Our store hours are from 10 to 7, Monday through Saturday, and 12 to 5 on Sunday.

For those wanting to order for pickup, please email us at info@phinneybooks.com or call at 206-297-2665 to place an order.

You can also order books to be shipped via our page on the Bookshop.org site. To go to our storefront on Bookshop, click here: bookshop.org/shop/phinneybooks. (Please note: Bookshop is not our site, and the inventory listed on their site does not reflect what we have in the store, but we receive 30% of all purchases made through our store on the site.)

Thanks for all of your support for our ten years in business!

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Welcome to Phinney Books, the neighborhood bookstore in Phinney Ridge/Greenwood in north Seattle.

7405 Greenwood Ave. N, Seattle, WA 98103 206-297-2665 info@phinneybooks.com

Hours: M 10-7 T 10-7 W 10-7 Th 10-7 F 10-7 Sa 10-7 Su 12-5

Holiday Hours: Closed Thanksgiving, Christmas, December 26, and New Year’s Day. Open all other days!

Our latest book recommendations

To read more, check out back issues of our weekly newsletter, and sign up to receive new ones every week.

Featured

New Book of the Week (November 26, 2024)

Question 7

by Richard Flanagan

One of the first books I reviewed for this newsletter was Richard Flanagan's novel The Narrow Road to the Deep North, which soon after won the Booker Prize and remains one of the best books I've read in the last decade. Somewhat inexplicably, I've hardly read him since, but his new book must have been what I was waiting for: it's every bit as good. A memoir (if you can call it that) rather than a novel, it returns to the same source as The Narrow Road (his father's harrowing time as a Japanese prisoner during World War II), but in this book that memory, beginning with the moral question of the atom bomb dropped on Hiroshima (which Flanagan is sure saved his father's life), sets off a chain reaction of its own, from H.G. Wells to physicist Leo Szilard to the near-destruction of Aboriginal Tasmania (Flanagan's home) to his own near-death experience in his 20s. It's a book of deep seriousness worn lightly, and one worthy of a lifetime's thought and experience. —Tom

New Book of the Week (November 26, 2024)

Final Cut

by Charles Burns

I returned to another author of an all-time favorite this month. I often name Charles Burns''s 2005 graphic novel, Black Hole, a jet-dark story of a disease sweeping through '70s teens, as my favorite Seattle book, but I've never found another book of his that wove a spell like that one. This new one, set in a similar place and time, is a smaller story, without the majestic scope (or the granular weirdness) of Black Hole, but it's a very good one, an almost simple tale of looking and wanting so much you lose sight of what you were looking at (if you ever really had it in the first place), made concrete, yet again, by the meticulous strangeness of Burns's inky-black lines. —Tom

New Book of the Week (November 26, 2024)

Brothers

by Alex Van Halen

Two mixed-race immigrant kids, who spoke Dutch until they moved to California when they were nine and seven, where they won citywide competitions in classical piano. That may not be your image of the origin story of the kings of party rock, but that's where Van Halen began, with two music-loving brothers who decided they'd rather be rock stars, and met a flamboyant egomaniac named Dave Roth who wanted to be a star even more. Despite all their partying (which he hardly regrets), drummer Alex's memoir (as you might sense from the cover) is in part an elegy for his late brother Ed, the guitar virtuoso, and also for their band at its most combatively creative. For all the drama their stardom kicked up, the brothers (like their Dutch father) were music professionals above all, and while Alex might settle a few scores here, he's mostly sober (and insightful) about those intoxicating years. As he says about the bandmate he hardly speaks to now, "we never fought better with anyone than Dave." —Tom

New Book of the Week (November 12, 2024)

Big Vegan Flavor

by Nisha Vora

Unless you have your own test kitchen, reviewing a new, 600-page cookbook can only be a partial exercise, but after using Big Vegan Flavor for the last two months as a part-time, non-expert cook in a mostly vegan household I can say that it has been a slam-dunk success every time. Vietnamese Rice Noodle Bowls with Crispy Tofu & Mushrooms? Yes! Lemony Pasta with Sausage & Broccoli? Yum! Cheesy Herb Bread Pudding with Caramelized Leeks? Delish! Braised Carrots & Chickpeas with Dill Gremolata? Our handwritten note on this page: "So. Damn. Good." The flavors are indeed big, the recipes are straightfoward, and we're just getting started. —Tom

We're a general-interest store selling a carefully chosen selection of new books across a variety of categories. We don't have a whole lot of space, but we make a special effort to have interesting reading in fiction, kids' books, essays, history, cookbooks, music, cities, nature and science, graphic novels, and books about the Northwest. We also sell a selection of paper goods and puzzles, and we'll always have lots of NYRB Classics on hand.

Every week we send a weekly newsletter, featuring book recommendations, new releases, event news, and other stuff, which you can sign up for here.

We opened in June 2014, after taking over Santoro's Books, the neighborhood bookstore for almost a decade. Here are some of the articles about the store, before and after our opening, if you'd like to read more:

"Bookstores in Seattle Soar, and Embrace an Old Nemesis: Amazon.com," ["embrace" might be a little strong...], New York Times, Apr. 11, 2014
"Across the Street from the Future with Tom Nissley," Seattle Weekly, Apr. 29, 2014
"Ballard Author and Jeopardy! Champ Buys Santoro's Books," Phinneywood.com, Apr. 2, 2014
"For the Love of Books: Jeopardy! Champ to Open Seattle Bookstore," MyNorthwest.com, Apr. 28, 2014
"Welcome Seattle's Newest Bookstore, Phinney Books, Tomorrow," Stranger Slog, June 20, 2014
"Independent Bookstore Series: Phinney Books," CityArts, June 25, 2014
"Phinney Books: A New Literary Anchor for Greenwood," Seattle Times, July 6, 2014
"Tom Nissley of Phinney Books Shares What He's Learned from His First Bookstore Christmas Season," Stranger Slog, Dec. 11, 2014

Inquiries about the store (and special order requests) can be sent to info@phinneybooks.com.

Thanks. Hope to see you in the store!

Tom Nissley

Our Favorite Reading from 2024

What books did we most love in 2024 (even if they weren’t written in 2024)? See our year-end top 10 lists from Anika, Doree, Haley, Liz, Nancy, Shane, and Tom, as well as Haley’s top 10 picture-book list.

Holiday Bookfest 2024

Thank you to the many folks (and many authors!) who were able to join us at this year’s Holiday Bookfest on November 23. If you couldn’t make it, we have signed copies at the store from many of the participating authors. And we look forward to bring the Bookfest back next November!

The Top 100 Bestsellers of Our First Ten Years

We’re ten years old! Thank you for all your support during our first decade here in Phinneywood. Of all the books you’ve purchased here, we’ve compiled the top 100, with many familiar names and a few surprises.

Our Ten-Year Top 10s

In celebration of our tenth birthday, we each looked back and chose the ten favorite books we read in the past ten years (not always ones that were published in those years). You can see the lists from Anika, Doree, Haley, Kim, Liz, Nancy, and Tom—and submit your own Top 10!

Our TENTH-year bestsellers

Our tenth bookstore birthday was June 20, 2024. See our Top 100 bestselling books from our tenth year (and find links there to our bestsellers for each of our previous years).

OUR ORIGINAL T-SHIRT STYLES ARE BACK!

Our original t-shirt designs (by Elinor Nissley of course) are back! Choose which side of our store to represent with TRUE and MADE-UP shirts, available now in a variety of sizes and styles, including sweatshirts, long-sleeve tees, and youth sizes. (Currently only available via online ordering with Bonfire.)

Our 2nd Store: MADISON BOOKS

Madison Books, our sibling store, which we opened in 2019 in the heart of Madison Park (at 4118 E. Madison St.), is now under new ownership. We are delighted that Sarah and Christina have taken over, and we hope you’ll continue to visit their lovely little book-crammed store. Visit their website for updates, and read about the transition in the Seattle Times.

Gift Certificates

We do have Phinney Books gift certificates available for purchase, for any amount. They are physical (not electronic) gift certificates, and they can best be ordered in person at the store, over the phone, or via email at info@phinneybooks.com.