Ask a bookseller: 57th Street Books in Chicago

Every week, The Thread checks in with booksellers around the country about their favorite books of the moment. This week, we spoke with Kevin Elliott of 57th Street Books in Chicago.

If people are looking for "a little something offbeat," bookseller Kevin Elliott has you covered.

Pick up "The Minotaur Takes His Own Sweet Time," by Steven Sherrill. It's about a minotaur — yes, that thousands-of-years-old mythological creature from the labyrinth — working a dead-end job as a Civil War re-enactor.

Elliott recommends it for fans of Colson Whitehead's earlier books or fans of Neil Gaiman. It's perfect for "people who are looking for a quiet story they've really never seen before."

"The premise is absurd, and that's really the only thing about the book that is absurd," he said. "You see these flashbacks to the minotaur's time in the maze and his struggling with violence and solitary urges, but [Sherrill] very quickly transposes that onto what every human being looking for a connection and a friendship is struggling with inside."

The book is actually a sequel to 2000's cult hit, "The Minotaur Takes a Cigarette Break." Both are great, Elliott said — but there's no need to read them in order.

The Minotaur Takes His Own Sweet Time The Minotaur Takes His Own Sweet Time

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