Staff Picks 2012

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The Snow Child: A Novel By Eowyn Ivey Cover Image
$16.99
ISBN: 9780316175661
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Back Bay Books - November 6th, 2012

Ivey’s first book is magical!  I concur with Robert Goolrick, the author of A Reliable Wife, “if Willa Cather & Gabriel Garcia Marquez had collaborated…The Snow Child would be it.”             

Carol


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Arcadia: A Novel By Lauren Groff Cover Image
$16.99
ISBN: 9780316434706
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Hachette Books - July 13th, 2016

I loved this story of Bit, a boy who grows up on a commune in upstate NY—he is a character who will stay with me. And Lauren Groff’s writing is beautiful.  She is now on my list of must read authors.      

Carol


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The Dovekeepers: A Novel By Alice Hoffman Cover Image
$18.00
ISBN: 9781451617481
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Scribner - April 3rd, 2012

This is engrossing historical fiction about four women and the Masada in 1st century Judea.                           Carol                                 


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The Art of Hearing Heartbeats: A Novel By Jan-Philipp Sendker Cover Image
$18.99
ISBN: 9781590514634
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Other Press - January 31st, 2012

What a beautiful, moving story of a lawyer who disappears from his upper class life in NYC and his daughter who tries to discover what happened to him in his native Burma.      

 

Carol


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The Language of Flowers: A Novel By Vanessa Diffenbaugh Cover Image
$18.00
ISBN: 9780345525550
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Ballantine Books - April 3rd, 2012

The author uses the language of flowers to convey  the life of the instantly lovable and complicated Victoria.

Lisa


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Gold: A Novel By Chris Cleave Cover Image
$17.00
ISBN: 9781451672732
Availability: We can order this for you!
Published: Simon & Schuster - April 30th, 2013

Just in time for Olympic Fever—the story of Olympic bicyclists in London.  This is from the author of Little Bee.  And it is completely different and completely engaging—Cleave is simply a great writer.           

Carol & Eva


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Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail By Cheryl Strayed Cover Image
$18.00
ISBN: 9780307476074
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Vintage - March 26th, 2013

Strayed’s excellent memoir of her struggles after her mother’s death.  She was on a self-destructive path until she decided to hike the Pacific Crest Trail alone, with almost no experience.      

Carol


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Beautiful Ruins: A Novel By Jess Walter Cover Image
$16.99
ISBN: 9780061928178
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Harper Perennial - April 2nd, 2013

A great story moving between 1962 Italy and present day Hollywood.  Humor, love, Richard Burton, and superb writing make for a very smart beach read.   

Carol


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Gone Girl: A Novel By Gillian Flynn Cover Image
$17.00
ISBN: 9780307588371
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Ballantine Books - April 22nd, 2014

Gone Girl is a great read that will grab you on the first page and keep you reading through many plot twists and turns.    

Lisa & Carol


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The House at Tyneford: A Novel By Natasha Solomons Cover Image
$16.00
ISBN: 9780452297647
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: G.P. Putnam's Sons - December 27th, 2011

Excellent for Downton Abbey fans.  A wealthy Jewish girl in 1938 Vienna escapes the approaching war by becoming a servant in an English country house.        

Carol


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My Two Moms: Lessons of Love, Strength, and What Makes a Family By Zach Wahls Cover Image
$17.00
Not available
ISBN: 9781592407637
Published: Avery - April 2nd, 2013

Wahls talks about, yes, growing up with two moms, but also about what his church meant to him, what it was like with a mom fighting MS, and how being an Eagle Scout helped make him the man he is today.  A well-written lovely book about the struggles of a young man defined by much more than growing up with two moms. 

Eva


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Cleopatra: A Life By Stacy Schiff Cover Image
$19.99
ISBN: 9780316001946
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Back Bay Books - September 6th, 2011

Superb biography of Cleopatra and of the time in which she lived.                

Carol


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One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are By Ann Voskamp Cover Image
$22.99
ISBN: 9780310321910
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Zondervan - January 26th, 2011

I loved this book about the joy of consciously weaving gratitude and grace into every day.      

Lisa


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Seating Arrangements (Vintage Contemporaries) By Maggie Shipstead Cover Image
$16.95
ISBN: 9780307743954
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Vintage - May 7th, 2013

Social comedy at its best.  A disastrous wedding weekend full of upper class East Coast angst and scenes that had me laughing out loud.  The “Father of the Bride” genre needs to make room for Winn Van Meter.        
Carol


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The All of It: A Novel By Jeannette Haien Cover Image
$13.99
ISBN: 9780062090096
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Harper Perennial - June 7th, 2011


A spare moral story, which is  a favorite of one of my favorite authors—Ann Patchett.           

Carol


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Death Comes to Pemberley By P. D. James Cover Image
$17.00
ISBN: 9780307950659
Availability: We can order this for you!
Published: Vintage - January 1st, 2013


A real departure for James.  It’s still a murder mystery, but she has set it in Darcy & Elizabeth’s Pemberly, six years after their marriage in Pride & Prejudice.        

Carol


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Flight Behavior: A Novel By Barbara Kingsolver Cover Image
$18.00
ISBN: 9780062124272
Availability: We can order this for you!
Published: Harper Perennial - June 4th, 2013

It’s been a long time since Kingsolver has written a novel like this.  It’s about global warming and monarchs, but really about one woman’s life and marriage in  remote Appalachia, and all that the monarchs bring to it.            Carol


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The Dog Stars (Vintage Contemporaries) By Peter Heller Cover Image
$17.00
ISBN: 9780307950475
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Vintage - May 7th, 2013

A dystopian tale of a pilot and his dog, living at an abandoned airfield 9 years after a plague has wiped out most of the population.     Carol


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The Thursday Night Men By Tonino Benacquista, Alison Anderson (Translated by) Cover Image
By Tonino Benacquista, Alison Anderson (Translated by)
$16.00
ISBN: 9781609450793
Availability: We can order this for you!
Published: Europa Editions - September 25th, 2012

It is difficult to even pinpoint what The Thursday Night Men is about, but it grabs you at the very first page and does not let go. Out of maybe one hundred men meeting weekly to share life’s romantic tribulations, we follow three men whose lives intertwine at what to all of them are important turning points. The writing is lovely and surprising and the story seeped in philosophy.        Eva & Carol


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Paris: A Love Story By Kati Marton Cover Image
$17.00
ISBN: 9781451691559
Availability: We can order this for you!
Published: Simon & Schuster - March 12th, 2013

A lovely, bittersweet, and fascinating memoir by journalist Marton, who was married to Peter Jennings, and then to Richard Holbrooke, the great love of her life.                 Carol


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The Kitchen House: A Novel By Kathleen Grissom Cover Image
$17.99
ISBN: 9781439153666
Availability: We can order this for you!
Published: Atria Books - February 2nd, 2010

Irish immigrant Lavinia is orphaned on her trip to America and placed in the care of the ship’s captain and his slaves.  Growing up as a servant, Lavinia struggles with the definition of family and how to accept her adult role away from those she holds dearest.       Lisa      


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Trickster's Point: A Novel (Cork O'Connor Mystery Series #12) By William Kent Krueger Cover Image
$16.99
ISBN: 9781451645712
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Atria Books - May 7th, 2013

Another great entry in the Cork O’Connor series.

Carol


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History of a Pleasure Seeker By Richard Mason Cover Image
$16.95
Not available
ISBN: 9780307949288
Published: Vintage - November 13th, 2012

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Wife 22: A Novel By Melanie Gideon Cover Image
$17.00
Not available
ISBN: 9780345527967
Published: Ballantine Books - February 12th, 2013

While questioning the state of her middle-aged marriage & searching the internet, Alice decides to enroll in a marriage study.  She is “wife 22”, and starts having feelings for “researcher 101”.   Perfect summer mid-life chic lit.              

Carol & Lisa


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The Expats: A Novel By Chris Pavone Cover Image
$17.00
ISBN: 9780770435721
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Ballantine Books - January 22nd, 2013

I listened to this riveting thriller in the car.  Kate and her family move to Luxembourg for her husband’s new job. All is not what it seems, especially given Kate’s own mysterious  & secret past.  Carol


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The Haunting of Maddy Clare By Simone St. James Cover Image
$15.00
ISBN: 9780451235688
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Berkley - March 6th, 2012

In 1920’s England, Sarah Piper is approached by two ghost hunters to investigate the haunting of a barn.  This just creepy enough story is also about the effects of WWI on the ghost hunters, who were soldiers in that war.                Carol      


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Cloud Atlas: A Novel By David Mitchell Cover Image
$18.00
ISBN: 9780375507250
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Random House Trade Paperbacks - August 17th, 2004

This is a fascinating novel encompassing 6 stories in as many time periods as well as literary genres.  It is, among many other things, a story of where the human quest for power can lead.  The ingenious storytelling links many of the characters through time and brings it from 1850 into the future and back again.                            Carol  


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The End of Your Life Book Club By Will Schwalbe Cover Image
$16.95
ISBN: 9780307739780
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Vintage - June 4th, 2013

A poignant weaving of a mother and son's lifelong love affair with books, their life stories, and their conversations in the last years of her life.                            Carol


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The Chaperone By Laura Moriarty Cover Image
$17.00
ISBN: 9781594631436
Availability: We can order this for you!
Published: Riverhead Books - June 4th, 2013

Wichita housewife Cora agrees to chaperone wild 15-year-old Louise Brooks (a real life silent screen star) for the summer of 1922 in NYC. She has her own reasons for doing so.  This is Cora’s story, and it is captivating.            Carol


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A Killing in the Hills: A Novel (Bell Elkins Novels #1) By Julia Keller Cover Image
$20.00
ISBN: 9781250028754
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Minotaur Books - June 11th, 2013

Pulitzer winning journalist Keller’s first novel is not only a page-turner, but a smoothly paced and well written one. A small West Virginia  mountain town is plagued by crime related to prescription drugs. When three old men having coffee in a local diner are shot dead, the local district attorney and her daughter are both pulled into the gruesome crime.            Eva