Manda picks: The Good Thief by Hannah Tinti

If you are in the market for a book that reads like a classic, but don't want to deal with all those long, twiddly words or overly verbose descriptions, Hannah Tinti's The Good Thief is the book for you. The story focuses around Ren, a young orphan who dreams of being claimed by a long lost parent or sibling, but is instead adopted by, and becomes accomplice to, a thief. Along the way we also meet the drunk, the giant, and the goodhearted landlady that are standards in classic fiction. And, the plot does have all the little twists and side characters that tell us we are reading "literature." However, don't think for one second that Tinti is relying on a formula to entertain us. The characters are not flat or cliched. The plot twists are not the ones I was expecting. The story never got stale or bogged down; I kept on wondering how it was all going to come together. Overall, a great read.

Lynne picks: Goldengrove by Francine Prose

I've never been a big fan of Francine Prose. She is a brilliant writer whose "edginess", in my opinion, often crosses over into self-indulgent whininess. Goldengrove is a marvelous exception. The central character Nico, a chubby thirteen year old second (and second-best) child of distracted parents, is left to grapple with complex emotions after her older sister drowns. Her parents each crumble in their own way and her sister's boyfriend reacts in ways both bizarre and ultimately dangerous.

There is plenty of edge in this story but it is balanced with such tenderness and humanity that you find yourself drawn to even the most distasteful characters. The title of the book comes from a poem by Gerald Manley Hopkins and it, too, plays a role in this book. I found myself remembering lines from the poem and revisiting the characters from this story long after I had finished the book.

Patty picks two: Fool by Christopher Moore

It's out in paperback - Christopher Moore's raucous retelling of King Lear. It's enjoyable on so many levels. I kept wondering how different scenes were portrayed in Shakespeare's telling. The story is told from the point of view of Potter, the fool and there is the suggestion of romance, the definite intrigue of plotting by daughters and sons-in-law to overthrow Lear. It has the classic adventure of the original and the laughs of Moore's sense of absurdity. A fun winter (or summer) read.

Here If You Need Me by Kate Braestrup

Kate Braestrup, a Unitarian Minister, beautifully blends her own life story, spirituality and nature writing in her memoir. She is just a great story teller. I felt like I was sitting with her in her living room and she was relating tender stories of her children, rescue stories from the woods of Maine and religious questions. As chaplain to the Maine Game Wardens she is present in situations when people are missing in the woods. She waits with families and lets them give her direction as to what they need from her - silence, prayers, or maybe even just another pair of gloves. AND if you enjoy this book, there's a follow up - Marriage and Other Acts of Charity. I haven't read it yet, but I'm certain it will offer the same wonderful insights.

Tom picks: Northlanders Vol. 1: Sven the Returned by Brian Wood, illus.by Davide Gianfelice

What do graphic novels need more of? No, not zombies or vampires--vikings of course! While viking culture isn't exactly new subject matter in the comic world, it comes as a refreshing change from both mainstream, tights-wearing super-hero books, and the dreary, horror-based books that so many smaller publishers are pushing these days.

Northlanders strives on that change of pace from the norm. It manages to break away from what so many other series are doing right now, break expectation, without breaking convention or making itself inaccessible.

Brian Wood (DMZ, Demo) has made a name for himself with his attention to cultural history and detail, particularly seen in his depiction of New York City. The same is true in this book, where he captures the social and political environments of not only viking culture, but the cultures it was interacting with at the time.

Despite this attention to detail, Wood doesn't seem tied down to complete realism, as evidenced by the dialogue, which is closer to something you would encounter in The Sopranos, than The Mighty Thor. While this might sound out of place, it actually adds a more personable quality to Wood's characters and serves him well in conveying the emotions at play in this tale.

Wood has made yet another unconventional move in making each volume in the Northlanders series a stand alone story. Unlike so many other comic series, one volume of Northlanders tells a whole story, taking part in a particular setting of viking culture. This allows readers the freedom to hop in and out of the series where and whenever they wish, and it allows Wood to explore the many facets and time-periods of viking culture.

Sven the Returned takes place in 980 A.D., following the titular Sven from Constantinople back to his home in the Orkney islands, to claim his inheritance after the death of his father, the chief. Sven's homecoming isn't exactly welcome and leads into a complicated and bloody feud between him and his uncle, who has named himself chief in Sven's absence. The story that incorporates some really compelling dialogues on religion vs. practicality and the importance of honoring one's cultural background.

The artist, Davide Gianfelice succeeds in bringing a vibrant and colorful style to the pages of Northlanders. The action and layout are reminiscent of Frank Miller, with a focus on dramatic shading and clear breakdowns of complex action sequences. Yet another example of Northlanders' refreshing, yet familiar, style.

With Northlanders, Brian Wood has secured himself as my most anticipated author in comics. Between this and DMZ, I find myself impatiently waiting a new release of his every three months. Check it out, whether you're into Norse history and legend, good art,or just sick of zombies, Northlanders has something to satisfy you.

George picks: Double Black by Wendy Clinch

So, True Confessions time:

I've been skiing once in my life. It was a lot of fun, and I discovered several important things.

1] A sweatshirt and blue jeans work perfectly well as ski attire, unless you have some weird insistence on staying dry.
2] If someone [say, your skiing partner], runs over your hand - with a ski - while trying to help you with your bindings, it hurts. A lot. And then it's really hard to hold your ski poles.
3] You can actually make the chair lift shut down if you take a big enough gainer getting off.
4] Skiing: not so hard. Stopping: slightly more hard. But sitting down works.
5] If there's a trivia contest at the place where you go afterwards to sit and drink and lie about how well you did, you can win a t-shirt. Which comes in handy if you're soaking wet. See: 1].

All of which is to say that I'm probably not the target market for Double Black, Wendy Clinch's terrifically entertaining new Ski Diva mystery. [Oh. Not a girl, too. Another good point.] But Black had me from the first sentence:
"When Stacey Curtis found the dead man on the bed, she knew it was time to get her own apartment."
Stacey is a young [twenty-ish] ski bum who's fled a bad relationship in Boston to ski, work, and live at Spruce Peak, a Vermont resort reminiscent of Killington. The body she finds is that of David Paxton, son of the resort's owner. Before long, she's met the local sheriff [from whom she ends up renting a room], much of the rest of Paxton's family, and a young environmentalist/ski bum named Chip.

Complications, conversations, and winter chases ensue. While Stacie does very little actual detecting in the book [the resolving clues are very much in the "Hey, look what I found" style], the writing and characters are so good they carry the plot through. There are descriptions of various townspeople, local watering holes, and back roads that are clear, precise, and completely engaging, as is Stacey herself. There are descriptions of night skiing - not surprising since Clinch, a Vermonter, is founder of TheSkiDiva.com - that are so lovely they make me want to try it - you know, just as soon as my hand heals up.

Clinch is a wonderful writer [reminiscent of Julia Spencer- Fleming to my ear] and Double Black is completely enjoyable. Take it with you on your next trip up the hill; you never know when the chair lift will stop unexpectedly.

Suzanne picks: Listening Below the Noise by Anne D. LeClaire

In Listening Below the Noise Anne LeClaire writes about finding her spiritual path through a practice of silence. In this meditative book, Anne practices silence for 24 hours every other week. Ebbs and flows mark her journey. She describes the difficulty her family and friends have with this notion and her resolve to continue with her practice manifests in a richer creative experience. Ultimately, after years of practice she confronts and accepts her spirituality.

Set on lower Cape Cod, Anne finds solace in nature to escape the din of civilization. She thoughtfully compares her journey with Mary Lennox' journey in the Secret Garden. Each chapter opens with a simple yet profound photograph by her son, Christopher, from various Cape Cod locations offering a calm sense of place.

The book is a gentle invitation to try this technique to discover the benefits as well as a reminder to continue to seek solitude in nature. Perhaps my laptop's recent demise is a gift of synchronicity for me to pay attention and listen below the noise.

We have a quickly growing event season, starting this month:

Friday, March 19th at 3:30 pm
A Toy Dance Party with EMILY JENKINS!!!

Author of our favorite read alouds Toys Go Out and Toy Dance Party She is also author of several picture books, and many YA novels such as National Book Award Honoree The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau Banks and The Treasure Map of Boys, among others published under the name E. Lockhart.

Saturday, May 1st at 11 am
Leda Schubert

Join us for some finger knitting and a reading by local author LEDA SCHUBERT of her new picture book Feeding the Sheep. Her new book is a whimsical celebration of the rhythm of the seasons and the ritual of sheep shearing.

Saturday, May 29th at 2 pm

SARAH STEWART TAYLOR has until now only been recognized for her adult mystery books.
Her latest book Amelia Earhart: This Broad Ocean is a graphic novelization of Amelia Earhart's triumphant 1928 Atlantic crossing. It is illustrated by Ben Towle and produced by White River Junction's Center For Cartoon Studies.

March 9 7pm Howard Frank Mosher / Walking to Gatlinburg

Beloved Vermont author Howard Frank Mosher returns with a stunning and lyrical Civil War novel, a spellbinding story of survival, wilderness adventure, mystery, and love in the time of war. In a starred review, Kirkus Review calls Walking to Gatlinburg "an expertly written novel . . . in which every word matters." Publisher's Weekly praises the novel as "old-fashioned in the best sense . . . an engrossing tale with mass appeal."

Howard is always a delight to hear and we love when he comes to the store. This time he will be presenting his entertaining and informative slide show/talk, "Transforming History into Fiction: the Story of a Born Liar." In the talk, Mosher discusses how he wrote and researched Walking to Gatlinburg, in which a 17-year-old Vermonter walks from northern New England to the Great Smokies in search of his older brother, gone missing at Gettysburg.

The presentation covers subjects as diverse as the writing and revision process- Mosher revised Walking to Gatlinburg more than 50 times, over a 7-year period - the uses of nature and the natural world in fiction, and transforming real historical events, settings, and characters into invented fiction.

As a bonus, there's a fascinating travelogue of places Mosher visited when he retraced his hero's route south, including the old Erie Canal, the battlefield at Gettysburg, and wilderness areas in the Great Smoky National Park.

March 16 7pm David Carkeet / From Away

Montpelier author David Carkeet's five previous novels have been critically acclaimed and have gained him a cult following. Now, with From Away he has created a masterpiece, a brilliant comic novel set to rival A Confederacy of Dunces. Carl Hiassen says of the novel : "Anyone who doesn't laugh out loud at David Carkeet's writing needs to have their pulse checked. He's a very clever fellow, and this is a deftly funny book."

For many years, David taught linguistics and writing at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. He also directed the MFA program there and edited its literary journal, Natural Bridge. He lives in Middlesex, Vermont.