The Open Book Podcast
with David Steinberger

A behind-the-scenes look at books and publishing

Join us for wide-ranging discussions with publishers, editors, authors, journalists, thinkers, executives, and other makers of culture, hosted by David Steinberger, CEO of Open Road Media and Chairman of the National Book Foundation.

Listen Now:

A Book Bought in a Good Bookstore is a Better Book

James Daunt

CEO Barnes & Noble, CEO Waterstones, Founder, Daunt Books

James Daunt is a busy man, leading three iconic booksellers on two continents. In this episode, he shares his journey from founding a single independent bookstore in London in 1990 to rescuing and turning around the two largest bookstore chains in the English-speaking world: Waterstones in the UK and Barnes & Noble in the US.

INTERVIEWED ON: March 26th, 2025

Books discussed:

Cultish by Amanda Montell

The New York Times bestselling author of The Age of Magical Overthinking and Wordslut analyzes the social science of cult influence: how “cultish” groups, from Jonestown and Scientologists to SoulCycle and social media gurus, use language as the ultimate form of power.

Intermezzo by Sally Rooney

An exquisitely moving story about grief, love, and family—but especially love—from the global phenomenon Sally Rooney. Aside from the fact that they are brothers, Peter and Ivan Koubek seem to have little in common. For two grieving brothers and the people they love, this is a new interlude—a period of desire, despair, and possibility; a chance to find out how much one life might hold inside itself without breaking.

Murdle by G.T. Karber

G. T. Karber, the creator of the popular online daily mystery game Murdle, presents the first collection of 100 original murder mystery logic puzzles―a perfect gift for armchair detectives and puzzlers to hone their minds and solve a series of crimes.

Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins

The phenomenal fifth book in the Hunger Games series! When you've been set up to lose everything you love, what is there left to fight for? As the day dawns on the fiftieth annual Hunger Games, fear grips the districts of Panem. This year, in honor of the Quarter Quell, twice as many tributes will be taken from their homes. When Haymitch's name is called, he can feel all his dreams break. But there's something in him that wants to fight . . . and have that fight reverberate far beyond the deadly arena.