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The week of August 20, 2024 A Presidential Reading List: What Indie Booksellers Think 
One lesser-known summer event that indie booksellers everywhere look forward to, it is the day President Obama announces his summer reading list. Inveterately nosy about the books on anybody’s reading list, booksellers find Obama’s list fascinating not only because the former president reads widely across many different subjects, but because he often chooses books that booksellers themselves are fond of: books they are likely to be holding when they tell a customer, “You’ve got to read this!” One of the books on the list, Headshot by Rita Bullwinkel, is the lead review in this week’s newsletter. A number of others, such as Percival Everette’s James, The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley, Martyr by Kaveh Akbar, There’s Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension by Hanif Abdurraqib, and Lisa Ko’s Memory Piece, have appeared in earlier newsletters, included in monthly Read This Next! lists, and spotlighted in the Book Buzz features. Here are what booksellers have to say about this year’s presidential summer reading list: Help Wanted by Adelle Waldman Beautiful Days: Stories by Zach Williams The God of the Woods by Liz Moore The Wide Wide Sea by Hampton Sides Read This Now | Read This Next | Book Buzz | The Bookseller Directory |
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Read This Now! Recommended by Southern indies… |
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Headshot by Rita Bullwinkel Adult Fiction, Literary, Sports It would be easy to use boxing similes or metaphors to describe how good this book is (as many a blurb has already done), but to me Headshot is a stunning cubist novel, weaving in and out of the minds of eight young women in a boxing tournament in Reno. In prose as taut as their muscles, we are shown almost simultaneously the fighters’ pasts, presents, and futures, via subtle commentary on social expectations, childhood, and how to hit the person in front of you. Rita Bullwinkel has written a book on boxing as vital as Bryce Courtney or Norman Mailer, because it’s not (just) about the boxing, but about who and what and how to be. Headshot‘s fractured viewpoint relfects and refracts the characters making the fights themselves almost incidental, leaving a short, sharp novel of brutal beauty. Reviewed by Doron Klemer, Octavia Books in New Orleans, Louisiana |
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House of Glass by Sarah Pekkanen Adult Fiction, Domestic, Thrillers House of Glass is a terrifying story that you won’t be able to put down as Stella Hudson, a best interest lawyer for children during custody disputes, tries to learn as much as she can about 9 year old Rose Barclay’s family and what really happened the day Rose’s nanny fell to her death from a third story window. The more she learns the more she questions the guilt or innocence of all of the family, including her 9-year-old client Rose. One thing is abundantly clear, Stella always has Rose’s best interest at heart and even if Rose has done something truly awful she, not her family, is the best chance for Rose to get meaningful help. Reviewed by Nancy McFarlane, Fiction Addiction in Greenville, South Carolina |
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Bookseller Buzz |
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Spotlight on: Mina’s Matchbox by Yoko Ogawa 
Since childhood, reading has been more than just a hobby for me. You might say that I can’t find meaning in life without books. Since becoming a writer, I’ve had more occasion to read for work than for my own enjoyment, but I can’t say that has caused me any distress at all. Even if a book isn’t suited to my personal taste, there is always something to be gained by reading it, always some light that it will shed on my life from an unexpected angle. ― Yoko Ogawa, Interview, The New York Times What booksellers are saying about Mina’s Matchbox 
Yoko Ogawa has won every major Japanese literary award. Her fiction has appeared in The New Yorker, A Public Space, and Zoetrope: All-Story. Her works include The Memory Police, The Diving Pool, a collection of three novellas; The Housekeeper and the Professor; Hotel Iris; and Revenge. She lives in Ashiya, Japan. |
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There Are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak Fiction, Historical
An August Read This Next! Title Oh my. There Are Rivers in the Sky is just wonderful. Stretching from ancient Mesopotamia to modern day London, via the River Tigris and the River Thames, Elif Shafak has woven a beautiful, multi-layered tale, in which three seemingly disparate narratives are revealed to be intrinsically linked. Impeccably researched and gorgeously written, blending poetry and history, There Are Rivers in the Sky will stay with me for a long time. Reviewed by Jude Burke-Lewis, Square Books in Oxford, Mississippi |
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Bluff by Danez Smith Adult Nonfiction, Poetry
An August Read This Next! Title In Bluff, Danez Smith reckons with the role of art and poetry as a poet from the Twin Cities in 2020 and beyond. Bluff offers a meditation on the power of art against a world and a system designed in opposition. Particularly, the poems and mini-essays in this collection offer a reckoning of the Twin Cities and Minnesota through its history, its present, and its hopeful future. In “My Beautiful End of the World” – my favorite from Bluff– Smith asks “Who does this country believe deserves beauty? Who is allowed nature?” – a question that metonymously stands in for the question at the core of this collection – who is allowed beauty? Reviewed by Mikey LaFave, Avid Bookshop in Athens, Georgia |
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Here Lies a Vengeful Bitch by Codie Crowley Supernatural, Thrillers & Suspense, Young Adult Fiction I knew based on the cover alone that I would love Here Lies A Vengeful Bitch. From the found family of ghosts to her awful ex, Gun, I’ve been obsessed with this book. I gasped and giggled and felt Annie’s rage right alongside her. It’s not often that a book keeps me guessing, but I truly did not see the ending coming! Reviewed by Eden Haymon, Cavalier House Books in Denham Springs, Louisiana |
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We Are Definitely Human by X. Fang Alien Contact, Children, Juvenile Fiction, Science Fiction Possibly one of the most delightful picture books I’ve read this year. Adorable and unpredictable, this is perfect for teaching kids in a fun way that we should always try to give people the benefit of the doubt, even if they’re different from us in more ways than one. When the friendly farmer and his wife stumble across some rather odd folk who need help fixing their car, what else can they do but treat them with hospitality? Later down the line these "humans" will remember the kindness of earth and the farmer and his friends will muse that they were definitely NOT human at all. Reviewed by Katlin Kerrison, Story on the Square in McDonough, Georgia |
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Rune: The Tale of a Thousand Faces by Carlos Sánchez Comics & Graphic Novels, Juvenile Fiction Everything Flying Eye Books publishes is a favorite of mine, and Rune is no different. Two orphans Chriri and Dai find an entrance to another world as they flee the bullies of their own only to end up in Puddin’ a magical kingdom with its own dark villain. Can they find their way back home? Can they help their new friends stop this darkness that is taking control of people? Magic, runes, sign language and so much more. Reviewed by Morgan DePerno, Bookmarks in Winston-Salem, North Carolina |
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Decide for Yourself Books that appear on PEN America’s list of challenged books. |
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Empire of Storms by Sarah J. Maas Adult Fiction, Banned Books, Epic, Fantasy, Fiction, Paranormal, Romance It’s been a long time since a book ending has made me cry, but Maas made me sob. The growth of Aelin and her court is phenomenal. Over the course of this series, I have seen Aelin grow from an injured, malnourished assassin to a strong, magical queen. The journey and backstories of these characters is mind blowing and will stick with me for a while after finishing the series. Reviewed by Melissa Gray, The Blytheville Book Company in Blytheville, Arkansas |
Southern Bestsellers What’s popular this week with Southern Readers. |
[ See the full list ] |
Parting Thought “A good book is an event in my life.” |
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Publisher:
The Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance /
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