Deon's June 2010 Picks

Flashy and I enjoy spending an evening on the couch together reading.  Here are a few we recommend for June. 

 

 

 

Junkyard Dogs: A Walt Longmire Mystery (Hardcover)

By Craig Johnson
$25.95
ISBN-13: 9780670021826
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Viking Adult, 5/2010
Other Editions of this Title
Junkyard Dog is beautifully written literature, tightly plotted, and funny enough to make me laugh myself witless.  The opening scene should leave you breathless.  Sherriff Walt Longmire’s has trouble on his hands.  George Stewart’s dump is smack dab up against a multi-million dollar housing development.  The developer would prefer his customers gaze stay on the majestic mountains not the smelly dump next door.  He wants the dump to go away, big time.  Tensions are running high.  Deputy Santiago is suffering a case of the willies after nearly being filleted in Another Man’s Moccasins. Walt is afraid he will lose a good deputy.  For writing, plot, and the joy of reading, this one cannot be beat.

The Nobodies Album (Hardcover)

By Carolyn Parkhurst
$25.95
ISBN-13: 9780385527699
Availability: Special Order - Subject to Availability
Published: Doubleday, 6/2010
Other Editions of this Title
  The Nobodies Album by Carolyn Parkhurst is on the quirky side, not your run of the mill linear story.  But oh, it is fun to read. Octavia Frost has a little ritual when she turns in a manuscript to her publisher.  Rather than trust her tome to the mail, she travels to New York and delivers it personally.  She is a little nervous about the response to her latest effort.  Instead of writing a new book, she has written a book of new endings for all of her previous books.  It is not an idea her publisher encouraged. Today’s outing to New York is not going to go as planned.  Octavia has been estranged from her son, rock star Milo Frost.  On the way to her publisher’s office Octavia is stunned to hear her son has been arrested for murder! She will drop everything to fly to his side, wanted or not, and unravel the puzzle of their lives. 

The Madonnas of Echo Park (Hardcover)

By Brando Skyhorse
$23.00
ISBN-13: 9781439170809
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Free Press, 6/2010
Other Editions of this Title
  The Madonnas of Echo Park by Brando Skyhorse is an intricate book about cultural identity and home. An army of Hispanics go forth from Echo Park every day to work in the gardens, tidy the houses, and watch the children of the Anglos in the City of Angels. Anglos who feel entitled, forgetting that not so long ago Los Angeles was the home of proud Hidalgos, not even a part of the US that so closes guards the borders today.  Now the Hispanics clean for the Anglos in the city they once ruled. Aurora Esperanza grows up in Echo Park, eventually learning what it means to be Hispanic, proud, and to be home.  Told through shifting viewpoints, this is a lyrical, heartwarming novel. 

Work Song (Hardcover)

By Ivan Doig
$25.95
ISBN-13: 9781594487620
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Riverhead Hardcover, 6/2010
Other Editions of this Title
Morrie set out for parts unknown in Whistling Season.  He is lured back by the promise of wealth in the “richesr city in the world”, Butte, Montana.  What all that hype didn’t include was the venal, brutal nature of the men who ran Butte and held the purse strings. Nor was there any mention of the danger and despair of the miners sent down far into ground to bring forth riches for the town’s masters.  But, like a cat, Morrie tends to land on his feet.  It is pure pleasure to see just how he goes about staying one step ahead.  I did not want this book to end. 

The Summer We Read Gatsby (Hardcover)

By Danielle Ganek
$25.95
ISBN-13: 9780670021789
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Viking Adult, 5/2010
Other Editions of this Title
  The Summer We Read Gatsby by Danielle Ganek is sprinkled liverally with delicious literary allusions. Cassie and Peck are sisters, not that it would be apparent to anyone. Cassie was raised in Switzerland, growing up to be a journalist with a studious streak.  Peck was raised in New York, growing up to be an actress thirsty for the limelight.  They couldn’t be more different.  They even look different, one thin and dark, the other fair and zaftig.  Their one common thread was Aunt Lydia, their Father’s sister, and summers at her home in Southampton.  Lydia’s death has brought the girls together for one last summer.  Her will left them the house in Southampton with the stipulation they spend the summer together, promising there was something of value to be found in the house.  This could be the perfect summer read,  

Backseat Saints (Hardcover)

By Joshilyn Jackson
$24.99
ISBN-13: 9780446582346
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Grand Central Publishing, 6/2010
Other Editions of this Title
  Backseat Saints by Joshilyn Jackson is fast passed, well written, and compelling. Jackson breathes life into her characters; quirky, hopelessly flawed, and full of heart.  Rose Mae Lolly’s mother ran off leaving the child with her father, a man fond of strong drink and quick to use his fists. After one beating too many Rose Mae took off making her way from diner to diner along the interstate.  Thom finds her and makes her Mrs. Ro Grandee.  Ro loves her handsome Thom, loves him with all her feisty heart.  But she loves life too and she knows one of these days Thom is going to hit her too bad, is going to break her in ways the local hospital can’t fix.  Maybe only one of them can live and Ro would prefer to keep on breathing.  
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