Rita's Picks

It has always been my dream to open a bookstore that would fit perfectly into a vibrant community. Having spent my first career in education, I know what learning means and the value of reading. I visit bookstores wherever I go, to a new city, to a new state, to a new country. Bookstores speak a universal language. I've never met one that isn't welcoming, because we're basically people people. I love non-fiction, especially historical books, but a good novel is a treasure also. When I read a good book, I want to tell everyone about it. So, I hope you find all that at BookTowne!

 

 

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Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents By Isabel Wilkerson Cover Image
$32.00
ISBN: 9780593230251
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Random House - August 4th, 2020

This is a must read, hard to read and incredibly sad but a must read all the same.  Wilkerson gives a clear picture of what slavery has looked like, what Jim Crow looked like and what racism looks like today. Her vivid anecdotes are soul searching.  Wilkerson compares our caste system to that of India, where our caste system is based on color of the skin and the power that ensues.Her incredible research shows how our hidden caste system is ingrained in our culture and it is rigid and very, very sad.  She links the caste system of India and Germany with the United States and it is truly stark and eye opening.  If you want a really good book to discuss, this would be it!


One by One By Ruth Ware Cover Image
$27.99
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ISBN: 9781501188817
Published: Gallery/Scout Press - September 8th, 2020

I love Ruth Ware’s mysteries.  This one lives up to her reputation.  As a company plans a work/bonding weekend in the mountains to plan their future and enjoy skying, an avalanche changes their plans.  One by one members of their team die with unaccountable causes.  No one can trust anyone and weather conditions are disintegrating.  This leaves the two employees, one a chef and the other the lodge manager alone to deal with these crazy people


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The Deepest South of All: True Stories from Natchez, Mississippi By Richard Grant Cover Image
$26.00
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ISBN: 9781501177828
Published: Simon & Schuster - September 1st, 2020

Richard Grant is an award winning author and journalist who is fascinated with Natchez. So he moved there to get to know the people, to live with them and to talk with people in all walks of life, all of the many characters who inhabit the area.  What we have is a wonderful description of Natchez today juxtaposed with the Natchez of the Confederate South.  The town continues to live in its past, appreciating all that made it unique while at the same time trying to cope with an understanding of their responsibility for, and,  the effects of slavery.  I loved this account mixing history with the romance they hold on to. I think I’d like to visit the area wherever we travel again.


Walking to Jerusalem: Endurance and Hope on a Pilgrimage from London to the Holy Land By Justin Butcher Cover Image
$27.95
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ISBN: 9781643132112
Published: Pegasus Books - September 3rd, 2019

What an incredible book! Justin Butcher has hope that one day there will be peace in the middle east.  On the 150th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration he and a passionate group of people walk from London to Jerusalem in support of peace in Israel.  In these six months of their trek Butcher weaves in the history of  France, Swirtzerland, Greece, Turkey, Jordan and ultimately,  Jerusalem. These old world countries come alive.  The people they meet, and  their experiences  are life changing. The journey was as impressive as the destination.  They brought with them a message of hope and possibly even peace in a tumultuous part of the world.


The Tenant By Katrine Engberg Cover Image
$27.00
ISBN: 9781982127572
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Gallery/Scout Press - January 14th, 2020

As the novel opens an old tenant in small apartment building finds a gruesome murder of a lovely young woman.  It is horrible to think that something like this could happen in your building. Two detectives are brought into the entangled lives of the tenants, the lives of their families and their friends and the entangled mess that is their world. This thriller will keep you engaged to the very end.


The Book of Longings: A Novel By Sue Monk Kidd Cover Image
$30.00
ISBN: 9780525429760
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Published: Viking - April 21st, 2020

the Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd is a truly extraordinary story. what if Jesus had been married, really not a hard concept to accept knowing how expected marriage was in this culture at this time. Sue monk Kidd has created a fascinating story. 
using biblical verses Kidd uses these as a basis for a beautiful story of the 10 years Jesus was married before he left to do his Fathers work  this is a fascinating story set in these extremely turbulent times A strong intelligent woman, a gentle questioning man who believes he has a mission and the people who make up their world evolve in an historically accurate portrayal of this incredible period of history. well worth a discussion


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Apeirogon: A Novel By Colum McCann Cover Image
$28.00
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ISBN: 9781400069606
Published: Random House - February 25th, 2020

The moving story of two grieving fathers--one Israeli and the other Palestinian. Each one has lost a child to a senseless act of terrorism inflicted by the other side. McCann heard of this and over the years interviewed each one. What we have here is an incredible story of tragedy, pain, and miraculous hope. Well worth the read!


The Glass Hotel: A novel By Emily St. John Mandel Cover Image
$26.95
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ISBN: 9780525521143
Published: Knopf - March 24th, 2020

Emily St John Mandel author of the incredible Station Eleven has given us a intricate absorbing story of disparate events that eventually collide.  Vincent, Paul her brother and Jonathan meet at an island resort and the events of that vacation come back to haunt them. years later these conversations and decisions will change their lives forever.  I was totally absorbed in this novel


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Tightrope: Americans Reaching for Hope By Nicholas D. Kristof, Sheryl WuDunn Cover Image
$27.95
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ISBN: 9780525655084
Published: Knopf - January 14th, 2020

Tightrope is a must read for anyone who cares about the direction of our country. we hear the description "richest country in the world". How does that translate into government programs to address the need of our citizens Who are the poor, where do they live, where do they turn for help .

this book is so moving because Kristof goes back to the area he grew up in where his mother still lives, an area that once had a reasonable standard of living but in the last few decades has been devasted by loss of jobs, and an influx of drugs and alcohol and suicides.  this is America where health care is not for everyone and struggles of families are passed on to children.

if bookclubs want a very valuable and meaningful discussion, here's the book for you.  because once you know, now you know


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A Good Neighborhood: A Novel By Therese Anne Fowler Cover Image
$27.99
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ISBN: 9781250237279
Published: St. Martin's Press - March 10th, 2020

"A gripping modern morality tale"- Tara Conklin

This line truly captures this compelling novel, a story that will be hard to put down as you come to terms with your own fears about the outcome in this "good neighborhood"--a book for our times!


On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous: A Novel By Ocean Vuong Cover Image
$26.00
ISBN: 9780525562023
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Penguin Press - June 4th, 2019

On Earth Were briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong is a literary treasureLittle Dog has written a letter to his Vietnamese mother who will never read it but he still wants to be able to explain to her what his life is really like. he so wants her to really see him and to understand. Her life though difficult is in many ways simpler than his will ever be.  as she tells him so many times " You are already Vietnamese".  try not to make your life any harder than it already is. mothers know.
 


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The Dearly Beloved: A Novel By Cara Wall Cover Image
$26.99
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ISBN: 9781982104528
Published: S&S/ Marysue Rucci Books - August 13th, 2019

The Dearly Beloved by Cara Wall is a beautiful book of love and ambition and a sense of God and what that means. Charles and James apply for the same position as pastor in the New York Third Presbyterian Church and both get it.  They enhance each others work and love what they do.  Charles' wife loves being a minister's wife; James wife does not as she has always told him, she does not believe in God. Throughout the turbulent years in the country both these couples came to mean a lot to me as I felt their joys and their pains in the tragedies they faced.  I loved the story!


The Eight Mountains: A Novel By Paolo Cognetti Cover Image
$16.99
ISBN: 9781501169892
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Published: Washington Square Press - February 19th, 2019

This is truly "a modern Italian masterpiece"  that envelops you in friendship,father-son,relationships in the lyrical setting of the mountains.  I believe that those who live in this world are forever a part of it no matter where life takes them.


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Truth in Our Times: Inside the Fight for Press Freedom in the Age of Alternative Facts By David E. McCraw Cover Image
$28.99
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ISBN: 9781250184429
Published: All Points Books - March 12th, 2019

Truth in Our Times By David McCraw is  an incredible read on the value of appreciating quality writing and research in a time when false information repeated over and over again takes on the element of reality.  as a democracy we are now confronted with the decision to support a free press where quality research is critical or to turn over the distribution of information to pundits A book for the times.


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The Diary of a Bookseller By Shaun Bythell Cover Image
$25.99
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ISBN: 9781612197241
Published: Melville House - September 4th, 2018

At least once a week someone comes in to BookTowne to ask if we sell or buy used books. We don’t. But now I have a clearer picture of someone who does.  This delightful book perfectly captures the realities of owning a bookstore, acknowledging and appreciating the unique customers who frequent our shop and the serious impact Amazon has on our successes.  That being said this is laugh out loud reality of the people who staff our stores and well as our regulars.  What a world the bookstore is! I found myself copying lines I wanted to quote and remember.  If you own or work in a bookstore, read, reflect and enjoy; if you love bookstores, the same to you.


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The Great Alone: A Novel By Kristin Hannah Cover Image
$29.99
ISBN: 9780312577230
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Published: St. Martin's Press - February 6th, 2018

Kristen Hannah, author of The Nightengale, has written another moving story of a seriously disturbed man who brings his wife and daughter to the edges of Alaska as he tries to get away from the demons of Vietnam.  Even the wilderness cannot block out these demons.  Alaska with all its beauty and remoteness provides both protection and space for him until his pain becomes overwhelming. And the demons surface all too often.  What ensues is one terrible loss after another as the local community draws together to save what is possible and the long awaited peace can finally be found.  This book is well worth your time.


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Southernmost By Silas House Cover Image
$26.95
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ISBN: 9781616206253
Published: Algonquin Books - June 5th, 2018

Southernmost is a moving story of tragedy and love and a desperate search for freedom of thought.  In our present times many will relate to the preacher and the relevance of his story, . As Asher Sharp comes to grips with the beliefs he no longer espouses, his whole life changes and he finds there really is no going back.  He may have changed but his community has not. Together the preacher and his young son will travel to the southern most part of the country to to seek out a more accepting community. I was thoroughly moved
 


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A Sister in My House: A Novel By Linda Olsson Cover Image
$16.00
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ISBN: 9780143131694
Published: Penguin Books - April 17th, 2018

For those of you who remember Astrid & Veronika, Linda Olsson is a special author. She is back now with A Sister In My House, another moving and lyrical prose describing the relationship of two sisters who have not seen each other since the death of their mother.  Emma visits her older sister, Maria, now living in a lovely coastal town in Spain. As the initial awkwardness is faced, the sister begin to talk and to share as never before.  Olsson brings these two women through stark awarenss of their past to come to a rejuvenation for themselves and each other.  Her rendering of family love, despite all the pain and the secrets, is beautifully done.  It would provide a great book club discussion.


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Sing, Unburied, Sing: A Novel By Jesmyn Ward Cover Image
$27.00
ISBN: 9781501126062
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Scribner - September 5th, 2017

Jesmyn Ward has written a penetrating novel of family, of love , of pain , and of redemption. Lleone a young black woman has feelings only for her white husband and the father of her children. A child herself she is unable to really care for her own children. But JoO and Michaela will be loved by their black grandparents who will always be providing a home for them and by their mutual love and caring of for  other.  These characters are so beautifully defined in this novel that you feel their pain and anguish over decisions they make  Set in Mississippi this family is never far from the cruelty experienced years ago and the loss and hunger they still endure. Family is their strength and their pain. This novel is truly a work of art and deserving of the 2017 award for literary fiction
 


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Little Fires Everywhere By Celeste Ng Cover Image
$27.00
ISBN: 9780735224292
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Published: Penguin Press - September 12th, 2017

This is Ng'ss second novel and it makes me want to read her first. Here the town Of shaker heights with its perfect family units and manicured homes has to deal with a single mom and child of Asian culture and lower economic level. Of course Mrs Fitzgerald will do right by them. She gives the mom a job and welcomes the daughter into her home, her near perfect home. as tensions in the home surface and the town becomes incolved in a custody dispute regarding a white couples adoption of a Chinese baby the gorious fabric of perceived well being begins to ignite.  I found myself totally absorbed.
 


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The Lying Game: A Novel By Ruth Ware Cover Image
$26.99
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ISBN: 9781501156007
Published: Gallery/Scout Press - July 25th, 2017

Called the "Agatha Christie of our time" by the publisher, Ruth Ware truly knows how to tell a compelling story.  Four friends from high school realized their school year game of telling big lies can come back to haunt them in adulthood.  These are very close friends and even though they do not have regular contact, all one has to do is text "I need you" and they will all come running.  They seem to give up everything and anything to do that they are so closely connected by the secrets they kept.  By the time I reached  the climax of this story, I was truly exhausted myself.  This is a very compelling read!


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The Leavers (National Book Award Finalist): A Novel By Lisa Ko Cover Image
By Lisa Ko
$25.95
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ISBN: 9781616206888
Published: Algonquin Books - May 2nd, 2017

Deming Guo aka Daniel Wilkinson is abandoned by his mother Polly as a young boy and soon after adopted by a professional couple. He spends most of his life trying to understand what happened to his mother, and why she left him.  Daniel searches for answers everyday and agonizes over where he fits in. The Leavers takes us back and forth through New York and China as seen through the words of Daniel and  his mother Polly.This is a beautifully written story of one family changed forever when the arm of immigration turns immigrants lives around
As Ann Patchett said "this is required reading". 


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Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI By David Grann Cover Image
$35.00
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ISBN: 9780385534246
Published: Doubleday - April 18th, 2017

This is a period of our history of which I was totally ignorant and I don't believe I'm alone.  This account of systematic murders of the Osage Indians could only have been so extensive for such a long period time because so many people including law officials and parts of the government either were involved or chose not to believe what they were hearing.  With the advent of the FBI, a quiet mannered, sincerely dedicated investigator began to see this terrible pattern.  Indians, Indians made wealthy by their luck to be placed on the land which held the oil, were dying, some just "becoming ill", others clearly murdered, all in the same family or tribe, all under the so called protection of guardians. That this form of racism so permeated Oklahoma in the 20's is truly chilling.  I encourage everyone to read this "masterpiece of narrative nonfiction"
 


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Anything Is Possible: A Novel By Elizabeth Strout Cover Image
$27.00
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ISBN: 9780812989403
Published: Random House - April 25th, 2017

 

Fans of Elizabeth Strout (Olive Kitteridge, My Name is Lucy Barton) will know that her characters become real people and they stay with you.  Page after page is filled with relationships, the pain and the forgiving through the years.  In a small town everyone knows everyone else so peoples history is not easily forgotten.  But, as people grow and mature they come to be seen in a different light, and in the hands of this beautiful writer we come to understand how each is dealing with their life's script. Some of the scenes are so poignant it will bring you to tears.  Elizabeth Strout is a marvelous writer.
 


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Never Caught: The Washingtons' Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave, Ona Judge By Erica Armstrong Dunbar Cover Image
$17.99
ISBN: 9781501126413
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: 37 Ink - January 9th, 2018

I knew George Washington had slaves,  but I never knew one, Ona Judge,  escaped.  This young woman was assigned to Martha Washington, helping her 24 hrs  a day.  Living in Virginia, she may have stayed that way until she was willed to Martha's niece, as was the plan, but when the Washingtons moved to Philadelphia Ona saw first hand that there were free black men.  This young woman thought long and hard about what would happen if she failed in her attempt and she went for it.  The Washingtons were aghast because they thought they had brought only the most loyal of the slaves with them.  They tried to work every part of the system to get her back as this was truly unfathomable to them.  Ona Judge was a remarkable, young woman.  She will be hard to forget. ,
 


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The Orphan's Tale By Pam Jenoff Cover Image
$15.99
ISBN: 9780778319818
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Published: Mira Books - February 21st, 2017

Pam Jenoff’s research into these atrocities  of WWII is the core of her new book, The Orphan’s Tale.  Sixteen year old Noa, abandoned by her family because she’s has become pregnant by a Nazi solder and then forced to give up her baby is now living in a train station.  One day she discovers a horrible scene, a boxcar filled with Jewish infants on their way to a concentration camp. She instinctively takes one of the babies and runs away.  Her escape leads her to a German traveling circus.  The bond between Noa and Astrid, a trapeze artist is so engrossing and the story so vivid, you will never forget them and the life they lived.  Whether the circus can protect them in France is doubtful.  As in “All the Light We Cannot See’ the victims always hoped it would be different in France and for a while it was, but not for long.  This is an incredible story that will stay with me for a long time.  I highly encourage you to read The Orphan’s Tale,  one of my new favorite books.  And when you finish read the section on the author’s comments.  Pam Jenoff has done some marvelous research.


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The Women in the Castle: A Novel By Jessica Shattuck Cover Image
$16.99
ISBN: 9780062563675
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Published: William Morrow Paperbacks - January 2nd, 2018

Jessica Shattuck has written an incredible story of the people of the war, the German people, particularly the women. As represented by 3 particular women, Marianne, Benita and Ania, we see the utter pain of those who lived through such horrible times, the decisions they made and the consequences of their actions.  The  horrible conditions in Germany, as well as the overwhelming lives lost, is juxtaposed alongside the “ordinary” Germans.  Each of these women is connected to a man, who may have been in the resistance, or may  have been a secret Nazi, or an unfortunate prisoner.  Whether they knew or understood the person they were involved with, does not matter as their have been forever changed. The women and their children will struggle to pick up the pieces when peace finally comes to their land.  These were real people who lived and dreamed and worked to preserve their humanity in the most inhumane of conditions.


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Lincoln in the Bardo: A Novel By George Saunders Cover Image
$18.00
ISBN: 9780812985405
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Published: Random House Trade Paperbacks - February 6th, 2018

Seldom has a book caught me as this one.  From the very first pages I was a part of the “story”  I say that because I fought its format until I became a part of it.  I want everyone to read this story of Lincoln grieving the death of his son at the same time as he is supposed to be leading the country through its greatest crisis. He is living grief. And though his son has died, he cannot leave him alone.  He returns to the cemetery many times during the night to be with him. Ghosts abound in this “bardo” the Tibetan belief that there is a period between death and the time we enter a new world – the transition stage – a purgatory like setting.  It is truly a “literary experience unlike any other” (publisher)  George Saunders has created a   format that brings together the historical pieces of the time with the supernatural world of the setting.  It is masterful.


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Days Without End: A Novel By Sebastian Barry Cover Image
$18.00
ISBN: 9780143111405
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Penguin Books - September 12th, 2017

This beautifully, poignant novel by Sebastian Barry is true Barry.  No one describes the day to day pain of war like Sebastian Barry.  How could such a lyrical book encase such tragic descriptions. Thomas McNulty has fled the famine of Ireland and like most young men his age signs up with Army.  And the Army appears to no more care for its soldiers than the enemy does.  It was a period of time when young men could just get lost in these chaotic battles at the same time that they seek the warmth and comfort of friendships, deep friendships. These young men are used to deprivation and pain and seem to accept the realities of their new world.  Barry writes another masterpiece that will move you deeply as Thomas McNulty finds that war is his only comfortable routine. The Indian War and ultimately the Civil War seem to blend in to each other.  And the friends are grateful, so grateful for any sense of normalcy that the world will give them. As Donal Ryan describes, "A Beautiful, savage, tender, searing work of art.  Sentence after perfect sentence it grips and does not let go."  
 


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Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood By Trevor Noah Cover Image
$28.00
ISBN: 9780399588174
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: One World - November 15th, 2016

I am a big fan of Trevor Noah and relished getting a copy of his book Born a Crime at the NAIBA conference last month.  I was totally engaged in this book.  Trevor Noah writes as he speaks.  I could hear him doing the audio version as I was reading. I loved his sharing of what it was like to grow up in South Africa and the Apartied world.  Just as he brings to us each evening the absurdities of American politics he has turned his sights back on his own world and shared deeply personal things with his audience.  Born a child of a black mother and a white father, he was by that event a crime.  His mother hid him for five years and this depiction of his life with his mother was one of the most moving, and reflective experiences I have ever read.  So deeply personal and yet almost as if he stands away from it and views it with new eyes. His humor shows through on every page, but it is a humor mixed with deep passion.


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A Piece of the World: A Novel By Christina Baker Kline Cover Image
$18.99
ISBN: 9780062356277
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Mariner Books - January 30th, 2018

 

This depiction of the woman in Andrew Wyeth's Painting Christina's World is incredibly touching and moving.  I have loved the works of Andrew Wyeth and this picture among them.  Anyone who shares my feelings of this art work cannot help but be totally engaged in Baker Kline's novel. She brings us into Christina's world in such a way that you feel for Christina and her life.  It is the unfolding of a masterpiece in hands of a beautiful writer.

The Christina of the novel grows up on a farm with the lifestyle of a hard working family whose lives are dependent on the elements.  The simple life is hard and particularly hard for a handicapped child.  As with most challenges, you deal with them as the norm until you can't anymore.  Andrew Wyeth painted Christina and her house many times over 20 years and captured her world at the end.  Christina Baker Kline has likewise captured the essence of the painting in her brilliant book.She give life to the painting.  I will never look at this moving piece in the same way again.  


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Purity: A Novel By Jonathan Franzen Cover Image
$17.00
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ISBN: 9781250097101
Published: Picador - August 2nd, 2016

Jonathan Franzen develops characters that live in your mind. Pip Tyler is a young girl trying desperately to pay back her student loans. She has been raised by a single mother, living quite poorly all her life because her mother refuses to take the incredible inheritance she is entitle to. Pip has no idea of this money and would be glad just to know who her father is. These topics have been off limits her entire life but that never meant she was not committed to finding out.

As Franzen brings characters into his novel he links their background to the present and the story flows from America to Germany to South American. Lives intertwine at an incredible rate. When Pip meets Andreas she is enamored with this charismatic figure and the reader becomes more deeply involved in the present time, in the influence of the Internet, in the evils of hacking, in the attraction to powerful voices. Andreas has a tremendous effect on everyone who comes to know him and for better or for worse these lives will never be the same.


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The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend By Katarina Bivald Cover Image
$17.99
ISBN: 9781492623441
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Sourcebooks Landmark - January 19th, 2016

As I read through Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend I was reminded of one of my favorite bookstore books, The Kings English by Betsy Burton. I had read the latter shortly before I opened BookTowne and it had a tremendous influence on me.  I had that same feeling of being back in a town that loves its bookstore and loves the recommendations of the bookseller.  This is a charming story where the characters are fun to get to know, the storyline is heartwarming and the books that come alive are ones we know or should get to know. It begins when a woman from Sweden who has corresponded with a woman in American plan to meet in the American's hometown.  They have shared their love of books with each other for a long time and know when they meet they will be even better friends.  The American arrives to find the funeral for her friend has just taken place and the townspeople open their arms to her to make her stay as comfortable as possible.  It becomes very comfortable indeed.  


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Everyone Brave is Forgiven By Chris Cleave Cover Image
$18.99
ISBN: 9781501124389
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Published: S&S/ Marysue Rucci Books - March 7th, 2017

This wonderful novel by Chris Cleave puts you right in the path of World War II with its terrible personal tragedies and horror of war.  When the book opens in London in 1939 Mary a socialite feels compelled to do something and volunteers where she is assigned a teaching position working with the severely disadvantaged.  War effects every phase of life for those left behind and for those deeply engaged in the sickening aspects of war as it drags on through one horror after another. Mary falls in love with her boss, Tom and then with her bosses friend, Allister, two very different men.  but the realities of war as seen through the main characters are juxtaposed with the effects on their lives.  The feelings of what it means to live during this time permeates the novel, the fright, the hunger, the pain, the loss, the ghastly humor, what it takes to survive each day of the war and all the days thereafter.  I loved this book.  I loved the characters.  I loved the writing.  I can't wait to put it into the hands of my readers.


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A Poet of the Invisible World: A Novel By Michael Golding Cover Image
$18.00
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ISBN: 9781250071286
Published: Picador - October 6th, 2015

This is a beautiful, moving story of a man abandoned as an infant and raised in a Sufi order.  His life is shaped by his physical deformity and his need to hide this from everyone he meets.  It is only with those he allows himself to love, that he will share this.  His life is dedicated to growing spiritually until the day he realizes there is a different kind of love he is feeling. He is capable of great love despite enormous loss and loneliness.  I felt like I was reading a journal of a very special person.  I wanted him to love and be loved.  I wanted him to be happy.  I want to share this book with the reader who appreciates beautiful writing. 


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The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy: A Novel By Rachel Joyce Cover Image
$18.00
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ISBN: 9780812989816
Published: Random House Trade Paperbacks - March 1st, 2016

If you have read The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, you must now read The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy. What prompted Harold Fry to walk 500 miles to see Queenie again before she died? This incredible journey is made more vivid by the letters Queenie, who is no longer able to talk, is now writing to Harold so that he will understand what she was never able to tell him when they worked together. The pain she carried all these years is made so vivid. Queenie, now in her final days in a nursing home, is surrounded by people who care very much about her, the nurses, the aides, the other residents. Life is not easy but it is certainly deeply moving and deeply felt. I’m glad I got to know more about Queenie and her relationship with Harold and his family. You will remember these two for a long time.


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Orhan's Inheritance By Aline Ohanesian Cover Image
$15.95
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ISBN: 9781616205300
Published: Algonquin Books - January 19th, 2016

This is a beautiful novel whose setting and politics are  not as well known to many of us. From pre-World War I to contemporary times we meet the Turkish family of Orhan.  It opens with the death of Kemal, his grandfather, who before his horrible death, left his inheritance to an old Armenian woman now living in the United States. What should have been a great future for Orhan is now in jeopardy and because of that he travels to Los Angeles to meet this woman who could deny him what he always believed would be his. In this new world the Turkish and Armenian cultures clash anew with a story that his deeply moving.


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Our Souls at Night (Vintage Contemporaries) By Kent Haruf, Alan Kent Haruf Cover Image
$16.00
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ISBN: 9781101911921
Published: Vintage - June 28th, 2016

Our Souls at Night is more a novella which captures so poignantly the lives of Addie and Louis both aging in a small town where both have lost their respective spouses. They don't know each other that well but Addie had known Louis's wife. One night she surprises him by showing up at his door with an incredible proposal. Would he agree to spend every night with her to sleep with her just to talk and share stories and not be lonely. Eventually he agrees and their life takes on a warm accepting feeling except that their real life community and family will make their contentment hard to maintain. It's a very good read told in the sensitive understanding of small town life experiences of Kent Haruf. As with all his books the characters will stay with you for a very long time.


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We Are Not Ourselves: A Novel By Matthew Thomas Cover Image
$19.99
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ISBN: 9781476756677
Published: S&S/ Marysue Rucci Books - June 2nd, 2015

“Destined to be a classic” is what I have heard most often about this novel and I certainly agree. Matthew Thomas is a powerful new voice in literature. He paints a deeply moving picture of Eileen Tumulty raised in an Irish family and dreaming of a better life for herself. Though there are serious problems in her family there is never any doubt that Eileen loves her parents and that is the same feeling and maturity of strength she brings to her marriage. When she meets Ed Leary, a research scientist, she believes he is the kind of person who will give her the life she wants. As reality sets in, we see Eileen’s disappointment but never a change in her commitment and we come to see that though they are very different, with different ideas of life, they are truly committed to each other. As life deals them sadness and tragedy, Eileen brings strength of character that will enable her to live out the love she shares with Edmund. The result is a powerful, strong piece of contemporary literature.


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A Spool of Blue Thread: A Novel By Anne Tyler Cover Image
$17.00
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ISBN: 9780553394399
Published: Vintage - April 26th, 2016

No one writes about family like Anne Tyler does. Her latest book A Spool of Blue Thread is a depiction of family that is so real and heart wrenching I stayed with it straight to the end. Three generations of family are intertwined as they move in and out of their Baltimore house and each other's lives. This house is paramount to the thread of the story, from the dream home of the patriarch to the youngest children who eventually are having to deal with their aging parents. The humor balances the loss in true Tyler style. This novel celebrates her fifty years of writing, ever engaging and absorbing. I love Anne Tyler's books. It was a joy to find this one in galley form. 


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The Secret Wisdom of the Earth By Christopher Scotton Cover Image
$14.99
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ISBN: 9781455551910
Published: Grand Central Publishing - January 5th, 2016

This is one of those deeply moving books that captures your head and your heart and you can't let go. When 14 year old Kevin and his grieving mother go to Kentucky to live with his grandfather his life moves from ultimate tragedy to a new awakening. He experiences dealing with his grief while learning how to live and how to grow under the tutelage of an incredible man. Life in Kentucky is at the same time, warm and friendly and devastatingly cruel. This book is written from the perspective of the adult Kevin looking back on this one summer in his life. Medgar, Kentucky is dealing with massive mountain top removal that is doing irreparable damage to the environment. At the same time Kevin and a new friend are faced with the passions of the adults and the small town hate crimes. This summer Kevin will learn that wisdom and strength are what separates his grandfather from the powerful forces that are fighting to preserve their own will over the rest of the community. The voice of Christopher Scotton is so moving. It is hard to believe that this is a first novel. The community and the characters of this novel are as credible and reflective as those in To Kill a Mockingbird. It is well worth your time.


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Nora Webster: A Novel By Colm Toibin Cover Image
$17.00
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ISBN: 9781439170939
Published: Scribner - June 2nd, 2015

Nora is a person I won't soon forget. As a recent widow she exhausts herself with trying to find herself in a new single world. Her world is a small town in Ireland. She is overcome with everything at once and because of this fails to see the most serious problems surrounding her. Lost in her own grief she fails to see the grieving her children are going through. She has a support system readily available to her yet she seems at one point to be so self-centered and at another so fragile in her ability to deal with the realities of her new world. Life to Nora is black and white, simple and clear. Over and over again she acknowledges that had her husband, a respected teacher, been alive, he would have known what to do in various situations. Tóibín brings his characters to life, a life we share with them and because of that we want them to be happy. What a fine author. I highly recommend this engaging story and look forward to introducing our readers to Nora Webster.


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The Pearl That Broke Its Shell: A Novel By Nadia Hashimi Cover Image
$19.99
ISBN: 9780062244765
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: William Morrow Paperbacks - January 6th, 2015

Nadia Hashimi has been compared to Khaled Hosseini and Jhumpa Lahiri and she does write in that vein, but she truly has a voice of her own. This is a fascinating book of the lives of two Afghan women who live at different times, but are related in family and ideas. The pain of women in Afghanistan is just as vivid, but here there is strength and hope. Hope for the future and for their children. Both women have endured horrible living conditions at the hands of their husbands and society with little to protect them except the few relatives that offer them encouragement and a voice. To hear that voice in a story as achingly real is remarkable.


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All the Light We Cannot See: A Novel By Anthony Doerr Cover Image
$18.99
ISBN: 9781501173219
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Scribner - April 4th, 2017

Every once in a while you get a book that is so beautifully written you want to savor every page. That is All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. In the midst of this terrible war the author breathes life into characters that are living expressions of people who try to live and survive the terrible realities they are faced with. The young French blind girl who lives with her father who is preparing her every day to be independent and to survive, the young German boy who is so innocent and so talented in working with transistors and the circumstances that create the parallels in their lives and the lives of those who love them. All The Light We Cannot See is rich in a tone that is excruciatingly engaging. When I read the last page I realized that I had experienced a world that was so very harsh with the briefest elements of salvation.  Doerr has created a masterpiece.


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The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry: A Novel By Gabrielle Zevin Cover Image
$18.99
ISBN: 9781616204518
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Algonquin Books - December 2nd, 2014

This is my new favorite book of the year. If you love little bookstores, you must read this book. Gabrielle Zevin captures the inner workings of a little bookstore, Island Books and makes you a part of it, a part of its staff, its curated inventory, and its regular customers, who in their own way share in this special world. The bookstore’s little sign, No Man is an Island; Every Book is a World, is played out completely in this novel. The owner, A. J. Fikry, experiences the highs and lows of owning a store in a resort community, and then one day his world changes dramatically. I laughed; I cried and saw what one reviewer exclaimed, “I’ve never read a narrative that so vividly paints a picture of what it’s like to be a bookseller.” The people who are a part of the narrative are I’m sure reflected in bookstores across the country. You are probably one of them! (Rita)