The Nook

Being a bit petite in size, we have a few key categories of books, games, puzzles + more. Take a moment and get to know us! This is one of our nine sections.

Our 'constant learner' section is for the driven readers. Whether looking to better your self, skills or habits, non-fiction books, journals + tools for self-exploration.

We cannot wait to see you again and meet some of you for the first time!

We all have an inner artist! Check out our art supplies at 314 Main today.

New release today!

We are SO excited to welcome Kendra to the Nook for a Benefits of Tallow Info Night. Dive into the benefits of tallow with Kendra from Langland Cattle Company on October 1, 2024 at 6:30 p.m. at the Nook!

“Excited to share my journey into the world of natural skincare! Join me as I dive into the benefits of tallow and how it transformed my skincare routine. Whether you're curious about clean beauty or looking for products that truly nourish your skin, this is the perfect opportunity to learn more. I'll be discussing the story behind my tallow skincare business, the unique benefits of tallow, and answering all your questions. Don’t miss out—mark your calendars and come ready to glow naturally!” -Kendra

Banned Books Week is this week - September 22-28, 2024. Banned Books Week is an annual event that highlights the value of free and open access to information. How many of these banned books have you read?

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It's starting to feel like fall... 🍂

Trent Preszler thought he was living the life he always wanted, with a job at a winery and a seaside Long Island home, when he was called back to the life he left behind. After years of estrangement, his cancer-stricken father had invited him to South Dakota for Thanksgiving. It would be the last time he saw his father alive.

Preszler’s only inheritance was a beat-up wooden toolbox that had belonged to his father, who was a cattle rancher, rodeo champion, and Vietnam War Bronze Star Medal recipient. This family heirloom befuddled Preszler. He did not work with his hands—but maybe that was the point. In his grief, he wondered if there was still a way to understand his father, and with that came an epiphany: he would make something with his inheritance. Having no experience or training in woodcraft, driven only by blind will, he decided to build a wooden canoe, and he would aim to paddle it on the first anniversary of his father’s death.

While Preszler taught himself how to use his father’s tools, he confronted unexpected revelations about his father’s secret history and his own struggle for self-respect. The grueling challenges of boatbuilding tested his limits, but the canoe became his sole consolation. Gradually, Preszler learned what working with his hands offered: a different per­spective on life, and the means to change it.

Little and Often is an unflinching account of bereavement and a stirring reflection on the complexities of inheritance. Between his past and his present, and between America’s heartland and its coasts, Preszler shows how one can achieve reconciliation through the healing power of creativity.

Start a new series this weekend.

With the South Dakota Festival of Books happening in Brookings this weekend, there's so much to be excited for! This is where you can find the Nook during the festival. For a full schedule, visit https://sdhumanities.org/festival-of-books

We sure do have a lot of fun at Books + Banter! Join us on Tuesday, October 15 at 7 p.m. to discuss 'Archer's Voice' by Mia Sheridan. Learn more about Books + Banter by visiting our website www.thenookonmain.com!

We love a gorgeous journal! This one will blend right into your bookshelf.

Happy Monday, friends! Check out just a few of the new items + restocks this week.

Socks... but with a little attitude. 💁‍♀️

Join us today in Downtown Brookings for Fall for Downtown!

To celebrate, we are giving away a FREE tote with every $35+ purchase and a ‘make your own bookmark’ station in store! There will also be so many other fun actives for the whole family to enjoy through out downtown. Today (September 14) only!

Experience that Downtown Brookings has to offer and Step Inside the Nook.

Did you love the Cruel Prince series? Enter the world of Elfhame again with the Stolen Heir duology!

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Eight years have passed since the Battle of the Serpent. But in the icy north, Lady Nore of the Court of Teeth has reclaimed the Ice Needle Citadel. There, she is using an ancient relic to create monsters of stick and snow who will do her bidding and exact her revenge.

Suren, child queen of the Court of Teeth, and the one person with power over her mother, fled to the human world. There, she lives feral in the woods. Lonely, and still haunted by the merciless torments she endured in the Court of Teeth, she bides her time by releasing mortals from foolish bargains. She believes herself forgotten until the storm hag, Bogdana chases her through the night streets. Suren is saved by none other than Prince Oak, heir to Elfhame, to whom she was once promised in marriage and who she has resented for years.

Now seventeen, Oak is charming, beautiful, and manipulative. He’s on a mission that will lead him into the north, and he wants Suren’s help. But if she agrees, it will mean guarding her heart against the boy she once knew and a prince she cannot trust, as well as confronting all the horrors she thought she left behind.

Kalyssa was the winner of our 314 Main Ave shopping spree giveaway! We hope she enjoys her gift cards and checking out some of the downtown shopping! 🛍️

🎁 Gift idea - you can never have too many prayers!

Join us for Coffee with the Authors: Chat with Ted Wheeler + Maggie Hill! Come to the Nook on Friday, September 20 at 10:30 a.m. with your questions.

Maggie Hill’s essays and non-fiction have been published in The New York Times, The New York Daily News, and additional publications. She released her debut novel ‘Sunday Money’ in May 2024.

Theodore Wheeler is the bestselling author of three novels, most recently the USA Today bestseller ‘The War Begins in Paris’.

Don’t miss the chance to support South Dakota authors during the 2024 South Dakota Festival of Books!

In this unflinching account of the ardent love affair between the author and her painting teacher, which began in the 1970s, when she was a teenager and he was married with two children, Ciment not only reflects on how their love ignited (who leaned in first for that kiss?) but interrogates her 1996 memoir on the subject, Half a Life. She asks herself if she told the whole truth back then, and what truth looked like to her in the even longer-ago era of love-bead curtains when she fell in love, when no one asked who was served by the permissibility around a May-December romance. In the light of , with new understanding about the balance of power between an older man and an underage girl, Ciment re-explores the erotic wild ride and intellectual flowering that shaped an improbable but blissful marriage that lasted for forty-five years, until her husband’s death at ninety-three.

This riveting book about art, memory, and morality asks many questions along the way: Does a story’s ending excuse its beginning? Does a kiss in one moment mean something else entirely five decades later? Can a love that starts with such an asymmetrical balance of power ever right itself? Suffused with the wisdom that comes with time, Consent is an author’s brave recasting of her life’s settled narrative, and an urgent read for women of all ages.

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One of the most fun events of the season is happening THIS WEEKEND!! Join us in Downtown Brookings on Saturday, September 14th for a day full of fun on Main Avenue!

Main Avenue in Brookings will be bustling with activities the whole family can enjoy - a farmers market, chili cook-off, petting zoo, pumpkin painting, fall-themed family photo booth, kids crafts, food and drinks, music, and local shopping! Stop by the Nook to make your own bookmark. We can’t wait to see you!

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NEW RELEASE: Somewhere Beyond the Sea by TJ Klune

Stop by the Nook and snag the sequel to The House in the Cerulean Sea today!

Do something fun + creative this week!

Let's get organized!

Sometimes you just want to put together a puzzle. 🧩

Celebrate National Read a Book Day by picking up a good book! What are you currently reading? 📚