Shows / Ask a Bookseller
Ask a Bookseller
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.
Episodes
- Ask a Bookseller
A book that proposes 'every living thing has two bodies'
Every week, The Thread checks in with booksellers around the country about their favorite books of the moment. This week, we spoke with Daley Farr at Milkweed…
- Ask a Bookseller
A 'fresh, unpredictable' Western with a strong female lead
Every week, The Thread checks in with booksellers around the country about their favorite books of the moment. This week, we spoke with Aaron Cance from The…
- Ask a Bookseller
An almost-too-real portrait of modern Russia
Every week, The Thread checks in with booksellers around the country about their favorite books of the moment. This week, we spoke with Kate Jacobs from Little…
- Ask a Bookseller
Brash, funny and tender: A new poetry collection for your reading list
Every week, The Thread checks in with booksellers around the country about their favorite books of the moment. This week, we spoke with Danny Caine from The…
- Ask a Bookseller
Bob Dylan, Woody Guthrie and the history of protest
Every week, The Thread checks in with booksellers around the country about their favorite books of the moment. This week, we spoke with Ruth Hulbert from…
- Ask a Bookseller
'The Wedding Portrait' explains activism for a young audience
Every week, The Thread checks in with booksellers around the country about their favorite books of the moment. This week, we spoke with Sara Luce Look from…
- Ask a Bookseller
An immortal goddess gets her due
Every week, The Thread checks in with booksellers around the country about their favorite books of the moment. This week, we spoke with Stephanie Schindhelm…
- Ask a Bookseller
When you suddenly become 'internet famous'
Every week, The Thread checks in with booksellers around the country about their favorite books of the moment. This week, we spoke with Tom Roberge Riffraff in…
- Ask a Bookseller
A look at the history of Canada's residential schools
Every week, The Thread checks in with booksellers around the country about their favorite books of the moment. This week, we spoke with Mara Panich-Crouch from…
- Ask a Bookseller
Take this book on your next picnic, and hope for rain
Every week, The Thread checks in with booksellers around the country about their favorite books of the moment. This week, we spoke with Rebecca Dowling from…
- Ask a Bookseller
Twist alert: Here's the 'perfect mystery for summer'
Every week, The Thread checks in with booksellers around the country about their favorite books of the moment. This week, we spoke with Aubrey Restifo from…
- Ask a Bookseller
Historical fiction and magical realism meet in Alaska
Every week, The Thread checks in with booksellers around the country about their favorite books of the moment. This week, we spoke with Charlotte Glover…
- Ask a Bookseller
This novel is 'a thinker's summer read'
Every week, The Thread checks in with booksellers around the country about their favorite books of the moment. This week, we spoke with Melissa DeMotte of The…
- Ask a Bookseller
'The writing is just electric': A bookseller on his favorite read of the year
Every week, The Thread checks in with booksellers around the country about their favorite books of the moment. This week, we spoke with Matt Keliher of Subtext…
- Ask a Bookseller
A (cute) lesson in how 'you can be different -- and yet still be friends'
Every week, The Thread checks in with booksellers around the country about their favorite books of the moment. This week, we spoke with Julie Poling from Red…
- Ask a Bookseller
Recipes for a good story
Every week, The Thread checks in with booksellers around the country about their favorite books of the moment. This week, we spoke with Jake Reiss from The…
- Ask a Bookseller
Murakami mesmerizes with his fiction, but his nonfiction is not to be missed
Every week, The Thread checks in with booksellers around the country about their favorite books of the moment. This week, we spoke with Lucas Mcguffie from the…
- Ask a Bookseller
'A good, old-fashioned page turner' from Jennifer Egan
Every week, The Thread checks in with booksellers around the country about their favorite books of the moment. This week, we spoke with Linda Kass from…
- Ask a Bookseller
An 'elegant, accessible, transcendent, earthy' poetry collection
Every week, The Thread checks in with booksellers around the country about their favorite books of the moment. This week, we spoke with Nathan Montoya…
- Ask a Bookseller
When Teddy Roosevelt went to the Amazon
Every week, The Thread checks in with booksellers around the country about their favorite books of the moment. This week, we spoke with Jinny Amundson, one of…
- Ask a Bookseller
If the Civil War ended with zombies
Every week, The Thread checks in with booksellers around the country about their favorite books of the moment. This week, we spoke with Jessica Cox, a…
- Ask a Bookseller
For Ferrante fans, another story of 'a very strong woman, very well told'
Every week, The Thread checks in with booksellers around the country about their favorite books of the moment. This week, we spoke with Danny Caine, the owner…
- Ask a Bookseller
'You're rooting for the good guys, and you can just smell and breathe the bad guys'
Every week, The Thread checks in with booksellers around the country about their favorite books of the moment. This week, we spoke with Anne Waters at Hub City…
- Ask a Bookseller
Would you want to know the exact date of your death?
Every week, The Thread checks in with booksellers around the country about their favorite books of the moment. This week, we spoke with Val Stadick, the owner…
- Ask a Bookseller
An author who starts where most others end
Every week, The Thread checks in with booksellers around the country about their favorite books of the moment. This week, we spoke with Steve Iwanski from…
- Ask a Bookseller
A powerful look at black girls' path through the education system
Every week, The Thread checks in with booksellers around the country about their favorite books of the moment. This week, we spoke with Clarrissa Cropper of…
- Ask a Bookseller
'Loaded': A look at the complex history of the Second Amendment
Every week, The Thread checks in with booksellers around the country about their favorite books of the moment. This week, we spoke with Alyson Jones Turner at…
- Ask a Bookseller
'Based on a True Story': A creepy, twisty page-turner
Every week, The Thread checks in with booksellers around the country about their favorite books of the moment. This week, we spoke with Morgan Miller, a…
- Ask a Bookseller
'Black Panther' fans, here's your next read
Every week, The Thread checks in with booksellers around the country about their favorite books of the moment. This week, we spoke with Jeffrey Blair of…
- Ask a Bookseller
A novel on the power and pains of sisterhood
Every week, The Thread checks in with booksellers around the country about their favorite books of the moment. This week, we spoke with Susan Hans O'Connor, of…
- Ask a Bookseller
Where 'life is locked in an interlude of longing'
Every week, The Thread checks in with booksellers around the country about their favorite books of the moment. This week, we spoke with Emmet Penney, of…
- Ask a Bookseller
A perfect example of 'if these walls could talk'
Every week, The Thread checks in with booksellers around the country about their favorite books of the moment. This week, we spoke with Lori Fazio at R.J…
- Ask a Bookseller
What does it really take to be a writer?
Every week, The Thread checks in with booksellers around the country about their favorite books of the moment. This week, we spoke with Lacy Simons of Hello…
- Ask a Bookseller
In a time of wishes, two books for young readers
Every week, The Thread checks in with booksellers around the country about their favorite books of the moment. This week, we spoke with Carla Ketner from…
- Ask a Bookseller
That time you fell in love with a mutant potato
Every week, The Thread checks in with booksellers around the country about their favorite books of the moment. This week, we spoke with Moira Koskey at Green…
- Ask a Bookseller
A brutal crime and the beginning of the FBI
Every week, The Thread checks in with booksellers around the country about their favorite books of the moment. This week, we spoke with Karen Barros, from…
- Ask a Bookseller
The best fantasy book ever published?
Every week, The Thread checks in with booksellers around the country about their favorite books of the moment. For this week, we spoke with Corey Mesler, of…
- Ask a Bookseller
'Stephen Florida' is a study in obsession -- and college wrestling
Every week, The Thread checks in with booksellers around the country about their favorite books of the moment. This week, we spoke with Danilo Thomas at…
- Ask a Bookseller
A book about the "small acts that can turn friends into family"
Every week, The Thread checks in with booksellers around the country about their favorite books of the moment. This week, we spoke with Vivien Jennings of…
- Ask a Bookseller
Finding humanity in a computer lab
Every week, The Thread checks in with booksellers around the country about their favorite books of the moment. This week, we spoke with Sarah Hutton of Village…
- Ask a Bookseller
A road trip novel that dredges up the past
Every week, The Thread checks in with booksellers around the country about their favorite books of the moment. This week, we spoke with Melanie McNair from…
- Ask a Bookseller
A cookbook made for tiny, unconventional kitchens
Every week, The Thread checks in with booksellers around the country about their favorite books of the moment. This week, we spoke with Katharine Nevins of…
- Ask a Bookseller
An 'inventive and engrossing' memoir, 10 years in the making
Every week, The Thread checks in with booksellers around the country about their favorite books of the moment. This week, we spoke with Jamie Thomas, of Women…
- Ask a Bookseller
'Beautiful Darkness': A dark story, gorgeously illustrated
Every week, The Thread checks in with booksellers around the country about their favorite books of the moment. This week, we spoke with Ronald Davis, co-owner…
- Ask a Bookseller
Strange occurrences in a rainy Irish valley are just the beginning
Every week, The Thread checks in with booksellers around the country about their favorite books of the moment. This week, we spoke with Vivienne Evans of Books…
- Ask a Bookseller
A 'hypnotic,' 'pointillistic' novel
Every week, The Thread checks in with booksellers around the country about their favorite books of the moment. This week, we spoke with David Enyeart of Common…
- Ask a Bookseller
Seven fantasy and sci-fi recommendations from a diehard reader
Every week, The Thread checks in with booksellers around the country about their favorite books of the moment. This week, we spoke with Jude Feldman, at…
- Ask a Bookseller
A 'completely hypnotic' book to spend the afternoon with
Every week, The Thread checks in with booksellers around the country about their favorite books of the moment. This week, we spoke with Vanessa Martini, a…
- Ask a Bookseller
A look back at the Battle of Hue, in time for the 50th anniversary
Every week, The Thread checks in with booksellers around the country about their favorite books of the moment. This week, we spoke with Steve Bercu, CEO of…
- Ask a Bookseller
For 'Jaws' fans, a look at what it's really like to hunt a shark
Every week, The Thread checks in with booksellers around the country about their favorite books of the moment. This week, we spoke with Molly Coogan of Bunch…
- Ask a Bookseller
The case for short stories: 'How can you not be satisfied with this one perfect, delicious thing?'
Every week, The Thread checks in with booksellers around the country about their favorite books of the moment. This week, we spoke with Kathryn Harper, a…
- Ask a Bookseller
Historical fiction and shades of 'Goosebumps': An escapist middle grade read
Every week, The Thread checks in with booksellers around the country about their favorite books of the moment. This week, we spoke with Meredith Hylton, a…
- Ask a Bookseller
How to become a 'superforecaster'
Every week, The Thread checks in with booksellers around the country about their favorite books of the moment. This week, we spoke with Jonah Zimiles of…
- Ask a Bookseller
Love and arson in rural Virginia
Every week, The Thread checks in with booksellers around the country about their favorite books of the moment. This week, we spoke with Hans Weyandt of…
- Ask a Bookseller
A new spy thriller that's 'very well-researched -- and very scary'
Every week, The Thread checks in with booksellers around the country about their favorite books of the moment. This week, we spoke with Vivien Jennings of…
- Ask a Bookseller
Dive into the twisted world of 18th century New York City
Every week, The Thread checks in with booksellers around the country about their favorite books of the moment. This week, we spoke with Betsy Burton, the…
- Ask a Bookseller
An island inhabited by nine -- and only nine -- orphans
Every week, The Thread checks in with booksellers around the country about their favorite books of the moment. For this week, we spoke with Kate Weiss at…
- Ask a Bookseller
Raising a chimp as part of the family
Every week, The Thread checks in with booksellers around the country about their favorite books of the moment. For this week, we spoke with Amanda Sutton of…
- Ask a Bookseller
The stories behind twelve different bullet wounds
Every week, The Thread checks in with booksellers around the country about their favorite books of the moment. This week, we spoke with Jennifer Norton, a…
- Ask a Bookseller
This big book could carry you through the summer
Every week, The Thread checks in with booksellers around the country about their favorite books of the moment. This week, we spoke with Susan Kehoe, the…