Ask a Bookseller: ‘The Red Notebook’ by Antoine Laurain
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.What would the contents of your purse or backpack say about you? Bev Newton of Innisfree Bookshop in Meredith, N.H., recommends a novel about a Parisian bookseller who is so taken by the contents of an abandoned purse, he sets off on a quest to find its owner. Newton calls it “the biggest little book you’ll read this year — a delightful little book." Laurent Letellier discovers the purse, stripped by a mugger of all its valuable or identifying objects. Inside, he discovers a red notebook along with a key chain, a hieroglyph and perfume. Newton says the notebook is full of fragmented “memories and wishes and fears,” adding that readers who wish they kept journals will take comfort in how much can be conveyed in dashed-off remarks. Laurent, with help from his daughter, sets off on a quest to return the purse. But how to find a faceless, nameless woman in all of Paris? The novel has been available in Europe for years, but it was recently translated and made available to the American market.
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Ask a Bookseller: ‘Burner: And Other Stories’ by Katrina Denza
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.Feeling too busy lately to finish a book? Kimberly Daniels of The Country Bookshop in Southern Pines, North Carolina, would like to make an argument for reading short story collections. Specifically, Katrina Denza’s new collection "Burner: And Other Stories.” Daniels raves about these tightly crafted contemporary short stories, in which she says a single paragraph conveys the weight of a chapter, and a short story contains a fully realized fictional world. “The economy of being completely transformed and having your mind blown for such little time — [the time it takes to read a short story] — and to be so affected and to return to your life changed — [that’s] a pretty good value for your time.” These are stories that explore aging, technology and the gap between what people do outwardly and what they express inwardly. In one story, a woman gets an AI hologram so she can continue to speak with her husband, who took his life due to depression. “This is a beautiful, hopeful story. I just love how brilliant it is, because it takes what might be the obvious thing, which is fantasy-versus-reality and technology-versus-humanity, and then flips the switch. “It's like, no, is the fantasy that you can love someone out of a depression? And I'm not giving anything away, because the joy of reading the story is so rich. Every story is like that: just taking it up a notch.”
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Ask a Bookseller: ‘I See You’ve Called in Dead’ by John Kenney
Christina Tabereaux of The Snail on the Wall, a bookstore in Huntsville, Ala., recommends the novel “I See You’ve Called in Dead” by John Kenney. The book's dark humor evokes Richard Russo’s “Straight Man” or Fredrik Backman’s “A Man Called Ove,” and Tabereaux says the story, with its well-developed characters, drew her to both laughter and tears. Bud writes obituaries for a living. With his own life down-in-the-dumps, personally and professionally, he drinks too much one night and writes — and publishes — his own obituary. It’s a rather dramatic description of his imagined feats, and its publication earns him a suspension from his job. In that moment, Tabereaux says, Bud faces the ultimate question: “He has to decide, is he going to continue numbly walking through life, or is he going to truly embrace and live life? “Bud's friend Tim, who is just a wonderful, wonderful character, starts taking Bud to wakes and funerals of complete strangers. And so, he starts evaluating: what's the legacy these people have left? Bud really starts thinking about what his own legacy is going to be. “It's my favorite kind of book, because it includes just fantastically developed characters who are facing the obstacles of life but doing so in a way that is realistic. “It's not tied up super neatly in a bow. There's still grief, and there's still loss, and there's heartache; but Bud ultimately realizes that life is better because he embraces the community of people around him." Listen to Kenney’s interview with NPR’s Scott Simon here: John Kenney on his new novel, 'I See You've Called In Dead' : NPR
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Ask a Bookseller: ‘Dominion’ by Addie E. Citchens
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.Sarah Gregg of Lemuria Book Store in Jackson, Miss., recommends a novel that delves deep into a family drama in a small Mississippi Delta town.The debut novel “Dominion” by Addie E. Citchens takes on themes of power, patriarchy and sexual repression. Gregg calls it a character-driven novel, and it was the connection between the two main female characters — including what they don’t manage to say — that kept her reading. We focus on the family Sabre Winfrey, Jr. As a pastor of a large Black Baptist church and owner of several other companies, he wields tremendous power and respect in the town. His son Manny, nicknamed Wonderboy, is equally beloved, until he’s caught in an act of violence he can’t hide. The story centers on two women who love them: Winfrey’s wife, Pricilla, and Manny’s girlfriend, Diamond. Gregg says that the inciting act forces the two women to talk with each other about “how they can protect themselves, protect Manny's reputation, and protect other people in the town. "It's a fantastic read. I think some reviewers might want it to be a little longer or have a little more discussion between the characters, but I think it's such a perfect capsule of real life that you don't have the conversations that you need to be having.” Trigger warning: This novel involves sexual assault.
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Ask a Bookseller: ‘Auditions for the Fox’ by Martin Cahill
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.Liz Bernoskie of Poor Richard’s Books in Frankfort, Ky., recommends a fantasy novella set in an animal world whose actions offer hope for its human readers. “Auditions for the Fox” is the debut novella from sci-fi/fantasy short story writer Martin Cahill. The tale appealed to Bernoskie because of its focus on the power of individual acts of kindness.Here’s the scenario: Nesi, a little girl with godly blood, has chosen to audition for the Fox of Tricks. He wasn’t her first choice as divine patron, but she’s running out of options. While she expected to be challenged to clever games and perhaps a staring contest, Nesi lands an audition that feels very high-stakes indeed. She finds herself sent back in time 300 years into a land occupied by a cruel ruling set of wolves. Impressing the Fox will mean leading a revolution.Bernoskie says the writing in this book is “delightful,” with interesting characters.“The wolves are mean and cruel. The fox is exceedingly clever. And Nesi fights a revolution not with violence, but with kindness. And this just appealed to me so much, [the idea] that things can change by one person being kind to another person.”
Looking for your next great read? Ask a bookseller! Join us to check in with independent bookstores across the U.S. to find out what books they’re excited about right now.
One book, two minutes, every week.
From the long-running series on MPR News, hosted by Emily Bright. Whether you read to escape, feel connected, seek self-improvement, or just discover something new, there is a book here for you.
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