Indie Booksellers Recommend: The Best of Independent Presses This June
Bookstores From Around the Country Pick Their Favorites
We asked booksellers at independent bookstores across the country about the best books they were reading from indie presses this month. Here are their top recommendations for June.
*
Dag Solstad, Novel 11, Book 18 (New Directions)
The fourth Solstad novel to be released by NDP in as many years. They’re all brilliant and this oddly titled book is no exception. Solstad is a master of matter-of-factness. With astounding clarity and logic, he writes characters both identifiable and baffling. In this case, Bjorn Hansen, a man of 50 living in central Norway who is absolutely paralyzed by second thoughts. One wishes they could read and understand Norwegian as it’s difficult to consider the book could somehow be better. –Dan Carlisle, Owner, Taylor Books
Hebe Uhart, trans. by Robert Croll, Animals (Archipelago Books)
As much about humans as it is about animals (human animals as we are to call them). The writer disappears and the reader becomes the observer, dropping in on a bench at the city zoo, dipping into Walden, and conversing with retired ornithologists and Polish playwrights. With each vignette lasting not more than five pages (not to mention the pleasurable shape and feel typical of Archipelogo’s titles) it’s the ideal book to just carry around and enjoy while say, sitting in a waiting room, or riding the bus, or waiting for the oven timer. Will help booksellers who are perpetually tasked with providing something “light.” –Dan Carlisle, Owner, Taylor Books
Doireann Ní Ghríofa, A Ghost in the Throat (Biblioasis)
A Ghost in the Throat is a seance, summoning a keening woman drinking the blood of her murdered husband in handful gulps, the time both devoured and enriched by daily tasks, the haggard old woman who watches over so many last moments. This is a genealogy, a book-length translator’s introduction, a bonfire. Ní Ghríofa’s investigation of a famous Irish poem and its neglected author digs into the flesh of motherhood, womanhood, history, language, and poetry. A truly astonishing achievement. –Josh Cook, Co-owner/Bookseller, Porter Square Books
Gideon Defoe, An Atlas of Extinct Countries (Europa Editions)
Not just a recitation of nations that no longer exist, An Atlas of Extinct Countries is a very pointed and very funny critique of nation-states, borders, and the flawed men who make them. Defoe isn’t subtle about reminding us about the impermanence of nations, saying, “countries are just daft stories we tell ourselves.” He presents the well-documented collapses (Yugoslavia, German Democratic) along with the more obscure (Islands of Refreshment, the Free State of Bottleneck—yes, this book will send you on all sorts of Google deep dives) but he turns his humorous venom on the range of privileged men who thought they could bend communities, cultures, languages, and land to their will. An Atlas of Extinct Countries is a timely cautionary history. –Lesley Rains, Manager, City of Asylum Bookstore
Mohamed Kheir, trans. by Robin Moger, Slipping (Two Lines Press)
Egyptian author Mohamed Kheir’s first novel translated into English, Slipping (rendered beautifully from Arabic by Robin Moger), is a doleful, yet dazzling work of fiction. Set after the failed Arab Spring uprising, Slipping follows a journalist and his guide as they traverse a nation reeling from loss (both personal and political). With intoxicating, bewitching imagery, Kheir offers a technicolor daydream, transforming the everyday into the extraordinary. Utterly breathtaking in style and story, Slipping is an unforgettable tale where possibility and perspective alchemize into literary wonder. –Jeremy Garber, Events Coordinator, Powell’s Books
Jean Marc Ah-Sen, Emily Anglin, Devon Code, and Lee Henderson, Disintegration in Four Parts (Coach House Books)
This unique book comprises four novellas, all centered on the idea of purity. Each novella creates its own world and atmosphere, separate from its counterparts and yet perfectly balanced in a quartet. Disintegration in Four Parts is high concept and yet extremely accessible, boasting something for every reader to discover. –Laura Graveline, Children’s Book Buyer, Brazos Bookstore
Benjamin Villegas, trans. by Jay Noden, ELPASO: A Punk Story (Deep Vellum)
Benjamin Villegas’ ELPASO, a captivating punk rock history told through fiction, is the story of a Barcelona writer’s fascination with a 1980s Chicano punk band which its members hope will be the “first punk band to sing in Spanish.” It isn’t, but the band, ELPASO, like some pretty obscure real-life bands, will crash and burn, then become legendary, at least to some. Translated from the Spanish and illustrated with tour fliers, collages, and photographs, this book is about every small-town scene, but Texan, Latinx, and also inspired by the Rhythm Pigs, as many of us were. –Karen Maeda Allman, Bookseller and Author Events Co-Coordinator, Elliot Bay Book Company
