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YOU SHOULD READ | Books as Gifts, with a Cause

@youshouldreadbox

3.2K

followers

2006

following

📚 BOOKS + CRAFT GIFTS + BLIND DATES + SUBSCRIPTIONS
📍Thur to Sun 11-7 @libertypublicmarket
💫Support emerging authors
☀️San Diego based
💝Woman-owned

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We did it, you guys. With your help. And our hearts are so, so grateful 🤍

We’re beyond excited to finally share this news. At the end of 2025, with the incredible support of our local community (and readers far beyond San Diego), we had $2,783 set aside in our pledge to support emerging authors, plus an additional $216 from 2024 that we’d been holding onto with the quiet hope of making this dream real.

But let’s rewind for a moment.

In 2023, I started You Should Read with a vision that went beyond sharing life-changing books. Being keenly aware of the systemic inequities within the publishing industry, I wanted to support writers and creators who don’t yet have big publishing deals, publicists, or the resources to get their work out into the world.

From the beginning, You Should Read committed to allocating 3% of sales to our Emerging Artists Fund, a promise to help bring bold new stories and creative voices to life.

That intention became our mission:
You Should Read - Books as Gifts, with a Cause™

As a tiny, scrappy startup, especially while rebuilding our business in a new home base, making that vision tangible sometimes felt impossible. We trusted that the “how” would eventually reveal itself.

And then, on August 1, 2025, something shifted.

We opened our retail shop at @libertystation and learned that our new neighbor is San Diego Writers, Ink - a nonprofit dedicated to nurturing writers and fostering a literary community in San Diego and online. I don’t believe in coincidences. This felt like destiny in motion.

With that alignment undeniable, we’re incredibly proud (and honestly, emotional) to announce @sdwritersink as the recipient of our Emerging Artists Fund. This initial donation (combining our 2024 and 2025 funds) will support their programming and scholarships for emerging authors.

We’re deeply grateful to San Diego Writers, Ink for welcoming us, and to all of you who made this possible. There would be no You Should Read, and no fund, without this community.

I wholeheartedly believe the most powerful knowledge in the world lives through the stories we tell, write, and share.

With a grateful heart,
Yulia taken in San Diego, California by @youshouldreadbox

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9 months ago

YOU SHOULD READ! No seriously, you should - and now we have an in-person shop to help you find your next life changing book, or curate a meaningful, personalized gift for a loved one.

@youshouldreadbox is NOW OPEN inside @libertypublicmarket food hall, next to our awesome neighbors @kai.and.skye, @baobarbb and @slurplpm!

HOURS:
Thur-Sun 11 am to 7 pm

We specialize in transformative literature, spanning categories like psychology, self-help, personal development, business and leadership, history & anthropology, politics & science, including children’s titles. We are accepting book recommendations from customers for our growing fiction and romance selection right now!

Our meticulously curated selection of gift pairings is sourced from small makers and artists all around the world, supporting mostly women and minority creatives, indie artists and craft brands.

Plus, 3% of every purchase supports emerging authors – ensuring your gift sparks ripples of positive change. (Stay tuned for a scholarship announcement in Q4!)

Stop by to pick up a book, or let us help you create the most unique book gift to-go or shipped nationwide (you can pick out in person and see it before it goes out). Come by to chat and share your book recs and tell us about what you are reading right now.

We can’t wait to meet you, San Diego!

#sandiego #sandiegobookstore #indiebooks #indiebookshop #indiebookstores #shopsmall #shoplocal #shoplocalsd #youshouldread #youshouldreadbox #booklover #intentionalgifting #libertypublicmarket #libertystation by @youshouldreadbox

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a year ago

We have a date with YOU this Saturday!!

If you are a book lover in San Diego, you MUST come to the North Park Book Fair, hosted by our awesome friends at @verbatim.books

ALL YOUR FAVORITE INDIES WILL BE THERE: @mystgalaxybooks, @meetcutebookshop, @libelula_books_co, @throughthefoldbooks, @libraryshopsd, @labuqueria.books, @rosevillebooks, @heybooksorelse, @thebookcatapult AND MANY, MANY MORE!

And wait till you meet our amazing booth neighbors… waving at you @lovinglog_cafe_read, @bookbarngalore, @marketbymari, AND @forbiddenfictionbookshop - stoked to share a corner with your lovely shops!

Mark your calendars:
📅 Saturday, 10/3
⏳10 am - 5 pm
📍North Park Way & 30th Street
🎪Visit us in Section C, Booth # 9 (next to U.S. Bank)

In our booth, discover:
💝 Blind Dates Book Bar - mystery books that you can personalize and decorate
❤️‍🔥 Banned Books selection in honor of Banned Books Week
🎀 Deluxe-edition Classics
📚 All the trendiest Fiction
💡 New & bestselling Nonfiction, our specialty!

Learn more at @northparkcommunityfair
Tag your book bestie & see you there 💗✨✨

#NorthParkBookFair #youshouldread #sandiegobookfestival #sdbookstore taken in North Park, San Diego by @youshouldreadbox

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15 days ago

What if the real obstacle isn’t your effort, your discipline, or your circumstances, but what you believe is possible?

This month, we are exploring the power of belief with 📖 Beyond Belief: The Science-Backed Way to Stop Limiting Yourself and Achieve Breakthrough Results by Nir Eyal (@nireyal)

Behind every endeavor are beliefs that shape outcomes. Most people never question those beliefs, even when they hold them back. Beyond Belief by bestselling author Nir Eyal (Indistractable, Hooked) reveals one counterintuitive truth: these beliefs aren’t facts. They’re tools. Understand how they work, and you can set them aside when they are unhelpful and replace them with better ones to change what’s possible for you.

Backed by the latest research in neuroscience and psychology, Eyal explores how our hidden assumptions filter what we see, what we attempt, and ultimately what we achieve, and offers a clear, practical method for changing them.

📅 Monday, Sept 28
⏰ Time: 5:00 PM PT / 8:00 PM ET
📍 Google Meet
🎟️ Link in bio

You don’t need to finish the book to join us, and our book club is open to everyone.

Pick up a copy at our shop anytime this month, then join us for a thoughtful conversation about how our beliefs shape our lives, the ideas and theories presented in the book, and how we might apply them to create meaningful change in our own lives.

#bookclub #youshouldread #readingcommunitysd #nonfictionbookclub #nireyal by @youshouldreadbox

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a month ago

There’s nothing quite like a good bookshop… especially when the people behind it are just as great as the books. 📚❤️

I recently visited YOU SHOULD READ in Liberty Station, and I had the chance to chat with Neil, one of the owners.

If you love personal development, mystery, storytelling or just looking for your next great book, this is definitely a spot to check out.

They have GREAT gift ideas as well!!

Go say hi to Neil, browse the shelves, and support a wonderful local small business while you’re at it.

And tell him Charlene sent you! 😉

#ResilientReaders #YouShouldRead #ShopLocal #SanDiegoBookstores #personaldevelopment by @youshouldreadbox

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2

a month ago

Books & Brews is heading to Liberty Station! 📚🍻

Join us for book shopping, where Books & Brews members will receive a special discount, then we’ll head to Stone Brewing to drink some brews 🍻

Spots are limited. RSVP with the link in our bio!

#BooksAndBrews #LibertyStation #StoneBrewing #SanDiegoBookClub #SanDiegoEvents

@stonelibertystation @youshouldreadbox by @youshouldreadbox

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a month ago

Wrap up 2026 with a deeper examination of how we navigate conflict, confront the world around us, and decide what truly matters.

Ready to see our final book club lineup of 2026? 📚✨
Scroll to meet the books guiding our conversation in the final quarter.

🔸 In October, we rethink our relationship with conflict through Priya Parker’s "The Art of Fighting", examining why disagreement isn’t necessarily a sign that something is broken, and how learning to fight better can actually strengthen our relationships, workplaces, and communities.

🔸 In November, Malcolm Gladwell’s "The American Way of Killing" turns us toward one of America’s most urgent and difficult realities, examining gun violence, the forces that have made it a uniquely American crisis, and why we continue to struggle to solve it.

🔸 By December, we bring the conversation inward with Jimmy Chin’s "Rules to Live By", learning from ten extraordinary lives as we reflect on how we choose to live, endure, define success, and ultimately decide what really matters.

Our book club, You Should Read Monthly, is open to anyone curious enough to grow. Join us for a single month, or subscribe and have each pick delivered to your door ($32.99 + shipping). You can even gift 1-to-6 months to someone you love (highly recommend).

Three books. Three very different conversations. One final quarter of thinking a little deeper about ourselves and the world we share. 🤍

Join us 👉 https://bit.ly/3U5a7G2

#bookclub #nonfiction #bookclubreads #youshouldread #youshouldreadmonthly by @youshouldreadbox

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a month ago

Newest goodies at the shop ✨🔥✨

We are starting to add new and beloved holiday favorites weekly.

Come explore, treat yourself and your book besties, and get your holiday gift shopping done BEFORE the holiday rush (while we still have plenty of colors and options)

📍 Inside @libertypublicmarket
🍂 Fall hours: Thursday- Sunday, 11-7pm

#bookgifts #booklovergifts #indiebookstore #shopsmallsd #youshouldread by @youshouldreadbox

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2 months ago

About to wrap up season three! 🤣🎬

Before You Should Read was a bookshop in San Diego, it was a book gifting business built around a simple belief: the right book can be one of the most meaningful gifts you give someone. For a birthday, a hard season, a celebration, or no occasion at all.

Nobody in my inner circle thought it was a particularly good idea, or even something people needed. But I needed it to exist. 
So, in a way, I built it for myself first. And then I found more people who got it. So many more people. An entire city of readers here in San Diego, and thousands more across the country who believe books make pretty damn great gifts. 
If you’ve ever finished a book and immediately thought, my friend should read this or I need to send this to my sister, well, YOU SHOULD READ is literally here for that 📚💝

Today, our shop catalog includes: 
📚 Over 700 books across nonfiction, fiction + kids 🎁 Hundreds of gift pairings to build a thoughtful, personalized box 💌 Greeting cards for birthdays, thank-yous, thinking of yous + more
💫 Subscription gifts for book lovers 📖 Special-order books when you can’t find exactly what you’re looking for 📦 Corporate + bulk gifting for teams, clients, events + organizations 
You pick the book. Add a few things they’ll love. Tell us where it’s going. We wrap it beautifully, pack it by hand, handwrite your message, and ship it straight to their door. 
And yes, every single one is still packed by yours truly. 👋 
You Should Read is run by just two humans who really love books and think gifting could stand to be a whole lot more intentional. 
And as it turns out, people do gift books. 😉 
Thank you for proving the skeptics wrong with us!

Yulia & Neal 🤍

#bookgifts #booklovergifts #sandiego #shopsmallsd #youshouldread taken in San Diego, California by @youshouldreadbox

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2 months ago

It’s giving BOOKCHELLA! 🪩📚✨

What an absolute dream the @kpbs Book Festival was this past weekend. We are still trying to process what went down!

🤯 12,000 people showed up for books, indies, local authors, our libraries, and each other… all while braving that HEAT🥵

You all are incredible! We loved meeting so many of you, and are beyond grateful for the support you showed our little shop.

For everyone who stopped by our booth, picked up a book or a bookish goodie, grabbed a blind date 💝 , made a custom bookmark charm with @hana_made_designs, or just came by to say hi - you are our hero!

One thing that never ceases to amaze me about San Diego is just how kind, resilient, and supportive this community is. At one point, so many of you stood in line for over an hour, in full sun, because our payment processing decided the busiest day imaginable was the perfect time to have a tantrum 🙃

And yet, not one person complained. You were patient. You gave us grace. You chatted with each other, waited it out, and kept cheering us on. I genuinely don’t have adequate words for how much that meant to me.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

I’ll make a separate post about everything we learned from surviving our first book festival 😂, but for now, just know that your kindness left a mark on us.

We hope you are loving all the books and goodies you took home, and we really hope this isn’t the last we see of you!

You can find our permanent indie bookshop + gift boutique inside @libertypublicmarket in Point Loma. Come say hi 👋 Wednesday-Sunday, 11-7pm.

And please give our dear friend @hana_made_designs a follow! You can catch her at pop-ups around San Diego and explore her full charm bar + jewelry collection. We were so happy to have her creating with all of you at our booth, and managing our chaos✨

And of course, massive props to @kpbs, @uofsandiego and endless list of partners and volunteers for making this event possible, organized, safe, and epic.

San Diego, we love you. What a freaking weekend 🪩

#kpbsbookfestival #sandiegobookfestival #sandiegobooks #youshouldread by @youshouldreadbox

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2 months ago

250 blind dates wrapped, and we’re almost ready for you, San Diego 📚👀

Heading to the second annual @kpbs San Diego Book Festival this Saturday, with plenty of reasons to come find us.

A little sneak peek:
📚 Hundreds of curated books + plenty of book recs 🎁 Our crowd-favorite Blind Date Book Bar, bursting with new genres and plenty of fun tropes ✨ Quirky, bookish goodies we hunt down from indie makers and artists 🎀 Pre-built Blind Date book bundles, ready to grab + go 💎 Custom charm bookmarks made on the spot by our very talented friend @hana_made_designs

And that’s just our little corner of the festival. The day will be packed with authors, storytellers, fellow booksellers, activities, and book lovers from across San Diego.

📅 Saturday, August 22 ⏰ 10 AM-4 PM 📍 University of San Diego 📌 Find us in Section 11 (Colachis Plaza) - Booth 16 🎟️ FREE + all ages

We can’t wait to spend the day with San Diego’s incredible reading community. ❤️

RSVP at kpbs.org/sdbookfestival

#KPBSBookFestival #youshouldread #sandiegobookfestival #sdbookstore #shopsmallsd taken in University of San Diego by @youshouldreadbox

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2 months ago

NEW at the shop ✨📚

Swipe for a mini tour of some of our favorite new arrivals, then come explore them in person!

From books and stationery to cozy finds and small-maker goods, we’ll help you put together a one-of-a-kind personalized gift for just about anyone (yourself absolutely included).

Birthdays, celebrations, bridal moments, holidays, thank-yous, or simply just because - pick what speaks to you, and we’ll make it beautiful. 🎁

☀️ Summer Hours:
Wed + Sun: 11–7
Thurs–Sat: 11–8

📍 Find us inside @libertypublicmarket

#youshouldread #sdbookstore #sandiego #sandiegosmallbusiness #libertypublicmarket by @youshouldreadbox

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2 months ago