New releases that have been selling well include Longbourn by Jo Baker, touted as the 'very enjoyable downstairs version of Pride and Prejudice- the lives of maids, housekeepers and footmen at the Longbourn estate'. Should interest our Downton Abbey fans out there! We were seeing interest in Charles Belfoure's The Paris Architect before we even got it in stock. Set in 1942 Paris this novel focuses on a man who specialized in building secret hiding spaces in old homes for Jews. Pat Conroy returns to familiar ground with The Death of Santini. Conroy's father was the model for the controlling father in his much earlier novel, The Great Santini. Conroy's portrayal of his father caused a great family rift but in his father's last years an armistice of sorts was reached which is what Conroy chronicles in this hot selling title. Donna Tartt fan's are happily poring over The Goldfinch. Allan Gurganus is getting rave reviews from our locals for Local Souls, a trio of novellas set in Falls, NC, the setting for his Oldest Confederate Living Widow Tells All. Fannie Flagg is back and in fine form with The All Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion (we have signed copies if anyone is interested). Bridget is also back (god, I love Bridget!) in Helen Fielding's Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy.

Delved into The Cartwheel by Jennifer DuBois. The story is set in Buenos Aires and is centered around an American exchange student charged with the murder of her roommate. If it sounds familiar, author DuBois found the seed for her inspiration in the Amanda Knox case still playing out in Italy. It is disturbing but very readable.

Have been having a lot of fun with Va Tech prof Nikki Giovanni's Chasing Utopia: A Hybrid. A mix of essays and poems by a celebrated artist, they have all captivated me whether she is discussing food (which she does often) or throwing out poetry that actually made me laugh out loud. I'll be hand-selling this one a lot this season. Former poet laureate Billy Collin's Aimless Love is another wonderful poetry collection that doesn't take itself too seriously. Thoughts on aging, dining alone and the prayer trend among teenage girls (think OMG!) all delighted me and may have me looking differently at this entire genre.

Some good releases in paper this month: I really enjoyed the variety of narrator's voices in The Twelve Tribes of Hattie (Ayana Mathis); A.M. Homes' May We Be Forgiven has been moving steadily in paper, and southern writer Jill McCorkle's Life After Life should prove a holiday bestseller. Tara Conklin's The House Girl has landed on more than one local reading group list for the upcoming year. Also the long anticipated Dances With Dragons, the latest in the Game of Thrones series, is finally out in paper.

Great winter recommendations for reading groups from Indie booksellers include new paperbacks like Louise Erdrich's acclaimed The Round House, Telegraph Avenue by Michael Chabon, Herman Koch's The Dinner (I loved this one if you remember! Europe's Gone, Girl), Good Kings Bad Kings by Susan Nussbaum, Jon Meacham's Thomas Jefferson: the Art of Power, Wonder- a great YA title that we've recommended here before by R.J. Palacio, and many, many more. This vetted flyer comes out four times a year and quite literally flies off our counters. Great lists like this and more can be found at indiebound.org!

Remember that all books seen here are available at  duckscottage.com  and at 10% off for all Notes to the Pond Readers! Please note that shipping prices quoted on our website are usually much, much higher than actual costs. We are trying to rectify this with a flat rate. Please bear with us.

  

Sorry for the brevity this month, but we've got a lot of events coming up to tell you about (see below) and we are saving a lot of recommendations for next month to help you with Christmas shopping, the Twelve Days of Christmas and all the holiday hoo-ha.

  

  

And as we move towards Thanksgiving, remember to adopt the attitude of gratitude because...