seven Gothic Tales by Isak Dinisen
Science fiction books by Tanith Lee
The Book House in Dinkytown, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Books: A Memoir and Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry (“Bad books will drag good down, but good books cannot lift bad books up.”)
East of Eden, Grapes of Wrath, Cannery Row, Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
Keep the Aspidistra Flying by George Orwell
Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust (in French!)
Crystal Koosman recommends:
The books of Anthony Trollop
Possession by A. S. Byit
The short stories of Lydia Davis
Lauren Korn recommends (some books that she recently purchased at a used bookstore):
Runway Bunny by Margaret Wise Brown
The Real Mother Goose illustrated by Blanche Fisher Wright
Many books from the Detective Sergeant Mullheisen Mysteries by Jon A. Jackson
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The Write Question team for this episode was Lauren Korn, host, producer, and editor; and Chris Moyles, and sound engineer.
The Write Question’s 2025-2026 season is supported by a co-op of four independent bookstores, encouraging a lifetime of learning through storytelling and conversation: Chapter One Bookstore in Hamilton, Montana; Montana Book Co. in Helena, Montana; Fact & Fiction Books in Missoula, Montana; and Bookworks of Whitefish.
Additional funding for The Write Question comes from members of Montana Public Radio; and from the Greater Montana Foundation—encouraging communication on issues, trends, and values of importance to Montanans.
The Write Question logo and brand (2022) was designed by Molly Russell. You can see more of her work at iamthemollruss.com and on Instagram @iamthemollruss.
The Write Question is a production of Montana Public Radio.
