By now you’ve undoubtedly read or heard several news stories about supply chain disruptions. The book industry is no exception. Publishers have warned bookstores of disruptions during the holiday season. Let me share a condensed list with you: labor and materials shortages at printers, rising shipping container costs, labor shortages at docks and in trucking companies, publisher and distributor warehouses unable to hire enough people, and potential labor shortages for shipping companies like UPS and FedEx. That’s a list my grandpa would call “soup to nuts.”

Wellers wants you to have the books you want, for whatever reason. We’ve changed our ordering patterns and increased orders for books we think will be in high demand. We’re freshening our staff recommendation shelves and examining our existing stock with new eyes so we can help with substitutions if your desired book is out of stock. We’ll be reminding you to order and ship early when you make inquiries of us. Mostly we’re buckling our seat belts for what will be an exciting bookselling season.

The fall publisher lists are better than I’ve seen in years. It’s not unusual for a season to be strong for a particular publisher or subject. But right now publishers large and small have remarkable fiction and non-fiction titles for every age group. For a bookseller, it’s thrilling. We’re excited to show you the latest from non-fiction authors such as Mary Roach, David Sedaris, and Joseph Ellis. Novels from a bevy of beloved authors like Richard Powers, Anthony Doerr, and Louise Erdrich are also either arriving soon or on our shelves now.

All of which is to say, as my dear colleagues in the American Booksellers Association do, October is the new December. Shop early and shop local—in person or online—then sit back and relax with a good book (or two) for the holidays.

October 25th is the day our bookstore matriarch Lila N. Weller would have turned 106. After her passing in April, her memorial was delayed, and we are now honored to welcome all who knew and loved Lila to join us on this auspicious day for her memorial.

Lila’s contributions to our bookstore were as important as Sam’s, but Lila was a quiet person and many regular customers did not meet her. Those who did were often surprised and delighted by the intelligent, funny, and unexpected comments from such a quiet person.

As Lila was such an integral part of the store for decades, it’s only appropriate that we celebrate her here among the books. All are welcome to join us as we remember and celebrate her.

For this Halloween month, consider upping your occult knowledge and skills with Francis Barrett’s prodigious compendium of the occult, The Magus, first published in 1801. We are offering one of the 999 quality facsimiles published in the 1980s by Samuel Weiser.

With which suffumigation will you summon ghost guests? Can you recognize the fumes of planets?

Our nearly perfect copy of this thick quarto has brilliant color reproductions. It comes in its original box. $650

September-October Best Wellers' Pick

Receive 20% off when you purchase during September & October

What does it mean to be Mexican, especially in the US? This question nags the family at the heart of The House of Broken Angels. “The sibs all thought Little Angel was cheating the system somehow. A culture thief. A fake Mexican. More gringo than anything.” Does being born in Mexico make you more authentic, as Little Angel’s half-siblings think? Or is it more valid having been born in America, as a chicano? Is it better knowing your ancestors struggled in the States to build a better life for you, just so long as you don’t squander it? But to be a mestizo, like Little Angel, isn’t valid at all. You’re not Latin enough, you’ll never understand what it means to be Mexican. At the same time, the white kids are confused by you, they ask “What are you?” The House of Broken Angels had me thinking about these questions of identity, connecting them to my own family and experiences, and ultimately made me adore this book.

In The House of Broken Angels, family patriarch Big Angel de la Cruz is dying, and he wants to go out with a bang! One last, big family party. However, shoving everyone in a house for the weekend, feeding them cake, and demanding they be quiet and polite for a few hours, proves to be very difficult. Everyone has their memories and stipulations they refuse to let go of. None of this matters to Big Angel—he won’t let his last moments with his family fall apart. The show must go on! So everyone gathers for the patriarch. The book is full of messes and emotion, and every reader will find something to connect with.

Big Angel is one of the most stubborn and hot headed characters I’ve ever read about. Never in the wrong, even when he tears his family members down, he manages all the while to remain lovable. His relationship with his younger half-brother Little Angel is endearing. Despite their differences, they always manage to remain family and forgive one another. That’s the main thing about keeping a family together: learning how to constantly forgive, accepting one another while acknowledging when you are in the wrong. All of these virtues can be seen in the closing of the book. Families can be intricate and convoluted at times, but they can also be peaceful and alluring. It is always important to remember these moments.

The book largely focuses on the relationship between the two brothers, and the validation they felt in being Mexican. Little Angel is in a battle to prove to his half-siblings that he is worthy of their attention. He’s often shrugged off, and when he attempts to talk in Spanish, the answers he receives are always in English. Despite his love for his younger brother, Big Angel gives in to these temptations to undermine Little Angel. It has been an issue their entire lives, and at times has caused massive rifts between them. Little Angel questions whether or not to consider his half-siblings as family, or if he even fits into their family. No family is perfect. At the end of the novel, the characters forget, if only for a moment, these neglectful events—all for Big Angel. No matter how chaotic they may be, the family comes together as one in the end.

The House of Broken Angels is a lovely novel depicting the irritation and love that comes with family, one that also recognizes forgiveness and humility. The necessities involved in keeping a family together, even if it stays in the midst of dysfunction, are represented well in this story. After all, where would anyone be without their chaotic familia?

I highly recommend this novel, from my wacky familia to yours. I also recommend reading it at Mestizo Coffeehouse on North Temple. There, the atmosphere of Mexico will surround you, and you’ll even find local Latin artists. It’s a must visit, and will create a immersive experience to go with The House of Broken Angels.

Spooky season is upon us! It's the best time of year to share frights of all shapes and sizes. And what better way to share them than through a good old fashioned horror novel?

Horror is such an amazing genre since it forces readers to actively engage with it: the way you have to steel yourself before plunging into the next chapter, or the way your adrenaline races when something terrifying is right behind the main character, or even that moment of shock when something really unexpected leaps off the page and into your imagination. There is something magical about getting a chill down your spine or feeling your heart pound as something wicked unfolds from the darkness. Just don't forget to keep the lights on when you go to sleep.

Many of us here at Weller Book Works love horror and would love to share some of our favorites with you! Continue on, if you dare, to find out what our booksellers recommend!

The subtitle of this deluxe gift edition is “The Cult Classic that Inspired Dracula,” and, indeed, Le Fanu’s story preceded Bram Stoker’s by almost thirty years. But where Stoker’s heroes save their fainting women from the psycho-sexual threat of an ancient count, Le Fanu’s story thrusts a bloodied hand into the pumping heart of adolescent romance, racy lesbianism, and Victorian sexual repression.

Don’t expect surprises from the plot; there is no question that Carmilla is a vampire feeding on the unsuspecting young women of the village, who one by one die off like blighted cattle; and through the protagonist, Laura, Le Fanu manages to feign surprise at each revelation of Carmilla’s villainy. But the mystery, or lack of it, is not the point. Rather, the point is a dark lover’s seduction of Laura’s innocence. Laura is drawn to Carmilla and repulsed by her—a slave to her 19th century sense of morality, though Le Fanu makes it clear in Laura’s narration that she very much returns Carmilla’s ardor:

Carmilla is a story to read with the curtains drawn and the lights down—a guilty excursion into dark romance aflame with forbidden love. And, of course, vampirism. The cult classic inspired not only Dracula but every vampire romance after it, from Anne Rice to Stephanie Meyer, and as a gift edition in a stylish hardcover, it is well worth picking up while one still has the chance. After all, the story has everything a gothic romance requires: a remote castle, a pure and lovely innocent, and a supernatural villain who can shift forms and pass through walls. I predict copies of this will sell out quick.

If you’re the kind of person who likes the trappings of horror and the chilling uncertainty of a reality outside of our own, but wish that it was less full of despair or allegories of mental health, I would strongly recommend T. Kingfisher’s foray into eldritch horror, The Hollow Places.

T. Kingfisher, the pen name of Ursula Vernon, has reliably delivered on good, fun, genre fiction. The Hollow Places is her second run at straight horror after The Twisted Ones, and is just as a spooky good time. The first-person narrator, Kara, is a relatable protagonist who (arguably) does not propel the plot through complete stupidity. (Although there was at least one recurring plot device that may or may not have had me yelling at the pages.)

The star of the book is the world-between-worlds that Kara finds herself in. I don’t know if I can convey the uneasiness of the setting in so few words, but If you read C.S. Lewis’ The Magician’s Nephew and found the world full of pools that went into other worlds unsettling, you’d be getting a sense. Others have been trapped here before Kara, as evidenced by graffiti, journals, and the remains of the victims themselves. It’s a dangerous world, and Kara only survives her first encounter with it through ignorant luck.

Inspired by The Willows, a 1907 novella by Algenorn Blackwood, The Hollow Places is a bit of a grab-bag of horror. From unsettling trees to murderous monsters, from creeping dread to the potential of a fate worse than death, there’s plenty to scratch your horror itch.

Weller bookseller Salem Rogers loves folklore and horror. They grew up reading Alvin Schwartz’s Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, and still like to revisit it often. It means a lot to them, as it does to many generations of spooky kids.

Here are nine erasure poems by Salem using pages from Scary Stories. Enjoy!

Events

We’re delighted to once again partner with the Utah Humanities Book Festival to bring you a variety of readings, conversations and signings this fall! Our events will be both in person and online.

Festival events are indicated in the events below with "UHBF." We look forward to seeing you!

If you need any accommodations, please contact palomo@utahhumanities.org. For a full lineup of Festival events, click here.

Open Mic Night at WBW

See our events calendar or our Facebook page for the most up-to-date information on all our events.

Check out our YouTube channel to watch even more excellent events.

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