Based on our booksellers' conviction that you can never have too many good books, Read This Next! is a list of books coming out next month that booksellers are especially excited about. Read This Next! Kids is a bimonthly list of forthcoming Children's and Young Adult Books receiving Southern indie bookseller love. Each list includes resources for booksellers, including an Edelweiss collection, downloadable flyer, and sharable graphic. All the included books are featured in The Southern Bookseller Review newsletter, and promoted as "Weekend Reads" on SIBA's social media channels, along with the bookstore which wrote the review.

The theme of Read This Next! August might be called "pushing boundaries." Booksellers talk about being surprised and irresistibly drawn in to these wide-ranging stories and narratives that challenge our expectations.

RTNext! Bookseller Resources:
Edelweiss Collection | Flyer | Flyer Front (image)

What SIBA Booksellers have to say:

The Wedding People by Alison Espach
A big hearted, smart story about figuring out who you want to be when you grown up when you are already a grown up! A deep and charming story of family drama, wedding guest gossip, and how women can support each other in surprising ways.
– Susan Williams. M. Judson, Booksellers in Greenville, South Carolina

The Dead Cat Tail Assassinsby P. Djèlí Clark
The Dead Cat Tail Assassins leads you astray, trips your feet out from under you, and then dunks your head under water all in the span of one night. This novella is an action-packed romp through a gloriously rich and well-defined world.
– Faith Skowronnek, Epilogue Books Chocolate Brews in Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Slow Dance by Rainbow Rowell
Slow Dance is a beautiful tale of humans being human. It’s funny and poignant and heartbreaking, sometimes all at once. It gave me the same emotions I get from watching old home movies…a weird mixture of joy and sadness all wrapped up in nostalgia and a clear, sharp feeling of how much things have changed while also nothing has really changed at all.
– Victoria Herrmann, Cavalier House Books in Denham Springs, Louisiana

There Are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak
Stretching from ancient Mesopotamia to modern day London, via the River Tigris and the River Thames, Elif Shafak has woven a beautiful, multi-layered tale. Impeccably researched and gorgeously written, blending poetry and history.
– Jude Burke-Lewis, Square Books in Oxford, Mississippi

Bluff: Poems by Danez Smith
Danez Smith reckons with the role of art and poetry as a poet from the Twin Cities in 2020 and beyond. In “My Beautiful End of the World” – my favorite from Bluff – Smith asks “Who does this country believe deserves beauty? Who is allowed nature?
– Mikey LaFave, Avid Bookshop in Athens, Georgia