Our neighbors have arrived…and they are busyand ready to meet you!
SHENANIGANS is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner ~ Monday through Saturday. They have a unique menu, a full bar, two TV’s…yet a quiet, cozy atmosphere for conversation. It is nice to have our shared door open again!! Our best wishes go out to Jonathan, Fran and Lenny!!
Our February Marvelous Monday had 34 ladies laughing, creating and finding new friendships…thanks to Chalice Springfield’s “Living Juicy” extravaganza! A repeat of this event will probably happen in the fall…so stay tuned!
Kay Sandmeier-Broderius will be our speaker in March. We already have half of our reservations spoken for…so stop by soon. (READ MORE)
We have unique and fun speakers scheduled for April, May and June…sign-up for any/all!!
(READ MORE)
Sandra Dallas came to An Open Book last August…and it was truly a wonderful, joyful experience…meeting Sandra and listening to her journey as one of Colorado’s best fiction and non-fiction writers. She made us laugh, we learned about her journey from a reporter to an author, and we all felt that we made a new friend.
With the publication of her new novel, Prayers for Sale, Sandra has graciously accepted our invitation to visit with us again.
Once again, it will be an “event” with reservations available for 40. Complimentary refreshments…and all of Sandra’s books will be available that evening. Call now for reservations.
Mark your calendar now for: Friday, April 24th…5 to 7PM. Her new book can be reserved now by calling us (330-7879) or stopping by.
PRAYERS FOR SALE, by Sandra Dallas (4-14-2009)
In her charming new novel, Dallas (The Persian Pickle Club, Tallgrass, etc.) offers up the unconventional friendship between Hennie Comfort, a natural storyteller entering the twilight of her life, and Nit Spindle, a nave young newlywed, forged in the isolated mining town of Middle Swan, Colo., in 1936. When the two meet, Hennie recognizes her younger self in Nit, and she’s immediately struck with a desire to nurture and guide Nit, who is lonely and adrift in her new hometown and her brand-new marriage. As Hennie regales Nit with stories and advice, the two become inseparable and pass several seasons huddled around their quilting with the other women of Middle Swan. Even though Hennie maintains an air of c’est la vie as she unravels her life story, Nit and the reader soon realize there are tragedies and secrets hidden behind Hennie’s tranquil demeanor. This satisfying novel will immediately draw readers into Hennie and Nit’s lives, and the unexpected twists will keep them hooked through to the bittersweet denouement.
Lets us know which one suits you best…all these books received an excellent review in The New York Times Book Review section.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN, by James M. McPherson ($12.95 hardcover)
It is the best concise introduction to Lincoln in print, a must-have volume for anyone interested in American history or in our greatest president.
Best-selling author James M. McPherson follows the son of Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks from his early years in Kentucky, Indiana, and Illinois, to his highly successful law career, his marriage to Mary Todd, and his one term in Congress. We witness his leadership of the Republican anti-slavery movement, his famous debates with Stephen A. Douglas (a long acquaintance
and former rival for the hand of Mary Todd), and his emergence as a candidate for president in 1860. Following Lincoln’s election to the presidency, McPherson describes his masterful role as Commander in Chief during the Civil War, the writing of the Emancipation Proclamation, and his assassination by John Wilkes Booth. The book also discusses his lasting legacy and why he remains a quintessential American hero two hundred years after his birth, while an annotated bibliography permits easy access to
further scholarship.
With his ideal short account of Lincoln, McPherson provides a compelling biography of a man of humble origins who preserved our nation during its greatest catastrophe and ended the scourge of slavery.
IN LINCOLN’S HAND: His Original Manuscripts With Commentary by
Distinguished Americans, edited by Harold Holzer and Joshua Wolf Shenk ($35
hardcover)
On the occasion of the 200th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s birth and in conjunction with the Library of Congress 2009 Bicentennial Exhibition, In Lincoln’s Hand offers an unprecedented look at perhaps our greatest president through vivid images of his handwritten letters, speeches, and even childhood notebooks—many never before made available to the public.
Edited by leading Lincoln scholars Joshua Wolf Shenk and Harold Holzer, this companion volume to the Library of Congress exhibition offers a fresh and intimate perspective on a man whose thoughts and words continue to affect history. To underscore the resonance of Lincoln’s writings on contemporary culture, each manuscript is accompanied by a reflection on Lincoln by a prominent American from the arts, politics, literature, or entertainment, including Toni Morrison, Sam Waterston, Robert Pinsky, Gore Vidal, and presidents Carter, George H.W., and George W. Bush.
While Lincoln’s words are quite well known, the original manuscripts boast a unique power and beauty and provide rare insight into the creative process. In this collection we can see the ebb and flow of Lincoln’s thoughts, emotions, hopes, and doubts. We can see where he paused to dip his pen in the ink or to capture an idea. We can see where he added a word or phrase, and where he crossed out others, searching for the most precise, and concise, expression. In these marks on the page, Lincoln’s character is
available to us with a profound immediacy. From such icons as the Gettysburg Address and the inaugural speeches to seldom-seen but superb rarities, here is the world as Lincoln saw and shaped it in words and images that resound to this very day.
A. LINCOLN: A BIOGRAPHY, by Ronald C. White Jr. ($35 hardcover)
Huntington Library fellow White (The Eloquent President: A Portrait of Lincoln Through His Words, 2005, etc.) offers a lively, comprehensive life of the 16th president.Known variously throughout his career as “Honest Abe,” “Old Abe,” “the Rail-Splitter,” “the original gorilla,” “the dictator,” “the Great Emancipator” and “Father Abraham,” Lincoln referred to himself in famously self-deprecating terms and signed his name simply as “A. Lincoln.” That’s all that was simple, though, about this unusually “shut-mouthed” man, who from youth burned for public distinction. White’s highly readable, picturesque presentation follows Lincoln’s life from the pioneer birth and boyhood to the presidential assassination, with especially good passages on Lincoln’s ancestry, his Springfield law practice and his emergence from the political wilderness in 1858. White doesn’t shy away from Lincoln’s shortcomings—his ferocious ambition, his opportunism, his woeful performance as a husband—but this mostly admiring treatment highlights his virtues, not least his ability to draw on the talents of diverse personalities, use the best of their advice and deftly
manipulate them to advantage, whether as a militia captain, a state legislator, a party organizer a candidate or a president. White’s triumph, though, is his focus on the forging of Lincoln’s moral character—how the private man used contemplation, reading, experience, the press of events and the teachings of his political heroes to clarify his own political identity. Splendidly, and unsurprisingly given his past scholarship, White pays particular attention to language, referencing the innumerable scraps
of paper Lincoln wrote to himself, public and private letters and formal addresses. He graphically depicts Lincoln thinking, first tentatively, and then logically working through the thicket of a problem to a lawyerly understanding and, finally, with his singular combination of “homely and high language,” to an exquisite expression of meaning and purpose.Likely to be frequently cited during the bicentennial celebration of Lincoln’s birth.
Copyright Kirkus 2008 Kirkus
LOOKING FOR LINCOLN: The Making of an American Icon, by Kunhardt, Donald and Goodwin ($50 hardcover)
Honoring the bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln’s birth, a comprehensive, illustrated portrait of America’s sixteenth president examines the myths and controversies surrounding Lincoln’s posthumous image, from 1865 to the 1922 dedication of the Lincoln memorial, drawing on firsthand accounts, family papers, and period archives to reveal the man and his legacy. 100,000 first printing.
Philip B. Kunhardt III is a writer-producer with Kunhardt Productions. Peter W. Kunhardt is executive producer of Kunhardt Productions. Peter W. Kunhardt, Jr. is assistant director of development at the Meserve-Kunhardt Foundation. Along with their father, the late Philip B. Kunhardt, Jr., Philip and Peter are coauthors of Lincoln: An Illustrated Biography. Looking for Lincoln will be the companion volume to a four-hour PBS special of the same name to be aired in the winter of 2009. The Kunhardts are based in Chappaqua, New York.
Between this fall and the bicentennial of Lincoln’s birth in February 2009, publishers will overwhelm bookstores and readers alike with a flood of more than 60 titles on the ever-popular president. One can hardly keep track of them all: one certainly cannot read them all. Of the dozens of these books competing for attention, a few stand out, foremost among them this title.
The trend in Lincoln scholarship has been away from the magisterial narrative comprehensiveness of Carl Sandburg in favor of a narrow, deep dive resulting in the so-called “slice” book: thus entire volumes about one magnificent speech; a key incident; the deepest crisis; the most pivotal year; and so on. A number of these works have merit, but have failed to capture a wide, popular audience.
Abraham Lincoln: A Life is the antithesis of a thin slice from the Lincoln pie. In the sweeping style of Doris Kearns Goodwin’s Team of Rivals, Burlingame has produced the finest Lincoln biography in more than 60 years and one of the two or three best Lincoln books on any subject in a generation.
A distinguished scholar who probably knows more about Abraham Lincoln and his world than anyone else alive, Burlingame has devoted the last quarter century to editing 11 books on the Lincoln primary sources, including the writings of the president’s secretaries John Hay, John Nicolay and William Stoddard. Now Burlingame has produced the most meticulously researched Lincoln biography ever written. He resurrected Lincoln’s lost early journalism, when the young prairie politician—little more than an immature, unscrupulous hack—wrote more than 200 anonymous op-eds; Burlingame scoured thousands of 19th-century newspapers and discovered hitherto unknown stories; he read hundreds of oral histories, unpublished letters, and journals from Lincoln’s contemporaries; and he re-examined the vast manuscript collections at the Library of Congress and National Archives.
Burlingame’s astonishing chapters covering Lincoln’s hard early years and his difficult marriage, and his fresh insights on the profound crisis that made Lincoln great, are worth the price of the book.
Do not let the intimidating length or the formidable price deter you. The book need not be read in one sitting. Each part stands alone. Burlingame’s Lincoln comes alive as the author unfolds vast amounts of new research while breathing new life into familiar stories. This is a critical, skeptical, loving but never fawning tribute to the man Burlingame praises for “achiev[ing] a level of psychological maturity unmatched in the history of American public life.”
This book supplants Sandburg and supersedes all other biographies. Future Lincoln books cannot be written without it, and from no other book can a general reader learn so much about Abraham Lincoln. It is the essential title for the bicentennial. (Nov.)
James L. Swanson is the author of Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln’s Killer. His next book is Chasing Lincoln’s Killer.
THE LINCOLN ANTHOLOGY: Great Writers on His Life and Legacy From 1860to Now, edited by Harold Holzer ($40 hardcover)
The Lincoln Anthology: Great Writers on His Life and Legacy from 1860 to Now would make an astute gift for any Lincoln buff, but it’s a definite keeper for any home library as well. Editor Harold Holzer (whose Lincoln President-Elect was released last fall) gathers more than 100 works composed by writers, historians and politicians, from Lincoln’s time to the present day. The pieces represent all genres—essays, novels, plays, biographies, speeches, magazine articles, poetry and memoirs—and the topical coverage is essentially universal. That includes discussions on Lincoln’s fascination with language, the lost love of his life (Ann Rutledge), his historic debates with Stephen Douglas, his outlook on race and religion, his daily work regimen, and his politics and policies. Men and women of verse are here in force (Robert Lowell, Mark Van Doren, Stephen Vincent Benét, Marianne Moore, Carl Sandburg, etc.), and the general range of contributors throughout is all-encompassing (Emerson, Marx, Hawthorne, Stowe, Ibsen, Melville, Twain, Tolstoy, Wicker, Vidal, Safire, Doctorow et al.). Walt Whitman, perhaps Lincoln’s most ardent literary fan, weighs in with no fewer than nine separate contributions. Arrangement of the entries is chronological, but Lincoln diehards can pick this one up and start reading just about anywhere.
Copyright 2009 BookPage Reviews.
THREE CUPS OF TEA YOUNG READERS EDITION, by Greg Mortenson
A middle-grade adapted version of the New York Times bestseller about humanitarianism and providing Muslim children around the world with an education is enhanced with photos, maps, illustrations, and a special afterword by the author’s daughter who worked with him as an advocate for the Pennies for Peace program. Simultaneous.
LISTEN TO THE WIND, by Greg Morenson
Tells the true story of a man who became lost and delirious after an unsuccessful trek to the top of K2, was saved by the locals of a remote Himalayan village, and kept his vow to return one day to build them a new school as a gesture of sincere appreciation and gratitude for what they did for him in his time of need.
And, as always…the original book, a continued bestseller at our store…
THREE CUPS OF TEA, by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin
Traces how the author, having been rescued and resuscitated by Himalayan villagers after a failed attempt to climb K2, worked to build schools that would particularly benefit the young girls who were forbidden an education by Taliban restrictions, an endeavor for which his life has been repeatedly threatened. Reader’s Guide available. Reprint. 100,000 first printing.
LITTLE BEE, by Chrsi Cleave
The Somerset Maugham Award-winning author of Incendiary presents a tale of a precarious friendship between an illegal Nigerian refugee and a recent widow from suburban London, a story told from the alternating and disparate perspectives of both women. 75,000 first printing.
WE DON’T WANT TO TELL YOU TOO MUCH ABOUT THIS BOOK.
It is a truly special story and we don’t want to spoil it. Nevertheless, you need to know something, so we will just say
this:It is extremely funny, but the African beach scene is horrific. The story starts there, but the book doesn’t.
And it’s what happens afterward that is most important. Once you have read it, you’ll want to tell everyone about it. When
you do, please don’t tell them what happens either. The magic is in how it unfolds.
VERY VALENTINE, by Adriana Trigiani
When a failing custom wedding shoe business in Greenwich Village falls unexpectedly into her lap, apprentice Valentine Roncalli is challenged to bring her family’s old-world craftsmanship into the twenty-first century, an endeavor that is further complicated by personal responsibilities and her budding romance with a chef. 200,000 first printing.
DROOD, by Dan Simmons
On June 9, 1865, while traveling by train to London with his secret mistress, 53-year-old Charles Dickens–at the height of his powers and popularity, the most famous and successful novelist in the world and perhaps in the history of the world–hurtled into a disaster that changed his life forever.
Did Dickens begin living a dark double life after the accident? Were his nightly forays into the worst slums of London and his deepening obsession with corpses, crypts, murder, opium dens, the use of lime pits to dissolve bodies, and a hidden subterranean London mere research . . . or something more terrifying?
Just as he did in The Terror, Dan Simmons draws impeccably from history to create a gloriously engaging and terrifying narrative. Based on the historical details of Charles Dickens’s life and narrated by Wilkie Collins (Dickens’s friend, frequent collaborator, and Salieri-style secret rival), DROOD explores the still-unsolved mysteries of the famous author’s last years and may provide the key to Dickens’s final, unfinished work: The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Chilling, haunting, and utterly original, DROOD is Dan Simmons at his powerful best.
THE ASSOCIATE, by John Grisham
Promising law school graduate Kyle McAvoy harbors a secret that falls into the hands of some unscrupulous characters who blackmail him into taking a job with a prestigious law firm, where he participates in a scheme that can land him in prison or get him killed.
THE HELP, by Kathryn Stockett
Limited and persecuted by racial divides in 1962 Jackson, Mississippi, three women, including an African-American maid, her sassy and chronically unemployed friend, and a recently graduated white woman, team up for a clandestine project against a backdrop of the budding civil rights era. 100,000 first printing.
WHAT I DID FOR LOVE, by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
The Romance Writers of America Favorite Book of the Year Award-winning writer of such works as Natural Born Charmer and Match Me If You Can presents a latest modern fairy tale that pits a hapless heroine against a series of whimsical challenges. 250,000 first printing. When actress Georgie York’s film career hits rock bottom along with her marriage, the paparazzi has a field day with her misfortune, which is only complicated by the reappearance of her sexy, unscrupulous former costar, Bramwell Shepard.
SNARK, by David Denby
A New Yorker film critic and author of American Sucker evaluates the cultural consequences of snide and sarcastic language that has become pervasive in today’s political, entertainment, and other public arenas, in an assessment that cites the importance of developing true wit instead of insult-based forms of communication. 150,000 first printing.
THE LAST STAND OF FOX COMPANY, by Bob Drury
Offers the story of the courageous mission of 234 Marines of Fox Company who found themselves surrounded and greatly outnumbered by 100,000 Chinese soldiers near Chosin Reservoir, the incredible steps they took to fend them off for five nights, and the major losses they suffered in their desperate struggle before finally being relieved.
THE YANKEE YEARS, by, Joe Torre
The former Yankees manager provides a thought-provoking and candid behind-the-scenes study of the Yankees organization, from top to bottom, detailing the challenges of working for a team in which executives and the media question every decision, managing a clubhouse of superstars, and the issues confronting modern baseball. 250,000 first printing.
MULTIPLE BLESSINGS, by Jon Gosselin
Three years after giving birth to twin daughters, Kate and Jon Gosselin became pregnant again–with sextuplets. Kate’s candid and emotionally-charged book chronicles the exhausting challenges she and Jon faced from the time the babies were conceived through the first two years of their lives, and the faith it took to get through each day.
UNCOMMON, FINDING YOUR OWN PATH TO SIGNIFICANCE, by Tony Dungy
Reflecting on what it takes to achieve significance, the Super Bowl-winning coach and best-selling author of Quiet Strength shares lessons he learned from his remarkable parents, his athletic and coaching career, his mentors, and his journey with God.
A LONG TIME COMING, by Evan Thomas
In this book, a compelling narrative by Evan Thomas, Newsweek shares the inside stories from one of the most exciting elections in recent history, illuminating the personalities and events that influenced the outcome, and taking stock of the key players and key issues for the new administration. This will be an absorbing read for anyone interested in American politics.
THE INAUGURAL ADDRESS 2009, by Barack Obama
THE INAUGURATION OF BARACK OBAMA, edited by Mary Hagar
FOOD MATTERS, by Mark Bittman
The “Minimalist” columnist and author of How to Cook Everything outlines an eating plan that is comprised of environmentally responsible choices, in a guide that shares insight into the risks associated with livestock production. 125,000 first printing.
Levittown: Two Families, One Tycoon, and the Fight for Civil Rights in America’s Legendary Suburb, by David Kushner
Describes how the entrepreneurial Levitt family constructed affordable community homes that were only available to white buyers, recounting how the Wechslers, a white Jewish communist family, secretly arranged for a black family to purchase a house next door, an arrangement that resulted in an explosive response and influential integration practices. 40,000 first printing.
THE GAMBLE, by Thomas Ricks
Draws on extensive interviews with top officers in Iraq to document the war as it has unfolded in recent years, placing a focus on the unorthodox strategies of General David Petraeus, from his work with foreign advisors to the ways in which his officers disagreed with key decisions. 250,000 first printing.
WHILE MY SISTER SLEEPS, by Barbara Delinsky
When her sister Robin suffers a massive heart attack that leaves her in a coma from which she may never wake up, Molly Snow and her family struggle to cope with the tragedy as their relationships are put to the ultimate test and Molly is forced to make some tough decisions, as she makes some surprising discoveries about the sister she thought she knew. 200,000 first printing.
HEART AND SOUL, by Maeve Binchy
Given the difficult task of building an underfunded clinic in an Irish community caught between the past and present, Dr. Clara Casey finds her task complicated by two difficult adult daughters, the unwanted attentions of her ex-husband, her colorful and diverse staff, and the demanding, often difficult patients they serve. 350,000 first printing.
ANIMALS MAKE US HUMAN, by Temple Grandin
Drawing on the latest scientific research and her own work with animals, the author discusses the emotional needs of animals and how to fulfill them, challenging common myths about animal emotions, mental stimulation, and emotional well-being.
BORDEAUX, by Paul Torday
Taking an unexpected detour on the way home from work, Wilberforce, a wealthy, self-contained young man, is drawn into an unexpected new world thanks to an encounter with Francis Black, an eccentric and enigmatic wine merchant, who introduces Wilberforce to fine wines, new friends, and his new wife, but he soon discovers that his new life comes at a price.
SING THEM HOME, by Stephanie Kallos
When their mother vanishes in the midst of a tornado in 1978, her three children are forced to deal with the sudden loss in their own ways, but when their father dies decades later and they are reunited, the three must delve into their history in order to come to terms with the tragedy that has always haunted them.
THE SECOND OPINION, by Michael Palmer
Possessing a brilliant mind for medicine in spite of her inability to comprehend the interpersonal conflicts and money-driven dynamics of traditional medicine, Asperger’s patient and doctor Thea Sperelakis is baffled when her siblings refuse care to their hit-and-run victim father, whom Thea gradually realizes was deliberately targeted. 250,000 first printing.
NIGHT AND DAY, by Robert B. Parker
Investigating allegations of lewd conduct on the part of the local junior high principal, police chief Jesse Stone finds efforts to bring the woman to justice thwarted by a high-powered attorney, a case that is further complicated by the activities of a twisted voyeur. 300,000 first printing.
RUN FOR YOUR LIFE, by James Patterson
Investigating a series of brutal killings by an assailant who calls himself the Teacher and targets wealthy and arrogant victims, detective Mike Bennett finds himself racing against time to save New York from a deadly plot, in a case that is further complicated when Mike’s ten children simultaneously contract the flu.
FOOL, by Christopher Moore
In 1288, as King Lear watches his kingdom descend into chaos, the king’s fool, Pocket, and Pocket’s apprentice, Drool, take it upon themselves to restore order amidst the mayhem, and in the process make a surprising discovery about their own heritage.
The author of A Dirty Job, Bloodsucking Fiends, and numerous additional best-sellers applies his satirical wit and offbeat storytelling style to a wacky new adventure set in an inventive universe. 250,000 first printing.
A SLOBBERING LOVE AFFAIR, by Bernard Goldberg
Describes how the media went beyond reporting on the 2008 presidential campaign to actively supporting Barack Obama, discussing how they suppressed the Jeremiah Wright incident, attacked Joe the Plumber, and insulted Sarah Palin.
THE NEXT 100 YEARS, by George Friedman
The founder of one of the world’s leading private intelligence companies offers a thought-provoking analysis of current trends and events, as well as historical and geopolitical patterns, to speculate about the changes that will unfold over the course of the next century. 50,000 first printing.
THE SURVIVORS CLUB, by Ben Sherwood
Draws on stories about survivors of accidents, crime, and serious illness to investigate why some people succumb to life-threatening hardships while others rally, discussing such topics as the science of luck and emergency room probability rates.
GETTING NAKED AGAIN, by Judith Sills
A guide for newly single women from the baby-boomer generation shares practical advice for reentering the dating scene and pursuing intimate relationships, in a resource that is complemented by personal anecdotes. By the author of Excess Baggage.
SOFTCOVER
THE ELEGANCE OF THE HEDGEHOG, by Muriel Barbery
The second novel (but first to be published in the United States) from France-based author Barbery teaches philosophical lessons by shrewdly exposing rich secret lives hidden beneath conventional exteriors. Rnée Michel has been the concierge at an apartment building in Paris for 27 years. Uneducated, widowed, ugly, short and plump, she looks like any other French apartment-house janitor, but Mme Michel is by no means what she seems. A “proletarian autodidact,” she has broad cultural appetites—for the writings of Marx and Kant, the novels of Tolstoy, the films of Ozu and Wenders. She ponders philosophical questions and holds scathing opinions about some of the wealthy tenants of the apartments she maintains, but she
is careful to keep her intelligence concealed, having learned from her sister’s experience the dangers of using her mind in defiance of her class. Similarly, 12-year-old Paloma Josse, daughter of one of the well-connected tenant families, shields her erudition, philosophical inclinations, criticism—and also her dreams of suicide. But when a new Japanese tenant, Kakuro Ozu, moves in, everything changes for both females. He detects their intelligence and invites them into his cultured life. Curious and deeply
fulfilling friendships blossom among the three, offering Paloma and Renée freedom from the mental prisons confining them.With its refined taste and political perspective, this is an elegant, light-spirited and very European adult fable. Kirkus Review
THE FLORIST’S DAUGHTER, by Patricia Hampl
During the long farewell of her mother’s dying, Patricia Hampl revisits her midwestern girlhood.Daughter of a debonair Czech father, whose floral work gave him entrée to St. Paul society, and a distrustful Irishwoman with an uncanny ability to tell a tale,Hampl remained, primarily and passionately, a daughter well into adulthood. She traces the arc of faithfulness and struggle that comes with that role—from the postwar years past the turbulent sixties. At the heart of The Florist’s Daughter is the humble passion of people who struggled out of the Depression into a better chance, not only for themselves but for the common good.Widely recognized as one of our most masterly memoirists, Patricia Hampl has written an extraordinary memoir that is her most intimate, yet most universal, work to date.This transporting work will resonate with readers of Francine du Plessix Gray’s Them: A Memoir of Parents and JeannetteWall’s The Glass Castle.
OLIVE KITTERIDGE, by Elizabeth Strout
At times stern, at other times patient, at times perceptive, at other times in sad denial, Olive Kitteridge, a retired schoolteacher, deplores the changes in her little town of Crosby, Maine, and in the world at large, but she doesn’t always recognize the changes in those around her: a lounge musician haunted by a past romance; a former student who has lost the will to live; Olive’s own adult child, who feels tyrannized by her irrational sensitivities; and her husband, Henry, who finds his loyalty to his marriage both a blessing and a curse.
As the townspeople grapple with their problems, mild and dire, Olive is brought to a deeper understanding of herself and her life–sometimes painfully, but always with ruthless honesty. Olive Kitteridge offers profound insights into the human condition–its conflicts, its tragedies and joys, and the endurance it requires.
PEOPLE OF THE BOOK, by Geraldine Brooks
Offered a coveted job to analyze and conserve a priceless Sarajevo Haggadah, Australian rare-book expert Hanna Heath discovers a series of tiny artifacts in the volume’s ancient binding that reveal its historically significant origins. By the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of March. Reprint.
STILL ALICE, by Lisa Genova
Still Alice is a compelling debut novel about a 50-year-old woman’s sudden descent into early onset Alzheimer’s disease, written by first-time author Lisa Genova, who holds a Ph. D in neuroscience from Harvard University.
Alice Howland, happily married with three grown children and a house on the Cape, is a celebrated Harvard professor at the height of her career when she notices a forgetfulness creeping into her life. As confusion starts to cloud her thinking and her memory begins to fail her, she receives a devastating diagnosis: early onset Alzheimer’s disease. Fiercely independent, Alice struggles to maintain her lifestyle and live in the moment, even as her sense of self is being stripped away. In turns heartbreaking, inspiring and terrifying, Still Alice captures in remarkable detail what’s it’s like to literally lose your mind…
Reminiscent of A Beautiful Mind, Ordinary People and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, Still Alice packs a powerful emotional punch and marks the arrival of a strong new voice in fiction.
THE NATION GUIDE TO THE NATION, by Richard Llingeman
An eclectic reference furnishes a coast-to-coast lifestyle guide aimed at left-of-center shops, cultural institutions, gathering places, and more, including activist groups, eco-friendly products, press watchdogs, liberal media, blogs, restaurants, writers’ colonies, bookstores, art advocacy groups, public policy institutes, think tanks, and more. Original. 40,000 first printing.
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