Can you guess why today is our favourite day of the month? 5 shiny new books have made it off the printing presses into indie bookstores today! 😀 There’s too much love to go around to fit into one caption, so make you visit our website at indiebookstores.ca/tbl to learn more.
![Booksellers' List "Top Pick" badge beside the cover of Exit Party by Emily St. John Mandel; a short recommendation from Sophia Ross Eckert of The Spaniel’s Tale Bookstore (Ottawa) praising its immersive, post-collapse, politically minded fiction.
[Exit Party is my favourite Emily St. John Mandel novel since Station Eleven. Set after the collapse of two versions of the United States, the novel plays with perspective, form, and character to create worlds that resemble our own while diverging in fascinating ways. This is an immersive and thoughtful novel, perfect for readers who appreciate both the personal and the political.]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:cmea7fw6o7m7xxu635kx3my2/bafkreiabpprxlbfelrf5jlcgurcdjfqciaf6r2p47s2b3jdsalai4ccmzy)
![Book promotion showing the cover title "Housing Inc.: A Global Takeover and Our Fight for Home", a Booksellers' List selection seal, and a short blurb framing housing as a human requirement and outlining barriers to access. Laura Ash from Another Story Bookshop says
[How does one begin to describe home? Storytellers use wondrous language and metaphor to express it. Children draw boxes in an array of colors to show it. People make signs and take to the streets to protect it. In Housing Inc., Leilani Farha writes that "Housing is not a luxury. It is a requirement for human existence." She shares stories of what home means to many, explains the barriers that stop people from having one, and provides a framework to shift the understanding of housing from financial asset to a "foundation from which people build stable, dignified lives.]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:cmea7fw6o7m7xxu635kx3my2/bafkreifjyt6y6tlxnhp2zfzq4ndxl4mqp3725dptneicta7lad5uo5qdte)
![The Birthing Tree by Amanda Peters: dark blue cover with gold block title over sketched oak leaves, a round "The Booksellers' List Selection" badge, and a short bookseller blurb praising its emotional, Mi'kmaq-rooted, multigenerational story.
[The Birthing Tree is a quietly compelling yet intensely emotional novel. The novel follows the journey of a young woman as she seeks to uncover long-buried family secrets and come to terms with herself and her legacy, all while feeling the pull of the Mi'kmaq traditions that call to her. A lush and beautiful read with a main character, Atiel, that you will be unable to let go of when the last page is read!]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:cmea7fw6o7m7xxu635kx3my2/bafkreidqfgj7snd62rud2on6sxbuwnns2fzeprlku2gh5rrv6ydoap7ryu)
![Book promotion card highlighting Nicholas Herring's novel Your Breath in Charcoal as a The Booksellers' List selection, accompanied by a bookseller endorsement from Norine McGinn praising the novel as [I am always excited to champion a favourite Atlantic Canadian title, and Your Breath in Charcoal by award-winning PEI author Nicholas Herring will be what I reach for this fall. His writing is thoughtful, humble, funny, and will appeal to a wide range of readers. I can't wait to share it with my customers!]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:cmea7fw6o7m7xxu635kx3my2/bafkreicvqhua5shlym55itoantlukk24chqu4oe4b35an7mfreyeqfbcx4)
![A photo of Fall TBL selection Women, Walking edited by Zahra Ebrahi and Jane Farrow. Bookseller Alison Dunn from Beggars Banquet Books said [We’re excited to share Women, Walking, which explores the experiences of a wide range of women, many Canadian, as they journey on foot towards themselves. This intriguing collection will be on our gift-giving lists this year and will please walkers and armchair-adventurers alike.]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:cmea7fw6o7m7xxu635kx3my2/bafkreigao7nm3x4bmavw4s3cdi2l4ul2elvauujwix6hurligq6djm46si)
![Booksellers List Summer Selection, Asha In Her Garden by Anita Rau Badami. [Set in Montreal and India, this story of a woman later in life reflecting on the heartbreaking realities of a life well lived, and the transformative power of clarity in her final years, is a must-read for this summer. I am eager to share Asha in Her Garden with our readers!]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:cmea7fw6o7m7xxu635kx3my2/bafkreihpbowg5qpkrqo752zt5rmfsq3dg3skeaaete236n775fffyik6me)
![Booksellers' List Summer Selection, A Nation of Tinkerers. [Far beyond familiar folk and rock legends, A Nation of Tinkerers uncovers the innovators, experimenters, and underground scenes that helped shape Canada’s electronic sound. Blending music history, technology, and cultural critique, it traces how synthesizers, studios, and creative collaboration transformed modern music. An eye-opening read for music lovers, culture buffs, and anyone curious about the hidden origins of today’s soundscape.]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:cmea7fw6o7m7xxu635kx3my2/bafkreihw2sdr642zrykjrq743a6tcmrn7nr3aoby5n4onax72hlw32j2m4)
![The Booksellers' List Summer selection Back for Blood. Back for Blood is bringing all the Halloween vibes this month. 👻 Enriched with twisted psychological tales to gore-filled monster hunts, this Indigenous dark fiction collection from the team that brought you Never Whistle At Night delivers another hit for every savvy horror fan that will sate your darkest appetites and leave you slavering for more. Here’s what bookseller Michael Hamm from @bookmark shared with us about this book:
[Following the phenomenal response to the first collection, we are so very eager to present this new set of stories to both those who are familiar with Never Whistle at Night and all the readers yet to experience one of the best anthologies of contemporary horror writing from an Indigenous viewpoint.]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:cmea7fw6o7m7xxu635kx3my2/bafkreiec2pmikijwepsdrlpbxcv4nfcgd4tech74g2g7ajmlvaehuj7o3a)
![Booksellers' List Summer Selection, You'll Love It Here [If you liked I Hope This Finds You Well, then You’ll Love It Here should be a hit! Natalie Sue leans into a mix of sharp workplace satire and underlying unease. This one is a bit darker and more biting, but still carries the familiar niche she’s carved for herself of making uncomfortable dynamics feel weirdly funny.]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:cmea7fw6o7m7xxu635kx3my2/bafkreibq2rz2cfznke2nsghtnoqfpqwfse4la5f4chpfnbvfhbourmt2vi)
![The Booksellers' List Summer selection Eliza Sunshine by Michelle Good. [Following three generations of Cree women, Eliza Sunshine is a heart-wrenching and heart-warming story of adversity, intergenerational trauma, and keeping stories alive. Michelle Good’s writing is incredibly beautiful and her talent for storytelling makes every one of her books a memorable experience.]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:cmea7fw6o7m7xxu635kx3my2/bafkreibi3cyr7h77udai47g227tqfvzakmr5rougylxnha36jvbvzky6ye)
![Photo of Booksellers' List Summer Selection, My Person by Tea Mutonji [My Person nails the intimacy and intensity of a friendship that slowly splinters into a very messy breakup. Téa Mutonji is so good at capturing the resentment, dependence, microaggressions, and all the small betrayals that build over years between people who once felt inseparable. Sharp, addictive, and uncomfortable in all the best ways.]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:cmea7fw6o7m7xxu635kx3my2/bafkreic7ep6aqmeltki37uczbdl37a4eljouupheyugz6utl5zkvwfx47m)
![The Booksellers' List Summer Selection Leila & Khaled by Nyla Matuk. Bookseller from Another Story Bookshop, Anjula Gogia, said [Leila and Khaled is a gorgeous twist on the modern romance novel. Set in current day Occupied Palestine, the novel follows Leila on her first journey to Palestine, where she meets Khaled, a son of Palestine. What ensues is a lyrically stunning, compelling love affair. Brimming with history, passionate and precise, Leila and Khaled is a must read from artist, poet and writer Nyla Matuk.]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:cmea7fw6o7m7xxu635kx3my2/bafkreigkk5gk65qzajikz4t5lw5uoxx25akspknn342wv4ej2cecdz5z4m)
![The Booksellers' List Summer Selection Decadence by Richard Kelly Kemick.
[Oh! The storytelling! It is the kind of storytelling you want to take your time with. Racing through this decade’s worth of memoir/essays won’t work. One at a time, with space in between, is the way to read Decadence. I think readers will find parts of themselves in the quirky and truly surprising connections that Richard Kelly Kemick makes. They will feel seen. It will be the kind of “feeling seen” that comes when you begin to find your people. Awkward, odd, and completely wonderful.]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:cmea7fw6o7m7xxu635kx3my2/bafkreihnopm32gc2s75aoeklphe4jrw6lzwsygxa33esjuybqiqi3ew32e)
![The Booksellers' List Summer Selection, Queen Mab by Emily McBride. Mcnally Robinson Bookseller, Angela Torgerson said [Queen Mab held me in its grasp from the very first chapter. The writing is spellbinding, weaving together an ethereal tale of motherhood and the ties that bind, seemingly effortlessly, alongside mythology, mischief, heartbreak, and sorrow. The characters enchant the reader, and the young mother, Maddie, will stay with you for a very long time after finishing the novel.]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:cmea7fw6o7m7xxu635kx3my2/bafkreick34w3jpw6r2z3mvcnxsl5ypn5m5ctamjipx44pqekj2aqkb5ura)
![[Listening to Lee Kuhnle and Nathan Radke on The Uncover Up podcast is a joy. The engaging duo offers up advice on how to critically engage with online media as AI becomes more embedded in our everyday lives—a wild ride that no one bought a ticket for. Informative and entertaining, with the perfect mix of history and conspiracy, this book will satisfy all truth seekers out there.]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:cmea7fw6o7m7xxu635kx3my2/bafkreiajucj4lkkgkc5a5ihc3cyjxc4gsowyw7x5y24zz6pcntenkq7ctq)
![[Jacqueline Harpman blew me away with I Who Have Never Known Men and we are so lucky to get another one of her books translated into English. We Were Forbidden intrigues with a selection of short stories focused on defiance, sure to capture readers with Harpman’s sharp insight and distinctive style. ]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:cmea7fw6o7m7xxu635kx3my2/bafkreiaspjxauqmlhueqoq3t2vbr7lbgci735oo3hkxnecjw575udeyo2u)
![Booksellers' List Top Pick Selection for Summer 2026, The Wild Beneath [It’s easy to see why Kelly Anderson’s The Wild Beneath has been voted the perfect summer read by indie booksellers from across the country. Lyrical, haunting, and threaded with quiet magic, this novel sweeps readers into a world where grief, love, and the pull of the sea collide.]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:cmea7fw6o7m7xxu635kx3my2/bafkreibi7n3wencno2v24szxi37g5lkenvovbzl22nf5p57melyxct52ii)
![The Booksellers' List selection Beginning Middle End by Valeria Luiselli. Bookseller Sarah Lilleyman from Spencer Books said
[At once a road novel, a love letter to the majesty of Sicily and myth, and an exploration of mother and daughterhood, Beginning Middle End is an exquisite story that I didn’t want to, well, end. When a mother arrives in Sicily with her daughter after the breakdown of her marriage, she’s seeking connection to her grandmother’s archeological work and a way to reimagine her family’s future. But her daughter sees things differently, and we get to experience the story from both vantage points. Valeria Luiselli is a beautiful writer, and this is a uniquely powerful and uplifting novel.]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:cmea7fw6o7m7xxu635kx3my2/bafkreigj5mfbnd5prsrz5oxpqnfiwj42zojnfqyezo5hmnrja7yuds6kca)
![The Booksellers List selection, Cool Machine by Colson Whitehead. John Toews Bookseller from Mcnally Robinson Booksellers said [The climax of Colson Whitehead’s thrilling Harlem Trilogy is another brilliant visit to a lost New York, one more decade on. Not simply a work of crime fiction (although it is a masterpiece of the genre), this book serves as the capstone to an unparalleled project. This is the social history of a city in transition as exemplified by those that live and strive on its streets and in the shadows, pulsing with music and elevated by some of the finest dialogue and descriptive writing around.]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:cmea7fw6o7m7xxu635kx3my2/bafkreicwuzikenkhuphavmtgz5zgedfjhgtnn2d4jewuq3a3lbpp74qtzq)
![Summer Booksellers' List selection Our Wild Familiar by Dan Werb. Bookseller Joshua Cockerill from Type Books said [Coming at a time when we’re in desperate need of rethinking our relationship to human and more-than-human habitats, Our Wild Familiars turns an international lens on animals who have adapted to cities. Dan Werb provides stories that will soften your heart and factoids that will blow your mind. An important book about the climates we create and the ones we share. ]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:cmea7fw6o7m7xxu635kx3my2/bafkreiagfdb7tohw5efxkr5hm7bz7gtzwsampd3xllgasgpl7v6ydznwxq)
![Booksellers List Summer Selection Habits of the Sea bookseller quote from Joy Mclean at Cafe Books [A brilliant, beautiful creation. It’s a story of the sea, its tides, and a world changing around it. It’s also a love story so beautifully told that you will hold your breath for the safety of two lost souls that have found each other. Habits of the Sea is harrowing in its prophetic look at what the world may face. I still find myself lost in the pages of this book.]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:cmea7fw6o7m7xxu635kx3my2/bafkreib4vbnb4637aomkc6d6gza6nkukqo3ha3syum6x4qngrujq7pfzpq)