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

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 (March 3, 2025)

Victorian Psycho

by Virginia Feito

Jane Eyre meets Shirley Jackson (think: We Have Always Lived in the Castle) in this Victorian horror-comedy. In the movie in my mind, Tim Burton is the director. Upon arriving at Ensor House, the new governess informs the reader with casual cruelty that, "It is early fall, the cold is beginning to descend, and in three months everyone in this house will be dead." This before she, the servants, her employers, or the spoiled children have even been introduced! Miss Winifred Notty (wink) is an antiheroine molded by time and circumstance. It is her head we dwell inside, privy to her disturbing history and irreverent musings. We observe as she feigns politeness and maliciously complies to do her duties. We witness how each member of the household is their own particular brand of horrible, spurring on the Darkness that resides in her. This nasty novella doesn't spare innocents or shy away from on-the-page violence and gore, culminating in a deliciously macabre finale. It is a fantasy of female rage and wickedness, and boy, is it fun. —Anika

New Book of the Week (March 3, 2025)

Here Beside the Rising Tide

by Emily Jane

Emily Jane’s very funny debut novel, On Earth as It Is on Television, was one of my favorite books two years ago, and I frequently recommend it to people who want something hilarious yet also poignant about what it means to be human (despite the fact that it’s about aliens). Her follow-up, Here Beside the Rising Tide, is in a similar vein, as there’s something maybe alien-like out in the water off Pearl Island, the childhood home of 10-year-old Jenni. She spends a glorious summer with a kid named Timmy who loves carnivals and swimming and general kid stuff just like her and isn’t in a hurry to grow up. But then Timmy disappears into the water…and somehow reappears 30 years later, still 10 years old, while Jenni is going through a divorce, trying to finish the latest in her successful romance novel series, renovating her late mother’s home, letting her kids eat way too much sugar, and flirting with a hunky contractor who may or may not be flirting back. Meanwhile, Timmy tries to get her to help him save the world. As a solo parent with far too much on her plate this summer, how can she say no to her old friend? —Doree

Old Book of the Week (March 3, 2025)

Phinney by Post Book #122

The Light Years

by Elizabeth Jane Howard

Does your heart race with anticipated pleasure when you see not only a list of characters but a family tree on the first pages of a fat novel? If so, prepare to luxuriate, as this is just the first of five volumes in Howard's Cazalet Chronicle (all published after her 65th birthday, late in a glamorous literary life that sometimes overshadowed her writing). The large cast consists of the Cazalets, a family wealthy from the timber trade, and their similarly sized staff of servants, and it's Howard's special genius to be able to inhabit them all (the children especially, in all their fussiness, intelligence, and ignorant charm). What delights me more than anything is the vivid texture of how people lived, how they planned and prepared their meals, picked out their dresses, and arranged their adulteries. This volume is set in the late '30s, as WWII approaches—I look forward to following them, with the series, for two decades more. —Tom

Kids' Book of the Week (March 3, 2025)

Phinney by Post Kids Book #110

We Needed a You

by M.H. Clark and Olivia Holden

We Needed a You is my new go-to baby shower recommendation. This delightfully sweet picture book features soft and colorful artwork and gentle text describing all the beautiful things in the world ("there were treats made for sharing and savoring," "cats in the windows, blackberries to eat") but ultimately something was missing, the parents tell the child. We needed a you! A great way to remind little ones they are loved. —Haley

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.

Upcoming Events

Wed., March 19, 7:30 pm: The Ridge Readers book club meets (as usual, outside the store) to discuss Samantha Harvey’s The Western Wind.

Wed., March 26, 7 pm: Bill Thorness presents his family memoir, All Roads Lead to Rome, in discussion with novelist Dominic Smith, in Room 6 of the Phinney Neighborhood Center. (Pre-order signed copies of their books here.)

Wed., April 16, 7:30 pm: The Ridge Readers book club meets (as usual, outside the store) to discuss J.L. Carr’s A Month in the Country

The Top 100 Bestsellers of Our First Ten Years

We turned ten years old in June 2024! 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.