Goodbye 2013!

TC Double Bonus Tidbit:The Lighthouse House Writers Faculty Offers Up Recommendations and Wishes

Check them out HERE.

TC Bonus Tidbit: 10 Shakespeare Quotes for New Year's Eve

Check them out HERE.

TC Tidbit: Henry Miller's Advice to Writers

via GalleyCat

Jackie's Top Books From 2013

I have read so many great books this year, it's hard to pick the cream of this very impressive crop.  I'm already going to start with a cheat for my #1 because it was technically published in December of 2012, but I spent a lot of time handselling it, and it is very near and dear to my heart:

I love this book like no other.  Its story is true and inspiring and it pretty much made me want to give it to everyone I possibly can.  Here's the story, in a nutshell:

"Chicago native and attorney Rob Shindler’s journey to help his son overcome a major reading deficiency through volunteering to teach adults to read is chronicled in his newly released book Hot Dogs and Hamburgers: Unlocking Life’s Potential by Inspiring Literacy at Any Age.

Compelled to volunteer for Literacy Chicago as a means to help his son, Oliver, overcome significant reading deficiencies, Shindler takes readers along as he develops unconventional yet successful learning techniques. Through this journey, Shindler learned firsthand how ridiculous the common misconceptions are about learning disabilities and adult literacy. “Hot Dogs and Hamburgers” (facebook link here)

“As the parent of a child with special needs, I am acutely aware of how society judges those whose disabilities are not necessarily visible to others, and illiteracy is in fact, a hidden disease,” Shindler said. “Through ‘Hot Dogs & Hamburgers,’ I wanted to show that by solving the problem of illiteracy, we create productive individuals that positively contribute to society.”

There are 32 million adults in the United States, or 14% of the population, who cannot read, according to the U.S. Department of Education."

For the rest of my 2013 list I'm just going to put up the cover and you can click on it to learn more about the book.  I hope I can turn you on to some great books you might have missed.  I'm just putting them in the order I read them to keep my heart and brain from exploding.  lol

Some New Titles for the Foodies

In this sumptuous cookbook, Jane Fearnley-Whittingstall takes us on a nostalgic culinary pilgrimage, rediscovering classic recipes from the Edwardian kitchen. With delicious dishes, adapted with today’s kitchen in mind and delightfully informed by reminiscences from Jane’s childhood, this is much more than a cookbook - it offers a slice of gastronomic history, reviving the flavours from the great English country houses.

Tales of food, pleasure & discovery on the road.

Join us at the table for this 34-course banquet of original stories from food-obsessed writers and chefs sharing their life-changing food experiences.
The dubious joy of a twinkie, the hunger-sauced rhapsody of fish heads, the grand celebration of an Indian Wedding feast; the things we eat and the people we eat with remain powerful signposts in our memories, long after the plates have been cleared.

Tuck in, and bon appetit!

Bold is nourishing.
Bold is inspired.
Bold is food that means business.

And Bold is big as in 250 recipes filled with big flavors to be served in big portions. From the culinary team of Susanna Hoffman and Victoria Wise who between them have authored or coauthored more than fifteen cookbooks including The Well-Filled Tortilla Cookbook and The Well-Filled Microwave Cookbook Bold brings together the beloved American tradition of delicious, plate-filling meals with the lively global flavors that infuse our culture and cuisine.This is comfort food that s been given an exuberant 21st-century makeover slow-cooked roasts and braises, generous steaks, brimming soups, heaping platters of salads and vegetables, hearty pastas and grains, wild game, and rich desserts.This is Bold Stuffed California Pork Rolls. Buffalo Chili with Black Bean and Corn Salsa. Meat and Potatoes Korean Style with Quick Kimchee. Leg of Lamb with Spicy Pecan Pesto. Chicken Pot Pie Under a Filo Crust. Crowded Corn Chowder with Cod, Shrimp, and Corn. Lime Curd Coconut Meringue Pie with a Macadamia Nut Crust. The book boasts a vibrant design that complements the recipes. Sidebars throughout offer cooking tips and advice, highlight people and places, and explore food history and traditions.

Bold is America on a plate.

TC Tidbit: Authors on Their Favorite Books of 2013

From the folks at Salon. 

After The Holidays, We All Need This Book

An utterly charming, elegantly written, deeply researched study of lying down: how to do it, how not to do it, why we like it, how we've done it in the past, and why we should keep doing it in the future.

We spend a good third of our life lying down: sleeping, dreaming, making love, thinking, suffering, and getting well. Bernd Brunner's ode to lying down is a rich exploration of cultural history and an entertaining collection of tales all in one, ranging from the history of the mattress to the "slow living movement" to Stone Age repose, and beyond. He approaches the horizontal state from a number of directions, but never loses his keen sense for the odd or unusual detail.

And along the way, Brunner makes an eloquent case for the importance of lying down in a world that values ever greater levels of activity, arguing that time spent horizontally offers rewards that we'd do well not to ignore. Far from being a pose of passivity or laziness, lying down can be a protest, a chance to gather thoughts or change your point of view--the other side to our upright, productive lives.

50th Anniversary For Swimmy

Deep in the sea lives a happy school of fish. Their watery world is full of wonders, but there is also danger, and the little fish are afraid to come out of hiding . . . until Swimmy comes along. Swimmy shows his friends how—with ingenuity and team work—they can overcome any danger.

Winner of the 1964 Caldecott Honor, this beloved tale of a brave little fish has been a favorite to generations of readers. To celebrate Swimmy's fiftieth anniversary a handsome special edition hardcover that includes a bonus poster.

TC Tidbit: Some Amazingly Designed Books From 2013

From our friends at Buzz Feed.

Nicole says "If you liked "Hunger Games", try these titles."

You can’t get them out of your head. . . .

Callie lost her parents when the Spore Wars wiped out everyone between the ages of twenty and sixty. She and her little brother, Tyler, go on the run, living as squatters with their friend Michael and fighting off renegades who would kill them for a cookie.

Callie’s only hope is Prime Destinations, a disturbing place in Beverly Hills run by a mysterious figure known as the Old Man. He hires teens to rent their bodies to Enders—seniors who want to be young again. Callie, desperate for the money that will keep her, Tyler, and Michael alive, agrees to be a donor. But the neurochip they place in Callie’s head malfunctions and she wakes up in the life of her renter.

Callie soon discovers that her renter intends to do more than party—and that Prime Destinations’ plans are more evil than she could ever have imagined. . . .

Two of you exist. Only one will survive.

West Grayer is ready. She's trained for years to confront her Alternate, a twin raised by another family. Survival means a good job, marriage—life.

But then a tragic misstep leaves West questioning: Is she the best version of herself, the version worthy of a future?

If she is to have any chance of winning, she must stop running not only from herself, but also from love . . . though both have the power to destroy her.

Fast-paced and unpredictable, Elsie Chapman's suspenseful YA debut weaves unexpected romance into a chilling, unforgettable world.

Chasing Shadows is a searing look at the impact of one random act of violence.

Before: Corey, Holly, and Savitri are one unit—fast, strong, inseparable. Together they turn Chicago concrete and asphalt into a freerunner’s jungle gym, ricocheting off walls, scaling buildings, leaping from rooftop to rooftop.

But acting like a superhero doesn’t make you bulletproof...

After: Holly and Savitri are coming unglued. Holly says she's chasing Corey's killer, chasing revenge. Savitri fears Holly's just running wild—and leaving her behind. Friends should stand by each other in times of crissi. But can you hold on too tight? Too long?

In this intense novel, told in two voices, and incorporating comic-style art sections, Swati Avasthi creates a gripping portrait of two girls teetering on the edge of grief and insanity. Two girls who will find out just how many ways there are to lose a friend . . . and how many ways to be lost.

 

 

Appearances can be deceiving.

In the Community, life seems perfect. After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Pioneer invited Lyla’s family to join his group and escape the evil in the world. They were happy to be chosen, happy to move away from New York and start over in such an idyllic gated community. Now seventeen, Lyla knows that Pioneer is more than just their charismatic leader, he is their prophet . . . but his visions have grown dark.

Lyla is a loyal member of the Community, but a chance encounter with an outsider boy has her questioning Pioneer, the Community—everything. And if there’s one thing not allowed in the Community, it’s doubt. Her family and friends are certain in their belief. Lyla wishes she could feel the same. As Pioneer begins to manipulate his flock toward disaster, the question remains: Will Lyla follow them over the edge?

From the outside looking in, it’s hard to understand why anyone would join a cult. But Gated tells the story of the Community from the inside looking out, and from behind the gates things are not quite so simple. Amy Christine Parker’s beautiful writing creates a chilling, utterly unique YA story. Perfect for fans of creepy thrillers and contemporary fiction alike.

Some Treasures You May Not Have Noticed

This illustrated guide compiles over 2,000 collective nouns and brings them to life in stunningly colorful, graphic artwork from the design dynamos at Woop Studios. Chock-full of treasures of the English language, the diversity of terms collected here covers topics from plants and animals (a parade of elephants, an embarrassment of pandas) to people and things (a pomposity of professors, an exultation of fireworks) and range from the familiar (a pride of lions) to the downright obscure (an ooze of amoebas). Pronunciations, definitions, etymologies, and historical anecdotes make this beautiful book an entertaining read, a standout reference, and a visual treat. Language lovers and art appreciators alike will be captivated by this gem, rich in word and image.

A New York Times bestseller? Oh, you know the dogs weren't going to let the cats get away with that! This canine companion to I Could Pee on This, the beloved volume of poems by cats, I Could Chew on This will have dog lovers laughing out loud. Doggie laureates not only chew on quite a lot of things, they also reveal their creativity, their hidden motives, and their eternal (and sometimes misguided) effervescence through such musings as "I Dropped a Ball," "I Lose My Mind When You Leave the House," and "Can You Smell That?"

Accompanied throughout by portraits of the canine poets in all their magnificence, I Could Chew on This is a work of unbridled enthusiasm, insatiable appetite, and, yes, creative genius.

Are you a witless cretin with no reason to live? Would you like to know more about every piece of knowledge ever? Do you have cash? Then congratulations, because just in time for the death of the print industry as we know it comes the final book ever published, and the only one you will ever need: The Onion's compendium of all things known.

Replete with an astonishing assemblage of facts, illustrations, maps, charts, threats, blood, and additional fees to edify even the most simple-minded book-buyer, The Onion Book of Known Knowledge is packed with valuable information-such as the life stages of an Aunt; places to kill one's self in Utica, New York; and the dimensions of a female bucket, or "pail."

 

With hundreds of entries for all 27 letters of the alphabet, The Onion Book of Known Knowledge  must be purchased immediately to avoid the sting of eternal ignorance.

 

 

You may have watched hundreds of episodes of The Simpsons (and its sister show Futurama) without ever realizing that cleverly embedded in many plots are subtle references to mathematics, ranging from well-known equations to cutting-edge theorems and conjectures. That they exist, Simon Singh reveals, underscores the brilliance of the shows’ writers, many of whom have advanced degrees in mathematics in addition to their unparalleled sense of humor.
 

While recounting memorable episodes such as “Bart the Genius” and “Homer3,” Singh weaves in mathematical stories that explore everything from p to Mersenne primes, Euler’s equation to the unsolved riddle of P v. NP; from perfect numbers to narcissistic numbers, infinity to even bigger infinities, and much more. Along the way, Singh meets members of The Simpsons’ brilliant writing team—among them David X. Cohen, Al Jean, Jeff Westbrook, and Mike Reiss—whose love of arcane mathematics becomes clear as they reveal the stories behind the episodes.
 

With wit and clarity, displaying a true fan’s zeal, and replete with images from the shows, photographs of the writers, and diagrams and proofs, The Simpsons and Their Mathematical Secrets offers an entirely new insight into the most successful show in television history.

Return once more to a galaxy far, far away with this sublime retelling of George Lucas’s epic Star Wars in the style of the immortal Bard of Avon. The saga of a wise (Jedi) knight and an evil (Sith) lord, of a beautiful princess held captive and a young hero coming of age, Star Wars abounds with all the valor and villainy of Shakespeare’s greatest plays. ’Tis a tale told by fretful droids, full of faithful Wookiees and fearstome Stormtroopers, signifying...pretty much everything.

Reimagined in glorious iambic pentameter—and complete with twenty gorgeous Elizabethan illustrations--William Shakespeare’s Star Wars will astound and edify Rebels and Imperials alike. Zounds! This is the book you’re looking for.

 

 

From the authors of Coloring for Grown-Ups—a new adult activity book that will help even the most cynical celebrator make it through the holiday season in good cheer
 

As we age, going home for the holidays can start to feel more melancholy than “holly-jolly.” But don’t hang yourself with tinsel just yet. The authors of the New York Times Holiday Gift Guide–recommended Coloring for Grown-Ups are back to rescue disenchanted twentysomethings from the quality time–seeking clutches of their caring families. From Thanksgiving to Christmas to Valentine’s Day, readers of this book will learn how to cope with any holiday-related stresses the same way they did as kids—with mindless coloring. With more than fifty challenging, adult-friendly activities, Coloring for Grown-Ups Holiday Fun Book is the perfect stocking stuffer.

 

 

 

TC Tidbit: New Book Read Alike Recommendations From the Nerdy Book Club

Check the list HERE.

Jackie's Hooked on Roger Rosenblatt

"I love Roger Rosenblatt (and fear him a bit, he's rather ferocious at times, though not so much in this new book).  This latest book is a memoir, made up of short vignettes (some just a sentence or two, others a page or so) that jump all around his boyhood but going into a bit of his adult years as well.  He tells nostalgic, sappy sorts of things and he spews New York history of such breadth that it's amazing he can remember it all.  He is far less grumpy than usual in this book, though there are a few tirades (always very intellectual, of course).  He also shows so many more aspects of his personality, which I very much enjoyed.  This is the kind of book that you can absorb minute to minute, one short piece at a time, or swallow hours of giant gulps.  Both are satisfying ways to enjoy this unusual book.  And if you happen to be a NYC lover, you'll adore it as much as I do."

--Jackie

Wow, What A Lineup We Have For The 2014 Writers Repsond to Readers!!!!

Save the Date!

 Writers Respond

to Readers 2014

Writers Respond to Readers is an annual all-day author event designed for book clubs and other readers interested in literary discussion. Our authors address a variety of topics that will inform, intrigue and ignite the imagination of booklovers.   Our 2014 Author Line-up:   Kent Haruf Nancy Horan Brian Payton Karen Russell    Where: The LoDo Tattered Cover Book Store  1628 16th Street, Lower Downtown Denver   When: Saturday, January 25, 2014, 8:45 am to 4:30 pm    Tickets: $50 per person, includes morning refreshments and a wine & cheese reception    Reservations: Reservations will only be accepted on-line beginning Monday, January 6, 2014. Visit the event page Monday, January 6 to purchase your ticket(s).   Please send an e-mail or call 303-322-1965 ext.2735 with questions.

Tattered Cover Book Store 

Colfax Avenue, 303-322-7727 

Historic LoDo, 303-436-1070 

Highlands Ranch, 303-470-7050 

www.tatteredcover.com

Locations & Hours

TC Tidbit: 2013 Books On The Science of a Meaningful Life

Greater Good's editors pick the most thought-provoking, important, or useful nonfiction books published this year on the science of a meaningful life.  Check out the list HERE.

"This is one of the best biographies that I have ever read. Fosse is brilliantly written and pure entertainment." ~Miki

 

More than a quarter-century after his death, Bob Fosse's fingerprints on popular culture remain indelible. The only person ever to win Oscar, Emmy, and Tony awards in the same year, Fosse revolutionized nearly every facet of American entertainment, forever marking Broadway and Hollywood with his iconic style -- hat tilted, fingers splayed -- that would influence generations of performing artists. Yet in spite of Fosse's innumerable achievements, no accomplishment ever seemed to satisfy him, and offstage his life was shadowed in turmoil and anxiety. Now, bestselling author Sam Wasson unveils the man behind the swaggering sex appeal, tracing Fosse's untold reinventions of himself over a career that would spawn "The Pajama Game," "Cabaret," "Pippin," "All That Jazz," and "Chicago," one of the longest-running Broadway musicals ever. Drawing on a wealth of unpublished material and hundreds of sources -- friends, enemies, lovers, and collaborators, many of whom have never spoken publicly about Fosse before -- Wasson illuminates not only Fosse's prodigious professional life, but also his close and conflicted relationships with everyone from Liza Minnelli to Ann Reinking to Jessica Lange and Dustin Hoffman. Wasson also uncovers the deep wounds that propelled Fosse's insatiable appetites -- for spotlights, women, and life itself. In this sweeping, richly detailed account, Wasson's stylish, effervescent prose proves the ideal vehicle for revealing Bob Fosse as he truly was -- after hours, close up, and in vibrant color.

Miki says:
"This book is very long, but worth every minute spent reading. If you are a fan of dance, musical theater, New York, Hollywood, or cigarettes, this is a great read. I love all of the history and interesting facts, but above all, I love the excitement of Fosse's life.
 
From his early childhood, Fosse was thrust into the dark dungeons of backstage life and into the spotlight of Vaudeville and Burlesque theater. These early experiences set the path for the rest of Fosse's life and greatly impacted his relationships and career.
 
This is one of the best biographies that I have ever read. Fosse is brilliantly written and pure entertainment."

Publshers Weekly Best Books of 2013

Sea of Hooks is a novel structured to reflect the interweaving of the two worlds inhabited by its main character, Christopher Westall. Christopher holds the spheres of ordinary days and weeks in precarious balance with the shifting field, of images and voices, that lies behind it. A series of traumas shatters this balance and propels him toward great danger but, also, the possibility of spiritual revelation.

Sea of Hooks recounts the parallel narratives of Christopher's youth in San Francisco, where he struggles within the icy Victorian household of his mother, and his quest, in Bhutan, for answers to the questions that haunt him. The book is comprised of the shattered fragments of Christopher's world and is driven by the forces that compel him to reassemble it at any cost.

Scientology presents itself as a scientific approach to spiritual enlightenment, but its practices have long been shrouded in mystery. Now Lawrence Wright—armed with his investigative talents, years of archival research, and more than two hundred personal interviews with current and former Scientologists—uncovers the inner workings of the church. We meet founder L. Ron Hubbard, the highly imaginative but mentally troubled science-fiction writer, and his tough, driven successor, David Miscavige. We go inside their specialized cosmology and language. We learn about the church’s legal attacks on the IRS, its vindictive treatment of critics, and its phenomenal wealth. We see the church court celebrities such as Tom Cruise while consigning its clergy to hard labor under billion-year contracts. Through it all, Wright asks what fundamentally comprises a religion, and if Scientology in fact merits this Constitutionally-protected label. Brilliantly researched, compellingly written, Going Clear pulls back the curtain on one of the most secretive organizations at work today.

In Dirty Wars, Jeremy Scahill, author of the New York Times best-seller Blackwater, takes us inside Americas new covert wars. The foot soldiers in these battles operate globally and inside the United States with orders from the White House to do whatever is necessary to hunt down, capture or kill individuals designated by the president as enemies.

Drawn from the ranks of the Navy SEALs, Delta Force, former Blackwater and other private security contractors, the CIAs Special Activities Division and the Joint Special Operations Command ( JSOC), these elite soldiers operate worldwide, with thousands of secret commandos working in more than one hundred countries. Funded through “black budgets,” Special Operations Forces conduct missions in denied areas, engage in targeted killings, snatch and grab individuals and direct drone, AC-130 and cruise missile strikes. While the Bush administration deployed these ghost militias, President Barack Obama has expanded their operations and given them new scope and legitimacy.

Dirty Wars follows the consequences of the declaration that “the world is a battlefield,” as Scahill uncovers the most important foreign policy story of our time. From Afghanistan to Yemen, Somalia and beyond, Scahill reports from the frontlines in this high-stakes investigation and explores the depths of Americas global killing machine. He goes beneath the surface of these covert wars, conducted in the shadows, outside the range of the press, without effective congressional oversight or public debate. And, based on unprecedented access, Scahill tells the chilling story of an American citizen marked for assassination by his own government.

As US leaders draw the country deeper into conflicts across the globe, setting the world stage for enormous destabilization and blowback, Americans are not only at greater risk — we are changing as a nation. Scahill unmasks the shadow warriors who prosecute these secret wars and puts a human face on the casualties of unaccountable violence that is now official policy: victims of night raids, secret prisons, cruise missile attacks and drone strikes, and whole classes of people branded as “suspected militants.” Through his brave reporting, Scahill exposes the true nature of the dirty wars the United States government struggles to keep hidden.

“We saw the lightning and that was the guns; and then we heard the thunder and that was the big guns; and then we heard the rain falling and that was the blood falling; and when we came to get in the crops, it was dead men that we reaped.” —Harriet Tubman

In five years, Jesmyn Ward lost five young men in her life—to drugs, accidents, suicide, and the bad luck that can follow people who live in poverty, particularly black men. Dealing with these losses, one after another, made Jesmyn ask the question: Why? And as she began to write about the experience of living through all the dying, she realized the truth—and it took her breath away. Her brother and her friends all died because of who they were and where they were from, because they lived with a history of racism and economic struggle that fostered drug addiction and the dissolution of family and relationships. Jesmyn says the answer was so obvious she felt stupid for not seeing it. But it nagged at her until she knew she had to write about her community, to write their stories and her own.

Jesmyn grew up in poverty in rural Mississippi. She writes powerfully about the pressures this brings, on the men who can do no right and the women who stand in for family in a society where the men are often absent. She bravely tells her story, revisiting the agonizing losses of her only brother and her friends. As the sole member of her family to leave home and pursue higher education, she writes about this parallel American universe with the objectivity distance provides and the intimacy of utter familiarity. A brutal world rendered beautifully, Jesmyn Ward’s memoir will sit comfortably alongside Edwidge Danticat’s Brother, I'm Dying, Tobias Wolff's This Boy’s Life, and Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.

Readers of exciting, challenging and visionary literary fiction—including admirers of Norman Rush's Mating, Ann Patchett's State of Wonder, Barbara Kingsolver's The Poisonwood Bible, and Peter Matthiessen's At Play in the Fields of the Lord—will be drawn to this astonishingly gripping and accomplished first novel. A decade in the writing, this is an anthropological adventure story that combines the visceral allure of a thriller with a profound and tragic vision of what happens when cultures collide. It is a book that instantly catapults Hanya Yanagihara into the company of young novelists who really, really matter.

In 1950, a young doctor called Norton Perina signs on with the anthropologist Paul Tallent for an expedition to the remote Micronesian island of Ivu'ivu in search of a rumored lost tribe. They succeed, finding not only that tribe but also a group of forest dwellers they dub "The Dreamers," who turn out to be fantastically long-lived but progressively more senile. Perina suspects the source of their longevity is a hard-to-find turtle; unable to resist the possibility of eternal life, he kills one and smuggles some meat back to the States. He scientifically proves his thesis, earning worldwide fame and the Nobel Prize, but he soon discovers that its miraculous property comes at a terrible price. As things quickly spiral out of his control, his own demons take hold, with devastating personal consequences.

Award-winning investigative reporter Robert Kolker delivers a haunting and humanizing account of the true-life search for a serial killer still at large on Long Island, in a compelling tale of unsolved murder and Internet prostitution.

One late spring evening in 2010, Shannan Gilbert, after running through the oceanfront community of Oak Beach screaming for her life, went missing. No one who had heard of her disappearance thought much about what had happened to the twenty-four-year-old: she was a Craigslist prostitute who had been fleeing a scene—of what, no one could be sure. The Suffolk County Police, too, seemed to have paid little attention—until seven months later, when an unexpected discovery in a bramble alongside a nearby highway turned up four bodies, all evenly spaced, all wrapped in burlap. But none of them Shannan's.

There was Maureen Brainard-Barnes, last seen at Penn Station in Manhattan three years earlier, and Melissa Barthelemy, last seen in the Bronx in 2009. There was Megan Waterman, last seen leaving a hotel in Hauppage, Long Island, just a month after Shannan's disappearance in 2010, and Amber Lynn Costello, last seen leaving a house in West Babylon a few months later that same year. Like Shannan, all four women were petite and in their twenties, they all came from out of town to work as escorts, and they all advertised on Craigslist and its competitor, Backpage.

In a triumph of reporting—and in a riveting narrative—Robert Kolker presents the first detailed look at the shadow world of escorts in the Internet age, where making a living is easier than ever and the dangers remain all too real. He has talked exhaustively with the friends and family of each woman to reveal the three-dimensional truths about their lives, the struggling towns they came from, and the dreams they chased. And he has gained unique access to the Oak Beach neighborhood that has found itself the focus of national media scrutiny—where the police have flailed, the body count has risen, and the neighbors have begun pointing fingers at one another. There, in a remote community, out of sight of the beaches and marinas scattered along the South Shore barrier islands, the women's stories come together in death and dark mystery. Lost Girls is a portrait not just of five women, but of unsolved murder in an idyllic part of America, of the underside of the Internet, and of the secrets we keep without admitting to ourselves that we keep them.

New York City in the Jazz Age was host to a pulsating artistic and social revolution. Uptown, an unprecedented explosion in black music, literature, dance, and art sparked the Harlem Renaissance. While the history of this African-American awakening has been widely explored, one chapter remains untold: the story of a group of women collectively dubbed "Miss Anne."

Sexualized and sensationalized in the mainstream press--portrayed as monstrous or insane--Miss Anne was sometimes derided within her chosen community of Harlem as well. While it was socially acceptable for white men to head uptown for "exotic" dancers and "hot" jazz, white women who were enthralled by life on West 125th Street took chances. Miss Anne in Harlem introduces these women--many from New York's wealthiest social echelons--who became patrons of, and romantic participants in, the Harlem Renaissance. They include Barnard College founder Annie Nathan Meyer, Texas heiress Josephine Cogdell Schuyler, British activist Nancy Cunard, philanthropist Charlotte Osgood Mason, educator Lillian E. Wood, and novelist Fannie Hurst--all women of accomplishment and renown in their day. Yet their contributions as hostesses, editors, activists, patrons, writers, friends, and lovers often went unacknowledged and have been lost to history until now.

In a vibrant blend of social history and biography, award-winning writer Carla Kaplan offers a joint portrait of six iconoclastic women who risked ostracism to follow their inclinations--and raised hot-button issues of race, gender, class, and sexuality in the bargain. Returning Miss Anne to her rightful place in the interracial history of the Harlem Renaissance, Kaplan's formidable work remaps the landscape of the 1920s, alters our perception of this historical moment, and brings Miss Anne to vivid life. 

A story of the transcendent power of love in wartime, A Constellation of Vital Phenomena is a work of sweeping breadth, profound compassion, and lasting significance.

Two doctors risk everything to save the life of a hunted child in this majestic debut about love, loss, and the unexpected ties that bind us together. “On the morning after the Feds burned down her house and took her father, Havaa woke from dreams of sea anemones.” Havaa, eight years old, hides in the woods and watches the blaze until her neighbor, Akhmed, discovers her sitting in the snow. Akhmed knows getting involved means risking his life, and there is no safe place to hide a child in a village where informers will do anything for a loaf of bread, but for reasons of his own, he sneaks her through the forest to the one place he thinks she might be safe: an abandoned hospital where the sole remaining doctor, Sonja Rabina, treats the wounded. Though Sonja protests that her hospital is not an orphanage, Akhmed convinces her to keep Havaa for a trial, and over the course of five extraordinary days, Sonja’s world will shift on its axis and reveal the intricate pattern of connections that weaves together the pasts of these three unlikely companions and unexpectedly decides their fate.

Available in English for the first time, The Silence and the Roar is a funny, sexy, dystopian novel about the struggle of an individual over tyranny.

The Silence and the Roar follows a day in the life of Fathi Sheen, an author banned from publishing because he refuses to write propaganda for the ruling government. The entire populace has mobilized to celebrate the twenty-year anniversary of the reigning despot in this unnamed Middle eastern country. The heat is oppressive and loudspeakers blare as an endless parade takes over the streets. Desperate to get away from the noise and the zombie-like masses, Fathi leaves his house to visit his mother and his girlfriend, but en route stops to help a student who is being beaten by the police. Fathi’s iD papers are confiscated and he is told to report to the police station before night falls.

When Fathi turns himself in, he is led from one department to another in an ever-widening bureaucratic labyrinth. His only weapon against the irrationality of the government employees is his sense of irony. Tinged with a Kafkaesque sense of the absurd, The Silence and the Roar explores what it means to be truly free in mind and body.

From the bestselling author of The Color of Water and Song Yet Sung comes the story of a young boy born a slave who joins John Brown’s antislavery crusade—and who must pass as a girl to survive.

Henry Shackleford is a young slave living in the Kansas Territory in 1857, when the region is a battleground between anti- and pro-slavery forces. When John Brown, the legendary abolitionist, arrives in the area, an argument between Brown and Henry’s master quickly turns violent. Henry is forced to leave town—with Brown, who believes he’s a girl.

Over the ensuing months, Henry—whom Brown nicknames Little Onion—conceals his true identity as he struggles to stay alive. Eventually Little Onion finds himself with Brown at the historic raid on Harpers Ferry in 1859—one of the great catalysts for the Civil War. An absorbing mixture of history and imagination, and told with McBride’s meticulous eye for detail and character, The Good Lord Bird is both a rousing adventure and a moving exploration of identity and survival.