Maria's Picks
I don't remember a time when I didn't love books. I fell in love with words before I could read, and begged for books with long words and onomatopoeia (How can you not love the taste of that one in your mouth?). My favorite book growing up was Little Women . I wanted to be Jo.
After majoring in English with a drama minor I went on to graduate
school to become a librarian. I love research and am happy to track
down that elusive title you can't quite remember. The other fun parts
of my job are hearing about the books you like and brainstorming with
you to find the next wonderful book you'll love.
Of course, my favorite books are ones with beautiful writing--and compelling stories. Shakespeare, Keats and all the Romantic poets, the Bronte sisters, and lots of other classics are close to my heart. Cozy mysteries, especially those from the Golden Age of Mystery Writers, such as Dorothy Sayers, Margery Allingham, Patricia Wentworth, and Ngaio Marsh are special. Some contemporary mystery authors I like are P. D. James, Martha Grimes, Deborah Crombie, Henning Mankell, and Jacqueline Winspear. (There are lots more!) I cannot stand thrillers or anything with a lot of suspense! I love just about anything set in Britain. Some favorite history and biography writers are Vera Brittain, T. E. Lawrence, Marlena de Blasi (I have a weakness for cookbooks and food writing), Barbara Tuchmann, and Doris Kearns Goodwin. Contemporary fiction authors I especially like are Ursula K. Le Guin, Garth Stein, Marisa de los Santos, Diane Setterfield, Abraham Verghese, Ivan Doig, Juliet Fay, Sarah Blake, Helen Simonson, and so many others. Some noteworthy psychology writers are Robert A. Johnson and Irene de Castillejo. I like children's books that have wonderful, loving families, like the ones in the Madeleine L'Engle, Patricia MacLachlan, or Jeanne Birdsall novels.
$15.00
ISBN-13: 9780345525550
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Ballantine Books, 4/2012
A few times a year a book comes along that touches me deeply. This is one of them. In addition to a moving story with an unforgettable heroine, the book is a quiet indictment of the foster care system. This is a book about healing and hope.
$25.99
ISBN-13: 9780312658656
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: St. Martin's Press, 6/2011
Cora Cash is the belle of the American season: beautiful, and strong-minded enough to be unconventional, and from one of the top flight families--perfect for a British title. But England is, indeed, a foreign country with inexplicable etiquette, relationships, and secrets. When Cora almost literally falls into the arms of an impoverished nobleman, she is completely unprepared to navigate the murky waters of the heart. Marrying her duke is the easy part.
Inspired by a portrait in Blenheim Palace of Consuelo Vanderbilt looking unhappy, this is the satisfying story of a relationship fraught with secrets and betrayal.
$15.00
ISBN-13: 9780812980189
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Random House Trade Paperbacks, 1/2012
If you enjoyed getting to know Frank Lloyd Wright and his circle in Loving Frank, you'll like Clara and Mr. Tiffany. Based on the life of Clara Driscoll, the uncredited artist who created the Tiffany lamps, the novel takes us into the world of Louis Comfort Tiffany and fin de siecle New York. Imagine being the artist and driving force behind a division of a company and close friend of the owner, but receiving no public acknowledgement of your work---and having to resign if you get married. This is Clara's dilemma. How it is resolved is the story of the beginnings of the women's movement and of an exceptional artist--who is only now receiving her due.
$15.95
ISBN-13: 9781565129931
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2/2012
By happenstance I stumbled upon a great combination when I read this book right before reading Fiona: Stolen Child, which is partly set in Ireland in 1950 through the present. Until Next Time takes place during the troubles of the 1970's and 1990's as seen through the eyes of two young Americans sent back to visit family in the homeland. As each young man becomes part of the life of his Irish relatives we get both his and the insider's persepective on life in Ireland during times of political upheaval. The title comes from the Irish family members' belief in reincarnation and their endeavor to make it better next time.
$14.00
ISBN-13: 9780143119524
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Penguin (Non-Classics), 6/2011
What a treat to meet the detective duo of Antoine Verlaque, wealthy man-about-town and the examining magistrate of the city of Aix-en-Provence, and Marine Bonnet, a law professor who is too junior to have an office at the university. When Etienne de Bremont falls to his death from the attic of the family castle, Antoine asks Marine, his ex-girlfriend, to help because she and Etienne were best friends growing up. The sparks fly as the two travel around Provence eating, drinking, interviewing sources, and questioning suspects. I'm looking forward to further adventures with these two bright, cultured, emotionally complex people.
$25.00
ISBN-13: 9780802119926
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Atlantic Monthly Press, 8/2011
By the acclaimed author of Matterhorn, What It Is Like to Go to War, is written with such intelligence and honesty that it blazes straight through our life-long doses of doublespeak and spin to the truth. This book will be appreciated by anyone whose country has ever gone to war. It is a must-read to give perspective to those who have first-hand experience of battle and for anyone who wants to understand what it is like to go to war.
$15.95
ISBN-13: 9781616200503
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 10/2011
William Alexander set out to bake the perfect loaf of bread by tweaking the recipe and his process every week for a year. He explores ingredients -- grows his own wheat -- and even builds a traditional wood-fired oven, all the while regaling us with his laugh-out-loud humor. His family thinks he's crazy, but many people befriend him, giving advice and help along the way. The book culminates in a surprise journey to teach a very special group how to make traditional peasant bread. You'll learn a lot about bread-making and obsession, and have a great time on the quest for perfection with Alexander.
$15.00
ISBN-13: 9780452297548
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Plume, 3/2012
This is the perfect vacation book. It's a late-bloomer coming of age story, filled with wit and impossible situations, like a mother who won't let her grown son leave home and a young man who falls in love reading emails as part of his job. The fun of the story is the delightful characters and how they overcome their own fears and the obstacles in their lives. You'll laugh out loud.
$15.00
ISBN-13: 9780452297609
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Plume, 2/2012
You'll wish you could be friends with the feisty women of Watersford, Pennsylvania, who took on the work of the men in additon to their own—and made a quilt and sent bandages and food to every one of their men at the front. This close-knit group banded together for moral support in spite of difficult personal issues, shared letters from the front, and kept each other's secrets throughout the war. This view of the Civil War from a northern community gave me a sense of being on the inside seeing the war through the eyes of its contemporaries. I just happened read this shortly after My Name Is Mary Sutter: the perfect combination of homefront and battlefield viewpoints.
$15.00
ISBN-13: 9781608320912
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Greenleaf Book Group, 5/2011
So many novels are the story of finding love. This one takes place in the “happily ever after”. Kelly is married to her true love and has two wonderful boys. She knows something isn't right because she grinds her teeth at night and finds herself in tears for no reason. At yet another trip to the dentist she decides her life has to change so she puts post-it notes everywhere (even where other people see them: in the kitchen and bathroom, on her dashboard.....) with reminders of how she wants to think and feel. When her best friend asks her to come to her rescue by staging a house for sale and another friend asks her to take care of her teenage daughter with anorexia while she goes off for some R&R, Kelly finds her life expanding into areas she never imagined. This is an inspiring story for anyone looking for possibilities.
$5.99
ISBN-13: 9780765364579
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Forge Books, 2/2011
This is the quintessential beach book. Fun and playful and just a little bit naughty, with a female detective in a glamorous job at a Las Vegas casino. It's the week of the porn convention at the casino and the annual spouse-swaping party is in town -- and we won't even mention Luky's mother.... My favorite character is her upstairs neighbor, the best female impersonator in town. (Think of the wardrobe possibilities.) Be sure to get in at the beginning of the Lucky O'Toole series -- you'll look forward to the next sassy installment in Lucky's story.
$13.99
ISBN-13: 9780062033680
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: William Morrow Paperbacks, 6/2011
In spite of the title, this is not a depressing book. It is too full of very real characters, each reacting in individual ways to the events of the story. It includes a whole neighborhood and is told from multiple viewpoints all tied together by their relationship to Paisley who is dying, or seems like she must be dying, given her diagnosis. I expected a book about a close-knit group of friends banding together to be there for a dying friend and for each other. Instead, we are given a group of acquaintances bound together by the fact that they are neighbors and have shared experiences of gatherings, illnesses, and children. They learn the art of saying goodbye on the fly betwixt jobs, housework, and family issues.
The story feels completely uncontrived and like it could happen on my block. This is how real people cope.
$23.95
ISBN-13: 9780399157202
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Amy Einhorn Books/Putnam, 1/2011
In this book of loosely connected short stories Siobhan Fallon plunges us
right into lives of the women at the Fort Hood, Texas army base and
into the lives of the men in Iraq. These gritty, understated stories are
searing in their emotional intensity. You'll come away feeling you've
lived through days of the Iraqi war, both as a soldier and as a worried
spouse--and you'll never again be nonchalent about what we are doing to
military families.
Maria's Picks
