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 nine 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 (April 15, 2024)

The Night in Question

by Susan Fletcher

The Night in Question by Susan Fletcher is a heartwarming—and heartbreaking—exploration of love in later life and the regrets we have about our younger years. Florrie Butterfield recently lost a leg due to an accident, so uses a wheelchair to get around Babbington Hall, a retirement home in England. After what seems to be a terrible accident at the home, Florrie and her gentleman friend, Stanhope, try to get to the bottom of it. That leads Florrie on a journey of forgiveness—for herself and others. This novel has a similarity to Richard Osman’s The Thursday Murder Club in its lovely depiction of friendships (but without that series’ trademark humor) and left me wanting to get to know both Florrie and Stanhope better. I do hope there’s a sequel. —Doree

New Book of the Week (April 15, 2024)

Stag

by Dane Bahr

By the time he moves from small-town Iowa to the rural Northwest, ex-sheriff Amos Fielding is a widower in his seventies, and he's seen too much of the dark side of the world, some of which you will have seen too, if you read Dane's pitch-black first novel, The Houseboat. Dane was always a chipper fellow when he hosted our monthly Dock Street Salon reading series, as he did before moving up to Bellingham, but, boy, the darkness that's sloshing around his imagination! Plenty of it fills this book, haunting Fielding's attempt at retirement with a serial killer at work and a local lawman strangely disinclined to do his job. It turns out western Washington is no country for old men either. —Tom

Old Book of the Week (April 15, 2024)

Phinney by Post Book #112

The Friends of Eddie Coyle

by George V. Higgins

Friends are one thing Eddie Coyle doesn't have. He talks to a lot of guys—this book is made of talking—but every conversation is a wary exchange, negotiated sometimes in half-spoken ways and sometimes with brutal directness. Why is this book, which Elmore Leonard and Dennis Lehane agree is the greatest crime novel, not even better known? Maybe because its brilliant but sometimes unforgiving reliance on the ambiguities of conversation makes it closer to Dubliners than The Firm. Maybe because Eddie's life of driving up and down the outer freeways of New England and getting drunk at Bruins games carries none of the dark glamour of the best-known crime story of its era, The Godfather. But oh, this book, and all its talk, is still a marvel, fifty years on. —Tom

Kids' Book of the Week (April 15, 2024)

Phinney by Post Kids Book #100

The Thingamajig

by Rilla Alexander

What word do you use when you can't remember the name for something? Thingamajig? Doohickey? Whatchamacallit? Whozeewhatsit? Rilla Alexander has a hoot of a time with all those madeup words we all seem to use and with the nonsense words other languages have invented for the same fuzzy meaning, which are all silly-sounding enough that this will make a wonderfully goofy read-aloud, especially for kids who are just waking up to the wonders of words and things. —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 2023

What books did we most love in 2023 (even if they weren’t written in 2023)? See our year-end top 10 lists from Liz, Tom, Anika, Doree, Kim, Nancy, and Haley.

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 NINTH-year bestsellers

Our ninth bookstore birthday was June 20, 2023. See our Top 100 bestselling books from our ninth year (and find links there to our bestsellers for each of our previous years).

Our 2nd Store: MADISON BOOKS

Madison Books, our sibling store in the heart of Madison Park (at 4118 E. Madison St.), opened in 2019, and in 2022 was named one of the five national finalists for the Publishers Weekly Bookstore of the Year! You can contact Madison Books at info@madisonbks.com, sign up for the Madison Books newsletter, and visit their website. And you can also read a profile of Madison Books in the Seattle Times.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Tuesday, April 23, 7 pm: Paperback release event with Claire Dederer for Monsters: A Fan’s Dilemma.

Saturday, April 27, all day: Independent Bookstore Day!

Sunday, May 5, 5 pm: Christy Bauman presents Her Rites

Wednesday, May 15, 7:30 pm: The Ridge Readers book club meets (outside the store) to discuss Solito by Javier Samora

Thursday, May 16, 7 pm: Author event with Dane Bahr for Stag

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.