Ask a Bookseller

Bookseller Anthony Ascione of Brilliant Books in Traverse City, Mich., is excited about a new translation of the classic epic poem “Beowulf,” translated by Maria Dahvana Headley. It’s being billed as both radical and feminist.  Many high school English classes have battled their way through the story of the hero Beowulf, who ( spoiler !) defeats the monster Grendel and the monster’s mother. Ascion...

Bookseller Nadine Teisberg of Birchbark Books in Minneapolis is recommending the novel “Empire of Wild” by Cherie Dimaline . Teisberg calls the novel an intriguing mystery and a powerful love story, interwoven with Dimaline’s own Georgian Bay Métis culture and traditions.   In “Empire of Wild,” Joan has been searching for her missing husband for almost a year when she finds herself drawn into a re...

Every week, The Thread checks in with booksellers around the country about their favorite books of the moment. This week, we spoke to Stephen Sparks of Point Reyes Books in Point Reyes Station, Calif. Bookseller Stephen Sparks of Point Reyes Books in Point Reyes Station, Calif., recommends the nonfiction work “ Fathoms: The World in the Whale ” by author Rebecca Giggs. When Giggs finds a humpback...

Bookseller Susan Tank of Paulina Springs Books in Sisters, Ore., recommends one of her longtime favorites, the 2010 novel "Mink River" by Brian Doyle. The novel interweaves a unique cast of characters in a small Oregon town, along with elements of magic. Tank called it the kind of book you slow down on reading toward the end in order to keep the story going as long as possible.

Every week, The Thread checks in with booksellers around the country about their favorite books of the moment. This week, we spoke to Jody Hardy from Mostly Books in Tucson, Arizona.  Bookseller Jody Hardy recommends “The Empire of Gold” by S. A. Chakraborty, the newly released third book in the historical fantasy Daevabad series. Set in 18th century Cairo, the novel follows a con-woman who did no...

Every week, The Thread checks in with booksellers around the country about their favorite books of the moment. This week, we spoke to Derrick Young of Mahogany Books in Washington, DC. Bookseller Derrick Young says he loves recommending “What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Blacker” by Damon Young because Young’s fantastic sense of humor allows him to take on very heavy subject matter with levity. The...

Every week, The Thread checks in with booksellers around the country about their favorite books of the moment. This week, we spoke to Emilie Sommer at East City Bookshop in Washington, D.C. Mark your calendar to grab “A Burning” by Megha Majumdar when it comes out next week. “I am thrilled to recommend one of my favorite books of the year,” said bookseller Emilie Sommer. “This is a powerful debut,...

Every week, The Thread checks in with booksellers around the country about their favorite books of the moment. This week, we spoke to Lily Tschudi-Campbell at Red Balloon Bookshop in St. Paul, Minn. Stock up on chocolatey snacks before you dive into this young adult novel. “The Dragon with a Chocolate Heart” by Stephanie Burgis tells the the story of young dragon who is accidentally turned into a...

Every week, The Thread checks in with booksellers around the country about their favorite books of the moment. This week, we spoke to April Gorski from  Book Vault  in Oskaloosa, Iowa. Paulette Jiles was a National Book Award Finalist for her previous book, “A Map of the World,” and this story picks up some familiar characters. Set in Texas at the very end of the Civil War, a fiddle player named S...

Every week, The Thread checks in with booksellers around the country about their favorite books of the moment. This week, we spoke to Gwen Danfelt from Drury Lane Books in Grand Marais, Minn. Gwen Danfelt recommends a novel that was first published in 1976, but feels like a “balm” for current times.

Every week, The Thread checks in with booksellers around the country about their favorite books of the moment. This week, we spoke to Brian Roegge from Chapter 2 Books in Hudson, Wis. What drink made Wisconsin famous? — Think less dairy, and more beer. Bookseller Brian Roegge recommends a deeply researched nonfiction dive into the history of Wisconsin and beer. The book goes all the way from the b...

Every week, The Thread checks in with booksellers around the country about their favorite books of the moment. This week, we spoke to Danny Caine from The Raven Book Store in Lawrence, Kan. Bookseller Danny Caine describes Kiley Reid’s debut as “a hilarious and razor-sharp novel that kind of skewers a lot of issues of race and privilege and obsession.” The book follows a young black woman, Emira T...

Every week, The Thread checks in with booksellers around the country about their favorite books of the moment. This week, we spoke to Francine Tanguay of Annie’s Book Stop in Wells, Maine. Susan Meissner’s novel “A Fall of Marigolds” first came out in 2015, and it hasn’t stopped selling at Annie’s Book Stop in the small town of Wells, Maine. “I can’t tell you how many copies we’ve sold in my tiny...

Every week, The Thread checks in with booksellers around the country about their favorite books of the moment. This week, we spoke to Jhoanna Belfer of Bel Canto Books in Long Beach, Calif. Mira Jacob was a novelist first, earning praise for her fiction, before she embarked on a memoir: “Good Talk.” That memoir is unlike anything else, says bookseller Jhoanna Belfer. “It’s a graphic memoir, and so...

Every week, The Thread checks in with booksellers around the country about their favorite books of the moment. This week, we spoke to Gwen Danfelt from Drury Lane Books in Grand Marais, Minn. Gwen Danfelt read “Annabel” by Kathleen Winter for the book club at her shop. “Everyone learned something,” she said of the conversations it sparked. “We talked a lot about how we raised our own children.” Th...

Every week, The Thread checks in with booksellers around the country about their favorite books of the moment. This week, we spoke to Jinny Amundson from Old Fox Books in Annapolis, Md. Beryl Markham was the first person to fly solo, nonstop across the Atlantic, from east to west. She also wrote the kind of sentences that made Ernest Hemingway jealous. “Hemingway was a huge fan, and he wishes he h...

Every week, The Thread checks in with booksellers around the country about their favorite books of the moment. This week, we spoke to Aaron Cance of The Printed Garden in Sandy, Utah. Some people devour horror all year-round, while others only dip their toes into terror when it’s Halloween. Bookseller Aaron Cance has a perfect recommendation, no matter which category you fall into: “A ‘Cosmology o...

Every week, The Thread checks in with booksellers around the country about their favorite books of the moment. This week, we spoke to Shirley Mullin of Kids Ink Children’s Bookstore in Indianapolis. Shirley Mullin was entranced by Ruta Sepetys’ last novel, “Salt to the Sea,” which looked at the largest maritime disaster in known history: the sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff. The ship sank during Wo...

Every week, The Thread checks in with booksellers around the country about their favorite books of the moment. This week, we spoke to Adah Fitzgerald of Main Street Books in Davidson, N.C. When Adah Fitzgerald picked up “In West Mills,” a new novel by De’Shawn Charles Winslow, she “very quickly realized that this could potentially be one of my favorite books of the year.” “You know you’re reading...

Every week, The Thread checks in with booksellers around the country about their favorite books of the moment. This week, we spoke to Holly Brooks of Capitol Hill Books in Denver. The siege of Leningrad is just one of the horrors of World War II — but it was one Holly Brooks had never learned about before. The Germany army surrounded the Russian city of Leningrad during the war, intent on starving...

Every week, The Thread checks in with booksellers around the country about their favorite books of the moment. This week, we spoke to Hans Weyandt from Milkweed Books in Minneapolis. What wisdom does your favorite cultural icon have to impart to you? Chances are you can find it in Melville House’s Last Interview series. The publishing house compiles interviews with influential figures over the cou...

Every week, The Thread checks in with booksellers around the country about their favorite books of the moment. This week, we spoke to Lori Feathers from Interabang Books in Dallas, Texas. Lucy Ellmann may be “the greatest American novelist you’ve never heard of,” says bookseller Lori Feathers. Ellmann has more than five books to her name, but she’s lived overseas for decades, making her a relative...

Every week, The Thread checks in with booksellers around the country about their favorite books of the moment. This week, we spoke to Lillian Schmid at Big Star Books & Music in Santa Fe, N.M. Lillian Schmid had always been intimidated by the thought of diving into Greek mythology. It seemed complicated and full of unpronounceable names, not to mention the Roman counterparts one was expected t...

Every week, The Thread checks in with booksellers around the country about their favorite books of the moment. This week, we spoke to Nialle Sylvan from The Haunted Bookshop in Iowa City, Iowa. This premise may be familiar to some in the world of science fiction: Earth is gone. The last of civilization is on board a spaceship, hurtling through the darkness. But Rivers Solomon has so much more at p...

Every week, The Thread checks in with booksellers around the country about their favorite books of the moment. This week, we spoke to Annie Metcalf from Magers & Quinn in Minneapolis. If you tore through Sally Rooney’s “Normal People” or Stephanie Danler’s “Sweetbitter,” bookseller Annie Metcalf has another recommendation for you: “Supper Club” by Lara Williams. “It’s a story about a young wom...