PowellsBooks.Blog
Authors, readers, critics, media − and booksellers.

In response to the horrific attack on Salman Rushdie, and in honor of the 34th anniversary of the publication of The Satanic Verses in the UK, we pulled together some thoughts, reflections, and memories from Powell’s booksellers, as well as our very own Michael Powell.

Powell’s has a strong and proud history of standing beside Salman Rushdie. Back in 1989, when The Satanic Verse was published in the US, Powell’s was set to host a book launch with him. We received multiple threats ahead of the event. Add that to our firm commitment to free speech, and it felt more than important that we continue to use our voice to honor Rushdie and his contributions to the literary community...

When we were in the nascent stages of planning our Essential List: 25 Essential Sci-Fi and Fantasy Books from the 21st Century (So Far!), we asked booksellers to vote for the three books that they would want to see included on the list. When the results came back, we were honestly not surprised to see that Jeff VanderMeer’s Annihilation was one of the books that received the most votes. So we thought we’d have some fun with our Five Book Friday series: instead of five books, let’s do five blurbs! No spoilers, but many blurbs sprouting from one book seemed pretty perfect for a book like Annihilation...

Banned Books Week (September 19–24) is an important time here at Powell’s. We believe in everyone’s freedom to read and to seek out and express ideas. When a book is threatened, our community is threatened.

This year, we are donating 20% of the sales on Powells.com of the 20 titles listed below, all of which are frequently banned or challenged books, to American Booksellers for Free Expression. ABFE's programming and advocacy work ensures that bookstores have the resources they need to support everyone’s right to read. Our donation will be ongoing, so if you purchase one of these books from our website outside of Banned Books Week, 20% of your purchase will still benefit ABFE...

As we were finalizing our Essential List of the Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Books from the 21st Century (So Far!), we started to wonder: if the authors on this list were to write up their own Essential List, what books would they include? So we reached out and asked. Lucky for us: they answered. As if your TBR shelf wasn’t already straining, below are seven titles that our essential authors consider essential...

It's the time of year when the weather is (slowly, oh too slowly) cooling down, schools are back in session, and fall books are making their way to the shelves. There are so many great books coming out, and we just couldn't contain our excitement for them. (I bet if you searched for the word "excited" on this page, the number would be in the double digits.) We pulled together the books we can't wait to see released this coming season: perfect if you want to get a head start on your holiday shopping, or just want to make sure you're fully stocked for when the rainstorms start rolling through.

We know why you’re here. The heat has been too much lately; you’re too busy keeping your fans and air conditioners trained on you to have time to choose which book to pick up next. Well, don’t fear. We’ve got you covered, with a great round-up of some of the most exciting new literature in translation. On this month’s list of new releases, you’ll find a Bride-of-Frankenstein-meets-Stepford-Wives story from Italy; a French memoir about mental health struggles and yoga and meditation...

Last month, we published the Powell's Essential List: 25 Best Sci-Fi and Fantasy Books of the 21st Century (So Far). It's a list we're proud of. We spent so much time debating which titles to include, going back and forth, weighing our options, and we truly think the list we ended up with is great. We know we're biased, but we rate this list five stars.

(Oh, you haven't had a chance to look it over? Go do that! Now! Then come back here.)

The thing with this Essential List, though, was just how many good titles there are. Inevitably, we had to leave some titles off that we really wanted to include..

We love love. No, really: we love it, so we jumped at the chance to feature some of our favorite romance titles to celebrate this year’s Bookstore Romance Day — an event Powell’s is a proud sponsor of this year. Be sure to check out their really great line-up of day-of virtual events.

We pulled together our favorite romance titles where the romantic leads find love in (or near!) the stacks. Grab one (or all) of these and tell your friends not to bother texting — you’re not going to want to be disturbed.

If you (like me) aren’t a huge fan of the heat, then July is the perfect month to hunker down, turn on the fan for some good, cool air and white noise, and pull out your next great read. Below, we’ve rounded up some of the books in translation released this past month that we’re the most excited about. In this month’s selection, you’ll find a generational story about sisters that spans decades; a "a fiercely anti-sentimental meditation on the unsettling paradoxes of motherhood;" meditations on cigars and cars; a bleak, necropastoral landscape; an “anti-voyeuristic portrait of a people visited by tragedy;” a writing fellowship and a mysterious talk show; stories about coming of age and abuses of power; and a new book from "a kaleidoscopic, open-hearted, shamelessly polymathic storyteller."

If you’ve ever asked a bookseller for a “happy” or “joyful” recommendation, then you’ll know what pure terror looks like. Books are so many things (thought-provoking, challenging, strange, unnerving, devastating, eye-opening, mind-shredding), but rarely are they happy, and even when they are happy, that happiness often comes with qualifications (death, disease, famine, war).

But in a world as bad-feeling as our world is right now, it feels worthwhile to find some good-feeling to put on our shelves, so I asked our booksellers for their go-to “happy” recommendations, and boy did they come through...