Staff Reviews and New Releases

Adult Fiction

From Elizabeth S.:  Light in the Ruins by Chris Bohjalian
Beautifully written mystery set in WWII era Italy.  Bohjalian  weaves a tale of a family torn between those who collaborated with the Germans and those who did not.  This is a page turner that manages to wrap a war story, serial killer and interesting romance into one great piece of historical fiction.   List price:  $25.95  Our price:  $20.76

From Karen:  Sisterland by Curtis Sittenfeld
Violet and Daisy Schramm are identical twins born with 'the senses' - a psychic ability to predict the future. While Violet embraces her ability, Daisy suppresses it because she feels like an outcast among her peers. When Violet predicts a major earthquake in their hometown of St. Louis, she becomes a media star and causes panic among residents. Daisy has some doubts about Violet's new found fame and the impending earthquake, which brings into focus her difficult relationship with her sister, as well as struggles in her own marriage. This is a beautifully written book which explores the relationships both within and outside the family.  List price: $27.00  Our price: $21.60

From Elizabeth M.:  Me Before You by Jojo Moyes
It is always fun to discover a new author!  When a customer recommended Me Before You as her favorite book of the year, I was eager to read it.  An interesting cast of characters enrich the story and will hold your attention to the last page.  When the cafe where Louisa works closes, she answers an ad to be a companion for Will, a young man who is a quadriplegic as a result of an accident.  In the beginning, she questions whether she is qualified, but her determination rises to the occasion.  Louisa and Will move from being sparing partners, to friendship and ultimately into a very poignant love affair.  I promise you will laugh out loud and shed a tear or more from sadness.  $16.00

From Elisa:  A Hundred Summers by Beatriz Williams
Every once in a while you need ice cream for dinner, right?  Reading A Hundred Summers is the equivalent to having ice cream for dinner!  I really loved this book. It is admittedly a little sappy and schmaltzy (like whipped cream and hot fudge!) but it is a fantastic beach read for those who love the 1930's.  It begins on Memorial Day 1938, when New York socialite Lily Dane has just returned with her family to the idyllic oceanfront community of Seaview, Rhode Island, expecting another placid summer season among the familiar traditions and friendships that sustained her after heartbreak.  That is, until her college sweet heart and college best friend (who are now married) turn up to vacation at Seaview as well.  Drama ensues, of course, but in layers as the story is told from two different time periods, 1931 and 1938.  This book went down like coffee ice cream on a hot day...smooth and sweet.  Just what you need in a heat wave!  List Price:  $26.95  Our Price:  $21.56

From Vicky:  Whistling Past the Graveyard by Susan Crandall
Many of us at the bookshop can't stop talking about how much we loved this gem of a novel set in 1963 Mississippi. It's the story of 9 year old Starla, a feisty little girl who lives with her grandmother. Starla's mother ran away to Nashville when Starla was 3 and her father works on an oil rig and is rarely home. Feeling unloved and fearing that she will be sent to a boarding school for misbehavior, Starla runs away to find her mother. She soon meets up with a young black woman named Eula, who has just kidnapped a white baby. Starla and Eula begin a journey that will ultimately change both of their lives.  Starla is the narrator of this tale, and we see life in the South during the one very turbulent year of the early Civil Rights movement through her innocent young eyes.  It is a dangerous and confusing world, but it is also filled with people who love and care about each other. This is a wonderful read!

More From Elizabeth S.:  This books rates as my top pick of the year! A coming of age story that touches on the racial issues of the 1960's as well as, if not better than The Help!  This is a story you will want to read and immediately pass on!  List Price:  $24.99  Our Price:  $19.99 
 

    
From Edye:  The Bookstore, by Deborah Meyler  

This is a beautifully written love song to books and those who sell them, New York, and the human heart. Witty, lyrical and smart, the story follows Esme Garland as she makes her way through a pregnancy while in a graduate program at Columbia, her love affair with a man who cannot speak to her heart, and the tiny bookshop that can. The characters shine, as does the city. The books beckon. $16.00  (Available August 6)

  The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith (aka J K Rowling)
After losing his leg to a land mine in Afghanistan, Cormoran Strike is barely scraping by as a private investigator. He is down to one client, and creditors are calling. He has also just broken up with his longtime girlfriend and is living in his office.  Then John Bristow hires him to investigate the death of his sister, the legendary supermodel Lula Landry, known to her friends as the Cuckoo, who fell to her death a few months earlier. The police have ruled her death a suicide, but John refuses to believe that. The case plunges Strike into the world of multimillionaire beauties, rock-star boyfriends, and desperate designers, and it introduces him to every variety of pleasure, enticement, seduction, and delusion known to man.  You may think you know detectives, but you've never met one quite like Strike. You may think you know about the wealthy and famous, but you've never seen them under an investigation like this.
List price: $26.00 Our price: $20.80

The People in the Trees by Hanya Yanagihara
In 1950, a young doctor named Norton Perina signs on with the anthropologist Paul Tallent for an expedition to the remote Micronesian island of Ivu'ivu in search of a rumored lost tribe. They succeed, finding not only that tribe but also a group of forest dwellers they dub "The Dreamers," who turn out to be fantastically long-lived but progressively more senile. Perina suspects the source of their longevity is a hard-to-find turtle.  Unable to resist the possibility of eternal life, he kills one and smuggles some meat back to the States. He scientifically proves his thesis, earning worldwide fame and the Nobel Prize, but he soon discovers that its miraculous property comes at a terrible price. As things quickly spiral out of his control, his own demons take hold, with devastating personal consequences.  List price: $26.95  Our price: $21.56 (Available August 13)

Dear Life by Alice Munro
With her peerless ability to give us the essence of a life in brief but spacious and timeless stories, Alice Munro illumines the moment a life is shaped--the moment a dream, or sex, or perhaps a simple twist of fate turns a person out of his or her accustomed path and into another way of being. Suffused with Munro's clarity of vision and her unparalleled gift for storytelling, these stories (set in the world Munro has made her own: the countryside and towns around Lake Huron) about departures and beginnings, accidents, dangers, and homecomings both virtual and real, paint a vivid and lasting portrait of how strange, dangerous, and extraordinary ordinary lives can be.  $15.95

The English Girl by Daniel Silva
Gabriel Allon, art restorer and sometime Israeli secret agent, is back in this gripping story of a beautiful young British woman who vanishes on the island of Corsica.  Allon is called to investigate the case and is thrust into a game of shadows where nothing is what it seems to be. Silva's work has captured the imagination of millions worldwide. Gabriel Allon, featured in more than 10 of Silva's books, has been called one of the most memorable and compelling characters in contemporary fiction. This captivating new page-turner from the undisputed master of spy fiction is sure to thrill new and old fans alike.
List Price:  $27.99  Our Price:  $22.39

Brewster by Mark Slouka
The year is 1968. The world is changing, and sixteen-year-old Jon Mosher is determined to change with it. Racked by guilt over his older brother's childhood death and stuck in the dead-end town of Brewster, New York, he turns his rage into victories running track. Meanwhile, Ray Cappicciano, a rebel as gifted with his fists as Jon is with his feet, is trying to take care of his baby brother while staying out of the way of his abusive, ex-cop father. When Jon and Ray form a tight friendship, they find in each other everything they lack at home, but it's not until Ray falls in love with beautiful, headstrong Karen Dorsey that the three friends begin to dream of breaking away from Brewster for good. Freedom, however, has its price. As forces beyond their control begin to bear down on them, Jon sets off on the race of his life--a race to redeem his past and save them all. List Price:  $25.95  Our Price:  $20.76

Light of the World by James Lee Burke
Exciting news! Louisiana detective Dave Robicheaux and his longtime friend and partner Clete Purcel are back in this very scary and beautifully written new book!!  Dave and Clete are vacationing with their families in Montana's spectacular Big Sky country when Dave's daughter, Alafair, is nearly killed by an arrow while hiking. Then Clete's daughter, Gretchen, runs afoul of a local cop, with dire consequences.  Alafair thinks she sees convicted sadist and serial killer Asa Surette following her.  Years earlier, Alafair, a lawyer, had interviewed Surette in prison, aiming to prove him guilty of other crimes and eligible for the death penalty. A prison transport van carrying Surette had crashed and he was believed dead, but now Alafair isn't so sure.

Have you read any of James Lee Burke's 23 novels?  He's an award winning writer and a staff favorite.  His writing is almost breathtakingly beautiful at times and we love the characters he creates in his stories.  List Price:  $27.99  Our Price:  $22.39

Adult Non-Fiction

Heads in Beds by Jacob Tomsky
Prepare to be amused, shocked, and amazed as Tomsky reveals the unwritten code of the bellhops, the antics that go on in the valet parking garage, the housekeeping department's dirty little secrets--not to mention the shameless activities of the guests, who are rarely on their best behavior. Learn about what it's like to toil in a highly demanding service industry at the luxury level, where people expect to get what they pay for (and often a whole lot more). Employees are poorly paid and frequently abused by coworkers and guests alike, and maintaining a semblance of sanity is a daily challenge. This book (and a timely proffered twenty-dollar bill) will help you score late checkouts and upgrades, get free stuff galore, and make that pay-per-view charge magically disappear. $15.00

The Telling Room: A Tale of Love, Betrayal, Revenge, and the World's Greatest Piece of Cheese by Michael Paterniti
In the picturesque village of Guzman, Spain, in a cave dug into a hillside, an ancient door leads to a cramped limestone chamber known as "the telling room," where villagers have gathered for centuries to share their stories and secrets--usually accompanied by copious amounts of wine.  It was here, in the summer of 2000, that Michael Paterniti found himself listening to a larger-than-life Spanish cheese maker named Ambrosio Molinos de las Heras as he spun a strange and compelling tale about his cheese. Made from an old family recipe, Ambrosio's cheese was reputed to be among the finest in the world, and was said to hold mystical qualities. Equal parts mystery and memoir, travelogue and history, The Telling Room is an astonishing work of literary nonfiction by very accomplished storyteller. List price: $27.00  Our price: $21.60

On the Noodle Road:  From Beijing to Rome, with Love and Pasta by Jen Lin-Liu
Feasting her way through an Italian honeymoon, Jen Lin-Liu was struck by culinary echoes of the delicacies she ate and cooked back in China, where she'd lived for more than a decade. With her new husband's blessing, she set out to discover the connections, both historical and personal, eating a path through western China and on into Central Asia, Iran, Turkey, and across the Mediterranean.  The journey takes Lin-Liu into private kitchens where headscarves come off as women knead and simmer, confess and confide.  Dumplings in Bejing evolve into "manti "in Turkey--their tiny size the measure of a bride's worth--and end as tortellini in Italy. As she stirs and samples, listening to the women talk about their lives and longings, Lin-Liu gains a new appreciation of her own marriage, learning to savor the sweetness of love freely chosen.  $27.95

Blue Plate Special by Kate Christensen
"In the tradition of M.F.K. Fisher, Laurie Colwin, and Ruth Reichl, Blue Plate Special is a narrative in which food--eating it, cooking it, reflecting on it--becomes the vehicle for unpacking a life. Christensen explores her history of hunger--not just for food but for love and confidence and a sense of belonging--with a profound honesty, starting with her unorthodox childhood in 1960s Berkeley as the daughter of a mercurial legal activist who ruled the house with his fists."  $26.95

Growing Up Gronk:  A Family's Story of Raising champions by the Gronkowski Family
The incredible story of how one family raised three NFL players (including superstar Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski), a professional baseball player, "and" an up-and-coming Division 1 football player, by harnessing the raw talent and strength of this band of determined giants and committing them early on to a carefully calibrated fitness and health regimen.  $25.00

Children's Picture Books

Moby Dick:  A Babylit Ocean Primer by Jennifer Adams

 Moby Dick for infants?  Yes!! This simple board book, which  features characters and lines from the classic story, is a must for every savvy parent's nursery library - especially here in Massachusetts.  Start your little one off with a classic!  Makes a wonderful baby gift! $9.99

by David Ezra Stein
This is one of our new favorite children's picture books!  Clever, silly and wonderfully illustrated, we dare you to try to read this book without laughing out loud!  For newly hatched dinosaur Dinah, the world is so exciting! There is so much to see and do. She tries this -- STOMP! And she tries that -- CHOMP! Then she sees a kiss and knows just what she wants to try next. Who can she kiss? And after a few disastrous attempts, can she figure out how to give someone a kiss without whomping, chomping, or stomping them first?  You'll have to read the story to find out!   $15.99  (Available August 6)

Gus, the Dinosaur Bus by Julia Liu
Gus is a very large, very special green dinosaur--and he makes the perfect city school bus. Or does he? He causes traffic jams, gets tangled in telephone lines, knocks down traffic lights, and creates potholes with his big stomping feet. If the principal fires Gus from school bus duty, how will the thirty-ton dino find a new job? The delightful watercolor and pencil illustrations recall old classics, as does the pleasantly preposterous story of a dinosaur who just wants to be helpful. $12.99

A Year with Marmalade by Alison Reynolds and Heath McKenzie
An adorable kitty helps a young girl understand the nature of friendship in this sweetly uplifting picture book. Set against a beautiful backdrop of the turning seasons, this story of transition reminds us that change, while constant, is not always a bad thing. $15.99



From Elisa:  The Matchbox Diary by Paul Fleischman, Illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline
The Matchbox Diary will tug at your heartstrings.  I love a children's picture book that does not talk down to the listener and can explain history in a way that children can empathize and understand.  Newbery Medalist Fleischman and Ibatoulline tell a breathtaking immigration tale with appeal across generations. When a little girl visits her great-grandfather at his curio-filled home, she chooses an unusual object to learn about: an old cigar box. What she finds inside surprises her: a collection of matchboxes making up her great-grandfather's diary.  Spoiler alert!  My favorite part is how a boy who can't read learns to become a printer and then one day...opens a bookshop!  $16.99

Children's Fiction

From Vicky:  The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp by Kathi Appelt
There are so many reasons to love this book!!  From the moment you read the first page, you are drawn into the wonderuful Southern cadence of Kathi Appelt's brilliant writing.  This is the story of two young raccoons named Bingo and J'miah, who are newly on their own and Official Sugar Man Swamp Scouts, who serve an immense creature called the Sugar Man, who hasn't been seen in decades.  There's also a 12 year old boy named Chap, who wants to protect the swamp and his mother's Paradise Pies Cafe from two wildly nefarious developers.  Oh, and did I mention the rampaging wild hogs?  Beautifully written with lots of humor and a great message of conservation, this book will make an absolutely wonderful read-aloud, too!  Ages 8-12 $16.99

Surprise Attack of Jabba the Puppet by Tom Angleberger
Dark times have fallen on McQuarrie Middle School. Dwight's back--and not a moment too soon, as the gang faces the FunTime Menace: a new educational program designed to raise students' standardized test scores. Instead, it's driving everyone crazy with its obnoxious videos of Professor FunTime and his insidious singing calculator! When Principal Rabbski cancels the students' field trip--along with art, music, and LEGO classes--to make time for FunTime, the students turn to Origami Yoda for help. But some crises are too big for Origami Yoda to handle alone: Form a Rebel Alliance the students must. United, can they defeat the FunTime Menace and cope with a surprise attack from Jabba the Puppett?  Ages 8 - 12.  $12.95  (Available August 6)

Moxie and the Art of Rule Breaking:  A 14-Day Mystery by Erin Dionne
Moxie Fleece knows the rules and follows them -that is, until the day she opens her front door to a mysterious stranger. Suddenly Moxie is involved in Boston's biggest unsolved mystery: the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum art heist. Moxie has two weeks to find the art.  Otherwise, she and the people she loves will be in big-time danger. Ages 10 and up. $16.99

The Life of Ty:  Penguin Problems by Lauren Myracle
Ty is the quintessential dreamer, full of big ideas and wacky plans that only a seven-year-old boy could hatch. Whether it's battling the family cat with a Dustbuster or smuggling a baby penguin out of the aquarium, Ty always has a well-intended, big-hearted scheme. First in a new chapter book series. Ages 7 - 9. $12.99

Paperboy by Vince Vawter
This is a gripping and touching story of an 11-year-old boy who lives in Memphis in 1959.  Baseball is his passion, but he has a terrible problem communicating because he stutters so badly.  When his best friend asks him to take his paper route for a month one summer, the boy knows he'll have to talk with people on the route. So begins a beautiful story of growing up, violence, segregation, friendship across generations and perseverance despite adversity.  This is a great read with lots of action and suspense, and the boy's growing friendship with a solitary man on his route is so moving!  There is information on stuttering at the end of the book by the author, who stutters.  Want to learn more?  Watch this great book trailer:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3H_WxXIIQao  Ages 10 - 13.  $16.99

Fly Guy and the Frankenfly by Tedd Arnold
Buzz dreams about Frankenfly--but Fly Guy is a friend, not a monster!
In the latest installment of the New York Times bestselling Fly Guy series, Buzz and Fly Guy spend a day together playing some spooky games and doing arts and crafts projects. When Buzz goes to bed, Fly Guy stays awake and is "bizzie"! Buzz has a nightmare that a gigantic Frankenfly monster is out to get him! But when he wakes up, all he sees is Fly Guy, who fell asleep making posters showing that he and Buzz are best friends.  The wacky dream scene involving Frankenfly is fun and hilarious, not scary. Buzz awakens to a sweet message of friendship that is nothing to be afraid of.  Ages 4 - 8.  $6.99 

Children's Non-Fiction

The Usborne Travel Activity Book
This lively activity book is packed with things to do during school breaks. There are travel-themed puzzles to solve, things to draw, games to play, facts, stickers and lots, lots more. You'll have lots of fun even if you're not traveling anywhere!  $12.99



Sewing School 2:  Lessons in Machine Sewing by Amie Petronis Plumley and Andria Lisle
For kids who have mastered hand sewing, machine sewing opens up exciting new possibilities! With this guide, kids can make 20 creative projects as they develop their machine sewing skills. Includes plenty of photos and step-by-step text written for kids to understand. Full color.  Ages 8 - 12.  $18.95

I Like to Draw/I like to Write
This double-sided activity book is filled with clever prompts for drawing in one half of the book, and writing in the other. With 128 doodling, storytelling, and other imaginative instructions, this journal provides hours of fun for children, tweens, teens, and kids of all ages.  $14.95


Young Adult 

The Sacrifice by Charlie Higson
The Sacrifice is the fourth in the masterful Enemy Sagas.  Small Sam and The Kid arrive at the Tower of London at the end of The Dead. Though Sam finds safety and friendship at the Tower with Jordan Hordern's crew, he can't settle down. The only thing he wants is to be reunited with his sister, Ella. Despite Ed's protests, Sam and the Kid strike out westward, through the no-go zone.  Meanwhile, Shadowman is tracking Saint George across north London, watching him build up his army. Shadowman knows that Saint George is an extremely dangerous threat, but no one will take his warnings seriously.  Some answers to the questions we've been wondering about--What is the Disease? Where did it come from? Is there a cure?--are addressed by an unexpected source: a diseased adult nicknamed Wormwood who has the ability to speak, though his ravings are difficult to decipher.  Unspeakable horror, edge-of-the-seat suspense, and stomach-churning plot twists,   Ages 13 - 17.  $17.99

 OCD Love Story by Corey Ann Haydu

When Bea meets Beck, she knows instantly that he's her kind of crazy. Sweet, strong, kinda-messed-up Beck understands her like no one else can. He makes her feel almost normal. He makes her feel like she could fall in love again.  Ages 13 and up.  $17.99

  City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
When fifteen-year-old Clary Fray heads out to the Pandemonium Club in New York City, she hardly expects to witness a murder much less a murder committed by three teenagers covered with strange tattoos and brandishing bizarre weapons. Then the body disappears into thin air. It's hard to call the police when the murderers are invisible to everyone else and when there is nothing not even a smear of blood to show that a boy has died. Or was he a boy?  Exotic and gritty, exhilarating and utterly gripping, Cassandra Clare's ferociously entertaining fantasy takes readers on a wild ride that they will never want to end.  Ages 14 and up.  $12.99