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, fiction, and children's books.  Robin received the Entrepreneur of the Year Award from Cornerstone Alliance and served on the board and as Board President of the Great Lakes Independent Booksellers Association.   

 

 

 

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Life on the Mississippi: An Epic American Adventure By Rinker Buck Cover Image
$32.50
ISBN: 9781501106378
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster - August 9th, 2022

Author of bestseller, The Oregon Trail, Rinker takes his adventure to recreating the flatboat era of the American West, building his craft in Pennsylvania and floating it from the Ohio River, down the Mississippi to New Orleans. His compatriots are characters (one insists on dressing the part). Perils and victories abound.


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River of the Gods: Genius, Courage, and Betrayal in the Search for the Source of the Nile By Candice Millard Cover Image
$32.50
ISBN: 9780385543101
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Published: Doubleday - May 17th, 2022

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Mercury Pictures Presents: A Novel By Anthony Marra Cover Image
$28.99
ISBN: 9780451495204
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Published: Hogarth - August 2nd, 2022

Maria and her mother flee Fascist Italy when her father is arrested. She becomes an associate producer for the head of a Hollywood B-movie studio until one day, a young man bearing letters from her father upends her life. A moving story that travels back and forth between Italy and L.A.


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Ordinary Monsters: A Novel (The Talents #1) By J. M. Miro Cover Image
$28.99
ISBN: 9781250833662
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Flatiron Books - June 7th, 2022

A historical fantasy set in 1880s London, where children are hunted by a man made of smoke to tap into their special talents/powers, while at the same time, others are trying to rescue them and bring them to a haven in Ednburgh. Monsters can hide in plain sight!


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Last Summer on State Street: A Novel By Toya Wolfe Cover Image
$27.99
ISBN: 9780063209749
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Published: William Morrow - June 14th, 2022

In the voice of a 12-year-old girl, Wolfe shares her experiences growing up in the Robert Taylor Homes in 1999 Chicago as the high-rises around her are being razed.


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Magic Season: A Son's Story By Wade Rouse Cover Image
$27.99
ISBN: 9781335475176
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Published: Hanover Square Press - May 3rd, 2022

Wade Rouse has written an unforgettable memoir about the fraught relatioship with his father growing up in a small town in the Ozarks of Missour. The one connection they had was baseball and their love for the St. Louis Cardinals. During his father's last days as he and his husband care for him, Wade reflects on his attempts to heal the past while they watch a dramatic Cardinals playoff game. Wade is a master storyteller-- you'll both grin and grieve. So compelling I had to read this remarkable book in one sitting. A real gem. (And you don't have to like baseball!)


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Confessions of a Bookseller By Shaun Bythell Cover Image
$17.95
Email or call for price
ISBN: 9781567927221
Published: David R. Godine Publisher - March 22nd, 2022

The behind-the-scenes diary of a year in the life of the owner of the largest secondhand bookstore in Scotland. Meet The Mole, Captain the Cat, and a ghost?, but the biggest "character" of them all is Shaun, the author. You'll hate it when the December 31st entry rolls around.


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James Patterson by James Patterson: The Stories of My Life By James Patterson Cover Image
$29.00
ISBN: 9780316397537
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Published: Little, Brown and Company - June 6th, 2022

Full of anecdotes from working in a sanitarium (meeting James Taylor!), leading an ad agency (“I don't want to grow up, I'm a Toys r Us kid!”), and of his journey to becoming the world's best selling living author.


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Mrs Harris Goes to Paris & Mrs Harris Goes to New York By Paul Gallico Cover Image
$18.00
ISBN: 9781639730834
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Published: Bloomsbury Publishing - July 12th, 2022

A feel-good story of an English charwoman determined to travel to Paris to buy her very own Dior gown, meeting and charming characters along her journey who are affected by her goodness.


Happy-Go-Lucky By David Sedaris Cover Image
$29.00
ISBN: 9780316392457
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Little, Brown and Company - May 31st, 2022

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Out of Esau: A Novel By Michelle Webster-Hein Cover Image
$27.00
ISBN: 9781640094123
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Published: Counterpoint - October 11th, 2022

Not Yet Released - Oct 11, 2022

Robert Glory is of Native American ancestry and pastor of the Baptist church in small town Esau, Michigan for 10 years, but never feels like he belongs. When a lovely mother of two approaches him, questioning her purpose and her faith, he is drawn to her and questions his own. Their growing attraction to causes each to face their past and present wounds. Unforgettable, with gorgeous writing.


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The Maid: A Novel By Nita Prose Cover Image
$27.00
ISBN: 9780593356159
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Published: Ballantine Books - January 4th, 2022

Socially awkward Molly Gray is a hotel maid bullied by hotel employees. She’s depended on her gran to help her understand social cues, but gran has recently died and she’s on her own.  When she’s the maid who discovers the dead body of a business tycoon, she becomes embroiled in a murder investigation and arrested.  This is most delightful book I’ve read in years! This is a charming, heartwarming, clever, and usual crime novel.


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A Narrow Door: A Novel By Joanne Harris Cover Image
$26.95
ISBN: 9781643139050
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Published: Pegasus Crime - January 4th, 2022

The first female head of an elite grammar school in North Yorkshire admits in a narrative at the beginning of the book that she has committed two murders, so when the remains of a body are discovered on the school grounds, she isn’t surprised, teasing out the story to the Latin-master, Scheherazade-style in order to keep him from reporting it to the police.   Engrossing and addictive.


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Still Life By Sarah Winman Cover Image
$17.00
ISBN: 9780593330760
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Published: G.P. Putnam's Sons - September 13th, 2022

My favorite novel of 2021. An epic about a family of friends who make the city of Florence their home. This story wanders through the years, from 1901 to 1979, but begins in 1944 with a young soldier befriending a middle-aged art historian. A slow-paced narrative that unfolds as a love story to Florence, and an ode to love in all forms with parallels to the pensione in E.M. Forster's A Room With a View. Richly written, unforgettable characters. Stunning.


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Lightning Down: A World War II Story of Survival By Tom Clavin Cover Image
$18.99
ISBN: 9781250830388
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Published: St. Martin's Griffin - September 20th, 2022

The shocking story of P-38 pilot Joe Moser and the other 167 captured Allied pilots illegally housed in the Buchenwald concentration camp instead of a POW camp, their amazing survival, and how when they came home, no one believed their story.


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Death at Greenway: A Novel By Lori Rader-Day Cover Image
$16.99
ISBN: 9780062938046
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Published: William Morrow Paperbacks - October 12th, 2021

Nurse trainee Bridy Kelly agrees to take care of small children evacuated from London during the Blitz. Sent to Agatha Christie’s estate, Greenway (actually used for this purpose during the war), Kelly meets a trio on the train, one of whom ends up dead on the estate, and nearby villagers are contribute to the mystery. This is an exceptional mystery with unexpected twists throughout and an ending that will astound you.


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Never: A Novel By Ken Follett Cover Image
$20.00
ISBN: 9780593300039
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Published: Penguin Books - June 7th, 2022

Bestselling author Follett has written another winner: a complex and compelling international thriller that is all too plausible.  You will race to the end! Unforgettable. No wonder he’s a Mystery Writer’s of America Grand Master.


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The Boys: A Memoir of Hollywood and Family By Ron Howard, Clint Howard Cover Image
$18.99
ISBN: 9780063065253
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Published: William Morrow Paperbacks - September 20th, 2022

This is a nostalgic look back at the childhood and show business careers of the Howard brothers; Ron, the more famous for his acting roles (Opie in The Andy Griffith Show and Happy Days) and for his directing (Apollo 13).Their family dynamic, remarkable parents, and personal lives make for a humorous, entertaining, and delightful read.


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Vanderbilt: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty By Anderson Cooper, Katherine Howe Cover Image
$18.99
ISBN: 9780062964625
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Published: Harper Paperbacks - September 20th, 2022

Intriguing look at the family who started with nothing, became one  of  the richest in the world for generations, only to lose it all. Fascinating read written by the son of Gloria Vanderbilt. 


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Cloud Cuckoo Land: A Novel By Anthony Doerr Cover Image
$20.00
ISBN: 9781982168445
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Published: Scribner - September 27th, 2022

Doerr is the author of the bestseller, All the Light You Cannot See, this epic saga plays homage to the book and to libraries in ancient Greece, 2020 small-town Idaho, and in a 22nd-century ark-like spaceship. A gem, worth the commitment to the 600+ pages.


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The Lincoln Highway: A Novel By Amor Towles Cover Image
$30.00
ISBN: 9780735222359
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Viking - October 5th, 2021

After the death of his father, 18-year-old Emmett is released from a work program and discovers the family farm is in foreclosure. His precocious 10-year-old brother convinces him to take the Lincoln Highway to San Francisco in search for their mother who abandoned them. But Emmett's ne'er-do-well fellow inmates steal his car, leading them to NewYork. An extraordinary combination of charm and calamity. Author of the bestseller, A Gentleman in Moscow.


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Matrix: A Novel By Lauren Groff Cover Image
$18.00
ISBN: 9781594634505
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Riverhead Books - September 6th, 2022

Groff brilliantly imagines the life of 12th-century Marie de France, the illegitimate half-sister of Henry II, and one of the first women believed to have written verse in French. In this novel, Marie subversively leads a royal abbey in England from poverty to wealth and power. Groff is the author of the bestsellers, Florida and Fates & Furies.


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Travels with George: In Search of Washington and His Legacy By Nathaniel Philbrick Cover Image
$18.00
ISBN: 9780525562191
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Published: Penguin Books - May 31st, 2022

Philbrick retraces Washington's travels around the new country after inauguration from 1789-1791 in an attempt to unite millions of colonists. Philbrick reflects on the man (good and unfortunate) and his role in forming our nation's Capitol. This is an entertaining historical travelogue with a few suprises.


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Hero of Two Worlds: The Marquis de Lafayette in the Age of Revolution By Mike Duncan Cover Image
$18.99
ISBN: 9781541730342
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Published: PublicAffairs - September 6th, 2022

A fascinating look at the Marquis de Lafayette, hero of the American Revolution. He returned to France, only to flee execution, but served five horrific years in a foreign prison. His name may be commone knowledge, but his life story is not.


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Hurricane Lizards and Plastic Squid: The Fraught and Fascinating Biology of Climate Change By Thor Hanson Cover Image
$28.00
ISBN: 9781541672420
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Basic Books - September 28th, 2021

This conservation biologist takes a fascinating look at how nature deals with climate change. Without preaching or lecturing, he reveals how plants, animals, and ocean life adjust, often creating a chain reaction.  Engrossing, and not to be missed by nature lovers.


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All the Little Hopes: A Novel By Leah Weiss Cover Image
$16.99
ISBN: 9781728232744
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Published: Sourcebooks Landmark - July 27th, 2021

A small North Carolina town during WWII is the focus of Weiss’ newest novel, with the focus on two 13-year-old girls from different backgrounds who learn to mesh. This is charming, moving, and oh-so-Southern. A joy to read and unforgettable. Weiss is one of my absolute favorite authors!


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Vesper Flights By Helen MacDonald Cover Image
$17.00
ISBN: 9780802158673
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Published: Grove Press - July 13th, 2021

English naturalist is the author of H is for Hawk and has written another exemplary collection of essays of her observations of the intersection of animals and humans. An elegant memoir.


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London's Number One Dog-Walking Agency: A Memoir By Kate MacDougall Cover Image
$17.99
ISBN: 9780063059795
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: William Morrow Paperbacks - July 5th, 2022

Macdougall left her job to start a dog-walking business and regales the reader with stories of a cast of characters and their dogs. A few tears, but mostly laughs and warm fuzzies. Thoroughly enjoyable.


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Fox and I: An Uncommon Friendship By Catherine Raven Cover Image
$18.00
ISBN: 9781954118119
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Published: Spiegel & Grau - June 28th, 2022

A National Park Service biologist and PhD teaches, but lives in isolation in her small cabin in a Montana valley. She develops an unusual friendship with a fox, which is met with extreme skepticism and ridicule by her students and colleagues. Judge for yourself - - but it’s magical. Fascinating insights into nature adds to this exceptional book.


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Madhouse at the End of the Earth: The Belgica's Journey into the Dark Antarctic Night By Julian Sancton Cover Image
$18.00
ISBN: 9781984824349
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Published: Crown - February 22nd, 2022

This is the harrowing, Belgium expedition to the Antarctic in 1898 where the ship became icebound for a year while the crew suffered madness, death, and danger. Norwegian first mate Roald Amundsen became a legendary polar explorer and the American doctor on board saved the crew from scurvy by making them eat raw penguin meat.  Drama galore, and it reads like fiction.


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The Personal Librarian By Marie Benedict, Victoria Christopher Murray Cover Image
$17.00
ISBN: 9780593101544
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Published: Berkley - June 7th, 2022

The little-known story of the Black woman hired away from Princeton to oversee the personal library of J. Pierpont Morgan, one of the largest collections of books, rare manuscripts, and artwork in the world.  This extraordinary woman became one of the most powerful women in New York.


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Ridgeline: A Novel By Michael Punke Cover Image
$17.99
ISBN: 9781250310484
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Published: Holt Paperbacks - June 21st, 2022

Perfect for the Larry McMurtry fan, this western is the novelization of the 1866 Fetterman Massacre, in which a confederacy of Lakota, Cheyenne, and Arapaho tribes fought a detachment of U.S. soldiers from Fort Phil Kearny in present-day Wyoming. Told from the viewpoints of the soldiers, the women, scout Jim Bridger, and the Native Americans, it foreshadows the Battle of Little Bighorn. Historical fiction at its best.


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How Y'all Doing?: Misadventures and Mischief from a Life Well Lived By Leslie Jordan Cover Image
$17.99
ISBN: 9780063076204
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Published: William Morrow Paperbacks - April 5th, 2022

A feel-good, hilarious book that will make you both laugh and bring a few tears to your eyes.  Jordan is the consummate Southern storyteller.  Who knew he trained thoroughbred horses in his youth and didn’t make it to Hollywood until his thirties? He’s had quite a career, but I remember him as Beverly Leslie on Will & Grace. Pure fun, and some life lessons I won’t forget.


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Blood and Treasure: Daniel Boone and the Fight for America's First Frontier By Bob Drury, Tom Clavin Cover Image
$18.99
ISBN: 9781250247155
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Published: St. Martin's Griffin - March 15th, 2022

Exceptional biography of Daniel Boone and the settling of Kentucky with fierce resistance from the Shawnee. Boone is captured, his son is massacred, and his daughter kidnapped.  Not for the faint of heart, but well-written and fast-paced, and for this former high school history teacher, a real delight to read!


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Good Eggs: A Novel By Rebecca Hardiman Cover Image
$17.99
ISBN: 9781982164300
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Published: Atria Books - March 15th, 2022

In Dublin, eighty-three-year-old Millie shoplifts one too many times, causing her son to hire irrepressible and upbeat Sylvia as an aide.  Aideen, Millie’s teenaged granddaughter, is struggling and is thrown into the mix. Oh, the hilarity that ensues! And it ends with a caper! This is the feel-good book you are looking for.


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We Begin at the End By Chris Whitaker Cover Image
$17.99
ISBN: 9781250759689
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Published: Holt Paperbacks - April 12th, 2022

Cape Haven, a picturesque coastal California town, is the setting about the repercussions from an accident years ago. When the driver from the accident is released from prison, a woman he was tied to is murdered, leaving her fierce 13-yr-old daughter, who is center stage in this excellent thriller.


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The Four Winds: A Novel By Kristin Hannah Cover Image
$28.99
ISBN: 9781250178602
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Published: St. Martin's Press - February 2nd, 2021

The author of bestseller The Nightingale has written an emotionally charged epic of Dust Bowl-era Texas and the devastating choices people must make to survive. Another winner for Hannah.


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We Run the Tides: A Novel By Vendela Vida Cover Image
$16.99
ISBN: 9780062936240
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Published: Ecco - October 12th, 2021

13-yr-old Eulabee (“I am a daring enigma”) and her four best friends live in the trendy San Francisco neighborhood overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge. Because one of the girls is beautiful, her accounts of events are believed and Eulabee is gradually ostracized.  The author masterfully captures the voice of girls this age, and anyone who has ever been a teen will relate. Highly engaging.


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My Year Abroad: A Novel By Chang-rae Lee Cover Image
$17.00
ISBN: 9781594634581
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Riverhead Books - February 1st, 2022

Tiller is living with a 30-year-old woman and her precocious son, who are in a witness protection program, fraught with danger. It’s a roller-coaster ride for young Tiller who had abandoned college to hitch his wagon to a mega-wealthy businessman who lures him into his world of the rich and suspicious, where he ends up on the other side of the world to help him promote a health drink.  Both stories shift back and forth to conclude in a bizarre climax. A most unusual story, full of dark comedy, both strange and wonderful.


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The House on Vesper Sands By Paraic O'Donnell Cover Image
$16.95
ISBN: 9781951142988
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Published: Tin House Books - January 11th, 2022

 A riveting Victorian-era murder mystery and supernatural thriller, and despite its eerie gothic atmosphere, it has a strong undercurrent of humor throughout. The writing is reminiscent of Charles Dickens.


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Is This Anything? By Jerry Seinfeld Cover Image
$18.00
ISBN: 9781982112721
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Published: Simon & Schuster - November 9th, 2021

For this book, Jerry Seinfeld has selected his favorite material, organized decade by decade. In page after hilarious page, one brilliantly crafted observation after another, readers will witness the evolution of one of the great comedians of our time and gain new insights into the thrilling but unforgiving art of writing stand-up comedy. -Recommended by Robin!


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The Cold Millions: A Novel By Jess Walter Cover Image
$17.00
ISBN: 9780062868091
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Published: Harper Perennial - October 5th, 2021

An intimate story of brotherhood, love, sacrifice,  and betrayal set against the panoramic backdrop of an early twentieth-century America that eerily echoes our own time, The Cold Millions offers a  kaleidoscopic portrait of a nation grappling with the chasm between rich and poor, between harsh realities and simple dreams.-Recommended by Robin


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The Brilliant Life of Eudora Honeysett: A Novel By Annie Lyons Cover Image
$16.99
ISBN: 9780063026070
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Published: William Morrow Paperbacks - October 19th, 2021

At 85, Eudora has had enough of life, enough of people, and makes arrangements to end her life. But then a 10-yr-old moves in next door and a 70-something widower intrude upon her hermetic life. Fans of A Man Called Ove will love this feel-good novel.


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The Answer Is . . .: Reflections on My Life By Alex Trebek Cover Image
$26.00
ISBN: 9781982157999
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Published: Simon & Schuster - July 21st, 2020

Looking for a feel-good read? If you love Jeopardy like I do, you won’t be disappointed by this lighthearted and entertaining book.

 


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Hamnet By Maggie O'Farrell Cover Image
$16.95
ISBN: 9781984898876
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Published: Vintage - May 18th, 2021

O’Farell imagines the life of Shakespeare’s family in Stratford-on-Avon, including how Hamnet, his son and a twin, died at 11 in 1596. A gripping drama, painfully lovely, and historical fiction at its best.


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The Girl with the Louding Voice: A Novel By Abi Daré Cover Image
$17.00
ISBN: 9781524746094
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Published: Dutton - February 23rd, 2021

14-yr-old Adunni is told, by words and deeds, that she is nothing. From a small Nigerian village, she is determined to finish school and become a teacher, the only way her mother says she can have a “louding voice.” But when her mother dies, her father marries her to a much older man as his third wife. How she overcomes this and much worse is moving and inspiring, bringing me to tears.  You’ll be cheering for her all the way. 


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Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line: A Novel By Deepa Anappara Cover Image
$18.00
ISBN: 9780593129289
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Published: Random House Trade Paperbacks - May 11th, 2021

The 9-yr-old narrator of this outstanding novel is enamored with detective shows and lives in a shantytown in Delhi.  When classmates begin disappearing, Jai decides to play the detective and solve the cases.  A wonderfully memorable book full of heart, humor, and heartbreak. One of my favorite books of 2020. 


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The Impossible First: From Fire to Ice—Crossing Antarctica Alone By Colin O'Brady Cover Image
$17.99
Email or call for price
ISBN: 9781982133122
Published: Scribner - January 19th, 2021

In the 2018 harrowing account of the first solo crossing of Antarctica, O’Brady is both triumphant and determined, regardless of the obstacles thrown in his path.   Simultaneously, racing to achieve the same goal is British Army Captain Louis Rudd. Also is his back-story: how he survived severe burns during his collegiate years and was told he would never walk, only to become a triathlete and climb the seven highest summits on earth.


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The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz By Erik Larson Cover Image
$20.00
ISBN: 9780385348737
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Published: Crown - February 15th, 2022

Another winner for Larson, author of The Devil in the White City. Need I say more? As much as I’ve read about Churchill and WWII, this is a fresh look at the man and his country’s bravery during the Blitz from May 1940 to May 1941.


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The Art of Resistance: My Four Years in the French Underground: A Memoir By Justus Rosenberg Cover Image
$17.99
ISBN: 9780062742209
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Published: Custom House - April 27th, 2021

Because Rosenberg was a young-looking 19-yr-old when he worked for the French Resistance during WWII, he could pose as a student in order to gain access to Nazi secrets, smuggle forged documents and those fleeing France, and even worked for U.S. Army units as they overtook the enemy.  Now approaching 100, Rosenberg is professor emeritus of languages and literature at Bard College, where he has been on the faculty for fifty years. Reads like a spy thriller! 


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The Ship of Dreams: The Sinking of the Titanic and the End of the Edwardian Era By Mr. Gareth Russell Cover Image
$18.99
ISBN: 9781501176739
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Published: Atria Books - November 3rd, 2020

Russell recounts the story of the Titanic from the perspective of six first class passengers and their families: a British countess; the managing director of the shipyard where the ship was built; a philanthropist; the vice president of the Pennsylvania railroad, and his son, Jack; and one of the highest paid actresses in the world. Meticulously researched yet entertaining. Exceptional. 


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A Bookshop in Berlin: The Rediscovered Memoir of One Woman's Harrowing Escape from the Nazis By Françoise Frenkel, Patrick Modiano (Preface by) Cover Image
$17.00
ISBN: 9781501199851
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Published: Atria Books - August 4th, 2020

A riveting memoir rediscovered 60 years after its publication about a Polish Jew who fled Berlin to France, abandoning her French-language bookstore. Frenkel endures four years of hiding, capture and imprisonment, eventually attempting to flee to Switzerland.


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Cilka's Journey: A Novel By Heather Morris Cover Image
$16.99
ISBN: 9781250265692
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Published: St. Martin's Griffin - September 8th, 2020

Morris’s novel is based on the true story of a Jewish woman who survived Auschwitz, only to be sentenced to 15 years in a Russian gulag in Siberia for fraternizing with the enemy, forced to be a Nazi officer’s mistress. An inspiring survival story about one of the prisoners mentioned in her previous book, The Tattooist of Auschwitz. Life-affirming and inspirational, not all gloom and doom. 


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This Tender Land: A Novel By William Kent Krueger Cover Image
$17.00
ISBN: 9781476749303
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Published: Atria Books - May 26th, 2020

Odie and his brother are orphaned and are sent to live in the nearby Indian School, the only white students. When their protector dies, they leave and take with them her little girl and a mute Indian boy. What follows is a escape quest down the Mississippi in 1932, encountering all manner of people surviving the Great Depression. A treasure and an unforgettable book. 


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The Water Dancer: A Novel By Ta-Nehisi Coates Cover Image
$18.00
ISBN: 9780399590610
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Published: One World - November 17th, 2020

Hiram Walker is the son of a slave woman and the plantation owner, who educates him to serve his white son. Hiram soon discovers he has a gift, and uses it to head north, working with the Underground Railroad, only to realize his true home and purpose is in the South. This is Coates’s first foray into fiction and it’s a treasure. 
 


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A Single Thread: A Novel By Tracy Chevalier Cover Image
$17.00
ISBN: 9780525558262
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Penguin Books - October 6th, 2020

The author of The Girl with the Pearl Earring focuses on Violet, an English 38-yr-old “spinster” in 1932 who lives with her mother when her fiancé and brother were killed in The Great War.  She wanders into Winchester Cathedral during her work lunch hour and is drawn into a society of women who embroider kneelers for the cathedral. I’m allergic to needlework, but I fell in love with this story based on the real-life “Broderers” and Violet’s “declaration of independence.” Charming, yet substantive. 


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The Bookshop of the Broken Hearted By Robert Hillman Cover Image
Email or call for price
ISBN: 9780593085233
Published: G.P. Putnam's Sons - August 11th, 2020

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.


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The Deer Camp: A Memoir of a Father, a Family, and the Land that Healed Them By Dean Kuipers Cover Image
$28.00
Email or call for price
ISBN: 9781635573480
Published: Bloomsbury Publishing - May 14th, 2019

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!


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Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud, and the Last Trial of Harper Lee By Casey Cep Cover Image
$16.95
ISBN: 9781101972052
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Vintage - September 29th, 2020

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.


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The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle By Stuart Turton Cover Image
$16.99
ISBN: 9781492670124
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Sourcebooks Landmark - May 7th, 2019

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.


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The Tattooist of Auschwitz: A Novel By Heather Morris Cover Image
$16.99
ISBN: 9780062797155
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Harper Paperbacks - September 4th, 2018

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.


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Circe By Madeline Miller Cover Image
$16.99
ISBN: 9780316556323
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Back Bay Books - April 14th, 2020

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!


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A Gentleman in Moscow: A Novel By Amor Towles Cover Image
$18.00
ISBN: 9780143110439
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Penguin Books - March 26th, 2019

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!