New Books! 2/10/15

NEW BOOKS! 2/10/15

HARDCOVER FICTION

While The Gods Were Sleeping by Erwin Mortier

   This is a story not about spectacular events; rather, Mortier is concerned with writing about war, history and the past with great empathy and engagement, and with a mixture of melancholy, qualification and resignation.

A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler (Signed Copies)

   Brimming with the luminous insight, humor, and compassion that are Anne Tyler’s hallmarks, this capacious novel takes us across three generations of the Whitshanks, their shared stories and long-held secrets, all the unguarded and richly lived moments that combine to define who and what they are as a family.

 

The Marriage Game by Alison Weir

   With intricate period detail and captivating prose, Alison Weir explores one of history’s most provocative “Did they or didn’t they?” debates. The Marriage Game maneuvers through the alliances, duplicities, intrigue, and emotions of a woman intent on sovereignty—over her country and herself.

When the Doves Disappeared by Sofi Oksanen

   Great acts of deception and heroism collide in this masterful story of surveillance, passion, and betrayal, as Sofi Oksanen brings to life the frailty—and the resilience—of humanity under the shadow of tyranny.

 

HARDCOVER NONFICTION

Models of Influence by Nigel Barker

Ticketed Event March 3, 7PM in the Store

  Stunning in its breadth and beauty, comprising some of the finest fashion images over the last 70 years, Models of Influence is a celebration of fashion and a group of unforgettable women who have helped shape and change modern culture.

 

Thieves’ Road by Terry Mort

   In the summer of 1874, Brevet Major General George Armstrong Custer led an expedition of some 1000 troops and more than one hundred wagons into the Black Hills of South Dakota.  This fascinating work of narrative history tells the little-known story of this exploratory mission and reveals how it set the stage for the climactic Battle of the Little Bighorn two years later.

Mind Change by Susan Greenfield

   In a world where adults spend ten hours a day online, and where tablets are the common means by which children learn and play, Mind Change reveals as never before the complex physiological, social, and cultural ramifications of living in the digital age. A book that will be to the Internet what An Inconvenient Truth was to global warming, Mind Change is provocative, alarming, and a call to action to ensure a future in which technology fosters—not frustrates—deep thinking, creativity, and true fulfillment.

Screening Room: Family Pictures by Alan Lightman

   Here is a family saga set against a throbbing century of Memphis—the rhythm and blues, the barbecue and pecan pie, and the segregated society—that includes personal encounters with Elvis, Martin Luther King, Jr., and E. H. “Boss” Crump. At the heart of it all is a family haunted by the ghost of the domineering M.A., and the struggle of the author to understand his conflicted loyalties to his father and grandfather.

 

PAPERBACK FICTION

  <——- Which one of these is not like the others?

 

 

The Librarian by Mikhail Elizarov

   As the introduction to this book will tell you, the books by Gromov, obscure and long forgotten propaganda author of the Soviet era, have such an effect on their readers that they suddenly enjoy supernatural powers. Understandably, their readers need to keep accessing these books at all cost and gather into groups around book-bearers, or, as they’re called, librarians. Alexei, until now a loser, comes to collect an uncle’s inheritance and unexpectedly becomes a librarian. He tells his extraordinary, unbelievable story.

Ruby by Cynthia Bond

  Utterly transfixing, with unforgettable characters, riveting suspense, and breathtaking, luminous prose, Ruby offers an unflinching portrait of man’s dark acts and the promise of the redemptive power of love.

 

The Bear by Claire Cameron

    While camping with her family on a remote island, five-year-old Anna awakes in the night to the sound of her mother screaming. A rogue black bear, 300 pounds of fury, is attacking the family’s campsite, pouncing on her parents as prey. Told in the honest, raw voice of five-year-old Anna, this is a riveting story of love, courage, and survival.