Everyone has his/her favorite old classics to read by fireside or heart-thumping spine tinglers that have the reader on the edge of their seat. With our collection of recent arrivals, we review and search out the nuggets of true gold in book form. Please check out our reviews and let us know yours as well. We have caught sight of a number of great novels now available.

"Staff Picks" is now a specific section in the store. Janice, Leigh, Deb, Heather, and Rita have selected books which they have read and enjoyed very much. Hope you enjoy perusing this area. Many of these books are great choices for reading groups, some are just wonderful books to read for the sheer pleasure of reading. Interested in doing reviews of a book yourself? Make up a list of your favorites and send us an email or drop it off on your next visit to Booktowne. Reviews will be published alongside our staff picks right here on Booktowne’s website.

Here are some book reviews that you might enjoy looking at:

Booktowne Reviews

BOOK REVIEW: Cleopatra: A Life
By Satcey Schiff Review
Submitted by Richard Trimble

It has often been said that "History is in the telling". That is certainly true in the teaching of History and equally true in the writing of History. The presenter, be they a teacher or a writer, can bore their audience to tears or they can enthrall them by bringing the subject to life. Pulitzer Prize winning author Stacey Schiff has done the latter. Egypt's last queen, Cleopatra, the stuff of legend and lore, comes to life on the pages of this fine book. Schiff's account opens with the admittedly confusing Alexandrian Wars and then glides seamlessly into her relationship with some of Rome's most powerful men- Julius Caesar, Marc Anthony and Octavian. What emerges is not the Hollywood seductress but a wily ruler who did what she could for her fading Egyptian state and succeeded in governing her country capably and well. What also emerges is the image of a survivor, a woman in a world dominated by powerful men. The book concludes with the Battle of Actium in the Triumveral Wars and Cleopatra being on the losing side. Her life's ambitions crystallize into one goal: save her children. The book is undoubtedly the best treatment of Cleopatra's life that I've read and what makes it so is not only Schiff's command of the historical sources, but also her solid interpretationsand most of all, her command of the English language. Her writing is beautiful. As the author wrote in her final paragraph, "Cleopatra remains nearly alone at th all-male table..."