The books Southern booksellers have picked for the Read This Next! August list take readers in unexpected, difficult, and ultimately rewarding directions. To a beleaguered English village, a heartwarming noodle shop run by robots, and to hell.

RTNX Bookseller Resources:
Edelweiss Collection | Flyer | Flyer Graphic

What SIBA Booksellers have to say:

A Truce That Is Not Peace by Miriam Toews
At its core--and this book is all core--this book entreats a reader to feel the most difficult emotions. It reminds us not to leave each other alone. Being together may not save us--it did not save Toews's sister--but Miriam Toews argues that feeling together is still worth doing.
–Julia Paganelli Marin, Pearl's Books in Fayetteville, Arkansas

When the Cranes Fly South by Lisa Ridzén, Alice Menzies (Trans.)
This book WILL make you cry. But in a good way. Profound, poignant and achingly sad, When the Cranes Fly South is perfect reading for anyone who has ever loved and lost someone. In other words, all of us.
– Jude Burke-Lewis, Square Books in Oxford, Mississippi

The Hounding by Xenobe Purvis
Languid like the Thames and scorching like the relentless summer it takes place in, The Hounding threads and winds beautifully in the alternating perspectives of five villagers who all hold their own convictions about the Mansfield sisters. I devoured this debut, and I remain haunted by it still.
– Taylor Brown, Underbrush Books in Rogers, Arkansas

Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz
With a flavor entirely its own, this is a fresh, heartwarming tale about a motley crew of robots launching a restaurant amid PTSD, prejudice, and review bombing in a future post-war San Francisco. I ATE this book UP and already miss the team at Automatic Noodle and all the friendship, pride, and love found at the bottom of a bowl of their famous biang biang noodles!
– Megan Bell, Underground Books in Carrollton, Georgia

Katabasis by R. F. Kuang
Expertly articulated worldbuilding melds with a command of language and logic that carefully treads the barrier between traditional fantasy and the academic novel. Alice and Peter are PhD candidates at Cambridge studying analytical magic. When their advisor suddenly dies with no replacement forthcoming, there's only one logical option: going into Hell to retrieve his immortal soul. As they traverse the depths, the core question of the novel slowly emerges: how much are you willing to sacrifice to fulfill your darkest ambitions?
– Sydney Mason, Epilogue Books Chocolate Brews in Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Current Read This Next! books and what SIBA booksellers have to say about them can always be found at The Southern Bookseller Review.

About Read This Next!

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.