Bobzbay Books' BobzBlog

Shop for a good cause at Bobzbay Books on Tuesday, April 21st and help raise money to support Towanda District Library!

10% of all sales made at Bobzbay Books (in-store or online) on Tuesday, April 21st will be donated to Towanda District Library! Towanda District Library's mission is to provide access to materials and programs - both informational and recreational - to ignite a love of reading and inspire lifelong learning, as well as to be a vital part of the communities it serves.

For more information about Towanda District Library, visit their website.

Can't make it to the shop but still want to support? Online purchases made on 4/21/26 between 12:01am - 11:59pm qualify for the profit share too...and we ship! 🙂 To shop online, head to our website.

**offsite book sales!** Bloomington Reads: Author Presentation with Edward Kelsey Moore on Thursday, April 23 from 6-9pm in Community Rooms 1-3 and livestreamed on YouTube.

"Our 2026 Bloomington Reads program series concludes with An Evening with Edward Kelsey Moore, author of “The Supremes at Earl's All-You-Can Eat”. His presentation about the program's spotlight title will be followed by a Q and A session and a book signing. Attendees may purchase the book at the event for signing or purchase the title online in advance through Bobzbay.

This program will be offered both in person and live on the BPL YouTube channel. (Please note that at-home viewers will not be able to participate in the Q & A session beyond observing.)

Questions about this program can be emailed to Marcie.

We'll be donating a portion of our sales of The Supremes at Earl's All You Can Eat to the Bloomington Public Library, so please consider purchasing from us!

It's that time of the year again...Indie Bookstore Day 2026 is here!

Swing by Bobzbay Books on Saturday, April 25th to celebrate Indie Bookstore Day with us!

Join us for...

- Exclusive & limited edition Indie Bookstore Day items including signed & special edition books, Indie Bookstore Day tote bags, Blackwing pencils, and more!

- Free bookish swag (while supplies last!)

- Hunt for the Libro.fm Golden Ticket for a chance to win a year's worth of audiobooks from Libro.fm!

- Enter to win a $50 Bobzbay Books Gift Card, sponsored by our friends at Edelweiss!

- New Bobzbay merch!

- Maybe the Bobzbay Robot will even make an appearance...? :)

Carey

You know what book needs to be a movie? Station Eternity by Mur Lafferty. Murder in space!!!! Murders just kind of happen around Mallory Viridian, and she just always happens to be able to solve them. When she becomes the first human to live on a sentient space station among alien races (rock-people! chameleon people! little bug aliens!), she thinks she's safe. But then the murders start to happen again! A movie based on Station Eternity would be fast and exciting with great visuals. (Oh, how I'd love to see rock-princess Tina smash things!)

Station Eternity and its two sequels (in The Midsolar Murders series) are staff picks of mine. Check them out!

In other news, I got to do one of my favorite things yesterday: I took a nap in a hammock on my back patio! I spent most of the day working on yard and garden projects, resting in my hammock when I needed to take a break. I planted two lilac bushes (my favorite flowers!) and cleared out a lot of invasive plants and weeds. I hope everyone out there has a favorite place to rest 💚

Liz

Two books that made my 'best of' lists in the past couple years are being made into movies (and they're coming out this year!). Whalefall by Daniel Kraus & Incidents Around the House by Josh Malerman.

I'm also super excited for the Sunrise on the Reaping adaptation, I grew up when teen dystopian books were at their height and seeing the Hunger Games series continue to be popular has been so fun. Check out the trailer here.

Two books that I would love to be made into a movie are Clay McLeod Chapman's Wake Up and Open Your Eyes (this book moves fast, is absolutely bonkers, and kind of gross) and Coup de Grâce by Sofia Ajram (I would love to see the dread-filled liminal space the main character is lost in on screen).

McKenzie

SO MANY of my favorite movies/TV shows were books first! Lord of the Rings, Pride and Prejudice (the 1995 version), Howl’s Moving Castle—just to name a few. And let’s not forget the more recent adaptations like Nimona (stunning animation btw), Percy Jackson & the Olympians, and The Wild Robot, which both Liz & I saw in theaters together! Bridge to Terabithia and Ella Enchanted were staple films (and books) from my childhood, along with Spirited Away, which is based on a children’s story by Sachiko Kashiwaba titled The Village Beyond the Mist. Truly, I think I enjoy more films/shows that were books first than not!

One of the books I’ve always said would make a fantastic animated series is rumored to be in the works—looking at you, House in the Cerulean Sea 👀. I’ve wanted a Redwall animated series for decades now, specifically in the art style of Cartoon Saloon (the studio that created both Song of the Sea and The Secret of Kells), but I would settle for a Secret of Nimh, classic Don Bluth style as well 😌. Oh, and I would buy the hell out of a Legends & Lattes cozy board game/video game adaptation, and Monk & Robot (book 1) would be a WONDERFUL children’s book!

Honorable mention goes out to Witch Hat Atelier, which I’ve only seen trailers for but looks AMAZING!

Until next time, friends 💜

Sydney

Adaptations I'm excited for:

🔪 The Shards by Bret Easton Ellis - This book was begging to be adapted but it's a favorite book AND a favorite author of mine, so I'm tempering my expectations! I loooove camp and nonsense so I'm not necessarily upset that it's getting the Ryan Murphy treatment, but I was really hoping for more of a darkly decadent, Emerald Fennell à la Saltburn vibe. We'll see!

🏛️ Piranesi by Susanna Clark - I am *such* a sucker for stop-motion animation, so I'm absolutely psyched that LAIKA Studios will be handling this adaptation. LAIKA is the studio behind Coraline and ParaNorman (one of my favorite films ever) so I'm sure it's going to be incredible!

Adaptations that I wish existed:

🍸 Local Heavens by KM Fajardo - We deserve an Gatsby update for the era of late-stage capitalism and the age of technology, and a queer, cyberpunk twist on the classic sounds like such a treat!

🎭 All's Well by Mona Awad - Shakespearean drama! Body horror! Mysterious strangers! Magic elixirs! A narrator who is slowly (and then very quickly) going off the rails! All of Mona Awad's books are super cinematic, but this would be my first pick to see on the screen.

🌊 The Water Cure by Sophie Mackintosh - Somebody get Sofia Coppola on this one STAT! This book is a dreamy dystopian fable that feels like The Handmaid's Tale and The Virgin Suicides had a baby. I can see the soft focus visuals and the sunshine-soaked darkness now...

4/20 is coming up and it looks like it will be a beautiful day to chill outside and read a book! We've still got a few of our limited edition 4/20 Blind Dates left (they come with page tabs, a fun magic eye postcard, and POP ROCKS!) so check 'em out in store or online before they're gone!

As a reminder, 10% of the proceeds from the 4/20 Blind Dates will be donated to the Last Prisoner Project to aid in cannabis reform. The Last Prisoner Project (LPP) is a national, nonpartisan nonprofit dedicated to reforming our criminal justice system through progressive drug policy. For more info, visit their website!

Be sure to check out our April displays before the month is over!

Nature & Climate Fiction

Earth Month

4/20 Blind Dates (and not on display but technically related, here's our drug books)

Sexual Assault Awareness Month

Arab American Heritage Month

Because of our inventory system, our webstore only includes new books, but we always try to include a good mix of new AND used books on display in the shop. Swing by the store to check them out and see all the great titles we have that aren't listed online!

Don't forget to pre-order your Bobert shirt! Available in orange, green, grey, & cream, the latter of which comes with fabric markers to color the design yourself! (We've got samples of the orange, green, & grey in-store if you want to check them out in person.)

Pre-orders are available now until April 26th, click the link below to snag one for yourself!

Locally printed by Lost Art Designs & locally designed by the incredible Rabil Illustration, we are so excited for this shirt!

Normal - Holi Moli @ Uptown Circle (4/18/26) "NCHS’ South Asian Performing Arts Students as well as NCHS’ Asian American and Pacific Islander Club, are proud to present: A Festival of Colors: Holi Moli! Every spring, the Indian subcontinent celebrates the two-day festival called Holi. With origins in Hindu mythology, the festival celebrates the triumph of good over evil and the arrival of spring after a cold winter. During the celebration of Holi, it is customary to throw colored powder on family and friends to show love and respect for one another—a tradition that represents togetherness, friendship and a prospering community.

Colorful powders will be thrown to celebrate and participants are encouraged to wear white clothing for maximum display of bright colors. Admission and color packets are FREE of charge.

Attendees can expect a celebration from 1-3 p.m., through live music and food from local restaurant TBA." For more information visit this link.

Blono Craft Club @ Bloomington Public Library (4/18)

"Join us for CRAFT CLUB! Blono Craft Club is a community craft club, anyone is welcome to join at any time. Participants should bring a craft (any craft-diamond painting, knit, crochet, scrapbook, punch needle- whatever you like!) and work on it alongside other crafters. The purpose of the club is to build community while pursuing creativity." For more information visit this link

Bloomington - Bloomington Bison Home Game vs Iowa Heartlanders @ Grossinger Motors Arena (4/18) "Soak up the fun, SpongeBob Night is coming! The Bison AND Heartlanders will hit the ice in special SpongeBob themed jerseys you won’t want to miss!" For more information + tickets visit this link.

Normal - Home & Garden Market @ The Barrel Room at DESTIHL Brewery (4/19) "Join us on Sunday, April 19th, from 10am– 2pm for our Home & Garden Market, featuring a curated selection of vendors offering unique finds for your home and outdoor spaces. Browse a variety of home and garden goods inside the Barrel Room and outdoors in the connected Courtyard, creating the perfect shopping experience." For more information, including a vendor list please visit this link.

Bloomington - Lunch 'n' Learn: Suicide Prevention for LGBTQ+ Communities and Allies @ Chestnut Family Health Center (4/21/26) "Pride Pathways: Suicide Prevention for LGBTQ+ Communities and Allies is a 90-minute presentation designed to deepen understanding of how suicide impacts the LGBTQ+ community. This program is intended for LGBTQ+ individuals and allies interested in fostering supportive, inclusive, and affirming environments that promote LGBTQ+ mental health." Registration is required for this event.

The Bobzbay Books Pet(s) of the Week are Buster & Chairry <3

Tag us on social media or text us (309-434-9515) photos of your book loving pets and we'll try to share them in upcoming newsletters.