"This is the perfect read for someone who is looking for a more literary spooky Halloween read." ~Lucas

 

One postwar summer in his home of rural Warwickshire, Dr. Faraday, the son of a maid who has built a life of quiet respectability as a country physician, is called to a patient at lonely Hundreds Hall. Home to the Ayres family for over two centuries, the Georgian house, once impressive and handsome, is now in decline, its masonry crumbling, its gardens choked with weeds, the clock in its stable yard permanently fixed at twenty to nine. Its owners—mother, son, and daughter—are struggling to keep pace with a changing society, as well as with conflicts of their own. But are the Ayreses haunted by something more sinister than a dying way of life? Little does Dr. Faraday know how closely, and how terrifyingly, their story is about to become intimately entwined with his.

Lucas says:
"This is the perfect read for someone who is looking for a more literary spooky Halloween read. The Little Stranger is a great ghost story and it is also a great reflection on the collapse of British class society after WWII. The story does take a little while to get going, but the last third of the book makes reading through the sluggish beginning worthwhile.
 
This ghost story has all the creepy elements necessary for a proper British ghost tale: a once grand but now rundown country mansion, an eccentric family who inhabits it, and the strange events that surround the mansion and the family. Waters even manages to throw a love story into the plot. Because this is a ghost story, let me warn you that the love story part of it does not end happily ever after.
 
As the story progresses out of its doldrums, the reader gets to experience madness, suicide, house fires, and many many many tears of pure terror. This isn't a ghost story that will keep you up at night but it is a ghost story that will keep you thinking and wondering."

Have You Ever REALLY Thought About Pumpkin?

Why do so many Americans drive for miles each autumn to buy a vegetable that they are unlikely to eat? While most people around the world eat pumpkin throughout the year, North Americans reserve it for holiday pies and other desserts that celebrate the harvest season and the rural past. They decorate the front of their houses with pumpkins every autumn and welcome Halloween trick-or-treaters with elaborately carved jack-o’-lanterns. Towns hold annual pumpkin festivals featuring giant pumpkins and carving contests, even though few have any historic ties to the crop.

In this fascinating cultural and natural history, Cindy Ott tells the story of the pumpkin. Beginning with the myth of the first Thanksgiving, she shows how Americans have used the pumpkin to fulfill their desire to maintain connections to nature and to the family farm of lore, and, ironically, have revitalized small farms and rural communities in the process. And while the pumpkin has inspired American myths and traditions, the pumpkin itself has changed because of the ways people have perceived, valued, and used it.

Pumpkin is a smart and lively study of the deep stories hidden in common, everyday things and the power of those things to make profound changes in the world around us.

Read and excerpt HERE.

Take a look at any one, or all, of these online exhibitions starting HERE.

TC Tidbit: 13 of the Year's Creepist Books

via thebookpage.com

Happy Halloween!!!

Dispatch From The Fields: "Crain captures not only the excitement of youth, but imbibes his story with the bittersweet experience of the twenty years his character, Jacob, has yet to live." ~Joe

An exquisite debut novel that brilliantly captures the lives and romances of young expatriates in newly democratic Prague

It’s October 1990. Jacob Putnam is young and full of ideas. He’s arrived a year too late to witness Czechoslovakia’s revolution, but he still hopes to find its spirit, somehow. He discovers a country at a crossroads between communism and capitalism, and a picturesque city overflowing with a vibrant, searching sense of possibility. As the men and women Jacob meets begin to fall in love with one another, no one turns out to be quite the same as the idea Jacob has of them—including Jacob himself. Necessary Errors is the long-awaited first novel from literary critic and journalist Caleb Crain. Shimmering and expansive, Crain’s prose richly captures the turbulent feelings and discoveries of youth as it stretches toward adulthood—the chance encounters that grow into lasting, unforgettable experiences and the surprises of our first ventures into a foreign world—and the treasure of living in Prague during an era of historic change.

Joe says:
"In 1989, I was a 19 year-old man in Vienna, Austria. I was studying abroad, learning more about myself and my country and the way the world works than I thought possible. And I was coming out of the closet. At that point, I felt like I could create myself on my own terms, but was still reined in by my up-bringing, by what I felt were the perceptions of others. But I was also excited at the freedom at my fingertips. 1989 was an exciting year to be studying in Europe: Hungary and Czechoslovakia both opened their borders, East Germans were fleeing through these open borders into Austria and then into the safety of West Germany. And then the Berlin Wall came down. 

Caleb Crain’s debut novel, Necessary Errors, opens in the fall of 1990, in Prague. Czechs are getting used to the changes brought about by the switch to a more capitalist and democratic society. Prices fluctuate, once certain things are in flux, and the possibility of freedom charges through the atmosphere. Jacob Putnam is a recent college graduate and budding writer who is teaching English in Prague. There he befriends several other expatriates as well as a handful of Czechs.

When they’re not teaching, they spend much of their time eating humble meals and drinking a lot of beer. They possess, in varying degrees, youthful optimism or early ennui. They are forming their personal outlook in life, most of them in what can feel like a world without the rules your fellow countrymen back home operate under. Life as an expat can feel like living without gravity. It is in this space that this excellent novel blossoms. As Jacob and his friends live this year in Prague, and try out new attitudes along with new experiences, they talk over their beers and slowly become adults. For Jacob, not only is he trying to figure out how to be a writer, and what to do when his year in Europe ends, but he’s trying to figure out how to come out as a gay man, especially in the rather stolid and unwelcoming attitudes of Eastern Europe. But more than just Jacob, it is his fellow expats and the Czechs themselves growing and changing as their country embraces a more Western attitude.

Caleb Crain builds this story through his excellent pacing. Crain does not hurry his story along. Instead, he steeps it in details, in a fascinating cast of characters who are given the time to become known to the reader. His writing is lush, filled with small details that are not there as mere ornament: they provide mood and insight into the characters.  Crain captures both the everyday wonder and the mundane life of a young person living in a new country. Jacob spends his days teaching, or lying in bed, or exploring his new city, and thinking about writing. In reality he does very little writing, which seems quite realistic. Instead, he is taking in the world around him, finding his place in it. He may one day become a writer, and his writing will likely be informed by his experiences in Prague in 1990. Or he may never write again, and his life will be informed by his experiences in Prague in 1990.

As the novel comes to a conclusion, the bittersweet days of knowing you are leaving a city you have grown to love are beautifully depicted. We are left wondering if Jacob will regret leaving Prague to return to some (presumed) changed but still previous life in the United States. All in all, Necessary Errors is a beautifully written novel that captures perfectly a young man, foreign in an old society, buffeted by change, and developing a future. I’ve read that Caleb Crain did spend a year in Prague, and the writing is delightfully laden with details that could only have come from memories.

I’ll admit I am a little jealous of this achievement; I am still waiting to distill my memories of my year in Vienna into some coherent written form. Crain and I are roughly the same age, and perhaps it is this reason I felt this novel so acutely: I felt some of the same things Jacob did when I was in Vienna. And Crain captures not only the excitement of youth, but imbibes his story with the bittersweet experience of the twenty years his character, Jacob, has yet to live."

Liz and Michele Are Recommending:

For the house lover and the curious tourist, for the house buyer and the weekend stroller, for neighborhood preservation groups and for all who want to know more about their community -- here, at last, is a book that makes it both easy and pleasurable to identify the various styles and periods of American domestic architecture.

Concentrating not on rare landmarks but on typical dwellings in ordinary neighborhoods all across the United States -- houses built over the past three hundred years and lived in by Americans of every social and economic background -- the book provides you with the facts (and frame of reference) that will enable you to look in a fresh way at the houses you constantly see around you. It tells you -- and shows you in more than 1,200 illustrations -- what you need to know in order to be able to recognize the several distinct architectural styles and to understand their historical significance. What does that cornice mean? Or that porch? That door? When was this house built? What does its style say about the people who built it? You'll find the answers to such questions here.

This is how the book works: Each of thirty-nine chapters focuses on a particular style (and its variants). Each begins with a large schematic drawing that highlights the style's most important identifying features. Additional drawings and photographs depict the most common shapes and the principal subtypes, allowing you to see at a glance a wide range of examples of each style. Still more drawings offer close-up views of typical small details -- windows, doors, cornices, etc. -- that might be difficult to see in full-house pictures. The accompanying text is rich in information about each style -- describing in detail its identifying features, telling you where (and in what quantity) you're likely to find examples of it, discussing all of its notable variants, and revealing its origin and tracing its history.

In the book's introductory chapters you'll find invaluable general discussions of house-building materials and techniques ("Structure"), house shapes ("Form"), and the many traditions of architectural fashion ("Style") that have influenced American house design through the past three centuries. A pictorial key and glossary help lead you from simple, easily recognized architectural features -- the presence of a tile roof, for example -- to the styles in which that feature is likely to be found.

An inspiring and epic tale of loss and redemption about two American servicemen: a Marine Corps pilot who was shot down in WWII and the modern-day soldier determined to bring home his remains six decades later

Major George Eyster V comes from a long line of military officers, dating back to the Revolutionary War. Army service was George's family legacy, but his tour of duty in Iraq left him disillusioned and questioning. He was making plans to end his army career but was offered a posting to J-PAC, an elite division armed with the latest detection and forensic technology. J-PAC's sole mission is to fulfill a solemn promise at the heart of the military code: bring all fallen soldiers home to the country for which they gave their lives.

In 1944 Captain Ryan McCown, a dashing young Marine aviator assigned to the USS Nassau, was shot down over the jungles of Papua, New Guinea. McCown's diaries and letters home to his family and fiancée provide a moving, powerful portrait of the fears and costs of a very different war and underscore the pathos of the ultimate cost of duty.

Eyster's mission with J-PAC eventually took him and his team deep into the sweltering interior of New Guinea in search of McCown's remains. It would be a fraught mission, complete with tropical diseases and black magic, at the end of which Eyster would not only repatriate a fallen veteran and fulfill a promise to deliver him to his loved ones but would also uncover something lost in himself-a sense of purpose in a promise between soldiers that is still worth fighting for.

National Geographic's new inspirational book combines meaningful, calming quotations and affirmations with powerful photography--the perfect source for relaxation and meditation. Each page of this elegant guide soothes as it inspires with quotations and images centered on monthly themes: a graceful pathway to a more mindful, beautiful life.

From the inimitable and bestselling author Thomas Cahill, another popular history, focusing on the Renaissance and Reformation and how this innovative period changed the Western world.

In Volume VI of his acclaimed Hinges of History series, Thomas Cahill guides us through the thrilling period of Renaissance and Reformation (late fourteenth to early seventeenth centuries), so full of innovation and cultural change that the Western world would not experience its like again until the twentieth century. Beginning with the continent-wide disaster of the Black Plague, Cahill traces the many innovations in European thought and experience that served both the new humanism of the Renaissance and the seemingly abrupt religious alterations of the increasingly radical Reformation. This is an age of the most sublime artistic and scientific adventure, but also of newly powerful princes and armies, and of newly found courage, as many thousands refuse to bow their heads to the religious pieties of the past. It is an era of newly discovered continents and previously unknown peoples. More than anything, it is a time of individuality in which a whole culture must achieve a new balance, if the West is to continue.

From the bestselling and award-winning author of Paris 1919 comes a masterpiece of narrative nonfiction, a fascinating portrait of Europe from 1900 up to the outbreak of World War I.

The century since the end of the Napoleonic wars had been the most peaceful era Europe had known since the fall of the Roman Empire. In the first years of the twentieth century, Europe believed it was marching to a golden, happy, and prosperous future. But instead, complex personalities and rivalries, colonialism and ethnic nationalisms, and shifting alliances helped to bring about the failure of the long peace and the outbreak of a war that transformed Europe and the world.

The War That Ended Peace brings vividly to life the military leaders, politicians, diplomats, bankers, and the extended, interrelated family of crowned heads across Europe who failed to stop the descent into war: in Germany, the mercurial Kaiser Wilhelm II and the chief of the German general staff, Von Moltke the Younger; in Austria-Hungary, Emperor Franz Joseph, a man who tried, through sheer hard work, to stave off the coming chaos in his empire; in Russia, Tsar Nicholas II and his wife; in Britain, King Edward VII, Prime Minister Herbert Asquith, and British admiral Jacky Fisher, the fierce advocate of naval reform who entered into the arms race with Germany that pushed the continent toward confrontation on land and sea.

There are the would-be peacemakers as well, among them prophets of the horrors of future wars whose warnings went unheeded: Alfred Nobel, who donated his fortune to the cause of international understanding, and Bertha von Suttner, a writer and activist who was the first woman awarded Nobel’s new Peace Prize. Here too we meet the urbane and cosmopolitan Count Harry Kessler, who noticed many of the early signs that something was stirring in Europe; the young Winston Churchill, then First Lord of the Admiralty and a rising figure in British politics; Madame Caillaux, who shot a man who might have been a force for peace; and more. With indelible portraits, MacMillan shows how the fateful decisions of a few powerful people changed the course of history.

Taut, suspenseful, and impossible to put down, The War That Ended Peace is also a wise cautionary reminder of how wars happen in spite of the near-universal desire to keep the peace. Destined to become a classic in the tradition of Barbara Tuchman’s The Guns of August, The War That Ended Peace enriches our understanding of one of the defining periods and events of the twentieth century.

Lady Catherine, the Earl, and the Real Downton Abbey, a transporting companion piece to the New York Times bestseller Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey, tells the story of Catherine Wendell, the beautiful and spirited American woman who married Lady Almina’s son, the man who would become the 6th Earl of Carnarvon. The couple presided over Highclere Castle, the grand estate that serves as the central character for the hit PBS show Downton Abbey. Following the First World War, many of the great houses of England faded as their owners fortunes declined in the new political and social world of the 1920s and 1930s. As the nations of Europe inched towards war, Highclere’s survival as the family home of the Carnarvons was again in the balance.

Using copious materials—including diaries and scrapbooks—from the castle’s archives, the current Countess of Carnarvon brings alive a very modern story in a beautiful and fabled setting, paying particular attention to the staff who offer the Castle continuity between generations.

Tune In is the first volume of All These Years—a highly-anticipated, groundbreaking biographical trilogy by the world's leading Beatles historian. Mark Lewisohn uses his unprecedented archival access and hundreds of new interviews to construct the full story of the lives and work of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr.

Ten years in the making, Tune In takes the Beatles from before their childhoods through the final hour of 1962—when, with breakthrough success just days away, they stand on the cusp of a whole new kind of fame and celebrity. They’ve one hit record ("Love Me Do") behind them and the next ("Please Please Me") primed for release, their first album session is booked, and America is clear on the horizon. This is the lesser-known Beatles story—the pre-Fab years of Liverpool and Hamburg—and in many respects the most absorbing and incredible period of them all. Here is the complete and true account of their family lives, childhoods, teenage years and their infatuation with American music, here is the riveting narrative of their unforgettable days and nights in the Cavern Club, their laughs, larks and adventures when they could move about freely, before fame closed in.

For those who’ve never read a Beatles book before, this is the place to discover the young men behind the icons. For those who think they know John, Paul, George, and Ringo, it’s time to press the Reset button and tune into the real story, the lasting word.

Now in paperback!

In the aftermath of a colossal battle, Daenerys Targaryen rules with her three dragons as queen of a city built on dust and death. But Daenerys has thousands of enemies, and many have set out to find her. Fleeing from Westeros with a price on his head, Tyrion Lannister, too, is making his way east—with new allies who may not be the ragtag band they seem. And in the frozen north, Jon Snow confronts creatures from beyond the Wall of ice and stone, and powerful foes from within the Night’s Watch. In a time of rising restlessness, the tides of destiny and politics lead a grand cast of outlaws and priests, soldiers and skinchangers, nobles and slaves, to the greatest dance of all.

Don’t miss the thrilling sneak peek of George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire: Book Six, The Winds of Winter.

A whopping big celebration of the work of the late, great Nora Ephron, America’s funniest—and most acute—writer, famous for her brilliant takes on life as we’ve been living it these last forty years.

Everything you could possibly want from Nora Ephron is here—from her writings on journalism, feminism, and being a woman (the notorious piece on being flat-chested, the clarion call of her commencement address at Wellesley) to her best-selling novel, Heartburn, written in the wake of her devastating divorce from Carl Bernstein; from her hilarious and touching screenplay for the movie When Harry Met Sally . . . (“I’ll have what she’s having”) to her recent play Lucky Guy (published here for the first time); from her ongoing love affair with food, recipes and all, to her extended takes on such controversial women as Lillian Hellman and Helen Gurley Brown; from her pithy blogs on politics to her moving meditations on aging (“I Feel Bad About My Neck”) and dying.

Her superb writing, her unforgettable movies, her honesty and fearlessness, her nonpareil humor have made Nora Ephron an icon for America’s women—and not a few of its men.

From the authors of the New York Times bestsellers Awkward Family Photos and Awkward Family Pet Photos comes a celebration of those special times throughout the year when our families embarrass us the most . . . the holidays.

Holidays. They’re those momentous occasions when we gather with family to eat, drink, celebrate, and, of course, pose for photographs. From Mom’s homemade Halloween costumes to re-creating a Nativity scene for the Christmas card to that overly patriotic uncle who literally wears the flag on the Fourth, holidays make for humiliating memories that we carry in our hearts for years to come. Whether your family loves Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, Easter, July Fourth, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, or Hanukkah, this book pays homage to all of the holidays’ most uncomfortable moments.

Halloween Fun With Authors

Agatha Christie on Waikiki beach, Hawaii, 1922.

Want to Meet Ree Drummond? Buy Her Latest Book Starting Today (at 9am) And Get A Ticket To Her Event on November 6th

There's nothing more delicious than a holiday.

Oh, is it ever true. Whether it's the anticipation of Christmastime or the ghoulish glee of Halloween, if I see a holiday on the horizon, I simply can't contain my excitement. There's just something about the traditions, the family togetherness, the resurfacing of childhood memories . . . the making of new ones. Holidays are wonderful, special, and fun . . . and they always make me happy.

And one more thing: They make me want to cook

The Pioneer Woman Cooks: A Year of Holidays is an all-out celebration of the scrumptious, mouthwatering recipes that define our favorite occasions throughout the year. From luck-inducing Hoppin' John on New Year's Day, to a perfectly savory/sweet Glazed Easter Ham, to luscious Caramel Apples on Halloween, to a crowd-pleasing Thanksgiving feast with all the fixins, these pages are positively brimming with recipes guaranteed to make your holidays deliciously memorable . . . and memorably delicious

Twelve different holidays are covered in delectable detail: From New Year's Day to New Year's Eve . . . and all my favorites in between. Host a party for the Big Game for your football-loving friends, make Mom a lovely Mother's Day breakfast-in-bed, invite your sweetie to a Valentine's Day romantic dinner for two . . . or ring in the New Year with a fabulous cocktail party. There's food, glorious food in this cookbook, and you won't run out of yummy things to make.

I hope you enjoy and devour every page.

--Ree

Learn more about the signing HERE.

Kate M. Is Recommending:

Acclaimed New York Times bestselling author Richard Kadrey creates a wonderful, stand-alone dark fantasy
After her father's funeral, Zoe moved to the big city with her mother to start over. But change always brings trials, and life in the city is not so easy. Money is tight, and Zoe's only escape, as has always been the case, is in her dreams--a world apart from her troubled real life where she can spend time with her closest companion: her lost brother, Valentine.

But something or someone has entered their dreamworld uninvited. And a chance encounter at a used record store, where the vinyl holds not music but lost souls, has opened up a portal to the world of the restless dead. It's here that the shop's strange proprietor offers Zoe the chance to commune with her dead father. The price? A lock of hair. Then a tooth. Then . . .

In December 2001, as fires still burned beneath the ruins of the World Trade Center, West Point cadet Chad Jenkins and Naval Academy midshipman Brian Stann faced off at Veterans Stadium in Philadel-phia in what would become the most-watched college football game of the decade: the matchup between the Army Black Knights and the Navy Midshipmen.

At opposing stadiums throughout the season, the Army and Navy teams, used to jeers from their opponents' fans, had instead been greeted with standing ovations from respectful crowds who knew that these young players, military officers in training, were soon going to fight a war in the Middle East. On this day, before this momentous game, President George W. Bush--along with others such as General Norman Schwarzkopf and Senator John McCain--visited both locker rooms before watching the game from the sidelines.

When Stann, a Navy linebacker, first came into contact with Jenkins, the Army quarterback, his team was behind by thirteen points. Yet he managed to land the perfect tackle against Jenkins. Though these two players would not meet again for a decade, Stann and Jenkins shared the same path: both went to war. As first-class officers serving several tours of duty, they led soldiers and marines and participated in events they never imagined possible.


A moving and fascinating dual profile of honor, duty, courage, and competition, All American is a thoughtful exploration of American character and values, embodied in the lives of two remarkable young men.

There is little in this world that a family cannot endure, if endure they must. For we all have it within us to lose everything, absolutely everything, and still find strength in the most simple, beautiful things.

Pat and Mandy Retzlaff lived a hard but satisfying farming life in Zimbabwe. Working all hours of the day on their sprawling ranch and raising three boisterous children, they savored the beauty of the veld and the diverse wildlife that grazed the meadows outside their dining room window. After their children, the couple's true pride and joy were their horses.

But in early 2001, the Retzlaffs' lives were thrown into turmoil when armed members of President Robert Mugabe's War Veterans' Association began invading the farmlands owned by white Zimbabweans and violently reclaiming the land. Under the threat of death, the family was forced to flee, leaving behind a lifetime's possessions and becoming exiles in the only country they had ever called home.

As other families across the country fled, they left behind not only their homes but dozens of horses. Devoted animal lovers, Pat and Mandy--now essentially homeless themselves--vowed to save these horses: Shere Khan, the queen of the herd; Tequila, the escape artist forever breaking free and trying to walk back to his original home; Grey, the silver gelding and leader; Princess, the temperamental mare; and the numerous others they rescued along the way.

One Hundred and Four Horses is a love story and an epic tale of survival and unbreakable bonds--those that hold us to land and family, but also those between man and the most majestic of animals, the horse.

Hannah the elephant is thriving in her new home, peacemaker Truman Levy is the new director of the Max L. Biedelman Zoo, and life in Bladenham, Washington, has finally settled down . . . or has it? From his eccentric aunt Ivy, Truman learns of the plight of a desperately sick, captive killer whale named Friday.

Reluctantly Truman agrees to give the orca a new home--and a new lease on life--at the zoo. But not everybody believes in his captivity. Soon the Max L. Biedelman Zoo is embroiled in a whale-size controversy and Friday's fate is up for grabs.

Like The Art of Racing in the Rain and Water for Elephants, Friday's Harbor beautifully illuminates the special bond between animals and humans.

These adorable crocheted characters and their miniature accessories tell the heartwarming classic story of " 'Twas the Night Before Christmas." Easy-to-follow instructions will teach you to make a jolly Santa and his eight reindeer, stockings to hang by the chimney, a wreath for the window, the little boy and girl, and the woodland creatures that watch the night unfold. Directions for turning them into Christmas ornaments for the tree are also included.

Halloween Fun With Authors

1877:

Oscar Wilde in Greek National Costume

"WOW! I have never been more off base about an author and her writing than I was in this case." ~ Miki

It is September 8, 1943, and fourteen-year-old Claudette Blum is learning Italian with a suitcase in her hand. She and her father are among the thousands of Jewish refugees scrambling over the Alps toward Italy, where they hope to be safe at last, now that the Italians have broken with Germany and made a separate peace with the Allies. The Blums will soon discover that Italy is anything but peaceful, as it becomes overnight an open battleground among the Nazis, the Allies, resistance fighters, Jews in hiding, and ordinary Italian civilians trying to survive.

Mary Doria Russell sets her first historical novel against this dramatic background, tracing the lives of a handful of fascinating characters. Through them, she tells the little-known but true story of the network of Italian citizens who saved the lives of forty-three thousand Jews during the war’s final phase. The result of five years of meticulous research, A Thread of Grace is an ambitious, engrossing novel of ideas, history, and marvelous characters that will please Russell’s many fans and earn her even more.

Miki says:

"With the fame of her book, The Sparrow, I always considered Mary Doria Russell to be a sci-fi author. When I picked up A Thread of Grace, I was a little put off because I really wanted a book set in the part of Italy where I was headed for vacation. What I didn’t want was a spiritual science fiction novel that would mess with my mind. But I read the back cover and decided to give her writing a chance. WOW! I have never been more off base about an author and her writing than I was in this case. 

A Thread of Grace is the story of a community hiding in the beautiful Italian Alps during one of the most frightening times in Europe. This community is a small village of Catholics and Jews. At the beginning of the book, the villagers are given the false sense of relief that the war is ending. Unfortunately, they were misinformed. Shortly after, in a desperate attempt to complete their task, the Nazi party completely changes the lives of this community.

This book tells the stories of Catholics, Jews, a Nazi doctor, children, widows, lovers, and lone wolves. Somehow, Russell skillfully sews all of their stories together and tells an beautiful story of a very ugly time.

Normally, when a book starts with a list of characters, I dread reading it because I know it will be difficult to keep track of who's who. However, in A Thread of Grace, it is so easy to fall into the story and follow the trails of all of the different characters.

This is a book in which I had trouble identifying with just one character. Usually, I pinpoint a character with whom I really feel a connection. In A Thread of Grace, I felt close to all of them. Russell made every character honest and vulnerable, and it was impossible to let them go at the turn of the last page.

This was an excellent novel."

Eric B. Is Recommending:

 

New York Times–bestselling author of The Psychopath Test Jon Ronson writes about the dark, uncanny sides of humanity with clarity and humor. Lost at Sea—now with new material—reveals how deep our collective craziness lies, even in the most mundane circumstances.

Ronson investigates the strange things we’re willing to believe in, from robots programmed with our loved ones’ personalities to indigo children to the Insane Clown Posse’s juggalo fans. He looks at ordinary lives that take on extraordinary perspectives. Among them: a pop singer whose greatest passion is the coming alien invasion, assisted-suicide practitioners, and an Alaskan town’s Christmas-induced high school mass-murder plot. He explores all these tales with a sense of higher purpose and universality, yet they are stories not about the fringe of society. They are about all of us. Incisive and hilarious, poignant and maddening, revealing and disturbing—Ronson writes about our modern world, and reveals how deep our collective craziness lies, and the chaos stirring at the edge of our daily lives.

 

 

In this vivid, transfixing new novel, A. M. Homes presents a darkly comic look at twenty-first-century domestic life and the possibility of personal transformation. Harold Silver has spent a lifetime watching his more successful younger brother, George, acquire a covetable wife, two kids, and a beautiful home in the suburbs of New York City. When George’s murderous temper results in a shocking act of violence, both men are hurled into entirely new lives. May We Be Forgiven digs deeply into the near biblical intensity of fraternal relationships, our need to make sense of things, and our craving for connection. It is an unnerving tale of unexpected intimacies and of how one deeply fractured family might begin to put itself back together.

Just off the coast of Southern California, two families—one in the 1880s and one in the 1930s—come to desolate, windswept San Miguel Island in search of self-reliance, freedom, and a new start in their lives. Both Marantha Waters and Elise Lester strive to help their war veteran husbands pursue their dreams but must themselves grapple with the more nebulous hardships of raising a family in brutal isolation. Boyle “skillfully captures that tension-filled quietude” (The New Times Book Review) in this lyrical, intimate, and unforgettable novel.

The tantalizing sequel to the blockbuster New York Times bestseller Chocolat

Even before it was adapted into the Oscar-nominated film starring Juliette Binoche and Johnny Depp, Joanne Harris’s Chocolat entranced readers with its mix of hedonism, whimsy, and, of course, chocolate. Now, at last, Chocolat’s heroine returns to the beautiful French village of Lansquenet in another, equally beguiling tale.
When Vianne Rocher receives a letter from beyond the grave, she has no choice but to return to Lansquenet, where she once owned a chocolate shop and learned the meaning of home. But returning to one’s past can be a dangerous pursuit, and Vianne and her daughters find the beautiful French village changed in unexpected ways: women veiled in black, the scent of spices in the air, and—facing the church—a minaret. Most surprising of all, her old nemesis, Francis Reynaud, desperately needs her help. Can Vianne work her magic once again?

 

 

 

Halloween Fun With Authors

S.E. Hinton’s cameo in The Outsiders.

We Dare You Not To Laugh At These Amazing Pictures

Original, amusing, and brilliantly documented, Shake is a heartwarming collection of sixty-one beguiling dogs caught in the most candid of moments: mid-shake. This glorious, graphic volume will stop you dead in your tracks as you are presented with images of man's best friend caught in contortion: hair wild, eyes darting, ears and jowls flopping every which way.

With Shake, photographer Carli Davidson proves how eager and elated we are to see our pets in new ways. The result is a one-of-a-kind book: a colorful assemblage of photographs that are simultaneously startling and endearing, consistently hard to look away from, and revealing.

Leave the Candy In The Bag--Get a Halloween Book Instead!

O'Connor's classic story has been given fresh illustrations by Sinclair in this beautiful new edition. Lulu the witch girl is a little nervous about her first day of school, but she heads off with her broom and Dracula lunch box. There's only one thing she doesn't like about witch schoolNcurly haired Sandy Witch who seems to do everything better than Lulu.

Finally! School's out! And this after-school Halloween special starring A.J. and the kids of Ella Mentry School features tons of games and fun content for fans of the bestselling My Weird School series.

 It takes a graveyard to raise a child.

Nobody Owens, known as Bod, is a normal boy. He would be completely normal if he didn't live in a graveyard, being raised by ghosts, with a guardian who belongs to neither the world of the living nor the dead. There are adventures in the graveyard for a boy—an ancient Indigo Man, a gateway to the abandoned city of ghouls, the strange and terrible Sleer. But if Bod leaves the graveyard, he will be in danger from the man Jack—who has already killed Bod's family.

Evocative of Alice in Wonderland, this novel from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Before I Fall follows 12-year-old Liza as she embarks on a daring quest through the dark and fascinating world that exists beneath our own.

Are you brave enough for Scary Stories?

Some boys and girls were at a party one night. There was a graveyard down the street, and they were talking about how scary it was.

"Don't ever stand on a grave after dark," one of the boys said. "The person inside will grab you."

"A grave doesn't scare me," said one of the girls. "I'll do it right now. . . ."

Welcome to the macabre world of Scary Stories. Inside, you'll find alarming tales of horror, dark revenge, and the supernatural, with spine-tingling illustrations by renowned artist Brett Helquist.

 

Halloween Fun With Authors

If you have read all of Maya’s books, by now you know before she became a great poet and writer she was an accomplished singer and dancer.

Ghosts, Vampires, Werewolves and More

You stop fearing the Devil when you're holding his hand...

Nothing much exciting rolls through Violet White's sleepy, seaside town...until River West comes along. River rents the guesthouse behind Violet's crumbling estate, and as eerie, grim things start to happen, Violet begins to wonder about the boy living in her backyard. Is River just a crooked-smiling liar with pretty eyes and a mysterious past? Or could he be something more? Violet's grandmother always warned her about the Devil, but she never said he could be a dark-haired boy who takes naps in the sun, who likes coffee, who kisses you in a cemetery...who makes you want to kiss back. Violet's already so knee-deep in love, she can't see straight. And that's just how River likes it.

A gothic thriller romance with shades of Stephen King and F. Scott Fitzgerald, set against a creepy summertime backdrop--a must-read for fans of Beautiful Creatures, The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer, and Anna Dressed in Blood.

 

 

The city of Ludlow is gripped by the hottest July on record. The asphalt is melting, the birds are dying, petty crime is on the rise, and someone in Hannah Wagnor’s peaceful suburban community is killing girls.
For Hannah, the summer is a complicated one. Her best friend Lillian died six months ago, and Hannah just wants her life to go back to normal. But how can things be normal when Lillian’s ghost is haunting her bedroom, pushing her to investigate the mysterious string of murders? Hannah’s just trying to understand why her friend self-destructed, and where she fits now that Lillian isn’t there to save her a place among the social elite. And she must stop thinking about Finny Boone, the big, enigmatic delinquent whose main hobbies seem to include petty larceny and surprising acts of kindness.

With the entire city in a panic, Hannah soon finds herself drawn into a world of ghost girls and horrifying secrets. She realizes that only by confronting the Valentine Killer will she be able move on with her life—and it’s up to her to put together the pieces before he strikes again.

Paper Valentine is a hauntingly poetic tale of love and death by the New York Times bestselling author of The Replacement and The Space Between. 

 

 

Calla is the alpha female of a shape-shifting wolf pack. She is destined to marry Ren Laroche, the pack's alpha male. Together, they would rule their pack together, guarding sacred sites for the Keepers. But then, Calla saves a beautiful human boy, who captures her heart. Calla begins to question everything - her fate, her existence, and her world and the orders the Keepers have asked her to follow. She will have to make a choice. But will she follow her heart if it means losing everything, including her own life?

Prepare to be Tested.
 
The story that kicked off the international #1 bestselling Vampire Academy series is now a major motion picture.  Read it before it hits theaters February 14th, 2014!

St. Vladimir’s Academy isn’t just any boarding school—it’s a hidden place where vampires are educated in the ways of magic and half-human teens train to protect them. Rose Hathaway is a Dhampir, a bodyguard for her best friend Lissa, a Moroi Vampire Princess. They’ve been on the run, but now they’re being dragged back to St. Vladimir’s—the very place where they’re most in danger. . . .

Rose and Lissa become enmeshed in forbidden romance, the Academy’s ruthless social scene, and unspeakable nighttime rituals. But they must be careful lest the Strigoi—the world’s fiercest and most dangerous vampires—make Lissa one of them forever.

Something is wrong in the house that Lin's family has rented; Lin is sure of it. The clocks tick too slowly. Frost covers the flowerbed, even in a rain storm. And when a secret key marked "Twistrose" arrives for her, Lin finds a crack in the cellar, a gate to the world of Sylver.

This frozen realm is the home of every dead animal who ever loved a child. Lin is overjoyed to be reunited with Rufus, the pet she buried under the rosebush. But together they must find the missing Winter Prince in order to save Sylver from destruction.

They are not the only ones hunting for the boy this night. In the dark hides a shadow-lipped man, waiting for the last Winter Prince to be delivered into his hands.

Exhilarating suspense and unforgettable characters await the readers of this magical adventure, destined to become a classic.