A little secret about Indie Bookstores: It’s a lot of work.
Not only is there constant shelving, arranging and straightening to do, but you’re also ordering books many months in advance, hoping that you choose the right titles for your store from vague descriptions and awkward this-meets-that comparisons. Valentines Day Lingerie
Sometimes a book becomes a hit out of nowhere, so you scramble to get copies in time. Other times, you bring in 10 copies of something that ends up gathering dust until you return it to the publisher.
But you do it because you love it.
And because sometimes, someone walks in, draws in a great big breath, and says, “Aaaah, I love the smell of books!”
This week, Miranda July’s “sexy coming-of-middle-age story” “All Fours” tops Copperfield’s adult list for the second week in a row, followed by a couple of returning titles: Percival Everett’s reframing of Twain, “James” and Erik Larson’s Civil War history, “The Demon of Unrest.”
New books on Copperfield’s adult list include Jacqueline Winspear’s WWII-era mystery “The Comfort of Ghosts,” TikTok sensation Darlene Schrijver’s “Salad Lab: Whisk, Toss, Enjoy!” and Ali Hazlewood’s STEM-based romance “Not in Love.”
Hot books at the Word Horde Emporium include Koyoharu Gotouge’s supernatural manga “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba,” John Langan’s Bram Stoker Award-winning horror novel “The Fisherman” and two books about curse motion pictures: Kōji Suzuki’s haunted videocassette novel “Ring” and Paul Tremblay’s latest, “Horror Movie.”
Also popular this week are two appropriately paired titles: Emmett Nahil’s queer gothic whaling novel “From the Belly” and its inspiration, Melville’s “Moby-Dick,” taking the No. 7 and No. 8 spots on the list.
1. ‘All Fours’ by Miranda July – When a 45-year-old semi-famous artist interrupts her planned cross-country drive to check into a nondescript motel, an entirely different journey begins. Described by Time as an “intimate, fearless, and sexy coming-of-middle-age story.”
2. ‘James’ by Percival Everett – A reimagining of Twain’s “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” from the POV of the enslaved Jim, as he and young Huck journey down the Mississippi River, encountering storms, floods, and con artists on their quest for freedom. From the Academy Award-winning screenwriter of “American Fiction.”
3. ‘The Demon of Unrest’ by Erik Larson – Subtitled “A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War,” Larson's latest chronicles the five months between the election of Abraham Lincoln in November 1860 and the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter in April 1861. Larson's narrative is drawn from diaries, communiques and other records, and forms a political horror story of a divided nation on the brink.
4. ‘The Comfort of Ghosts’ by Jacqueline Winspear – The 18th Maisie Dobbs mystery finds Maisie working to unravel a mystery from her past in a Belgravia mansion while caring for a quartet of war orphans and a wounded soldier, as the Luftwaffe is bombing London.
5. ‘A Court of Thorns and Roses’ by Sarah J. Maas – A “Beauty and the Beast”-inspired fantasy series exploring the extended family of the fairytale’s iconic characters.
6. 'Salad Lab: Whisk, Toss, Enjoy!'by Darlene Schrijver – A collection of creative salad recipes from TikTok sensation Schrijver.
7. ‘I am Malala’ by Malala Yousafzai – Inspirational memoir by the young woman who became a worldwide symbol of peaceful protest after she was shot by the Taliban at the age of 15.
8. ‘Not in Love’ by Ali Hazelwood – Sexy, nerdy, spicy STEM-based angsty enemies-to-lovers romance.
9. ‘You Could Make This Place Beautiful’ by Maggie Smith – A bittersweet, vignette-filled memoir beginning in heartbreak and divorce, and working toward recovery, from an award-winning poet.
10. ‘Paris Novel’ by Ruth Reichl – When Stella’s mother dies, she leaves Stella a one-way plane ticket and a note encouraging her to go to Paris. There, the introverted Stella explores fashion, uncovers an artistic mystery, explores Shakespeare & Company, and finds a passion for food — and life! A feast for the senses from the author of “Delicious!” and “My Kitchen Year.”
1. ‘Dog Man: The Scarlet Shedder’ by Dav Pilkey – Canine superhero Dog Man returns in this 12th graphic novel adventure. This time around, Dog Man must deal with being sprayed by a skunk, finding his fur dyed red from tomato juice, and AI robots.
2. ‘Smarty Marty Takes the Field’ by Amy Gutierrez – The third book in local author and sports journalist Amy G’s popular and empowering series finds Marty taking on a new challenge — managing her Little League team. Illustrated by Anika Orrock and featuring an interview with SF Giants coach Alyssa Nakken.
3. ‘Hilo: Rise of the Cat’ by Judd Winick – This 10th book in the graphic novel series centers on warrior cat Polly, who, after breaking one too many rules, is sent to Wombatton, a boarding school. But something strange is going on, and students are disappearing. Can Polly solve the mystery and reunite with her friends on Earth?
4. ‘My Dad is Awesome by Bluey and Bingo’ – Bluey and Bingo share all the reasons why their dad, Bandit, is awesome. Based on the popular animated series.
5. ‘The Lost Year: A Survival Story of the Ukrainian Famine’ by Katherine Marsh – Middle-grade novel set against the Holodomor, a deadly famine that swept Soviet Ukraine in the 1930s. Inspired by the author’s family history.
6. ‘Farewell to Manzanar’ by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston and James D. Houston – 50th anniversary edition of Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston’s memoir of a childhood spent in a Japanese incarceration camp during WWII. This edition includes a new cover, a foreword by Traci Chee, and photographs by Toyo Miyatake.
7. ‘The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain’ by Peter Sís – Award-winning memoir from author, illustrator, and filmmaker Sís, detailing what it was like to grow up on the Red side of the Iron Curtain.
8. ‘A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder’ by Holly Jackson – As her high school’s senior project, a teenager attempts to prove the wrong person is in jail for a closed case murder in her small town, possibly drawing the attention of the real murderer.
9. ‘The Eyes and the Impossible’ by Dave Eggers – Recently awarded the Newberry Medal for Children’s Literature. A dog named Johannes watches over a park on behalf of a trio of ancient Bison, reporting on the animals and humans and assuring that all is kept in balance in this lavishly illustrated (by Shawn Harris) and enchanting tale from New York Times Bestseller Dave Eggers.
10. ‘If He Had Been with Me’ by Laura Nowlin – A YA novel about love, loss, regret and romance.
1. ‘Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba, Volume 1’ by Koyoharu Gotouge – When charcoal seller Tanjiro Kamado’s family is slaughtered by a demon, and his sister is transformed into a demon, he vows revenge. Set against the backdrop of Taishō era Japan (1912-1926), the critically acclaimed “Demon Slayer” has become one of the best-selling manga series of all time.
2. “The Fisherman” by John Langan – This Bram Stoker Award-winning novel is a profound meditation of loss, grief and fishing, by way of an American weird tale.
3. “Ring” by Kōji Suzuki – This suspenseful supernatural Japanese thriller, centered on a mysterious cursed videocassette, was first published in 1991, and has spawned multiple sequels, manga, video game and film adaptations.
4. ‘Horror Movie’ by Paul Tremblay – Like “Ring,” Tremblay’s “Horror Movie” is a take on the “cursed film” genre. “Horror Movie” concerns a no-budget guerilla film, shot, but not completed in 1993, that has become legendary due to clips uploaded to YouTube. Now, on the verge of a big budget reboot, the last surviving cast member must reconcile with the past.
5. ‘My Darling Dreadful Thing’ by Johanna van Veen – This decadent Gothic page-turner centers on Roos Beckman, a young woman whose guardian uses her to channel spirits in backroom seances. Echoing tales in the Gothic tradition, particularly Henry James’ “The Turn of the Screw,” while feeling wholly original, and balancing the shocking and grotesque with the tender, this book will get under your skin.
6. “Butcher & Blackbird” by Brynne Weaver – The first book of Weaver’s Ruinous Love Trilogy, “Butcher & Blackbird” is about a pair of serial killers, Sloane and Rowan, making a game of hunting far worse predators. Spicy, friends-to-lovers, pitch-black rom-com.
7. “From the Belly” by Emmett Nahil – Our Weird Book of the Week. See below for more information.
8. ‘Moby-Dick or, The Whale’ by Herman Melville – This 1851 work by Herman Melville consists of the sailor Ishmael’s narrative of his captain’s obsessive quest for vengeance against the massive white sperm whale Moby Dick (who ate Captain Ahab’s leg in a previous encounter). A commercial failure in its day, ‘Moby-Dick’ is now considered to be one of the Great American Novels, and it continues to influence and inspire new works (such as Emmett Nahil’s ‘From the Belly’) to this day.
9. ‘Out There Screaming: An Anthology of New Black Horror’ edited by Jordan Peele – Winner of the 2023 Bram Stoker Award for Anthology. Jordan Peele, director of “Get Out,” “Us” and “Nope,” curates this anthology of all-new horror and science fiction stories of Black horror. Includes stories by P. Djèlí Clark, Tananarive Due, N.K. Jemisin, Nnedi Okorafor and many others.
10. ‘You Like it Darker: Stories’ by Stephen King – The latest collection from master storyteller King includes a dozen short stories and novellas, most set in Florida, including “Rattlesnakes,” a sequel to “Cujo.”
‘From the Belly’ (Tenebrous Press, May 2024) by Emmett Nahil
“Love not the sea […] because it will not love you back.”
Boudoir Lingerie When the crew of the whaling ship Merciful begins to dissemble their latest catch, they discover a living man within the creature’s stomach lining. A young sailor named Isaiah Chase is given the task of keeping the strange man, now secured in the ship’s brig, alive. Soon, strange maladies and accidents begin to befall the crew, the captain becomes increasingly unhinged, and Isaiah suffers disturbingly prophetic visions … with the man from the belly of the whale at their center. Inspired by Melville’s “Moby-Dick” and Eric Jay Dolin’s “Leviathan: The History of Whaling in America,” melded with the body horror of Hodgeson’s “The Voice in the Night” and a touch of Lovecraft’s “The Shadow over Innsmouth,” “From the Belly” presents a captivating reimagination of America’s Whaling Era for a modern audience, including a queer-normative, mixed-gender crew. A menacing, movingly weird tale with plenty of dread-filled atmosphere and darkly intimate prose.