The Learned Owl Book Shop   The Learned Owl Book Shop, June 15, 2014

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Kate's Corner
Lily and Kate
 
Happy Father's Day! When I was in kindergarten I had to do a picture telling why I love my dad. Mine, of course, was "I love my dad because he reads me books." It's no small wonder the love of reading that my parents instilled in me set me on the path that led me to The Learned Owl. I'm thankful for them every day. So here's to all the dads out there, whether they are near or far, we raise our glasses and our books to you! 
 
Thank you for your support, and happy reading!  

- Kate

Meet the authors
 
Thurs., June 19, 7 PM
(at the Hudson Library)

Sat., June 21, 1-3 PM
(at The Learned Owl)

Sun., June 22, 2 PM
(at The Learned Owl)
Our History Book Club will meet to discuss 19th Century Inventors. Read any book on the topic and join us!

Thurs., June 26, 7 PM
(at Zenas, 215 S. Depeyster St., Kent)
Our own Book Club in a Bar meets to discuss The Cuckoo's Calling.

Sat., June 28, 1-3 PM
(at The Learned Owl)
Meet Wendy Webb, author of The Vanishing (a Learned Owl staff pick!).
Quick Links
We recommend: adult fiction

by Susan Jane Gilman
[Grand Central Publishing, $26.00]
Kate says: Susan Jane Gilman has given us an immigrant story like no other. Her main character, Lillian Dunkle, is the business woman that everyone loves to hate, but secretly wishes to be. I can't wait to sell this book!

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Without You Without You by Saskia Sarginson
[Redhook, $15.00]
Linda says: A well-crafted story that speaks to the deep connection that sisters have. Sarginson draws us into the tension of the family after one of them has disappeared into the sea, presumed dead. She helps us to see how each of them is affected by the tragedy, while creating a story of how we learn to relate to one another and, ultimately, find understanding.
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That Night Elizabeth recommends:
That Night by Chevy Stevens
[St. Martin's Press, $25.99; available June 17]
As a teenager, Toni Murphy had a life full of typical adolescent complications: a boyfriend she adored, a younger sister she couldn't relate to, a strained relationship with her parents, and classmates who seemed hell-bent on making her life miserable. Things weren't easy, but Toni could never have predicted how horrific they would become until her younger sister was brutally murdered one summer night. Toni and her boyfriend, Ryan, were convicted of the murder and sent to prison. Now Toni is out on parole and back in her hometown, struggling to adjust to a new life on the outside. But before she can truly move on, she must risk everything to find out what really happened that night.
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New for adults: biography

Tibetan Peach Pie Tibetan Peach Pie: A True Account of an Imaginative Life by Tom Robbins
[Ecco Press, $27.99]
Internationally bestselling novelist and American icon Tom Robbins's long-awaited tale of his wild life and times, both at home and around the globe.
Robbins offers intimate snapshots of Appalachia during the Great Depression, the West Coast during the sixties' psychedelic revolution, international roving before Homeland Security monitored our travels, and New York publishing when it still relied on trees. Written with the big-hearted comedy and mesmerizing linguistic invention for which Robbins is known, Tibetan Peach Pie is an invitation into the private world of a literary legend.
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We have signed copies!
by Frances Mayes
[Crown Publishing Group, $26.00]
A memoir of author Frances Mayes's coming of age in the Deep South, and of the region's powerful influence on her life. Mayes delves into the power of landscape, the idea of home, and the force of a chaotic and loving family.
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Good HuntingGood Hunting: An American Spymaster's Story by Jack Devine
[Sarah Crichton Books, $27.00]
Good Hunting is the spellbinding memoir of Devine's time in the Central Intelligence Agency, where he served for more than thirty years, rising to become the acting deputy director of operations, responsible for all of the CIA's spying operations.
With the historical acumen of Steve Coll's Ghost Wars and gripping scenarios that evoke the novels of John le Carre even as they hew closely to the facts on the ground, Devine offers a master class in spycraft.
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New storybooks
  
by Dominique Roques, illustrated by Alexis Dormal
[First Second, $15.99; June 17]
Anna Banana can't settle down tonight, even though her stuffed animal friends are tired and just want to sleep. They suffer through delay after delay and excuse after excuse, until Anna Banana is finally sleepy. And then... it's time for their revenge! Anna Banana is about to get a taste of her own medicine. Anna Banana is a fantastic character - a lively little girl and a fearsome tyrant to her stuffed animal pals. This is the first of two picture books featuring Anna.
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Dinosaur vs. School Dinosaur vs. School by Bob Shea
[Disney Press, $16.99; available June 17] 
Dinosaur is starting preschool today. ROAR! There are new friends to meet, dress-up outfits to wear, glitter and googly eyes to paste, musical instruments to play, and snacks to eat. What's not to like? But then, oh, no! It's Dinosaur vs. Clean-up Time! Fortunately, when friends work together, EVERYONE WINS!
With all the bright colors, bold lines, and toddler-like exuberance that have made the previous Dinosaur vs. books irresistible, Dinosaur vs. School will both amuse and reassure anyone going off to school for the first time. 
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New for middle-schoolers

 

The Glass SentenceThe Glass Sentence by S. E. Grove 

[Viking Children's Books, $17.99]

She has only seen the world through maps. She had no idea they were so dangerous.
Boston, 1891. Sophia Tims comes from a family of explorers and cartologers who, for generations, have been traveling and mapping the New World - a world changed by the Great Disruption of 1799, when all the continents were flung into different time periods. Eight years ago, her parents left her with her uncle Shadrack, the foremost cartologer in Boston, and went on an urgent mission. They never returned. Life with her brilliant, absent-minded, adored uncle has taught Sophia to take care of herself.
Then Shadrack is kidnapped. And Sophia, who has rarely been outside of Boston, is the only one who can search for him. Together with Theo, a refugee from the West, she travels over rough terrain and uncharted ocean, encounters pirates and traders, and relies on a combination of Shadrack's maps, common sense, and her own slantwise powers of observation. But even as Sophia and Theo try to save Shadrack's life, they are in danger of losing their own.
The Glass Sentence plunges readers into a time and place they will not want to leave, and introduces them to a heroine and hero they will take to their hearts. It is a remarkable debut.

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LootLoot by Jude Watson 

[Scholastic Press, $16.99; available June 24]

Hijinks, heists, and high-octane fun abound in a new adventure from bestselling author Jude Watson.
On a foggy night in Amsterdam, a man falls from a rooftop to the wet pavement below. It's Alfie McQuinn, the notorious cat burglar, and he's dying. As sirens wail in the distance, Alfie manages to get out two last words to his young son, March: "Find jewels."
But March learns that his father is not talking about a stash of loot. He's talking about Jules, the twin sister March never knew he had. No sooner than the two find each other, they're picked up by the police and sent to the world's worst orphanage. It's not prison, but it feels like it.
March and Jules have no intention of staying put. They know their father's business inside and out, and they're tired of being pushed around. Just one good heist, and they'll live the life of riches and freedom most kids only dream about.
Watch out! There are wild kids on the loose and a crime spree coming...

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New for young adults

by Erin McCahan
[Dial Books, $17.99]
Sixteen-year-old Josie lives her life in translation. She speaks High School, College, Friends, Boyfriends, Break-ups, and even the language of Beautiful Girls. But none of these is her native tongue - the only people who speak that are her best friend Stu and her sister Kate. So when Kate gets engaged to an epically insufferable guy, how can Josie see it as anything but the mistake of a lifetime? Kate is determined to bend Josie to her will for the wedding; Josie is determined to break Kate and her fiance up. As battles are waged over secrets and semantics, Josie is forced to examine her feelings for the boyfriend who says he loves her, the sister she loves but doesn't always like, and the best friend who hasn't said a word - at least not in a language Josie understands.
Love and Other Foreign Words is a whip-smart, big-hearted, laugh-out-loud love story about sisters, friends, and what it means to love at all.
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When Mr Dog Bites When Mr. Dog Bites by Brian Conaghan
[Bloomsbury USA, $17.99] 
All Dylan Mint has ever wanted is to keep his Tourette's in check and live life as a "normal" teenager. The swearing, the tics, the howling "dog" that escapes when things are at their worst - nothing about Tourette's makes it easy to meet cute girls or have normal friends (or many friends at all). But a routine hospital visit changes everything: Dylan overhears that he's going to die. In an attempt to claim the life he's always wanted, he decides to grant himself parting wishes, or "Cool Things To Do Before I Cack It." In an intimate portrayal of life with Tourette's, Dylan's journey to come to terms with the disorder that has defined his life and his preconceptions about the world around him is hilarious, painful and, ultimately, utterly masterful.
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Thanks for supporting The Learned Owl Book Shop. Happy reading!