• Buy Mom a Green Apple gift card and send her in to Green Apple this Sunday.  Order online and we'll have the gift card waiting here.  Further, we'll pour her a mimosa (on the house, of course), and help her pick out something good to read. (free mimosas from 10am to 1pm on Sunday, May 13 only) 
• If that won't work, let us pick her next few books with our Apple-a-Month subscription (an original paperback novel of our choice sent directly to mom). 3, 6, or 12 months.

OR consider one of these fine books:

• Fifty Shades of Grey, the erotic novel that's all the buzz;
• Wild, our May Book of the Month, for the adventurer mom;
• Taste What You're Missing, for the foodie mom;  
• The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, for the science-loving mom;
• The Book of My Mother, for the mom who loves a good cry;
• Just Kids, for the mom who rocks;
• A Visit From the Goon Squad, for the mom who loves a great novel
• a Paul Madonna/Green Apple tote for the mom who needs something stylish in which to tote her books (or her copy of Fifty Shades of Grey)  

HHhH by Laurent Binet (F,S,&G)

A fascinating novelization of the true-life assassination in Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia of Reinhard Heydrich aka The Blond Beast. In 1942, a Czech and a Slovak expatriate, trained in Britain, parachuted into the country and whacked Heydrich on the street. Hitler's wrath was swift and brutal. Binet injects his own obsession with the daring act, and his fear that his narrative won't be equal to the deed itself, into the narrative. He chases down every detail he can, and the historic figures spring back to life under his able pen. [$12.99 eBook]

The Listeners by Leni Zumas (Tin House)    

This is Leni Zumas's first novel and it is fantastic. This is the story of Quinn, a thirty-something treading water in life and quickly tiring.  Her past haunts her constantly and creates the disappointing reality that her life has become.  Despite the hopelessness we see in Quinn, one cannot help but love her and root for her. It is tragedy, and incredible writing, that drives this story, weaving together the past and present, creating a powerful and emotional novel.

by David Talbot (Free Press)

We all know the terrible things that happened in the Bay Area in the late '60's and '70's: Zebra murders and Zodiac killings, SLA kidnappings and terror, Charlie Manson and Jim Jones, the mayor and a supervisor assassinated in their offices. What really hit home for me reading Season of the Witch is how closely these events came one upon another. This is a fascinating, but ultimately uplifting, story of a crazy time in San Francisco history. [$14.99 eBook]   

Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk by Ben Fountain (Ecco)

My first thought upon finishing Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk was, "Wow!  I love this book, but how am I going to sell it in San Francisco?"  And unless you are able to step outside of your comfort-zone as a reader, I may not be very successful, which is a crying shame.  This book has an energy that I rarely encounter, a voice that sparkles and pops, a plot that is Hollywood worthy, and it just may be the truest portrait of an American War Hero amidst the whirlwind of praise accompanying his "victory tour" home from a battle that only some feel we need to be fighting.

It is also set in Texas, at a Dallas Cowboys football game, but please don't let that dissuade you either.

Ben Fountain has talent in spades, and his blend of humor and pathos is a joy to behold. With Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk he has given us a novel that is so true it can only be called fiction, and a book that is so enjoyable that upon completion, you will find yourself in my unenviable position: trying to get everyone else to read this wonderful tale. --KH [$12.99 eBook]

Waterlife by Rambharos Jha (Tara Books)

 

The art of the book is on display in this slim, handmade volume of silk-screens printed by hand on handmade paper. Waterlife features Mithila art, a form of folk painting from Bihar in eastern India. The colors pop off of the page in this truly one-of-a-kind work of art.

The Extraordinary Education of Nicholas Benedict by Trenton Lee Stewart (Little, Brown)

It was a sad day when I read the last page of The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Prisoner's Dilemma to my kids, knowing that the trilogy had ended. With Mr. Curtain no longer a threat, and Reynie, Kate, Sticky and Constance all being looked after, it looked like things were settled. But wait! What's this? A prequel? Yes! Travel back in time to when Nicholas Benedict was just a narcoleptic orphan, foiling bullies and strange circumstances to solve a mystery that could change his life forever. [$9.99 eBook]

This latest in the blog-into-book phenomenon is a real winner. Folks hold up old photos against the backdrop where it was originally taken, trying to match the picture precisely into its current-day setting, then take a new photo. A short bit of text offers context. Suddenly, long-gone grandparents are back standing on the porch of their house, old pets reappear sleeping in their old familiar spot. It is a sweet reminder of how, as Faulkner famously said, "the past is never dead. It's not even past."