"The buying of more books 
than one can read 
is nothing less than the soul 
reaching toward infinity..." 
~ A. Edward Newton
If there is one thing we know about our customers it is that you love love love book recommendations.  We can't give you enough of them.  You have running lists of what is coming out, what you've already read, which books in a series are missing from your shelves, etc.  Well, we're about to bring you even more book recommendations.  Beginning in a few weeks, you will begin getting another email from us provided by our partners at Shelf Awareness.  For over a decade, booksellers and other book industry professionals have relied on Shelf Awareness to keep us "in the know" when it comes to books.  Everything from movie adaptations to staffing changes at publishing houses is provided in their emails, and our favorite part is the book recommendations.  Now Shelf Awareness offers those recommendations to the public instead of just people in the book industry, and we don't want you to miss out on all of these wonderful ideas!  We're teaming up with them, and you'll start seeing their emails soon.  If you don't like it, or if you're just overwhelmed with too many book-related emails, feel free to unsubscribe when it arrives, but be careful you don't unsubscribe from the McLean and Eakin email!!  It will have a separate "unsubscribe" button.  The original McLean and Eakin email will continue to arrive in your inbox every Monday morning as previously scheduled, and you'll get another email from us on Tuesdays and Fridays that are strictly recommendations.  We're so excited, and we know you are going to love it.  In the same vein of "books and the people who love them" here are some recent books about books that we think will be of interest for you.  Happy reading!
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 Staff   
Picks: 
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At $15.95, that works out to less than 80¢ per print!  You could do a whole wall, use them as wrapping paper, or give them as a gift to your favorite book nerd.  We love 'em.

We all long for something we can honestly pick up, read, and put down again for another day.  This scratches just that itch.  Also a perfect gift for the person who's read everything!

Truman Capote, Stephanie Meyer, Karl Marx - you'll find quite a mix in this one.  Read manuscript excerpts, discussions about the unpublished works and more.  This is reading 201.
Ranging from simply gorgeous to downright ugly, have you ever wondered how many covers have there been for Pride and Prejudice anyway?  You'll have to buy the book to find out!
(*Image property of Copperfield's Books, Inc.)
Gene Luen Yang:

If you aren't lucky enough to be a 3rd, 4th, or 5th grader at Sheridan Elementary, you still have a chance to meet Gene Luen Yang at McLean and Eakin today from 4-5pm.
Gene did an interview with Paste Magazine recently where he listed his top 11 Middle Grade Comic Book Recommendations.  Click here to read the article!  You are not going to want to miss meeting this author!  Click here for full event information.
Fandemonium Friday:

This Friday, we will celebrate the release of 6 new kids books all day long!  Get here early for your pick of stickers, games, door prizes, etc.  One of the big books on the list is Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, illustrated by Jim Kay.  Who's Jim Kay?  Watch the video to get to know him a little better.
Below are the books being published on October 6, that we will be celebrating on October 9.  See you Friday to pick up your copies!!











Mardi Jo Link:

If you want to have an in-depth discussion about a Northern Michigan crime, get in here next week!  Monday, 7-8pm, join the Evening Book Club as they welcome author Mardi Jo Link and discuss her book, When Wicked Takes the Witness Stand: A Tale of Murder and Twisted Deceit in Northern Michigan.  We promise it will make you sleep with the doors locked that night.  The Ethics Book Club description reads: "Join us for a candid and sharp discussion of culture, ethics, philosophy and theology," so please come ready for a thorough examination of the book.  The book club leader, Dean might flog you if you haven't read the book...just fair warning. 
Hemingway and CS Lewis Festivals:

Since 1990, The Michigan Hemingway Society has been focusing on the Michigan influence in Ernest Hemingway's work, especially the Nick Adams Stories. The society holds an annual Hemingway Weekend in Petoskey, MI each Fall which features speakers, readings, exhibits, and tours of northern Michigan sites where the Nobel Prize-winning author spent his boyhood summers. Click here for this year's festival info. and registration.  And don't miss author, Nancy Sindelar signing her new book, Influencing Hemingway, October 17, 2-4pm.  No reservations are needed for this in-store signing.

C.S. Lewis Festival, Inc. is a month long festival that provides an enriching cultural experience for all people that explores the life and work of C.S. Lewis through collaborations by the arts, education, and faith communities. Events including music and theater performances, school and library programs, scholarly lectures, community discussion groups, and more will occur all over Petoskey in October.  The 2015 Opening Weekend will occur between October 22-24. Click here for full details including a free public event at McLean and Eakin on Friday, October 23 with Dr. Joseph Loconte from 2-4pm, signing his book, A Hobbit, A Wardrobe, and a Great War.
Orbiting Jupiter by Gary Schmidt:

Michigan author, Gary Schmidt's latest book, Orbiting Jupiter comes out tomorrow.  Listen to the author's description of the book in the above video, or click here for the starred Kirkus review that called Schmidt's latest, "Readers will not soon forget either Joseph Brook or this spare novel written with love and grace."
Light Box Dreaming:

Get ready to have your mind blown by these paper sculptures from the artist duo Deepti Nair and Harikrishnan Panicker, better known as Hari and Deepti.  The artists create hand cut sculptures that depict thick forests, pools of water, or caves that feel like they could be inhabited by spirits and fantastic creatures!

I wish there was a book that compiled all of these images, or that Hari and Deepti would team up with an author like Ellen Airgood for a picture book.  Hint hint to any publishers reading today!!!  Click here for one of the three articles where you can peruse their work.  They have such a rare and unique way of capturing the imagination, you'll probably get lost for several minutes.
New Picks That Matt Is Mad For:






I am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes

It's not often I have fellow bookseller recommend a "thriller" to me, but for several years I've had bookish brethren recommending I am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes, and boy were they right! Pilgrim is the code name of one of the US intelligence community's best and brightest agents. He is an internal affairs officer for intelligence agencies.  He is a spy of spies and he doesn't exist; his past has been expunged. When he takes an early retirement, all he leaves behind is his definitive book on criminal forensics, a book someone has just used to commit the perfect murder. Meanwhile, an equally mysterious man is planning an attack against America. He has been patient, meticulous and thorough. He has worked totally alone to synthesize a virus for which there is no cure or vaccination. By the time US intelligence gets wind of his plan it may already be too late. Hayes takes us through the murky world of espionage and counterintelligence both pre- and post- 9/11. We learn what it takes to become one of the best agents in the field as well as what it takes to make you want to tear the whole world down.  Like The Hunt for Red October or The Killing Floor,  I Am Pilgrim raises the bar for what a "thriller" can be.  Don't put this one off as long as I did.

Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

Coates's letter to his son is as much a letter of hope as it is a lesson in reality.  Between the World and Me manages to cast brutally honest illumination on the racial tension and labels of the past so that we can attempt to be honest with ourselves about what's going on in the present.  We are a nation that loves it's labels; blue collar & white collar; Baby Boomers & Millennials, but most of all we cling to Black & White.  Coates details how it's these labels that not only help us define "others" but in contrast lets us define ourselves.  The comfort we naturally take in this binary dynamic is understandable, but we are not white, we are Italian, Scadinavian, etc...; we are not Black, we are Somalian, Jamaican, etc.  By defining each other in monolithic archetypes we make it easier to dehumanize and disregard each other.  We are seeing the result of generations accepting these labels, and the cost has become far too great.  The path away from this suffering to a place of respect for all is long and difficult, but a book like this can serve as a guide.  There are many lessons in this slim volume, and I know I will find myself re-reading many times.  
Found on the Shelf:


Does this even need an explanation?  It's exactly what it says it is, and it will probably be the biggest book of our Holiday Season.  Get yours before they're gone.