Hotels of North America

Rick Moody

Little Brown and Company

From the acclaimed Rick Moody, a darkly comic portrait of a man who comes to life in the most unexpected of ways: through his online reviews. Reginald Edward Morse is one of the top reviewers on RateYourLodging.com, where his many reviews reveal more than just details of hotels around the globe--they tell his life story. The puzzle of Reginald's life comes together through reviews that comment upon his motivational speaking career, the dissolution of his marriage, the separation from his beloved daughter, and his devotion to an amour known only as "K." But when Reginald disappears, we are left with the fragments of a life--or at least the life he has carefully constructed--which writer Rick Moody must make sense of. An inventive blurring of the lines between the real and the fabricated, Hotels of North America demonstrates Moody's mastery ability to push the bounds of the novel.

The Big Green Tent

Ludmila Ulitskaya

Farrar, Straus and Giroux

With epic breadth and intimate detail, Ludmila Ulitskaya's remarkable work tells the story of three school friends who meet in Moscow in the 1950s and go on to embody the heroism, folly, compromise, and hope of the Soviet dissident experience. These three boys an orphaned poet; a gifted, fragile pianist; and a budding photographer with a talent for collecting secrets struggle to reach adulthood in a society where their heroes have been censored and exiled. Rich with love stories, intrigue, and a cast of dissenters and spies, The Big Green Tent offers a panoramic survey of life after Stalin and a dramatic investigation into the prospects for individual integrity in a society defined by the KGB. Each of the central characters seeks to transcend an oppressive regime through art, a love of Russian literature, and activism. And each of them ends up face-to-face with a secret police that is highly skilled at fomenting paranoia, division, and self-betrayal. A man and his wife each become collaborators, without the other knowing; an artist is chased into the woods, where he remains in hiding for four years; a researcher is forced to deem a patient insane, damning him to torture in a psychiatric ward. Ludmila Ulitskaya's novel belongs to the tradition of Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, and Pasternak: it is a work consumed with politics, love, and belief and a revelation of life in dark times.

The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto

Mitch Albom

Harper

In Mitch Albom's epic new novel, the voice of Music narrates the tale of its most beloved disciple, Frankie Presto, a Spanish war orphan raised by a blind music teacher. At nine years old, Frankie is sent to America in the bottom of a boat. His only possession is an old guitar and six magical strings. But Frankie's talent is touched by the gods, and it weaves him through the musical landscape of the twentieth century, from classical to jazz to rock and roll. Along the way, Frankie influences many artists: he translates for Django Reinhardt, advises Little Richard, backs up Elvis Presley, and counsels Hank Williams. Frankie elevates to a rock star himself, yet his gift becomes his burden, as he realizes that he can actually affect people's futures: his guitar strings turn blue whenever a life is altered. Overwhelmed by life, loss, and this power, he disappears for years, only to reemerge in a spectacular and mysterious farewell.

Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush

Jon Meacham

Random House

Jon Meacham will discuss Destiny and Power on Wednesday, November 11, 2015 at 7:00 PM

In this brilliant biography, Jon Meacham, the Pulitzer Prize winning author, chronicles the life of George Herbert Walker Bush. Drawing on President Bush's personal diaries, on the diaries of his wife, Barbara, and on extraordinary access to the forty-first president and his family, Meacham paints an intimate and surprising portrait of an intensely private man who led the nation through tumultuous times. From the Oval Office to Camp David, from his study in the private quarters of the White House to Air Force One, from the fall of the Berlin Wall to the first Gulf War to the end of Communism, Destiny and Power charts the thoughts, decisions, and emotions of a modern president who may have been the last of his kind. This is the human story of a man who was, like the nation he led, at once noble and flawed.

Sam Phillips: The Man Who Invented Rock 'n' Roll

Peter Guralnick

Little Brown and Company

The author of the critically acclaimed Elvis Presley biography Last Train to Memphis brings us the life of Sam Phillips, the visionary genius who singlehandedly steered the revolutionary path of Sun Records. The music that he shaped in his tiny Memphis studio with artists as diverse as Elvis Presley, Ike Turner, Howlin' Wolf, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Johnny Cash, introduced a sound that had never been heard before. He brought forth a singular mix of black and white voices passionately proclaiming the vitality of the American vernacular tradition while at the same time declaring, once and for all, a new, "integrated" musical day. With extensive interviews and firsthand personal observations extending over a 25-year period with Phillips, along with wide-ranging interviews with nearly all the legendary Sun Records artists, Peter Guralnick gives us an ardent, unrestrained portrait of an American original as compelling in his own right as Mark Twain, Walt Whitman, or Thomas Edison.

Alone on the Wall

Alex Honnold and David Roberts

W. W. Norton & Company 

Only a few years ago, Alex Honnold was little known beyond a small circle of hardcore climbers. Today, at the age of thirty, he is probably the most famous adventure athlete in the world. In that short time, he has proven his expertise in many styles of climbing and has shattered speed records, pioneered routes, and won awards within each discipline. More spectacularly still, he has pushed the most extreme and dangerous form of climbing far beyond the limits of what anyone thought was possible. Free soloing, Honnold's specialty, is a type of climbing performed without a rope, a partner, or hardware such as pitons, nuts, or cams for aid or protection. The results of climbing this way are breathtaking, but the stakes are ultimate: if you fall, you die. In Alone on the Wall, Honnold recounts the seven most astonishing climbing achievements so far in his meteoric and still-evolving career. He narrates the drama of each climb, along with reflective passages that illuminate the inner workings of his highly perceptive and discerning mind. We share in the jitters and excitements he feels waking in his van (where he lives full time) before a climb; we see him self-criticize in his climbing journal (a veritable bible for students of the sport); and we learn his secrets to managing fear his most enviable talent. Veteran climber and award-winning author David Roberts writes part of each chapter in his own voice, and he calls on other climbers and the sport's storied past to put Alex's tremendous accomplishments in perspective.

Timeless Beauty: Over 100 Tips, Secrets, and Shortcuts to Looking Great

Christie Brinkley

Grand Central Life and Style

In her first book in more than 30 years, supermodel Christie Brinkley shares the secrets she's learned on what to eat, how to apply makeup like a pro, and what to wear to look like a knock out. She has the face and body of a 30-year-old and she just turned 60 From tips on which skincare products really make our skin look younger to which foods cut inflammation to a fitness plan with easy exercises to keep us strong and our waistlines lean, Brinkley draws on her years of experience maintaining her supermodel appearance to help readers look and feel their youthful best. She also offers makeup tips that will make any face look younger, fashion advice on necklines, skirt lengths, and more With never-before-read personal stories, beautiful photographs, hundreds of timesaving tips, plus a good dose of humor, this will be the book that every woman will want to own and share with her friends.

This Is All a Dream We Dreamed: An Oral History of the Grateful Dead

David Gans and Blair Jackson

Flatiron Books

In This Is All a Dream We Dreamed, two of the most well-respected chroniclers of the Dead, Blair Jackson and David Gans, reveal the band's story through the words of its members, their creative collaborators and peers, and a number of diverse fans, stitching together a multitude of voices into a seamless oral tapestry. Capturing the ebullient spirit at the group's core, Jackson and Gans weave together a musical saga that examines the music and subculture that developed into its own economy, touching fans from all walks of life, from penniless hippies to celebrities, and at least one U.S. vice president.

Thirsty Dragon: China's Lust for Bordeaux and the Threat to the World's Best Wines

Suzanne Mustacich

Henry Holt

The wine merchants of Bordeaux and the rising entrepreneurs of China would seem to have little in common Old Europe versus New China, tradition versus disruption, loyalty versus efficiency. And yet these two communities have found their destinies intertwined in the conquest of new markets, as Suzanne Mustacich shows in this provocative account of how China is reshaping the French wine business and how Bordeaux is making its mark on China.  Thirsty Dragon lays bare the untold story of how an influx of Chinese money rescued France's most venerable wine region from economic collapse, and how the result was a series of misunderstandings and crises that threatened the delicate infrastructure of Bordeaux's insular wine trade. The Bordelais and the Chinese do business according to different and often incompatible sets of rules, and Mustacich uncovers the competing agendas and little-known actors who are transforming the economics and culture of Bordeaux, even as its wines are finding new markets and ever higher prices in Shanghai, Beijing, and Hong Kong, with Hong Kong and London traders playing a pivotal role.

The Most Wonderful Thing in the World

Vivian French and Angela Barrett

Candlewick Press

Stunning illustrations enhance a deft retelling of this classic tale of a king, a queen, a princess, legions of suitors, and a treasure hidden in plain sight. Once upon a time, a king and a queen promise to marry their daughter to the young man who can show them the most wonderful thing in the world. Suitors arrive at the palace, one after the other, with elaborate gifts of jewels, inventions, and even mythical beasts, but nothing feels quite right to the overwhelmed majesties. It is only when a shy young man, who isn t a suitor at all, steps forward that the king and queen finally understand what the most wonderful thing in the world actually is. Vivian French's touching fairy tale is made all the more enchanting by the many subtle surprises included in Angela Barrett's exquisite illustrations.