1151 Church Street, Northbrook IL (847) 498-4999
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Welcome Readers,
May is a month full of celebrations! Spring has arrived, Graduations will commence, and Mothers will have their day. All of this brings us together as families, and what better gift to give than a new book or two?
We recently celebrated Independent Bookstore Day. Thank you to everyone who came in to support the store and share in the excitement. Over 200 people attended and enjoyed their time. As our new throw pillow says, "This is our Happy Place." A mother came in with her son's school homework, which listed the Book Bin as his favorite place; his house was listed as #4, so we consider ourselves very lucky to be held in such high esteem by such a discerning child! It is our favorite place, and hopefully it is one of yours as well.
Kindly,
Alli & Amy
Book Bin Owners
Share with us a few moments to view this month's
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Hours:
Monday through Saturday
Open 10:00am to 4:00pm
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Last Month's Bestsellers
Woman on Fire
by Lisa Barr
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
by Taylor Jenkins Reid
French Braid
by Anne Tyler
Atlas of the Heart
by Brene Brown
The Paris Library
by Janet Skeslien Charles
The Diamond Eye
by Anne Quinn
A Bend in the River
by Libby Hellmann
DoubleBlind
by Libby Hellmann
Bittersweet
by Susan Cain
The Guncle
by Steven Rowley
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Book Bin's Upcoming Events |
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Local Author Event with Amanda Moore, poet author of Requeening
We're hosting Amanda as she returns to her hometown! She remembers, "Book Bin, and the shopping center where you are, were always central to my universe. Not only did I get most of my birthday presents from your store, but I tried on shoes at the Country Cobbler a few doors down and bought cookies at the Country Maid Bakery in the corner. Sunset was across the street back then, and Lyman Sargent's was where I bought all the good candy. I could go on and on but will spare you."
We will get together at 5:00pm on Monday, May 23 for this in-person event. Join us!
Amanda Moore’s debut collection of poetry, Requeening (Ecco 2021), was selected for the 2020 National Poetry Series by Ocean Vuong. Her poems have appeared in journals and anthologies including Best New Poets, ZZYZVA, LitHub, and Mamas and Papas: On the Sublime and Heartbreaking Art of Parenting, and her essays have appeared in Catapult, The Baltimore Review, and Hippocampus Magazine. A graduate of Glenbrook North, class of 1993, Amanda is currently a high school English teacher in San Francisco, where she lives with her husband and daughter. More at https://amandapmoore.com.
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Please join us as we discuss My Antonia by Willa Cather with Sheila Whalen as our discussion group leader.
The date of the in-person discussion is Thursday, May 5 at 7:00 pm.
The Book Bin's Adult Book Discussion has a long history behind it of great questions, deep diving into the novels we select, and a general feeling of community. We'd love to have you here.
"This 100th Anniversary Edition of Willa Cather’s masterpiece features a new introduction by Pulitzer Prize–winning novelist Jane Smiley. In this symphonically powerful and magnificently observed novel, Cather created one of the most winning heroines in American fiction, a woman whose calm, undemonstrative strength and robust high spirits make her emblematic of the virtues Cather most admired in her country."
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Mystery Book Club
The date for our next in-person Mystery Book Club will be Monday, May 16 at 7:00 pm.
Our discussion of The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey, will be led by Alli Gilley & Ron Oberman. Detective Ron and Detective Alli are excited to get to the heart of this mystery with you as our partners! As with our Adult Book Discussion, there will not be a Zoom option this year.
"Inspector Alan Grant of Scotland Yard, recuperating from a broken leg, becomes fascinated with a contemporary portrait of Richard III that bears no resemblance to the Wicked Uncle of history. Could Richard have been the victim, turned into a monster by the usurpers of England’s throne? Grant determines to find out once and for all, with the help of the British Museum and an American scholar, what kind of man Richard Plantagenet really was and who killed the Little Princes in the Tower. The Daughter of Time is an ingeniously plotted, beautifully written, and suspenseful tale, a supreme achievement from one of mystery writing’s most gifted masters."
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Next Month's Book Discussion Night
Our Adult Book Discussion is back in person! Please join us as we discuss Deacon King Kong by James McBride with Sheila Whalen as our discussion group leader.
Bringing to these pages both his masterly storytelling skills and his abiding faith in humanity, James McBride has written a novel every bit as involving as The Good Lord Bird and as emotionally honest as The Color of Water. Told with insight and wit, Deacon King Kong demonstrates that love and faith live in all of us.
The date of the in-person discussion is Thursday, June 2 at 7:00 pm. Your RSVP helps us set up for the evening, so please call us or click below; we will no longer host the discussion over Zoom.
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Illinois Libraries Present: An Evening with Michelle Zauner
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Wednesday, May 18
7:00-8:00 p.m.
Join us for an evening with musician and author Michelle Zauner as she discusses her music career and her beloved bestselling memoir, "Crying in H Mart." Jessica Hopper joins her in conversation.
Michelle Zauner is best known as a singer and guitarist who creates dreamy, shoegaze-inspired indie pop under the name Japanese Breakfast. She has won acclaim from major music outlets around the world for releases like Psychopomp (2016) and Soft Sounds from Another Planet (2017). Critically acclaimed Jubilee (2021) is currently nominated for two Grammy awards. "Crying in H Mart" is her first book.
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Illinois Libraries Present: Jessamine Chan & Emily Maloney |
Wednesday, May 25
7:00-8:00 p.m.
Join Jessamine Chan and Emily Maloney for a discussion about the systems of power that impact our lives, our families, and our finances, through the lens of their acclaimed books, "The School for Good Mothers" and "Cost of Living."
This event is made possible by Illinois Libraries Present, a statewide collaboration among public libraries offering high-quality events. Illinois Libraries Present is funded in part by a grant awarded by the Illinois State Library, a Department of the Office of Secretary of State, using funds provided by the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services, under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA).
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St. Martin's Press
Available May 3rd
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Hachette Books
Available May 10th
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River of the Gods
Written by Candice Millard
Published by Doubleday Books
Available in Hardcover on May 17
This book offers fascinating insight into the brave explorers venturing through unknown Africa around 1850. England’s Royal Geographical Society sought to discover the world, its people, its languages, its lands, and its wildlife. This book details multiple journeys by Richard Burton and John Speke who searched unknown Africa in hopes of finding the true source of the Nile. The challenges were not just encounters with raiders and bandits, or with wildlife and treacherous landscape. They were with diseases, limited supplies and perhaps worst of all - with each other. Yet they persevered, they journaled, they explored, they sketched, they mapped, they learned, they overcame. Most fascinating to me was the reality that the earth was not always mapped nor its people understood. There was an unexplored vastness about which the people in England were desperately hungry to learn more. This book was a fascinating read filling my mind with visions of life in a world of mystery and discovery. I am surprised Burton and Speke didn’t just Google the answer, “what is the source of the Nile?"
Reviewed by Jamie Morrison
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William Morrow
Available May 10th
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Riverhead Books
Available May 17th
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St. Martin's Press
Available May 24th
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Written by Shelby Van Pelt
Published by Ecco Press
Available in Hardcover on May 3
This book is a bit hard to describe, but it has a little bit for everyone in it. The main characters are recent widow Tova Sullivan, young Cameron Cassmore who is looking for his father, and interestingly a Giant Pacific Octopus named Marcellus. These three come together at the Sowell Bay Aquarium in Washington, where cleaning during the night shift is a job in which to take pride. Though each of them is flawed in their own way, it is impossible not to root for them to get through their personal struggles. For fans of A Man Called Ove, this inspiring story of family and community and working through grief will surprise you at every turn of the page.
Reviewed by Alli Gilley
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Two Nights in Lisbon
Written by Chris Pavone
Published by MCD (Macmillan)
Available in Hardcover on May 24
Get ready for a fast-paced mystery that you can’t put down. Not only do I believe that, but so do John Grisham, Lee Child, and Stephen King. Wow! Ariel wakes up in a Lisbon hotel room to find her new husband gone. She calls his cell phone and gets no answer, gets dressed quickly and searches for him in the hotel restaurant, asks the staff if they have seen him, and searches the streets outside. John is missing. Frantic, Ariel goes to the police and demands their help, but John hasn’t been gone very long and she is just an overreacting American. The same conclusion is presented at the American Embassy. The game changes when a 3 million Euro ransom is demanded and Ariel must reach out to those from her past who have the means — and money— to help her. Enjoy the scenery as Chris Pavone takes you on a two day journey through Lisbon.
Reviewed by Marla Alexander
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Marrying the Ketchups
Written by Jennifer Close
Published by Knopf
Available in Hardcover Now
Jennifer Close's new novel takes place in Chicago, the Northern suburbs, and in Oak Park. It centers around Teddy, Jane, and Gretchen, the third generation of the Sullivan family who own a restaurant in Oak Park. Sunday dinners are a weekly ritual and the neighborhood loves Bud, the patriarch and owner of the restaurant. After Bud passes away suddenly, just before "his Cubs" win the pennant in 2016, the family is a bit lost. Relationships are strained, and the three cousins are all at a turning point in their lives. Peppered with humor and irony, the family alternately comes together and drifts apart with all that is going on with them. An uplifting story overall, Marrying the Ketchups is an interesting and fun look at life in an Irish family in Chicago.
Reviewed by Alli Gilley
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Young Mungo
Written by Douglas Stuart
Published by Grove Press
Available in Hardcover Now
Mungo Hamilton is sixteen years old. He lives with his alcoholic mother, Maureen, his gang leader brother, Hamish and his bright, motivated sister, Jodie, in a tenement building in Glasgow. When there is talk that Mungo has gay tendencies, his mother sends him with two men she has just met at an AA meeting for a weekend of fishing and camping. Her convoluted thinking is that this weekend away will make a man of Mungo. Instead it becomes three horror-filled days. In many ways Young Mungo is similar to Stuart's debut novel, The Man Booker Prize winner Shuggie Bain. They both have a young, gay main character living in the slums of Glasgow with an alcoholic mother. Both novels are heart breaking, vividly descriptive, achingly uncomfortable with a very sympathetic main character. If you appreciated Shuggie Bain, you will want to read Young Mungo.
Reviewed by Nancy Randall
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Harper Perennial
Available May 10th
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Ballantine Books
Available May 17th
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Celadon Books
Available May 24th
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Written by Emily Henry
Published by Berkley Books
Available in Paperback on May 3
Summer is coming--believe it or not--and so are some very fun reads. Book Lovers will be on the top of your list as a book that is filled with great dialogue, romance, and family. You won't want it to end. The first meeting of literary agent Nora Stephens and book editor Charlie Lastra does not go well. Nora is sure the manuscript she is representing is a sure winner and Charlie flatly refuses the project. Of course, the book is a huge success. That is one reason why overworked Nora agrees to go away for one month with her very pregnant sister to the location of the hit novel, Sunshine Falls, North Carolina. Nora thinks that Libby needs time away before her third child is born, but Libby has an agenda that she hopes will change Nora's life. Enter Charlie whose home town is surprisingly Sunshine Falls. At first, Nora and Charlie clash, but slowly they connect in a way that neither of them saw happening.
Reviewed by Marla Alexander
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Adult Assembly Required
Written by Abbi Waxman
Published by Berkley Books
Available in Paperback on May 17
Here's the thing: sometimes you just want a book that puts a smile on your face. It's not deep, you love the characters and perhaps everyone lives happily ever after. Abbi Waxman has written just that. Laura has moved to Los Angeles from New York to go to grad school. After being there one week, her apartment building has a fire, and she is homeless. Now the story begins. Laura gets saved by the local bookseller, gets installed in a nearby boardinghouse with a wonderful landlady, makes new friends, tries new things and.....Well, we can't tell you everything but we can tell you Adult Assembly Required is just the medicine for the Covid Blues.
Reviewed by Marla Alexander
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Our "Clubs"!
We pride ourselves on our friendliness and our service to our customers and community. As we pondered everything we offer, we came up with this list of "clubs" available to you at the Book Bin. Invite your friends!
Frequent Reader Club
We punch holes for each $10 you spend working towards $10 off your next purchase.
Our Book Club
We meet on the first Thursday night of the month to discuss an enthralling paperback book, with our next meetings on Thursday, May 5 and Thursday, June 2.
Book Bin Detective Club
We read a new paperback mystery novel and meet on a Monday night mid-to-late month to discuss it, with Monday May 16 set as our next meeting.
The Booklovers Club
We'll send a book a month to a recipient of your choosing, such as a new baby, a voracious middle-grade or teen reader, or an adult, say for a birthday gift that "keeps giving".
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Quick Question: What is your favorite genre of books to read?
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Last Month's "Quick Question" Results:
What is your favorite aspect of Spring?
"Sunshine and Warmer Temperatures" was the winner,
receiving 57% of the votes;
"Flowers" received 35% of the votes;
"Rainy Days to spend inside reading" received 5% of the votes;
and "Spring Cleaning" received 3% of the votes.
We received 65 responses.
Thanks for participating (:
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We love helping our customers find great reads! We’re here to assist you— in the store, over the phone, with an email, or online. |
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Thank you for reading and for shopping locally. We appreciate your support!
Kindly,
The Book Bin Staff
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Dear Customers:
- We are so thankful you have continued shopping with us throughout the pandemic.
- While shopping here, we ask that you consider your social distancing with our staff and the other customers.
- Remember way back when we had customers wear gloves while shopping?! (#interabang)
- Although we NO LONGER REQUIRE masks in the store, please remember it is your personal choice.
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Why Shopping Local Matters
Buying local boosts the local economy.
When you buy local, more of the money you spend stays in the community. Local businesses like us, are more likely to use other local businesses and services to support our operations.
Book Bin Services
1. Free gift wrapping, cards, and gold stickers on your purchases
2. Easy shipping available on any purchases via the USPS
3. Contactless Curbside Pick-ups from our bench
4. Fast order fulfillment of any book in print
5. Friendly people to recommend your next great read
Not a Superstore... just a Super Store!
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