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. Eowyn Ivey launched onto the literary scene in 2012 with her New York Times Bestselling debut “The Snow Child,” which grounds the fairy tale of a couple who makes a child out of snow in the hard reality of a 1920 Alaska homestead. Ivey weaves...

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. Makkah Abdur Salaam of Black Garnet Books in St. Paul recommends the nonfiction book “A More Perfect Party: The Night Shirley Chisholm and Diahann Carroll Reshaped Politics” by Juanita Tolliver. Abdur Salaam describes it as a “roadmap” for cu...

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. Fans of Robin Wall Kimmerer’s “Braiding Sweetgrass” were looking forward to her new collection of short essays “The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World,” which was published shortly before Thanksgiving. Beth Hartung...

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.   Lovers of little-known history, get ready: We’ve got a book that lifts a real-life Minnesota tax attorney out of WWII obscurity and into the limelight with an out-of-the-box plan to defeat the Nazis without ever going to war. The book is Gr...

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. Part of the superpower of stories is to create spaces for empathy: Between the pages of the book, we get to step into the lives of other people, real or fictional. That’s what Stefanie Chow of Stillwater Books in West Warwick, R.I., loves abo...

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.   Rima Parikh of The Thinking Spot in Wayzata, Minn., recommends a book of short and sweet (and savory!) essays, perfect for gifting your favorite foodie. It’s called “Bite by Bite:  Nourishments and Jamborees” by poet and essayist Aimee Nezh...

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.   Amy Loewy of the Garden District Book Shop in New Orleans, La., knew right away which book she wanted to recommend: Jesmyn Ward’s novel “Let Us Descend.” Ward has won the National Book Award for Fiction twice with “Sing, Unburied, Sing” (20...

Julie Schultz of This House of Books in Billings, Montana recommends a book of poetry that made the finalist list for its category of the National Book Awards: Diane Seuss’s “Modern Poetry.” It’s not the first national recognition for Seuss, whose collection “frank: sonnets” won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 2022. Both were published by Graywolf Press in Minneapolis.   Whether you’re steeped in...

David Stippick of Lark & Owl Booksellers in Georgetown, Texas, recommends a novel they call “a love letter to readers.” It’s Erica Bauermeister’s “No Two Persons,” and David says the novel feels a bit like the movie “Love Actually,” in that we follow the stories of multiple characters. Here, they are connected by their experience with a single book. Fictional author Alice writes a beautiful de...

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.   You’ve probably read a multi-generation saga where the story follows a family line through the decades. Have you read a novel that follows … not people, but a house?  That’s the premise of “North Woods” by Daniel Mason: We focus on a house...

Holly Weinkauf of Red Balloon Bookshop in St. Paul recommends “Just Us.” It’s written by Twin Cities author Molly Beth Griffin and illustrated by Anait Semirdzhyan. 

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.   Christina Rosso-Schneider of A Novel Idea on Passyunk in Philadelphia, Penn., recommends a “fever dream of a novel” that’s risen to the top of her list so far this year. The novel is called “Smothermoss” by debut author Alisa Alering.  “It...

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.   We’re at that point in the calendar year when book lovers start to declare their favorites of 2024. Claire Benedict of Bear Pond Books in Montpelier, Vt., says the novel at the top of her list is “Colored Television” by Danzy Senna. “It’s m...

Click here. Of course, for the week of Halloween, we had to talk about a book that keeps you looking over your shoulder. Hunter Gillum of Beaverdale Books in Des Moines, Iowa, recommends the mystery/crime novel “Scrap” by Calla Henkel. The novel focuses on Esther Ray, a multimedia artist with a true-crime podcast obsession. Recently dumped, she accepts a scrapbooking job from wealthy Naomi Duncan....

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.   Do you crave all things cozy once the autumn leaves start to turn? Ellie Petres of The Book Garden in Bountiful, Utah , recommends a feel-good romantasy read, perfect for fans of “Legends and Lattes.” It’s called “The Spellshop” by Sarah 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. October is around the corner, and with it spooky season. If you like to settle into fall on a diet of murder mysteries and true-crime documentaries, check out the novel "Penance" by Eliza Clark. That's the recommendation from Kate Stern of An...

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.   Click here. All this month, Ask a Bookseller is focusing on great reads for kids and teens as they mark the start of the new school year. September is also when the longlists for the National Book Awards come out, and this week’s recommenda...

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.   Click here. We continue our focus on books for kids and teens this September with a middle-grade novel that introduces censorship to middle schoolers. Hana Duckworth of Secret Garden Bookstore in Seattle, Wash., recommends the middle-grade...

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.   Click here. In honor of the start of school, Ask a Bookseller is focused on recommendations for kids and teens — although Kristin Nilsen of Big Hill Books in Minneapolis recommends this middle-grade read for everybody. It’s the newest title...

Summer is winding down, but that doesn’t mean the causal beach read is going anywhere. MPR News host and newscaster Emily Bright spoke with three booksellers from Minnesota about current trends and their favorite reads during a live conversation at the Minnesota State Fair. Pallas Erdrich, co-manager of Birchbark Books in Minneapolis; Char Klimek, owner of Hearthside Books in Watertown; and Amy Er...

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.   The State Fair is in its last hurrah through Labor Day, and the new school year is gearing up. This week, we’re combining both those energies with a local picture book recommendation recorded live at the fair. Pallas Erdrich of Birchbark Bo...

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.   Eye-catching title, isn't it? Zoologist Lucy Cooke takes a close look at the often-overlooked female half of the animal kingdom and the active role they take within evolutionary biology. This recommendation comes from Carolyn Chin of Books...

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. Click here. Maggie Robe of Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill, N.C., loves a good character-driven novel. She recommends Alison Espach’s new dark comedy, “The Wedding People.” Espach rose to acclaim for her novels “The Adults” and “Notes on Your Su...

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.   Listen to the podcast here This one’s for the romance lovers. Chardai Powell is with Loyalty Bookstores, with locations in Silver Spring, Md., and Washington, DC. Her beat is indie Black romance writers, and she says part of the joy is bein...

Call the midwife: Jolie Hughes of Morgan Hill Bookstore in New London, N.H., recommends two recent historical fiction books that both feature midwives — one real, one fictional — set at different points within American history. “The Sweet Blue Distance” by Sara Donati follows a descendent of her bestselling Wilderness series. Young midwife Carrie Ballentyne travels from her home in New York to wor...