Ask a Bookseller

If you’re a history lover with a desire to escape the Minnesota winter weather, Pat Banning of Bookends in Kailua, Hawaii, has a recommendation for you. Banning says "Unfamiliar Fishes" by Sarah Vowell "blew her out of the water" with its carefully researched and highly readable Hawaiian history. The title comes from a quote by a Hawaiian scholar describing unfamiliar fishes blown from the deep wh...

Jason Reynolds is the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, and Donna Garban of Little City Books in Hoboken, N.J., says she knows to order multiple copies every time he puts out a new book. Garban said Reynolds’ most recent title is particularly eye-catching. “Ain’t Burned All the Bright” is only a few sentences long and includes over 300 illustrations. It’s a partnership between Rey...

Kathy Gray is the primary bookbuyer for Lark Toys in Kellogg, Minn., and she recommends a picture book by a Midwest artist who walked into her store one day. Laurel Fraher of Menomonie, Wis., is the author and illustrator of " See Me in the Wonder ," and its backstory immediately drew Gray in. Fraher and her husband had a daughter who passed away at age 3. Fraher wrote "See Me in the Wonder" to he...

Jake Reiss of The Alabama Booksmith near Birmingham, Ala., is looking forward to the publication of a nonfiction book on Jan. 25 that he says is sure to spark conversation. The new book by journalist Ben Raines describes its scope in the title: " The Last Slave Ship: The True Story of How Clotilda Was Found, Her Descendants, and an Extraordinary Reckoning ." In 1859 or 1860, 50 years after the Atl...

Isaac Frankel of Peregrine Book Company in Prescott, Ariz., has fond memories of picking his father's copy of Frank Herbert's sci-fi novel "Dune" off the shelf and reading it for the first time. Now, he says he's seen a huge interest in the “Dune” series since the new film version came out this fall. Frank Herbert wrote “Dune” in 1965 and went on to publish five more books in the series. Frank’s s...

Freya Shrestha of Old Harbor Books in Sitka, Alaska, can’t forget a novel called “The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue.”   The book by V. E. Schwab is set in modern-day New York, but protagonist Addie LaRue is originally from 1700s’ France. In a moment of desperation, she inadvertently prays to and makes a deal with the devil, and he gives her freedom and immortality in exchange for her soul. But the...

Usually every week for Ask a Bookseller, I check in with indie booksellers all over the country for recommendations. But this week, we’re changing it up with an Ask a Student edition, courtesy of some of the readers at Gatewood Elementary School in Minnetonka, Minn. The students I talked to ranged from kindergarten to sixth grade. They were all students of English language learning teachers Becky...

Emil Ferris's graphic novel "My Favorite Thing is Monsters" made a splash when came out in 2017 , and it's still Richard Johnston's favorite title to recommend. "I'm always amazed when people don't know it because I love it so much," says Johnston, who runs Brookings Book Company in Brookings, S.D. The second in the two-part series is now also available. It's the story of 10-year-old Karen Reyes,...

"I always recommend this book as — if you are from or are aware of dysfunctional families, you will connect with this book." That's the recommendation of Bob Lingle of Off the Beaten Path Bookstore in Lakewood, N.Y., speaking of the novel "Tiny Americans" by Devin Murphy . Set in western New York where Lingle's store is located, the novel starts in 1978 and follows a family of five over the next 4...

Stef Schmidt of Water Street Books in Exeter, N.H., recommends a novel whose title is sure to draw some curious attention on the shelves. It's called “ I Love You but I’ve Chosen Darkness ,” by Claire Vaye Watkins. The unnamed narrator, armed with little more than her purse and a breast pump, leaves her husband and newborn daughter for a speaking engagement in Reno. Once there, she decides not to...

Leading up to Halloween, Jordyn Stocks of Piragis Northwoods Company in Ely, Minn., recommended the mystery novel “The Seven and a Half Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle” by Stuart Turton.  Yes, there’s a party gathered at the crumbling Blackheath Manor that results in a murder, but what’s unique about this who-done-it is its “Groundhog’s Day”—like premise. When Aiden Bishop first wakes up in the middle...

Lauren Abesames of Wind City Books in Casper, Wyo., loves young adult fiction, and first on her list of recent books to recommend was “The Ones We’re Meant to Find” by Joan He. It’s set in a dystopic reality where climate change has taken a drastic toll on Earth, resulting in a split in the world population: 25 percent live in floating cities, spending much of their lives in virtual reality to red...

This week’s recommendation for kid readers has a “Secret Life of Pets” vibe, and it comes from Angela Whited of Red Balloon Bookshop in St. Paul. Whited recommends the novel “The Great Ghost Hoax” by Emily Ecton, with spot illustrations by David Mottram. It came out Sept. 7.  Butterbean the dachshund and her housemates, Oscar the mynah bird, Walt the cat, and Marco and Polo the rats are looking fo...

All September, Ask a Bookseller will be featuring recommendations for kids and teens.  First up: Harriett Logan of Loganberry Books in Cleveland, Ohio, recommended the picture book “ I Talk Like a River, ” with an inventive metaphor that reframes stuttering. It’s written by poet Jordan Scott, based on his own experience, and illustrated by Sydney Smith. The story follows a boy through a frustratin...

Autumn Siders of The Country Bookseller in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire, recommends a re-telling of Ovid’s collection of ancient myths “Metamorphoses,” told by the tales’ female characters. It’s entitled “Wake, Siren: Ovid Resung,” by Nina MacLaughlin. The stories come in snippets, vignettes and therapy sessions, re-set in contemporary environments — in one, Hades is a bar — to breathe fresh perspecti...

Katharine Otis of House of Books in Kent, Conn., recommends the comical memoir-in-essays “ Hola Papi: How to Come Out in a Walmart Parking Lot and Other Life Lessons ” by John Paul Brammer. The book grew out of an advice column Brammer wrote for the LGBTQ dating app Grindr; he quickly found that the questions he received from readers were deep and wide-ranging. Brammer also describes growing up as...

Linda Crowder of Russell Specialty Books and Gifts in Russell, Kan., recommends the kids’ chapter book “Skunk and Badger,” written by Amy Timberlake and illustrated by Jon Klassen. Skunk and Badger are the unlikeliest of friends and roommates: Badger loves to stay at home with his books and gemstones. Skunk is much more adventurous, and he pulls Badger into a new world of adventure in the forest....

Jolie Hughes of Morgan Hill Bookstore in New London, N.H. has a recommendation for people who want a summer read that leaves them feeling good. She points them toward TJ Klune's novel "The House in the Cerulean Sea." Protagonist Linus Baker lives in a gray, rainy city, where he duly files his reports at his job overseeing the welfare of magical children. The only color in his life are the sunflowe...

Hal Hlavinka of Community Bookstore in Brooklyn, N.Y., says he's been telling everyone about a new novel by Joshua Cohen, out Tuesday: "The Netanyahus: An Account of a Minor and Ultimately Even Negligible Episode in the History of a Very Famous Family." In 1959, at a small New York college, history professor Ruben Blum reluctantly hosts visiting lecturer Benzion Netanyahu. He arrives with his enti...

Lauren Nopenz Fairley has seen a surging interest in romance novels during the pandemic at her bookstore, The Curious Iguana, in Frederick, Md. She said her whole staff fell in love with the queer romance novel, “Honey Girl,” by debut author Morgan Rogers. In the book, 28-year-old Grace Porter has just finished her Ph. D. in astronomy. She's from a conservative, military family. And so it's very u...

Bookseller Dan Carlisle was intrigued the moment he unpacked the box containing new copies of Adam Levin's novel "Bubblegum." The cover was colored and, more strikingly, scented like bubblegum. The bookseller from Taylor Books in Charleston, West Virginia dove in. "I would describe it as a wonderous slog," said Carlisle of the nearly 800-page book, filled with humor and clever wordsmithing. (The p...

Stephanie Hochschild of The Book Stall in Winnetka, Illinois, knows the book that she is recommending sounds quiet and simple, but that doesn’t mean it should be overlooked. Far from it. The novel is “Leonard and Hungry Paul” by debut Irish author and musician Rónán Heston, and it recently came out in paperback.  Leonard and Hungry Paul are friends; they’re both single, in their 30s, and still liv...

Lia Lent of WordsWorth Books in Little Rock, Ark., recommended “The Ghost Variations,” a flash fiction collection by Kevin Brockmeier. All the stories involve ghosts in some way, but they range from scary to funny, charming to thought-provoking. And they’re short: Many of the stories unfold in 500 words, which Lent says makes this book easy to pick up for a quick story — and hard to put down. It’s...

This week’s Ask a Bookseller pick is a historical novel set during World War II in Nazi-occupied Norway. The novel is “White Shadow” by Roy Jacobsen, translated from Norwegian by Don Bartlett and Don Shaw and recommended by Lesley Rains of City of Asylum Bookstore in Pittsburgh.  Ingrid lives alone on an island in Norway, and the story follows the consequences of her decision to shelter a wounded...

This week, Ask a Bookseller called closer to home, with a recommendation from Charlie Aldrich of Buffalo Books & Coffee in Buffalo, Minn . He recommended “Solutions and Other Problems,” written and illustrated by Allie Brosh. Aldrich refers to the book as a comic; publisher Simon & Schuster refers to the book as “comedic, autobiographical, and illustrated essays.” Regardless of the label,...