Calico Books, although just beginning, is actually the result of our family's many years in the book-business. We thoroughly enjoy working with books and the people who love books. One of our favorite "jobs" at the store is to find that new book or author that you need--or being able to interest a child in reading who was adamant against even picking up a book.
Just about everyone in our family is an avid reader. Our tastes both stray from each other and overlap quite a bit. We do tend to be towards the sci-fi/fantasy spectrum of things, but both Mom and I really enjoyed The Lovely Bones (by Alice Sebold) and she has read many others that have been popular among the book-club crowds (Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kid & The Shack by William P. Young). I've also read Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden and Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides--both of which I thoroughly enjoyed. So, although we do tend to read much of the sci-fi/fantasy genre, we do spread out into many of the others as well.
Also, we do pay attention to what sorts of books folks tend to like together--such as someone who liked The Red Tent by Anita Diamante is likely to also enjoy One Thousand White Women by Jim Fergus. It's paying attention to things like this that allow us to make fairly good guesses at what new authors might interest you when you've read everything that your favorite author has written.
