Howdy, readers! We've been quite busy at the bookstore even despite the frequent rain and oppressive humidity, and I have to thank every one of you who has braved the wet and heat to buy books. Now let me see if I can give you a couple more reasons to make the journey...

This week, we have three exciting summer events; a podcast interview with one of our booksellers; Marcie Rendon's first poetry collection; quarantine mysticism; Graham's favorite book of the year (so far); Emily's favorite book of the year (so far); and enough other book recommendations to keep you reading until 2027...

All that and more, in this edition of the NCB Newsletter!

100 Books We Love (That We Are Not Claiming To Be The Best)

The New York Times recently made waves by publishing their "100 Best Books of the 21st Century", a listicle-spectacle that is titanic in its hubris. Apparently 500 novelists, authors, and critics cast votes in order to compile this bad boy! Give it a look, if you subscribe. We'll do our best to keep these titles in stock in the next few weeks.

That said, we would also like to share our own list, featuring one hundred of our favorite books to recommend to customers. Some of them you'll also find on the NYT's list; this is simply because we have objectively good taste. Although we are not claiming these to be The Best Books, I can promise you'll find something new to love here. Most importantly, these are all in-stock at time of writing!

Meet Great Authors at Next Chapter, All Summer Long

Once upon a time, Next Chapter Booksellers was called Common Good Books, and it employed a bookseller named Georgia Cloepfil. Georgia went to Macalester College and played soccer. Long after she graduated Macalester and left the bookstore, she continued to play soccer professionally. Now she has written a book about her experience called The Striker and the Clock (out today!). Hence, a homecoming: Georgia will be in the store in this Thursday at 6pm for a discussion with local author Kathryn Savage (Groundglass).

Georgia played professional soccer for six years, on six teams, in six countries. She lived out of a single suitcase, chasing better opportunities and the euphoria of playing well. The Striker and the Clock is a beautiful examination of the joy and pain of serious athletics. It's also an eye-opening look at the still-developing world of professional women's soccer. Written in ninety short passages--reflecting the ninety minutes of a soccer match--the book is a love letter to a maddening sport and a reflection on the way it has shaped a life.

Next, on Friday on July 26th, we're hosting a conversation between Juneau Black, the two-person authorial team behind the Shady Hollow Mystery series (see photo above), and local mystery/thriller writer Mindy Mejia (Everything You Want Me to Be, Leave No Trace, To Catch a Storm).

Summers End is the latest of Juneau Black's woodland-animal whodunnits. It's late August in Shady Hollow, and intrepid reporter Vera Vixen agrees to chaperone the school’s field trip to Summers End, an ancient tomb built by an early woodland culture. Naturally, her good friend Lenore Lee tags along. But one morning, the group finds a corpse that is distinctly more modern than expected. Vera and Lenore discover that the deceased was involved in the recent excavation at the site, and very unpopular with their colleagues—including Lenore’s sister, Ligeia. Now fox and raven must delve into the dark world of academia and archaeology to clear Ligeia’s name. Someone thought they could get away with the perfect murder. Can Vera and Lenore unearth the truth in time?

And finally, Wednesday, August 14th, at 6pm Next Chapter is *psyched* to host a conversation between Ernesto Londoño, author of Trippy: The Peril and Promise of Medicinal Psychedelics, and acclaimed novelist Curtis Sittenfeld (Eligible, Rodham, Romantic Comedy).

When he signed up for a psychedelic retreat deep in Brazil's rainforest in early 2018, veteran NYT journalist Ernesto Londoño was suicidally depressed. But the ayahuasca trips he experienced during the retreat provided an instant reprieve, and became the genesis of a personal transformation that anchors this sweeping journalistic exploration of medicinal psychedelics. Londoño introduces readers to the psychedelic enthusiasts upending our understanding of trauma and healing, including Indigenous elders who regard psychedelics as portals to the spirit world; religious leaders who use mind-bending substances as sacraments; and clinicians trying to resurrect a field of medicine abandoned in the War on Drugs. Londoño's riveting personal narrative pulls the reader through a deeply researched account of the perils and promises of turning to psychedelics in the pursuit of healing.

In Nature

AVAILABLE NOW



The Tree Collectors: Tales of Arboreal Obsession — Amy Stewart

In this slyly humorous, informative, often poignant volume, Stewart brings us captivating stories of people who spend their lives in pursuit of rare and wonderful trees and are transformed in the process. Stewart populates this lively compendium with her own hand-drawn watercolor portraits of these extraordinary people and their trees, interspersed with side trips to investigate famous tree collections, arboreal glossaries, and even tips for “unauthorized” forestry. This book is a stunning tribute to a group of nature lovers making their lives—and the world—more beautiful, one tree at a time.

In Sci-Fi/Fantasy

AVAILABLE NOW: SIGNED COPIES!

The Bright Sword — Lev Grossman

In a Britain forsaken by the Romans, by God, and finally by Arthur, we follow the last of the knights: the ones the old tales relegated to the margins, each scarred by trauma, patriarchy, or simply the uncaring cosmos. The Bright Sword has the courtly intrigue and captivating backstories of Game of Thrones, but its surreal, apocalyptic setting is more Elden Ring. The characters pull you in with their unique voices and histories. Their self-aware repartee (a familiar mode for Grossman) brings levity to the questing business, but he also knows when to play it straight, and does so to great effect. Yes, it’s an epic, but I devoured it in a week. Almost every chapter rewrote my expectations of the story’s direction, scope, and themes, yet somehow it still comes together into an incredibly satisfying conclusion.

-Graham [continued]

AVAILABLE NOW: SIGNED COPIES!

The Black Bird Oracle — Deborah Harkness

Lovers despite long-standing taboos, witch Diana and vampire Matthew receive a formal demand from the Congregation: they must test the magic of their seven-year-old twins, Pip and Rebecca. Desperate to avoid the same fate that led her parents to spellbind her, Diana decides instead to answer a message from a great-aunt she never knew existed: Gwyneth, a talented witch grounded in higher magic. Under her tutelage, Diana confronts her family’s dark past and her own desire for greater power—if she can let go of her fear of wielding it. In this stunning new novel, Harkness deepens the beloved world of All Souls with powerful new magic and long-hidden secrets.

In Romance

AVAILABLE JULY 30th: PREORDER NOW

Slow Dance — Rainbow Rowell

"OH. MY. HEART. Have you ever started reading a new book, and barely a page in you just know that it is going to destroy you (in the best way possible) and put you back together somehow more whole? 10000%, this happened for me with Slow Dance.

A master at writing beautiful, complex, flawed, and achingly human characters, Rainbow Rowell is not afraid to show heartbreak in all forms. But that is not all that this book entails, there’s also longing and second chances; healing and hope.

I cried, I laughed, I held my copy close to my heart for an extended period of time after I finished the last page."

-Emily

In Poetry

AVAILABLE NOW

Anishinaabe Songs For A New Millennium — Marcie R. Rendon

The ancestors that walk with us, sing us our song. When we get quiet enough, we can hear them sing and make them audible to people today. Rendon, a member of the White Earth Nation, summons those ancestors’ songs, and so begins the dream singing for generations yet to come. Like the stories once inscribed on birch-bark scrolls, Rendon’s poem-songs evoke the world still unfolding around us, reflecting our place in time for future generations.

Through dream-songs and poem-songs responding to works of theater, choral music, and opera, Rendon brings memory to life, the senses to attention. Her singing carries the Anishinaabe way of life and way of seeing forward in the world.

In Politics/Current Events

AVAILABLE JULY 23rd: PREORDER NOW

Autocracy Inc.: The Dictators Who Want To Run the World — Anne Applebaum

We think we know what an autocratic state looks like, but nowadays, autocracies aren't underpinned by one dictator, but rather networks of kleptocrats, surveillance technologies, and propagandists, operating across multiple regimes, from China to Russia to Iran. The members of Autocracy, Inc, aren't linked by a unifying ideology, but a common desire for power, wealth, and impunity. In this urgent treatise evoking George Kennan, Anne Applebaum calls for the democracies to fundamentally reorient their policies to fight this new kind of threat.

Milan On The Book Case

Ever wonder how we schedule events with so many beloved authors every year? Tune in to the latest episode of The Book Case, in which Kate and Charlie Gibson interview our events manager, Milan!! The novelist J. Ryan Stradal is also featured. Listen on Spotify, ABC Audio, Apple Podcasts, or your platform of choice!

Announcing The Audiobook Champion Challenge

Every Prime Day, we like to remind folks about Libro.fm, a competitive and conscientious alternative to Audible for those audiobook enthusiasts who want to fund their local bookstores instead of Jeff's next spacewalk. Libro.fm offers both à la carte audiobooks and monthly subscriptions. If you enter us as your local bookstore at checkout, your purchase will support Next Chapter.

With the Olympics just around the corner, Libro.fm has a fun proposition: the Audiobook Champion Challenge! Listen to as many audiobooks as you can July 16th - 26th, and you'll be entered for a chance to win free audiobooks. "Gold Medalists" (50+ hours of audio) can even win a year-long membership -- 12 free audiobooks! You get a free audiobook just for participating. Learn more and sign up here.

If you sign up for a new membership using the code PRIMETIME or this link, and you can start with two free audiobooks in addition to your first title, making it much easier to go for the gold!

LOCAL AUTHOR!

AVAILABLE 7/23: PREORDER NOW!

Manga Club: Dororo

Saturday, August 10 at 5:00pm

Come to Next Chapter Booksellers at 5pm on the second Saturday of every month to eat some Japanese snacks and talk manga with other otaku! Hosted by our resident manga expert Graham, the Manga Club (マンガクラブ, lit. manga kurabu) provides a forum to casually discuss a new title every month. For our August meeting, we're finally reading the "Godfather of Manga," Osamu Tezuka -- namely, the classic shonen Dororo!

Serialized in 1967-69, Dororo tells the story of a ronin hunting the demons who have stolen the pieces of his own body, and the young thief who accompanies him on this dark errand. As with all Tezuka's work, its influence is hard to overstate; most directly, it inspired films, anime, video games (including, arguably, Sekiro), and other manga, such as Atsushi Kaneko's recent cyberpunk reimagining Search and Destroy, which we'll be discussing in September.

Enemies To Readers: The Art of Catching Feelings

Thursday, July 25 at 5:00pm

Whether or not you are already in love with romance novels, or are seeking a new relationship with the genre, Enemies to Readers invites you to join us every last Thursday at 5pm to discuss the latest read, as well as our continuing passion for tropes and spicy reads. Knock your next read out of the park with July's pick: The Art of Catching Feelings! A professional baseball player and his heckler prove that true love is worth going to bat for in this swoony romance by USA Today bestselling author Alicia Thompson.

No First Chapter Story Time This Week

(Returns Saturday, 7/27 at 10:30am)

Join us for First Chapter Story Time Saturdays at 10:30am, when Michael or a special guest reader will share a couple favorite picture books from our children’s section, followed by an activity related to the story! Children of all ages are invited. Enjoy a story, browse our books, and instill a love of reading in your tykes! This week, First Chapter Story Time is cancelled. Please join us again on July 27th.

Staff Pick Spotlight:

Fever Dream — Samanta Schweblin

'It's hard to advertise a thing like Fever Dream, though obviously many have tried. Maybe it's enough to say "that's the book that made me feel quite weird for several weeks after I finished it." If that's not the highest praise, what is? Its effect is indelible, and immediately disquieting. Go in blind, and read it in one sitting.'

-Graham

Opening Lines:

Plague Bill

"Once upon a time, there was a plague. Fearing disease and death, people led a hermit-like existence, distanced from each other in their domestic cells, advancing masked against a contaminated and untrustworthy reality defined by pestilence, pain, and suffering. They were suddenly aware of living in a world of contagion, and possibly being contagions themselves. They followed a practice that the ancients called anachoreisis, a retreat from the world, a withdrawal into solitude.

Some of them, the richer ones, fled their cities for the apparent safety of the countryside. The poorer ones stayed put, hoping for the best while fearing the worst. Cut off from their compulsory commutes and their mind-numbing round of distraction from distraction by distraction, they heard silence, or something close to it, sometimes punctuated by birdsong. Whether they liked it or not, they all became anchorites or anchoresses. They became unwitting mystics.

There was a strange asceticism to the world of isolation and disease experienced by these people, which opened them up to extreme experiences of doubt, dereliction, dreams, hypochondria, and hallucination. Many of them felt a desperate desire for the touch of love, for a connection with something or someone outside or larger than the self, however

that might be understood, possibly even as something divine.

Their intense and confused feelings seemed to have echoes with practices and beliefs long considered outdated, superstitious, irrational and, frankly, embarrassing. It was as if something archaic--elemental, primeval, and long dead--awakened in the plague."

-Mysticism, Simon Critchley

(available October 15th: preorder now!)

We Are Open!

Three ways to shop with Next Chapter Booksellers:

1. Come in the store and browse. Talk to a bookseller or peruse the shelves, as you prefer.

2. Order online or over the phone (at 651-225-8989) for in-store pickup. We'll let you know when your books are ready, then you can swing by and pick them up at your leisure.

3. We can mail your books (at no additional charge for orders over $75). This option is available for web, phone, or in-store orders.

We're here 10am to 5pm Monday through Saturday and noon to 5pm on Sunday.