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.PJ Moon of The Raven Bookstore in Lawrence, Kan., recommends a summer read with elements that will appeal to both adults and children. “Bat Kid” is a recently republished classic manga by Inoue Kazuo, translated by Ryan Holmberg. This is a two-parter: the full 1940’s Japanese manga about a kid who wants to play baseball, followed by an essay by Holmberg that delves into the history of baseball in Japan, and more. Moon calls “Bat Kid” a classic baseball manga, about a boy who’s new to the sport, whose parents would rather have him home studying. Its drawing style will remind American audiences of older comic strips, like Dennis the Menace. “What’s really cool about this book in particular is the cartoonist Inoue Kazuo — he would pencil a lot of puzzles, and some of those are in here as well, like crosswords, riddles and brain teasers,” said Moon.The essay, meanwhile, goes into depth about baseball in Japan during and immediately after WWII, as well as a history of children’s manga at that time. “It’s such a vibrant package. If you’re at all interested in the history of baseball, especially in Japan, even if you’re not into manga, I think that you would get a lot out of the essay.”
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Ask a Bookseller: ‘American Mythology’ by Giano Cromley
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.If you’re looking for an outdoor adventure novel about friendship and wonder and — why not? a cryptid — Ellyn Grimm of Dog-Eared Books in Ames, Iowa, has the book for you. She recommends Giano Cromley's novel “American Mythology,” out this week.Here’s Grimm’s synopsis of a book she calls “heartwarming and a bit creepy:”“’American Mythology’ is about two friends, Jute and Vergil, from a town in Basic, Mont., and together, they form the Basic Bigfoot Society. Every year, the two of them go on a Bigfoot expedition, hoping to find Bigfoot or find evidence. And this is rooted in a childhood encounter that Jute had, supposedly with Bigfoot. And after that, his father was never the same and and not in a good way.“This year, it’s going to be a little bit different for them, because Vergil is holding onto a secret that he needs to share. They’re also being joined by Vergil’s college-aged daughter, a professor with somewhat dubious motivations and a documentarian.“I’m always down for some good Bigfoot content, but this offers so much more, because it’s really a story about friendship; Jude and Virgil have carried each other through some really tough times in their lives. It‘s about the worthiness of pursuing wonder in the world, and the importance of preserving the spaces where wonder can thrive.”
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Ask a Bookseller: ‘Fox: A Novel’ by Joyce Carol Oates
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.If you’re going to read a book about a dark character or a difficult subject, do it on a sunny summer day, not when you’re home in the cold and dark of winter. That’s the suggestion of Angel Dobrow of Zenith Bookstore in Duluth, who recommends “Fox: A Novel” by Joyce Carol Oates. We start off the novel from the point of view of Francis Fox, a charismatic middle school English teacher at an elite private school. When he’s found dead, the town sheriff suspects it’s not an accident, and he begins to peel back the layers. Fox — not his real name — is a predator. A pedophile. The bulk of the story, though, is from the perspectives of the people connected to Fox or to the school: the plodding, intelligent sheriff; the political headmistress out to protect the reputation of her school; several of Fox’s students and their families. What struck Dobrow over and over, she said, was the quality of the writing: “It’s interesting; it’s suspenseful. You don’t really know, and until the very end, and even then, you’re not 100 percent sure. It’s not a who-dunnit. It’s just a really good survey of power and human diversity and capacity. It’s a really well-told story.”
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Ask a Bookseller: ‘Sour Cherry’ by Natalia Theodoridou
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.“There are books that you can't put down. And then there are books that, even when you put them down, they just stay with you," says Katherine Nazzaro of Porter Square Books, with stores in Boston and Cambridge, Mass. The book in the latter category — which she’s still talking about months after reading — is “Sour Cherry” by Natalia Theodoridou.Nazzaro calls it an unorthodox retelling of Bluebeard. The story of Bluebeard involves a young bride who is told by her husband (Bluebeard) never to enter one room in their home. When she inevitably does enter, she finds the room is filled with the bodies of his previous dead wives. This novel takes a different tack: the novel starts with a woman, Agnes, who raises Bluebeard after the death of her child.“It sort of asks the question, who was Bluebeard before the fairy tale? You have all of these dead wives that he's collected, but somebody had to be the first dead wife. And what was life like for her before he was this fairy tale monster?”Trigger warning: domestic violence is a main theme in this novel, whose events also include the death of a child.Nazarro doesn’t classify this novel as horror. “In my opinion, as a big horror reader, it doesn't get scary enough. It never really delves into horror. But it's a sort of lyrical literary gothic fiction. I really did feel like it was like a physical presence with me while I was reading it.”
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Ask a Bookseller: ‘The Pretender’ by Jo Harkin
David Burton of novel, a bookstore in Memphis, Tenn., recommends his favorite book of the year so far: “The Pretender” by Jo Harkin, which he calls “historical fiction at its very best.”
Looking for your next great read? Ask a bookseller! Join us to check in with independent bookstores across the U.S. to find out what books they’re excited about right now.
One book, two minutes, every week.
From the long-running series on MPR News, hosted by Emily Bright. Whether you read to escape, feel connected, seek self-improvement, or just discover something new, there is a book here for you.