Robin's Picks
Robin Allen is the owner of Forever Books. A former history teacher turned entrepreneur, she opened Forever Books on April Fools Day in 1999 after the closing of a local children's bookstore. When not at the store or working for the store (rare), she enjoys reading non-fiction history, memoirs, political works, and fiction. She also loves spending time with her two nieces. Robin has served on the board and as Board President of the Great Lakes Independent Booksellers Association.
Rookie cops in NYC buy neighboring houses in a commuter suburb in the 1970s, but each family takes a different turn. When the daughter of one falls for the son of the other, a violent event tears the families apart. The novel follows both families and the couple through the years, with heartbreak and healing. A moving, beautiful, and original novel.
Tom and his wife have a sheep farm in remote Australia in the 1960s and when she leaves him for weeks only to return pregnant with another man’s child. He loves the boy as his own, and is broken hearted when she leaves with him. When the charismatic Hannah, several years Tom’s senior, arrives in town (with a story of her own) to open a bookshop, Tom is hired to build the shelves. A feel-good novel with plenty of heart.
Dean’s father purchased a piece of property near Muskegon, Michigan, with the hope that his three estranged sons would help him build a hunting camp to help heal their family. Kuipers’ writing is sheer poetry as he describes the environment and our deep connection to it. I do not hunt, but no matter, that is not the focus. If you are from Michigan or have memories of your family “going up north” on vacation, you’ll enjoy one of my favorite books!
A brilliant account of the true crime book that Harper Lee, the author of her lone book, To Kill a Mockingbird, did not write but investigated and researched for over a decade, following the Alabama serial killer who murdered his wives and family members for their life insurance monies.
Part Agatha Christie, part time-travel, part Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, this stunning book is original, creative, unexpected, and totally engrossing. British author Turton is a brilliant storyteller: His main character awakens in a forest with no memory of who he is and the name of the woman he is shouting. He also discovers he is not the person he sees in the mirror and knows none of the people gathered for the 19th anniversary of the death of the owner's child. Nothing formulaic here! (Warning: 5 am reading!) Quite simply, the most astonishing mystery I've read in twenty years as a bookseller.
A novel based on Ludwig (Lale) Sokolov’s account of his harrowing experiences tattooing prisoners in the Auschwitz concentration camp where he met his future wife. Morris includes photographs, a map of the camp, and a postwar follow up on Lale, his wife, his family, some of the prisoners, and his guards. Agonizing, yet triumphant.
Set in Britain in the decades following WWII, by the author of The English Patient. Two young people are left with two men they’ve never met before when their parents spend a year in Singapore. Both mysterious and humorous, one reviewer wrote, “. . . this novel about secrets and loss may be Ondaatje's best work yet.” I couldn’t agree more!
An archivist discovers a satchel and its mysterious contents, leading her to an English country house on the Thames. The secrets of the house unfold with the help of a woman who has lived in the house since 1862, a clockmaker’s daughter who modeled for and fell in love with a wealthy painter. Delicious reading!
You don’t need a background knowledge in Greek (I have little) to enjoy this stunning novel about Circe, daughter of Helios, god of the sun. Ignored by her family as homely, banished by her father to a remote island for turning a human into a sea monster, Circe eventually meets Odysseus, turning his crew into swine. Loved this!
At the turn of the 19th century, feathers were the fashion, leading to the massacre of birds on a massive scale. Unfortunately, in 1999, the hunt began again; people clamored for rare feathers for the new fad: tying flies for salmon fishing. In 2009, an American studying in London took off with hundreds of birds from the Tring Museum. An enthralling account of a truly bizarre crime and Johnson’s hunt for the truth.
In 1969, the four Gold children visit a fortune teller who tells each of them (in private) the date of their death. What follows is the story of each of them and how they really die. Original premise, excellent writing, and begs the question, “Would you want to know the date?”
In 1922 the Bolsheviks sentence Count Alexander Rostov to house arrest in the luxurious Metropol Hotel in Moscow for political crimes; however, he is moved from his suite of rooms to a spare attic room. How he copes with the span of 30 years in confinement makes for an inspiring, moving, and thoroughly enjoyable read. I can’t rave enough about this spectacular novel!
In 1935, Detroit became the City of Champions: the only city to win championships in baseball, football, and hockey in the same year. At the same time, a dangerous and ominous group called the Black Legion was recruiting thousands of men (often at gunpoint) from all walks of life, creating corruption, terror, and murder. While I don’t follow baseball, Stanton’s fascinating account of Detroit sports and Depression-era crime had me hooked from page one. I’m a FAN!
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Forever Books Turned 20 April 1st, 2019!
Thank you for making us your community book store!
We have a new email! Please reach us at foreverbooks@att.net!
Tuesday, October 15 at 7:00 PM
Come hear our Top 25 of the season!
-Staff will present on their top 25 new books (hardcover and paperback) of the season
-Free book (publishers advance copy) for all attendees
-20% off entire purchase
Signed Copies available from Larry and Sandy Feldman...
Building Bridges Across the Racial Divide.
Building Bridges Across the Racial Divide offers a hopeful view of how well-constructed
diversity initiatives can combat entrenched racial prejudice and segregation in American life.
Signed Copies available of Killing Vincent: The Man, the Myth, and the Murder