Story Line Books

100 ESSENTAILS - All The King's Men
2025-09-11 18:30 - 20:00 (America/Chicago) | Story Line Books, 214 Fourth Street E Suite 160, Saint Paul, MN, 55101, United States
Meet the original American demagogue. All the King’s Men is a Pulitzer Prize winning novel about the corrupt, populist political rise and fall of fictional Governor Willie Stark, loosely based on Louisiana Governor Huey Long.
The story is told through the perspective of journalist Jack Burden, exploring themes of power, corruption, and morality in the 1930s American South. The novel was adapted into a classic 1949 film that won three Oscars, and a later 2006 film adaptation.
Bonus: Jimmy had already read this one, so he’s going to be joining us!

CONTEMPORARY LITERATURE - Small Mercies
2025-08-27 18:30 - 20:00 | Story Line Books, 214 Fourth Street E Suite 160, Saint Paul, MN, 55101, United States
We’re all familiar with the story of American desegration in the South, but many fewer of us are as familiar with what desegration looked like in relatively “progressive” places like Boston. Hint: it wasn’t good. Set against the hot, tumultuous months when the city’s desegregation of its public schools exploded in violence, Small Mercies is a superb thriller, a brutal depiction of criminality and power, and an unflinching portrait of the dark heart of American racism. It is a mesmerizing and wrenching work that only Dennis Lehane could write.

STAFF CHOICE - When Women Were Dragons
2025-08-20 18:30 - 20:00 | Story Line Books, 214 Fourth Street E Suite 160, Saint Paul, MN, 55101, United States
The short description is “A rollicking feminist tale set in 1950s America where thousands of women have spontaneously transformed into dragons“. 10/10 Perfect. No notes.
It’s a book about rage, memory, and violently enforced limitations where women are forced to stay small – crushed and crushed until the pressure causes them to explode into the space they deserve.

THE ESSENTIALS - The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
2025-08-13 18:30 - 20:00 | Story Line Books, 214 Fourth Street E Suite 160, Saint Paul, MN, 55101, United States
We didn’t even need to see the Essentials List before we knew that we’d be reading this one. Join us to discuss this all-timer, and share the story with the whole family with our collection of Huckleberry Finn adaptations suitable for readers of all ages!

Happy 75th Birthday, Snoopy!
2025-08-10 10:00 - 14:00 | Story Line Books, 214 Fourth Street E Suite 160, Saint Paul, MN, 55101, United States
Charlie Brown first met his best friend, Snoopy in the August 10, 1950 edition of the Peanuts daily comic strip, brought to life by St. Paul’s own Charles Schultz.

To celebrate 75 years of Snoopy, we’ll be having a little party at the store for ol’ Snoopy, with cake, dancing, entertainment, and (of course) Snoopy’s favorite – root beer floats! Swing by any time between 10 and 2 on Sunday, August 10 to join in the fun!

Stories at the Station - Mubanga Kalimamukwento
2025-08-07 18:00 - 20:00 | 1881 Eating House, 214 4th Street E, Saint Paul, MN, 55101, United States
Winner of the 2025 Minnesota Book Award in the Novel and Short Story category, Obligations to the Wounded is an extraordinary collection of stories about Zambian women, all of whom are adjusting to circumstances far outside of their control, either in the United States or in Kalimamukwento’s birth nation of Zambia.

“While providing a sense of the ancient traditions of the various ethnic groups of the landlocked south-central African nation, the stories in Obligations to the Wounded have a universal appeal. Who wouldn’t feel vulnerable in the face of authority, especially when you’re young and female? Kalimamukwento’s characters face daunting odds while trying to do the right thing, in a way that feels so familiar, so compelling. So many of Mubanga Kalimamukwento’s characters are vulnerable, conflicted, wounded. Very few are evil or malevolent. Everyone can use a little help, human or divine. We feel that obligation, reading these stories.” – Charles Rammelkamp, The Hopkins Review

Join us for the latest iteration of Stories at the Station – light appetizers and a cash bar provided!

Meet the Author - Heather Texle!
2025-08-02 11:00 - 14:00 | Story Line Books, 214 Fourth Street E Suite 160, Saint Paul, MN, 55101, United States
Join us Saturday, August 2 to welcome award-winning local author Heather Texle as she continues her launch tour for On Impact, the second book in the Reliance Sinclair series. This is an adrenaline-fueled science-fiction-espionage-thriller-police-drama-murder-mystery series about a young woman navigating the underbelly of interplanetary human civilization. Think The Expanse meets Honor Harrington with a heavy dose of Jason Bourne. These books were a dream come true even before the reveal that Sinclair’s spaceship is run by an AI with a very feline “personality.”

Heather will be signing her books from 11-2, so don’t miss this chance to grab an autograph from a local author who is going places!

Reserve your copy of On Impulse here
or Pre-Order On Impact here!

NONFICTION - Autocracy, Inc.
2025-07-30 18:30 - 20:00 | Story Line Books, 214 Fourth Street E Suite 160, Saint Paul, MN, 55101, United States
Jimmy leads our quarterly Nonfiction book club with a meeting about Autocracy, Inc. Fair warning, this one hits a little close to home.
About the Book
From the Pulitzer-prize winning, New York Times bestselling author, an alarming account of how autocracies work together to undermine the democratic world, and how we should organize to defeat them
We think we know what an autocratic state looks like: There is an all-powerful leader at the top. He controls the police. The police threaten the people with violence. There are evil collaborators, and maybe some brave dissidents.
But in the 21st century, that bears little resemblance to reality. Nowadays, autocracies are underpinned not by one dictator, but by sophisticated networks composed of kleptocratic financial structures, surveillance technologies, and professional propagandists, all of which operate across multiple regimes, from China to Russia to Iran. Corrupt companies in one country do business with corrupt companies in another. The police in one country can arm and train the police in another, and propagandists share resources and themes, pounding home the same messages about the weakness of democracy and the evil of America.
International condemnation and economic sanctions cannot move the autocrats. Even popular opposition movements, from Venezuela to Hong Kong to Moscow, don’t stand a chance. The members of Autocracy, Inc, aren’t linked by a unifying ideology, like communism, but rather a common desire for power, wealth, and impunity. In this urgent treatise, which evokes George Kennan’s essay calling for “containment” of the Soviet Union, Anne Applebaum calls for the democracies to fundamentally reorient their policies to fight a new kind of threat.

CONTEMPORARY LITERATURE - The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue
2025-07-23 18:30 - 20:00 | Story Line Books, 214 Fourth Street E Suite 160, Saint Paul, MN, 55101, United States
Join me and Katie as we revisit one of our all-time favorites. This book makes me buy everything that V.E. Schwab writes, sight unseen. It’s perfect and beautiful and heartbreaking and everything you could want in a novel.

About the Book
France, 1714: in a moment of desperation, a young woman makes a Faustian bargain to live forever―and is cursed to be forgotten by everyone she meets.
Thus begins the extraordinary life of Addie LaRue, and a dazzling adventure that will play out across centuries and continents, across history and art, as a young woman learns how far she will go to leave her mark on the world.
But everything changes when, after nearly 300 years, Addie stumbles across a young man in a hidden bookstore and he remembers her name.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
USA TODAY BESTSELLER
NATIONAL INDIE BESTSELLER
THE WASHINGTON POST BESTSELLER
In the vein of The Time Traveler’s Wife and Life After Life, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue is New York Times bestselling author V. E. Schwab’s genre-defying tour de force.
Recommended by Entertainment Weekly, Real Simple, NPR, Slate, and Oprah Magazine
#1 Library Reads Pick―October 2020
#1 Indie Next Pick―October 2020
BOOK OF THE YEAR (2020) FINALIST―Book of The Month Club
A “Best Of” Book From: Oprah Mag * CNN * Amazon * Amazon Editors * NPR * Goodreads * Bustle * PopSugar * BuzzFeed * Barnes & Noble * Kirkus Reviews * Lambda Literary * Nerdette * The Nerd Daily * Polygon * Library Reads * io9 * Smart Bitches Trashy Books * LiteraryHub * Medium * BookBub * The Mary Sue * Chicago Tribune * NY Daily News * SyFy Wire * Powells.com * Bookish * Book Riot * Library Reads Voter Favorite *
A Life No One Will Remember. A Story You Will Never Forget.

STAFF CHOICE - Jezebel
2025-07-16 08:00 - 17:00 | Story Line Books, 214 Fourth Street E Suite 160, Saint Paul, MN, 55101, United States
Jezebel. We know the word, but not the woman who wore the name long before it was an epithet. Now, we’ll learn her story, told in the style of Madeline Miller’s Circe, as a triumphant feminist warcry for a queen who deserved more than history gave her.
About the Book
With a bold voice reminiscent of Madeline Miller’s Circe, a stunning reimagining of the story of a fierce princess from Tyre and her infamous legacy
Jezebel was born into the world howling. She intends to leave it the same way.
When Jezebel learns she can’t be a king like her father simply because she’s a girl, she vows never to become someone’s decorative wife, nameless and lost to history. At fifteen she’s married off, despite her protests, to Prince Ahab of Israel. There, she does what she must to gain power and remake the dry and distant kingdom in the image of her beloved, prosperous seaside homeland of Tyre, beginning by building temples to the gods she grew up worshipping. As her initiatives usher in an era of prosperity for Israel, her new subjects love her, and her name rings through the land.
Then Elijah, the prophet of Yahweh and her former lover, begins to speak out against her. Bitter at having been abandoned by Jezebel, he lashes out, calling her a slut. Harlot. Witch. And the people, revering their prophet’s message, turn on her.
As ancient powers and faiths are pitted against each other, bloodshed descends on Israel and Jezebel faces the fall of her legacy. Determined despite the odds to make Israel a great nation, she must decide how far she’s willing to go to protect her family, her throne—her name. A stunning revision of a notorious queen’s story, Jezebel is a thrilling lyrical debut about a fierce woman who refuses to be forgotten.

STORIES AT THE STATION - Sally Franson
2025-07-10 18:00 - 20:00 | 1881 Eating House, 214 4th Street E, Saint Paul, MN, 55101, United States
Help us welcome to the Stories at the Station series Sally Franson, Swedish-reality TV star and award-winning author to share with us her two hilarious novels: Big in Sweden and A Lady’s Guide to Selling Out. This event is not to be missed – Sally’s work is heartwarming, charming, and funny in that uniquely Swedish-Minnesotan way.
To Pre-Order Your Copies:
Big in Sweden Paperback, $18.99, Pre-Order for Release 7/1
Big in Sweden Hardcover, $28.00
A Lady’s Guide to Selling Out, Paperback, $18.99

THE ESSENTIALS - The Adventures of Augie March
2025-07-09 18:30 - 20:00 | Story Line Books, 214 Fourth Street E Suite 160, Saint Paul, MN, 55101, United States
The Adventures of Augie March, winner of the National Book Award in 1954, and hailed as an all-time great by many of the greatest American authors, is our first book in this series that truly feels obscure. How we haven’t heard of this book, we’re not sure, but we’re going to discover this one together!
Augie March is a Jewish-American boy growing up fatherless and poor in Depression-era Chicago. He seeks a “special destiny,” although his circumstances seem to position him for a uniquely disappointing life: his family consists of a simple-minded mother, a brother and “grandmother” who prove to be Machiavellian in their intentions, and an “idiot” youngest brother, Georgie.

Contemporary Literature Book Club - Last Night at the Telegraph Club
2025-06-25 18:30 - 19:30 | Story Line Books, 214 Fourth Street E Suite 160, Saint Paul, MN, 55101, United States
Winner of the National Book Award
A New York Times Bestseller
A Kirkus Reviews Best Young Adult Book of the Century
One of Rolling Stone’s 20 Best Queer Romances of All Time
“The queer romance we’ve been waiting for.”—Ms. Magazine
Seventeen-year-old Lily Hu can’t remember exactly when the feeling took root—that desire to look, to move closer, to touch. Whenever it started growing, it definitely bloomed the moment she and Kathleen Miller walked under the flashing neon sign of a lesbian bar called the Telegraph Club. Suddenly everything seemed possible.
But America in 1954 is not a safe place for two girls to fall in love, especially not in Chinatown. Red-Scare paranoia threatens everyone, including Chinese Americans like Lily. With deportation looming over her father—despite his hard-won citizenship—Lily and Kath risk everything to let their love see the light of day.

Staff Choice Book Club - Regina: The Queens Who Could Have Been
2025-06-18 18:30 - 19:30 | Story Line Books, 214 Fourth Street E Suite 160, Saint Paul, MN, 55101, United States
What queens would England have had if firstborn daughters, not firstborn sons, had inherited the throne?
We may think of princesses as dutiful, marital conveniences to build alliances, wearing long flowing dresses, but the eldest daughters of our kings have been very different.
Political intriguers. Abducted nuns who demanded divorces. Murderers.
Our princesses have been mothers willing to risk anything for their children, wives who followed their husbands to the very ends of earth, and spinsters who demanded their intellectual and societal freedom.
This book explores what it meant to be royal, how sons came to be valued higher than daughters, and just how England might have looked under a royal matriarchy. The politicians we lost, the masterminds we see negotiating nunneries not armies, the personalities shining brilliantly even hundreds of years later: the Queens who should have been.
Let’s meet them.

LAUNCH PARTY - CodeSkull with Chloe Spencer!
2025-06-17 18:00 - 20:00 | Story Line Books, 214 Fourth Street E Suite 160, Saint Paul, MN, 55101, United States
Join us for the launch of local author Chloe Spencer’s first young adult novella, Codeskull!
There will be cake (Chocolate cake and vanilla cupcakes for those who don’t like chocolate!) and Chloe will be signing books and doing a reading at 7:00!
Additional details to come!
Visit Chloe’s website to learn more about this very talented author! https://www.chloespenceronline.com/blog/vfvstgbr0hnp3le704ixwgy88pb3uw
RSVP is not required, but appreciated for estimating cupcake numbers.

100 Essential Novels Book Club - 2666
2025-06-11 18:30 - 19:30 | Story Line Books, 214 Fourth Street E Suite 160, Saint Paul, MN, 55101, United States
Roberto Bolano’s 2666 was published after his death, and at a whopping 900+ pages, it’s considered his most important and best work. It’s a heavy read, with graphic depictions of violence – sexual and otherwise – and a structure that defies categorization. The characters are broadly diverse and riveting, and the story is deep and destabilizing. We’ll talk about why this book may have been on a 100 Essential Novels list, and ultimately, if it should have been.

Warning: This is a pretty graphic book – if any topics or themes in the book were triggering for you, please let us know and we will avoid those in our discussion.

STORIES AT THE STATION - James Estwick
2025-06-05 18:00 - 20:00 | 1881 Eating House, 214 4th Street E, Saint Paul, MN, 55101, United States
Join us as we welcome our first poet to the Stories at the Station author series!
James Estwick will be joining us on Thursday, June 5th from 6-7 for a discussion of his collection, Coffee: A Reflection of My Life’s Relationships. Located in the upstairs mezzanine dining area of 1881 Eating House, we will be serving complimentary appetizers and there will be a cash bar.

James K. Estwick is a first-time published poet based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Originally from Omaha, Nebraska, he has long nurtured a deep passion for writing, and sharing his poetry with the world marks the fulfillment of a lifelong dream. His debut poetry collection, Coffee: A Reflection of My Life’s Relationships, explores the intimate connections and moments that have shaped his journey.

Silent Book Club
2025-06-04 18:00 - 20:00 | The Lost Fox, 213 4th St E #100, Saint Paul, MN, 55101, United States
At Silent Book Club® there’s no assigned reading. SBC members gather in bars, cafés, bookstores, libraries, and online to read together in quiet camaraderie.
All readers are welcome—ebooks or audiobooks, poetry or prose, fiction or non-fiction… it’s BYOBook.
Welcome to introvert happy hour!

Ann Schreiber - Emily's Next Chapter
2025-05-31 11:00 - 12:30 | Story Line Books, 214 Fourth Street E Suite 160, Saint Paul, MN, 55101, United States
Join us in welcoming Ann Schreiber to Story Line Books!
Ann is an accomplished author and copywriter. She released her first book in 2024, Perseverance. Reinvention and her second book, The Top 10 Mistakes I Made My First Year as a Copywriter in March 2025. Now, we are excited the announce the pending release of her debut fiction novel, Emily’s Next
Chapter, in May 2025.
Ann will be at Story Line Books on May 31, where she will meet with fans and sign her book(s). Coffee and other refreshments will be provided by our wonderful friends at 1881 Eating House and LBS Coffee. We can’t wait to see you there!
More About Ann Books by Ann Schreiber Emily’s Next Chapter Synopsis
About Emily’s Next Chapter
The main character, Emily, is a writer, a mother, and a woman who knows heartbreak. Still healing from her divorce, she’s spent the past few years
quietly rebuilding her life.
Lucas is a dedicated father and architect who’s grown used to
solitude after his own marriage ended. His love for his daughter,
Lily, remains the anchor that keeps him steady.
When a dating app brings them together, sparks fly—but falling
in love later in life comes with its own set of complications.
Between careers, kids, and past pain, learning to blend their
worlds takes more than chemistry.
Told through alternating perspectives—and love letters
written but not always shared—Emily’s Next Chapter is a tender
story about second chances, the quiet work of rebuilding, and the
unexpected joy of finding love when you least expect it.
For anyone who’s ever wondered if it’s too late to start over—this
story is for you.

CONTEMPORARY LITERATURE - Best Short Stories of 2024
2025-05-28 18:30 - 19:30 | Story Line Books, 214 Fourth Street E Suite 160, Saint Paul, MN, 55101, United States
May is Short Story Month, so join us to talk about the best short stories of 2024! This collection features those nominated for the O. Henry Award for excellence in the short format. Commentary is offered from bestselling author Amor Towles. Read some or all of the stories and come by ready to talk about which are your favorites!

STAFF CHOICE - Bookshops & Bonedust
2025-05-21 18:30 - 19:30 | Story Line Books, 214 Fourth Street E Suite 160, Saint Paul, MN, 55101, United States
Sometimes all you need is a foul-mouthed innkeeper to cure what ails you. It’s even better when that innkeeper is a rat. Cozy fantasy like Bookshops & Bonedust provides a respite from the troubles of the world – join friends to talk about the jokes and charm. Bonus: 1881 will have special wine recommendations to pair with the comfy vibes.

THE ESSENTIALS - 1984
2025-05-14 18:30 - 19:30 | Story Line Books, 214 Fourth Street E Suite 160, Saint Paul, MN, 55101, United States
Our book club book has always been 1984.
Our book club book has never been 1984.

“Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.” – George Orwell, 1984

Author Reading - Kiki Garcia
2025-05-10 10:30 - 12:00 | Story Line Books, 214 Fourth Street E Suite 160, Saint Paul, MN, 55101, United States
Kiki Garcia published her first book when she was 9 years old. She’s going to come read it to us on Saturday, May 10.
A proud member of the Migizi (Bald Eagle) Clan, Kiki wrote Fishing by Torchlight, which was published earlier this year. She has recently returned from a multi-city book tour where she met with fans delighted by her wonderful storytelling: this book is a fictional account of friends going spearfishing as an exercise of their treaty rights. Kiki reminisces fondly of spearfishing with her father, and views the story as a celebration of her heritage and our shared national history. She says of the story: “I always love sharing stories because sometimes, they have a deeper meaning and that deeper meaning can go a long way.”
There’s no better way to cap off a wonderful Children’s Book Week than with a sensational children’s book, written by a very young author.
See more about Kiki: https://www.kare11.com/article/news/local/breaking-the-news/kiki-garcia-childrens-books-author-spear-fishing-native-american-treaty/89-e827970a-e47d-4c52-94ab-85fa3b8daca0

NONFICTION - The Hundred Years' War on Palestine
2025-04-30 18:30 - 19:30 | Story Line Books, 214 Fourth Street E Suite 160, Saint Paul, MN, 55101, United States
While certainly at a head right now, the conflict in the area currently recognized as Palestine is not new. Join us as we learn more about this historically devastating conflict and the histories that make the region so critically unstable.

Indie Bookstore Day - Book Trivia!
2025-04-26 16:00 - 17:00 | Story Line Books, 214 Fourth Street E Suite 160, Saint Paul, MN, 55101, United States
Grab your bookish-est friends and make your way over to SLB on Indie Bookstore Day to test your knowledge against other book geeks!
The Rules:
– Teams may have up to 6 participants
– Categories will vary, and may include children’s and young adult books
– There will be three rounds of 5 questions each, increasing in difficulty. In the event of a tie, the tied teams will go to a sudden death round of up to 5 additional questions. If there remains no winner, each team will select a representative who will engage in a final sudden death round *alone*.
–Each team will be permitted one lifeline, which they may use to go to the shelves and consult the books. No phones are permitted at any time.

Independent Bookstore Day 2025
2025-04-26 08:00 - 20:00 | Story Line Books, 214 Fourth Street E Suite 160, Saint Paul, MN, 55101, United States

CONTEMPORARY LITERATURE - The Women
2025-04-23 18:30 - 19:30 | Story Line Books, 214 Fourth Street E Suite 160, Saint Paul, MN, 55101, United States
The Woman is the newest blockbuster bestseller from the extraordinary Kristin Hannah. Millions of copies sold nationwide and it’s showing no signs of slowing down as many readers call this her best work yet. Let’s find out together!

STAFF PICK - The Night Ship
2025-04-16 18:30 - 19:30 | Story Line Books, 214 Fourth Street E Suite 160, Saint Paul, MN, 55101, United States
Join us as we enjoy Jess Kidd’s The Night Ship, a moving tale about two very different lives tied together by the events of a shipwreck 300 years in the past. This book will make you smile, cry, and laugh – and it’s based on a true story!

100 Years of Gatsby
2025-04-10 19:00 - 22:00 | 1881 Eating House, 214 4th Street E, Saint Paul, MN, 55101, United States
Join us as we celebrate the 100th anniversary of the publication of The Great Gatsby by legendary Saint Paul author F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Enjoy period cocktails, hors d’oeuvres, and live music provided by our friends at 1881 Eating House. Period dress is encouraged (but not required).

Silent auction of a variety of vintage copies of The Great Gatsby and several unique handmade items related to the book.

Profits from ticket sales and silent auction to be donated to The Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library and the GoFundMe for The Paperback Exchange.

100 ESSENTIAL NOVELS BOOKCLUB - The Great Gatsby
2025-04-09 18:30 - 19:30 | Story Line Books, 214 Fourth Street E Suite 160, Saint Paul, MN, 55101, United States
Join us as we start off our voyage through the 100 Essential Novels with St. Paul’s own The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald!

This classic tale of excess lays bare the corruption beneath exorbitant wealth – confronting readers with the truth that money does not equal character.

We are celebrating 100 years of The Great Gatsby in 2025 so join us to discuss this critical contribution to American literature.
