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New and loved at WORD

   
 Darth Vader and Son Power of Habit Killing Moon Legend of Pradeep Mathew  

 

Darth Vader and Son by Jeffrey Brown. Adrian has found the best Father's Day gift for Bookstore Dad (shhh, don't tell). Darth Vader and Son will turn the Star Wars fan in your life into a giggly pile of mush. Where else can you see Darth Vader playing hide-and-seek with Luke? Or asking if Luke needs to use the potty? It's brilliant. You'll want to buy it for every dad you know. (Adrian)
   
The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg (also available as an ebook). I can't recommend this highly enough for my fellow productivity freaks. If you've ever wondered what it is about your bad habits that make them so hard to shake, or want to hack your daily routines, Duhigg gives you the tools (and the background info) to do it. (Jenn)

The Killing Moon by N. K. Jemisin (also available as an ebook). Ninja-priests and dream magic! This is epic fantasy at its finest, and the ancient Egypt-inspired setting is surreal and fascinating (and a nice break from pseudo-medieval Europe). (Jenn)

The Legend of Pradeep Mathew by Shehan Karunatilaka (also available as an ebook). This is handily the best book about Sri Lankan cricket ever written, but you needn't know anything about Sri Lanka or cricket in order to love it. A very funny, very serious novel that explores what happens when we realize what we've become, and think about what we could still be. Filled with a manic energy and the sort of sharp writing that feels like it might be part of a classic. (Bonus: if you read it soon, you can meet Karunatilaka when he visits us to read from his book and teach us cricket next month.) (Stephanie)

  I Am Forbidden  My Marriage A to Z The Newlyweds Available Dark     
I Am Forbidden by Anouk Markovits (also available as an ebook). In this novel, Markovits, herself raised in a Satmar household, interweaves lives of generations of Hasidim, spinning a tale of families sewn together through tragedy and torn apart by unbending religious beliefs crossing continents and history. (Simone)  

My Marriage A to Z: A Big City Romance. This tiny, illustrated book is a simple, poetic glimpse into a marriage. It's a great gift for your loved one or for an anniversary or wedding, or for anyone who could use a reminder about why we fall in love and how sharing a life with someone can be wonderful. It's sweet and romantic, and really, who can't use some sweetness and romance? (Christine)

The Newlyweds by Nell Freudenberger (also available as an ebook). A marriage arranged on the Internet leads Amina, a Bangladeshi woman seeking a new life for her family, to come to the United States to marry George. As we learn the histories of Amina and George, and spend days in the newly established household, we are privy to the unfolding twists and intricacies of family and intimacy. (Simone)

Available Dark by Elizabeth Hand (also available as an ebook). I don't usually gravitate toward crime novels, but Elizabeth Hand's Generation Loss showed me what I was missing. Available Dark, the sequel, begins, "There had been more trouble, as usual," which is most of what you need to know about the viewpoint of aging, mostly washed-up, alcoholic punk photographer Cass Neary, who finds her way into one hell of a creepy murder mystery involving black metal, photographs of dead people, and a long-lost love of sorts. (Molly)
Do you love books as much as we do? Visit BEA!


BEA logoEvery year, our staff attends Book Expo America at the Javitz Center to learn about cool upcoming books, meet authors, and even snag some free books. And this year, for the first time, you can join us!

BEA is opening its doors to the public for the last day of the show, Thursday June 7. If you register to go as a Power Reader, you'll have access to the show floor, including author readings, the autographing area, and publisher giveaways. You can check out highlights and more information here. Tickets are very limited and are only $45; you'll need a code to register, so use ours: WL9X

More books we love at WORD

 

   Song of Achilles  The Great Night  Lean on Pete  Best of It

  

The Song of Achilles by Madeleine Miller (also available as an ebook). If as a kid you also had at least one period of obsession with Greek mythology, then you should read this book. It will plunge you right back into the glory of all that insanity, except with more overt acknowledgement that, yeah, some Greeks were gay. Miller has done such a good job of bringing to life the gauze-y vagueness of living in a time where the gods were as much a part of life as weather, and just as incomprehensible. The scariness and banality of a world at constant war, with tangled loyalties and family trees. The humanity people had then, too, and the way they faced death. (Stephanie)
 
The Great Night by Chris Adrian (also available as an ebook). Appropriating Shakespeare carries a whole host of potential pitfalls, but the bawdy and raucous use of A Midsummer Night's Dream cast is maybe the only thing that could adequately set off the incredible tragedies in this book. A weird, wild, manic, and absolutely heartbreaking book. (Jenn)

Lean on Pete by Willy Vlautin (also available as an ebook). I swear I read books that aren't depressing and bleak, but bear with me long enough to give Lean on Pete a chance. It's the story of a horse and a boy, both at dead ends in life, and it bears all Vlautin's trademarks: bottomless compassion, beautiful spare writing, characters who all seem familiar, and a perfect measure of hope at the darkest times. (Molly)
 
The Best of It by Kay Ryan (also available as an ebook). I've been trying to read more poetry lately, and of the books I've dipped into, this is one that I've already found myself returning to again and again. If you have also been thinking lately that you should get (back) into poetry, I think you should get this book and a bottle of wine and just lazily flip through this until something grabs you, which it will. Or, each night, read a few poems, each a few times in a row, before going to sleep. It'll hook you too. (Stephanie)
Kids' books loved at WORD


  Zorro Gets An OutfitJane Eyre Counting PrimerRailseaArlo Needs Glasses
  
Zorro Gets an Outfit by Carter Goodrich. When we first met Zorro, he was learning to share with Mr. Bud. But now Zorro has bigger problems--his owner got him an outfit. How embarrassing! Or is it? (Jenn)

Jane Eyre: A Counting Primer by Jennifer Adams and Alison Oliver. It's never too early to fall in love with Mr. Rochester. From one (1) governess to ten (10) books, this book will help plant the seeds for a future love of literature. Okay, I guess it'll teach the kid to count, too. But who needs arithmetic when you have a Byronic hero? (Stephanie)

Railsea by China Mieville (also available as an ebook). It's a new Mieville! That was certainly enough for me (and everybody else at WORD). Railsea takes place in an undated future where oceans are pretty much a myth; the railsea is the place where trains ride countless miles of tangled tracks, their captains passionately hunting giant creatures or scraping salvage. Our hero, Sham Yes ap Soorap, finds something like a treasure map, and the chase is on. Railsea is wickedly smart and totally engrossing--weeks later, I'm still trying to perfectly imagine what the railsea looks like. (Molly) 
 
Arlo Needs Glasses by Barney Saltzberg. This is one of the most inventive pop-up books of the year. If you'll just suspend your disbelief about dogs needing glasses for long enough to read it, you'll fall in love. Comes with four fun pairs of dog-sized (or kid-sized) glasses! (Stephanie)
 


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