Karen L

Pre-Order Now Badge
The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club: A Novel By Helen Simonson Cover Image
$29.00
ISBN: 9781984801319
Availability: Coming Soon - Available for Pre-Order Now
Published: The Dial Press - May 7th, 2024

Due out May 7 this year, introduce yourself to the books of Helen Simonson, author of the bestseller, Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand. Her new novel The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club is set post World War I in Great Britain, and no one writes better than Simonson when it comes to the British upper class! Her snappy and snippy dialogue sets the characters apart, giving the reader a visual picture of the ladies and their “catty” comments about those beneath them.
After filling the jobs of men during the war, the women now find themselves jobless as soldiers begin returning from the battlefields. Constance Haverhill, the main character, had been running an upper-class country estate. That job ended when the war ended. Now, without a home, employment, or any prospects for marriage, she must somehow find her way to make a living. Temporarily, she becomes a companion to the elderly Mrs. Fog who is convalescing at a seaside hotel in Hazelbourne-on-Sea. There, Constance meets Poppy Wirrall, the daughter of a baronet. Constance soon becomes included in Poppy’s motorcycle endeavors. Poppy’s handsome brother, Harris, a pilot during the war, has returned from the front, an amputee. Bitter about his disability, he refuses to take part in any activities. From here you can guess how relationships evolve. Not surprises, but just fun to “wait-for-it, wait-for-it…” moments are in store for you.
Always a theme in Simonson’s books is the class division in Great Britain, but, in real history, the decade after WWI also began the rise of the suffragette movement, a major them throughout this very satisfying, page-turning novel.
“Aeroplane” lessons for the women, devious jealousies, motorcycle races, dinner parties and dances - it’s all in here, with just enough suspense to keep the pages turning. For those of you wanting an easy, entertaining read, this one fits the bill!


Staff Pick Badge
Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law By Mary Roach Cover Image
$16.95
ISBN: 9781324036128
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: W. W. Norton & Company - August 30th, 2022

If you haven’t read anything by Mary Roach, then it’s time to get started…that is, if you like to learn and laugh. Roach writes about the most unlikely of subjects. Her earlier books include Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal, and Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers. Surely those titles will entice you!
But, let’s get back to Fuzz, a book the Cottage Book Club recently reviewed. Roach probes the divide between wildlife and human behavior, and who is really to blame when one encroaches on the other. She takes us to India discussing the problems about monkeys and humans; posing the question of, "Who’s to blame when monkeys harass people, often taking food right out of their hands?" She suggests that the problem may have started with the practice of leaving food offerings at temples, not for monkeys, but for the icons that are represented inside. And why are monkeys more plentiful in well-to-do areas? Because the deforestation of monkey habitat has forced them into areas where parks are plentiful and full of trees.
Roach points out that the practice of “translocation” of troublesome animals only leads to the same problem in another area. Killing off creatures that have created problems for humans leads to the over-population of another. From albatross befouling aircraft on Midway Island, to the sunflower fields of the Dakotas marauded by black birds; from white-tailed deer on runways and the gulls in Rome's St. Peter's Square, to rabbits and yellow-eyed penguins in New Zealand and mice in the feedlots of America, Roach shows the good and bad of human conflict with wildlife. The best part is the way she tells the story. 
Example: p.199 (and I am paraphrasing here), “In 2012 …a woman called in to a morning talk-radio program…She’d had three car crashes involving deer…each time happen[ing] near a ‘DEER XING’ sign on a busy road. “Why,” she lamented in the recorded encounter, “are we encouraging deer to cross the road in such a high-traffic areas?” A short silence followed. “You seem to think,” one of the hosts began tentatively, “that deer-crossing signs are telling deer where to cross?” As nicely as possible, he explained that the signs are meant for us…”
Roach tells of the toughness of gulls, the fact that they will eat just about anything. A scientist who reported seeing the remains of a great-crested flycatcher in the gull's excrement. "Although," she added, “having been through the esophageal chute both forward and in reverse, it was more of an okay-crested flycatcher.”
Here's hoping you’ll give Mary Roach’s books a try; learn a few things and best of all, laugh along the way!


The Whalebone Theatre: A Read with Jenna Pick By Joanna Quinn Cover Image
$18.00
ISBN: 9780593467152
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Vintage - July 25th, 2023

Sometimes a quote just says it all, and this one, does exactly that! “Absolute aces...Quinn’s imagination and adventuresome spirit are a pleasure to behold.” --- The New York Times. Having imagined this story after an experience the author had during a theater performance, The Whalebone Theatre has a cast of characters that walk right off the page. Starting with the self-absorbed young stepmother, Rosalind, and her much older husband, Jasper Seagrave, whose parenting skills are non-existent, the story might be called an “historical novel” set between the first World War and during the second. Cristabel, Jasper’s three-year-old daughter at the time of that marriage, is largely ignored by both parents. As a result, this might also be called a “coming-of-age” story, because, as the years go by, Cristabel is able to seek out her own destiny.
As a young girl growing up in a crumbling but upper-class family estate on the Dorset coast of England, she and her step siblings, Flossie and Digby, are free to roam the countryside, until one day, after a violent storm, they discover on the beach, the intact skeleton of a giant whale. Quirky, Bohemian actors, along with their entourage, shortly arrive to perform under the ribs of the whale in the newly constructed theater. Then the military arrives to take over the Dorset estate, and Cristabel and Digby become part of a government spy agent team that is sent into France, (more nail-biting scenes!)
The Whalebone Theater is hard to put down, with the reader wondering what’s going to happen on the next page. Quinn does a great job leading the way to the next adventure with just enough clues to make you hold your breath. Needless-to-say, it’s one title I won’t forget!
P.S. If you’re into this sort of thing, it was also a “Read with Jenna Book Club Pick.”


Solito: A Memoir By Javier Zamora Cover Image
$18.00
ISBN: 9780593498088
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Hogarth - June 6th, 2023

Javier Zamora began his immigrant story when he moved from his home in El Salvador to the United States in 1999. His father had immigrated when Javier was one year-old and his mother followed when he was five. Javier had been left behind with his grandparents because the “coyote” (a man who charges to lead undocumented groups over the borders) would not take children under a certain age. He was just nine years old when what was promised to be a two-week journey turned out to be two harrowing months.
It’s hard not to put oneself into a memoir like this. It’s a universal story, no matter how one personally feels about immigration and our southern border. Everyone can relate to seeking a better life to provide for their families. Javier’s journey is not all “doom and gloom”, but full of the humanity of caring strangers, both on the journey and at the border.
As a reviewer for NPR, Gabino Iglesias (a professor in Austin, Texas) tells us, “As touching as it is sad, as full of hope as it is harrowing, Solito is the kind of narrative that manages to bring a huge debate down to a very personal space."
Zamora has been a Stegner Fellow at Stanford and a Radcliffe Fellow at Harvard and holds fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation.


Fire Weather: A True Story from a Hotter World By John Vaillant Cover Image
$32.50
ISBN: 9781524732851
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Knopf - June 6th, 2023

As if author, John Vaillant’s last non-fiction book, The Tiger was not enough of a chiller, he followed it up with this deeply-moving, nonfiction shocker. As I write this on a ninety-plus-degree September day, in a town known for cool fall weather, with forest land all around us, this nonfiction account of the fire that decimated a city (88,000 people were forced to flee) seems almost too pertinent!
In the first paragraph of his prologue, Vaillant writes, “On a hot afternoon in May of 2016, five miles outside the young petro-city of Fort McMurray, Alberta, a small wildfire flickered and ventilated…” [The conditions] “…would determine what kind of fire this one was going to be: a creeping, ground-level smolder doomed to smother in the heavy dew…or something bigger,…a fire that could turn night into day and day into night…” And it did!
Located in the Northeastern part of Alberta, Fort McMurray is the center of Canada’s oil industry. It is a major supplier of oil to America. The fire, that May of 2016, spread so rapidly and with such intense heat, that it melted vehicles and destroyed neighborhoods in just one afternoon. And yet, the only lives lost were due to an auto accident.
Vaillant relates the experiences of some of the citizens of Fort McMurray, telling about their harrowing flight (in real time). Their stories make you wonder what you would do in those circumstances. Vaillant’s telling is a wake-up call about what the future may bring…or is the future now? This is a very well-told and unforgettable story!


Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers By Jesse Q. Sutanto Cover Image
$17.00
ISBN: 9780593549223
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Berkley - March 14th, 2023

Sometimes a good, fun romp is the best kind of book to spend reading on a hot day in a cool room… and simply enjoy!
Vera Wong owns a tea shop in Chinatown in San Francisco. She is lonely and her only son gives her little joy. Her shop is old and tired and lacking. But, one day, upon coming down her stairs from her living quarters above the shop, she finds a dead man. The mystery starts here, because Vera considers herself a much better detective than the police. In the hand of the deceased is a flash drive, and Vera is pretty sure whomever murdered this man will want it back. And so the fun begins as Vera starts judging everyone who walks in her door.
The cast of characters is vast and quirky. Of course, as Vera becomes attached to all of these likely perpetrators, and as she learns more about the victim, her sympathy for the victim lies elsewhere. She begins to worry that she may have to turn one of these new-found friends over to the police.
Ahhh…but all is not lost! A quick read that keeps you guessing!


The River We Remember: A Novel By William Kent Krueger Cover Image
$28.99
ISBN: 9781982179212
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Atria Books - September 5th, 2023

William Kent Krueger is a favorite author of mine, and I never pass up an opportunity to read whatever he writes. His stories take place mostly in the familiar-to-those-of-us-in-the-midwest Minnesota landscapes.
I am hooked on the “Cork O’Connor” series and hope they never end. But Krueger also writes stand-alone novels. If you like mystery and suspense, DO NOT pass up this book. The River We Remember is his latest and a bit grittier than his others. (
Ordinary Grace and This Tender Land are two others that stand alone.) Taking place not long after World War II, it follows the story of the Quinn family and the gruesome murder of their patriarch, Jimmy Quinn, one of the most hated men in the county. Tasked with solving the murder, sheriff Brody Dern is a man with his own set of secrets and guilt, dutifully setting out to solve the murder, amidst leftover resentments and prejudicial histories of our own country. The cast of characters is plentiful, from Native American War Vets, to teenage boys, and the women in their lives.
This a whale of a tense novel, with Krueger bringing the reader to the climax with a BANG!


Notes on an Execution: An Edgar Award Winner By Danya Kukafka Cover Image
$18.99
ISBN: 9780063052741
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: William Morrow Paperbacks - January 24th, 2023

Right from the beginning, the reader knows that Ansel Packer, a serial killer, is going to be executed. The “Why?” of the execution tracks the life of Ansel and that of his victims, attempting to show us the wrong turns along the way in a desperate life void of emotions or love.
It was Saffy Singh, a future detective, who solved the mystery of the missing girls, having suspected her former foster housemate as she searched for several of their fellow missing female foster housemates. Through time, Saffy never put aside her suspicions of Ansel, keeping track of his movements over a ten-year period. With edge-of-your-seat suspense, the story of Ansel unravels in a way that almost makes the reader feel sorry for him. Almost.
Ansel's mother was seventeen, and had a childhood and married life fraught with abuse, ultimately abandoning Ansel and his younger brother. Upon rescue, the two siblings were separated. In the years that ensued, Ansel thought his brother was dead, only to learn that he lived and had a family of his own. Even as Ansel tried to create his own family, he couldn't escape the tendencies within himself with a marriage that ended tragically. 
Notes On An Execution is a creepy, realistic tale about psychopathic tendencies; about hope, forgiveness, and even retribution. While it is about the desperate story of a psychopath, it is more about the lives of the victims he took along the away. Not a comfortable read, but perhaps an important one.


Staff Pick Badge
The Trackers: A Novel By Charles Frazier Cover Image
$30.00
ISBN: 9780062948083
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Ecco - April 11th, 2023

Set in the 1930s, The Trackers is begging to be on the big screen! As with Cold Mountain, author Charles Frazier has conjured up characters living on the fringe in the midst of the deep depression. From Wyoming to California to Florida, The Trackers offers up a host of unforgettable scenarios.
Thanks to the WPA and his old college art professor, when Valentine (Val) Welch, a young painter from the East, is looking for a job, he is assigned to paint a mural on the wall of a new post office in Dawes, Wyoming. Upon arrival, he is immediately initiated into a culture of brutal persuasion and political scheming.
One said wheeler-dealer, wealthy art enthusiast and former WWI sharp shooter John Long, has offered to host Val while he completes the mural. Long's plots include political ambitions to be the governor of Wyoming, or to be appointed to the U.S. Senate when the current, gravely-ill, Senator dies. To help him attain those ambitions, he has acquired a beautiful young wife, Eve, who is half his age. Eve’s background was hopping trains, singing with roving bands, and “making do”.
Eve has her own agenda, which does not include being a political pawn. That’s where “The Trackers” come in. Mysteriously, Eve leaves her husband, taking along one of his valuable Renoir paintings. Long wants her back and does not want his political ambitions ruined by scandal. He asks Val to track her down and bring her home. He fronts Val the money and sets him up in all the best hotels from California to Florida. Searching for Eve, Val roams through downtrodden Hooverville encampments, meeting the desperate and the schemers.
Of course, there needs to be a villain, and that would be Eve’s former husband, Jake. Neither Jake nor his family, the Orsons, who live in the back waters of Florida, are people you would ever want to meet…not ever!
But the character that steals the show is Faro - an old-school cowboy and John Long’s right-hand man. Frazier’s description …"Under the saddle-tanned skin, his forearms and upper arms and shoulders looked like an anatomy study. Muscle and tendon and veins squirmed and clenched in ropes and knots. His gray face looked grafted onto a younger body." It’s clear from the start that Faro makes decisions quickly, violently, and very persuasively. And yet, the reader will cheer!
If you like great dialog, wonderful description, and just great writing overall, Charles Frazier is worth reading no matter the subject. The Trackers' time period doesn’t seem that unfamiliar today. Two thumbs up!


Staff Pick Badge
The Sentence: A Novel By Louise Erdrich Cover Image
$19.00
ISBN: 9780062671134
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Harper Perennial - September 6th, 2022

What a book! It’s hard to know what will come next from Louise Erdrich! In essence, The Sentence is a ghost story; thematically, a commentary of our times: in the background, the pandemic, Black Lives Matter, George Floyd; and at the forefront is Tookie. Tookie is an Ojibwe woman, working in Birchbark Books in Minneapolis. And, yes, that happens to be the bookstore owned by, who else?- Louise Erdrich. Plus, Erdrich plays a part in the story…clever!
Four years previously, as a favor to a friend, Tookie was arrested for transporting a dead body across state lines. Unfortunately, the body had crack cocaine stashed in its armpits. She got 60 years, but at year ten, her sentence was commuted.
There’s a lot going on in this book - ghosts, deaths, regrets, magic, and lots of humor. When one of their best (and most annoying) customers, Flora, dies while reading from an antique journal, her ghost begins to haunt the store. Books drop off the shelves and footsteps fall loud and clear. Flora had been obsessed with Native American culture, convinced she was Native American in a former life. It seems as though her wish is to take over Tookie’s body, and Tookie is convinced the book that Flora was reading killed her. When Tookie tries to burn the book, it won’t burn. When she takes a hatchet to it, the hatchet just bounces off. In the end, she buries it.
Erdrich never disappoints! I could almost see a twinkle in her eye when she wrote herself into this novel. And yet, the commentary is there, loud and clear. Parts may be a romp, but it’s definitely a darn good read from a Pulitzer Prize winning author who seems to be able to write about almost anything. Two more thumbs up!


Staff Pick Badge
Fox and I: An Uncommon Friendship By Catherine Raven Cover Image
$18.00
ISBN: 9781954118119
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Spiegel & Grau - June 28th, 2022

Sometimes you read a book that you will never forget. Fox and I is still rolling around in my head, and I will always be able to remember its finer details, as well as the author’s name. After reading a review in Time Magazine, I picked up a copy, and sure enough, the review said it all. It’s an enthralling personal memoir/biography about the author and nature. Raven, who received her Ph.D in biology from Montana State University, is a former National Park Ranger at Glacier, Mount Rainier, North Cascades, and Yellowstone. She holds degrees in both zoology and botany. Her writing with its lovely descriptions of plants and animals left me re-reading passages again and again. Raven chose to live in isolation in Montana where, as she describes it “Fox" (her official name for him) showed up every afternoon, seemingly choosing her to be a friend. Just on a notion of engagement, whenever he appeared, she would read out loud from The Little Prince. He didn’t leave. It became a regular routine; so regular that she could track the exact time he stayed (eighteen minutes). But never for a minute does she imply that he understands a word. She is just telling us, in an unsentimental way, that a connection existed.
However, the book isn’t just about foxes. It’s full of descriptions of birds, plant life, bison, and more. And her recounting of a bowman’s arrow and how they are made, may sound dull, but it’s just the kind of information that gets tucked away in your brain, and you say to yourself, “I didn’t know that!”
Fox and I isn’t a warm and fuzzy tale of a wild animal who becomes tame and lives happily ever after. As in wild places, wild things happen… not always the way we humans want them to happen. And this book isn’t a tense, riveting adventure into another world. It’s our world, with all its beauty and ugliness. If you choose to read this book, take your time. Let the nature of it all sink in.


Staff Pick Badge
Iron Lake (20th Anniversary Edition): A Novel (Cork O'Connor Mystery Series #1) By William Kent Krueger Cover Image
$17.99
ISBN: 9781982117504
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Atria Books - June 11th, 2019

I particularly enjoy William Kent Krueger books (and not just this series) because they take place in the familiar territory of the upper Midwest. Main character, Cork O’Connor (click here for the full Cork O'Connor series) is following in the footsteps of his father as the Police Chief in a small northern Minnesota town. You’ll recognize the landscapes as our own. Cork is a good guy with the same foibles and strengths as any average person. Each book in the series is a good mystery with lots of action that makes you want to pick it up and find out what happens in the end!


Staff Pick Badge
In the Bleak Midwinter: A Clare Fergusson and Russ Van Alstyne Mystery (Fergusson/Van Alstyne Mysteries #1) By Julia Spencer-Fleming Cover Image
$19.00
ISBN: 9781250006516
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Minotaur Books - January 3rd, 2012

In the small town of Millers Kill, in upper state New York, a newborn baby is left outside St. Alban’s Episcopal Church in the dead of winter, with instruction to give the baby to a childless couple who are members of the church. Then a body is found in the river just outside of town. Who is the deceased? How did she get in the river? Was the baby hers? Award-winning author, Julia Spencer-Fleming’s first book in the Rev. Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne series (there are nine) is off to the races!  
Rev. Clare Fergusson, a former army helicopter pilot and newly ordained Episcopalian priest has been assigned to St. Alban’s. Russ Van Alstyne is the Chief of Police, is a former military MP, and is married to Linda. When it is determined that the woman found in the river was the mother of the baby and was murdered, the investigation heats up with the realization that whomever left the baby at the church must have known its members. The couple who were named to receive the baby comes under suspicion. It doesn’t do their case any good that they are rather pushy and quite desperate to adopt a child. These and other red herrings dropped along the way make this book a page-turner. The dialog is snappy, sometimes funny, and just revealing enough to keep you hanging on. And then there’s the relationship between Russ and Clare that makes you wonder….after all, Russ is a married man…
Spencer-Fleming has created two believable leading characters, and just like all good series, this reader is going to be reading all of them. So, stay tuned. Oh, and by-the-way, don’t look up Millers Kill, New York…it’s not there.


Staff Pick Badge
The Crossing Places: The First Ruth Galloway Mystery: An Edgar Award Winner (Ruth Galloway Mysteries #1) By Elly Griffiths Cover Image
$18.99
ISBN: 9780547386065
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Mariner Books - September 28th, 2010

Elly Griffiths's Ruth Galloway is an archaeologist in England. There are interesting facts and pretty scary people to contend with. Plus, there’s something about the moors and marshes of England that are just plane spooky. (Click here for the full series of 14.)


Staff Pick Badge
The Murmur of Bees By Sofía Segovia, Simon Bruni (Translator) Cover Image
By Sofía Segovia, Simon Bruni (Translator)
$14.95
ISBN: 9781542040501
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Amazon Crossing - April 16th, 2019

Recently reviewed by the Cottage Book Club, The Murmur of Bees turned out to be a favorite of the twenty-some women who participated. That’s rare in the book club world and a testament to the story, beautifully written by Sofia Segovia and translated from Spanish by Simon Bruni.
Set in Mexico at the onset of the Mexican Revolution in the early 1900s, The Murmur of Bees is a family saga of survival during the agrarian movement in Mexico and the Spanish flu epidemic before 1920. It was a time when accumulation of land was not a stable endeavor for the wealthy. It was a time when unproductive lands were being seized and portioned out to the less fortunate.
The Morales family was landed gentry. They were struggling to keep their land productive so that it would not be seized. Into their lives came an orphaned baby of special needs: Simonopio; a baby boy disfigured by a cleft palate whose mouth appeared as a hole that would not close. In addition, he was covered in bees that would not leave him. It was as though they were his protection, his guardians. Despite all that, the Morales family took him in. As he grew, they began to realize that he was gifted with an unexplainable intuition that the bees seemed to impart. Francisco, head of the Morales household formed a special bond with Simonopio and as the boy grew, put faith in him as one of his own.
Of course there has to be a villain. One of the share-croppers on the Morales estate felt that Simonopio, with his strange appearance, was an instrument of the devil. Not only did Anselmo Espiricueta fear him but was also jealous that the boy was being raised by a wealthy family when his own family was poor and needy. What ensues is an emotional journey from tragic and heart-breaking to uplifting.
With just enough magical realism to be believable, The Murmur of Bees is captivating historical fiction; the story of a boy, a family and a country in the midst of pandemic and change. This is a book of characters that jump off the page, making you cheer and cry all at the same time! One of my favorites of the year!


Staff Pick Badge
The Tiger: A True Story of Vengeance and Survival (Vintage Departures) By John Vaillant Cover Image
$18.00
ISBN: 9780307389046
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Vintage - May 3rd, 2011

One review said, mesmerizing, another said, riveting, and another said, gripping; all are true! The very first paragraph, takes us to the far eastern Primorye Territory of Russia, in the Bikin River Valley, and the scene is set. A man and his dog are heading home through a winter forest so cold, “… if a man spits, it is frozen before it hits the ground.” As they approach his cabin, the dog stops, the hackles on his back standing straight up. They hear a rumble seemingly coming from everywhere. And that’s the last time the man is seen alive.
If that doesn’t get your heart pumping, I don’t know what will! This is a true story from the late 1990s. It’s the story of the Siberian tigers that live there and of the men who share it as home. Yuri Trush is the official squad leader of an Inspection Tiger unit. One of his jobs is to protect this endangered species of cats from poachers and, at the same time, hunt down those that have had run-ins with humans. It’s a wily business. Besides the tigers as inhabitants, the people who live there tend to be impoverished, unemployed, used to living off the land, not afraid of breaking the law, and most often fending for themselves. Get out a world map. Look up the far eastern area of Russia. I would guess few of us know anything about it, but in this book, it plays an important role. The people and their culture are as rough and tough as the land itself. And, the fear of tigers is real because, “tigers [seem] to be able to identify its attacker[s] and hunt them down…even if it takes months.” As one man said, “Tigers think.”
This is the real-life tale of the pursuit of a man-eating tiger, and his allusiveness against all odds. The reader never quite knows whether to root for the tiger or the hunters. The pictures of people and the ones that showcase the immensity of the Siberian tigers give the reader lots of grist to consider. Non-fiction at its best; to learn, to feel reality, to fear, to admire! Two thumbs up! 


Staff Pick Badge
Shackleton By Ranulph Fiennes Cover Image
$32.00
ISBN: 9781643138794
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Pegasus Books - January 4th, 2022

Survival stories are the most riveting when the odds of getting out alive are so slim that it takes almost a miracle to endure. And that was the name of the ship - Endurance. About 25 years ago the Cottage Book Club reviewed Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage, by Alfred Lansing, originally published in 1959 and still in print. The ship, Endurance, has only recently been discovered below the ice at the South Pole, and the story of its captain, Ernest Shackleton has, once again, come to light. Like humans in general, he was a complicated man, and had I not read this latest biography, I never would have known the backdrop of Shackleton’s personal story before he became famous.
As Fiennes relates, Shackleton’s leadership skills were so good that they disguised his total lack of experience for the type of exploring he was about to do. His ambitious dreams of being the first to reach the South Pole brought him into competitive encounters with fellow explorer, Robert Scott, leading to divisions within the Geographic Society in England. Plus, in many cases, the vast sums of money he was required to raise created enemies, shortcuts, and difficulties in paying borrowed money back; all of this, in light of the fact that he had a wife and family to support - a responsibility he was barely able to meet. In all, Shackleton made three trips to the Antarctic despite troubles with certain crew members, weather hardships beyond imaging, and the inadequacies of food and clothing in the early 1900s era. In the end, he paid the ultimate price. He never made it home from his last mission.
Fiennes’ biography brings into focus a man of great determination, of ego and great ambition, a man loyal to his men, a man of courage, but never-the-less, a man of many failures who was unable to reach his final goals. There are lessons to be learned from his failures, which in the end, may not be failures at all. As someone once said, “it’s the journey, not the destination.” He certainly proved that. Fascinating biography!


Staff Pick Badge
Horse: A Novel By Geraldine Brooks Cover Image
$28.00
Email or call for price
ISBN: 9780399562969
Published: Viking - June 14th, 2022

Zowee! What a book this is! The quote from The Boston Globe puts it perfectly, “There’s something bordering on the supernatural about Geraldine Brooks. Sometimes, reading her work, she draws you so thoroughly into another era that you swear she’s actually lived in it.” Brooks connects the past with the present through her characters; characters who walk right off the page into your living room.
The novel begins with a discarded painting that is tossed to the curb by a newly widowed woman. The young man across the street (who happens to be an art historian) sees the woman toss it out and becomes curious. And so begins this historical novel about one of the most truly famous thoroughbred race horses in history: Lexington. Weaving together the mystery of the painting and its artist, joining Civil War era with the present, Brooks’ story intertwines the painter, with the horse, with the black groom who raised him, with the scientist who wanted to study the bones of racehorses for clues to their power and endurance.
The characters build the back story here: Lexington's owners in the mid 1800s, the artist who painted him, the art gallery owner in 1954 who was obsessed with the nineteenth-century painting, the Smithsonian scientist in 2019 studying the actual bones of Lexington, and the art historian who wished to uncover the lost history of Black horsemen responsible for Lexington’s great racing career (in real life, Lexington won 6 out of 7 of his races and came in second in his one losing outing). All of this is like reading a mystery, a reckoning of our racist past and present, of feeling the horrors of war, of coming full circle to where we stand today.
This book will keep you up all night, giving you a window into our past, with edge-of-your seat accounts of horse racing, of escapes from danger and an artful telling of art and science, as well as evil and goodness, success and failure of humankind. If you don’t care much for horses, then read it for the people whom you will meet and the satisfied feeling of having read a well-told story!


Staff Pick Badge
The Anomaly: A Novel By Herv# Le Tellier, Adriana Hunter (Translated by) Cover Image
By Herv# Le Tellier, Adriana Hunter (Translated by)
$16.99
ISBN: 9781635421699
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Other Press - November 23rd, 2021

If you want something really different to read, then this is the book for you. You can’t stop thinking about this book when you’re done! Here’s the “gist” of the plot: a plane flying from Europe to the U.S.A. comes through a horrific storm shortly before landing. When the pilot radios the airport for landing instructions, he is met with silence for several moments before traffic control hesitantly tells the pilot that that plane has already landed. From that point on this story takes the reader on a mind-bending journey to try to make sense of what happened. Not only has the plane landed, but all the same passengers have disembarked and gone about their lives. Sooo, who are the passengers on the other plane that has yet to land?
As you meet the passengers one by one, you begin to wonder “where is the mistake”? Is there an ulterior plot? And after that, you begin to look at yourself…and wonder… if I met “myself” as another flesh and blood person with the same DNA, the same everything, then how could I make sense of my life, and what would I think of myself as a person?!
The premise of this book is so fresh, so thoughtful, so interesting that it’s just one of those books that years from now, you, as the reader, will not be able to forget. So, take the flight and enjoy the bumpy ride!


Staff Pick Badge
Fifty Words for Rain: A GMA Book Club Pick (A Novel) By Asha Lemmie Cover Image
$17.00
ISBN: 9781524746384
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Dutton - June 8th, 2021

From the very beginning, this book was impossible to put down. Sometimes epistolary (letters), sometimes current to the 30’s, 40’s, 50’s and 60’s time period, this fictional account of a privileged Japanese family is riveting! If it was possible to crawl inside a book to protect the character you love, this was the book!
In Japan, Nori is born to the estranged daughter of a well-known Japanese family. She is born out of wedlock to an “unacceptable” father. At an early age, she is sent back to her grandparents to be raised by them. It’s a heart-rending story of child abuse and isolation from the world and, I must say, at times painful to read! But when her half-brother joins the household, her life circumstances begin to change. A world of music and culture begin to enter her life, and her love for her brother becomes almost obsessive. But there are hard times ahead. Her grandmother is a bitter, controlling person who has no intention of allowing the friendship with Nori’s half-brother to continue. Her grandson is her heir, and there is no place in the family for a child born out of wedlock. You have great hopes for the main characters to find solutions to these Japanese family traditions. You just have to get to the end to find out what happens! A warning: you may need another reader to discuss the problematic ending. However, this story about Eastern culture that is mostly hidden from the West is, at the very least, a compelling one worth the time and definitely the enjoyment of a good read!


Staff Pick Badge
Up North in Michigan: A Portrait of Place in Four Seasons By Jerry Dennis Cover Image
$24.95
ISBN: 9780472132973
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN REGIONAL - September 14th, 2021

Whenever there’s a new book by Jerry Dennis, I grab it! There is so much knowledge about nature, always written in such an easy entertaining style. My copy of Up North in Michigan is already dog-eared, with those pages re-read - if for nothing, but holding dear the comfort of the place where I live. No matter where I am, this book will remind me of home. Divided into the four sections of the seasons, each season is introduced by the essence of "The North" as depicted in the art of Glenn Wolff. Each illustration is followed by an essay that hits home to those of us who live here, and which may entice others to come see what we’re all about.
Shared experiences are what made this book a joy to read. It was a reminder of memories and good times. Here are just a few of my very favorite passages:
“How much we see in the world depends, of course, on how willing we are to look.”
“Spring is the most complicated season…It doesn’t spring, it sidles, two steps forward and one back…and you have to wait through another week of cold and snow before is eases forward again.”
“Gulls are universally slandered as flying rats, but it’s hard not to admire a tern for its sleek profile and graceful hinged wings. Gulls stand around like sullen smart-asses with too much time on their hands, but terns are all business.”
And-about Lake Superior: “…the water so cold and crystalline it’s like looking up at the stars at night. When we see the same water and sky that the earliest people saw, the sweep of history carries us along.”
What struck me most, is the way Dennis came to reading. He admits, that as a young student, he wasn’t particularly excited by the classroom. With his knowledge of the natural world, it’s evident that somewhere along the line, self-education carried a lot of weight. If you love nature and the outdoors and have never read Jerry Dennis, this little gem is a good place to start. After that, you’ll want to follow up with each of these! It’s Raining Frogs and Fishes, A Place on the Water, The Living Great Lakes, and The Windward Shore.


Staff Pick Badge
Homeland Elegies: A Novel By Ayad Akhtar Cover Image
$16.99
ISBN: 9780316496414
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Back Bay Books - May 25th, 2021

In these times of great division in our country, along comes a book that sets you back on your heels and forces you to look inward; forces one to consider what it feels like to be “other.” Homeland Elegies is an important book… but only if you are willing to listen, consider, and feel for your fellow man.
Considered a novel, the main character has the same name as the author, and yet, parts of the book appear to be fiction…an interesting format. It’s up to you,
the reader, to sort it out.
The protagonist, Akhtar, is born in the United States to a Muslim Pakistani family. His father is a cardiologist and wants so badly to be considered American; to “belong." The mother is devastatingly homesick for her homeland. Their relationship is complicated. After 9/11 the troubles begin, as racist and anti-Muslim attitudes grow and infect the livelihood and lifestyle of the whole family. In desperation, Aktar takes a crucifix pendant and wears it for several months in hopes of proving his patriotism. But the dream of national belonging eludes them all.
Akhtar, the author and Pulitzer Prize winning playright, exams the contradictions in American policy, the American desire to “make money,” to be
fair, and to be an example of Democracy. If the reader is willing to put aside opinions and consider different points of view-that we are not always right, nor are we always wrong-then this book becomes a worthwhile read. Considered by The New York Times as one of the ten best books of 2020, it’s a book very hard to put down, let alone forget!


Staff Pick Badge
All the Little Live Things By Wallace Stegner Cover Image
$22.00
ISBN: 9780140154412
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Penguin Books - December 1st, 1991

Finding Wallace Stegner is like hitting pay dirt in literary reading. From the time I read Crossing to Safety and Angle of Repose (1972 Pulitzer), I was hooked. I haven’t read all of the dozens of novels he has written, but I know enough that when I pick up one of his books, the writing is going to be exquisite. All the Little Live Things is one of his earlier novels, and some argue that he was still shaping his writing skills. I found it a captivating read. Joe Allston is a retired literary agent. He and his wife, Ruth, are building a home in the country that they hope will bring them peace and tranquility in their retiring years. But, as often happens in life, what we dream for and what we get don’t always match up. Today, we would call Joe a curmudgeon. His opinions about the younger generation stem from the death of their only child and son; a son who could never quite find his place in life. Joe and Ruth become close-knit friends with the younger couple next door, the Catlins, a lovely younger couple who greet life with an open-mindedness that Joe hardly understands or even cares to understand. Marian Catlin is an optimist. And even though she is dealing with her own set of problems, she tries to tease Joe’s pessimism to her point of view. Into their lives comes a young motorcycle hippy who trespasses on their property with the intention of setting up his base. Joe is furious, but with much urging from Ruth, she persuades Joe to allow the young man to use the property with the understanding that he will follow some basic rules. It doesn’t end well.
There is no one better than Stegner to show the reader the interior of someone’s mind and soul. We all know the “Joes” in our own lives. In fact, we know all of these characters.
While I wouldn't call this a “happy read," it is a rewarding book that does have humorous moments, and, as always, beautiful and inciteful descriptions of both humans and nature. As with all well-written books, I won’t forget what this novel is about!


Staff Pick Badge
All Mortal Flesh: A Clare Fergusson and Russ Van Alstyne Mystery (Fergusson/Van Alstyne Mysteries #5) By Julia Spencer-Fleming Cover Image
$18.99
ISBN: 9781250018557
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Minotaur Books - February 19th, 2013

I got hooked on Julia Spencer-Fleming’s Clare Fergusson and Russ Van Alstyne series when The Cottage Book Club reviewed In the Bleak Midwinter. If you are a fan of Louise Penney (and why wouldn’t you be?!), you’ll love these mysteries. I just finished this one, the fifth in the series, and I am already looking forward to #6! (So far, there are nine.) The stories take place in upstate New York in a small town called Millers Kill. Reverand Clare Fergusson is an Episcopalian priest who is also a veteran helicopter pilot. Russ Van Alstyne is the Chief of Police and an Army veteran. The two develop a romantic attachment as the author’s series continues, beginning in book #1 with the murder of Van Alstyne’s wife, Linda. Was Linda killed as revenge against her Chief of Police husband? Was it something to do with her business venture in a new resort complex? Or…was it Van Alstyne himself? And, so, the twisty, plotting mystery unwinds, ending with the most unlikely of culprits.

Spencer-Fleming has the dialog down pat, with enough humor, longing, and smarts to keep the reader guessing. And, yes, a forbidden romantic relationship develops to make the reader wonder how it all will end. If you wish to be a realist, you would think that all the murders taking place in this small town would make it a dangerous place to live. But sometimes the reader has to suspend a degree of believability, and just go with the flow. There are other themes running through the stories including Clare’s often rocky relationship with her parish, the relationships within the police department, and other minor problems that crop up within any small community. All contribute to making these novels just enough true-to-life to keep the reader coming back for more. These are great reads when your brain needs a break, and you just want to sit back and enjoy a good mystery with characters you care about! It’s like saying hello to a good friend.


Staff Pick Badge
Celine: A novel (Vintage Contemporaries) By Peter Heller Cover Image
$18.00
ISBN: 9781101973486
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Vintage - January 2nd, 2018

One of the best books I have read this year and to be added to my “All-Time Favorites” list! I hope Heller continues to write about Celine. There aren’t many women super-heroes who are in their late fifties, who can shoot bottles and cans off a log---“ping!-ping!-ping!,” who can deduce and judge a person’s character at a careful glance, and whose sidekick (her husband) has the faith and dry New England humor to be her alter-ego. I want to be just like them (except without Celine’s breathing problem).
Celine is a PI (she calls her occupation “Cases of Lost Causes”) and an artist. Her investigative skills, along with keen observations and help from her husband, make them a formidable team. Her expertise lies in finding lost persons; in this case, a father who has been missing for twenty-three years. The prologue sets up the mystery and right away, gives you the feeling of a family distraught by the tragedy of a drowning. From there the story merges into the background of Celine with the loss of her own father and the effects it has had on her life.
One day she receives a phone call and takes on a case about a missing National Geographic photographer. Interweaving the story of Celine into the story of the missing photographer begins the process of an adventure which takes them into the wilds of Wyoming and Montana. Here is where Heller excels. You see the scenery, you know the people-from the crude tracker to the nasty “biker boys”. Celine handles it all with spunk and just enough courage and smarts to make it seem real. You want to stand up and cheer! And you will laugh because the subtle humor is wonderful. There is danger and tension, too, as the resolution begins to unravel. Just enough of everything in this story, along with beautiful writing! Couldn’t be more entertaining! Thumbs up! A ten rating!


Staff Pick Badge
Mother May I: A Novel By Joshilyn Jackson Cover Image
$27.99
ISBN: 9780062855343
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: William Morrow - April 6th, 2021

This is all about revenge…and it’s not so sweet! But the book is a page-turner, because it makes you so uncomfortable, you just want to get it over with and hope for the best! Aside from the mystery, and a set-up murder, and a kidnapping, and a love triangle, and entitlement, and creepiness, nothing much is going on in this book. Jackson hooks you from the very beginning, and you just have to find out what the heck is going on!
Bree Cabbat didn’t grow up rich, but because of her marriage, she and her children have all the privileges of the upper crust: private schools for the kids, a beautiful home and a smooth ride through society. Then her infant child is kidnapped and the note left behind says, “GO HOME.”
That’s when the wild ride begins, and leaves the reader wondering, “What would I do in these circumstances if the safety of my child was at stake?” Oh, my! And, yes, at times the reader needs to suspend reality and just go with it. But it’s worth it. There are a cast of characters that you learn to love and hate, or just want to slap, so be ready.
Jackson has the ability to keep the reader coming back for more, just as in Gods in Alabama and Never Have I Ever. So, if you like this one, you may want to read those, too.


Staff Pick Badge
Spying on the South: An Odyssey Across the American Divide By Tony Horwitz Cover Image
$18.00
ISBN: 9781101980309
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Penguin Books - May 12th, 2020

For those of you who like nonfiction and especially history, don’t miss this book. Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Horwitz, lends an eye to the divisions that both harm and enhance our American culture. Having found a book by Frederick Law Olmstead called The Cotton Kingdom, from his long overlooked book collection, Horwitz became curious about the two trips Olmstead took into the south a decade before the Civil War. Olmstead, as many of you may know, was the famed landscape architect who fashioned more than 100 urban landscapes including Central Park in New York City, the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina, the U. S. Capitol and White House grounds, and other major park projects across the nation and Canada. Horowitz wanted to find out how Olmstead perceived the cultural divide more than 160 years ago. What Horowitz learned was that the cultural divide is still very visible today.
Horwitz followed Olmstead’s exact path as best he could, traveling by train, river barge and even horseback (or mule). He met well-to-do and blue collar. He met families and academics. He reported what he saw and what he heard. His journey is not all interviews but includes humorous experiences the author encountered along the way, atop a mule or in the mud. Traveling down the Ohio River on a coal barge, down the Mississippi by paddle boat, into Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana and across the Mississippi into Texas, his encounters give a broad picture of geography, politics, and racial history both past and present. I learned more about this area than was ever taught in our history books. Eye-opening and fascinating.
Sadly, Tony Horwitz died suddenly at age 60 just before the start of his book tour for this title. His other books include Blue Latitudes, and his best seller, Confederates in the Attic. Spying on the South will be one of my most memorable reads!


Staff Pick Badge
Lightning Strike: A Novel (Cork O'Connor Mystery Series #18) By William Kent Krueger Cover Image
$27.00
Email or call for price
ISBN: 9781982128685
Published: Atria Books - August 24th, 2021

From one of my favorite Midwestern authors comes another heart-warming story about coming of age, seeking truth, and solving what you feel is right in your heart.
If you are familiar with the author’s mystery series and his protagonist, Cork O’Connor, Lightning Strike, due out in August, is a book you’ll want to add to your list. Even if you haven’t read this series (and I have not, but will now!), this stand-alone novel grabs you from the very beginning!
Cork O’Connor is a twelve-year-old boy whose father is sheriff in Aurora, Minnesota. When Cork and his friends discover the body of Big John hanging from a tree, it opens up an unexpected journey to find the truth. Was it suicide or was it murder? Exposing the civil divide in Cork’s hometown of the "haves" and the "have nots", he attempts to link the few clues surrounding Big John's death. Of course, in all good mysteries, the clues unfold little by little. As the web draws tighter, so does the danger, and Cork finds himself in the midst of it all. His twelve-year-old curiosity leads him directly into the web.
Like his stand-alone novels, Ordinary Grace and This Tender Land, Krueger has a wonderful knack for writing about children and their dilemmas, their journeys, their solutions; always heart-warming, always!
You are in for a treat if you are new to this author. You will want to read everything he writes! But start with Ordinary Grace first.


Staff Pick Badge
Wunderland: A Novel By Jennifer Cody Epstein Cover Image
$17.00
ISBN: 9780525576914
Availability: Special Order
Published: Ballantine Books - February 25th, 2020

Wunderland has been sitting on my shelf for over a year, which means it is now in paperback! As with all World War II novels, it takes me a while to decide whether or not I want to read them. The atmosphere in Germany during that time in history is hard to wrap my mind around, but the issues in our own country today seem to have a correlation. 
Wunderland is the story of three women: Ava, Renate, and Ilse. Each chapter is devoted to one of the women and takes place in a year of their life. The story moves forward and back and requires the reader to pay attention! Each has a relationship to one-another. Each is searching for something to help make their life understandable. Each has her secrets.
Epstein has put together an incredibly believable story of what it was like for singular individuals to get through a political upheaval of human cruelty and radical beliefs. I should say that though there is little graphic description, the reader’s imagination fills in the blanks.  
All three women were born in Germany in the lead up to WWII in the 1930s. Without spoiling the story, all three are related in one way or another with an element of the overarching mystery that is gradually revealed.  
This story is not all doom and gloom. As the characters mature, we glimpse into their personal stories, their struggles, their loves, and their hates. The dialog has humorous moments and is always real. I would go so far as to recommend this book for teenagers as a means to help them understand, not only past history and its reality, but also to understand how fragile our world can be.
Good writing!


Staff Pick Badge
In the Bleak Midwinter: A Clare Fergusson and Russ Van Alstyne Mystery (Fergusson/Van Alstyne Mysteries #1) By Julia Spencer-Fleming Cover Image
$19.00
ISBN: 9781250006516
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Minotaur Books - January 3rd, 2012

In the small town of Millers Kill, in upper state New York, a newborn baby is left outside St. Alban’s Episcopal Church in the dead of winter, with instruction to give the baby to a childless couple who are members of the church. Then a body is found in the river just outside of town. Who is the deceased? How did she get in the river? Was the baby hers? Award-winning author, Julia Spencer-Fleming’s first book in the Rev. Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne series (there are nine) is off to the races!  
Rev. Clare Fergusson, a former army helicopter pilot and newly ordained Episcopalian priest has been assigned to St. Alban’s. Russ Van Alstyne is the Chief of Police, is a former military MP, and is married to Linda. When it is determined that the woman found in the river was the mother of the baby and was murdered, the investigation heats up with the realization that whomever left the baby at the church must have known its members. The couple who were named to receive the baby comes under suspicion. It doesn’t do their case any good that they are rather pushy and quite desperate to adopt a child. These and other red herrings dropped along the way make this book a page-turner. The dialog is snappy, sometimes funny, and just revealing enough to keep you hanging on. And then there’s the relationship between Russ and Clare that makes you wonder….after all, Russ is a married man…
Spencer-Fleming has created two believable leading characters, and just like all good series, this reader is going to be reading all of them. So, stay tuned. Oh, and by-the-way, don’t look up Millers Kill, New York…it’s not there.


Staff Pick Badge
A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II By Sonia Purnell Cover Image
$18.00
ISBN: 9780735225312
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Penguin Books - March 24th, 2020

If someone dreamed up this story for a movie, most everyone would find it highly improbable: a spy with a wooden leg who was never caught; who, during WW II, helped with prison escapes; who organized sabotage against German troops occupying France; who communicated intelligence briefs for the Allies; who organized French resistance groups; who, escaped across the Pyrenees… on the prosthetic leg during one of that area's worst winters in history.  It seems that only recently are the lives and exploits of previously unknown women beginning to surface 100 years and more since women were legally afforded equal rights.
Would you ever have conceived that an American woman born in 1906 would have become one of the most successful spies for the Allies? Why are we only hearing about this woman now? We can give our thanks to author Sonia Purnell, a British journalist and writer. For more than three years, Purnell dug into files (some only fairly recently declassified) across the globe to find out why Virginia Hall’s name kept popping up in WWII files. Why did a young well-to-do American woman from Baltimore seem to find a higher calling, not only literally fighting in a war, but fighting against discrimination? It’s a remarkable story.
Virginia was rejected by the U.S. State Department for intelligence duty. She ended up in desk jobs for the S.O.E. (Special Operations Executive), a British intelligence service, and was posted in various European locations. While in Turkey, she had a hunting accident that caused gangrene in her leg that was eventually amputated above the knee. But that didn’t stop her. In fact, it drove her determination more than ever to make something of her life. On a chance meeting with a British secret service agent while in Spain, she was referred to the organization in Britain just after the Germans occupied France. The rest of the story, is an amazing account of her exploits in France fighting not only against the Germans, but also against female discrimination within the British service. To the Germans, she became known as that “Limping Lady” spy and was intensely sought after.
The rest is history, as they say. And, yes, Paramount has bought up the movie rights. So look for it down the road.


The Water Dancer: A Novel By Ta-Nehisi Coates Cover Image
$19.00
ISBN: 9780399590610
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: One World - November 17th, 2020

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • OPRAH’S BOOK CLUB PICK • From the National Book Award–winning author of Between the World and Me, a boldly conjured debut novel about a magical gift, a devastating loss, and an underground war for freedom.


Staff Pick Badge
The Bird Way: A New Look at How Birds Talk, Work, Play, Parent, and Think By Jennifer Ackerman Cover Image
$28.00
ISBN: 9780735223011
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Penguin Press - May 5th, 2020

Maybe those two-winged creatures surrounding our daily lives are of no interest to you whatsoever. But, in light of the world around us today, why not fly away to another world? One that is fascinating and, at times, unbelievable. After reading, The Bird Way, you may just stop calling anyone a “bird-brain." Yes, just as the cover of this book says, birds do “talk, work, play,
parent, and think."  And how they do it is quite amazing!
Did you know that birds can sing in duets with one another, that they can imitate one another? You already know that birds can catch fish. But did you know that many have strategies for actually baiting the fish; which is evidence that some birds use problem-solving to secure their food. Birds also like to play. Witness the ravens that do acrobatic tricks in the air, rolling 360,
diving within inches of the ground before swooping out, even sliding down slippery slopes two or three ravens at a time.
Ackerman scours the globe revealing amazing bird varieties such as the greater ani from tropical South America that forms parental cooperatives, helping each other incubate eggs and raising young. Or, the kea called “the Clowns of the Mountains” in Austria. When the author visited the kea aviary there, she was told to “leave everything you can outside the aviary-phone,
watch, earrings, everything.” When she enters the aviary, Ackerman says,” Suddenly, the birds descend on my sneakers and get busy with my shoelaces, tugging at them until both sets are undone and the ends start to unravel.” While across from her, the birds had expertly taken the barrett out of her guide’s hair.
Ackerman has received numerous awards for her writings about science and nature. She entertainingly show us that “no two birds are alike.” The next time you are out walking and hear the birds chattering away, try to remember that they might just be talking about you.


Staff Pick Badge
The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz By Erik Larson Cover Image
$35.00
ISBN: 9780385348713
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Crown - February 25th, 2020

Being in Great Britain during the first years of World War II was a testament to the spirit of survival and the quality of leadership. True to his writing style, Erik Larson has put together another riveting non-fiction narrative. Even though you know the outcome, you just can’t wait for the drama to unfold and reach its positive end!
With great personal tidbits about Winston Churchill, his children - especially Randolph and Mary-about the people surrounding him in his Cabinet (Lord Beaverbrook, “Pug” Ismay, Frederick Lindermann-“the Prof”, Lord Halifax, etc.), Churchill’s personal secretaries and body guards, Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Hopkins, and his adversaries- Göring, Goebbels, and Hitler, …the list goes on and on, all of it enthralling. Having accessed the diaries of many of the people involved with the British government during the time of “the Blitz”, Larson puts together an insider’s view of what it was like to be caught in the middle of unrelenting bombings, just trying to hang on until (hopefully) help arrived. It’s a thrilling account of a terrible time, when the British people were amazingly resilient, and their leaders were “real leaders”! It is hard to fathom what the civilians of war-torn nations go through and even more frightening trying to understand the evils within mankind. Thus, the title is fitting and the story lays it all out, piece-by-piece. If you love non-fiction, even if you don’t love war stories, don’t miss this one for the lessons taught and wishfully/hopefully – lessons learned.


Staff Pick Badge
The Poison Squad: One Chemist's Single-Minded Crusade for Food Safety at the Turn of the Twentieth Century By Deborah Blum Cover Image
$18.00
ISBN: 9780143111122
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Penguin Books - September 24th, 2019

Change is hard. Going against corporate greed is hard. When you know you are right, “keeping the faith” is hard. So, where does the persistence, the courage, the bravery come from to soldier on? If we could dissect the persona of Dr. Harvey Washington Wiley, we might be able to find
out. Dr. Wiley was a chemistry professor from Perdue University in the late 1800’s. He was appointed as the chief chemist of the agriculture department. At the end of the nineteenth century, he and his colleagues began investigating and testing commercially sold food and drink.
Wiley became suspicious of certain health issues and deaths he thought might be related to human consumption. What they found was alarming. In order to enhance the appearance and longevity of some foods, substances such as formaldehyde, salicylic acid and borax were added.
Many of the additives were more plentiful in the food and drink than the actual food itself. There were no regulations. There was no labeling of content. It was profit before health. And there were definitely health issues. And, so, the testing began with a group of men who volunteered to
consume questionable foods. This group became known as “The Poison Squad”. It was a thirty-year fight but in the end the FDA was finally established in 1931.
And the fight goes on -the common good or the very few? Fascinating reading!


Staff Pick Badge
Little Faith: A Novel By Nickolas Butler Cover Image
$19.99
ISBN: 9780062469724
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Ecco - October 29th, 2019

It’s tricky to talk about religion and politics.  One has to approach from neutral territory and just listen.  That’s all. Just listen. Little Faith is one big-hearted, warm, thoughtful, sad and even, sometimes, funny story about a devoted grandfather to his grandson and to his daughter, and to his wife, and to his friends.  He’s a good man struggling to understand his own feelings about Faith and God.  
Lyle and Peg lost their son in infancy; and that grief has never left them.  When the opportunity came to adopt a little girl, they did.  Shiloh became the center of their life and joy.  She wasn’t an easy child, but they loved her and continued to love her even when she came under the influence of a charlatan self- prescribed preacher. Lyle has always doted on his grandson, Isaac, and for some time, Isaac and Shiloh lived with he and Peg.  But that all changed when preacher, Steven, came into their lives.  
The division among them arose when Isaac became seriously ill.  Was it prayer that would heal him or was it medicine?  And so, the conflict began, with one accusing the other for Isaac’s illness.
The power of Faith, the power of Prayer, the power of Love, where does it all intersect and how does it fit together?  Little Faith is a powerful book, beautifully written and thoughtfully presented.  It’s heart-breaking.  It makes you angry, and, yes, sometimes even laugh.  It’s the kind of book that sits with you a long time.  
In thinking about this book, about this author, it struck me that some of my most favorite books are written by Midwestern authors Peter Geye (Minnesota), Leif Enger (Minnesota), Willa Cather (born in Virginia but raised in Nebraska), Aldo Leopold (Wisconsin), Jim Harrison (Michigan) and now, Nickolas Butler (born in Pennsylvania but raised in Wisconsin).  I think it’s because a lot of the background is so familiar.  It’s as though the setting is part of the character.  There’s a certain “something” about us Midwesterners and it shines through the words of these authors’ books. Check them out.


Akin By Emma Donoghue Cover Image
$16.99
ISBN: 9780316491969
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Back Bay Books - July 7th, 2020

This "soul stirring" novel by the New York Times bestselling author of Room (O Magazine) is one of the New York Post's best books of the year.


Staff Pick Badge
The Best Cook in the World: Tales from My Momma's Southern Table: A Memoir and Cookbook By Rick Bragg Cover Image
$18.00
ISBN: 9781400032693
Availability: Special Order
Published: Vintage - April 2nd, 2019

You would be hard-pressed to find a book by Rick Bragg that wasn’t entertaining! My first introduction was All Over but the Shoutin' about growing up in rural Alabama. It’s still one of my all-time favorites! But, The Best Cook in the World is not far behind.
Bragg’s nonfiction writing is full of beautiful descriptive sentences about time, place and people; mostly people from the deep South, and mostly described as “poor whites.”  In The Best Cook in the World, Bragg tells tales surrounding his mother’s life and her off-the-cuff cooking.
When you’re poor, you make due with what you have, and his mother certainly did that. The love of his mother, of the rural South, its traditions and people come shining through. There are times when the reader will laugh out-loud or feel the consequences of being truly poor, but also, truly good.  If you plan to start a diet or if you are watching your cholesterol, you probably won’t want to try his mother’s recipes that are included. But, be sure to read them. If you don’t smile after reading the ingredients and cooking instructions, then this book is not for you. 

Even Bragg’s own life is worth a story. From an early age, he had a love of reading, but not necessarily a love of schooling. Bragg never graduated from college, but has taught in several.  His talents have garnered him many accolades, including a Pulitzer. If you love humor, beautiful writing, learning about cultures, and taking a break from politics, Bragg is the perfect solution!  You are in for a treat!  Happy New Year!


Running with Sherman: How a Rescue Donkey Inspired a Rag-tag Gang of Runners to Enter the Craziest Race in America By Christopher McDougall Cover Image
$19.00
ISBN: 9780525433255
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Vintage - July 28th, 2020

From the bestselling author of Born to Run, a heartwarming story about training a rescue donkey to run one of the most challenging races in America, and, in the process, discovering the life-changing power of the human-animal connection.


Dear Edward: A Novel By Ann Napolitano Cover Image
$18.00
ISBN: 9781984854803
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Dial Press Trade Paperback - February 2nd, 2021

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • READ WITH JENNA BOOK CLUB PICK AS FEATURED ON TODAY • “Make sure you have tissues handy when you read [this] sure-footed tearjerker” (NPR) about a young boy who must learn to go on after surviving tragedy, from the author of the Oprah’s Book Club pick Hello Beautiful.


Staff Pick Badge
The Overstory: A Novel By Richard Powers Cover Image
$18.95
ISBN: 9780393356687
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: W. W. Norton & Company - April 2nd, 2019

If you are “in” for a challenge…for a 500 page book, for a thought-provoking read, for great writing, for quirky characters (including and most particularly-trees), then this novel is for you.  There’s more information packed into this book about the world around us than a single brain can absorb in one sitting. It’s the 2019 Pulitzer Prize Winner for fiction and it’s a “mind-bender!"
Author, Richard Powers weaves his story around the health of this planet by introducing nine human characters in the first part of the book: Nick the artist; MiMi, the engineer; Adam, the psychologist researcher; Ray and Dorothy, the married couple; Douglas, the Vietnam Vet; Neelay, the computer game inventor genius; Patricia, the scientist; and Olivia, the college dropout.
You meet each of them, one by one as the author gradually brings them together through their own connection with trees. There is violence, there are moral issues and there is a fascinating journey into the natural habitat of a species that has more to its own life than we ever imagined…except maybe Tolkien! Richard Powers finds ways to make the reader really care about these species that we see everyday of our lives. When we observe them as “just a thing,” he tells us that they communicate, that they protect each other, that they protect us. And he tells us how.
Overstory is a powerful tale about man vs. nature, how we fight to preserve it, how we fight to destroy it. But the author makes one thing clear - when all the trees are gone, humans won’t be far behind.  However…Earth will simply endure over the millions of years and slowly regenerate itself, just as it has done millions of years in the past. Whether you believe in climate change or any other environmental concerns, you can make up your own mind about the issues that Overstory so succinctly presents. A tough read but worth it!


Staff Pick Badge
Fly Girls: How Five Daring Women Defied All Odds and Made Aviation History By Keith O'Brien Cover Image
$18.99
ISBN: 9781328592798
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Mariner Books - March 5th, 2019

We all know Amelia Earhart, but have you ever heard of Florence Klingensmith, or Ruth Elder, or Ruth Nichols, or Louise Thaden?  Neither had I! And if you haven't read West with the Night or Circling the Sun, you should so you will be familiar with Beryl Markham. All of these women were pilots who fought and won respect, as some of the earliest women aviators.
After Charles Lindberg made the first solo trans-Atlantic flight in 1927, aviation captured the imagination of the American public, including a handful of women who became famous in their own right. Often ridiculed for their daring, they banded together to push against the entrenched prejudice that women were to fragile mentally and physically to attempt mastering flying machines.
Florence Klingensmith was a high school dropout from Fargo, North Dakota; Ruth Elder, an Alabama divorcée; Amelia Earhart, the most famous, but not necessarily the most skilled; Ruth Nichols, who chafed at her blue blood family’s expectations; and Louise Thaden, the young mother of two who got her start selling coal in Wichita.
In the 20’s and 30’s, the popular sport of airplane racing coast to coast or around pylons set up in a field, fueled the imagination of the public. It was dangerous and demanding of courage and steady nerves. Crashes and deaths occurred. At first, only men were allowed to enter these competitions, but the women wanted to be included. As their expertise grew, this group of aviatrix were determined to be accepted, and by the mid 30’s, they were allowed into some races.  And in 1936, one of them triumphed over the men.

Fly Girls is a fascinating history of the early 1900s when women were seeking the right to vote and were pushing to be accepted into American culture as equals. It makes one grateful for those who came before paving the way toward that equality.


Go Ask Fannie By Elisabeth Hyde Cover Image
$16.00
ISBN: 9780735218611
Availability: Special Order
Published: G.P. Putnam's Sons - April 2nd, 2019

"With all the feels of a This Is Us episode, Hyde's latest novel will delight readers" (Booklist). Three adult siblings. Three days with their father. What could go wrong?


Say Say Say: A novel By Lila Savage Cover Image
$16.00
ISBN: 9780525565529
Availability: Special Order
Published: Vintage - June 16th, 2020

One of the The Wall Street Journal's 10 Best Fiction Books of 2019 

"A gem of a book . . . lyrical, tender, and profoundly insightful."--Abraham Verghese, author of Cutting for Stone


Staff Pick Badge
The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper By Phaedra Patrick Cover Image
$16.99
Email or call for price
ISBN: 9780778319801
Published: Mira Books - January 31st, 2017

Arthur Pepper has been widowed and "lost" since the death of his wife a year earlier.  When he finally brings himself to sort through her personal belongings, he finds something unusual stuffed in one of her shoes; so unusual for Miriam to have hidden it from him.  I can't really tell you what it is, because you need to find out for yourself.  But, let's just say that this "something" leads him on the journey of a lifetime.  And like any good journey, it's not the geography that counts.  This is an inner journey as well as a physical one.  The twists and turns are amazing discoveries to Arthur who thought he knew everything there was to know about his wife. Some of his travels are a bit of a stretch which makes it all the more fun. 
If you can find a quiet moment at this time of year, The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper is a fun and quick read to enjoy.  No literary effort required. 


Staff Pick Badge
Short Nights Of The Shadow Catcher: The Epic Life and Immortal Photographs of Edward Curtis By Timothy Egan Cover Image
$18.99
ISBN: 9780544102767
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Mariner Books - August 6th, 2013

History buffs, this one's for you; a must read! After finishing Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher, one can only sit back and try to imagine the life of this extraordinary man!  These are things our history books could never convey.  Born in 1868 in Whitewater, Wisconsin, Edward Curtis dropped out of school in the 6th grade and then went on to become one of the most famous recognized portrait photographers of his day.  And yet, nowhere that I can recall, had I ever learned of him; his life story seemingly having faded away...until now, thanks to Timothy Egan (author of The Worst Hard Time). Curtis's
swashbuckling image hardly matched the feats he left us in the annuals of the history of this nation.  High words, I know, but an amazing story when you see the comparative ease in which photographs are taken today.
Curtis built up a portrait photography business in Seattle, Washington, having migrated to the area with his father.  His life took a fortuitous turn when on a photographic expedition on Mt. Rainier, he helped
rescue a party of lost scientists who included George Bird Grinnell founder of the Audubon Society and C.H. Merriam, one of the original founders of the National Geographic Society.  With the beginnings from those connections, his portrait studio launched him into taking some of the most iconic pictures of the rich & famous including Theodore Roosevelt and J.P. Morgan.  But it was the picture of Chief Seattle's daughter, Princess Angeline and trips to Indian Reservations
with Grinnell that gave him his "Great Idea": "to capture on film the continent's original inhabitants before the old ways disappeared."  That feat would have been incredible on its own, but along with the photographs, he chronicled and audibly recorded Indian languages and ceremonies as well.  Just imagine hauling all that equipment, glass slides, audio recorders, food, camping materials...on horseback!  
But let's not forget the financial obligations to his staff, suppliers, Guides... and to himself.  It took him over 30 years to complete the task, never taking a penny for his work, begging for sponsors, ending up losing his marriage and every last personal and business possession.  The work he accomplished with the North American Indians (20 volumes) is his lasting legacy to a monumental work of art and history. Epic indeed! Thank you, Edward Curtis and thank you Timothy Egan for bringing this story alive!


Staff Pick Badge
Lab Girl: A Memoir By Hope Jahren Cover Image
$16.00
ISBN: 9781101873724
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Vintage - February 28th, 2017

Okay, I’ll admit it, my science IQ is less than zilch!  So, why did I read this book?  Because my book club picked it.  And am I ever GLAD!  Lab Girl will be one of my favorites, one that I won’t forget when someone says, “who is Hope Jahren?”
     Jahren tells about her journey from her stoical family upbringing, to her struggling student years, to becoming a renowned geochemist and geobiologist.  A long the way, she meets Bill, her one-of-a kind lab partner who sticks with her through thick and thin. She tells vividly of her struggles with bipolar disorder as well.
     Jahren is best in her descriptions of plant life.  Did you ever think about how a plant lives, how it struggles to survive, how it communicates?  As she says in her book, talking about life in general, “We are each given exactly one chance to be.”  And about the lives of trees and the rings in their trunks, “The delicate shape of those lines tells you the story of a couple of years.  If you know how to listen, each ring describes how the rain fell and the wind blew and the sun appeared every day at dawn.”  Who would have ever thought that a writer could give plants personalities, could make their lives light up a page, or begin to think that maybe the trees in Lord of the Rings really could talk?!  
     By the end of this book, I just wanted to walk into the woods and observe and wonder and listen…and plant a tree somewhere.  Thanks, book club.  This was an eye-opening winner!


Staff Pick Badge
A Sister in My House: A Novel By Linda Olsson Cover Image
$16.00
Email or call for price
ISBN: 9780143131694
Published: Penguin Books - April 17th, 2018

  Step into a small quiet Spanish town and into the home of Maria, the narrator of this story.  Linda Olsson’s beautiful writing puts you there; the sea breezes, the solitude, the aromas of good food.  But underneath it all lies a story of tragedy, estrangement and then, forgiveness.  
    Maria’s sister, Emma has accepted an invitation to visit, even though the invitation is two years old.  As the visit begins, it is clear that some underlying family history during their childhood has disrupted their comfort with one another.  Emma’s insistence to talk about it unnerves Maria, who, over many years has not been able to put it to rest.  Olsson delicately exhibits how perceptions of particular events can differ from one person to the next even…or perhaps especially... within families.  Complicating matters is the fact that Emma married Maria’s boyfriend, and through the years seems to have a happy, settled life. Maria, however, moved on and into a preciously meaningful relationship, one which set her life on an entirely different path. 
The six day visit from Emma reveals much to the sisters as they begin to see things in a different light-perhaps even understanding.
    I try to read everything Linda Olsson writes.  She does not disappoint.  (Astrid and Veronika and Sonata for Miriam are equally insightful). Her stories don’t have big, full-bodied plots or big “Ah Ha” moments. The sparseness and subtleties of her writing lets the reader discover the emotional impact.  This small book leaves its mark and is worth every word.


Staff Pick Badge
Pachinko (National Book Award Finalist) By Min Jin Lee Cover Image
$19.99
ISBN: 9781455563920
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Grand Central Publishing - November 14th, 2017

In this compelling four generational historical fiction tale of a Korean family, the issues of minorities, outsiders, immigrants, and disenfranchisement become reoccurring themes.  A finalist for the National Book Award for fiction in 2017, the New York Times listed Pachinko as one of its “Ten Best Books of 2017." 
In the early 20th century, born to a hard-working family in Korea, Sunja, at age 16, falls in love and becomes pregnant by Hansu, a Korean mobster who lives in Japan.  To save her from shame, a Korean Christian pastor marries her and they immigrate to Oska, Japan to join his brother in the Korean ghettos.  After her husband, Isak, is arrested for basically being a Christian and not worshiping at Japanese shrines, Sunja becomes the ultimate survivor and supporter of her family of two boys-Noa (Hansu’s illegitimate son) and Mozasu.  The family lives with Isak’s brother’s family and together they negotiate the trials and tribulations of providing for their families in a country that does not recognize them as citizens; a country which, until the mid-1900s, imposed upon the Koreans (whether born in Japan or not) alien registration every three years, job discrimination, and basically did not accept them into their culture.
Despite the hardships, both sons become successful.  However, to Noa, who learns he is not  Isak’s son, life becomes stifling.  He separates himself from his family and pushes aside his dreams for the future.  Mozasu finds his way to the only means of occupation for Koreans in Japan, by working for the owner of Pachinko parlors (pin-ball type gambling facilities).  And even Mozasu’s son, Solomon, who excels in school, graduating from an American university, is pushed aside by Japanese business dealings, ending up working for his father in the Pachinko parlors.  
The themes in this book are timely and poignant in light of the vast immigration crises around the world today, and realizing how hard it is for different cultures to accept one another.  Throughout time, people who leave their home countries are often not accepted in their new country, and upon returning to the old, are not accepted there either.
Pachinko tells the story of the clash of Korea and Japan, but it also tells the story of the resilience and survivorship of human nature.  History of occupation around the world is a hard reality to accept by those who are occupied and by those who occupy. Pachinko is a page turning saga and an eye-opener into a part of the world that seems far away, but today, really isn’t.  One of my favorites of the year!


Staff Pick Badge
Leadership: In Turbulent Times By Doris Kearns Goodwin Cover Image
$30.00
ISBN: 9781476795928
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Simon & Schuster - September 18th, 2018

Throughout Doris Kearns Goodwin’s writing career, she never fails to bring biographical non-fiction to life in no uncertain terms.  In this book, she documents the rise of Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt, and Lyndon Johnson from their earliest childhood days, describing, bit-by-bit, the qualities that led them through the most difficult decisions of their times.  Goodwin clearly lays out their growing ambitions, determinations, and the leadership qualities that brought them through crisis in times when their country needed a strong will of purpose and a moral sense of direction.
With Lincoln, it’s the Civil War.  With Theodore Roosevelt, it’s the economic battles with the onset of the industrial revolution.  With Franklin Roosevelt, it’s the depression and WWII.  With Johnson, it’s Civil Rights.  Each of these men had failures early in their careers.  Each had a different style of leadership.  But the one thing each of them did have, was fortitude and a clear vision of what was right for their country.  
This is a fascinating journey into the personal and professional lives of four men who were not afraid to govern for the rights of all people, who stood up to devastating criticism in times of great peril and moral truth.  They weren’t perfect, but their abilities and resilience against all odds, made their leadership skills an example for Presidents to come. As always, Doris Kearns Goodwin delivers history as exciting as any novel.  If you love biography, this book is for you!


The Only Woman in the Room: A Novel By Marie Benedict Cover Image
$16.99
ISBN: 9781492666899
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Sourcebooks Landmark - August 6th, 2019

THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

THE USA TODAY BESTSELLER

Bestselling author Marie Benedict reveals the story of a brilliant woman scientist only remembered for her beauty.


Staff Pick Badge
Virgil Wander By Leif Enger Cover Image
$17.00
ISBN: 9780802147127
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Grove Press - August 20th, 2019

The first novel in ten years from award-winning, bestselling author Leif Enger, Virgil Wander is a sweeping story of new beginnings against all odds that follows the inhabitants of a hard luck town in their quest to revive its flagging heart.


Staff Pick Badge
The Keeper of Lost Things: A Novel By Ruth Hogan Cover Image
$18.99
ISBN: 9780062473554
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: William Morrow Paperbacks - November 28th, 2017

The Cottage Book Club selected The Keeper of Lost Things to be on their summer reading list.  What a prize!  As a debut novel, author Ruth Hogan will be on my watch list for future books.  This could have been a sad tale about a man who misses the love of his life so much that he dies of heart-break.  BUT…what surrounds his life in serendipitous ways, are the lives of other unrelated characters that somehow matter in the end.  I don’t want to be a spoiler here, so that’s all  I’ll say about that.  What I didn’t expect were the smiles and laugh-out-loud humor that are interspersed, making sometimes woeful experiences have redeeming qualities.
Anthony Peardew is a successful writer and is “the keeper of lost things.” On his trips from home and about town, he discovers these items, only to take them home, assigning each with a note of where he found it, a description, and the date found.  The stories he writes about the lost things eventually become bestsellers.
Laura is his administrative assistant, and when Mr. Peardew dies, he leaves all that he has, including a lovely home with rose garden, to her.  It’s a life she never expected to live.   In his will to Laura, he has one caveat; that she must try and find the owner of each lost item.  This is no small task, as, over the years, he had collected hundreds.
Of particular charm in the story is the young girl with social communication issues who helps Laura categorize the lost items and acts as a host to visitors.  Her dialogue is masterfully written full of warmth and accidental humor.  And Fred, the gardener, becomes of special interest. Yes, this is a sort of romance, a mystery and a warmhearted tale with particularly good writing!  Ms. Hogan is an observer of life’s ups and downs and understands the humor in some of life’s most serious experiences. What a satisfying page turner and a thoughtful turn on human relationships.  A very fun read!


Staff Pick Badge
The Explanation for Everything: A Novel By Lauren Grodstein Cover Image
$14.95
ISBN: 9781616203818
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Algonquin Books - May 27th, 2014

As she did in the New York Times bestselling novel A Friend of the Family, Lauren Grodstein has written another provocative morality tale, this time dissecting the permeable line between faith and doubt.

Pre-order author Grodstein's new can't-be-missed novel, We Must Not Think of Ourselves, coming November 28, 2023.


Staff Pick Badge
Canada By Richard Ford Cover Image
$16.99
ISBN: 9780061692031
Availability: Backordered
Published: Ecco - January 22nd, 2013

Pulitzer Prize winner and PEN/Faulkner Award winner for Independence Day, Richard Ford has become one of my favorite authors.  Somehow good writers tell a story with so much human reality that, before the reader even knows it, he/she is drawn in to the stories of ordinary people having extraordinary life encounters.  Canada is such a story.  Dell Parsons, now in his sixties and a school teacher, is looking back on the life that brought him to the place he now is.  His father, Bev Parsons, thirty-seven and retired from the Air Force, moves the family to Great Falls, Montana in the late fifties.  Bev is a dreamer with no clue on how to make his way through life, let alone support a wife and two children.  One job after another fails until, finally, he trumps up a scheme to sell stolen beef .  Unable to pay off the Indians who supply the beef, he becomes desperate and decides to rob a bank.  If you were in Bev's shoes, you probably would be able to feel the success of this scheme, to understand the reasoning. But, because you are the reader, you see and feel what's in store for Bev, his wife, Neeva (who goes along with his scheme) and his two children. What happens next to young Dell, as he avoids becoming a ward of the state, is a story of survival in a back roads town of Saskatchewan among disreputable characters who are also trying to escape from lives created by poor choices. It seems so unlikely that this teenage boy could survive among such rough characters and in such sparse living conditions.  But survive he does, seeing his own life unfold through un-jaded eyes, feeling the fright, feeling the cold, living the pain and barely hanging on.

Richard Ford delivers such concise, morally-packed, beautifully crafted prose, that getting lost in his books is as easy as falling off a log in mid- stream.


Staff Pick Badge
The Colour of Milk: A Novel By Nell Leyshon Cover Image
$17.00
ISBN: 9780062192066
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Ecco - January 7th, 2014

The Colour of Milk is a literary tour de force of power, class, and fate, told in the fierce, urgent voice of the irrepressible Mary, a character as indelible as The Color Purple’s Celie and Margaret Atwood’s eponymous Alias Grace.


Staff Pick Badge
Testing the Current By William McPherson, D.T. Max (Afterword by) Cover Image
By William McPherson, D.T. Max (Afterword by)
$15.95
ISBN: 9781590176023
Availability: Special Order
Published: NYRB Classics - January 8th, 2013

Written almost thirty years ago by Pulitzer Prize-winning book critic William McPherson, Testing the Current is a gem of a book that has been out of print for twenty-five years. Now reissued by New York Review Book, it is well worth savoring slowly and carefully. The only action you'll find is through the observations of young Tommy MacAllister. And wonderful observations they are! Somehow, like all good writers, McPherson gets into the head of Tommy, and through his perceptions we, the readers - presumably, older and more aware of life experiences than he - watch the progress of life as it unfolds around him. His older siblings, his parents, his neighbors, and his friends all get the introspective judgments we all make about those around us. Bringing back our own childhoods, we understand, sympathize and laugh as he faces what we knew to be true as we grew up. He does not enjoy greeting his great aunts, "...who looked formidable, like craggy fortresses within great unyielding fronts, as if they were all stony bosom from their shoulders to their thighs." and having to "...dutifully kiss their papery cheeks, avoiding if possible Cousin Maud's mole that sprouted long hairs." Dense in introspection, with long paragraphs that seep into your psyche, Testing the Current is clothed in the innocence of childhood. It is a truthfully told family story through the eyes of an eight-year-old who is unaware of the traumatic national recession during the 1930s, nor the rumblings of the coming war in Europe. Like any literary novel, it tests the reader's patience to delve deep, but well worth the effort!


Mrs Queen Takes the Train: A Novel By William Kuhn Cover Image
$15.99
ISBN: 9780062208293
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Harper Perennial - October 8th, 2013

“A witty, contemporary story of the Downton Abbey-esque tensions between servants and employers, the young and the old, and tradition and modernity.” — Glamour


Staff Pick Badge
The Orphan Master's Son: A Novel By Adam Johnson Cover Image
$18.00
ISBN: 9780812982626
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Random House Trade Paperbacks - August 7th, 2012

A New York Times Bestseller, The Orphan Master's Son is one of the most difficult stories I have ever read. By difficult, I mean the story line - full of violence and torture. If I had not read the non-fiction book, Nothing to Envy by Barbara Demick first, I would never have thought a story like this might be near the truth. Having said that, it will be a book I won't forget! The story takes place in current day North Korea, and follows the life of Pak Jun Do who was brought up in an orphanage. His father was the Orphan Master. Through fate and recognition as a gifted young man by the superiors in the government, he is assigned various duties including kidnapping Japanese citizens for "The Dear Leader"-Kim Jung Il, intercepting and translating American radio transmissions, being given a mission to Texas as a translator, and being recognized as an imposter of a well-known general. A tale of many twists and turns with countless deceptions, it may, nevertheless be possible in a totalitarian regime who has starved millions of its own people. By focusing on one life, it becomes even more real. If you can stomach the violence ( I skimmed many of those parts), you will find a potent, skillfully written novel based on historical fact.


Staff Pick Badge
The Weird Sisters By Eleanor Brown Cover Image
$17.00
ISBN: 9780425244142
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: G.P. Putnam's Sons - February 7th, 2012

A book club pick for the Cottage Book Club, The Weird Sisters turned out to be a real sleeper! It's hard to believe that this is the author's first novel. The writing is superb, and the character studies are amazing! The three sisters in the Andreas family-Rosalind (from As You Like It), Bianca (from The Tempest) and Cordelia (from King Lear) were named by their father who is a Shakespearian scholar and professor of English Literature at the local college. Throughout the girls' childhood, Dr. Andreas quotes lines from Shakespeare for almost every conversation in their lives, whether it be advise, or just everyday observations. Of course, the girls pick up on this and simply cannot help bringing to mind these quotes throughout their own lives. The girls are three years apart, and, as in most families, there are issues of jealousy, family love, hurt feelings, great sorrow, and joy. Brown leads the reader through the troubled lives of the sisters in their effort to figure out what lif has in store for them. The dialogue is right-on among the girls and their parents as the sisters all come home "to roost" when their mother is diagnosed with breast cancer. This is NOT a "downer" book, but one to savor and enjoy...especially if you have a sister! And believe it or not, there are times when you'll laugh-out-loud!


Staff Pick Badge
The Odds: A Love Story By Stewart O'Nan Cover Image
$14.00
Email or call for price
ISBN: 9780143122272
Published: Penguin Books - September 25th, 2012

In the new novel from the author of Last Night at the Lobster, a middle-age couple goes all in for love at a Niagara Falls casino

Lokk out for City of Secrets coming from Viking on April 26, 2016

 


Staff Pick Badge
Extra Yarn: A Caldecott Honor Award Winner By Mac Barnett, Jon Klassen (Illustrator) Cover Image
By Mac Barnett, Jon Klassen (Illustrator)
$17.99
ISBN: 9780061953385
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Balzer + Bray - January 17th, 2012

As a knitter (and a grandma) this book has been dear to me since its release last January. Beautifully illustrated by Jon Klassen, this tells the story of a little girl who lives in a cold little town that is drab, drab,drab. When Annabelle finds a box of what looks like ordinary colored yarn, she takes it home and knits herself a sweater. With the extra yarn she knits one for her dog as well. But there was still extra yarn.....the story continues like this, with Annabelle knitting and knitting and the colorful yarn brightening up the town and making people happy. Every magical story has a villain, and in this case it is the evil Archduke, who decides he must have the yarn for himself. What will happen? This is a lovely story that illustrates the impact one kind deed can have on a community. Perfect for ages 2-5.


Staff Pick Badge
The Dirty Life: A Memoir of Farming, Food, and Love By Kristin Kimball Cover Image
$18.00
ISBN: 9781416551614
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Scribner - April 12th, 2011

Author, Kristin Kimball was a “big city girl.” She never imagined herself any other way. But for an article she was writing, she traveled six hours out of New York City to interview an organic farmer. Little did she know that the interview would be a turning point in her life...not just a gradual curve, but an abrupt right angle! Mark was good looking, young, energetic, an entrepreneur full of new ideas. Shorthanded on the day of his interview, he soon had her hoeing broccoli and helping to slaughter a pig...in her new white agnes b. blouse. You might think this is just another “how I changed my life” story, but it is much more than that. With good humor and never taking herself seriously, Kimball relates her amazement about small town friendliness, open-hearted goodness and the discovery that...”good food is at the center of good life.”


Staff Pick Badge
The Red Leather Diary: Reclaiming a Life Through the Pages of a Lost Journal By Lily Koppel Cover Image
$15.99
ISBN: 9780061256783
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Harper Perennial - January 20th, 2009

When you consider that the author, Lily Koppel, was walking down a street in New York City one day when she noticed a pile of old wardrobe trunks being tossed into a dumpster, the reader can only visualize the lost treasures behind the locked lids of those trunks. The management of the apartment building on Riverside Drive had decided to clean out the basement which was full of old pre-World War II trunks that had not been claimed. People were already rummaging through the contents finding flapper dresses, silk gloves, sweaters still hanging from knitting needles. In Lily's case, a doorman at the apartment building gave her a red leather diary he had found in the midst of the mess. It was a five year diary and the name inside said, “This book belongs to...Florence Wolfson.” It had been a present from her aunt on Florence's fourteenth birthday, August 1, 1929. She wrote in it faithfully until her nineteenth birthday. The Red Leather Diary transports you back in time and makes one realize that there is no such thing as an “ordinary life.” It's a wonderful time piece of nostalgia, culture, history and even mystery as the author searches for its owner and actually finds her. A fascinating read!


Staff Pick Badge
The Last Season By Eric Blehm Cover Image
$17.99
ISBN: 9780060583019
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Harper Perennial - January 30th, 2007

Sometimes a book takes on a life of its own, propelling the reader along like a swift stream, unable to stop or get out of the current. The Last Season by Eric Blehm is just such a book. It is about the life (and death) of Randy Morgenson, a much-loved back country ranger for the National Park Service in the High Sierras of Southern California. Even if this story was only about Morgenson's legendary knowledge of this territory, or of his fascinating childhood, or his friendships with Ansel Adams and Wallace Stegner, this would still be a compelling read. But, add to that the fact that in 1996, at the age of 54, after 30 seasons in the High Sierras, Morgenson, while on duty mysteriously disappears. Not until five years later, after search and rescue by hundreds of people, is his body found. The final pages poignantly memorialize his life and leave the reader wondering why and how his death may have occurred.


Staff Pick Badge
Ultramarathon Man: Confessions of an All-Night Runner By Dean Karnazes Cover Image
$18.00
Email or call for price
ISBN: 9781585424801
Published: TarcherPerigee - March 2nd, 2006

Okay, all you fitness and running nuts out there -- this is the book for you! This book will blow your mind. Why? -- you keep asking. Entertainingly written, Dean Karnazes talks candidly about his interior determination and excessive drive to run long distances -- without stopping (makes me feel weak)!


Staff Pick Badge
Hannah Coulter: A Novel (Port William #8) By Wendell Berry Cover Image
$16.95
ISBN: 9781593760786
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Counterpoint - September 30th, 2005

Where have I been?! Years ago our McLean & Eakin founder, Julie Norcross, asked me if I had ever read Wendell Berry. Finally! Known as the "Philosopher of Place", Wendell Berry writes quiet books about people and places, gratitude, life and grief...and love. Hannah Coulter weaves a wise and gentle story about farmers in Kentucky. Hannah recalls her life from youth to old age. Her husband Virgil goes off to World War II, never to return, leaving her with a baby he would never see. The gracious family of her deceased husband surround her with compassion and love and never stand in her way when she falls for Nathan who has recently returned from the war Pacific Theater. Hannah and Nathan's life together would be considered ordinary-working their farm, growing their children and sending them out into the world to find their own ways, if it were not for Hannah's introspective revelations and observations. With wit and exquisite writing, Hannah Coulter leaves you feeling so much wiser and comfortable within yourself.


Staff Pick Badge
Anatomy of a Murder By Robert Traver Cover Image
$22.99
ISBN: 9780312033569
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: St. Martin's Griffin - March 15th, 1983

An oldie but a goodie! You will smile all the way through this story- not because murder is a funny subject, but because the author's wit is so wonderful! This was one of the very first classic court room trial books, and it is a fascinating case taken directly from a trial in which the author won. The issues are complicated and cleverly addressed. I loved this book even though parts may seem dated.


Staff Pick Badge
The Perfect Mile: Three Athletes, One Goal, and Less Than Four Minutes to Achieve It By Neal Bascomb Cover Image
$21.99
ISBN: 9780618562091
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Mariner Books - April 6th, 2005

What a great historical book about the times, and about a feat that was thought to be "superhuman." The three runners couldn't have been more different if the author had made them fictional characters! Having grown up in the 50s -- I loved this book! FANTASTIC! A 10!


Staff Pick Badge
The Murder Room: An Adam Dalgliesh Mystery By P. D. James Cover Image
$16.95
ISBN: 9781400076093
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Vintage - November 9th, 2004

The setting is a small museum outside of London, one room of which displays artifacts about some of the more sensational murders that took place between the two world wars in the late twenties and thirties. The museum is owned by the three siblings of the founder and they are about to re-sign a lease for the continuance of the museum. T complicate matters, one of the siblings, Neville Dupayne, has no interest in continuing the business. One of the contingencies of the lease is that all three siblings must sign. Of course, Neville mysteriously becomes the first victim. What happens next is pure James. Slowly she leads the reader down the path of the murderer with clues, however remote, that are there for the reader to catch. Reviews are mixed on this P.D. James mystery but if you're a true James fan, as I am, you will still find satisfaction. There is no one in the mystery field who writes a more literary "who-dunnit", or one who can set a scene so visual that the reader steps through the pages of the book right into the story. As usual, her characters are fascinating. And at age eighty-six, P.D. James is still very "hip" to the times! Even when she is not at her best, she's good.


Staff Pick Badge
Housekeeping: A Novel By Marilynne Robinson Cover Image
$16.00
ISBN: 9780312424091
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Picador - November 1st, 2004

Marilynne Robinson is an incredible writer! I won’t pull any punches, this is a dark, dark story but the writing is spectacular. Just don’t read it in the thick of winter when you’re feeling a little “down." Two young girls, Ruth and Lucille, are being raised first by their grandmother, then by two incompetent aunts and finally by a very eccentric aunt. Even the name of their town, “Fingerbone” leaves the reader feeling a bit edgy; in fact, the town could be considered as much a character of this book as the humans; interaction between both heavily impacts the plot. I’m certain someday, this book will be considered a classic. It’s a great book club discussion!


Staff Pick Badge
The Quiet American: (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition) By Graham Greene, Robert Stone (Introduction by) Cover Image
By Graham Greene, Robert Stone (Introduction by)
$18.00
ISBN: 9780143039020
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Penguin Classics - August 31st, 2004

Graham Greene is one of my favorite authors. There isn't a book of his that I have read that I haven't come away in wonderment at his gifts as a writer. Greene digs into the darkest parts of human souls and somehow puts it all down on paper. The Quiet American is set in Vietnam in the early 50s. The French are still struggling to maintain their political position against the Communists, and the United States has their "toe in the door". Fowler, a British journalist is the main character along with the American - Pyle, whose reasons for being in Vietnam remain vague. The story is multi-leveled; a love story, a political expose, a moral dilemma, a thriller -- take your pick. But if you really read between the lines, you'll feel the turmoil and almost understand what happened in Vietnam. If you have seen the movie only, you will be missing the real essence of this story as well as the fabulous quality of one of the Twentieth Century's best writers.


Staff Pick Badge
The Great Fire: A Novel (Picador Modern Classics) By Shirley Hazzard Cover Image
$20.00
ISBN: 9780312423582
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Picador - July 1st, 2004

At the close of WWII, Aldred Leith is asked to report on the changing world of the Far East -- in particular, China and Japan. His travels bring him to Kure, Japan where he meetes the Driscoll family -- a family that will forever change his life. Written in a quiet, flowing style, Hazzard's descriptions of people and places are a thing of beauty. Not an easy read, but beautifully presented!


Staff Pick Badge
Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith By Jon Krakauer Cover Image
$19.00
ISBN: 9781400032808
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Anchor - June 8th, 2004

hough the subject matter of this book is about the fanatics of the Mormon religion, it could be about religious fanaticism anywhere. It just seems disturbing to this reader that some people seem to get themselves caught up in extremes through need, weakness, total innocence or unquestioning belief. As is the cornerstone of all of Jon Krakauer's books, his research is thorough, fascinating and scary! Throughout isolated communities of Mormonism, polygamy is still practiced. Male zealots, answering only to what God tells them to do. . .including murder. . .hold sway over willing participants with Taliban-like power. This is not the book that Krakauer intended to write, but the more he researched the subject, the more he learned about the fanatical Mormons; and not just the Mormons of today, but the past history of the Mormons as well. Reading like a novel, this book is hard to put down and simply unbelievable to comprehend the "hows and whys" of this life style! As Americans, it is important for us to not look the other way and ignore what is going on around us!


Staff Pick Badge
The Living Great Lakes: Searching for the Heart of the Inland Seas By Jerry Dennis Cover Image
$17.99
ISBN: 9780312331030
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: St. Martin's Griffin - June 1st, 2004

Think this might be boring? Too much history? Too much geology? Dry? NOT A CHANCE!! This is an entertainingly written story of a journey taken; of discoveries along the way; of adventure. But, especially it's about the wonderful uniqueness of the Great Lakes from a world's perspective. This is TERRIFIC!!!


Staff Pick Badge
The Kite Runner By Khaled Hosseini Cover Image
$16.00
ISBN: 9781594480003
Availability: Special Order
Published: Riverhead Trade - April 27th, 2004

The first novel to come out of Afghanistan in modern times, The Kite Runner is simply written and beautifully told. The issue of friendships between classes and different ethnic groups as the government structure of the country collapses becomes a main plot of the story. Thoughtfully written, you won't soon forget this story and you will ask yourself - "what would I have done?"


Staff Pick Badge
Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China By Jung Chang Cover Image
$22.00
ISBN: 9780743246989
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Simon & Schuster - August 12th, 2003

One of the most definitive books about modern-day China, Wild Swans is an astonishing picture of a country in turmoil. Told in an honest, straight forward style, it will leave you incredulous over the day-to-day lives of the Chinese throughout the 20th century. The history woven into the story is fascinating as well. This book is still banned in China. If you are at all curious about China, don't miss this book!


Staff Pick Badge
Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight: An African Childhood By Alexandra Fuller Cover Image
$18.00
ISBN: 9780375758997
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Random House Trade Paperbacks - March 11th, 2003

Although this autobiography has some tough moments, it is well worth "the read!" After all, life isn't always easy. You will be amazed at this family and the hardships they endured. Each parent has a toughness that shines through, even though their weaknesses are so very evident. Your heart will ache at times, but more than anything else, you'll know that you may not have survived!! Unforgettable!


Staff Pick Badge
All The King's Men: Winner of the Pulitzer Prize By Robert Penn Warren, Noel Polk Cover Image
$19.99
ISBN: 9780156012959
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Mariner Books Classics - September 3rd, 2002

If you like: 1) A challenge! 2) Great writing! 3) To be stretched! This is the book for you! Definitely not a casual read, this book loosely mirrors the political life of Huey Long of Louisiana. This story is steeped in moral issues - loyalty, right, power, love - an incredible piece of literature. It asks the question -does power corrupt? A great classic!!


Staff Pick Badge
Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America By John M. Barry Cover Image
$22.00
ISBN: 9780684840024
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Simon & Schuster - April 2nd, 1998

Rising Tide is an amazing chronicle of the great Mississippi flood of 1927. The characters that arose from the debacle are people you may never have heard about but will definitely not forget. The catastrophe catapulted Herbert Hoover to the Presidency in 1930. Hoover was appointed to head the rehabilitation program for the Mississippi Delta area and gained national attention for his efforts. It's politics as usual with all the in-fighting, the rise of the Ku Klux Klan, the migration of blacks North and the recovery. . .such as it was. Incredibly, over one million people were displaced by the flood. . .and not for just a few days. The role of the government in the catastrophe forever changed the relationship between federal and state responsibilities. Personalities like the Percy family, engineers--Humphreys and Eads and other main players in that era, including the rise of Huey Long make the history of the time come alive. So much more than a story about a flood, Rising Tide is a "tour d' force" of the history of the United States in the first half of the 20th century.


Staff Pick Badge
Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis Thomas Jefferson and the Opening of the American West By Stephen E. Ambrose Cover Image
$20.99
ISBN: 9780684826974
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Simon & Schuster - June 2nd, 1997

This is the way history should be taught! If this was fiction, it would be amazing! I learned things in this book that I had never heard of before. What an amazing journey told in straight-forward style that is hard to put down. The characters remain unforgettable! If you love history - A MUST READ!


Staff Pick Badge
The Optimist's Daughter: Pulitzer Prize Winner (Vintage International) By Eudora Welty Cover Image
$16.00
ISBN: 9780679728832
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Vintage - August 11th, 1990

Laurel McKelva, a widow, takes a leave of absence from her very successful job in Chicago to return to New Orleans to help care for her ailing father. Trying to be of comfort to him. Laurel must also endure her very young and selfish step mother, Fay. After her father's death, she and her step mother travel back to the family home in Mount Salus, Mississippi to make arrangements for his funeral. Laurel's jounrey is more than one of miles and sadness, but also of the heart and of coming to terms with her own past. Beautifully and memorably told, Eudora Welty's simple, visual sentences convey deep and complex relationships as only marvelous writers can do. The author has a finger on the pulse of this small southern town, understanding friendships, relatives and the inner workings of our minds. This short novel won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1973. A "must read" for those who love the subtle descriptive portrayals of human relationships.


Staff Pick Badge
The Cape Ann By Faith Sullivan Cover Image
$15.00
ISBN: 9780140119794
Availability: Special Order
Published: Penguin Books - July 2nd, 1989

At once poignant, funny and exasperating, Sullivan weaves a sympathetic tale told from the child’s point of view about a family struggling during The Great Depression. Lark Erhardt observes life in her family- the relationship of her mother and father. Lark’s mother has always dreamed of owning a Cape Ann style home and is determined to have it. Lark’s Father is a gambler and therein lies the conflict. I loved the characters in this book. They are well told and you find yourself loving some and hating others!