Ask a Bookseller

On The Thread’s Ask a Bookseller series, we talk to independent booksellers all over the country to find out what books they’re most excited about right now. It’s that time of year when readers start to catalogue their favorite books of 2025, and for bookseller Kelly Evert, that book is “Mona’s Eyes” by Thomas Schlesser. Evert works at Village Books and Paper Dreams, with locations in Bellingham a...

On The Thread’s Ask a Bookseller series, we talk to independent booksellers all over the country to find out what books they’re most excited about right now. Mary Williams of Skylight Books in Los Angeles, Calif., recommends a nonfiction book that will appeal to readers who find joy in the natural world, including the plants growing on their window sills. It’s called “Poppy State: A Labyrinth of P...

On The Thread’s Ask a Bookseller series, we talk to independent booksellers all over the country to find out what books they’re most excited about right now. What would the contents of your purse or backpack say about you?  Bev Newton of Innisfree Bookshop in Meredith, N.H., recommends a novel about a Parisian bookseller who is so taken by the contents of an abandoned purse, he sets off on a quest...

On The Thread’s Ask a Bookseller series, we talk to independent booksellers all over the country to find out what books they’re most excited about right now. Feeling too busy lately to finish a book? Kimberly Daniels of The Country Bookshop in Southern Pines, North Carolina, would like to make an argument for reading short story collections. Specifically, Katrina Denza’s new collection "Burner: An...

Christina Tabereaux of The Snail on the Wall, a bookstore in Huntsville, Ala., recommends the novel “I See You’ve Called in Dead” by John Kenney.  The book's dark humor evokes Richard Russo’s “Straight Man” or Fredrik Backman’s “A Man Called Ove,” and Tabereaux says the story, with its well-developed characters, drew her to both laughter and tears.  Bud writes obituaries for a living. With his own...

On The Thread’s Ask a Bookseller series, we talk to independent booksellers all over the country to find out what books they’re most excited about right now. Sarah Gregg of Lemuria Book Store in Jackson, Miss., recommends a novel that delves deep into a family drama in a small Mississippi Delta town. The debut novel “Dominion” by Addie E. Citchens takes on themes of power, patriarchy and sexual re...

On The Thread’s Ask a Bookseller series, we talk to independent booksellers all over the country to find out what books they’re most excited about right now. Liz Bernoskie of Poor Richard’s Books in Frankfort, Ky., recommends a fantasy novella set in an animal world whose actions offer hope for its human readers. “Auditions for the Fox” is the debut novella from sci-fi/fantasy short story writer M...

On The Thread’s Ask a Bookseller series, we talk to independent booksellers all over the country to find out what books they’re most excited about right now. Daniel Wells of Gramercy Books in Bexley, Ohio, recommends the memoir “Coming Up Short” by Robert B. Reich. Wells called it “a beautiful contextualization of the last 70 or so years in American history.” An economist and educator, Reich serve...

On The Thread’s Ask a Bookseller series, we talk to independent booksellers all over the country to find out what books they’re most excited about right now. Are you a letter writer? Are you looking for a book about second chances that feels life-affirming? Cathy Fiebach of Main Point Books in Wayne, Pa., suggests you read the novel “The Correspondent” by Virginia Evans.  Our protagonist, Sybil Va...

On The Thread’s Ask a Bookseller series, we talk to independent booksellers all over the country to find out what books they’re most excited about right now. Calvin isn’t the only six-year-old comic strip character with deep thoughts about how the world should work. Meet Mafalda, star of the classic comic strip created by Argentine artist Quino. Timothy Otte of Wild Rumpus Books in Minneapolis say...

On The Thread’s Ask a Bookseller series, we talk to independent booksellers all over the country to find out what books they’re most excited about right now. All this month, Ask a Bookseller is featuring books for kids and teens as we mark the start of school. This week’s recommendation comes from Bunnie Hilliard, owner of Brave + Kind Bookshop, a children’s bookstore in Decatur, Georgia. She’s be...

On The Thread’s Ask a Bookseller series, we talk to independent booksellers all over the country to find out what books they’re most excited about right now. All September, Ask a Bookseller is marking the start of school by focusing on books for kids. This week’s recommendation comes from Ashley Robin Franklin of First Light Books in Austin, Texas. Ashley adores the picture book/early reader title...

On The Thread’s Ask a Bookseller series, we talk to independent booksellers all over the country to find out what books they’re most excited about right now. With school back in session this month, Ask a Bookseller is focusing on books for kids. Author and bookseller Rosanne Parry of Annie Blooms Books in Portland, Oregon, starts us off with a middle-grade mystery series, perfect for fans of Nancy...

September has begun, and with it, the anticipation of autumn weather, school, and great fall reads. Emily Bright of MPR News spoke with three booksellers about current trends and favorite reads during a live conversation at the Minnesota State Fair. Sarah Brown, manager of Zenith Bookstore in Duluth, which sells both new and used titles; Makkah Abdur Salaam, Lead Bookseller at Black Garnet Books i...

On The Thread’s Ask a Bookseller series, we talk to independent booksellers all over the country to find out what books they’re most excited about right now. If you were to find an old copy of the 1944 novel “Absent in the Spring,” it would say the author was Mary Westmacott. That’s the pen name famed mystery novelist Agatha Christie used when she wanted to write literary fiction, and bookseller C...

On The Thread’s Ask a Bookseller series, we talk to independent booksellers all over the country to find out what books they’re most excited about right now. Mary Ellen Phillips of Maria’s Bookshop in Durango, Colo., says her favorite book of the summer is the debut, much-hailed historical fiction novel “The Hounding” by Xenobe  Purvis. Set in Oxfordshire, England, in 1700, this story about a rumo...

On The Thread’s Ask a Bookseller series, we talk to independent booksellers all over the country to find out what books they’re most excited about right now. Poet and performance artist Andrea Gibson gained social media fame in recent years with their fierce and vulnerable spoken word videos. Kara Balcerzak, owner of Bonfire Bookstore & Yarnery in Woodstock, Virginia, first encountered Gibson’...

On The Thread’s Ask a Bookseller series, we talk to independent booksellers all over the country to find out what books they’re most excited about right now. PJ Moon of The Raven Bookstore in Lawrence, Kan., recommends a summer read with elements that will appeal to both adults and children. “Bat Kid” is a recently republished classic manga by Inoue Kazuo, translated by Ryan Holmberg. This is a tw...

On The Thread’s Ask a Bookseller series, we talk to independent booksellers all over the country to find out what books they’re most excited about right now. If you’re looking for an outdoor adventure novel about friendship and wonder and — why not? a cryptid — Ellyn Grimm of Dog-Eared Books in Ames, Iowa, has the book for you. She recommends Giano Cromley's novel “American Mythology,” out this we...

On The Thread’s Ask a Bookseller series, we talk to independent booksellers all over the country to find out what books they’re most excited about right now. If you’re going to read a book about a dark character or a difficult subject, do it on a sunny summer day, not when you’re home in the cold and dark of winter. That’s the suggestion of Angel Dobrow of Zenith Bookstore in Duluth , who recommen...

On The Thread’s Ask a Bookseller series, we talk to independent booksellers all over the country to find out what books they’re most excited about right now. “There are books that you can't put down. And then there are books that, even when you put them down, they just stay with you," says Katherine Nazzaro of Porter Square Books, with stores in Boston and Cambridge, Mass. The book in the latter c...

David Burton of novel, a bookstore in Memphis, Tenn., recommends his favorite book of the year so far: “The Pretender” by Jo Harkin, which he calls “historical fiction at its very best.”

On The Thread’s Ask a Bookseller series, we talk to independent booksellers all over the country to find out what books they’re most excited about right now. Anne Holman of The King’s English Bookshop in Salt Lake City, Utah, recommends the novel “Old School Indian” by Aaron John Curtis. Holman calls it a powerful coming-of-age story, when you come of age later in your life in an important way. Th...

On The Thread’s Ask a Bookseller series, we talk to independent booksellers all over the country to find out what books they’re most excited about right now. School is out (or soon-to-be-out) across Minnesota, and that means it’s time for summer reads! But just because you bring a book to the lake, that doesn’t mean it can’t be smart as well as a fun escape. To that end, Julia Green of Front Stree...

On The Thread’s Ask a Bookseller series, we talk to independent booksellers all over the country to find out what books they’re most excited about right now.   Sarah Jackson of The Book and Cover in Chattanooga, Tenn., says she was immediately hooked and fully delighted by Amal El-Mohtar's fantasy novella, “The River Has Roots.” Readers may recognize El-Mohtar as the sci-fi and fantasy columnist f...