Beating the Heat

The most popular phone call question we've been getting these last few days has been, "Do you have air conditioning?" We do.

We have air conditioning!

In fact, both stores have air conditioning, and food, and coffee...iced coffee.  Oh yeah, and both stores have lots and lots of books.  So you could conceivably hole up at either Third Place Books and just wait out this blistering hot, heat wave. Books, food, and cool air.  Sounds nice, right?  Oh, and here's a little secret, the Pub at Ravenna Third Place has, hands down, the best air conditioning in the entire city. They don't open til 3:00, but that's just the right time to cool down your sunburned skin with an arctic blast, and nice cold beer. Now, it simply can't get better than that.

In honor of all the the hot weather, here are a few of our latest hot sellers...

Worst. Person. Ever. by Douglas Coupland (perfectly punctuated title!)

Raymond Gunt likes to think of himself as a pretty decent guy—he believes in karma, and helping his fellow man, and all that other good stuff. Sure, he can be foulmouthed, occasionally misogynistic, and can just generally rub people the wrong way—through no fault of his own! So with all the positive energy he’s creating, it’s a little perplexing to consider the recent downward spiral his life has taken…Could the universe be trying to tell him something?

A B-unit cameraman with no immediate employment prospects, Gunt decides to accept his ex-wife Fiona’s offer to shoot a Survivor-style reality show on an obscure island in the Pacific. With his upwardly failing sidekick, Neal, in tow, Gunt somehow suffers multiple comas and unjust imprisonment, is forced to reenact the “Angry Dance” from the movie Billy Elliot, and finds himself at the center of a nuclear war—among other tribulations and humiliations.

A razor-sharp portrait of a morally bankrupt, gleefully wicked modern man, Worst. Person. Ever. is a side-splittingly funny and gloriously filthy new novel from acclaimed author Douglas Coupland. A deeply unworthy book about a dreadful human being with absolutely no redeeming social value, it’s guaranteed to brighten up your day.

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

Emily at LFP loves this one.  Here's what she has to say:
I'm absolutely enchanted by this book. The imagery is so vivid, the characters so human, their circumstances so perfectly rendered - I wanted to wallow in the gorgeous prose and bathe in the words. 2014 is a great year for ficition so far, but since I read an advance copy last summer, this novel has ruined me for all other books.

The Silkworm, by 

Robert (Everyone knows you're JK Rowling) Galbraith

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt 

(I believe I've said all there is to say about this book)

Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Picketty

What are the grand dynamics that drive the accumulation and distribution of capital? Questions about the long-term evolution of inequality, the concentration of wealth, and the prospects for economic growth lie at the heart of political economy. But satisfactory answers have been hard to find for lack of adequate data and clear guiding theories. In Capital in the Twenty-First Century, Thomas Piketty analyzes a unique collection of data from twenty countries, ranging as far back as the eighteenth century, to uncover key economic and social patterns. His findings will transform debate and set the agenda for the next generation of thought about wealth and inequality.

Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls by David Sedaris

A guy walks into a bar car and...

From here the story could take many turns. When the guy is David Sedaris, the possibilities are endless, but the result is always the same: he will both delight you with twists of humor and intelligence and leave you deeply moved. Sedaris remembers his father's dinnertime attire (shirts

A guy walks into a bar car and...
From here the story could take many turns. When the guy is David Sedaris, the possibilities are endless, but the result is always the same: he will both delight you with twists of humor and intelligence and leave you deeply moved.
Sedaris remembers his father's dinnertime attire (shirtsleeves and underpants), his first colonoscopy (remarkably pleasant), and the time he considered buying the skeleton of a murdered Pygmy. The common thread? Sedaris masterfully turns each essay into a love story: how it feels to be in a relationship where one loves and is loved over many years, what it means to be part of a family, and how it's possible, through all of life's absurdities, to grow to love oneself.
- See more at: http://www.thirdplacebooks.com/book/9780316154703#sthash.b5YqTmvx.dpuf

leeves and underpants), his first colonoscopy (remarkably pleasant), and the time he considered buying the skeleton of a murdered Pygmy. The common thread?

Sedaris masterfully turns each essay into a love story: how it feels to be in a relationship where one loves and is loved over many years, what it means to be part of a family, and how it's possible, through all of life's absurdities, to grow to love oneself.