September 2019
Greetings,

Last week, Amazon announced that it plans to open a bookstore in a mall across the street from Parnassus Books in Nashville, TN. This prompted an op/ed by the author of Late Migrations: A Natural History of Love and Loss, Margaret Renkl. It is a heartfelt and spot-on piece. A couple of excerpts:

"An independent bookstore’s bottom line ensures the prosperity of its entire
community. Bookstores cherish their staff and consistently turn customers into
friends. Perhaps most importantly, they follow a business model that supports
and sustains authors, whose creative work is the very foundation upon which the
publishing ecosystem is built..."

"Neighborhood bookshops will always be focused on people, and their true
currency will always be human relationships. They can only trust that readers
and writers will continue to value and support them, too, no matter what
happens in the giant mall across the street."

We feel these words deeply. Thank you so much for your support of Northshire Bookstores! If you have ideas on how we can improve or deepen our relationships with the communities we serve, please let me know. We are all in this together.

Enjoy the turning leaves,
Chris Morrow
Please note the location of each event Manchester Center or Saratoga Springs



Join us in welcoming back to Northshire former Vermont poet laureate Sydney Lea for his thirteenth poetry collection in which he gives voice to the deep connection between human life and the natural world as well as their fragility and transience. Here, nature is as much a muse as a trigger for sense memory. Death is a constant presence in these poems, too, arising from the bittersweet awareness of what eventually will be lost.




Welcome back to Northshire our dear friend Carol A. Berry when she presents  Learning from Henri Nouwen and Vincent Van Gogh: A Portrait of the Compassionate Life . Berry has been studying Vincent van Gogh since 1979, and spent years under the instruction of Henri J.M. Nouwen. She has traveled throughout Europe retracing van Gogh's life, visiting the towns and villages in The Netherlands, Belgium, and France, where van Gogh lived and worked.




Join us for an evening with three-time National Book Award Finalist Steve Sheinkin as he celebrates the release of his latest book, Born to Fly , the gripping story of the fearless women pilots who aimed for the skies—and beyond. Just nine years after American women finally got the right to vote, a group of trailblazers soared to new heights in the 1929 Air Derby, the first women's air race across the U.S. Follow the incredible lives of legend Amelia Earhart, who has captivated generations; Marvel Crosson, who built a plane before she even learned how to fly; Louise Thaden, who shattered jaw-dropping altitude records; and Elinor Smith, who at age seventeen made headlines when she flew under the Brooklyn Bridge.




Join award-winning thriller author Alison Gaylin, back by popular demand for a special author lunch at Hattie's. Enjoy a buffet lunch while listening to Ms. Gaylin discuss her her latest novel Never Look Back .
Please note: Tickets  are required for this event and space is limited. Tickets include a buffet lunch and a paperback copy of Never Look Back .




Bring the kids to Northshire for a morning with Marion Abrams and Hilary Emerson Lay as they guide us through a craft from their new book  Art Sparks , a friendly, approachable pathway to learning essential art skills and a springboard for building self-confidence and promoting independence. Arts and crafts inspire and stimulate the imagination and can help to boost a child’s confidence. In  Art Sparks , art educators Abrams and Lay prompt children to push their creative boundaries with 53 open-ended arts and crafts projects that foster problem-solving skills and encourage individuality.




Join us for a reading, discussion and signing with Robert Haller, author of Another Life . Encompassing questions of identity, religion, race, and family, Another Life  is an absorbing and thought-provoking debut about the line we all walk between desire and responsibility.

Featured Book of the Month

The rich and colorful story of America's most popular music and the singers and songwriters who captivated, entertained, and consoled listeners throughout the twentieth century--based on the upcoming eight-part film series to air on PBS in September 2019

This gorgeously illustrated and hugely entertaining history begins where country music itself emerged: the American South, where people sang to themselves and to their families at home and in church, and where they danced to fiddle tunes on Saturday nights. With the birth of radio in the 1920s, the songs moved from small towns, mountain hollers, and the wide-open West to become the music of an entire nation--a diverse range of sounds and styles from honky tonk to gospel to bluegrass to rockabilly, leading up through the decades to the music's massive commercial success today.

But above all,  Country Music  is the story of the musicians. Here is Hank Williams's tragic honky tonk life, Dolly Parton rising to fame from a dirt-poor childhood, and Loretta Lynn turning her experiences into songs that spoke to women everywhere. Here too are interviews with the genre's biggest stars, including the likes of Merle Haggard to Garth Brooks to Rosanne Cash. Rife with rare photographs and endlessly fascinating anecdotes, the stories in this sweeping yet intimate history will captivate longtime country fans and introduce new listeners to an extraordinary body of music that lies at the very center of the American experience.

September Pre-order Highlight

From the National Book Award–winning author of  Between the World and Me,  a boldly conjured debut novel about a magical gift, a devastating loss, and an underground war for freedom.

This is the dramatic story of an atrocity inflicted on generations of women, men, and children—the violent and capricious separation of families—and the war they waged to simply make lives with the people they loved. Written by one of today’s most exciting thinkers and writers,  The Water Dancer  is   a propulsive, transcendent work that restores the humanity of those from whom everything was stolen.

Hiram Walker was born into the hell of slavery in Virginia. His father was the master of the plantation. His mother left while he was a child. Hiram possessed an extraordinary gift, and he would use it to bring others trapped in the dark misery of bondage into the light of freedom in the North. This is a powerful and eloquent chronicle of the devastation wrought by an institution that still should shame the nation's consciousness. The novel is infused with mysticism and the redeeming power of love and family. Coates constantly reminds us that man's capacity for inflicting cruelty is only surpassed by the indomitable will and determination of the victims of that inhumanity to triumph over it. — Reviewed by Alden Graves

New Fiction on our Shelves
New Non-Fiction on our Shelves
New Paperbacks on our Shelves
From our own Shires Press


As a true Harry Potter fan, Saidy was thrilled to be going to England to visit her uncle in Bristol, and maybe, if she was lucky, to spend a day in London at the Harry Potter studios. 

Back home, and spending time with her grandparents in Vermont, Saidy’s vacation turns into a crisis when her mother’s favorite cat escapes and can’t be found anywhere. 

Summer at the lake ends with a special purchase, a loon sighting and a glorious August sunset.

New Releases from our Children's Department

We are featuring some of our signed books from publishers and author events online. You can also come into our bookstores to see all of our signed books.

*Limited quantities; while supplies last.
Find out what we're reading here , then join us! Please note that reading groups might not meet monthly; some are bi-monthly.
Thank you for supporting Independent Bookselling!
Open Daily at 10:00 a.m.
Sunday - Thursday until 7:00 p.m.
Friday & Saturday until 9:00 p.m.
4869 Main Street
Junction of Routes 7A & 11/30
Manchester Center, VT 05255
VT - 800-437-3700
VT - 802-362-2200
Open daily at 10:00 a.m
Sunday - Thursday until 7:00 p.m.
Friday & Saturday until 9:00 p.m.
424 Broadway
Saratoga Springs, NY 12866
NY - 518-682-4200
NY - 855-339-5990
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