Reading books is one of my pleasures. I thoroughly enjoy sharing my favorites by recommending a book and finding out it was enjoyed by another reader. Discovering a new author or book is one of life’s little delights. Eclectic might best describe my reading. Reading wonderful literature is a joy; my very favorite book is Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes. I love reading Dickens, Dumas, Forster, and so many others. More modern authors such as Ivan Doig, Vikram Chandra, Pam Houston, Garth Stein, Diana Abu-Jaber, Michael, Malone, Pat Conroy, Salmon Rushdie, and Isabel Allende are among my favorites. Sinking in with a good mystery is fun too. I enjoy Craig Johnson, Michael Malone, PD James, Jacqueline Winspear, Spencer Quinn, MC Beaton, Mathew Pearl, Louis Bayard, Alexander McCall-Smith, Rita Mae Brown, Steig Larsson and many others. Travel Essay is another genre I like to read, it is fun to read about far off places. Francis Mayes, Peter Mayle, Bill Bryson, and Freya Stark are some of my favorites. I love reading about animals. James Herriot, Patricia McConnell, Ian Dunbar, and Gary Paulson are some of the authors I enjoy. And I read non fiction too. Here are a few of books I highly recommend.
$15.95
ISBN-13: 9781616200824
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 1/2012
I predicted this would be one of the big books of 2011, it was on the best seller's list and is a winner of the PNBA Award. It was also #1 on my Top Ten list for fiction in 2011. Now it is available in paperback. Epic is far too tame a description for this ambitious novel set in a fictional Northwest town. Evison gleefully chews up the landscape from 1890 to 2006. Dreamers and drifters, entrepreneurs, scoundrels, and hardworking everyday people all had a hand in settling the Northwest. Big trees, lots of rain, and an unparalleled lushness defined the land. In the 1890’s the settlers had lots of beautiful blank canvas to sculpt their desires. Jagged peaked, majestic Olympic Mountains, windswept sea, deep lakes, and the roar of the rushing river, all stood splendidly untouched before them. By 2006 the consequences of their choices were home to roost. Evison treats his characters well, using humor and respect to drive his story forward.
$25.95
ISBN-13: 9780670022779
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Viking Adult, 6/2011
Craig’s new book is a real rip-snorter, the action starts early and doesn’t let up. Hell is Empty, sure enough; all the devils are loose on a mountainside in Wyoming. Walt Longmire doesn’t want stone cold killers in his jurisdiction, so he transports some seriously dangerous guys across his territory to turn over to the Feds. The hand off is set for a remote location, with ferociously bad weather coming in fast. Something goes terribly wrong with no way to get help up the mountainside until the storm breaks. The Heavens seem set against Walt, winds howl, snow swirls, it is not fit out for man nor beast. With no way to get back up for help until the storm abates, Walt sets off alone after a pack of heavily armed evil men. He just keeps climbing higher up that cold mountain where his very survival is in serious question, trying to recapture the bad guys before the body count rises. As he gains altitude he enters deeper into the circles of hell in pursuit of a man who just might take his life.
$24.95
ISBN-13: 9781616200428
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 1/2012
Jean Patrick Nkuba’s wants to believe his father’s words, that Hutu and Tutsi can live in peace. His father is a teacher, a man who hopes for a bright future for his children. Death comes for his father unexpectedly, leaving the family bereft in a climate of escalating tribal tensions with the dream of peace fading fast. Jean Patrick wants to run; he has legs that fly and hopes for Olympic Gold. Benaron has managed the formidable accomplishment of writing a beautiful, haunting story of family, of a young boy’s coming of age, of the power of striving to be the best, and of redemption. It is a hopeful story despite the rampaging grim reaper that defiled Rwanda. Running the Rift
$25.95
ISBN-13: 9780393082654
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: W. W. Norton & Company, 2/2012
Pam has a pitch perfect western voice, inspired and sent soaring by the vast un-tame-able landscapes that feed her soul. Told in a series of vignettes that take the narrator careening around the globe, hiking in the high country, rafting rivers, dealing with faithless love, finding strength in the loyal bonds of friends, and discovering happiness too. The shifting stories include such disparate places as Bhutan and Bend Oregon. Witty, warm, and wonderfully fun to read.
$14.99
ISBN-13: 9781250002303
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Published: St. Martin's Griffin, 2/2012
Dark, mysterious, everything you could want in a great mystery. Henry Cavendish mourns the suicide of his friend Alonzo, and tries to understand Clarissa. Why did Alonzo jump into that cold dark water? Why does Clarissa have a strange connection to a woman who lived 300 hundred years ago? Time frames shift from the present day to the era of Sir Walter Raleigh when Thomas Harriot tried to bend the elements to his biding to save the woman he would love through time.
$15.00
ISBN-13: 9780385343848
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Random House Trade Paperbacks, 11/2011
Natalia’s beloved Grandfather took her often to the zoo, to visit the tiger and hear the story of the Tiger’s Wife. He carried with him a well worn copy of The Jungle Book by Kipling. Natalia followed in her Grandfather’s footsteps, becoming a doctor. She is heading off to inoculate the children of a poverty stricken Balkan village when she learns her Grandfather has died miles from home in a remote village. Natalia knew her Grandfather had been hiding a serious illness, but why did he go off and die in some remote settlement? As she searches for the reason her Grandfather left his home and family to journey to a rundown outpost, she is drawn into stories of folk lore and discovers a secret from the past.
$24.95
ISBN-13: 9780399157400
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Putnam Adult, 4/2011
What fun! Two talented authors writing a rip snorting mystery in alternating chapters. Paul and Lacey are siblings, nominally adult, living in the family home and growing a cash crop in the basement. They are startled to find a headless corpse in the yard one night. Calling the men in blue is not an option; pesky questions could crop up about all the plants under grow lights. So they move the body. It is a wild ride from the start. The authors can do what they will in their alternating chapters; they soon start to kill off each other’s favorite characters and create general mayhem. I couldn’t wait to get from one chapter to the next to see what the response would be and I was never disappointed. They always had something new up their sleeve. Loved the ending.
$26.00
ISBN-13: 9780385519175
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Spiegel & Grau, 4/2011
Red on Red by Edward Conlon has muscular prose and powerful storytelling, this is a fascinating look at the lives of two New York City cops. Meehan is intellectual but a bit aloof, the puzzles interest him but he has trouble connecting with people. Esposito is sensuous, impulsive, and intuitive, he touches people quickly. With Esposito there is no middle ground. They remind me a bit of Dostoevsky’s characters, I see Ivan in Meehan, with his tortured yearning to understand. And Esposito has Dimitri’s wild, passionate nature. The plot is complex and deftly brought together. A young woman’s suicide, the gangland killing of a street tough, and a predator on the loose keep the detectives moving on the mean streets of the big city.
$26.95
ISBN-13: 9780670021048
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Viking Adult, 5/2011
Caleb Cheeshahteaumuck crossed over from his native culture to the white man’s world becoming one of the earliest graduates of Harvard University. His story is narrated by the fictional character Bethia Mayfield. She meets Caleb when she is a mere slip of a girl, while gathering food away from the colony. The two children cross cultural barriers to form a secret friendship that will last their lifetime despite the considerable pressures of their respective clans. Caleb is the son of a Chief, the nephew of a Shaman, neither would approve of his friendship with the little white girl. Bethia is the daughter of the local minister and granddaughter of a magistrate. Her people view the natives as savages. Yet understanding grows between the two youngsters that bridges their differing cultures to offer glimpses of common ground and understanding
$25.99
ISBN-13: 9780465020133
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Basic Books, 5/2011
Thor Hanson is a marvelous writer, he makes his passion for the natural world quite compelling. I found myself totally involved in the story of a fossilized wing being used in a debate on evolution. And he doesn’t stop with the original owners of the feathers using them; he takes the book on to show how man has benefited from fly fishing to downy pillows. Just think of the abuse a feather must endure, sub zero temperatures and ferocious winds for the Penguin in Antarctica. Or the way a Pelican’s feathers must let it dive into the frigid waters of the Pacific then erupt from the waves to rise into the sky. Feathers are pretty remarkable. And hearing about feathers from Thor is like sitting down for a lively chat with a particularly bright friend. This is a very entertaining and interesting book.
$26.99
ISBN-13: 9780062049803
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Harper, 6/2011
Moral ambiguity pervades Patchett’s story. Vogel pharmaceutical’s star researcher has gone rogue down in the Amazon. She hasn’t checked in with headquarters in two years, just kept spending the money and staying out in the jungle. Anders is sent to fetch her back to the head office, where her progress can be monitored. His two week project stretches into months then the horrible letter arrives disclosing his death and burial in the jungle. Details are brief. His widow wants to know how he died, why he died. The head man at Vogel wants his star researcher brought back under his control. Marina heads into the jungle for her boss and the widow of her friend. The answers she finds may not be the answers she sought. At every turn she will have moral choices to make. This is a fabulous book about keeping secrets, loyalty, serving a higher good, adventure, love and betrayal. Quite a lot for one book, but the author is Ann Patchett and she is more than up to the challenge.
$14.99
ISBN-13: 9780061780103
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: William Morrow Paperbacks, 6/2011
Jo was named for a character in Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, like her namesake she has a questioning nature and a strong sense of what is right in her world. Her twin, Chris, is easier going. They are raised in a devout Christian household. Every year their Mom, Angie, runs a summer camp for Christian families. Deena was widowed young; her comfort was her son Sadiq. Their household is devout Muslim. This is a book that is right for the time and absolutely needed to be written. It is also a wonderful, life affirming, heartwarming story, it grants a spark of hope for the future. Characters will be caught up in world events that cast shadows over them and test their resolve. A secret, born of youthful indiscretion, will change their lives. Is redemption possible? Maybe? Where do our loyalties lie? With our family? With the truth? With our country? With our religion?
$14.99
ISBN-13: 9780061834400
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Harper Paperbacks, 6/2011
If you love books, don’t miss this one. Focusing on some of the most important works of American literature the author shows their impact on our national identity. Some of my favorites made it onto the list, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain and The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald and To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Of course Hemmingway swaggers onto the stage with The Sun Also Rises. Although I might argue the case with Foster that a story set in Spain about bull fighting is, perhaps, not the ideal quintessential American novel. But that’s part of the fun! Read the book, agree, disagree, be inspired to read more! This is a book that makes you think about what your read and challenges you to expand your literary horizons.
$24.00
ISBN-13: 9780802119742
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Atlantic Monthly Press, 6/2011
Endearingly quirky, sad, funny, and quite wonderful, this is the story of a family who mourn the death of their father and husband. Dad was a career diplomat posted to Bonn, but the British government needs the diplomat’s house for the new chap so the family will have to move. And move they do, all the way to a remote Scottish island. This is also the story of a bear who got lost and spent several weeks of freedom and hunger on the same island. Told from the perspective of each family member, the story meanders onto unexpected lanes and ends up being quite a wild ride. Exuberant, heartwarming, thought provoking and a lot of fun!
$24.99
ISBN-13: 9780312564537
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Minotaur Books, 7/2011
Witty, endearing, and way too quirky for words, Cotterill’s new series is delightful! Jimm Jureee has left behind her promising career as a journalist in the big city to follow her rather odd but loveable family into the hinterland of Southern Thailand. She is morosely bemoaning the loss of her career when two skeletons are found inside a Volkswagen buried in a farmer’s field. Jimm is back in the game with a juicy scoop on a murder investigation. The ink is barely dry on her story when an Abbott is murdered in a remote temple. Pretty soon the whole family is helping her solve crimes. At the beginning of each chapter we have examples of a former president’s confusion over the English language, they add a bit of comedy.
$25.95
ISBN-13: 9780393064612
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: W. W. Norton & Company, 9/2011
Birds of Paradise is a beautiful book. Miami heat, the pulsing neon lights color the night sky, and a young girl carries her secrets creating the drama of a family torn asunder. Felice is a beautiful child, with the face of Elizabeth Taylor. She overshadowed her less showy brother, Stanley. Avis adores her daughter. Life was going pretty well for Avis, she is married to Brian, a caring but distracted man, she has a thriving business creating amazing pastries that challenge her creatively, and children she loves. And then Felice leaves, running off into those hot Miami nights as a vulnerable thirteen year old child, taking all the magic out of her family. Avis, Brian and Stanley are left in the wreckage of their lives to try coping with the absence of Felice. As her 18th birthday approaches Felice’s presence seems to haunt her family while the young girl tries to grapple with the secrets she bears and the choices that set her adrift on the streets of Miami.
$28.00
ISBN-13: 9780374203054
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 10/2011
A lot is expected of a book by Eugenides, and he does not disappoint. Have all the great loves stories already been written? What relevance does Jane Austen or George Eliot have for today’s woman? Set in the 1980’s, Madeline is wrestling with these questions both for her college senior thesis and as a woman fielding the attentions of two young men. Leonard is charismatic, flawed, and tragic; of course he is of great interest to Madeline. Mitchell is a seeker, trying to figure out how he fits into the general scheme of the Universe. He is totally smitten by Madeline. It is a lovely story, with a cutting edge look at life a hundred years after Jane Austen.
$14.95
ISBN-13: 9780802170811
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Grove Press, Black Cat, 10/2011
Griitty and bold, two young men try to survive in war torn Bosnia. Ismet is part of an acting troupe that escapes through Scotland on into the US. Mustafa is drafted into the military. What I found most compelling, is the way the everyday lives of the people were blown apart. Families living normal lives, visiting the country on the weekend, browsing the shops, going to dinner, never expecting that violence and hatred were going to destroy their lives. They are just like us, then one day they are not. How do you feed the family pet when you are starving? This is an inventive, disturbing, insightful novel.
$26.99
ISBN-13: 9780061779749
Availability: Coming Soon - Available for Pre-Order Now
Published: William Morrow & Company, 4/2012
Christopher Moore is more fun than a barrel of monkeys. In 1890 Vincent Van Gogh shot himself. Or did he? His friends decide to investigate and discover the truth. Why did Van Gogh become afraid of the color blue? Who is the woman in blue that haunted Cezanne, Monet, Renoir, and Passaro? Their sleuthing will take them all over the place, from art galleries to brothels. And, of course, it will all be great fun.
$27.00
ISBN-13: 9780374108991
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 10/2011
Araceli is the maid in the Torres-Thompson household. Built on dot-com money, sitting high above LA looking out over the blue Pacific, the financial foundations are crumbling in the wake of the recession. Scott is working a job he hates trying to keep their precarious finances afloat, but Maureen just doesn’t seem to realize how close to the edge they are skating. First Scott lets the nanny go, and then the gardener, Araceli is the last Mexican left to keep the household running smooth. Fights over money are escalating, after a particularly vicious argument, Araceli wakes to find her employers gone and their two young sons very much at home. Not knowing what to do, she finally sets off across LA with the two youngsters in search of a grandfather they haven’t seen in the past two years. It is an adventure with unforeseen consequences. The writing is wonderful, the story thought provoking, the two boys endearing, and the characters flawed but human. Great story.
$25.95
ISBN-13: 9780399157714
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Putnam Adult, 1/2012
Ray knew this case would be trouble, but where else was the father to seek help? If he wants to find his daughter, Ray is pretty much the only Half Romany PI available. It takes Leon six long years to ask someone to look for his daughter Rose. But they are travelers and she went off with her husband’s clan after she married, so it doesn’t seem quite so odd. As Ray digs into the community of travelers he uncovers some strange goings on in the Janko family. The story alternates between Ray’s voice and the teenage JJ Janko, giving a fresh lively perspective.
$25.99
ISBN-13: 9780061976223
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Harper, 2/2012
What if the Twin Towers had been in Baghdad? 11/9/2001 Christian fundamentalists hijack four jetliners and slam them into the World Trade Centers in Baghdad. In 2009 Homeland Security is dealing with suicide bombers while the Marines are trying to subdue the insurgents wrecking havoc in Virginia. Yet there are nebulous hints that this world is all a mirage. Bold, brash and brilliant, Mirage turns the world upside down and gives it a good shake.
$25.95
ISBN-13: 9780399157592
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Amy Einhorn Books/Putnam, 2/2012
A great swath of American history is let loose in this beguiling tome. And it all starts in a garden in Germany where Fredrick lurks behind a hedge preparing to serenade his ladylove Jette. It is not a union smiled upon by Jette’s social climbing mother. She forbids them contact so, of course, they go underground and soon are fleeing the mother’s wrath heading for the New World. Narrated by James, their grandson, the story is an endearing and insightful family drama with a full cast of entertaining extras including jazz musicians, nefarious bartenders and a malevolent dwarf.
$24.99
ISBN-13: 9780316175678
Availability: Special Order - Subject to Availability
Published: Reagan Arthur Books, 2/2012
Haunting and beautiful, The Snow Child, updates the Russian fairytale to 1920’s Alaska. Mabel and Jack have tried to come to terms with being childless. They left their boisterous family behind on the east coast for the quiet loneliness of remote Alaska. Creating a farm out of this unforgiving land is a tough job for the young; it is hard, weary going for middle aged Mabel and Jack. Grasping for a moment of joy out of the first snowfall of the year, they build a snow girl in the yard. The next morning the snow is gone, but a blond girl, like a snow sprite, is glimpsed near the trees. They come to love the young girl as their own child, but you know fairy tales are not without danger.
$15.95
ISBN-13: 9781565129931
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2/2012
Sean’s father has a doozy of a 21st birthday surprise for him, the journal of a long dead uncle. Sean was unaware of any uncles, let alone former cops on the lam for shooting a civil rights activist who die while palling around with the IRA in Ireland. His Dad passes him the journal and a plane ticket along with the advice to go find the truth. But truth can travel down some strange paths, Sean learns of his uncle’s love for a woman, a love that will last through time, a love that may live on in Sean. He also learns there are people who want the past to stay hidden, dangerous people.
$25.99
ISBN-13: 9780446582353
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Grand Central Publishing, 1/2012
Trouble seems to hunt down the Slocumb women on about 15 year intervals. And this year is a bad one. Ginny became a Momma at 15. Her daughter Lisa followed the family pattern. Now Lisa’s daughter Mosey is turning 15 and folks are waiting for her switch from a sweet, studious child to a low rider wearing, drug enhanced, floozy. When Lisa suffers a stroke Ginny thinks God’s appetite might be appeased, surely that was a big enough strike of 15 year trouble. But trouble is still coming, when Ginny has the willow tree out back cut down they find a makeshift grave and Mosey’s future takes a turn toward gloomy.
$25.00
ISBN-13: 9781569479575
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Soho Crime, 7/2011
Oto Brogan is at the top of his game, making bucket-loads of money and moving into politics. He is throwing a party; all the right people will be there to cheer him on, all the right people and a killer with a prime target. Before the night his over his wife will lie dead under the spotlight, felled by an assassin’s bullet. Clearly Brogan was the target, a rising star in Slovakian politics. Commander Jana Matinova isn’t so certain. Her investigation will take her to Berlin, Paris, and back into the evil of the past. Jana is a strong female lead, with an interesting mystery to solve.
$25.00
ISBN-13: 9781451608120
Availability: Coming Soon - Available for Pre-Order Now
Published: Simon & Schuster, 2/2012
The latest Spellman saga is a hum dinger with a dizzyingly delicious variety of plot twists. Izzy’s hands are full investigating them all; the strange occurrences on the home front and the troubling clients. Sister Rae and brother David are feuding, what is up with that? They have always been tight as a pair of ticks. Mom’s calendar is so full of hobbies she doesn’t have a moment to spare, so totally out of character. What could she be up to? Dad is about to drop a bombshell announcement on the Spellman clan. And Izzy is pretty sure her latest client is not to be trusted. Lisa Lutz’s writing is so refreshingly original and funny, the Spellman series is great fun. Be sure to read all the Spellman cases, you will not be disappointed.
$14.99
ISBN-13: 9780316097888
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Back Bay Books, 1/2012
Taut, fast paced, and gripping, this one is a real page turner. Phil keeps his horse farm afloat by guiding the occasional shipment across the border in the rugged North Cascades. He knows the land like the back of his hand, a quick ride over the mountain pass and he is solvent again for a while. But this time they sent him a courier who is nothing but trouble. Bobby Drake is a lawman with a family history, his Dad made a few extra dollars just like Phil. Bobby is trying to live it down, doing a good job of catching the bad guys. Bobby and Phil’s paths will cross on a trip gone horribly wrong.
