New Releases – 8/12/14

HARDCOVER FICTION

Consuelo’s pick of the day: Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami
“Murakami has created one of those rare stories where the language reflects the protagonist. Each word is carefully placed, just as Tsukuru Tazaki meticulously lives his life, putting up barriers between himself and the people who could break his heart. It is a well-crafted and intriguing novel that I couldn’t put down.”

Raul’s pick of the day: The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan
“A majestic tale encompassing the entire breath of human experience – from heights of passion and depths of despair; a truly engrossing and unforgettable tome from a master storyteller. Flanagan has the ability to give life to his characters that resonate with every reader: from the horrors of a POW camp in Burma; from the perspectives of the Japanese soldiers and prison guards; from the survivors of the camp and their inability to relate to the real world; from a man who is trying to find out who and what he really is in relation to his fellow man, family, lovers and country, this book reminds us that great literature touches and moves us in unexpected ways.”

Unmanned by Dan Fesperman
Signed Copies available while supplies last!
As an F-16 fighter pilot, Darwin Cole was a family man on top of his world. Now he’s a washout-drunk and alone in a trailer in the Nevada desert, and haunted by what he saw on the display of the Predator drone he “piloted,” especially by the memory of an Afghan child running for her life. He reluctantly teams up with three journalists seeking to discover the identity of the anonymous-and possibly rogue-intelligence operative who called the shots in Cole’s ill-fated drone mission. But in a surveillance culture, even the well-intentioned must sometimes run for their lives, especially when they’re tracking leads to the very heart of that culture-in intelligence, in the military, and among the unchecked private contractors who stand to profit richly from the advancing technology…technology not just for use “over there,” but for right here, right now.

The Supernatural Enhancements by Edgar Cantero
When twentysomething A., the European relative of the Wells family, inherits a beautiful, yet eerie, estate set deep in the woods of Point Bless, Virginia, it comes as a surprise to everyone—including A. himself. Together with A.’s companion, Niamh, a mute teenage punk girl from Ireland, they arrive in Virginia and quickly come to feel as if they have inherited much more than just a rambling home and an opulent lifestyle. Axton House is haunted… they know it…but the presence of a ghost is just the first of a series of disturbing secrets they slowly uncover. What led to the suicides? What became of the Axton House butler who fled shortly after his master died? What lurks in the garden maze – and what does the basement vault keep? Even more troubling, what of the rumors in town about a mysterious yearly gathering at Axton House on the night of the winter solstice?

Fool’s Assassin by Robin Hobb
Over the years, Hobb’s imagination has soared throughout the mythic lands of the Six Duchies. But no matter how far she roamed, her heart always remained with Fitz. And now, at last, she has come home, with an astonishing new novel that opens a dark and gripping chapter in the Farseer saga. FitzChivalry—royal bastard and former king’s assassin—has left his life of intrigue behind. As far as the rest of the world knows, FitzChivalry Farseer is dead and buried. Masquerading as Tom Badgerlock, Fitz is now married to his childhood sweetheart, Molly, and leading the quiet life of a country squire. Though Fitz is haunted by the disappearance of the Fool, who did so much to shape Fitz into the man he has become, such private hurts are put aside in the business of daily life, at least until the appearance of menacing, pale-skinned strangers casts a sinister shadow over Fitz’s past…and his future…

Before, During, After by Richard Bausch
When Natasha, a talented young artist working as a congressional aide, meets Michael Faulk, an Episcopalian priest struggling with his faith, the stars seem to align. Although he is nearly two decades older, they discover in each other the happy yearning and exhilaration of lovers, and within months they are engaged. Shortly before their wedding, while Natasha is vacationing in Jamaica and Faulk is in New York attending the wedding of a family friend, the terrorist attacks of September 11 shatter the tranquility of the nation’s summer. Alone in a state of abject terror, cut off from America and convinced that Faulk is dead, Natasha makes an error in judgment that leads to a private trauma of her own on the Caribbean shore. A few days later, she and Faulk are reunited, but the horror of that day and Natasha’s inability to speak of it inexorably divide their relationship into “before” and “after.” They move to Memphis and begin their new life together, but their marriage quickly descends into repression, anxiety, and suspicion.

PAPERBACK FICTION

Brainquake by Samuel Fuller
The bagmen who transport money for organized crime live by a set of rules: no personal relationships, no ties, no women…and never, ever look inside the bag you’re carrying. Paul Page was the perfect bagman, despite suffering from a rare brain disorder. But that ended the day he saw a beautiful Mob wife become a Mob widow. Now Paul is going to break every rule he’s lived by–even if it means he might be left holding the bag.

MaddAddam by Margaret Atwood
Months after the Waterless Flood pandemic has wiped out most of humanity, Toby and Ren have rescued their friend Amanda from the vicious Painballers. They return to the MaddAddamite cob house. Accompanying them are the Crakers, the gentle, quasi-human species engineered by the brilliant but deceased Crake. Their reluctant prophet, Snowman-the-Jimmy, is recovering from a debilitating fever, so it’s left to Toby to preach the Craker theology, with Crake as Creator. She must also deal with cultural misunderstandings, terrible coffee, and her jealousy over her lover, Zeb. Zeb has been searching for Adam One, founder of the God’s Gardeners, the pacifist green religion from which Zeb broke years ago to lead the MaddAddamites in active resistance against the CorpSeCorps. But now, under threat of a Painballer attack, the MaddAddamites must fight back with the aid of their newfound allies, some of whom have four trotters. At the center of MaddAddam is the story of Zeb’s dark and twisted past, which contains a lost brother, a hidden murder, a bear, and a bizarre act of revenge…

HARDCOVER NONFICTION

Heretics and Heroes by Thomas Cahill
In Volume VI of his acclaimed Hinges of History series, Thomas Cahill guides us through the new humanism of the Renaissance and the radical religious alterations of the Reformation. This was an age in which whole continents and peoples were discovered. It was an era of sublime artistic and scientific adventure, but also of newly powerful princes and armies—and of unprecedented courage, as thousands refused to bow their heads to the religious pieties of the past. In these exquisitely written and lavishly illustrated pages, Cahill illuminates, as no one else can, the great gift-givers who shaped our history—those who left us a world more varied and complex, more awesome and delightful, more beautiful and strong than the one they had found.

The Heir Apparent: A Life of Edward VII, the Playboy Prince by Jane Ridely
This richly entertaining biography chronicles the eventful life of Queen Victoria’s firstborn son, the quintessential black sheep of Buckingham Palace, who matured into as wise and effective a monarch as Britain has ever seen. Jane Ridley’s colorful biography rescues the man once derided as “Edward the Caresser” from the clutches of his historical detractors. Excerpts from letters and diaries shed new light on Bertie’s long power struggle with Queen Victoria, illuminating one of the most emotionally fraught mother-son relationships in history. Separating truth from legend, Ridley also explores Bertie’s relationships with the women in his life. A magnificent life of an unexpectedly impressive king, The Heir Apparent documents the remarkable transformation of a man—and a monarchy—at the dawn of a new century.

PAPERBACK NONFICTION

Amsterdam: A History of the World’s Most Liberal City by Russell Shorto
In this effortlessly erudite account, Russell Shorto traces the evolution of one of the world’s greatest cities. From the building of its first canals in the 1300s, through the brutal struggle for Dutch independence and its golden age as the capital of a vast empire, to its complex present in which its cherished ideals of liberalism are under siege, Shorto provides an ever-surprising, intellectually entertaining story of Amsterdam. He also weaves in his own experiences of his adopted home. In the end, Amsterdam is an endlessly captivating portrait of a city that has profoundly influenced the modern world.

 GRAPHIC NOVEL

Joe’s pick of the day: Guardians of the Galaxy by Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning
“So, what about that Guardians of the Galaxy? Pretty cool, huh? If you liked that, you’ll love this book. Collecting the first 12 issues of Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning’s 2008 series, this is the ground floor for all your space farin’ outcast needs. Go Rock Raccoon & Go Groot!!!”