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.   Click here. Mojade Adejokun of Paper Hearts Bookstore in Little Rock, Ark., recommends the novel “Women of Good Fortune” by Sophie Wan for your next fun summer read.  Mojade describes the story as a heist that grows out of a group chat. You...

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. Jhoanna Belfer of Bel Canto Books in Long Beach, Cal., recommends the novel “Hula” by Jasmine ‘Iolani Hakes. Jhoanna calls it a “gorgeously written family saga” offering an “insider look” at Hawaii. The lyrical writing incorpora...

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. Emily Sands of the Williams Bookstore in Williamstown, Mass., recommends a sci-fi/fantasy quest to keep you company this summer. It’s called “Star Bringer” by Tracy Wolf and Nina Croft. The voice-driven novel is marketed as “Fir...

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.   Maris Herrington of McLean and Eakin Booksellers in Petoskey, Mich., says one of the best books she’s read so far this year is Chris Whitaker’s mystery/thriller, “All the Colors of the Dark.” It comes out on Tuesday, June 25.   Click here....

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. Emma Presnell of Carmichaels Bookstore in Louisville, Ky., recommends a brand new short story collection that was released just in time for Pride Month. It’s a YA anthology called “We Mostly Come Out at Night: 15 Queer Tales of...

Looking for a novel you can pass around to your friends and family at the next gathering? Tiffany Lauderdale Phillips of Wild Geese Bookshop in Franklin, Ind., recommends Kaliane Bradley’s debut novel “The Ministry of Time.” She calls it a time-travel romance with a James Bond element, with beautiful writing and ideas that will leave you with plenty to talk about over dinner. The premise is that a...

Stefen Holtrey of Brilliant Books in Traverse City, Mich., has a title for readers who love to be surprised by something experimental and new. He’s a big fan of Michael Cisco, whose work is generally classified as weird or speculative fiction but whose novels vary wildly in style. A philosophical writer who tends toward a horror lens, his work regularly defies genres in ways Holtrey finds delightf...

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. Darcie Shultz of Books and Burrow in Pittsburgh, Kas., highly recommends Linnea Axelsson’s novel in verse “Aednan: An Epic,” which was translated by Saskia Vogel. It’s a sweeping saga set across 100 years, three generations and...

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 love a good cozy romance or fantasy — romantasy, anyone? — then Charlotte Klimek of Hearthside Books i n Watertown, Minn., has the perfect book for you. You get a good sense of the genre from the title alone; it’s “Can’t Spell Treason...

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. This week’s recommendation comes from Carrie Koepke of Skylark Bookshop in Columbia, Mo. She suggests the nonfiction book “The Devil’s Element: Phosphorus and a World Out of Balance” by Dan Egan. The paperback comes out in June. 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. It’s Independent Bookstore Day! Many participating indie bookstores across the country are offering author readings, coupons, prize drawings and other events. Check out your local bookstore — or several, if you can. One participating bookstor...

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. Step aside, Olive Kitteridge. There’s a new woman in town who’s difficult but loveable, complex and, in this case, fabulous. It’s Honey Fasinga. Sheila Burns, of Bloomsbury Books in Ashland, Ore., recommended “Honey” by Victor Lod...

This one’s for the creatives. Used bookstores can be a treasure trove of great reads, old and new, on a huge variety of topics. Dickson St. Bookshop in Fayetteville, Ark., is one such spot. Bookseller Elaine Eckert says she gets particularly excited when she comes across a copy of her favorite nonfiction book, “Art and Fear: Observations on the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking,” by David Bayles a...

Just when you thought you’d seen all the possible variations on the classic story of the Three Little Pigs, a new one appears that goes farther than any pig has gone before. Gone are the houses of hay, sticks and straw. These are tardigrades, microscopic invertebrates also known as water bears or moss pigs, and they can live pretty much anywhere. Gavin, Colin and Doug leave their cozy drop of wate...

Donna Garban of Little City Books in Hoboken, N.J., recommends a memoir that’s perfect for March Madness. It’s called “ There’s Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension ” by Hanif Abdurraqib. The book of interconnected essays is organized into the four quarters of a basketball game, complete with half-time and time-outs that explore side stories. It’s a love letter to growing up in Columbus,...

Kara Thom of Excelsior Bay Books in Excelsior recommends a multi-generational novel, “The Bullet Swallower” by Elizabeth Gonzalez James. It’s a classic western with a dose of magical realism, and it’s drawn comparisons with works by Cormac McCarthy and Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Set along both sides of the Texas-Mexico border, the story moves back and forth between two timelines, several generations...

How often do you settle down to read a play? Blake Worthey of Two Friends Bookstore in Bentonville, Ark., recommends the genre. Specifically, he suggests Aleshea Harris’s play “Is God Is,” which he says is so vividly written, with characters that leap off the page, that he definitely felt like he “went somewhere” in the reading. It’s a revenge play, complete with body count, and as with the best r...

Aaron Rishel of Friendly City Books in Columbus, Miss., is a music lover, so when a fellow bookseller recommended a literary thriller and mystery that featured one of the world's most prized violins, he was all in. That novel is “ The Violin Conspiracy ” by Brendan Slocumb. Young Ray McMillan is a violin prodigy growing up in rural North Carolina, and he’s determined to play professionally, despit...

Yes, Valentine’s Day has come and gone, but we couldn’t resist getting a romance recommendation on Ask a Bookseller. Rachel Harris of Four Pines Bookstore in Bemidji recommends one with a local setting and a lot of feels: “Yours Truly” by Abby Jimenez. Set at a fictional Minneapolis hospital, two ER doctors butt heads in person before discovering their connection through good old-fashioned letters...

Ryan Elizabeth Clark of Gibson’s Bookstore in Concord, N.H., says her fellow booksellers refer to her as the “Queen of Scream” because she reads primarily horror novels, so when she says Carissa Orlando’s novel “The September House” is the one of the best horror novels she’s ever read, she knows what she’s talking about. “Carissa Orlando has taken the haunted house trope, flipped it on its head, a...

Sarah Dimaria of Cavalier House Books in Denham Spring, LA., loves a good thriller, and one of her favorite writers in the genre is Louisiana author Jumata Emill of Baton Rouge. Emill is a journalist whose work covering crime led him to writing YA thrillers. His debut novel, “ The Black Queen ,” came out in paperback in January, and his second book, “Wander in the Dark,” was released this week. In...

This week, the Newbery Award for Children’s Literature went to Dave Eggers for his middle grade novel “ The Eyes and the Impossible .” Greg Danz of Zandbroz Variety in Fargo, N.D., adds his hearty recommendation to the list, calling it a wonderful book for the whole family. The main character in the novel is a dog named Johannes who lives in a community of animals in a seaside park where humans co...

The historical sports drama “The Boys in the Boat,” directed by George Clooney, is now in theaters. It’s based on Daniel James Brown’s nonfiction book by the same name, and Sarah Dorn of The Nook in Brookings, S.D., highly recommends reading it.  “ The Boys in the Boat ” is the true Depression-era story of nine young men on the University of Washington rowing team who went on against all odds to c...

Ready for some poetry? Blake Worthey of Two Friends Bookstore in Bentonville, Ark., raves about Roger Reeves’ poetry collection “Best Barbarian.” The collection spins poetic lines that Worthey says hooked him and made him care. Worthey freely admits that this rich, musical collection, with its references to a wide scope of writers and mythologies, occasionally felt obscure, but he felt those momen...

Let’s start off the new year with a debut book that defies genre. John Hoffsis of Treasure House Books and Gifts in Old Town Albuquerque, N.M., recommends “ The Half-White Album ” by local author and musician Cynthia J. Sylvester. The book is a collection of short stories, flash fiction and poetry, but it’s music that ties the story together. Each of the sections are song titles, and the story fol...