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 in the woods of Massachusetts and its occupants — human and animal — over four centuries. Justin Dickinson of Rainy Day Books in Fairway, Kan., calls the work “one of the most unique and original voices in fiction I’ve ever read.” The book is broken into 12 chapters, one for each month of the year. Each chapter moves forward in time, and the voice and style of the writing change to suit each new occupant. Through it all, the house and its surrounding land are as much a character in the story as any of the people. Justin describes a few of the characters who occupy the house: “We start out with a Puritan couple that’s escaping their colony that they were kind of chased away from, and they build the cabin for a shelter. And then it kind of jumps immediately ahead to a man who finds the grounds outside can grow a very unique kind of apple, and he becomes very obsessed with making it into the next, best orchard. So you follow his journey for a little bit. You get his daughters, who have so much going on; they're crazy and hysterical.There’s ghosts. You get a mountain lion that comes through at one point. And that’s a very interesting poem. There’s a beetle sitting in the rafters at one point watching a couple getting intimate, and then the beetle itself gets a little bit intimate.It’s so wild and interesting, and every chapter will just kind of keep you on your toes.” 

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 gives very Shirley Jackson or Samantha Hunt kind of vibes, which I’m here for,” says Rosso-Schneider about this sister story set in 1980s Appalachia. Our two sisters in question are as different as could be at the outset. Older sister Sheila is practical and hard-working, trying to keep up with the household chores while their mother works. Angie believes in the other-worldly. She creates drawings that feel like tarot cards and seem to have a life of their own. They live in the woods very near the Appalachian Trail, and the novel’s plot kicks into motion when two female hikers are found murdered near their home. The sisters set out to find the serial killer. The story involves “some true magical realism, like outside-of-this-realm kind of things happening,” says Rosso-Schneider. “It’s gruesome; it’s inspiring; it’s heartfelt. It’s very craveable.” 

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 my favorite kind of book, because it gives you something to think about, and it has some serious themes, but it does it with a light enough touch that you’re just fully entertained the whole way, not just being dragged down by the weight of the world,” she said.Our heroine, Jane, is a novelist and college instructor whose hopes of tenure are pinned on the publication of her novel — and she’s just found out that it won’t be published. The novel was her labor of love, what her husband refers to as the “mulatto War and Peace.” Jane, like Senna, is biracial and uses the term “mulatto” to speak specifically to having one Black parent and one white parent in America. To support her family, Jane turns to Hollywood to write for TV. The resulting ride is deeply thoughtful, and also very funny.“It’s just kind of one mishap after another,” says Benedict. The entertainment comes from floundering characters trying their best, and we’re “laughing with them [as they’re] just trying to find a place to belong in the world, which is pretty universal. This book is very much about race and identity, but it's also very much about family and trying the best for your family and trying to be a good mom. It was one of those books that you just can’t stop reading, but then you’re sad because it’s over.”

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. The items to be scrapbooked purport to trace the 25 years of Naomi’s marriage, and the number of files — nearly 200 boxes — are enough for any crime-lover to get lost in. Early files mention two daughters, but later there is only a record of one: why? Esther soon finds herself going down a rabbit hole. And when Naomi dies mid-project, Esther is certain foul play was involved.Hunter says the true-crime elements of the book reminded him of John Darnielle’s “The Devil House,” though he says “Scrap” is lighter and funnier. That said, Esther’s increasing paranoia and second-guessing of what was true brought Thomas Pynchon’s “Bleeding Edge” to mind.

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 Beth Durst. The novel follows Kiela, a librarian, and her sentient spider plant assistant, Caz. When a revolution in the city declares magic illegal and her library is burnt, Kiela gathers up all the spellbooks she can carry, along with Caz, and sets sail for the small island where Kiela was raised — though she hasn’t seen it in years. There, she finds an old cottage to fix up, a handsome neighbor, and a purpose: the island is slowly dying, and she has just the spells to help both land and people flourish once again. Since magic is illegal, she hides her spells in the jams she sells. The book is marketed as “a Hallmark rom-com full of mythical creatures and fueled by cinnamon rolls and magic,” and Ellie says that description is exactly on point.

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 Antigone Books in Tucson, Ariz."Penance" is a fictional story, but it reads like a true-crime investigation with an unreliable-narrator journalist at the helm. It's not a spoiler to say that the novel involves a grisly murder. Within the first pages, we learn that a teenage girl was burned alive by three female classmates on a beach in a small coastal English town called Crow-on-Sea. The crime takes place on the night of Brexit and is therefore buried in the newscycle, to be later uncovered by true crime podcasts and Tumblr communities, whose comments and speculation are woven through the story.Through the investigation, the murdered girl's story — and her previously uneventful life — grow less and less important as we delve into the potential motives of the murderers and the history of the odd town."It is an examination of the true crime industry," says Stern, who called the book a pageturner with excellent character development. Reading out to find out what exactly happened, we have to ask ourselves: Why do we want to know?

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 recommendation from Grace Lane of Linden Tree Books in Los Altos, Cali., made that coveted list in the “Young People’s Literature” category. Grace recommends the YA novel “Everything We Never Had” by Randy Ribay, about four generations of Filipino-American fathers and sons. The book deftly moves among the points of view of each of the four generations when they are 16 years old and on the cusp of major decisions. We then get to see those 16-year-olds as fathers and occasionally grandfathers of the next generation.The first generation is a Filipino immigrant to California in 1929, and his great-grandson lives in Philadelphia in 2020. Lane calls the novel a “wonderful exploration of California history, of American history. And it really focuses on the Fil-Am experience in a way that I haven’t really seen done in any YA or middle-grade novel yet.”For example, the novel includes the 1930 riots in Watsonville, Cali., marked by targeted violence against Filipino immigrant workers, which had a huge impact on the Filipino population in California. Subsequent generations saw the end of the Marcos regime in the Philippines and the COVID-19 lockdown of 2020.“It’s in many ways a really good treatise on transgenerational trauma, but it also really brings home that your story is also your ancestors’ story,” she said. “It’s also your parents’ stories. It’s everything that they wanted for you and everything that they didn’t get that they wanted to have when they were 16.”The finalists for the National Book Award will be announced Oct. 1 with awards given Nov. 19.

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 novel “Attack of the Black Rectangles” by Amy Sarig King.Mac, a sixth-grader, gets assigned to read “The Devil’s Arithmetic” by Jane Yolen. It’s a 1988 novel written about the Holocaust, but he and his classmates are surprised to find that several words in the book have been blacked out.This requires a trip to the local indie bookstore to find a version without any black rectangles blocking the text. It turns out, their teacher has censored the book. Their teacher approves of many ordinances in their town, such as rules that bar junk food, set a curfew and determine which plays can be performed at the local theater.Mac and his friends aren’t having it. They go to town hall meetings, picket at street corners and have a silent sit-in in the principal's office. Duckworth says an overarching theme in this book is encouraging kids to have agency: their opinions and actions matter.“We can’t control the way we’re treated,” Duckworth said. “But only how we react to it and how we can choose to have grace even when we disagree. There’s a really sweet line from Mac’s mother that I thought was nice. It was, ‘Grace is a good thing to have. It’s like jam. It sweetens things.’”That metaphor and the concept of grace run throughout the book.

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 from Lois Lowry, called “Tree. Table. Book.” You might know Lowry for her novels “Number the Stars” and “The Giver,” which won Newbery Medals in 1990 and 1994, respectively. Now age 87, Lowry has written a new book that Kristin says deserves to be in Newbery contention.The story follows two Sophies who live on the same street and are friends. Narrator Sophie is 11 years old. Her friend “big Sophie” is 88. Young Sophie begins to hear the grown-ups in her life expressing concerns that big Sophie is no longer able to live on her own. They want her to have a cognition test, to ascertain whether she has dementia.Young Sophie is determined to keep her friend in her home, and so sets about helping big Sophie study for the cognition test. In the test, a person must remember and repeat a series of three words. (The title “Tree. Table. Book.” comes from this test.) Over the course of their studies, big Sophie begins telling her friend stories of when she was a little girl growing up in Poland at the start of WWII when the Nazis came. These are stories she’d never told anyone before, not even members of her own family.

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 Erickson, owner of Bluebird Books in Detroit Lakes, discussed romantasy, BookTok and how Gen Z is saving bookstores.Click the audio player above to listen to their full discussion and check out the book recommendations below.Pallas Erdrich, Birchbark Books“The Truth According to Ember” by Danica Nava“Black Woods, Blue Sky” by Eowyn Ivey“The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World” by Robin Wall Kimmerer “Dahlia’s Make a Difference Day” by Jackie Brown“Raw Dog: The Naked Truth About Hot Dogs” by Jamie Loftus“A Psalm for the Wild-Built” by Becky Chambers“VenCo” by Cherie Dimaline“There’s Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension” by Hanif AbdurraqibChar Klimek, Hearthside Books“Fourth Wing” by Rebecca Yarros“A Court of Thorns and Roses” by Sarah J. Maas“First Casualty“ by AJ Powers“Skyward” series by Brandon Sanderson Amy Erickson, Bluebird Books“Trash, Trolls and Treasure Hunts” by Thomas Dumbo“Find Your Beat: Walk in the Rhythm of Life” by Tim Eggebraaten“The Thursday Murder Club” by Richard Osman“Sandwich” by Catherine Newman“James” by Percival Everett “The Devil at His Elbow: Alex Murdaugh and the Fall of a Southern Dynasty” by Valerie Bauerlein“The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration” by Isabel Wilkerson“Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City” by Matthew DesmondAsk a Bookseller airs Saturdays at 7:35 a.m. and 9:35 a.m. after the weather chat. For the latest book and literary news, sign up for the Thread, our weekly newsletter by Kerri Miller.

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 Books in Minneapolis recommends “Dahlia’s Make a Difference Day,” written by Jackie Brown and illustrated by Peyton Stark, both of Minneapolis. Dahlia, who loves gardens, discovers an injured bunny. She raises money to help the bunny and local wildlife by making and selling cupcakes. Not only does her family help, but she finds other kids in her neighborhood have their stands to support causes they care about, too. The pictures are expressive and joyful in this sweet book about how kids can make a difference.You can listen to the State Fair Ask a Bookseller event Monday at noon on MPR News.

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 First in Dixon, Ill., who she says she found the nonfiction book “totally fascinating.”There’s a tendency to focus on alpha males in evolutionary biology: on their showy, sometimes violent displays of dominance and their pursuit of multiple mates. The females are often portrayed as docile prizes, passive bearers of offspring or devoted (or not) mothers. Some of this understanding traces back, not to science, but to the gender ideas of Charles Darwin's time. Cooke paints a picture that is far more interesting and active, exploring female topi antelopes who battle for the best males, meerkat mothers who murder competitors’ young, female lizards who reproduce without a male’s help and some species whose description defies binary.Chin praises the writing as highly readable and often humorous, with such clever chapter titles as “50 Ways to Eat Your Lover.”

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 Sudden Disappearance,” and this new work has already been optioned for film by TriStar. The novel is a second-chance story about Phoebe Stone, who checks in at a lovely hotel in Newport, R.I., fleeing a crumbled marriage and with plans to end her life. She finds she’s booked the one room not taken by a wedding party. The bride has planned a full week of events for her guests. Separated by about 20 years of age and at very different stages of life, Phoebe and the bride form a friendship. Not only that, but the wedding guests — all memorable characters — keep engaging with Phoebe, reminding her of reasons to live again.  Maggie says it’s a joyous book, despite the dark topic of its opening: “It’s just a really fun story, very different. It’s about just finally speaking your mind and understanding yourself and being brave enough to do so, and just living life. I love good characters that just entertain me and make me laugh and cry. It made for a great summer read.” 

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 hereThis 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 being able to keep up with authors on social media and really pour into their lives and the communities they create. One of the authors she loves is Rae Lyse. Chardai says she was recently up until 4 a.m. devouring her new release, "For the Night”: It’s a slow burn, adult romance, an age-gap, parent-teacher trope. Venus Thibodeaux is a kindergarten teacher starting back in the dating scene following a divorce. Anthony Nunez is the father of one of her favorite students, a shy girl nicknamed “Munch.”I just fell in love with [Munch] and I love how important she was to their story. This one was a rollercoaster of emotions. I don’t have a lot of books that leave me speechless, but this one did. And I honestly just felt so grateful after reading it and cried and wanted to read it all over again.— Chardai Powell

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 work in Sante Fe. It’s set in 1857, at an interesting moment in U.S. history: seven years after the U.S. claimed the territory from Mexico and four years before the start of the Civil War.Carrie finds herself in a complicated, multicultural community, highly segregated among Spanish, Indigenous and white inhabitants. She’s comfortable in all these communities, Jolie says, but not everyone is comfortable with her being there. Of course, as a nurse midwife, she sees the most intimate parts of people’s lives, including secrets her employer and his wife are keeping from her.Jolie says she enjoyed the history, politics and romance of this epic novel, adding, “I read it all the way through to get to the end, and then I read it again because I wanted to get all the details.”Jolie also recommends “Frozen River” by Ariel Lawhon. Set in 1789 Maine, in pre-Bill of Rights America, the novel features midwife Martha Ballard, a real-life figure who delivered over 1,000 babies and never lost a mother. “Frozen River” is also a murder mystery, with the frozen river being where a body is discovered. Called to the scene, Martha declares the death a murder, much to the consternation of those who'd rather the death be hushed up as an accident.“It’s about women’s voices and women’s truth being closed down because it makes men uncomfortable.”In a December 2023 interview with NPR host Scott Simon, Ariel Lawhon spoke about the importance, to her, of featuring a mature woman as a heroine. At age 54, Martha has a supportive husband of 35 years and several adult children as well as an important career within her community.Ask a Bookseller podcast

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 know the ridiculous things you text with your friends? In this case, a reluctant bride and her two best friends decide to follow through on their crazy idea to get money by stealing the cash envelopes from her lavish wedding. Lulu doesn’t love her husband-to-be, and her friends feel the money could transform their lives. One friend is determined that plastic surgery would make her prettier and therefore change her fortune. The other longs to have a child, but IVF is way out of her price range.  All they need to do is swap out the fancy boxes and thick red envelopes of wedding cash with fakes and they’re free! Right? “Throughout the story,” Mojade says, “the friends find out more about what they actually want and what they’re willing to do to get it. And if it’s at all worth it. It really is like the Sandra Bullock version of ‘Ocean’s Eight’: There’s twists and turns, and you bring in outside help, and there’s car chases! There’s a little bit of high intensity, but it’s still just a fun little story with a little bit of romance. But the biggest story of all is just the importance of friendship.”

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 incorporates Hawaiian place and family names, and if you love audiobooks, she says this one makes for excellent listening. Jhoanna says: There are three generations steeped in the tradition of hula, and they’re wrestling with what it means to be Hawaiian and how to preserve and pass on that heritage. Hakes delves deeply into questions of sovereignty, cultural ownership and self-determination. It definitely also deals with family expectations, and trying to find your place in a family that is highly regarded in your community, and trying to stand out as an individual, while also taking pride in being part of that heritage. And it really leads you to question your own responsibilities as a tourist and a traveler. The beginning of the book is kind of a Greek chorus in the third person plural. And it opens with letting you know point-blank that this is not the book that you think it is. This is not the Hawaii that you think you know. This is an insider's look. A peek behind the curtain, so to speak.— Jhoanna Belfer 

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 “Firefly” meets “The Breakfast Club,” and Emily says that description is spot-on. Here’s the deal: The sun is dying — quickly — and no one knows why.  At first glance, the story gives off “Dungeons and Dragons” vibes, in the sense that it draws together a sheltered princess, a high priestess who believes she’s part of a prophecy, an escaped rebel prisoner and some grumpy soldiers on a quest.They find themselves aboard a fall-apart spaceship, having escaped an interplanetary conference. Where should they go? Can they trust each other? Conflicting personalities, ulterior motives, and an LGBTQ+ romance all come together for a quick, entertaining read, says Emily. 

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. Maris has this preview: It is all about this young boy named Patch. He has one eye, and he kind of considers himself as a pirate. It’s getting towards the end of that time, and he sees a young girl being taken by a man into his vehicle. He ends up intervening and gets taken instead. And everybody has written him off for dead. But his best friend, Scout, is still convinced that he is alive. She ends up finding him a year later. Patch is convinced that during that year that he was down in the dark in the basement, there was another girl with him down there named Grace. He’s convinced that she’s still alive. So he dedicates his life to finding Grace. And thats just how it gets started! It’s a book about friendship, love and obsession. It’s one of the better books I’ve read this year. And it’s sure to capture everyone’s heart. Wow. There’s a string of murders that are going on as well. There are so many layers to this book, it’s insane. He’s an incredible writer to add those twists and turns and make them all come together. Throughout the entire book, he keeps you guessing. It’s a book that you will not want to put down.— Maris Herrington Whitaker will be at the bookstore in Petoskey, Mich., on July 29 as part of a U.S. tour. He does not have a stop currently planned in Minnesota, according to the Penguin Random House website.

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 Monsters, Angels, and Other Creatures,” edited by Rob Costello.Here’s what Emma has to say: This is one of the best collections of works in the young adult genre that I’ve seen in a really long time. Every single story has something so unique about it that makes it shine, but the stories also complement each other and no one story feels like it's out-shadowing the others. To have so many new voices within the queer and trans community in the young adult genre coming together has been so fascinating. And the spins on the different monsters has just been one of the most delightful things to see.Some of the stories involve monsters that appear in our day to day. Like, it’s just kind of weird, but we go along with it. Others are right on the edge of being spooky, but not being too scary that you’re gonna completely not be able to sleep at night.— Emma PresnellWhile Emma says no story overshadows the others, she says the story about Mothman continued to haunt her for days, "but in the best way possible."

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 ministry in England has decided to take five people from history who would have died and to plant them into modern-day England, ostensibly to study the feasibility of time travel. One is an Arctic adventurer from a doomed voyage, another was at the Battle of the Somme, etc. A “bridge” is assigned to live with each person and help them adjust to daily life. Our narrator is paired with the Arctic explorer, who has Victorian ideas about how a man and a woman living together should comport themselves.

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 delightful.“He’s very experimental. Each one of his books are completely different experiences,” says Holtrey.Cisco’s new novel “Pest” focuses on a man who transforms into a yak.Before he was turned into a yak, he was an architect, working for a cult trying to build a piece of architecture to welcome some unseen celestial being into the world. The book goes back and forth between the viewpoint of the main character as the yak and as the architect.“It’s a phantasmagoric ride through this transformation,” says Holtrey. “When he’s embodied in the yak, it’s some of the coolest writing that I’ve ever read that really puts you in an alien body. I was really interested in just the ways he senses and experiences the world.”

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 two Sámi families. The story encompasses the forces of colonialism and the importance of language. Translated from Northern Sámi, the title of the book means “the land, the earth and my mother.”“It’s the most stunning book,” Shultz says. “It reads so quickly, but it contains so much. The author writes about some of the harshest circumstances in the most eloquent way.” For Shultz, the story held profoundly personal echoes. She explains why she was drawn to this book: “I’m a member of the Peoria Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma. And I have had two family members who were forced into residential schools. My great-great-great-grandfather was in Carlisle in Pennsylvania and then my grandfather — I didn’t learn until I was an adult — was in Fort Lapwai in Idaho.  He spent most of his developmental years in residential school, and it was never talked about at all. And this book and that history of the Sámi people has so many parallels to North American Indian residential schools. Parts of it were hard for me to read because of that history, but that's one reason why I was drawn to it. The second [reason] was the language: That loss of language and relearning the language. It’s a process that I’m going through and in the third part the daughter of one of the characters is on that journey. I just felt extremely connected to it on a very personal level.” 

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 in 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 Without Tea” by Rebecca Thorne.Kianthe is the world’s most powerful mage, but all she really wants to do is read a book. What she’d really like to do is leave court life behind and open a tea and bookshop with her girlfriend, Reyna, who serves as a private guard to the Queen. Finally fed up by the self-centered monarch, Reyna agrees, and the two head to a small town to open the cozy shop of their dreams. Yes, this does mean Reyna has committed treason, and, yes, the Queen swears revenge. Brimming with fireside conversations, witty banter, and memorable fantastical side characters, “Can’t Spell Treason Without Tea” is perfect for fans of Travis Baldree’s “Legends & Lattes” and “Bookshops & Bonedust.”The book was published in the UK last year but has not been available in print in the U.S. until this week.

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. And while you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, this one tells a powerful story from the book; that iridescent swirling green is an algae bloom and the boat in the picture demonstrates the massive scale of the problem.Carrie says: Egan does a deep dive into humanity’s interaction with phosphorus and discoveries of its benefits and evils. Phosphorus is primarily used as a fertilizer, it gets into some of the fascinating stories of digging up old bodies for grinding the bones into fertilizer, the bat guano islands and then our current situation, which is kind of a very perilous situation with algae blooms and lots of toxicity in our lives. So it’s one of our most critical environmental issues right now. But a lot of people don't know about it.I think Egan is a writer to follow. He’s always been a fantastic journalist. His other book is “The Death and Life of the Great Lakes,” which oddly we sell a ton of in Missouri because it’s just that good. It feels like you are there with him exploring and understanding at a pace that is comfortable. It’s very much conversational language and he’s very good at making you learn things without realizing you’re learning them.— Carrie Koepke

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 bookstore is Content Bookstore in downtown Northfield. Pro tip: It’s generally pronounced “CON-tent” like the noun, but if bookstores make you think of the adjective “con-TENT” they’re fine with that, too.Listen to the podcastOwner Jessica Peterson White says she knew the novel “Martyr!” by Kaveh Akbar would be the title to beat for her favorite book of the year. Since she read it in January, it has yet to be dethroned.Jessica says: It’s a big, fat, juicy story. It’s a fiction debut of an acclaimed poet, and you can just really feel the poetry in his writing. And by that I mean that the novel is really sharply observant. It’s beautiful.And it also has one of the qualities that I most admire in a novel, which is economy, which is I think, a skill that poets have. The story is complex, but it’s not sprawling, and the characters are incredibly compelling, they’re not like overwrought. So it’s a big book, but it’s just what it needs to be.Our hero, Cyrus Shams, was brought to the U.S. from Iran by his father as a baby after his mother was killed in an accidental U.S. airstrike on a commercial flight that she was on to Dubai. And ever since then, growing up in Indiana, Cyrus has struggled with addiction and loneliness, and he has some complicated friendships.Even as he begins to kind of recover from suicidal ideation and his addictions, he’s still kind of fixated on dying. And he’s especially fascinated with the idea of martyrdom. He and his best friend decide to travel to New York City to meet an Iranian performance artist dying of cancer who’s decided to live out her final days in the Brooklyn Museum. Meeting her turns out to kind of challenge Cyrus in some transformative ways and sort of threatens to upend all of his narratives.The novel is really approachable and incredibly entertaining. And it has some really wise and nuanced things to say about recovery, about empire and racism and grief and friendship.— Jessica Peterson WhiteThis interview has been lightly edited for clarity.

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 Lodato, which came out this week.She and her fellow booksellers couldn’t resist the 82-year-old protagonist. Honey Fasinga escaped her toxic, New Jersey mobster family as a young woman and cultivated a life full of art and fashion.Now, she’s returning home, only to find all the bullies still exist. Honey is determined to stand up to them, both for her sake and for the sake of others in her life.Like Elizabeth Strout’s “Olive Kitteridge,” “Honey” is a character-driven novel. Honey is smart, artsy, sexual, vain and very much her own person. She treats high fashion like armor, donning her wig, Chanel and heels even to walk to the drug store.Burns says an advanced copy of the novel was a favorite among her colleagues at the bookstore, adding, “One of my booksellers called her an avatar of fabulousness.”

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 and Ted Orland.Click here.https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ask-a-bookseller/id1687727534Eckert says she first picked up a copy two decades ago, and she still has that copy with its margin notes and underlines. Written in straightforward, unpretentious language, the book urges people to keep doing the good and hard work of creating something new in the world.“Whenever you’re tearing apart layers of your soul and putting them onto canvas or music notes or into words, there’s always that self-doubt,” concedes Eckert, who is also an amateur painter. She easily located her favorite sentence in the book that reminds her to keep going: “Those who continue to make art, or those who have learned how to continue, or more precisely, have learned how not to quit.”It’s a simple idea, Eckert says, and one worth returning to. She recommends this book as a good companion for those moments when creating feels scary or weighted down by self-doubt, or when our progress doesn’t align with our expectations.

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 water and their mother (delightfully illustrated with pink hair) behind to seek their fortune, choosing to live in a volcano, the Arctic, and outer space. The Big Hairy Wolf Spider is determined to track them down, but can it survive in those climates?Revati Kilaparti of Old Firehouse Books in Fort Collins, Colo., said “The Three Little Tardigrades: A Slightly Scientific Fairy Tale” is a delight to read, with cute, colorful pictures and more information at the end that gives you a chance to learn about these versatile creatures.

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, Ohio, and to basketball, whether played on the neighborhood court where the home team has the advantage of knowing every crack in the pavement, to high school courts and beyond. (And yes, of course, LeBron James is in there, as are people he played against in high school.)The writing is gorgeous, Garban says, and filled with beautiful moments about neighborhoods, music and community. She recalls one story about watching a local kid compete in the McDonald’s All-American High School Dunk competition. Abdurraqib stretches the moment over several pages, starting with his shoes leaving the line and ending with the judges leaping to their feet holding up all ten fingers. He writes, “A dunk contest is where one goes to execute some far-flung dream of what the body is capable of. It is where one goes to fail, often spectacularly. I wish all failure could be as beautiful as the failures that arrive to us in midair, a reality setting in that we are incapable and yet still in flight.”

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 apart. In 1895, Antonio Sonoro knows he comes from a long line of ruthless men. He feels that violence is in his blood and, lacking options, is soon swept up in a train robbery that goes terribly wrong. He earns the nickname “The Bullet Swallower” when he receives an injury that should have killed him.In 1964, Antonio’s grandson Jaime Sonoro lives a very different life as an actor and singer in Mexico City. Linking the two men — in addition to blood — is Remedio. Here enters the magical realism, for Romelo is a sort of dark angel, though he is constantly questioning what he’s doing and why. Romelo allows Antonio to live in the opening chapter, but as he follows the family, the question arises: How long should children have to pay for the sins of their fathers?Adding to the intrigue of that question is the fact that the author based the novel loosely on her own great-grandfather.Thom, who grew up near the Texas-Mexico border before moving to Minnesota, said she appreciates the complexity with which this book paints life at the border. She points to a passage by the character who cares for a wounded Antonio: “It’s the strangest thing. I was born in New Spain, which then became Mexico, then the Republic of Texas, and then I wound up in the United States. And meanwhile, my house has always stood in the same place. The Texans call me Mexican. And I’ve never crossed the Rio Grande.”

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 revenge plays, the tale has a “deeply defensible” protagonist, Worthey says. The play follows twin sisters, survivors of a fire that left one of them burnt from the neck down and the other from the neck up. Now grown, they hear from their mother, whom they thought had died in the fire. She sends them on a mission to kill their father, whom she says is the arsonist. The girls call the mother “God.”For Worthey, a key takeaway from the play was “Where does feminine anger go? Being angry as a man has some productive value. But given how society is set up, a woman being angry and then acting on that anger is necessarily anti-establishment, it’s necessarily anti patriarchy."Without spoilers, he adds, “the ending creates the best possible story, even though it doesn’t maybe go in a way that it was set up to ... You don’t feel good in the way that you expect to.”

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, despite his mother’s disapproval. He plays on a family heirloom, a beat-up fiddle that his great-great grandfather, who had been enslaved, received after gaining his freedom. When the violin is revealed to be a Stradivarius, both instrument and its young Black owner rise to fame. Shortly before Ray is to play with at the renowned International Tchaikovsky Competition, his Stradivarius is stolen, and he’s left with a ransom note for $5 million. Ray is determined to get his beloved violin back and — equally as difficult — prove his worth as a musician in his own right.The author himself is a violinist. Listen to his conversation with NPR about classical music, writing and race, here.Rishel said you don’t have to be a musician to enjoy this book, though there’s added pleasure if you do. He also recommends Slocumb’s second musical page-turner, “Symphony of Secrets.”

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. Dr. Briana Ortiz is emerging from a divorce and vying for a better position at work, a position that looks likely to go to the new guy, Dr. Jacob Maddox. She is more than ready to dislike him when he surprises her by giving her a written letter. Jacob lives with social anxiety, and on paper he proves himself to be funny and very much likeable.Harris appreciates that it’s the male in this story who suffers from social anxiety, an issue readers so often see from a female perspective. Harris also wants dog lovers to know that there’s a great one in this book: a 3-legged pup named Lieutenant Dan.

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, and given us a brilliantly clever novel about so much more than ghosts,” she raves.Margaret has found her dream home, and she’s not going to leave it. Sure, every September the walls start bleeding and the ghost children return, but Margaret has learned how to put up with that. Even when it drives her husband, Hal, to leave, she stays. And then things get worse.At times terrifying, at times darkly funny, this haunted house book is perfect for fans of Grady Hendrix. Looking for more horror novels? Check out these past recommendations Ask a Bookseller 'The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires' Ask a Bookseller: The gothic horror retelling of a Grimm tale Ask a Bookseller: 'Hide' “‘The September House’ is a deeply moving and tender novel about humanity’s — and women’s in particular — ability and tendency to normalize things that should never be normalized. I cannot recommend this book highly enough.”

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 “The Black Queen,” the first Black homecoming queen elected at Lovett High is murdered on the night of her coronation. What follows, Dimaria said, is a heart-pounding, unputdownable thriller. Told in the alternating perspectives of the murdered girl’s best friend and the white girl who feels she should have been queen, this tale of high school homecoming court politics dives into racism and corruption within the community.Dimaria said she knows better than to get too attached to characters in a thriller — why risk it, when you don’t know whether they’ll make it through? — but Emill’s writing made her fall for them anyway.

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 come and go. Johannes is a good dog, the fastest dog there is — “though my dog disputes that,” jokes Danz.Johannes serves as the eyes of the park, and he reports all goings-on to the elders, who are bison. Humans think the park is for them, and they visit there to view nature. As the park grows popular, humans' increased presence creates worries and problems for the animals.Danz calls the book a fun, fast-paced story about community that will get the whole family talking.He wants readers to know that there are two versions of the printed book available. There’s the typical hardcover published by Penguin Random House, and there’s also a wood-bound hardcover edition simultaneously released by McSweeney’s, where Dave Eggers is editor. That version boasts a dye-cut wood cover and full-sized illustrations that Danz says are sure to draw in young readers.

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 compete at the 1936 Olympics.The story focuses on Joe Rantz, who lost his mother early in life and was left as a teenager to make his own way. He worked as a logger and did other heavy manual labor to keep himself fed and housed. Though he was accepted into the University of Washington, paying for school was another matter. Precious scholarship money was available for members of the school’s rowing team. Hundreds of boys tried out for nine coveted spots, and Joe made the team.Brown weaves together a highly readable, fascinating underdog sports story. Long before the Olympics was even a possibility, the Washington team faced heavy odds against Ivy League and Navy rowing powerhouses, whose members were considerably better off.Dorn, a WWII history buff who says she knew nothing of rowing coming into the book, found herself immediately swept up in the story. Part of its appeal was personal: her grandfather was of similar age to Joe in the early 1930s and lived in similar poverty-stricken circumstances. She loved the insights this book gave into how hard many in that generation had to work to survive. She also appreciates the mentorship that the rowing coaches and boat builder provided to the young men on the team.Dorn says she enjoyed the film, though she found herself missing some of her favorite details from the book. 

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 moments worked to bring more clearly into focus the elements that were deeply relatable: Our ways to knowing and passing on knowledge. What we learn from our forebearers, and what we pass on to our children. This is a collection that seeks to expand the literary canon, challenging the included voices and adding others, deftly switching between ancient and contemporary references. Case in point: in one poem referencing the Old English epic “Beowulf,” Grendel’s mother recalls the death of her monster/barbarian son, tucking in the heart-breaking line “Mama, I can’t breathe.”These are poems worthy of being re-read, says Worthey, which is one of the highest compliments a poet can receive.

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 follows a fictitious cover band, The Covers. Adding further depth, a Spotify playlist of the songs is available here: The Half-White Album playlisthttps://open.spotify.com/playlist/2ttMH1JaPQOv3NWBDgcXpE?go=1&sp_cid=41c540636bb734102ecb210e6e717d92&utm_source=embed_player_p&utm_medium=desktop&nd=1&dlsi=7ddb3bf956d64837Hoffsis said Sylvester performs pieces of the book locally with a band, recreating The Covers.Sylvester grew up in Albuquerque and is an enrolled member of the Diné. Written from an urban Native perspective, “The Half-White Album” is a story of dwelling in two worlds, of living and loving imperfectly. This book was awarded 2023 the New Mexico-Arizona Book Award for best LGBTQ+ book.

When Julie Buckles of Honest Dog Books in Bayfield, Wis., encountered Rebecca Donner’s nonfiction book, “All The Frequent Troubles of our Days,” Buckles knew she’d want to stock it in the “Badass Women” section of her store. Subtitled “The True Story of the American Woman at the Heart of the German Resistance to Hitler,” the biography of Mildred Harnick reads like a political thriller.Mildred grew up in Wisconsin and met her German husband, Arvid, while attending UW-Madison. They moved to Germany when Mildred was 26, during the rapid rise of Hitler. Working with a carefully cultivated network, they passed out pamphlets, gathered intelligence and helped Jews escape the Nazi regime.Deeply careful to cover her tracks, Mildred burned her journals before she was executed in 1943. This self-erasure proves a challenge for any would-be biographer. Author Rebecca Donner, who is Mildred’s great-great niece, draws from family stories among other traditional sources to piece together her work in the underground resistance. Woven through the story is an exploration of what drives a person to act — at complete risk of self — for one’s beliefs.

Looking for a new read-aloud Christmas book? Amber Collins of Soul Book Nook in Waterloo, Iowa recommends “The Twelve Hours of Christmas,” written by Jenn Bailey, illustrated by Bea Jackson. It’s a modern take on the classic “Twelve Days of Christmas” song, but eight maids a-milking become eight cups of cocoa in this story of a family coming together on Christmas Day. The words and illustrations walk us through the day of Christmas: three French toasts for breakfast, parents cooking, grandparents arriving, and cousins playing in the snow. Hidden among the presents around the tree is a new kitten, who gets lost amid the busy day! The little girl at the center of the story looks for the lost kitten, adding mystery and focus to the read-aloud repetition. Of course, everyone is together in the end.

Chris Miller of Broadway Books in Portland, Ore., recommends the novel “The Maniac” by Benjamín Labatut.Labatut takes us back to the dawn of the nuclear age in his newest novel focusing us on John von Neumann (1903-57). One of the mathematical minds behind the Manhattan Project, von Neumann invented game theory and designed the first programable computer, among other achievements that have a massive effect on the world today. The title “Maniac” is apt for one that delves into the space between reason and madness. It also references that first computer, the MANIAC I (Mathematical Analyzer Numerical Integrator and Automatic Computer Model I).Labatut deftly switches among voices whose lives touched von Neumann’s, incorporating family and friends, rivals and colleagues. Richard Feynman and Albert Einstein are among the voices.Fascinated as Miller was to step into this fictional story, he found its modern-day reverberations onto Artificial Intelligence even more engaging.“I don’t know how many answers the book gives you,” about AI, Miller says, “but it certainly kind of like lays the groundwork for like a good understanding of how we got here.”

Amy Jiron of Hearthfire Books in Evergreen, Colo., recommends a visit to the Nile this December, in the form of Isabel Ibañez's novel “What the River Knows.” Set in 1884, this historical fantasy novel has adventure, romance and a dash of magic.Marketed as a young adult book, the story opens upon 19-year-old Inez Olivera, living in posh, upper-class Buenos Aires and desperately waiting to hear from her parents, who are abroad in Egypt again. In quick succession, she receives two important missives: a ring from her father, mailed without note or explanation, followed by news that her parents have gone missing, leaving her with a fortune and a mysterious guardian. The ring is imbued with Old World magic, whose practices have been all but forgotten. Guarding her father's gift carefully, Inez travels to Egypt to meet her guardian, an archaeologist, and to learn what happened.Jiron says she zoomed through this high-adventure book, and she loved the creative magic system, in which objects can retain and transfer magic.“What the River Knows” is the first in a planned Secrets of the Nile duology.

Caitlin Doggart of Where the Sidewalk Ends Bookstore in Chatham, Mass., says one of her top books of the year is Christy Cashman’s debut young adult novel, “The Truth about Horses,” which Doggart describes as a gorgeously written story about the healing power of horses.The novel’s irresistible heroine is 14-year-old Reese, whose mother has died in a car accident. More losses follow. The family sells its horse barn and Reese’s horse, Trusted Treasure. Her relationship with her father falters, and she is understandably angry when it appears that he’s moving on.The new owner of the barn is a man named Wes, who does not speak and has a unique training style for horses. Reese begins volunteering with him and with the children with disabilities who come to the barn for riding lessons. Slowly, Reese and those around her find healing.“I love this book because it reminded me of all the horse stories that I loved so much when I was little. But it’s contemporary, and it's really spot on for teens.”This book holds a special place in the bookseller’s heart because Doggart’s child is a brain tumor patient.“His occupational therapy takes place in a barn, and he rides horses and brushes them and is more open to talking with his therapist when they amble around the ring,” Doggart said. “The neuro feedback loop is incredibly positive, so horses can help with mood regulation and balance and self confidence and just a general release of tension.”Cashman’s novel is currently in early development for film, with actor Jane Seymour as co-producer.

Halee Kirkwood of Birchbark Books in Minneapolis says one of their favorite books from this year is “The Women’s House of Detention: A Queer History of a Forgotten Prison” by Hugh Ryan. This history explores a women’s prison in Greenwich Village, New York that became a site of LGBTQ activism before the Stonewall Riots. In operation from 1929 to 1974, the Women’s House of Detention housed many trans and gender-nonconforming inmates. It also housed such activists as Angela Davis and Andrea Dworkin.  Kirkwood said they were able to hear the author speak at a writer’s conference about the challenges of locating queer history in archival research and reconstructing the lives of incarcerated people, resulting in a work of nonfiction that read reads like an accessible story. Kirkwood says this accessible history pairs nicely with Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah’s novel “Chain Gang All-Stars,” which also explores the failings of the prison system. “He does a really good job of showing that hate and an exclusion of LGBTQ plus people isn't a straight line,” concludes Kirkwood. “It hasn't always been this way, and that it's always been kind of these like, waves of acceptance and exclusion. That's one thing that I think is really important about this book. It shows the fluidity of queer identity and homophobia and transphobia is not inevitable.” 

Carson Crooks of Prince Books in Norfolk, Va., highly recommends R. F. Kuang’s novel “Babel,” which had him alternating between tearing through the story and stopping to investigate the actual historical events it referenced. Set in mid-19th century London, the world of this novel looks much like our history, except that the central form of power comes of translating and transcribing words on silver bars. Power, then, derives from gaining control over as many languages as possible. The story centers on Robin Swift, an orphan born in Canton in Guangzhou, who was taken to London by the mysterious Professor Lovell. In order to survive, he studies Latin, Ancient Greek and Chinese, all with the hopes of being admitted to Oxford’s Royal Institute of Translation, nicknamed Babel. As Swift’s work, which benefits the British Empire, puts him in conflict with his homeland, powerful questions arise. Is it better to attempt to change an oppressive system from within it or try to tear it to the ground? In this work of literary fiction, Crooks was particularly struck by the footnotes. Wars, altercations and other historical events referenced in the story are explained in footnotes. Crooks found himself pointed back to real events in history even as he pondered the philosophical questions of power and empire raised in the story.