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.

You’ve probably read a multi-generation saga where the story follows a family line through the decades. Have you read a novel that follows … not people, but a house?

That’s the premise of “North Woods” by Daniel Mason: We focus on a house in the woods of Massachusetts and its occupants — human and animal — over four centuries.

Justin Dickinson of Rainy Day Books in Fairway, Kan., calls the work “one of the most unique and original voices in fiction I’ve ever read.”

The book is broken into 12 chapters, one for each month of the year. Each chapter moves forward in time, and the voice and style of the writing change to suit each new occupant. Through it all, the house and its surrounding land are as much a character in the story as any of the people.

Justin describes a few of the characters who occupy the house:

“We start out with a Puritan couple that’s escaping their colony that they were kind of chased away from, and they build the cabin for a shelter. And then it kind of jumps immediately ahead to a man who finds the grounds outside can grow a very unique kind of apple, and he becomes very obsessed with making it into the next, best orchard. So you follow his journey for a little bit. You get his daughters, who have so much going on; they're crazy and hysterical.

There’s ghosts. You get a mountain lion that comes through at one point. And that’s a very interesting poem. There’s a beetle sitting in the rafters at one point watching a couple getting intimate, and then the beetle itself gets a little bit intimate.

It’s so wild and interesting, and every chapter will just kind of keep you on your toes.”

Holly Weinkauf of Red Balloon Bookshop in St. Paul recommends “Just Us.” It’s written by Twin Cities author Molly Beth Griffin and illustrated by Anait Semirdzhyan.

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.

Christina Rosso-Schneider of A Novel Idea on Passyunk in Philadelphia, Penn., recommends a “fever dream of a novel” that’s risen to the top of her list so far this year. The novel is called “Smothermoss” by debut author Alisa Alering.

“It gives very Shirley Jackson or Samantha Hunt kind of vibes, which I’m here for,” says Rosso-Schneider about this sister story set in 1980s Appalachia.

Our two sisters in question are as different as could be at the outset. Older sister Sheila is practical and hard-working, trying to keep up with the household chores while their mother works.

Angie believes in the other-worldly. She creates drawings that feel like tarot cards and seem to have a life of their own.

They live in the woods very near the Appalachian Trail, and the novel’s plot kicks into motion when two female hikers are found murdered near their home. The sisters set out to find the serial killer.

The story involves “some true magical realism, like outside-of-this-realm kind of things happening,” says Rosso-Schneider. “It’s gruesome; it’s inspiring; it’s heartfelt. It’s very craveable.”

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.

We’re at that point in the calendar year when book lovers start to declare their favorites of 2024. Claire Benedict of Bear Pond Books in Montpelier, Vt., says the novel at the top of her list is “Colored Television” by Danzy Senna.

“It’s my favorite kind of book, because it gives you something to think about, and it has some serious themes, but it does it with a light enough touch that you’re just fully entertained the whole way, not just being dragged down by the weight of the world,” she said.

Our heroine, Jane, is a novelist and college instructor whose hopes of tenure are pinned on the publication of her novel — and she’s just found out that it won’t be published.

The novel was her labor of love, what her husband refers to as the “mulatto War and Peace.” Jane, like Senna, is biracial and uses the term “mulatto” to speak specifically to having one Black parent and one white parent in America.

To support her family, Jane turns to Hollywood to write for TV. The resulting ride is deeply thoughtful, and also very funny.

“It’s just kind of one mishap after another,” says Benedict. The entertainment comes from floundering characters trying their best, and we’re “laughing with them [as they’re] just trying to find a place to belong in the world, which is pretty universal. This book is very much about race and identity, but it's also very much about family and trying the best for your family and trying to be a good mom. It was one of those books that you just can’t stop reading, but then you’re sad because it’s over.”

Of course, for the week of Halloween, we had to talk about a book that keeps you looking over your shoulder.

Hunter Gillum of Beaverdale Books in Des Moines, Iowa, recommends the mystery/crime novel “Scrap” by Calla Henkel.

The novel focuses on Esther Ray, a multimedia artist with a true-crime podcast obsession. Recently dumped, she accepts a scrapbooking job from wealthy Naomi Duncan. The items to be scrapbooked purport to trace the 25 years of Naomi’s marriage, and the number of files — nearly 200 boxes — are enough for any crime-lover to get lost in.

Early files mention two daughters, but later there is only a record of one: why? Esther soon finds herself going down a rabbit hole. And when Naomi dies mid-project, Esther is certain foul play was involved.

Hunter says the true-crime elements of the book reminded him of John Darnielle’s “The Devil House,” though he says “Scrap” is lighter and funnier.

That said, Esther’s increasing paranoia and second-guessing of what was true brought Thomas Pynchon’s “Bleeding Edge” to mind.

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.

Do you crave all things cozy once the autumn leaves start to turn?

Ellie Petres of The Book Garden in Bountiful, Utah, recommends a feel-good romantasy read, perfect for fans of “Legends and Lattes.”

It’s called “The Spellshop” by Sarah Beth Durst.

The novel follows Kiela, a librarian, and her sentient spider plant assistant, Caz. When a revolution in the city declares magic illegal and her library is burnt, Kiela gathers up all the spellbooks she can carry, along with Caz, and sets sail for the small island where Kiela was raised — though she hasn’t seen it in years.

There, she finds an old cottage to fix up, a handsome neighbor, and a purpose: the island is slowly dying, and she has just the spells to help both land and people flourish once again. Since magic is illegal, she hides her spells in the jams she sells.

The book is marketed as “a Hallmark rom-com full of mythical creatures and fueled by cinnamon rolls and magic,” and Ellie says that description is exactly on point.

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.

October is around the corner, and with it spooky season. If you like to settle into fall on a diet of murder mysteries and true-crime documentaries, check out the novel "Penance" by Eliza Clark. That's the recommendation from Kate Stern of Antigone Books in Tucson, Ariz.

"Penance" is a fictional story, but it reads like a true-crime investigation with an unreliable-narrator journalist at the helm.

It's not a spoiler to say that the novel involves a grisly murder. Within the first pages, we learn that a teenage girl was burned alive by three female classmates on a beach in a small coastal English town called Crow-on-Sea.

The crime takes place on the night of Brexit and is therefore buried in the newscycle, to be later uncovered by true crime podcasts and Tumblr communities, whose comments and speculation are woven through the story.

Through the investigation, the murdered girl's story — and her previously uneventful life — grow less and less important as we delve into the potential motives of the murderers and the history of the odd town.

"It is an examination of the true crime industry," says Stern, who called the book a pageturner with excellent character development. Reading out to find out what exactly happened, we have to ask ourselves: Why do we want to know?

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.

All this month, Ask a Bookseller is focusing on great reads for kids and teens as they mark the start of the new school year.

September is also when the longlists for the National Book Awards come out, and this week’s recommendation from Grace Lane of Linden Tree Books in Los Altos, Cali., made that coveted list in the “Young People’s Literature” category.

Grace recommends the YA novel “Everything We Never Had” by Randy Ribay, about four generations of Filipino-American fathers and sons.

The book deftly moves among the points of view of each of the four generations when they are 16 years old and on the cusp of major decisions. We then get to see those 16-year-olds as fathers and occasionally grandfathers of the next generation.

The first generation is a Filipino immigrant to California in 1929, and his great-grandson lives in Philadelphia in 2020.

Lane calls the novel a “wonderful exploration of California history, of American history. And it really focuses on the Fil-Am experience in a way that I haven’t really seen done in any YA or middle-grade novel yet.”

For example, the novel includes the 1930 riots in Watsonville, Cali., marked by targeted violence against Filipino immigrant workers, which had a huge impact on the Filipino population in California.

Subsequent generations saw the end of the Marcos regime in the Philippines and the COVID-19 lockdown of 2020.

“It’s in many ways a really good treatise on transgenerational trauma, but it also really brings home that your story is also your ancestors’ story,” she said. “It’s also your parents’ stories. It’s everything that they wanted for you and everything that they didn’t get that they wanted to have when they were 16.”

The finalists for the National Book Award will be announced Oct. 1 with awards given Nov. 19.