Ask a Bookseller

Do you love the science-focused, curiosity-driven storytelling on Radiolab? Pallas Erdrich, manager of Birchbark Books in Minneapolis, recommends reading Radiolab co-host Lulu Miller's memoir “Why Fish Don't Exist: A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden Order of Life.”

Its exploration of how and why animals are classified the way they are will make you more curious about the world, Erdrich says.

“It’s more than just a science book. It is a book about love. It is a book about discovering yourself. It is a book about not holding on to the rules that were made up around us and trying to figure out where we fit in the world.” she said.

“And it’s funny. It’s bright. It’s short. There are illustrations that are very beautiful that kind of give you a peek into her mind. It’s just, for me, a nearly perfect book. I have no notes for Miss Miller!”

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Miller also voices the audiobook. Radiolab airs Saturdays at 2 p.m. and Sundays at 7 p.m. on MPR News.

Birchbark Books celebrates its 25th anniversary this year.

Laura Haave of Content Bookstore in Northfield said one of her top recommendations so far this year is a YA graphic novel called “Wake Now in the Fire“ written by Jarrett Dapier and illustrated by AJ Dungo.

The title is a reference to a Rage Against the Machine song, “Sleep Now in the Fire,” which is about protesting oppression; it’s a fitting title for story about Chicago high school students standing up — successfully — to book banning.

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The graphic novel is based on a true story, based on interviews with the students and teachers who were involved. Dapier is a librarian who was working in a Chicago-area library in 2013 when students uncovered that Marjane Satrapi’s graphic novel “Persepolis” had been systematically pulled from their schools. “Persepolis” is Satrapi’s story of growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution.

In “Wake Now in the Fire,” Satrapi appears as a character in the book in support of the students. Haave says Dungo’s bold black and white illustrations are a visual nod to Satrapi’s style, and Dapier’s story speaks about her book’s legacy:

“And there’s a lot of discussion in the book about how important ‘Persepolis’ is as a novel, and just the continuation of graphic novels about young people coming of age, becoming aware of injustices and fighting back against them.”

Satrapi passed away in June at the age of 56.

“Wake Now in the Fire” was one of Haave’s picks for Content’s Paperback Summer series, in which staff select 10 fiction books, 10 nonfiction, 10 young adult and 10 middle grade novels that have come out in paperback in the past year.

She recommends this YA book for teens and adults alike.

Lauren Richards, co-owner of Tropes & Trifles in Minneapolis, recently hosted author Shirlene Obuobi to launch her new paranormal romance novel "Die for Me," and Richards is very excited about this book.

Sean is a cardiologist with a good salary, a dog, a best friend, and a goddaughter. Having taken time to heal from an abusive relationship, she has her life together and she isn't looking for love. Then she meets Julian at a wedding, and their chemistry is combustible. He's wealthy, attractive, and stable in his own life, but he's 11 years younger.

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This is a bad idea, Sean tells herself. She's seen her older male colleagues trade in their wives for younger models. Could she date a younger man?

Richards was insistent on not revealing any spoilers in this paranormal romance, except to say that Julian only seems to be younger than Sean.

"One of the really interesting things that I love about paranormal romance is all of the power dynamics. Those obviously exist in any kind of relationship, even if you're just two regular old humans," but there are further complications when one person is, say, immortal.

Sean is the only Black woman cardiologist at her hospital. The main character’s career reflects the author’s own life: in addition to being an artist, Shirlene Obuobi is a Ghanaian American cardiologist.

Looking to get lost in a fun series this summer? Elizabeth Foster of Inkwell Booksellers Company in Minneapolis says the books that keep flying off her shelves are the novel-meets-video-game series "Dungeon Crawler Carl" by Matt Dinniman.

Here's the scenario: Aliens have come to Earth and taken control. If you want to live on as a citizen of the universe, you must survive the levels of a video game they've created.

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The novels themselves read like video games, with characters' stats at the start of each chapter, skills, quests, levels and prizes (which often contain Easter eggs and hints to the reader as to what is coming next).

Our hero, Dungeon Crawler Carl, enters the video game with his ex-girlfriend's fluffy show cat, Princess Donut. Like other animals who enter the game, the cat becomes sentient and, naturally, has a great deal to say.

"I am a Princess Donut posse fan for life," says Foster. "She's my favorite character because she's not written like a person in a cat's body. She's written like a sentient talking cat. So there are certain moments where she just goes off on this total rant — this tangent, hilarious moment [where it's clear] that this is a cat talking. This is a cat with a beef against cocker spaniels, and it is beautiful."

You don't have to be a gamer to love these books. Along with the engaging characters, Foster says she was drawn in by the excellent world-building and bursts of dark humor that bring perfectly timed moments of relief from the end-of-the-world scenario.

She first started reading the series in 2020 when Dinniman began publishing in e-book format. As the books grew in popularity, Penguin Random House picked them up and published them in hardcover. The eighth book came out in May, with books nine and 10 in the works.

Foster's advice? Definitely start with book one, since the books build on one another as the characters level up.

Sarah Brown of Zenith Bookstore in Duluth read an early review copy of Oana Aristide’s novel “Astronaut!” and she has eagerly been awaiting its official release Tuesday. She called it her favorite book of the year so far, hands down.

It’s part detective novel, part coming-of-age, set in a political environment where official lies are proclaimed as truth.

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The year is 1989; the place: communist Romania, under the authoritarian rule of Nicolae Ceaușescu. Detective Constantine is tasked with chasing down a serial killer plaguing the city. According to the official line, though, there is no serial killer in Romania. The deaths are blamed on rogue bear attacks.

The second storyline follows Lia, an elementary school girl whose inquisitive, creative spirit is constantly getting her in trouble with the officials. By a fluke, she wins an opportunity to recite a poem before Ceaușescu. Lia’s parents, Brown said, are very worried about this.

“What is she going to say to him? What’s going to happen? Meanwhile, her crusty old neighbor starts planning a little surprise for Ceaușescu. You, as the reader, know this might not be a good thing,” Brown said. “These two plotlines come together in a wild, very satisfying conclusion. It’s just a great, amazingly written book. And I’ve read it twice already. I will probably read it again.”

Maria Lockwood of Foxes and Fireflies Booksellers in Superior, Wis., has a suggestion for a great historical fantasy series that will appeal to fans of “The Mummy” movies. She recommends the Raiders of the Arcana series, which starts with "Empire of Shadows," written by Jacquelyn Benson.

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The series begins in 1898 in England, but archaeologist Ellie Mallory and dashing adventurer Adam Bates soon travel to Central America in search of a lost city.

Naturally, there’s a ruthless villain determined to beat them to the discovery and a mythical artifact buried within the ruins. The series has a slow-burn romance with fun, flirty banter.

Lockwood loves the characters. She describes Ellie as “a woman suffragette, so she's very opinionated. She jumps in there and takes control, and I love that about her! The characters are so real, they just jump out of the page at you. You feel like you're carrying around your best buddies in your handbag when you want to read a book; these are great buddies to have along on any kind of excursion,” said Lockwood.

There are three books in the series, plus a prequel novella, with a fourth book coming in January.

Are you ready to believe a few impossible things? If so, Sue Zumberge of SubText Bookstore in St. Paul recommends the novel “Enormous Wings” by Laurie Frankel.

“The moment I mention that it is about a 77-year-old woman who becomes pregnant, people sort of back away from me,” Zumberge said. “I think it is best described by the epigraph at the beginning of the book, which is from Hilary Mantel's book, ‘Mirror and Light.’ ‘We know it is impossible. The question is, who can best endure impossibility?’”

The novel follows Pepper Mills, who moves into a retirement home at her grown children’s insistence. There, she falls in love with another resident and, to the shock of everyone, becomes pregnant.

They live in Texas, and a doctor threatens Pepper’s children and their livelihoods if she should seek an abortion.

Zumberge said this novel makes an excellent summer read, with themes that feel both timeless and urgent: “our relationship with our family, our relationship with our partners, our ability to make our own choices—not just about keeping a pregnancy, but whether we are able to live on our own.”

“The important aspect of this book is that it opens us, through this impossible scenario, to so many other possibilities within our lives. It is a beautiful book.”

On The Thread’s Ask a Bookseller series, we talk to independent booksellers across Minnesota and beyond to find out what books they’re most excited about right now

Jeff Danz of Zandbros Variety in Sioux Falls, S.D., was looking for some escapist fiction when he was drawn to the story of a traveling carnival. He calls Dan Chaon’s gothic horror novel “One of Us” an engaging read with compelling characters that felt like a darker version of a Mark Twin or Charles Dickens adventure.

Set in 1915, the novel follows 13-year-old twins Eleanor and Bolt, who have a flawless ability to read each other's minds. When their mother dies, leaving them orphaned, a rather terrifying man calling himself their Uncle Charlie shows up to adopt them.

They quickly realize Charlie is a con man who expects them to help with his schemes, and the children devise an escape. They find themselves on an orphan train, traveling through the Midwest with dwindling hopes of being chosen, when a man in a red waistcoat with gold epaulets appears and tells the children “I see you.”

He is Mr. Jengling, and he adopts them into the world of Mr. Jengling’s Emporium of Wonders. The traveling carnival world offers a new family in a sometimes-brutal American frontier, as well as opportunities that may cause the twins to grow apart.

And Uncle Charlie is on their trail...

“It ends,” he said, “in an unexpected way that is satisfying, in that it connects a lot of things. It kept me interested the whole time.”

On The Thread’s Ask a Bookseller series, we talk to independent booksellers across Minnesota to find out what books they’re most excited about right now.

Eric Plumb of Amazing Alonzo Bookstore in Duluth recommends the memoir "It Wasn't Meant to Be Perfect" by fellow Duluthian Gaelynn Lea.

Lea is a composer, musician, speaker and disability advocate whose accolades include winning NPR’s Tiny Desk Contest in 2016 and composing and recording the score for “Macbeth” on Broadway.

Writing in a conversational style, Lea traces her love of music and the many paths on which it has taken her. Plumb enjoyed learning about Lea’s collaborations with other Duluth musicians, including Alan Sparhawk from Low and blues musician Charlie Parr.

If you can, Plumb says, listen to the audiobook, which incorporates some of her music interspersed with her story.

Listen to Lea’s interview with MPR’s Kelly Gordon, which aired on Minnesota Now.

Plumb recommended the memoir at a live Ask a Bookseller event at the Zeitgeist in Duluth last week. Find summer reading recommendations from North Shore bookstores and libraries here.

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.

Rachel Ostrom of Acorn Bookshop in St. Paul says TJ Klune’s new novel “We Burned So Bright” might make you cry. Klune is author of charming and hopeful New York Bestselling fantasies “The House in the Cerulean Sea” and “Under the Whispering Door,” among several others.

This new stand-alone novel has a starker premise than some of Klune’s other works: the end of the world.

A black hole has been gobbling up the solar system, and in a month’s time, life on Earth will end. Faced with a clear deadline, husbands Don and Rodney take a road trip across the U.S. to reach an important destination before time runs out.

On the way, Ostrom says, they encounter memorable characters with their own varied responses to the end of life on earth. She describes one memorable conversation Rodney and Don have around a campfire with a younger couple, where they recall a previous catastrophic experience:

“When they were first together, it was in the 80s, in the midst of the AIDS crisis. They're talking about their friends who died during the AIDS epidemic, and how, like, the government did nothing to help them, and it's just really devastating to hear about that. The conversations they have around that were really incredible and even sparked me to want to learn more about that time.”

Acorn Bookshop is the most recent addition to the Twin Cities’ rich indie bookstore scene. It opened in late March in the St. Anthony Park neighborhood of St. Paul.

Ostrom says it’s a feminist bookstore, with 75 percent of titles written by women. The store has a sizeable children’s, middle grade and young adult section.

Ostrom says the store also has a strong nature focus; Acorn Bookshop gives a percentage of sales every month to Voyageurs Conservancy and Friends of the Mississippi River.