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On the hunt for a great new read? Bookstore owners across the Hudson Valley share which books are heating up their shelves this season.
A Love Song for Ricki Wilde
Tia Williams
$29
Find it on: Amazon or Barnes & Noble
“A young woman leaves her wealthy, socially entrenched family behind in Atlanta to open a flower shop in Harlem—which, at the time of this novel—is undergoing its famous artistic renaissance. This story is a romantic and defiant celebration of Black excellence in American history.”
—Andrea Talarico and Mark Harris, co-owners of Stanza Books, Beacon
The Collected Stories of Lydia Davis
Lydia Davis
$28
Find it on: Amazon or Barnes & Noble
“From Davis’ many critically acclaimed works, we recommend this as a jumping off point for new readers. Some stories are as brief as a page or a paragraph, but they somehow manage to contain the artistry and emotional impact of an epic. This is the perfect book to pick up and put down on a beautiful day.”
—Sharon Weinberg, owner of The Chatham Bookstore, Chatham
Days at the Morisaki Bookshop
Satoshi Yagisawa
$16.99
Find it on: Amazon or Barnes & Noble
“Novellas were made for a sunny afternoon! This is a title that I really enjoyed, about a woman who starts running her quirky uncle’s bookshop and finds herself in her rediscovered love of reading.”
—Carissa Unite, general manager of Oblong Books, Millerton
Emergency
Kathleen Alcott
$27.95
Find it on: Amazon or Barnes & Noble
“The best books for spring are poetry or short story collections. Emergency is a collection where, in every story, there is a woman past the point of no return, clinging to complex narratives that absolve them of the unfreedoms of American life and the guilt that stalks the women who are supposed to have survived them. Alcott’s dazzling, taut prose and incredible attention to detail make every one of these stories worthy of a novel of its own.”
—Rachel Gorman, lead bookseller at Rough Draft Bar & Books, Kingston
Hedge
Jane Delury
$26.99
Find it on: Amazon or Barnes & Noble
“The local relevance and themes of natural abundance make this perfect. It’s about a historical gardener who takes a job at a lush 19th-century estate in the Hudson Valley. The first half of the book is idyllic—our protagonist Maud has been hired to recreate the gardens. There’s also a charming love affair, but of course this Eden cannot last, and the rest of the book is a wrenching family drama.”
—Sharon Weinberg
Pilgrim at Tinker Creek
Annie Dillard
$18.99
Find it on: Amazon or Barnes & Noble
“Dillard wrote this not too far from where we lived for a while, near the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. The book follows the seasons over the course of a year around Roanoke’s Tinker Creek. Dillard forces us to slow down, meditate, and simply ‘be.’ She situates us inside of beauty and leaves us with hope, and ideas that perfectly fit with the season.”
—Jason and Heather Locy, co-owners at Good Books, Cornwall
Pure Colour
Sheila Heti
$18
Find it on: Amazon or Barnes & Noble
“This a beautifully weird novel of a creation myth in which people, based on their temperament, can be akin to either birds, fish, or bears, and plants were created as audience to the human drama. I love this book because it is very much like spring, full of flora and fauna, and seeking to have the reader look at the world in a fresh way.”
—Kelley Drahushuk, manager and owner of Spotty Dog Books & Ale, Hudson
Tom Lake
Ann Patchett
$30
Find it on: Amazon or Barnes & Noble
“I recommend anything by Ann Patchett but especially her latest Tom Lake, which follows the lives of a group of young people putting on a summer stock production of ‘Our Town’ in a rural area of Michigan that feels exactly like the Hudson Valley. A wonderful way to start getting ready for summer.”
—James Conrad, co-owner of The Golden Notebook, Woodstock
Table for Two
Amor Towles
$32
Find it on: Amazon or Barnes & Noble
“If you loved A Gentleman in Moscow and Towles’ other wonderful novels, this collection of short stories is for you. And what’s more perfect than sitting down in an Adirondack chair on a break from gardening and reading the world of an entire novel in one quick read?”
—James Conrad
Related: These Independent Bookstores in the Hudson Valley Are Delightful
