Under Construction

Today at the information desk we noticed this strange whooshing sound. Slightly alarmed, but mostly curious we peered around our environs until....gasp! Could it be!? The escalator! We are now happy to report that while not ready to transport people just yet, the escalator has stairs and is moving. Hooray! There appears to be a light at the end of the tunnel after all.

Sad Days

This week the book world lost J.D. Salinger and Howard Zinn. One gave us the coming of age story for the 20th century and the other revealed the darker truths of our history. So dig out out your dusty, tattered copies of The Catcher in the Rye, and A People's History of the United States and read a few lines in memoriam.

Big News in Children's Books

Last week the Newberry, Caldecott and Printz awards were announced, honoring the best in young adult, middle reader, and children's illustrated books.




The John Newbery Medal for the most distinguished American children's book is:
When You Reach Me, by Rebecca Stead





And the winner of the Randolph Caldecott Medal awarded to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children goes to:
The Lion & the Mouse, illustrated and written by Jerry Pinkney





This year's Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature is:
Going Bovine, by Libba Bray





Click on the links below for more information about the prizes, and this year's runners up and honor books.

Newberry, Caldecott, Printz

Top Reads of 2009

Being a new year, several of our charming and well-read booksellers have put together their top reads of the last year. In no particular order, here are our favorite books of 2009...


Adam:

• Shop Class as Soulcraft, Matthew B. Crawford
• Thieves Like Us, Edward Anderson
• Planet Narnia, Michael Ward
• A Soldier of the Great War, Mark Helprin
• The Woodcarver and Death, Hagar Olsson
• Out of Africa, Isak Dinesen
• The Lord of the Flies, William Golding
• The History of Our World Beyond the Wave: A Fantasy, R. E. Klein
• Sandra, Florella Galt
• Worlds Apart: A Dialogue of the 1960’s, Owen Barfield

Greg:

• By Night in Chile, Roberto Bolaño
• Shop Class as Soul Craft, Matthew Crawford
• Closely Watched Trains, Bohumil Hraball
• Quick, A Whaler's Dictionary, Dan Beachy
• Season of Ash, Jorge Volpi
• Landscape in Concrete, Jakov Lind
• The Winner of Sorrow, Brian Lynch
• Timeskipper, Stefano Benni
• Radetzky March, Joseph Roth
• The Harp of Burma, Michio Takeyama
• Metropole, Ferenc Karinthy
• Senselessness, Horacio Castellanos Moya
• Moscardino, Enrico Pea
• Ray of the Star, Laird Hunt
• Ghosts, Cesar Aira

Johnny:

• Juliet, Naked, Nick Hornby
• The Unnamed, Joshua Ferris
• Killing Yourself to Live, Chuck Klosterman
• Mother Night, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr
• Sweet Thursday, John Steinbeck
• Minor Characters, Joyce Johnson
• Dance, Dance, Dance, Haruki Murakami
• The Housekeeper & the Professor, Yoko Ogawa
• Downtown Owl : Chuck Klosterman
• Sputnik Sweetheart, Haruki Murakami

Jessica:

• Manhood for Amateurs, Michael Chabon
• World War Z, Max Brooks
• Pieces for the Left Hand , J Robert Lennon
• The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald
• Under the Glacier, Hallador Laxness
• Painted Devils, Robert Aickman
• South of the Border, West of the Sun, Haruki Murakami
• Ray of the Star, Laird Hunt
• The Haunting of Hill House, Shirley Jackson
• Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, Douglas Adams

Robert:

• In the Valley of the Kings, Terrence Holt
• Outliers, Malcom Gladwell
• Pictures at a Revolution, Mark Harris
• Zeitoun, Dave Eggers
• The Informers, Juan Gabriel Vasquez
• Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi, Geoff Dyer
• Sag Harbor, Colson Whitehead
• Out of My Skin, John Haskell
• Chronic City, Jonathan Lethem
• Pornografia, Witold Gombrowiz

Christy:

• The Children's Book, A.S. Byatt
• The Savage Detectives, Roberto Bolano
• Asterios Polyp, David Mazzucchelli
• Towers of Trebizond, Rose Macaulay
• How Fiction Works, James Wood
• The Last Samurai, Helen De Witt
• The End of the Affair, Graham Greene
• The Sibyl, Par Lagerkvist
• The History Boys, Alan Bennett
• Severance: Stories, Robert Olen Butler

Erin:

• In the Valley of the Kings, Terrence Holt
• When Everything Changed - Gail Collins
• The Hakawati, Rabih Alameddine
• The Magician's Elephant, Kate DiCamillo
• The Book Thief, Markus Zusak
• The Secret History, Donna Tartt
• The Stone Diaries, Carol Shields
• I Capture the Castle, Dodie Smith
• The Bone graphic novel series, Jeff Smith
• We Have Always Lived in the Castle, Shirley Jackson

Emily:

• Born To Run, Christopher McDougall
• The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet, Reif Larsen
• Tales From Outer Suburbia, Shaun Tan
• Half-Broke Horses, Jeanette Walls
• War Dances, Sherman Alexie
• My Life in France, Julia Child
• The Last of His Kind, David Roberts
• Rustic Fruit Desserts, Cory Schreiber & Julie Richardson
• Lean on Pete, Willy Vlautin

Stan:

• Chasing Icarus, Gavin Mortimer
• Gone Tomorrow, Lee Child
• Brass Verdict, Michael Connelly
• Netherland, Joseph O'neill
• Stardust, Joseph Kanon
• Save the Deli, David Sax
• Supreme Courtship, Christopher Buckley
• Carter Beats the Devil, Glen David Gold
• Lives of the Poets, Michael Schmidt
• Complete Works of Isaac Babel, Isaac Babel

Erica:

• Born to Run, Christopher McDougall
• Farm City, Novella Carpenter
• The Dresden Files, Jim Butcher
• The Healing of America, T.R. Reid
• Crow Planet, Lyanda Lynn Haupt
• Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins
• Fat of the Land, Langdon Cook
• Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, Stieg Larsson
• In the Throne Room of the Mountain Gods, Galen A. Rowell

Introducing...

You're friends with us on FaceBook, you follow our tweets on Twitter, and you get our monthly, email newsletter. Now it's time to follow our blog. Introducing the brand new Third Place Blog! We'll be bringing you even more book news, including staff reviews of the hottest new titles, event information and recaps, book industry tidbits, author gossip, and other independent bookstore shenanigans; all brought to you by your favorite booksellers in Lake Forest Park. Enjoy!