Thursday Themes

Bestseller Spotlight: Try a little tenderness

On Wednesdays, the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Bestseller List is published. Every week, we love to see what books have been most popular in independent bookstores around our region. As we peruse the list, we look for something special to showcase. Then we present this weekly feature: Thursday Themes. This week features many stories that highlight the strength of caring, compassion, and love. The Serviceberry Robin Wall Kimmerer (#4 Hardcover nonfiction) Nobody Broke Your Heart Jamie Fisher (#5 Hardcover nonfiction) The Creative Act …

Sep 3, 2026

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Sep

2

2026

Face Out

Who Knows the Way to Mr. Grimly’s Classroom? written by Chris Priestly, Illustrated by Mariachiara Di Giorgio

This is a superbly brilliant picture book for school-aged kids. Grace is new to her school, but when her teacher asks someone to return a book to Mr. Grimly’s classroom, she can’t help but raise her hand. What follows is a strange, spooky, and hilarious journey through what turns out to be the weirdest school …

Sep

1

2026

Borrowed Copy

The Sea-Glass Shore by Julie Salmon Kelleher

An excerpt from Forest Avenue Press publisher and author Laura Stanfill’s August 30, 2026 substack: […] The Sea-Glass Shore by Julie Salmon Kelleher[,] Forest Avenue’s Sept. 1 release[,] is a selkie story that is not about entrapment and escape like the original seal-person myth. It’s a novel about what it takes to stay—in a marriage, in …

Aug

31

2026

Face Out

So Old, So Young by Grant Grinder

My aching aging-millennial heart feels seen after reading this novel by Grant Grinder. Equal parts funny, beautiful and tragic, [this is a book] I couldn’t put […] down. Grinder builds relentless momentum through skillful point-of-view shifts and a plot structured around five parties spanning twenty years of friendship. The protagonists—a group of college friends—support each …

Aug

28

2026

Face Out

Big Little Truths by Liane Moriarty

[In] Liane Moriarty’s Big Little Truths, the follow-up to her bestselling Big Little Lies, it’s ten years later, and the kids are all in high school now. The core group from the first book—Madeline, Celeste, Jane, Renata, and Bonnie—are all dealing with midlife complications. Everything from the past is good and buried, except . . . …

Aug

27

2026

Bestseller Spotlight: Rise and Fall of Empires

Every Wednesday, the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association publishes the regional bestseller list. On Thursdays, we celebrate Thursday Themes to shine a spotlight on some of the books from the list and give our brains a different way of thinking about books. Titles on this week’s list had us humming “You’ll Be Back” from Hamilton. “Oceans rise, empires fall…” …

Aug

26

2026

Face Out

Cabin by Patrick Hutchison

Cabin by Patrick Hutchison is a funny, heartfelt memoir about trading office life for a crumbling, off-the-grid cabin in the Cascade Mountains of Washington. Armed with little more than determination and a complete lack of carpentry skills, Hutchison chronicles six years of renovations, mishaps, and unexpected lessons, creating a charming story about slowing down, learning …

Aug

25

2026

The Storefront

The Well-Read Moose Raises Funds for Spokane

From The Well-Read Moose August 11, 2026: Greetings Dear Friends, The devastating wildfires in Spokane are in my thoughts almost constantly. It is so hard to comprehend the losses felt by our neighbors and the challenges ahead to rebuild their lives. I tend to feel quite helpless and unsure of what I can do. My …

Aug

24

2026

Face Out

The Wild Beneath by Kelly Anderson

The Wild Beneath is an epic love story as well as a love letter to the ocean: its danger, mystery, and beauty. In the aftermath of a Pacific Northwest tsunami, Annie—who has lived on a sailboat nearly her whole life—is reeling on the shore, where she’s stayed behind with her best friend, Evan. Her parents and …

Aug

21

2026

Face Out

Cherry Baby by Rainbow Rowell

Another solid cast of characters from Rainbow Rowell! How does she consistently write characters I want to be friends with?? Returning to some of the themes Rowell introduced in Eleanor & Park, Cherry is learning how to love herself in a world that tells her she shouldn’t. Plus, she runs into an old crush at …

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