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Looking for gift ideas for the readers in your life? We've combed through the Ask a Bookseller files from the past year to bring you recommended titles from indie booksellers across the country. Click on each title to read the full recommendation for the book.

A gentle discovering-life-and-love-after-death story, from the author of the equally charming fantasy novel “The House on the Cerulean Sea” and its sequel. 

“No One Was Supposed to Die at This Wedding”

A whodunnit told in the irresistible voice of a murder mystery writer (who mostly keeps her clever quips and asides to the reader confined to the footnotes). This book is the sequel to the delightful, page-turning mystery “Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies.” And, yes, there’s a third in the works. 

An outdoor adventure novel about friendship and wonder... and the hunt for Bigfoot. 

A fantasy novella set in an animal world whose actions offer hope for its human readers. 

Short-listed for the National Book Award, this novel set during the 1930s Dust Bowl offers a dash of magical realism. The Antidote is the working name of a prairie witch, whose job is to store people’s unwanted memories for safekeeping. But what happens when we — individually and collectively — lose the memory of what came before us? 

A boy growing up in the countryside is told he is secretly Edward Plantagenet, heir to the throne of England. Set in the 15th century against the backdrop of English royal intrigue and the rise of the Tudors, this novel is told with a rollicking plot and often bawdy humor. 

Set in Oxfordshire, England, in 1700, this story about a rumor gone wild has Salem Witch Trial vibes.   

A sweeping novel that interconnects lives across time through a single drop of water. From ancient Mesopotamia to modern-day London, the story weaves together characters living along two mighty rivers, the Thames and the Tigris. 

An obituary writer feeling down on life writes his own obituary, gets suspended from his job, and must decide how he wants to really live his life. Told with dark humor and heart that had its recommending bookseller laughing out loud and also wiping away tears. 

A life-affirming story of loss, love and friendship, told entirely through letters written by a retired woman with a lot to say about how the world should be. 

The newest novel by the author of “A Man Called Ove,” “Anxious People,” and other works by Backman. With Backman’s characteristic clever phrasing, the novel unfolds the story of a group of teenage friends and the summer that changed everything. Their story, captured in a painting that later became famous, will change the life of another teenager 25 years later. 

An English professor checks into a five-star hotel with plans to end her life there, only to discover that she has the only room in the hotel not booked for a wedding. The bride makes it her personal goal to stop the woman’s plans. Laugh-out-loud funny, with vivid characters and, ultimately, hope. 

In 26 essays, one for each letter of the alphabet, Freeman explores how we can use individual words to engage civilly with each other in divisive times. 

Memoir of an indigenous climate activist who lives in the Amazon region in Ecuador, who made the list of TIME’s 100 Most Influential People in 2020. 

Poet and performance artist Andrea Gibson gained social media fame in recent years with their fierce and vulnerable spoken word videos. Gibson passed away this summer. 

This book by the author of “Braiding Sweetgrass” is a series of short essays that consider our connections with the natural world and with each other. 

“Notes from the Porch: Tiny True Stories to Make You Feel Better About the World”

Little stories about human connection, written during the COVID shutdown.  

Here are four books made newly available in English. 

 by Antoine Laurain, recently translated from French

A bookseller is so taken by the contents of an abandoned purse, he sets off on a quest to find its nameless owner somewhere in Paris. 

Calvin isn’t the only six-year-old comic strip character with deep thoughts about how the world should work. Meet Mafalda, star of the classic comic strip created by Argentine artist Quino. 

 by Agatha Christie, written under her pen name, Mary Westmacott

A compulsive read about a woman who finds herself alone with her thoughts in a foreign land and must contend with what she realizes about her life. Christie wrote as “Mary Westmacott” for her novels that were not mysteries. It was republished this year. 

 by Inoue Kazuo, translated from Japanese

This is a two-parter: the full 1940’s manga about a kid who wants to play baseball, followed by an essay that delves into the history of baseball in Japan, manga, and more. 

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Emily Bright

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Looking for gift ideas for the readers in your life? We've combed through the Ask a Bookseller files from the past year to bring you recommended titles from indie booksellers across the country. Click on each title to read the full recommendation for the book.


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