Ask a Bookseller

Dana Welshans of Snowbound Books in Marquette, Mich., found herself surprised and delighted by the thriller “Picnic in the Ruins” by Todd Robert Petersen. She called the novel a "mystery for readers looking for something outside your usual police detective procedural," set in the otherworldly geography of the Monument lands of the Utah-Arizona border. At first, the book appears to be a small-town...

Kalima Desuze of Café con Libros in Brooklyn, N.Y., was a self-described nonfiction reader until 2020, when she fell in love with the imaginative world-building of young adult fantasy. She recommends a Jamaican-inspired YA fantasy novel that just hit the shelves on April 20: “Witches Steeped in Gold” by debut author Ciannon Smart. The story follows two teenage witches who are sworn enemies, both d...

We couldn't let April pass by without some focus on poetry, and this week’s recommendation checks both the poetry and memoir boxes. Deborah Reed of Cloud and Leaf Bookstore in Manzanita, Ore., recommends “The Copenhagen Trilogy” by Tove Ditlevsen (1917–1976), which was released as a single volume in English in February. A Danish poet whose work was contemporary with Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton, D...

The book Sandy Koropp of Prairie Path Books in Wheaton, Ill., is "crazy about right now" is part memoir, part home redecorating saga. Its descriptive title sets the stage; it's called “The Bee Cottage Story: How I Made a Muddle of Things and Decorated My Way Back to Happiness” by Frances Schultz . Schultz made her career as a style maven, says Koropp, and this 2015 memoir expands on a popular seri...

Zsamé Morgan travels across Minneapolis and St. Paul with her bookmobile, Babycake’s Book Stack. She was excited to spread the word about the picture book “Daisy” by Jessixa Bagley , which was published at the start of March.  Daisy the Warthog gets bullied other animals who don’t think she lives up to the beauty of her name. Her head hangs low at others’ mean words, but looking down causes her to...

This week’s recommendation comes from Montpelier, Vt., where Claire Benedict is co-owner of Bear Pond Books. Benedict says she devoured the novel “Milk Fed” by Melissa Broder — an appropriate description for a novel that is about appetites and what sustains us — also, lots of frozen yogurt.  Rachel is a food-obsessed calorie-counter living in LA until she meets the clerk at the local frozen yogurt...

Maya Aurichio of Maria’s Bookshop in Durango, Colo., recommends "Saint X" by Alexis Schaitkin. Aurichio read the book when it came out in 2020 and said its memorable characters have stuck with her. She called the novel a thoughtful twist on a “classic beautiful dead white girl thriller.”  Claire is a child when her college-aged sister Alison goes missing on a family vacation on the tropical island...

Sally Wizik Wills of Beagle and Wolf Books and Bindery in Park Rapids, Minn., recommends a new book by a local author this week: Doug Mayfield’s “The Saint Patrick’s Day Hero.” The novel begins after a horrific mass shooting at a fictional college in Minnesota. The story follows professor William Kessler, who has been declared the hero of the day, though he’s never told anyone the exact details of...

Amanda Toronto of Word Bookstore in Brooklyn, N.Y., says she can’t stop thinking about a memoir she read recently: “The Magical Language of Others” by poet and translator E.J. Koh.  Koh was born in the United States, but when she was 15, her parents moved back to South Korea for her father’s job. Koh remained in the U.S. with her older brother, separated from her parents during those formative yea...

Cat Bock of Parnassus Books in Nashville, Tenn., recommended a brand-new work of literary criticism by George Saunders with a tempting subtitle indeed: “A Swim in a Pond in the Rain : In which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life." Saunders is a national bestselling novelist whose many-voiced novel “Lincoln in the Bardo” won the 2017 Mann Booker Prize. He also teaches in...

Joy Vogelgesang of Kona Stories in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, recommended the nonfiction read " Gods of the Upper Air: How a Circle of Renegade Anthropologists Reinvented Race, Sex, and Gender in the Twentieth Century " by Charles King. The book explores the work of Franz Boaz, founder of cultural anthropology, and a circle of women scientists whose work 100 years ago helped inform our notions of identi...

Chuck Neal of Chapters Bookstore in Miami, Okla., recommended a nonfiction title on a ubiquitous topic this week: “ Money: the True Story of a Made-up Thing ,” by Jacob Goldstein. You might recognize Goldstein as the co-host of NPR’s Planet Money. Neal called it “a quick read: concise and easy to understand” that covers a vast history, ranging from the earliest coins to digital currency like bitco...

Maureen Palmer of Redbery Books in Cable, Wis. , recommends the novel “Fresh Water for Flowers” by Valérie Perrin, translated from French by Hildegarde Serle. Palmer loved this literary novel, with its memorable characters and a bit of mystery. The story follows the very likeable Violette Toussaint, caretaker of a cemetery, whose days are punctuated by cemetery visitors. One day, police chief Juli...

Often Ask a Bookseller is a place to discover brand new books for your must-read list, but sometimes booksellers get excited about sharing an old favorite. That was the case with Jerry Lenaz of The Cloak and Dagger Mystery Bookshop in Princeton, N.J. He recommends Minnesota writer William Kent Krueger’s mystery novel "Mercy Falls," which won a prestigious Anthony Award for Best Novel in 2005. In t...

Bookseller Sarah Rafael Garcia of LibroMobile in Santa Ana California recommended a poetry collection this week: “The Most Spectacular Mistake” by Anatalia Vallez. The book is divided into four sections—Roots, Core, Heart, and Head—which come together in a final chant. Vallez explores the connections among body, mind, and spirit and—importantly—the ancestors who contributed to who she is today. Pr...

Dionne Sims, owner of the new pop-up store Black Garnet Books in Minneapolis, recommended a book that’s been bringing her joy lately: " #Very Fat #Very Brave: a Fat Girl’s Guide to Being #Brave and Not a Dejected, Melancholy, Down-in-the-Dumps Weeping Fat Girl in a Bikini." It’s written by comedian Nicole Byer, host of the Netflix baking disaster show “Nailed It.”   Sims says she can open up to ba...

Yes, we know Halloween was last week, but vampires are an any-time-of-year kind of story, right? Especially for a suspense thriller described as “Steel Magnolias-meets-Dracula.”  Bookseller Jonah Barrett of Orca Books Co-op in Olympia, Wash., recommended “The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires” by Grady Hendrix. It's a southern-flavored novel set in the 1990s. Homemaker Patricia Campbe...

This Halloween, Gretchen West of Valley Bookseller in Stillwater, Minn. , recommends the novel “Leave the World Behind” by Rumaan Alam, which came out earlier this month.  It begins with a utopia gone wrong. A family of four is vacationing off the grid at a secluded rental on the East Coast, when they are interrupted by a knock at the door. The owners of the rental (so they say) have fled a myster...

Chloe Deblois of Sherman’s Maine Coast Book Shop in Damariscotta, Maine, recommended the novel “Piranesi” by Susanna Clarke , the bestselling author of “Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell.”  The novel takes place inside “The House,” in a world of seemingly endless hallways, statues and changing tides. Piranesi chronicles this labyrinthine world, nearly always alone — until, suddenly, someone new a...

Bookseller Julie Goodrich of Beaverdale Books in Des Moines, Iowa, recommends a character-driven science fiction novel: “ The City in the Middle of the Night ” by Charlie Jane Anders.   On a planet that is half in constant darkness and half in unending sunlight, humans can only survive in the margin where the two halves meet. From two opposite cities — one autocratic, one lawless — come two girls...

Bookseller Christine Reed of  Basically Books  in Hilo, Hawaii recommends a debut novel by Kawai Strong Washburn called “Sharks in the Time of Saviors.” Washburn grew up in Hawaii and now lives in Minneapolis.   Set in Hawaii beginning in 1995, the story opens with a miraculous event: seven-year-old Nainoa Flores falls overboard into shark-infested waters — and is rescued by a shark. His family ta...

Ask a Bookseller wraps up its monthlong focus on books for young readers with a recommendation for a picture book that teaches kids about elections. Bookseller Christian Nardi of the kids' bookstore Bee Hive in Santa Fe, N.M., recommends "Vote for Our Future" by Margaret McNamara and Micah Player. The children at Stanton Elementary School are curious why their school closes on the Tuesday after th...

We're continuing our September focus on great books for kids and teens. This week, Britt Margit of Second Star to the Right Books in Denver, Colo., recommended "Some Kind of Happiness" by Claire Legrand. It's a middle-grade novel, which means it's geared toward kids aged 8 to 12. Margit says the novel is part family epic, part mental health discovery, part imaginative backyard world-building. Main...

In the month of September, Ask a Bookseller is featuring recommendations for kids and teens. This week, bookseller Linda Stack-Nelson of Wild Rumpus Books for Young Readers in Minneapolis recommended the debut young adult novel “Raybearer” by Nigerian-American author Jordan Ifueko.  “To me, it is the perfect debut,” says Stack-Nelson. “You always hear the adage, that you have your entire life to w...

Throughout September, MPR News’ Ask a Bookseller will feature recommendations for children and teens to kick off the start of the school year.  To start the month, Lorielle J. Hollaway of Cultured Books, a multicultural children’s bookstore in St Petersburg, Fla., recommended the brand-new picture book “I Am Every Good Thing” by Derrick Barnes and Gordon C. James.   The picture book is filled with...