Christopher Morley was already a known quantity in the literary world when his debut novel, Parnassus on Wheels, was published in 1917. A poet, a journalist, an editor; he had an affinity for the written word and a deep appreciation for books and booksellers. That appreciation can be seen on every page of Parnassus, a charming story of a book peddler and the determined woman to whom he sells his cherished blue book wagon. Over an indeterminate number of days, Roger Mifflin—the bookseller—imbues Helen McGill—the wagon’s new owner—with the spirit of salesmanship and the virtues of getting as many books into as many hands as possible.

I came across Parnassus as I read Evan Friss’s charming The Bookshop: A History of the American Bookstore. In a chapter that shares its name with the Morley classic, Friss gives a brief but captivating overview of the traveling bookseller, a trade that combines two heavily romanticized professions: the bookshop owner and the traveling salesperson. For Americans who lived in the southern states of post-colonial America, the traveling bookseller was often the only way they could obtain books other than the bible as the publishing trade was overwhelmingly centered in New England and old England. And while the profession would eventually die out as more bookshops opened in the South, there are times my mind cooks up a wonderful fantasy where selling books on the road would still be a viable career.

Alas, while that daydream will likely never come true, it is slightly more real today with the release of Tiny Bookshop.

BOOK ‘EM, DANNO

Developed by neoludic games, Tiny Bookshop casts players as the unseen proprietor of an unnamed mobile bookshop. With nothing more than a car, a trailer, a bookcase, and a couple dozen paperbacks, the player sets out to the town of Bookstonbury-by-the-Sea, an idyllic coastal locale that just happened to lose its only bookstore. Your arrival in town is kismet. After setting up shop on the waterfront, you’re quickly introduced to a handful of locals who’ll shape your experience in the community.

Your life as a mobile bookseller is far more localized than Roger’s and Helen’s, but no less diverse. Bookstonbury is home to a handful of unique locations where you can set up shop. From the beach, to an old castle, to a popular café in the heart of town, different locations bring out readers with different tastes. Have a large supply of classic novels? Head to the café where the sophisticated clientele is looking for challenging reads. Want to rid yourself of all your children’s books? Hit the beach during the summer. There are seven genres to stock and a lot of variation within those genres. Crime, for instance, will include detective novels, works by James Patterson, and the scariest stories Stephen King has to offer. Fantasy scatters the likes of Phillip K. Dick alongside George R. R. Martin. Plays can be found in both the Drama and Classics selections. It’s important to know this because shoppers will lean on you for your expertise.

IT’S NOT ABOUT THE BENJAMINS

In The Bookshop, Friss glowingly praises the book buyers of early 20th century America who steered the direction of the industry. Buyers like Marcella Hahner of Marshall Field & Company and Frances Steloff of the Gotham Book Mart cultivated book culture in Chicago and New York, and subsequently the United States as a whole. Your reach is smaller, and sadly less in your control. The books you stock in your shop are purchased second-hand in bulk from the classifieds or from booths at a local street market.

You can’t see your selection until you stock them on your shelves and start selling for the day, but expect to see a lot of the same titles again and again. That, in my opinion, is one of the ways this game captures the reality of being a used bookseller. I’ve been to more than a handful of secondhand shops throughout the years, browsing aisles that housed a seemingly unending supply of dog-eared copies of the complete Jackie Collins bibliography. Tiny Bookshop is also true to life in that you don’t make that much money. For many IRL booksellers, it’s the joy of putting books into the hands of eager readers that keeps them going, not the money. Besides, outside of Powell’s, The Strand, and Amazon, not too many people are raking it in from selling books these days. Same as it always was.

READING IS FUNDAMENTAL

The lack of money can be a challenge in the early weeks of your stay in Bookstonbury. Your shop initially comes equipped with a single bookcase, and unlike a real bookstore, you’re not allowed to stack your selection on the floor. In those opening weeks of summer, you really have to know your clientele well to stock the books that’ll sell. Bringing books for kids to the winter market is (somehow) a complete waste of space as shoppers won’t be looking for those titles. Non-fiction at the wharf? Hope you stocked up. Once you purchase a second bookcase from the classifieds, the challenge dissipates, and you can instead relish the joy and slight snobbery of being the local book expert.

Tiny Bookshop is, in a way, a power fantasy. A literary one, but a power fantasy nonetheless. For years, I’ve carried myself as a well-read man, even though I went years without picking up a book. I just thought of myself as a reader without putting in the work. I played games instead. It was only this year I rediscovered my love of books, first with We Have Always Lived in the Castle and then Convenience Store Woman. At the time of publication of this review, I’ve read far more books in 2025 than I’ve played games, something I haven’t been able to say since high school.

The scales are shifting. But because I went so long without sitting down with a book, I no longer pretend to be well-read or someone who knows authors and can recommend books. Maybe in a few years I’ll get there, but for now, I can play the part of Bookstonbury’s local literary leader.

TAKE A LOOK, IT’S IN A BOOK

The game is a quaint joy; a great way to pass the time while pretending to flex my erudite nature. There is not a lot of variety to it, and you may quickly tire of recommending Andy Weir’s The Martian when it’s your only sci-fi novel left and a customer doesn’t want anything else. But that’s true of many of our modern “cozy” games. They are built on repetition, which can be comforting, but depending on the type of player you are, it may not be something you want to devour as one would a book.

There are honest strategies for maximizing your sales each day, from updating your book selection to redecorating your exterior to fit the area, but making money really isn’t the point of Tiny Bookshop. It’s establishing yourself a member of this community, and as you’ll find out, it’s not the sales that matter, but the difference you make in the lives of your customers. As Roger Mifflin put it, “…when you sell a man a book, you don’t sell him just twelve ounces of paper and ink and glue—you sell him a whole new life. Love and friendship and humour and ships at sea by night—there’s all heaven and earth in a book…”

8/10

This review was conducted using a digital copy of the game on Nintendo Switch. It was purchased by the reviewer.