Duck's Cottage Newsletter

Between the Lines
Reading Recommendations from the Cottage Shelves

Late Winter means one thing at Duck's Cottage- the Spring publishing season is right around the corner! I've been wading my way through boxes of publisher's Reading Galleys- reading bits of this, all of that and deciding what gets a thumbs up... or down! With the assistance of a terrific panel of well-read customers, I'm pleased to offer the following suggestions for Spring! I just finished (and loved) Gonzalez & Daughter Trucking Co., by Maria Amparo Escandon. From the library of a Mexicali Jail, Libertad Gonzalez tells her life story in weekly serial chapters to her fellow female inmates who become just as entranced with her tale (and its validity) as I did. One that TM Chris Layton is currently enjoying is The Templar Legacy by Steve Berry, a 'Da Vinci Code'-like thriller that revolves around the Knights Templar. Councilman Denver Lindley recently read 31 Days and pronounced it 'gripping'. This book by Barry Werth focuses on the days just after the Nixon resignation. Our good friend Doctor Fred said this of The Baby Business- 'Well written.. a wealth of information not readily thought of...should be a seller'. The subtitle of this work by Debora L. Spar is 'How money, science and politics drive the commerce of conception'. The Duck's Cottage Reading Group is currently enjoying The Saints and Sinners of OK County, by Danya Dunbar but our January book, The Epicure's Lament by Kate Christensen, provided one of our most entertaining discussions ever. (And the pinot helped, thanks to Barbara.) I just started Arthur & George, by Julian Barnes, a novel told from the perspectives of the man who would create Sherlock Holmes and a beleaguered solicitor of Indian descent whose lives intersect. A Million Little Pieces is still out there, and maybe he did make a lot of this supposed memoir up, but James Frey is still a good writer so read it as fiction- you'll enjoy it just as much. Other recent releases from proven authors include Sarah Dunant's In the Company of the Courtesan, Martha Grimes' The Old Wine Shades and master of his game, James Patterson's The Fifth Horseman. Wendy Howell Mills, formerly of the Outer Banks, has a new release- Island Intrigue. A departure from her Callie McKinley series (which was set on the OBX), Island Intrigue is another good mystery with a seaside setting. There are some GREAT books coming in May, but I'll save them for the next issue!! Until then, go read something good!

I want to buy a book....