Ask a bookseller

Every week, The Thread checks in with booksellers around the country about their favorite books of the moment.

April 15, 2017 6:00 AM

An underground library and the perfect mystery

Cynthia Justus owns the westernmost bookstore in the entire United States, in Kauai, Hawaii. There's one book she's been recommending to readers for almost a decade.

by Tracy Mumford

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April 8, 2017 6:00 AM

A book that offers 'healing to us as a human family'

Bookstore owner Akbar Watson rarely rereads books, but the news recently has him turning to an older favorite.

by Tracy Mumford

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April 1, 2017 5:00 AM

A thriller for those who loved 'Clueless' and 'Mean Girls'

Bookstore owner Jonathan Sanchez recommends "The Takedown," by Corrie Wang. It's set in a near-future, tech-obsessed Brooklyn, where privacy is a thing of the past.

by Tracy Mumford

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March 25, 2017 5:00 AM

'A little bit dark, a little bit odd, always absolutely beautiful': The short stories of Carys Davies

Bookstore owner Lisa Sharp doesn't usually pick up short story collections; she prefers a full-length novel. But Carys Davies's stories broke that streak.

by Tracy Mumford

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March 18, 2017 6:00 AM

The story of 'The Other Einstein': His wife

Bookseller Jodi Smits fell in love with the historical novel that delves into the life Albert Einstein's first wife, Mitza Maric.

by Tracy Mumford

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March 11, 2017 6:00 AM

On Douglas Adams's 65th birthday, pick up 'The Hitchhiker's Guide'

"Douglas Adams managed, in a humorous way, to tell universal truths," bookseller David Shuman said of the classic space romp.

by Tracy Mumford

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March 4, 2017 4:00 AM

An unnerving thriller that will stick with you for weeks

"It's a literary novel and it's a horror novel at the same time," said bookstore owner Michael Herrmann.

by Tracy Mumford

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February 25, 2017 6:00 AM

The story of the 'last true hermit,' who lived alone in the woods for 27 years

Christopher Knight disappeared into the Maine woods for almost three decades, until someone set a trap for him. A new book tells his story.

by Tracy Mumford

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February 18, 2017 6:00 AM

'The New Jim Crow' and 'The Communist Manifesto': Best-sellers in the age of Trump

Rhode Island bookstore owner Anne Marie Keohane said her customers' reading tastes seemed to change overnight, after the inauguration of President Donald Trump.

by Tracy Mumford