Michele Is Recommending:

The first comprehensive history of the deeply entwined personal and public lives of the Churchills and the Kennedys and what their “special relationship” meant for Great Britain and the United States

When Lions Roar begins in the mid-1930s at Chartwell, Winston Churchill's country estate, with new revelations surrounding a secret business deal orchestrated by Joseph P. Kennedy, the father of future American president John F. Kennedy, and soon to be American ambassador to Great Britain. From London to America, these two powerful families shared an ever-widening circle of friends, lovers, and political associates – soon shattered by World War II, spying, sexual infidelity, and the tragic deaths of JFK's sister Kathleen and his older brother Joe Jr. By the 1960s and JFK's presidency, the Churchills and the Kennedys had overcome their bitter differences and helped to define the “greatness” in each other.

Acclaimed biographer Thomas Maier tells this dynastic saga through fathers and their sons – and the remarkable women in their lives – providing keen insight into the Churchill and Kennedy families and the profound forces of duty, loyalty, courage and ambition that shaped them. He explores the seismic impact of Winston Churchill on JFK and American policy, wrestling anew with the legacy of two titans of the 20th century. Maier also delves deeply into the conflicted bond between Winston and his son Randolph and the contrasting example of patriarch Joe Kennedy, a failed politician who successfully channeled his personal ambitions to his children. By approaching these iconic figures from a new perspective, Maier not only illuminates the intricacies of this all-important cross-Atlantic allegiance but also enriches our understanding of the tumultuous time in which they lived and the world events they so greatly influenced.

With deeply human portraits of these flawed but larger-than-life figures, When Lions Roar explores the “special relationship” between the Churchills and Kennedys, and between Great Britain and the United States, highlighting all of its emotional complexity and historic significance.


The never before seen history of Westeros and the land of the beyond., with hundreds of pages of all new material from George R.R. Martin 

If the past is prologue, then George R. R. Martin’s masterwork—the most inventive and entertaining fantasy saga of our time—warrants one hell of an introduction. At long last, it has arrived with The World of Ice & Fire.

This lavishly illustrated volume is a comprehensive history of the Seven Kingdoms, providing vividly constructed accounts of the epic battles, bitter rivalries, and daring rebellions that lead to the events of A Song of Ice and Fire and HBO’s Game of Thrones. In a collaboration that’s been years in the making, Martin has teamed with Elio M. García, Jr., and Linda Antonsson, the founders of the renowned fan site Westeros.org—perhaps the only people who know this world almost as well as its visionary creator.

Collected here is all the accumulated knowledge, scholarly speculation, and inherited folk tales of maesters and septons, maegi and singers, including

• full-color artwork and maps, with more than 170 original pieces
• full family trees for Houses Stark, Lannister, and Targaryen
• in-depth explorations of the history and culture of Westeros
• 100% all-new material, more than half of which Martin wrote specifically for this book

The definitive companion piece to George R. R. Martin’s dazzlingly conceived universe, The World of Ice & Fire is indeed proof that the pen is mightier than a storm of swords.

 

 

For the first time, trusted and beloved cookbook author Ina Garten, the Barefoot Contessa, answers the number one question she receives from cooks: Can I make it ahead?
 

If you’ve ever found yourself stuck in front of the stove at your own party, scrambling to get everything to the table at just the right moment, Ina is here to let you in on her secrets! Thanks to twenty years of running a specialty food store and fifteen years writing cookbooks, she has learned exactly which dishes you can prep, assemble, or cook ahead of time. Whether you’re hosting a party or simply making dinner on a hectic weeknight, Ina gives you lots of amazing recipes that taste just as good—or even better!—when they’re made in advance.
 

In Make It Ahead, each recipe includes clear instructions for what you can do ahead of time, and how far in advance, so you can cook with confidence and eliminate last-minute surprises. Make a pitcher of Summer Rosé Sangria filled with red berries, let it chill overnight for the flavors to develop, and you have a delicious drink to offer your friends the minute they arrive. Simmer a pot of Wild Mushroom & Farro Soup, enjoy a bowl for lunch, and freeze the rest for a chilly evening. You can prep the kale, Brussels sprouts, and lemon vinaigrette for Winter Slaw ahead of time and simply toss them together before serving. Assemble French Chicken Pot Pies filled with artichokes and fresh tarragon a day in advance and then pop them in the oven half an hour before dinner. And for dessert, everyone needs the recipe for Ina’s Decadent (gluten-free!) Chocolate Cake topped with Make-Ahead Whipped Cream. Ina also includes recipes for the biggest cooking day of the year—Thanksgiving! Her Ultimate Make-Ahead Roast Turkey and Gravy with Onions & Sage may just change your life.
 

With beautiful photographs and hundreds of invaluable make-ahead tips, this is your new go-to guide for preparing meals that are stress-free yet filled with those fabulously satisfying flavors that you have come to expect from the Barefoot Contessa.

 

 

The companion cookbook to the hit show Portlandia by the Emmy-nominated stars and writers Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein, with 50 delicious recipes for every food lover, freegan, organic farmer, and food truck diehard.

Food plays a very special role in Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein’s award-winning satire Portlandia. Here are recipes for the dishes that define the show, from cult-raised chicken and Stu’s stews to pickled veggies and foraged green salads. Complete with new full-color finished food photographs and illustrations, humorous stories and sidebars from the loveable food-obsessed Portlandia characters (such as Mr. Mayor, Peter and Nance, and Colin the chicken), and advice on how to choose a bed and breakfast and behave at a communal table, this is a funny cookbook—with serious recipes—for anyone who loves food. And yes, the chicken’s local.

Fresh Ink: Spotlight on Debut Books of All Kinds

No matter how beautiful some dreams are, there comes a time when we must let them go. 

It is the summer of 1972, and Katie has just turned eighteen. Katie and her town, Elephant Beach, are both on the verge: Katie of adulthood, and Elephant Beach of gentrification. But not yet: Elephant Beach is still gritty, working-class, close-knit. And Katie spends her time smoking and drinking with her friends, dreaming about a boy just back from Vietnam who’s still fighting a battle Katie can’t understand. In this poignant, evocative debut collection, Judy Chicurel creates a haunting, vivid world, where conflicts between mothers and daughters, men and women, soldiers and civilians and haves and have-nots reverberate to our own time. She captures not only a time and place, but the universal experience of being poised between the past and the future. 

Read an excerpt HERE.

Read a short interview with the author HERE.

We Love Golden Books, Especially This New One

The Poky Little Puppy, the Gingerbread Man, and many other classic Golden Books characters help illustrate this wise and witty guide to the holidays! Delightfully retro yet utterly of the moment, this companion to the bestselling Everything I Need to Know I Learned From a Little Golden Book will delight fans of those gold foil-spined treasures. Featuring iconic art from Golden Books luminaries including Eloise Wilkin, Richard Scarry, J.P. Miller, Garth Williams, and more — this collection is a must for maintaining ever-important holiday cheer!

15 Awesome Bookish Jack O’Lanterns--Happy Halloween!

From our friends at BookRiot.

Kate M. Is Recommending:

As powerful today as when it was first published, Conversations with God is an intimate spiritual journey and a tribute to the power of faith. Assembled from letters and writings that span more than two hundred years, these prayers form a one-of-a-kind volume that will inspire the spirit and warm the heart.

Prayer brings us closer to God, and these moving writings are a reminder that faith has the power to transform. With words by W. E. B. Du Bois, Sojourner Truth, Frederick Douglass, Alice Walker, and many others, we come to recognize the significant role prayer has played in our survival. We see a glimpse of each author's dreams and fears, and their clear conviction that God hears, and responds, to our requests. At times a meditation on pain, at others a deep and affecting reflection of hope, these prayers are beacons of strength and inspiring lessons for our everyday lives.

Comforting and passionate, Conversations with God is an enduring collection that is sure to be cherished by families and generations to come.

A groundbreaking, in-depth exploration of the movement and flexibility of the human body, featuring 1,000 stunning black-and-white photographs that showcase the unique collaboration between international supermodel Coco Rocha, “The Queen of Pose,” and world-renowned photographer Steven Sebring.

Supermodel Coco Rocha’s uncanny ability to strike distinctive, camera-ready poses at an astounding speed has earned her international fame throughout the fashion industry—and made her the muse of celebrated photographer Steven Sebring. In Study of Pose, Sebring and Rocha have documented 1,000 unique poses—theatrical, vibrant, elegant, dramatic, and unlike anything the fashion or art worlds have seen before.

Study of Pose features Rocha in a simple white leotard—bending, jumping, sitting, standing, and everything in between. The result is a gorgeous and arresting look at the potential of the human form.

Packaged in a beautiful black case with two black satin bookmarks and a four-color bellyband with French folds, Study of Pose is sure to become an essential reference for Rocha’s millions of fans around the world, as well as all models, artists, photographers, and lovers of art and fashion.

This deluxe slipcased two-volume set is an insider's tour of twenty years of film-making magic at Weta Workshop and Weta Digital, the creative companies behind such celebrated films as The Lord of the Rings, Avatar, The Avengers, King Kong, District 9 and The Hobbit. Brimming with never-before-published content, including concept designs, sketches, making of and behind-the-scenes imagery, along with interview material from cast and crew members, it is a stunning look at how the costumes, creatures and characters, weaponry, and visual effects are created for some of the world's most iconic films.

A director will have a vision in their head of the kind of movie they want to create but they always need great teams to realise that vision. This is what Weta Workshop and Weta Digital do. Based in Wellington, New Zealand, these two companies, founded by Peter Jackson, Jamie Selkirk, Tania Rodger and Richard Taylor have been an integral part of some of the most ground-breaking and acclaimed movies of all time.

There is a mysterious, indescribable, complex exchange that can happen in the space between you and your partner. You find each other. Your centers of gravity expand as your lives become more and more entwined. You create space for this other person to thrive while they’re doing the same for you. This creates a flow of energy in the space between you. This energy field is at the heart of marriage. It flows in the space between you, space that exists nowhere else in the universe. You can become more familiar with how this energy field works. You can develop language between you to identify what’s happening in the space between you. You can sharpen your abilities to assess it. You can act in certain ways to increase the flow. You can identify what’s blocking the flow, and then you can overcome those barriers. Years into your marriage, you can continue to intensify this energetic flow between you.

It is risky to give yourself to another. There are no guarantees, and there are lots of ways for it to fall apart and break your heart. But the upside is infinite.
~from The Zimzum of Love

New York Times bestselling author Rob Bell and his wife, Kristen Bell, explore a whole new way of understanding our most intimate and powerful relationship: marriage. The concepts behind The Zimzum of Love open ways for us to transform and deepen how we love.

In a perfect world . . .
We'd get to hang out with Amy Poehler, watching dumb movies, listening to music, and swapping tales about our coworkers and difficult childhoods. Because in a perfect world, we'd all be friends with Amy--someone who seems so fun, is full of interesting stories, tells great jokes, and offers plenty of advice and wisdom (the useful kind, not the annoying kind you didn't ask for, anyway).

Unfortunately, between her Golden Globe-winning role on Parks and Recreation, work as a producer and director, place as one of the most beloved SNL alumni and cofounder of the "Upright Citizens' Brigade", involvement with the website Smart Girls at the Party, frequent turns as acting double for Meryl Streep, and her other gig as the mom of two young sons, she's not available for movie night.

Luckily we have the next best thing: Yes Please, Amy's hilarious and candid book. A collection of stories, thoughts, ideas, lists, and haikus from the mind of one of our most beloved entertainers, Yes Please offers Amy's thoughts on everything from her "too safe" childhood outside of Boston to her early days in New York City, her ideas about Hollywood and "the biz," the demon that looks back at all of us in the mirror, and her joy at being told she has a "face for wigs." Yes Please is chock-full of words and wisdom to live by.

For years, world governments and multinational organizations, like the secretive UNIT, have labored to keep the truth about aliens hidden from the public. Now, leading alientologist Justin Richards finally blows the lid off one of the biggest conspiracies since the Scarlioni Incident. Doctor Who: The Secret Lives of Monsters not only proves that alien life exists but also that the aliens are already here living among us.

Based on exclusive access to classified UNIT and Torchwood files, and collating top secret information that has been kept buried for centuries, Richards reveals the terrifying truth behind the rumors and legends.

Why is the Sontaran's probic vent his weak point and what is its actual use? How do the Daleks reproduce? How can you tell whether your best friend is a Zygon in disguise? If you want answers to questions like these, then this book is a must have. Including sixteen removable features, Doctor Who: The Secret Lives of Monsters teaches you how to recognize these hidden extraterrestrials around us and is the essential guidebook for surviving the coming invasion.

David Nicholls brings the wit and intelligence that graced his enormously popular New York Times bestseller, One Day, to a compellingly human, deftly funny new novel about what holds marriages and families together--and what happens, and what we learn about ourselves, when everything threatens to fall apart.

Douglas Petersen may be mild-mannered, but behind his reserve lies a sense of humor that, against all odds, seduces beautiful Connie into a second date . . . and eventually into marriage. Now, almost three decades after their relationship first blossomed in London, they live more or less happily in the suburbs with their moody seventeen year-old son, Albie. Then Connie tells him she thinks she wants a divorce.

The timing couldn't be worse. Hoping to encourage her son's artistic interests, Connie has planned a month-long tour of European capitals, a chance to experience the world's greatest works of art as a family, and she can't bring herself to cancel. And maybe going ahead with the original plan is for the best anyway? Douglas is privately convinced that this landmark trip will rekindle the romance in the marriage, and might even help him to bond with Albie.

Narrated from Douglas's endearingly honest, slyly witty, and at times achingly optimistic point of view, Us is the story of a man trying to rescue his relationship with the woman he loves, and learning how to get closer to a son who's always felt like a stranger. Us is a moving meditation on the demands of marriage and parenthood, the regrets of abandoning youth for middle age, and the intricate relationship between the heart and the head. And in David Nicholls's gifted hands, Douglas's odyssey brings Europe--from the streets of Amsterdam to the famed museums of Paris, from the cafes of Venice to the beaches of Barcelona--to vivid life just as he experiences a powerful awakening of his own. Will this summer be his last as a husband, or the moment when he turns his marriage, and maybe even his whole life, around?

Fresh Ink: Spotlight on Debut Books of All Kinds (In This Case, Her First US Publication)

"You were going to work your way into my marriage and you were going to call its new three-way shape holy," writes the unnamed narrator of Dear Thief.

The thief is Nina, or Butterfly, who disappeared eighteen years earlier and who is being summoned by this letter, this bomb, these recollections, revisions, accusations, and confessions.

"Sometimes I imagine, out of sheer playfulness, that I am writing this as a kind of defense for having murdered and buried you under the patio."

Dear Thief is a letter to an old friend, a song, a jewel, and a continuously surprising triangular love story. Samantha Harvey writes with a dazzling blend of fury and beauty about the need for human connection and the brutal vulnerability that need exposes.

"While I write my spare hand might be doing anything for all you know; it might be driving a pin into your voodoo stomach."

Here is a rare novel that traverses the human heart in original and indelible ways.

Read an excerpt HERE.

Read "10 Questions: Samantha Harvey" HERE.

Some writing advice for other authors HERE.

Praise for the book:
“Samantha Harvey’s Dear Thief is a novel of profound beauty. I’ll leave it at that.” ~Michael Cunningham,  author of The Hours

“A glorious, sensuous, grown-up novel, intelligent and passionate.” ~Tessa Hadley, author of Clever Girl

“...eerie and arresting.. Harvey gives the neologism ‘frenemy’ a full-book treatment . . . This controlled, thrilling novel derives its power from the perversity of a friendship in which the pair is ‘always closer when one has taken too much from the other.’” ~Publishers Weekly

“A story about a long friendship and the betrayals that tore it apart, this thoughtful meditation, interspersed with reflections on philosophy, religion, and poetry, is about the passages of time, the accumulation of memory, and the hard-won wisdom of aging.” ~Library Journal

Sixty-five of the World’s Leading Writers Open Up About the Books and Authors That Have Meant the Most to Them

Every Sunday, readers of The New York Times Book Review turn with anticipation to see which novelist, historian, short story writer, or artist will be the subject of the popular "By the Book" feature. These wide-ranging interviews are conducted by Pamela Paul, the editor of the Book Review, and here she brings together sixty-five of the most intriguing and fascinating exchanges, featuring personalities as varied as David Sedaris, Hilary Mantel, Michael Chabon, Khaled Hosseini, Anne Lamott, and James Patterson. The questions and answers admit us into the private worlds of these authors, as they reflect on their work habits, reading preferences, inspirations, pet peeves, and recommendations.

By the Book contains the full uncut interviews, offering a range of experiences and observations that deepens readers’ understanding of the literary sensibility and the writing process. It also features dozens of sidebars that reveal the commonalities and conflicts among the participants, underscoring those influences that are truly universal and those that remain matters of individual taste.

For the devoted reader, By the Book is a way to invite sixty-five of the most interesting guests into your world. It’s a book party not to be missed.

Tom B. Is Recommending:

Twelve Longmire short stories available for the first time in a single volume—featuring an introduction by Lou Diamond Phillips of A&E’s Longmire

Ten years ago, Craig Johnson wrote his first short story, the Hillerman Award–winning “Old Indian Trick.” This was one of the earliest appearances of the sheriff who would go on to star in Johnson’s bestselling, award-winning novels and the A&E hit series Longmire. Each Christmas Eve thereafter, fans rejoiced when Johnson sent out a new short story featuring an episode in Walt’s life that doesn’t appear in the novels; over the years, many have asked why they can’t buy the stories in book form.

Wait for Signs collects those beloved stories—and one entirely new story, “Petunia, Bandit Queen of the Bighorns”—for the very first time in a single volume, regular trade hardcover. With glimpses of Walt’s past from the incident in “Ministerial Aide,” when the sheriff is mistaken for a deity, to the hilarious “Messenger,” where the majority of the action takes place in a Port-A-Potty, Wait for Signs is a necessary addition to any Longmire fan’s shelf and a wonderful way to introduce new readers to the fictional world of Absaroka County, Wyoming.

 

 

A celebration of the relationships that bring us strength, purpose, and joy

Ties That Bind honors the people who nourish and strengthen us. StoryCorps founder Dave Isay draws from ten years of the revolutionary oral history project’s rich archives, collecting conversations that celebrate the power of the human bond and capture the moment at which individuals become family. Between blood relations, friends, coworkers, and neighbors, in the most trying circumstances and in the unlikeliest of places, enduring connections are formed and lives are forever changed.

The stories shared in Ties That Bind reveal our need to reach out, to support, and to share life’s burdens and joys. We meet two brothers, separately cast out by their parents, who reconnect and rebuild a new family around each other. We encounter unexpected joy: A gay woman reveals to her beloved granddaughter that she grew up believing that family was a happiness she would never be able to experience. We witness lifechanging friendship: An Iraq war veteran recalls his wartime bond with two local children and how his relationship with his wife helped him overcome the trauma of losing them.

Against unspeakable odds, at their most desperate moments, the individuals we meet in Ties That Bind find their way to one another, discovering hope and healing. 

 

Commemorating ten years of StoryCorps, the conversations collected in Ties That Bind are a testament to the transformational power of listening.

 

 

On May 20, 2010, headlines around the world announced one of the most extraordinary accomplishments in modern science: the creation of the world’s first synthetic lifeform. In Life at the Speed of Light, scientist J. Craig Venter, best known for sequencing the human genome, shares the dramatic account of how he led a team of researchers in this pioneering effort in synthetic genomics—and how that work will have a profound impact on our existence in the years to come. This is a fascinating and authoritative study that provides readers an opportunity to ponder afresh the age-old question “What is life?” at the dawn of a new era of biological engineering. 

 

From the author of the sleeper hit T-Rex Trying, a sweetly funny new collection of drawings of T-Rex and his family being stymied by the modern world—and their unfortunately short arms
 

Thousands of fans fell for Hugh Murphy’s first book, T-Rex Trying, which featured T-Rex trying and failing to do everyday tasks, from putting on a cardigan to jumping rope. In T-Rex Trying and Trying, the loveable lizard king is back . . . this time with his family, She-Rex and Wee-Rex. 

 

Featuring never-before-seen content and the best from the site, Murphy’s 120 drawings feature:
• T-Rex trying to take a selfie • She-Rex trying to catch a bouquet at a wedding • T-Rex trying to change a diaper • T-Rex trying to tell people he’s choking • Wee-Rex trying to crawl • T-Rex trying to measure his inseam • and many, many more! An adorable and hilarious book, this is the perfect gift for readers of all ages. 

 

 

Friday Night Lights meets Glee—the incredible and true story of an extraordinary drama teacher who has changed the lives of thousands of students and inspired a town.

Why would the multimillionaire producer of Cats, The Phantom of the Opera, and Miss Saigon take his limo from Manhattan to the struggling former steel town of Levittown, Pennsylvania, to see a high school production of Les Misérables?

To see the show performed by the astoundingly successful theater company at Harry S Truman High School, run by its legendary director, Lou Volpe. Broadway turns to Truman High when trying out controversial shows such as Rent and Spring Awakening before they move on to high school theater programs across the nation. Volpe’s students from this blue-collar town go on to become Emmy-winning producers, entertainment executives, newscasters, and community-theater founders. Michael Sokolove, a Levittown native and former student of Volpe’s, chronicles the drama director’s last school years and follows a group of student actors as they work through riveting dramas both on and off the stage. This is a story of an economically depressed but proud town finding hope in a gifted teacher and the magic of theater.

 

 

What kind of world would you like to inhabit?

To imagine something different, better, or more interesting is to push the existing world into a state of change. Some of the greatest revolutionary acts of our time came to be because someone had the courage to imagine something new.

In The Imaginary World of…, Keri Smith asks readers to imagine something new: a unique world of their own making.

Readers start by creating a list of everything to which they’re drawn: things they love and collect, colors, shapes, ideas, people, and creatures that fascinate them. The items in the list will become the building blocks for their imaginary worlds, used to create texture and establish a foundation for the new place they’ll begin to inhabit. Readers will then be prompted to think about landscape, place names, maps, currency, residents, logos, foods, histories, and more for their world.

An indispensable guide for artists, dreamers, activists, and kids of all ages, The Imaginary World of… will encourage readers to become revolutionaries of everyday life, chronicling the possibilities in the brave new worlds they envision.

Fresh Ink: Spotlight on Debut Books of All Kinds

One woman’s journey to find the lost love her grandfather left behind when he fled pre-World War II Europe, and an exploration into family identity, myth, and memory.

Years after her grandfather’s death, journalist Sarah Wildman stumbled upon a cache of his letters in a file labeled “Correspondence: Patients A–G.” What she found inside weren’t dry medical histories; instead what was written opened a path into the destroyed world that was her family’s prewar Vienna. One woman’s letters stood out: those from Valy—Valerie Scheftel. Her grandfather’s lover who had remained behind when he fled Europe six months after the Nazis annexed Austria.

Valy’s name wasn’t unknown to her—Wildman had once asked her grandmother about a dark-haired young woman whose images she found in an old photo album. “She was your grandfather’s true love,” her grandmother said at the time, and refused any other questions. But now, with the help of the letters, Wildman started to piece together Valy’s story. They revealed a woman desparate to escape and clinging to the memory of a love that defined her years of freedom.

Obsessed with Valy’s story, Wildman began a quest that lasted years and spanned continents. She discovered, to her shock, an entire world of other people searching for the same woman. On in the course of discovering Valy’s ultimate fate, she was forced to reexamine the story of her grandfather’s triumphant escape and how this history fit within her own life and in the process, she rescues a life seemingly lost to history.

Read an Q&A with the author HERE. 

Listen to a pod cast with the author HERE.

Paper Love: Inside the Holocaust Archives

Our Lost Warsaw Ghetto Diary

Praise for the Book:
"Wildman meticulously pieces together the brave and tragic life of the woman her grandfather left behind when he fled Austria on the eve of World War II."~O, The Oprah Magazine

"Ignore anyone who tells you there is nothing more to be said about the Holocaust, and no new ways of telling the tragedy. Sarah Wildman's gripping, tender, beautifully painful book gets to the heart of the matter through matters of the heart. And along with the pathos and pain, there is profound and honest thoughtfulness too. "~Simon Schama, author of The Story of the Jews

"This profound book derives its power not so much from the love story at its heart, but from the historical urgency with which Wildman infuses it. The author makes clear that only by engaging with inherited past trauma deeply and fully can individuals and communities begin the long and difficult process of looking for ways to regain wholeness. A poignant and humane memoir."~Kirkus

"Wildman’s extensive investigation into her grandfather’s history is well documented and analyzed, but it is her determination to find out what happened to Valy, a woman at the periphery of the family circle, that distinguishes this family history. The author’s gradual realization that others cared about Valy’s fate, too, led her to a larger understanding of the unbearable circumstances and decisions faced by everyone involved, even those lucky enough to establish new lives elsewhere."~Library Journal

"Wildman’s intimate and mesmerizing biography blends her family history into the larger framework of World War II and the Holocaust."~Publishers Weekly

"Wildman's personal investment in this Holocaust-era narrative heightens the tension and raises the emotional stakes as her investigation unfolds."~Booklist

Are You Ready for All Hallow's Read?

Neil Gaiman started a new holiday tradition, All Hallow’s Read. You can read the particulars on his site but the idea is simple: give friends and family scary books (new or old) around Hallowe’en time, in addition to the sugar high goodness of trick-or-treating. It is a gracious and inspirational idea, one that embodies the fun of gathering together on holidays to share stories, tell old tales and make up new ones....

Meet Our New VIB!

It begins with Peter, a devoted man of faith, as he is called to the mission of a lifetime, one that takes him galaxies away from his wife, Bea. Peter becomes immersed in the mysteries of an astonishing new environment, overseen by an enigmatic corporation known only as USIC. His work introduces him to a seemingly friendly native population struggling with a dangerous illness and hungry for Peter’s teachings—his Bible is their “book of strange new things.” But Peter is rattled when Bea’s letters from home become increasingly desperate: typhoons and earthquakes are devastating whole countries, and governments are crumbling. Bea’s faith, once the guiding light of their lives, begins to falter.

Suddenly, a separation measured by an otherworldly distance, and defined both by one newly discovered world and another in a state of collapse, is threatened by an ever-widening gulf that is much less quantifiable. While Peter is reconciling the needs of his congregation with the desires of his strange employer, Bea is struggling for survival. Their trials lay bare a profound meditation on faith, love tested beyond endurance, and our responsibility to those closest to us.

Marked by the same bravura storytelling and precise language that made The Crimson Petal and the White such an international success, The Book of Strange New Things is extraordinary, mesmerizing, and replete with emotional complexity and genuine pathos.

Read an excerpt HERE.

Praise For The Book:
“Brilliant, and disquieting. . . . Faber’s novel is entirely true to itself and wonderfully original. It makes a fine update to Walter M. Miller Jr.’s Canticle for Leibowitz, with some Marilynne Robinson-like homespun theology thrown in for good measure. . . . A profoundly religious exploration of inner turmoil.” ~Kirkus

“A marvelously creative and intricate novel, thought-provoking and arresting.” ~Booklist

“The book wears its strong premise and mixture of Biblical and SF tropes extremely well.”~Publishers Weekly

“The Book of Strange New Things is Michel Faber’s second masterpiece, every bit as luminescent and memorable as The Crimson Petal and the White. It is a portrait of a living, breathing relationship, frayed by distance; it’s an inquiry into the mountains faith can move and the mountains faith can’t move. It is maniacally gripping and vibrant with wit. I didn’t so much read The Book of Strange New Things as inhabit it.” ~David Mitchell

“Michel Faber’s The Book of Strange New Things certainly lives up to its title. Faber, as he showed in Under the Skin, does strangeness brilliantly. I can’t remember being so continually and unfailingly surprised by any book for a long time, and part of the surprise is the tenderness and delicacy with which he shows an emotional relationship developing in one direction while withering in another. I found it completely compelling and believable, and admired it enormously.” ~Philip Pullman

"At the heart of The Book of Strange New Things is one question: Whom—or what—do you love, and what are you willing to do for that love (or not willing)? The result is a novel of marvel and wonderment with a narrative engine like a locomotive."~Yann Martel

Every now and then we encounter a new book that we’re so excited about we want to shout it from the rooftops, so we've created a special tag to distinguish it from the rest: TC VIB (very impressive book)! That means it’s a true stand-out in a season of many excellent and compelling new books.

Fresh Ink: Spotlight on Debut Books of All Kinds

Eimear McBride's acclaimed debut tells the story of a young woman's relationship with her brother, and the long shadow cast by his childhood brain tumor, touching on everything from family violence to sexuality and the personal struggle to remain intact in times of intense trauma.

Eimear McBride was born in 1976 and grew up in Ireland. At twenty-seven she wrote A Girl is a Half-formed Thing and spent the next nine years trying to have it published.

Read an excerpt HERE.

Read an interview with the author HERE.

The publisher that took a chance on a half-formed thing – and won the jackpot

Demons and Dragons, Oh My!

"My name's Henry Dudlow. I'm fifteen and a half. And I'm cursed. Or damned. Take your pick. The reason? I see demons."

So begins the latest novel by horror master Dave Zeltserman. The setting is quiet Newton, Massachussetts, where nothing ever happens. Nothing, that is, until two months after Henry Dudlow's 13th birthday, when his neighbor, Mr. Hanley, suddenly starts to look . . . different. While everyone else sees a balding man with a beer belly, Henry suddenly sees a nasty, bilious, rage-filled demon.

Once Henry catches onto the real Mr. Hanley, he starts to see demons all around him, and his boring, adolescent life is transformed. There's no more time for friends or sports or the lovely Sally Freeman--instead Henry must work his way through ancient texts and hunt down the demons before they steal any more innocent children. And if hunting demons is hard at any age, it's borderline impossible when your parents are on your case, and your grades are getting worse, and you can't tell anyone about your chosen mission.

A very scary novel written with verve and flashes of great humor, The Boy Who Killed Demons is Dave Zeltserman's most accomplished and entertaining horror novel yet.

Read an interview with the author HERE.

In Julie Kagawa's groundbreaking modern fantasy series, dragons walk among us in human form.

Long ago, dragons were hunted to near extinction by the Order of St. George, a legendary society of dragon slayers. Hiding in human form and growing their numbers in secret, the dragons of Talon have become strong and cunning, and they're positioned to take over the world with humans none the wiser.

Ember and Dante Hill are the only sister and brother known to dragonkind. Trained to infiltrate society, Ember wants to live the teen experience and enjoy a summer of freedom before taking her destined place in Talon. But destiny is a matter of perspective, and a rogue dragon will soon challenge everything Ember has been taught. As Ember struggles to accept her future, she and her brother are hunted by the Order of St. George.

Soldier Garret Xavier Sebastian has a mission to seek and destroy all dragons, and Talon's newest recruits in particular. But he cannot kill unless he is certain he has found his prey--and nothing is certain about Ember Hill. Faced with Ember's bravery, confidence and all-too-human desires, Garret begins to question everything that the Order has ingrained in him--and what he might be willing to give up to find the truth about dragons.

Read an interview with the author HERE.

Welcome Our Guest Reviewer AND The Fantastic Novella From Patrick Rothfuss

Deep below the University, there is a dark place. Few people know of it: a broken web of ancient passageways and abandoned rooms. A young woman lives there, tucked among the sprawling tunnels of the Underthing, snug in the heart of this forgotten place.

Her name is Auri, and she is full of mysteries.

The Slow Regard of Silent Things is a brief, bittersweet glimpse of Auri’s life, a small adventure all her own. At once joyous and haunting, this story offers a chance to see the world through Auri’s eyes. And it gives the reader a chance to learn things that only Auri knows....

In this book, Patrick Rothfuss brings us into the world of one of The Kingkiller Chronicle’s most enigmatic characters. Full of secrets and mysteries, The Slow Regard of Silent Things is the story of a broken girl trying to live in a broken world.

 

Guest Reviewer Eric B. says:

"This novella is gem of great workmanship. It’s a song, it sings from the page: melancholy, joyful, dark, strange and fascinating. The character of Auri is unique in my reading experience. We feel the apprehension and triumphs as she carefully navigates the often sinister halls of her subterranean world.  Mysterious and mystical, lyrical and lilting, innocent and worldly wise, the prose reads like poetry in this lovely ballad of balance, peril, hope and love. Fans of Patrick Rothfuss will not be disappointed, I think, in this extraordinary work of bright imagination."

Fresh Ink: Spotlight on Debut Books of All Kinds (And Yes, This IS Book For Adults, Especially The Ones Who Want To Laugh)

In When Mystical Creatures Attack!, Ms. Freedman’s high school English class writes essays in which mystical creatures resolve the greatest sociopolitical problems of our time. Students include Janice Gibbs, “a feral child with excessive eyeliner and an anti-authoritarian complex that would be interesting were it not so ill-informed,” and Cody Splunk, an aspiring writer working on a time machine. Following a nervous breakdown, Ms. Freedman corresponds with Janice and Cody from an insane asylum run on the capitalist model of cognitive-behavioral therapy, where inmates practice water aerobics to rebuild their Psychiatric Credit Scores.

The lives of Janice, Cody, and Ms. Freedman are revealed through in-class essays, letters, therapeutic journal exercises, an advice column, a reality show television transcript, a diary, and a Methodist women’s fundraising cookbook. (Recipes include “Dark Night of the Soul Food,” “Render Unto Caesar Salad,” and “Valley of the Shadow of Death by Chocolate Cake.”) In “Virtue of the Month,” the ghost of Ms. Freedman’s mother argues that suicide is not a choice. In “The Un-Game,” Janice’s chain-smoking nursing home charge composes a dirty limerick. In “The Hall of Old-Testament Miracles,” wax figures of Bible characters come to life, hungry for Cody’s flesh.

Set against a South Texas landscape where cicadas hum and the air smells of taco stands and jasmine flowers, these stories range from laugh-out-loud funny to achingly poignant. This surreal, exuberant collection mines the dark recesses of the soul while illuminating the human heart.

Read an interview with the author HERE.


Praise for the book:
"Kathleen Founds is a luminous, bright, subversive and very funny writer. What I especially love about her work is the sense that her strange and wonderful talent is always working in the service of a deeply humane and hopeful vision of the world."~George Saunders

"I first encountered these mystical animals when Kathleen Founds was in my writing class many years ago. I approached them with my pencil gripped firmly in hand, ready to analyze and criticize. The next thing I knew, I was doodling in the margins of her story, actually drawing hearts and flowers all over it. I couldn't stop myself! I still don't know what happened; it was a very mystical and magical attack! All I can say is read this book and let it happen to you!"­~Mary Gaitskill

“When Mystical Creatures Attack! is a collection of stories that reads like a dazzling, intricate, and electric novel. Kathleen Founds shows a true empathy toward these memorable characters, and I felt incredibly attached to them. Founds is a wonderful new talent, and her prose and voice are incredibly charming, witty, and stirringly graceful.”~Tom Kealey,  author of Thieves I’ve Known

"Founds’s stories are punctuated with marvelous moments of humor and pathos, and no matter the narrative form they take, they uniformly reveal vividly realized characters with complex inner lives."~Publishers Weekly

How Can You Possible NOT Want This Book?

 

“THE MOST ADORABLE BEST FRIENDS IN THE WORLD” -Buzzfeed

Once upon a time, Harlow’s best friend was her older sister, Sage, a thoughtful and loving miniature Dachshund. Harlow and Sage had a shared love for many things, including Christmas presents and the legendary Meryl Streep. They played together, cuddled together, and shared their deepest secrets, until September 2013, when, sadly, it was Sage’s time to retire to the doggie palace in the sky. Shortly after Sage’s passing, Harlow’s parents came home with Indiana, a Dachshund puppy with a killer sense of humor. It took a little getting used to, but after a few months of showing Indiana the ropes, Harlow began to recognize that a new adventure was about to unfold.

Written in the wise and witty voice of Harlow the Weimaraner, Harlow and Sage (and Indiana) is richly illustrated with more than 125 stunning images of the highly photogenic pups who have taken social media by storm. This is a tale about the bond among three dogs, connected by deep love and unparalleled friendship. (It is also a little about Meryl.)

 

Fresh Ink on the Non-Fiction Shelves

Is The Book of Mormon the Great American Novel?

Decades before Melville and Twain composed their great works, a farmhand and child seer named Joseph Smith unearthed a long-buried book from a haunted hill in western New York State that told of an epic history of ancient America, a story about a family that fled biblical Jerusalem and took a boat to the New World. Using his prophetic gift, Joseph translated the mysterious book into English and published it under the title The Book of Mormon. The book caused an immediate sensation, sparking anger and violence, boycotts and jealousy, curiosity and wonder, and launched Joseph on a wild, decades-long adventure across the American West.

Today The Book of Mormon, one of the most widely circulating works of American literature, continues to cause controversy—which is why most of us know very little about the story it tells.

Avi Steinberg wants to change that. A fascinated nonbeliever, Steinberg spent a year and a half on a personal quest, traveling the path laid out by Joseph’s epic. Starting in Jerusalem, where The Book of Mormon opens with a bloody murder, Steinberg continued to the ruined Maya cities of Central America—the setting for most of the The Book of Mormon’s ancient story—where he gallivanted with a boisterous bus tour of believers exploring Maya archaeological sites for evidence. From there the journey took him to upstate New York, where he participated in the true Book of Mormon musical, the annual Hill Cumorah Pageant. And finally Steinberg arrived at the center of the American continent, Jackson County, Missouri, the spot Smith identified as none other than the site of the Garden of Eden.

Threaded through this quirky travelogue is an argument for taking The Book of Mormon seriously as a work of American imagination. Literate and funny, personal and provocative, the genre-bending The Lost Book of Mormon boldly explores our deeply human impulse to write bibles and discovers the abiding power of story.

A hilarious and informative primer on the most urgent issues of our day, from the creators and co-hosts of "Citizen Radio," a 100% listener-supported show whose slogan is "independent radio that won't lead you to war."

#Newsfail is not your grandmother's comedic-memoir-slash-political-manifesto. From page one (in a preface titled, "In Which the Authors Interview Ralph Nader in the Bathtub"), comedian Jamie Kilstein and journalist Allison Kilkenny pledge to give you the news like you've never gotten it before.
On issues ranging from feminism to gun control, climate change to class war, foreign policy to net neutrality, they tell you how the mainstream media gets it left, right, and utterly, unforgivably, irresponsibly wrong--think Noam Chomsky as channeled by Fred and Carrie from "Portlandia." #Newsfail is all this, plus the story of Allison and Jamie's own DIY foray into independent media via their podcast, "Citizen Radio," which has featured guests such as Jeremy Scahill, Sarah Silverman, Glenn Greenwald, and Neil deGrasse Tyson, and been downloaded millions of times by people all over the world.

Their mission is truth-telling above brainwashing. All you have to do is listen.

What is it about Yellowstone National Park that draws millions of visitors from all over the world? If you've visited Yellowstone, you should already know the answer. If you've never visited--or you have, but still don't know the answer--Michael Leach explains it to you in his book of essays, Grizzlies On My Mind.

Leach is a Yellowstone insider with unmatched passion for this nation's first national park. At the age of twenty-two, Leach's dream of becoming a Yellowstone ranger came true. It wasn't long before he'd earned the nickname "Rev" for his powerful Yellowstone "sermons."

In Grizzlies on My Mind, Leach shares his love for Yellowstone--its landscapes and wildlife, especially its iconic bison and grizzlies--as he tells tales that will delight anyone interested in the national park system, wildlife and wild landscapes, rivers and adventure. Heartwarming and heartbreaking stories of human lives lost, efforts to save a black bear cub, a famous wolf who helped Leach through some dark personal days, the unique and oftentimes humorous Yellowstone "culture," backpacking trips that nearly ended in disaster, and Leach's spiritual journey with his Assiniboine-Gros Ventre "brother" fill the pages--and the reader's heart.

If you've never been charged by an elk, traveled solo at dawn across Yellowstone's frigid interior (working your way slowly through a herd of peaceful bison in the process), or lain awake in a backcountry tent, listening for the spine-tingling breaths of a curious grizzly--but you crave such experiences, Grizzlies on My Mind is the book for you.

Have You Met Marcel the Shell? He's A Big Deal These Days.

 

 

One thing about a new day--you really never know where it will go, even if you know where it starts.

Marcel the Shell with Shoes On is walking on the blanket when he is unexpectedly launched high into the air. Tumbling through space, the bird's-eye view offers our small friend not only a glimpse of the important things in life--his beloved Nana who sleeps in a fancy French bread, a stinky shoe, and a monstrous baby--but also a much bigger picture. Sometimes the most wonderful discoveries are the ones we least expect.

 

 

 

 Millions of people have fallen in love with Marcel. Now the tiny shell with shoes and a big heart is transitioning from online sensation to classic picture book character, and readers can learn more about this adorable creature and his wonderfully peculiar world.

From wearing a lentil as a hat to hang-gliding on a Dorito, Marcel is able to find magic in the everyday. He may be small, but he knows he has a lot of good qualities. He may not be able to lift anything by himself, but when he needs help, he calls upon his family. He may never be able own a real dog . . . but he has a pretty awesome imagination.

 

 

 

 

 

Learn more about Jenny Slate HERE.

Fresh Ink: Spotlight on Debut Books of All Kinds

Dorothy Richardson is existing just above the poverty line, doing secretarial work at a dentist's office and living in a seedy boarding house in Bloomsbury, when she is invited to spend the weekend with a childhood friend. Jane has recently married a writer who is hovering on the brink of fame. His name is H.G. Wells, or Bertie, as they call him.

Bertie appears unremarkable at first. But then Dorothy notices his grey-blue eyes taking her in, openly signaling approval. He tells her he and Jane have an agreement which allows them the freedom to take lovers, although Dorothy can tell her friend would not be happy with that arrangement.

Not wanting to betray Jane, yet unable to draw back, Dorothy free-falls into an affair with Bertie. Then a new boarder arrives at the house—beautiful Veronica Leslie-Jones—and Dorothy finds herself caught between Veronica and Bertie. Amidst the personal dramas and wreckage of a militant suffragette march, Dorothy finds her voice as a writer.

Louisa Treger's The Lodger is a beautifully intimate novel that is at once an introduction to one of the most important writers of the 20th century and a compelling story of one woman tormented by unconventional desires.

Read an excerpt HERE.

Read an interview with the author HERE.

Read the author's top five feminist characters HERE.

Listen to a chat with the author HERE.

Praise for the book:
"A gripping debut about creativity, forbidden passions and what happens when you break the rules. Dorothy Richardson is a heroine for our time." ~Daisy Goodwin, author of The American Heiress

“This is a sparkling debut full of passion and verve. Louisa Treger has written an enthralling historical novel about unconventional love, unrecognised genius, and the courage to turn heartbreak into art.” ~Amanda Foreman,  author of The Duchess

“In this intriguing blend of fact and fiction, Treger’s debut novel explores the socially unacceptable loves of little-read author Dorothy Richardson in early 20th-century London… Readers familiar with the period will recognize echoes of Virginia Woolf and Edith Wharton in Dorothy’s views.”~Publishers Weekly

“Treger’s writing flows easily and the book is impeccably researched, making this an enjoyable read. Dorothy Richardson may not be a household name, but Treger’s novel does a fine job of showing just how compelling her life was in this novel full of passion, history and literature.”~Kirkus Reviews

"The Lodger is an evocative, beautifully written first novel. Set against the backdrop of the early 20th century, Louisa Treger conjures up her characters and the turbulence of an era when women were fighting for emancipation with conviction. Dorothy Richardson’s journey to finding her own literary feet through her illicit relationship with the novelist HG Wells is moving and revealing. A very accomplished debut novel."—Lucinda Riley, author of The Lavender Garden

"A captivating and tender journey through the sexual explorations, loves and betrayals of Bloomsbury's Dorothy Richardson." ~Frances Osborne,  author of The Bolter

“Louisa Treger has taken us into the heart of Dorothy Richardson's life choices through a vividly imagined novel, more compelling than any biography.”—Michael Sherborne, author of HG Wells: Another Kind of Life

We're Off To See (and Read and Play With) The Wizard of Oz

LIFE Magzine is where the nation first learned about the Wizard of Oz and its soon-to-be starlet Judy Garland, a dear friend of LIFE's. Seventy-five years after the debut of the classic movie, this heavily-illustrated volume revisits all of the behind-the-scenes photography of the film shoot, wonderful shots from from the Culver City set, and also of the music being recorded, and intimate pictures of the stars and their families.

In addition, this book will uncover photography of the events that most fans don't know about; for instance, Judy Garland and her friend and regular co-star Mickey Rooney performed live on stage after evening performances in New York City for the first three weeks of the movie's run. The volume may also include commentary by TIME movie critic Richard Corliss and other renowned friends of LIFE.

LIFE will give its authoritative take on a national classic, not only covering the history of the movie, but also exploring the legends, lore and also the affect of the movie on the nation's film industry and culture (it was one of the first color films). This volume will be as fun and informative as it is lavishly illustrated.

You’ve reached the intersection where Park Place meets the Yellow Brick Road… so grab your friends and family, click your heels three times and return to the magical land of Oz. You’ll know you’re not in Kansas anymore with the world-famous MONOPOLY game. Follow the Yellow Brick Road as you buy, sell and trade your favorite locations in the movie from Home Sweet Home, the Emerald City and the Witch’s Castle to the Haunted Forest, Poppy Fields and the Apple Orchard. It’s your turn to have your wish granted, the MONOPOLY way! Game includes 6 collectible pewter tokens - Dorothy & Toto, Scarecrow, Cowardly Lion, Tin Man, Tornado and the Ruby Slippers.

 A brand new Mad Libs featuring 21 stories inspired by the classic film "The Wizard of Oz."

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is the quintessential American fairy tale. Michael Patrick Hearn, the world's leading Oz scholar, now provides a fascinating new annotation that not only reacquaints readers with the Tin Woodman, Scarecrow, and Cowardly Lion, but also illuminates the colorful background of this treasured American classic. This edition explores numerous contemporary references, provides character sources, and explains the actual meaning of the word "Oz." A facsimile of the rare 1900 first edition appears with the original drawings by W.W. Denslow, as well as 25 previously unpublished illustrations. There is a bibliography of L. Frank Baum's published work, every notable "Oz" edition, and the stage and cinematic productions from 1939's The Wizard of Oz, to the 1974 Broadway hit, The Wiz. A beautiful, awe-inspiring work, ?The Annotated Wizard of Oz? is an enduring tribute to the timeless joy of ?The Wizard of Oz?, and a classic to rival Baum's own.

Discover the marvelous land of Oz in this collection of the first three books in L. Frank Baum’s classic American fairy tale series.

The first three books of the iconic Oz series, now in one collection!

In The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Dorothy and her dog, Toto, find themselves in a strange land called Oz after their Kansas house is swept away by a cyclone. Here they meet the Munchkins and join the Scarecrow, Tin Woodman, and the Cowardly Lion on an unforgettable journey to the Emerald City, where the all-powerful Wizard of Oz lives. Can he help Dorothy return home?

In The Marvelous Land of Oz, a young boy named Tip escapes from a witch and sets out to explore land of Oz. Along the way, he meets the Scarecrow and Tin Woodman, as well as some new friends like Jack Pumpkinhead and the Wooden Sawhorse. Eventually, Tip’s journey takes him to the Emerald City, where he realizes that his life will be changed forever.

In Ozma of Oz, Dorothy is sailing to Australia when a huge storm washes her overboard. She only survives by clinging to a chicken crate. Eventually she and a yellow hen named Billina wash up on the magic shore of Ev where they meet the mechanical man Tik Tok. But Dorothy and Billina are taken prisoner by the evil Nome King who has captured the royal family of Ev. Only Ozma of Oz can save them, but will she be in time? 

We re off to see the wizard The magic of Scanimation meets the wonderful Wizard of Oz, bringing to life 10 memorable scenes from the movie that's enchanted generations of viewers. It 's the gift book of the fall, and includes:
*Dorothy, the Tin Man, the Scarecrow, the Cowardly Lion, and Toto dancing down the Yellow Brick Road

*Dorothy 's farmhouse flying upward in a twister

*Miss Gulch, on her bicycle in the tornado, transforming into a witch on a broomstick

*The Lollipop Kids strutting from side to side

*The Scarecrow doing a wacky dance

*The Tin Man swaying from side to side; Dorothy and the Scarecrow flanking him as if to catch him

*The Wicked Witch of the West waving on a sky full of flying monkeys

*The Wicked Witch of the West melting

*The Great and Powerful Oz and the man behind the curtain frantically pulling levers

*A close-up of Dorothy clicking her ruby slippers 

*A glittering, ruby-red cover is the final, delectable touch.