1151 Church Street, Northbrook IL (847) 498-4999
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Welcome Readers,
Hello, readers.
April is an exciting month of the year when grass grows and flowers bloom; nourishing rain falls and temperatures rise. The book world is growing and in bloom as well. Come by the store for a nourishing browse; there's nothing like time at the Book Bin to add some Spring to your step!
If you haven't joined in on the new series Illinois Libraries Present, let us encourage you. Now is the time! At the end of this month, Jeff Tweedy will be in conversation with Nick Offerman! Next month, the virtual event will be an evening with Michelle Zauner, author of Crying in H Mart! Click here for more details on our website.
Our BIG party of the year is at the end of the month on April 30. Independent Bookstore Day will be rocking and rolling at the Book Bin and at MANY bookstores around the 50 states. The Chicagoland area bookstores are encouraging readers to visit as many as they can to earn a year-long discount at the nearly 40 participating stores. Visit 10 for a 10% discount; for a 15% discount, visit - you guessed it - 15 stores! This is no easy feat; plan your trip for the day and hope for good weather!
Exciting plans start with a book!
Kindly,
Alli & Amy
Book Bin Owners
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Hours:
Monday through Saturday
Open 10:00am to 4:00pm
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Last Month's
Top 15
Bestsellers
Woman on Fire
by Lisa Barr
The Personal Librarian
by Marie Benedict
The Lincoln Highway
by Amor Towles
Agent Sonya:
The Spy Next Door
by Ben McIntyre
The Paris Apartment
by Lucy Foley
The Paris Library
by Janet Skeslien Charles
The Night Shift
by Alex Finlay
Run, Rose, Run
by Dolly Parton
and James Patterson
Atlas of the Heart
by Brene Brown
It Ends with Us
by Colleen Hoover
This Is How It Always Is
by Laurie Frankel
Klara and the Sun
by Kazuo Ishiguro
The Seven Husbands
of Evelyn Hugo
by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Comedy Comedy
Comedy Drama: A Memoir
by Bob Odenkirk
One Italian Summer
by Rebecca Serle
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Lisa Barr, author of our #1 bestseller this month, visits us at Book Bin (in the center above) and also signs her book at a recent event (pictured below).
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At home with Alli's cats --
Eddie (above) and Gracie (below)
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Book Bin's Upcoming Events |
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Please
join
us!
OPEN
10am - 4pm
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Independent Bookstore Day 2022
is Saturday, April 30
This is such a fun day! Try to visit & support as many bookstores as you can.
We sometimes fill the store with balloons, and we always offer a few refreshments. We have raffles both big & small, and we take pictures of customers and books and smiles and excitement. You are all a part of this day! We'll also have:
--Author Libby Fischer Hellman will be here to talk about DoubleBlind, her newest in the mystery series as well as her IPPY-winning book A Bend in the River
--Since it is so close to Earth Day, we have a houseplant swap; bring one of yours and trade for one of ours (:
If you've been to a bookstore on IBD before, you know the feeling of it all... We love being here every day -- when you shop here, you know that -- but on this shopping day of the year, it's kinda different. We all feel this mutual dizzying affection for this crazy reading life and all the dedication it takes to keep turning the pages.
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Chicagoland Bookstore Crawl 2022
is on Independent Bookstore Day
It’s back! Yet again, Chicagoland proves itself to be the dream destination for book lovers and readers of all ages! Nearly 40 independent bookstores in the greater Chicago area—from Lake Forest to Homewood, and Naperville to the Loop—are collaborating on this year’s #ChiLoveBooks Challenge, which encourages book lovers to indulge in bookstore tourism by visiting 10, 15, or more(!!) stores in a single day. As usual, the challenge is being held on Independent Bookstore Day (IBD), which is a one-day national party celebrating indie bookstores on the last Saturday in April. Each store will host its own unique events—including guest authors, special story times, readings, contests, giveaways, and special sales.
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Author Libby Fischer Hellman will be here!
April 30, appearing from 12pm-2pm
DoubleBlind (in Libby's long-running mystery series) recently published in March! Pick up the series starting here, and you'll be hooked. We can get you previous titles in this fabulous and gripping series from Libby herself!
With little work during the pandemic, Chicago PI Georgia Davis agrees to help the best friend of fellow sleuth, Ellie Foreman. Susan Siler's aunt died suddenly after her Covid booster, and Susan's distraught mother wants the death investigated. However, Georgia's investigation is interrupted by a family trip to Nauvoo, Illinois, the one-time Mormon heartland. It's there that her life unexpectedly intersects with the runaway spouse of a Mormon Fundamentalist.
Her brand new paperback novel DoubleBlind will be featured, but we'll have many of Libby's previous books including her award-winning book A Bend in the River, about two young Vietnamese sisters in 1968.
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Reading with Hometown Author Amanda Moore -
Requeening published in October and is not a bore.
Amanda is a 1993 graduate of Glenbrook North and is currently a high school English teacher and lives by the beach in the Outer Sunset neighborhood of San Francisco with her husband and daughter. Her poems have appeared in journals and anthologies including Best New Poets, ZZYZVA, and Mamas and Papas, and her debut collection of poetry, Requeening, was selected for the 2020 National Poetry Series by Ocean Vuong.
"Moore’s debut collection is a winner of the 2020 National Poetry Series, and it’s clear why. Using imagery of the beehive and the matriarchal queen bee, Moore contemplates childbirth, motherhood, and marriage. A quietly profound work about the inevitable cycles of life." -O, the Oprah Magazine
Save the date -
This event will be great!
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Please join us as we discuss Agent Sonya by Ben Macintyre with Sheila Whalen as our discussion group leader.
The date of the in-person discussion is Thursday, April 7 at 7:00 pm.
(Your RSVP is important for us in our setting up for the evening, so please call us or click the email link below.)
The Book Bin's Adult Book Discussion has a long history behind it of great questions, deep diving into the novels we select, and a general feeling of community. We'd love to have you here.
This true-life spy story is a masterpiece about the woman code-named “Sonya.” Over the course of her career, she was hunted by the Chinese, the Japanese, the Nazis, MI5, MI6, and the FBI—and she evaded them all.
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The date for our next in-person Mystery Book Club will be Monday, May 14 at 7:00 pm.
(We'd appreciate if those of you planning to attend would call us or click the email link below with your RSVP.)
Our discussion of Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey will be lead by Alli Gilley this month. Detective Ron is not available, but Detective Alli is excited to get to the heart of this mystery with you as partners in crime!
Inspector Alan Grant of Scotland Yard, recuperating from a broken leg, becomes fascinated with a contemporary portrait of Richard III that bears no resemblance to the Wicked Uncle of history. Could such a sensitive, noble face actually belong to one of the world’s most heinous villains—a venomous hunchback who may have killed his brother’s children to make his crown secure?
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May's Book Discussion Selection and Date
Our Adult Book Discussion is doing our annual discussion of a classic! Please join us as we discuss
A New York lawyer remembers his boyhood in Nebraska and his friendship with a pioneer Bohemian girl.
The date of the discussion will be
Thursday, May 5 at 7:00 pm..
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Hardcover Fiction & Mysteries |
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Ballantine Books
Available April 5
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Ballantine Books
Available April 12
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Grand Central Publishing
Available April 19
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Knopf Books
Available April 26
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St. Martin's Press
Available April 26
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Dutton Books
Available April 26
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A Novel by Joseph Kanon
Published by Scribner
Available in Hardcover Now
Martin Keller spent the last 10 years in a West German prison after being ratted out by his wife. Sabine, now his ex-wife, was a spy herself, and it is she who orchestrated his release, freeing Martin in "exchange" for three political prisoners. Martin is now in East Berlin, wondering why he is there when his old spy handler Andre lets him know that he must start spying again. He must listen in on an old scientist who is spreading anti-government speech. It must be true that once you're a spy, you're always a spy. Long chapters with intense interactions make this espionage thriller a winner.
Reviewed by Alli Gilley
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(A younger) Alli speaking with Mr. Kanon
at a library event in Highland Park, circa April 2018
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A Novel by Stewart O'Nan
Published by Grove Press
Available in Hardcover Now
The first sentence of Ocean State reads, "When I was in eighth grade my sister killed another girl." Set for the most part in 2009 in a town in Rhode Island, the novel tells what leads up to and what happens after the murder from four women's experiences-the murderer, Angel, the sister of the murderer, Marie, the mother of the murderer, Carol and the murdered girl, Birdy. As we get a clearer picture of each of these characters, we feel anger, shame and empathy for all of them. This is the perfect book for readers who want to instantly become involved in a book. Although this is not a "typical" O'Nan novel, like most of his works, Ocean State has clear, concise prose, relatable characters and a very well-constructed plot.
Reviewed by Nancy Randall
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A Novel by Rebecca Serle
Published by Atria Books
Available in Hardcover Now
When Katy's mom dies, Katy loses not only her mother but her
best friend, confidante, and anchor. Life doesn't make sense to her anymore; she even tells her husband that she might not want to be married. So when the time comes to go on a trip that was supposed to be taken with her mom, Katy decides to go by herself. Arriving at the hotel on the Amalfi Coast in Positano has a calming effect on Katy. She is rejuvenated by the stunning scenery where she feels the aura of her mother Carol. And then Carol appears for real, in the flesh and 30 years old. Katy doesn't know what is happening, but befriends this younger woman and learns who her mother was and enjoys this time together. This story is how we move on after losing an important person in our lives and how we never really lose them.
Reviewed by Marla Alexander
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A Novel by Jenny Tinghui Zhang
Published by Flatiron Books
Available in Hardcover on April 5
In Four Treasures of the Sky by Jenny Tinghui Zhang, we learn the compelling story of Daiyu, a 13 year old girl living with her family in the Chinese countryside. When her parents disappear, and she is kidnapped, Daiyu must endure the unimaginable. Smuggled against her will to San Francisco where she is meant to be a prostitute, Daiyu finds a way to survive and make her way in this foreign land where she has no rights and many people don’t want her. This beautifully written, yet heartbreaking story, reminds us of the dark history of the American West in the 1880’s.
Reviewed by Andrea Fossier
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Paperback Fiction & Mysteries |
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Vintage Books
Available April 5
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Gallery Books
Paperback Available Now
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Random House
Available April 26
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A Novel by Lisa Barr
Published by Harper Paperbacks
Available in Paperback (& Hardcover) Now
Woman on Fire is the latest novel by award-winning author Lisa Barr. This fast paced story follows young and ambitious journalist Jules Roth across the globe searching for a famous painting that was stolen during World War II. This is the heart wrenching story of a man who is desperately trying to reclaim that painting and redeem his family. From the very first page, Barr pulls you into a world of intrigue, art theft, murder, the cut-throat world of journalism, and what it takes to bring the truth to light. The writing is fabulous, the characters are perfectly crafted, and the story really moves. I was hooked from the first chapter and would highly recommend Woman of Fire to ALL of our customers! Limited number of signed copies available.
Reviewed by Amy Morrison
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A Novel by Damon Galgut
Published by Europa Editions
Available in Paperback Now
On her deathbed, the matriarch of the Swart family makes her husband promise that he will give their loyal, Black servant, Salome, the dilapidated home she has been living in forever in rural South Africa. Amor, the matriarch’s youngest child and the husband are the only two who have heard the promise, but Amor relates the deathbed wish to everyone. As each family member dies, the promise continues to be ignored. The 2021 winner of The Man Booker Prize, The Promise, is an extremely satisfying read. It explores South Africa during and after apartheid artistically through character and plot development. There is a lot to be discussed in The Promise - both in writing style and what does and doesn’t happen in the novel.
The Promise is now available in Paperback and deserves to be brought to your attention again. It may have been missed when it first won The Man Booker Award because it was hard to get!
Reviewed by Nancy Randall
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April Hardcover Nonfiction |
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Crown Books
Available April 5
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Ecco Books
Available April 12
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Simon & Schuster Books
Available April 12
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Our "Clubs"!
We pride ourselves on our friendliness and our service to our customers and community. As we pondered everything we offer, we came up with this list of "clubs" available to you at the Book Bin. Invite your friends!
Frequent Reader Club
We punch holes in your card for each $10 you spend working towards $10 off your next purchase
Our Book Club
We meet on the first Thursday night of the month to discuss an enthralling paperback book, with Thursday April 7 and Thursday May 5 as our next meetings
Book Bin Detective Club
We read a new paperback mystery novel and meet on a Monday night mid-to-late month to discuss it, with Monday May 16 set as our next meeting
The Booklovers Club
We send a book a month to a recipient of your choosing, such as a new baby, a voracious middle-grade or teen reader, or an adult, say for a birthday gift that "keeps giving"
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Quick Question: What is your favorite aspect of Spring?
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Sunshine and warmer temperatures
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Rainy Days to spend inside Reading
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Last Month's "Quick Question" Results:
Do you think we'll get any more snow in Spring 2022?
"Yes, unfortunately" was the top answer with 69% of the votes;
"Please! I hope so." received 18% of the votes;
and "No, probably not!" received 13% of the votes.
For the second month in a row, we received 67 responses;
Thanks for participating (:
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We're lowering our books off
the top shelves so all of us can reach them!
We’re here to assist you-
in the store, over the phone, with an email, or online.
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Thank you for reading and for shopping locally. We appreciate your support!
Kindly,
The Book Bin Staff
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Dear Customers:
- We are so thankful you have continued shopping with us throughout the pandemic.
- While shopping here, we ask that you consider your social distancing with our staff and the other customers.
- Remember way back when we had customers wear gloves while shopping?! (#interabang)
- Although we NO LONGER REQUIRE masks in the store, we do encourage them and appreciate them, but it is your choice.
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Why Shopping Local Matters
Buying local boosts the local economy.
When you buy local, more of the money you spend stays in the community. Local businesses like us, are more likely to use other local businesses and services to support our operations.
Book Bin Services
1. Free gift wrapping, cards, and gold stickers on your purchases
2. Easy shipping available on any purchases via the USPS
3. Contactless Curbside Pick-ups from our bench
4. Fast order fulfillment of any book in print
5. Friendly people to recommend your next great read
Not a Superstore... just a Super Store!
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