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Conquer the great unknowns from outer space to the deep sea below with our Storytime for Future Scientists picks. Our bookseller Kaycee picked stories that inspire and encourage creativity, exploration and growth in young readers.

The Octopus Escapes by Malie Meloy is a powerful, beautiful story of an octopus trying to find his way back home. Captured in the wild and brought into captivity, the octopus tires of boring food and easy puzzles, and desperately makes his escape to get back to his ocean cave. This book teaches compassion and empathy, while also encouraging growth and passion for underwater environments. 

The Tree in Me by Corinna Lukyen is the greatly anticipated follow up to My Heart. Every human is like a tree, we require nurturing, resilience, and connections to others. This powerful picture book in verse is a great gift for all ages and will captivate you with its beautiful illustrations. “The tree in me is strong. It bends in the wind, and has roots that go deep…to where other roots reach up toward their own trunk-branch-crown and sky.”

Did you know the Saguaro Cactus only blooms one night a year? In Night Flower by Lara Hawthorne, animals of all shapes and sizes have come to see the beautiful white petals of the rare desert flower. I had fun looking for all the different, uniquely illustrated animals on each page. This book has an informative and beautiful rhythmic verse that tells the story of the animals coming to visit.

Our Holiday Catalog this year is full of great titles for your friends and family. Those of you who attended events at Country Bookshelf this year won't be surprised to see Warblers & Woodpeckers by Sneed Collard, or Hearth: A Global Conversation on Identity, Community and Place on the list.

Take an ingenious global tour of with The Global Economy as You've Never Seen It. This book is full of amazing and though provoking info-graphics. Satisfy the chef's on your list with Savor: Entertaining with Charcuterie, Cheese, Spreads and More, featuring helpful advice from industry experts and beautiful photographs from Kimberly Stevens. Get outside with Epic Hikes of the World from Lonely Planet, or wander forests with the new photographic Hidden Life of Trees - the illustrated edition of Peter Wohlleben's bestseller. 

Be a good neighbor by gifting The Good Neighbor - Maxwell King's definitive biography of Fred Rogers - which is also a fantastic audiobook (and bookseller favorite) available from our partner Libro.FM. 

And for the fiction lover, we recommend There There by Tommy Orange. This fierce, angry, funny, heartbreaking, wondrous portrait of an America few of us have ever seen is one of the New York Times' Best Books of the Year and is the January pick for the Montana Racial Equity Project's book club. 

For the young people on your list - we recommend The Atlas Obscura Explorer's Guide, or We've Got the Whole World in Our Hands by Rafael Lopez. Chapter book lovers will love Monstrous Devices by Damien Love. And don't forget Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi for the teens on your list - this new fantasy series is not to be missed!

View the the full catalog HERE. 

It's a new season, and that means brand new reading recommendations from author Jennifer Ryan (Montana Heat series)

Something Old

My obsession with historical romance continues with one of my favorite authors. 

WHEN A DUKE LOVES A WOMAN by Loraine Heath  

Get lost in – because I sure did - this perfectly crafted, superbly told page-turner where passion overrides a Duke’s duty and an independent commoner’s practicality and love is the only thing that can intertwine their two very different worlds into a lifetime of happiness neither of them thought possible. This books transports you to the Whitechapel slums where hardship and struggle are a way of life and one woman rises above her circumstances to become a tavern owner. An unlikely and uncommon life for a woman back then, but even the temptation of the London ton and an affair with a Duke can make this independent woman give up what she’s worked so hard to achieve – and lucky for her, the Duke agrees.

Something New

A new to me author… 

I’ve had the pleasure of meeting and hanging out with HelenKay Dimon several times over the last few years. We both write for Avon and attend author events together. She’s fun, witty, and one of the nicest people I’ve ever met. But in all the time I’ve known her, I never read one of her books. For shame, I know. But then we were both nominated for the Romance Writers of America RITA® award for Romantic Suspense. HelenKay won! And I was so proud of my publishing sister. We celebrated her well-deserved win that night with wine. How do I know it was well-deserved? Because of course I picked up one of her books to check out the competition. ;) I fell so hard for her characters and her writing. I immediately bought all the books in her Bad Boys Undercover and Games People Play series. I do not do that often, but I had to read ALL of her books.

I suggest you start with THE FIXER. Smart. Sexy. Intriguing. A cold case that makes this a great page-turner. Wren is the perfect secretive loner with an awkward side Emery and I fell hard for. You will, too. And then you’ll want the whole Games People Play series, too!

Something Borrowed

My good friend and fellow western romance author A. J. Pine - author of the Crossroads Ranch series and her most recent release, TOUGH LUCK COWBOY – couldn’t wait to tell you all about her latest cowboy crush…

“The cowboy who stole my heart was Eli Garrett from PART-TIME COWBOY by Maisey Yates. He's a rancher and Copper Ridge's deputy sheriff. Nothing like a man who can pull off a uniform and a cowboy hat all while making Sadie Miller--and readers--swoon!”

Something Blue

I absolutely love the cover for Sophie Jordan’s THE DUKE BUYS A BRIDE. That dress. Gorgeous. The almost kiss. Sexy. And the title. What? I had to know more about this story. A selfish – and a bit lost – Duke finds compassion and obligation lead him to reevaluate his life and the choices he’s made. He thinks he’s helping Alyse – saving her – but she saves him from an insubstantial life and fills his lonely world with love. You’ll root for Marcus and Alyse along their journey and cheer when they admit all they want is each other and succumb to a love they both wanted but neither saw coming.

Be sure to check out Jennifer's latest release is MONTANA HEAT: TEMPTED BY LOVE. It’s the last book in the series – but stands alone. DEA agent Jay Bennett falls for this best friend’s little sister, who knows his dangerous life and wants nothing to do with it, except neither of them can fight the temptation to be together.

I hope you enjoy all of these recommendations.

Happy reading!

-Jennifer

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Country Bookshelf's horror officianado Harry took a moment to chat with author Grady Hendrix about his newest title We Sold Our Souls. 

Harry: You're obviously a relative expert on Horror fiction. What is it about the genre that drew you to it? 

Grady: I’m not an expert on anything, but that’s nice of you to say. I never read much horror as a kid because the covers scared me too much, but as I got older I found myself going back to horror again and again because it’s the one genre that deals with death, and death is what gives our lives meaning. So to me, it’s kind of the only genre that matters.

H: My Best Friend's Exorcism had songs as chapter titles and We Sold Our Souls is all about metal. Do you have a background in music? Do you play an instrument? Do you have a favorite genre?

G: I am about as musical as a brick, but music saved my life in high school. Being able to listen to music while driving to school was what got me through my day, and that feeling has lasted my entire life. I have huge emotional reactions to some songs and I’m an ugly crier, so I’m sure there are people on the subway who look at this red-faced crybaby wearing earbuds and rapidly move away. I’ve never played an instrument, or at least not in a way that wasn’t considered a crime in some states, but I did take a few months of guitar lessons while writing We Sold Our Souls because my main character played guitar and I needed to know what that felt like.

H: Is there a type of horror story that you prefer over others? Do you prefer something psychological or supernatural? 

G: I’ll take horror in all shapes and sizes. While writing Paperbacks from Hell, my history of the horror paperback boom of the Seventies and Eighties, I read hundreds of horror paperbacks I never would have otherwise touched and I found so many books I loved that I’ve learned not to have standards. Life’s more fun when you have no taste.

H: What's your process for making something scary? Is there any personal experience involved?

G: Writing is all about personal experience. We Sold Our Souls was a deeply personal book full of things that really happened to me — living on the road for a while, finding a dead body in a cemetery, arriving at Las Vegas late at night, eating in parking lots, feeling trapped in a bad contract, being broke, working miserable jobs. But writing also has the reverse effect: focusing on a book so hard for so long (it takes me about 6 months to write a novel) and the book begins to warp your life. You find things you write about happening in reality. You see parallels between the book and what’s going on around you. Emotionally, We Sold Our Souls is a really bleak book and I sunk into a bad depression while writing it. Getting my main character, Kris Pulaski, through all that horror and despair was how I got myself through it, too.

H: What's your favorite horror story? Book, movie, anything.

G: I’m going to change the question a little: one of my favorite books of all time, and one not enough people talk about, is Charles Portis’s True Grit. I re-read it every couple of years and as far as I’m concerned it’s the Great American Novel. Sure, Huckleberry Finn was the Great American Novel of the 19th century, but True Grit is the Great American Novel of the 20th century. It’s a hard-edged Western, narrated by a fourteen-year-old girl, and it’s all about how we needed tough people to build our country, but once they’ve done their job and made the world safe for rules, and banks, and law and order, we don’t need them anymore and they kind of embarrass us a little bit. It’s also very, very funny.

Harry praised We Sold Our Souls - on sale Tuesday, 9/18 - saying: "Harry praised the book, saying "At first I was like this isn't as good as My Best Friend's Exorcism, and then I got into and I was like 'This book rocks!' Grady Hendrix is a genius and I will never doubt him again!" Harry chatted with Grady about the book on our blog, check out this highlight." Pre-order your copy today and let's get metal!

Fall is a busy time of year in publishing with many great titles releasing from mid-August through November and the beginning of the Holiday Season. We've compiled a list of titles in a variety of genres and catagories just for our community. Pre-ordering through our website is super easy and we'll hold the books for you at the store to save on shipping! Your next great rainy day read may be here to accompany the coming Hygge season, so break out your favorite mug and blanket and pour a cup of tea and cozy up to these great reads!

Literary Fiction

Killing Commendatore - Haruki Murakami 10/9
Unsheltered by Barbara Kingsolver - there will be a special indie bookstore edition of this book so be sure to pre-order! 10/16
Melmoth by Sara Perry 10/16
Washington Black by Esi Edugyan 9/18
Trinity by Louisa Hall 10/16
Transcription by Kate Atkinson 9/25
Ordinary People by Diane Evans 9/11
The Silence of Girls by Pat Barker 9/4
Vox by Christina Dalcher
Waiting for Eden by Elliot Ackerman 9/25
Whiskey When We're Dry by John Larison
French Exit by Patrick DeWitt
Friday Black by Nana Kwame Adejei-Brenyah 10/23
We Sold Our Souls by Grady Hendrix 9/18

Mystery/Thriller

Dark Sacred Night by Michael Connelly 10/30
Lethal White by Robert Galbraith 9/18
The Witch Elm by Tana  French 10/9
The Feral Detective by Jonathan Lethem 11/6

Science Fiction/Fantasy

Sisters of the Winter Wood by Rena Rossner 9/25
The Monster Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson 10/30
Bloody Rose by Nick Eames
A Conspiracy of Truths by Alexandra Rowland 10/23
Temper by Nicky Drayden
Empire of Sand by Tasha Suri 11/13
Exit Strategy by Martha Wells 10/2
Record of a Spaceborn Few by Becky Chambers

Children's Picture Books

King Alice by Matt Cordell 9/25
The Day You Begin by Jaqueline Woodson
Volcano Dreams by Janet Fox 9/25
Carmela Full of Wishes by Matt de la Pena 10/9
Dreamers by Yuyi Morales 9/4
Giraffe Problems by Jory Jons 9/25

Juvenile Fiction (ages 8-10)

Dactyl Hill Squad by Daniel Jose Older 9/11
Louisiana's Way Home by Kate DiCamillo 10/2
Harbor Me by Jaqueline Woodson
The Third Mushroom by Jennifer Holm 9/4
Rosie Revere and the Raucous Riveters by Andrea Beaty 10/2
Mascot by Antony John 9/11
The House With Chicken Legs by Sophie Anderson 9/25
The House in Poplar Wood by K.E. Ormsbee

Young Adult Fiction (ages 12+)

Bridge of Clay by Mark Zusak 10/9
What If It's Us by Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera 10/9
Darius the Great is Not Okay by Adib Khorram
Seafire by Natalie C. Parker
The Light Between Worlds by Laura Weymouth 10/23
Rule by Ellen Goodlett 9/11
A Very Large Expanse of Sea by Tahereh Mafi 10/16
A Blade So Black by LL. McKinney 9/25
A Winter's Promise by Christelle Dabos 9/25
Mirage by Somaiya Daud
The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein by Kirsten White 9/25
The Ladies Guide to Petticoats and Piracy by Mackenzie Lee 10/2

Poetry
So Far So Good  by Ursula K LeGuin 10/2
My Own Devices by Dessa 9/18

Graphic Novels
Rat Queens Vol. 5 by Kurtis Weibe
Sheets by Brenna Thummler
Amulet Vol. 8 by Kazui Kibuishi 9/25
Monstress Vol. 3 by Marjorie Liu 9/11
Saga Vol. 9 by Brian K Vaughn 10/9
Abbott by Saladin Ahmed 10/30
Home After Dark by David Small 9/11

Memoir
Becoming by Michelle Obama 11/13
In Pieces by Sally Field 9/18
My Own Devices by Dessa 9/18

Science/Nature
Accessory to War by Neil deGrasse Tyson 9/11
The Dinosaur Artist by Paige Williams 9/11
In Search of the Canary Tree by Lauren Oakes 11/27
Brief Answers to Big Questions by Stephen Hawking 10/16
The Science of Science Fiction by Mark Brake 10/2
Reader, Come Home by Maryanne Wolf

History
How Do We Look? by Mary Beard 9/4
When Women Ruled the World by Kara Cooney 10/30
How to Behave Badly in Elizabethan England by Ruth Goodman 10/9
The Man from the Train by Bill Jones 9/19

Current Affairs
On the Other Side of Freedom by DeRay McKesson 9/4
21 lessons for the 21st Century by Yuval Harari 9/4
Rising Out of Hatred by Eli Saslow 9/18

More Exciting Titles
Daemon Voices by Phillip Pullman 9/18
Let's Go by Jeff Tweedy 11/13
Ottolenghi Simple by Yotam Ottolenghi 10/16
Almost Everything: Notes on Hope by Anne Lamott 10/16
Diary of a Bookseller by Shaun Bythell 9/4

Pre-order today with the buttons below!

We're so excited to welcome Montana author Christine Carbo to the store to share her newest mystery thriller- A Sharp Solitude. We love a good Montana mystery and Wendy, our Mystery Maven says: "My favorite part of Christine Carbo’s mysteries are that they are set in Glacier National Park, with all its beauty and wildness! While not a 'series,' they have interlocking characters, so a minor character in one book may become the main character in the next book. I like that because it means readers don’t have to read the books exactly in order, but they all go together." In anticipation of Christine's new book, Wendy had a few questions for Christine.

W: You seem to know a lot about many places in Glacier National Park-how much time do you get to
spend there?

Christine: Since I became published about four years ago, my life has gotten extremely busy and has included much
more air travel, which means I have less time for hiking and getting into Glacier in general. I still try to go
several times a year though, and I try to go once or twice during each off-season. I love the park in the fall, but
summer is my favorite, even with how insanely busy it gets.
 

W:  Is it harder to write from a male character’s perspective, and how do you do research for that?
 

C: In my latest book, I have two main characters: one female, one male. The female plays a bigger role in the
story, but I don’t find it too difficult to write from the male perspective. I grew up with two older brothers, so I
tagged along quite a bit, and that allowed me to see the world through a male’s viewpoint some of the time. I
think that ended up helping me quite a bit. However, mostly, what I try to do is write about a human with a
particular set of problems and then go about how that particular human being (male or female) would go about
solving those problems. Sometimes a male will go about things differently than a female precisely because of
their gender, but I find that emotions are emotions, and we all have them. There are, of course, nuances in how
those emotions get expressed or dealt with, and I try to be true to how I think a character would operate given
their circumstances. In general though, I try not to get too hung up on gender.

W: What is your process for starting a new book, and how long does it take to write a book?
 

C: Oh gosh, I’m not sure I have a good grasp on that process. It seems to change with each book, and is usually a
messy, disorganized process. Often, some nugget of an idea from something I’ve heard, read or thought about
in my past will stay with me or keep coming back to me, which makes me realize I have an idea that interests
me enough to dive deeper into it and develop it into a story. Then, when I finally come up with some form of a
suspenseful situation or premise (not necessarily a plot yet), I’ll begin to mull it over and take random notes. At
some point, I know I just need to start writing, even if I don’t have it all figured out. I often write without an
outline, and poke my way forward in the dark. Eventually I get there, but sometimes I wish I was more
organized from the get-go. Creativity can be a messy process for some writers, and I happen to be one of
those whether I want to be or not.
 

W:. Do you know the whole story ahead of time or does it develop as you write?
 

C: Oops, I think I just answered this above. I definitely don’t have the whole story figured out ahead of time, not
even close. Sometimes I know the perpetrator and work toward that ending, but with two of my books, I didn’t,
so I wrote several options into the story to give myself choices as I got closer to the end. Like I said, it can be a
little messy, but for me, that’s the beauty and magic of the process. Somehow, the muse seems to kick in and it
all begins to come together as if I really had a master plan all along. It can be very frustrating, but when it all
begins to come together, it’s immensely satisfying.

Christine Carbo will be sharing her newest book A Sharp Solitude at the store on Wednesday July 18th at 6pm. Be sure to stop by for this and more!