Scorching Sequel!

There aren’t many books that I’ll drop everything for in order to finish reading at any cost. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve missed my stop while reading on the bus more times than I care to admit, but few books exert the kind of pull that will, say, make me late for work. Well, truth booth, while sitting and thinking about what to write for this blog post I realized that every one of Lish McBride’s books has made me late for work at least once (SORRY BOSSES PLEASE DON’T FIRE ME). That weird young woman sitting in the janky pickup truck you walked by in the parking lot who was crying over what appeared to be a horror novel about necromancers? That was me.

Now, with that image in mind, just imagine how excited I am to inform you that Lish McBride’s newest book, Pyromantic, is out this week. It’s the follow up to Firebug, AND IT IS WEIRDER AND FUNNIER AND MORE UNNERVING AND LOVELIER than I could have ever hoped for. 

There are so many reasons to love this series, from the bizarre and irreverent gallows humor to the amazing variety of obscure mythical creatures represented; the fact that romantic love is not the only kind of love displayed or sought by the main characters; the value placed on multi-generational and non-conventional family units; the fully conceptualized female and queer characters; the insane action sequences; the witty banter, OH, THE WITTY BANTER. Did I mention the heavily-researched-and-cleverly-modified-to-make-them-even-more-appealing-but-also-terrifying-obscure-mythical-creatures? Because there are a lot of them. They are legion.

So stock up on coffee and snacks, make sure your laundry is already done or that you at least have clean underwear. I suggest starting with her first book, Hold Me Closer, Necromancer, before immediately jumping into the sequel, Necromancing the Stone. You could also start with Firebug, but I personally really appreciated the world building and backstory that those first two books provided. Seriously, clear your schedules.

I could go on and on (really, I’ve had a lot of coffee and my dog is asleep on the couch so the sky’s the limit as far as me dweebing-out goes) but instead I’ll just leave you with this interaction that I had with my husband right after I finished reading Pyromantic for the second time:

THE SCENE: We're driving to his parents house for dinner...

Me: *squinting off into space in the passenger seat of truck*

Husband: Whatchya doin?

Me: Oh, thinking about what kind of were-creature I would be…

Husband: Oh my god.

Me: I think I would be like a jackrabbit or something. Or maybe a were-dog.

Husband: Okay.

Me: What would you be?

Husband: …..

Me: I could see you as like a wolfhound or deerhound.

Husband: *blinking*

Me: Something big and slow, thoughtful but also scruffy and fearsome.

Husband: *visibly trying to keep his eyes on the road*

Me: Yeah, wolfhound.

-Anje

Lish McBride will be at our Lake Forest Park Store on Friday, March 24th at 6:30 PM

Time to BINGE!

We've all been rather impatiently waiting for A Conjuring of Light to arrive on our shelves. If you haven't read this series yet, lucky you! Because now you get to get all three at once and binge read like nobody's business.

If you have read them, I am fairly certain that you not only knew that A Conjuring of Light was coming out this week, but that you've been preparing for it by rereading the first two books and also maybe figuring out how you can get your own Kell body pillow.

*ahem*

If you haven't heard of the books yet at all, here is a list of things from the author that might tempt you. The Shades of Magic series includes:

–Magic

–Cross-dressing thieves

–(Aspiring) pirates

–Londons (plural!)

–Sadistic kings (and queens!)

–A royal who is equal parts Prince Harry and Jack Harkness

–More magic (blood magic, elemental magic, bad magic, etc. etc.)

–Epic magicky fights scenes

–Angst!

–And coats with more than two sides

I have two more reasons for you to get crackin' on this series.

1) It's being adapted for television. So basically you need to read it now so that you can be the cool kid who's already finished the series before the show even comes on.

2) V.E. SCHWAB WILL BE AT THIRD PLACE BOOKS THIS THURSDAY. (Lake Forest Park) THIS IS NOT A DRILL, PEOPLE. A-WOOGA! A-WOOGA!

(This is how your face should look right now.)

If that isn't enough to make you check out this series, then I'm not sure we can be friends anymore. 

Okay, we can still be friends. Maybe. But I've got my eye on you, people.

-Lish

Click here for more info on our author event!

A Conjuring of Light by V.E. Schwab

Londons fall and kingdoms rise while darkness sweeps the Maresh Empire, and the fraught balance of magic blossoms into dangerous territory while heroes struggle. The direct sequel to A Gathering of Shadows, and the final book in the Shades of Magic epic fantasy series, A Conjuring of Light sees the newly minted New York Times bestselling author V. E. Schwab reach a thrilling conclusion concerning the fate of beloved protagonists--and old foes.

New Arrivals : It's a Book!

Wires and Nerve by Marissa Meyer, illustrated by Douglas Holgate

Like many people, I devoured the Lunar Chronicles series. They had me at “cyborg Cinderella” I’M NOT MADE OF STONE, PEOPLE.  It was a fun series with adventure, humor, and the kind of friendships we all hope for. So I was really excited to find out that Marissa Meyer was writing a comic book spinoff of the series. Wires and Nerve follows the exploits of Iko as she goes after the rogue wolf soldiers left on Earth. Excited, yes, but also a little nervous. I’m picky about my comic books—if I don’t love the art, it doesn’t matter if the story is great. And if the art is wonderful but the story is flat? I’m putting the book down. Not every novelist can manage the crossover into another form, either. Finally, there’s always the concern that a side character won’t have enough narrative oomph to carry a story on their own.

because

I managed to get my grubby little paws on an early copy of Wires and Nerve, and let me tell you, friends, you can breathe a sigh of relief. If you loved the original series, you’ll love the comic book. Meyer has used this opportunity to not only deliver Iko as her usual, charming self, but also to give us a more in-depth look into the problems of being an android. As much as Cinder faced prejudice for being a cyborg, Iko is constantly being dismissed as a non-entity—a frustration she handles with humor and wit, but a frustration nonetheless.

All of the other characters from the book are present, too. After all, things don’t wrap up with an easy, “And they lived happily ever after” at the end of the novels. Rebuilding takes work and time, and in the comic we get a glimpse of the characters getting on with the necessary business of starting over.

Let’s talk about the art. Wires & Nerve is done in various blues, blacks, and grays and usually I prefer my comics in full color. I thought the scheme worked for this book, though, what with the general setting being in ships, space, and the Lunar settlement. Doug Holgate’s drawings are charming and whimsical and I thought an excellent fit for the story.

Basically, if you liked the books, you need to get your mitts on the comic. Don’t usually read comics? This is a good place to start! Haven’t read the Lunar Chronicles? Well, you can read the comic without having read the series, but you will get a ton of spoilers for the books. So maybe you should just read all of the books. You won’t regret it. I mean, if cyborg Cinderella didn’t sway you, I’m not sure you can be reasoned with. Wolf soldiers? Dashing starship captains? Evil queens? Feisty androids that fight human prejudice as well as genetically engineered killing machines? I don’t know about you guys, but for me that translates into shut up and take my money.

New Arrivals : It's A Book!

Today on New Arrival: It’s a Book—twins! Because we have two books we’re excited about. Only they are very different books, so we’ll consider them fraternal twins.

Sometimes at Third Place Books, we have a hard time articulating why we love a book. There are times where we just shake our heads and shove it at you saying, “Trust me.” Then there are books we can wax poetic on, practically writing you a dissertation on why it made our hearts grow three sizes. Different books require different kinds of recommendations—it’s not one size fits all. But then, there are many kinds of books and many kinds of readers in this world, and we try to cater to all of them.

First, we have The Fifth Petal by Brunonia Barry. When I asked my fellow bookseller Chelsea, why she loved The Fifth Petal so much her review was focused less on the actual book and more about how it made her feel to read it. To paraphrase Chelsea:

When you read it, there’s a spooky feel. Like it’s October and you’re listening to Fleetwood Mac while draped in flowy blankets. It’s light and full of magic and mystery and set in Salem. I think it will appeal to a lot of genre readers. It gave me the Stevie Nicks feels. -Chelsea

Honestly, based on that alone, I know several people who will love it. It’s set in the same world as Barry’s last book, The Lace Reader, but you don’t have to read that before you dive into The Fifth Petal.

The second book we’re featuring is This is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel. Emily, also at the Lake Forest Park location, will be recommending this title to book clubs. The subject is timely, the writing light, and the author local. That’s a solid trifecta right there. 

Laurie Frankel's new book is fantastic and very current. I read the whole thing in one sitting - a 336 page manuscript devoured on my phone in a clunky format, and I hate reading electronically and knew a paper copy would be on my desk within a few days. I dipped in and just couldn't stop!  It's a big-hearted novel of family, full of loveable characters that feel like friends. Frankel deals with serious social issues while keeping the tone light. Highly recommended for book clubs. -Emily

This is How It Always Is has received many starred reviews and is getting a lot of love from readers already. And honestly, I also hate reading books on my phone, so that’s really a testament to how much Emily loved it!

-Lish

On This Day In (Literary) History

More comics here!

New Arrivals : It’s a Book!

Sometimes the stars align, the planets fall into place, the heavens open, and you fall in love with a book. Nothing is better than that feeling. And then you find out that the author has another book coming out and suddenly you’re swamped by two very different and conflicting emotions. On one hand, you are excited and happy that you get more from a talented writer that speaks to you on a bone-deep level. On the other hand, what if that last book was a fluke? What if the next one doesn’t live up to everything the last book promised?

In 2015, Ottessa Moshfegh released the book Eileen to much fanfare. It was an Indie Next pick, it was short listed for the Man Booker prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award, won the PEN/Hemingway Award for debut fiction, and David Sedaris picked it as his recommended book for his Fall 2016 tour. Basically, Moshfegh knocked it out of the park. We had two separate staff recommendations for it:

“Oh Eileen. You are antisocial, you are untrustworthy, you are selfish and self-hating at the same time. You are obsessive, you are put-upon. The way you live your life makes my skin crawl. So why do I love you so much?” –Anje

 “A pretty wild departure from her debut (but equally excellent) novella McGlue, Eileen is a gut-wrenching journey with one of the most intriguing antiheroes I've ever encountered. Darker, complex interior lives of seedy characters are Moshfegh's stock-in-trade but that murkiness shouldn't dissuade potential readers. It is a fearless, compulsively readable novel that reads as if it's on fire.” –Wes

This week, Moshfegh’s new short story collection, Homesick for Another World, is out. And if you think Eileen got a lot of attention, people have been chomping at the bit for this collection. Why? Because Moshfegh is particularly known for her short stories. She’s been published in The Paris Review, The New Yorker and Granta. Her short stories have earned her a Pushcart Prize, an O. Henry Award, the Plimpton Discovery Prize, and a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Moshfegh has been described as our Flannery O’Conner, which is saying something. (Basically that the stories will be weird and awesome.) So if you love a great short story, this collection is for you. If you’re new to short stories, Homesick for Another World is a good place to start. Wes described it as, “The weirdness and darkness of ‘Eileen’ ratcheted up to a ten, to all of our benefits.” 

He also sent me this gif, which I assume means, “this book is number one.” You’ll just have to judge for yourself.

-Lish

Why, Eh? : Adventures of an Adult Reader

It's Perfectly Normal

A couple months ago I was thrown headfirst into the vast ocean that is YA reading. Instead of choking and drowning in the dark abyss ala Jack Dawson, I found myself happily treading water. Soon after,  I was wandering around the YA aisles when I saw the book A Miseducation of Cameron Post by Emily Danforth. A wonderfully magnificent book that features a young gay girl as the protagonist.

WHAT? This exists?! My entire belief system was rocked. In all my time stumbling around on this earth I never once considered that there would be young adult books with queer protagonists. WHAT HAVE I BEEN MISSING ALL THIS TIME?!  I suddenly felt like Scrooge McDuck, but nicer. I just wanted to fill a room with these books and swim in them all day long whilst happily cackling to myself.

Growing up, finding any positive queer representation in any sort of media was hard enough, let alone in books. In fact, the first queer YA book was published in 1969, a year when homosexuality was still considered a mental disorder by the American Psychatric Association. LGBTQIA+ Americans were barred from government positions, and it was considered criminal in every state but Illinois. Since then the amount of YA queer books has grown from one a year in the 70s, to seven per year in the 90s, and now roughly 50 a year.

Before finding this paradise of inclusivity, much of the media I encountered featured queer characters and themes focusing on the pain and heartbreak that comes with being a gay kid. The general story was always that not everyone is accepting and there are garbage people out there, and sometimes they are the ones closest to you, and yeah it sucks. Its terrible and damaging and frightening and sad.

But these new YA books paint a different picture. They often include the character's "coming out" and their first same sex relationship and it's so cute and nostalgic it makes my teeth rot. The great thing about  reading these now, is seeing that it is seriously okay. You'll find your own family, and you'll find people who love and support you. With all the garbage happening lately, it's critical to show that not every queer story is a tragedy. When the real world is cruel to queer people, especially queer and trans people of color, then it seems even more important to imagine worlds where it is not. It is essential to carve out spaces where being queer and happy are not seen as mutually exclusive. Of course we need stories that represent our struggles, but we also need stories to nourish us, and to comfort us in times of grief and pain.

Living in a world, even an imaginary one, centered around heterosexual love perpetuates the false and frankly dangerous belief that heterosexulaity is the norm, and anything else is alien, strange, other. Instead of reinforcing this, we should be eradicating it. There is something immensely powerful in recognizing yourself in all types of media. Diversity in YA provides role models for marginalized teens, but also creates empathy for people different than ourselves. Empathy is such a powerful tool in the fight against intolerance and bigotry. These books help with learning what it means to be a social creature, to understand how and where we fit in society.

YA books are a  microcosm for our society, because they are geared toward the next generation. The changes in YA literature reflect changes in our world. And sexuality isn’t something that springs up on people in their mid twenties. Its something we are born with. When hormones kick in and we all start frantically trying to figure out how our bodies work, queer people are trying to figure out if their longings are important in addition to all the everyday angst. This shouldn't be something queer kids finally stumble upon in their 20s while researching for a blog post. This should be something they get to read about as they're experiencing it. Instead of leaving them out in the cold these books can show them that their longings are universal. They're not lonely or isolated, they're just like everyone else, and they belong.

-Courtney

Courtney's Ultimate List of the Queerest Books 

Lesbian
Everything Leads To You by Nina Lacour
Georgia Peaches and Other Forbidden Fruit by Jaye Robin Brown
Of Fire and Stars by Audrey Coulthurst

Gay
Most Excellent Year by Steve Kluger
I'll Give You The Sun by Jandy Nelson
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz

Bisexual
Far From You by Tess Sharpe
Bi-Normal by M.G Higgins
Not Your Sidekick by C.B. Lee

Transgender
I Am J by Cris Beam
If I Was Your Girl by Meredith Russo
Boy Robot Simon Curtis

Queer
Brooklyn Burning by Steve Brezenoff
Girl Mans Up by M-E Girard

Intersex
Double Exposure by Bridget Birdsall
None of The Above by I. W. Gregorio

Asexual
Guardian of The Dead by Karen Healey
How To Say Goodbye In Robot by Natalie Standiford

New Arrivals : It's a Book!

There is a bit of a curse in being a book lover—there are many, many books in this world and try though you might, you can't read all of them. I’m occasionally struck by an overwhelming dread about this fact, and I know I’m not alone. The thing is, even if you’re not on an epic quest to read every book ever written, there are still so many books and more come out every Tuesday. How do you choose?

It is a wonderful and horrible problem to have—this indecision, but we here at Third Place Books would like to help you out a little bit by highlighting our favorite new releases, on New Release Tuesday.

So here we go!

The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden

The Bear and the Nightingale begins with Vasya and her sibling huddled around a fireplace as their nurse spins tales about Frost, the winter demon. Arden’s voice and world building is strong—she envelops you with sensory details of Vasilisa’s world. Reading the opening pages you can almost feel the sharp bite of cold as you come in from outside. The fire is warm, the smell of honey cakes redolent in the air, and the creaky, worn voice of the storyteller beckons you to sit closer. The story is rich with fairy tale elements, but also steadied by the reality of 14th century Russia.

My coworker, Vlad, states it more eloquently:

What struck me from the very first paragraph in The Bear and the Nightingale was the confidence of the writing; I was immediately pulled into a liminal space, between historical and fable. The lives of Vasya and her family, and their medieval Russian culture are painted in evocative detail, and yet Arden effortlessly slips the reader into this fantastical layer of ancient spirits large and small that permeates the Russian countryside.

The book draws from a wealth of folklore and fable without losing a certain modern appeal: Vasya's struggle as a young woman against a strict patriarchal tradition; the clash between faiths—the old beliefs versus Christianity; the ageless human urges and failings, vanity, deceit, lust, fear.

Arden's prose itself is lively and engaging, and bolsters the intricate balance of her story.

There is, in fact, a heady richness to the novel, and it’s especially remarkable when you consider that the book is Arden’s debut. The Bear and the Nightingale immediately puts her into good company—the book is being likened to the works of Neil Gaiman, Erin Morgenstern, and Naomi Novik. I would recommend her for fans of Leigh Bardugo’s books as well.

And luckily, this book is just the first course. The Bear and the Nightingale is the first book in a three book series, so you have more to look forward to. The book hits the shelves today, so come on down and take a peek. (Or you can even take a sneak peek on Katherine Arden’s website as she has some excerpts posted!)

-Lish

2016 BOOKSELLER TOP TENS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here they are! Our Top Ten favorite books of the year, now with bonus Seward Park lists! Remember, I don't limit these lists to books published in 2016, but all books must have been read in 2016.

Usually, when I compile this post, there are some clear favorites. Last year our obvious winner was Between the World and Me, with eight total votes. But this year our highest ranking book was Trevor Noah's Born a Crime, with only four votes. Not to imply that this year's books are only fair to middling, just that we had a lot more books with two and three votes, instead of any landslide victors. So while we couldn't solidly agree on one or two favorites, we sort of loosely settled on a whole slew of champions. And that means more options for you!

In light of our lack of focus, I give you our Fabulous, Fantastic, Fifteen Favorites of 2016!

• Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah
• Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders
• The Argonauts by Maggie Nelson
• The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
• Children of the New World: Stories by Alexander Weinstein
• Shrill: Notes from a Loud Woman by Lindy West
• White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide by Carol Anderson
• The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
• Bitch Planet Volume 1 by Kelly Sue Deconnick, Robert Wilson IV, Taki Soma, and Valentine De Landro
• Paper Girls by Brian K Vaughan
• After the Parade by Lori Ostlund
• Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine
• The Castle Cross the Magnet Carter by Kia Corthron
• Grief is the Thing with Feathers by Max Porter
• Uprooted by Naomi Novik

Check out our individual top ten list below for more of our favorite reads of 2016!
-Erin

Read This Book(er)

Winner of the 2015 National Book Critics Circle Award in Fiction, named one of the best books of 2015 by The New York Times Book Review and the Wall Street Journal, and now winner of the Man Booker Prize for Fiction (the first American to do so), Kalani say, "Read this book,"

The Sellout by Paul Beatty

This is what absurdist social commentary is all about! Beatty tackles the always hot-button issue of race beautifully in this satirical masterpiece of a black urban farmer who attempts to resegregate his hometown. This is as funny as it is deeply thought-provoking. One of the best, most entertaining novels I've read in awhile.  -Kalani

A biting satire about a young man's isolated upbringing and the race trial that sends him to the Supreme Court, Paul Beatty's The Sellout showcases a comic genius at the top of his game. It challenges the sacred tenets of the United States Constitution, urban life, the civil rights movement, the father-son relationship, and the holy grail of racial equality the black Chinese restaurant.

Born in the "agrarian ghetto" of Dickens on the southern outskirts of Los Angeles the narrator of The Sellout resigns himself to the fate of lower-middle-class Californians: "I'd die in the same bedroom I'd grown up in, looking up at the cracks in the stucco ceiling that've been there since '68 quake." Raised by a single father, a controversial sociologist, he spent his childhood as the subject in racially charged psychological studies. He is led to believe that his father's pioneering work will result in a memoir that will solve his family's financial woes. But when his father is killed in a police shoot-out, he realizes there never was a memoir. All that's left is the bill for a drive-thru funeral.

Fuelled by this deceit and the general disrepair of his hometown, the narrator sets out to right another wrong: Dickens has literally been removed from the map to save California from further embarrassment. Enlisting the help of the town's most famous resident the last surviving Little Rascal, Hominy Jenkins he initiates the most outrageous action conceivable: reinstating slavery and segregating the local high school, which lands him in the Supreme Court.

Read This Book : Shirley You Jest Edition

Dean and Halley say, "Read this book:"

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

Well, Jackson did it again! This beautiful strange novel leaves quite a distinct and lingering impression. In this tale of mystery and isolation we are met by two sisters cut off from the world. They live alone, happily and ferally in their dilapidated family home in an almost mundanely mystical lifestyle a la Grey Gardens. Delivering and effortless sense of unease, this captivating and understated story will leave you in a satisfying state of unknowingness.

-Dean

Merricat lives with her older sister and uncle after her family is killed due to the mysterious appearance of arsenic in the sugar bowl. After her sister is acquited of the murder, she and Merricat are ostracized by the village. For a time, they are content in their isolation...until a visitor comes to stay. Strange and haunting, this novel stayed with me long after I finished it. Shirley Jackson managed to tell a story without violence, gore, or horror and yet by the end you're left chilled to the bone.

-Halley

***

And speaking of Shirley Jackson, just now is a pretty good time to be an SJ fan (or to become one) as the queen of horror is experiencing a bit of a resurgence. And it's about time too. 

When Shirley Jackson was first introduced by The New Republic, it was as, "Shirley Jackson, the wife of Stanley Hyman... living in New Hampshire and writing a novel." Not as she should have been, "Shirley Jackson the bad*ss writer of truly haunting and creepy short stories is writing a novel and lives in New Hampshire where she has to drive Stanley Hyman (the husband of Ms. Jackson) around because she knows how to drive and he doesn't." Not that not being able to drive is a reason for ridicule.

All I'm trying to say is it's time to give this author and licensed driver the appreciation she deserves. And with a new biography, last year's novel based on her life, and a soon to be released graphic novel based on one of her most well-known short stories, we finally are! -Erin

Shirley Jackson's The Lottery by Miles Hyman

Shirley Jackson's The Lottery continues to thrill and unsettle readers nearly seven decades after it was first published. By turns puzzling and harrowing, it raises troubling questions about conformity, tradition, and the specter of ritualized violence that haunts even the most bucolic, peaceful village. 

This graphic adaptation, published in time for Jackson's centennial, allows readers to experience The Lottery as never before, or discover it anew. The visual artist--and Jackson's grandson--Miles Hyman has crafted an eerie vision of the hamlet where the tale unfolds, its inhabitants, and the unforgettable ritual they set into motion. His four-color, meticulously detailed panels create a noirish atmosphere that adds a new dimension of dread to the original tale. Perfectly timed to the current resurgence of interest in Jackson and her work, Shirley Jackson's The Lottery: The Authorized Graphic Adaptation masterfully reimagines her iconic story with a striking visual narrative.

Shirley Jackson : A Rather Haunted Life by Ruth Franklin

Placing Jackson within an American Gothic tradition that stretches back to Hawthorne and Poe, Franklin demonstrates how her unique contribution to this genre came from her focus on "domestic horror." Almost two decades before The Feminine Mystique ignited the women's movement, Jackson stories and nonfiction chronicles were already exploring the exploitation and the desperate isolation of women, particularly married women, in American society.Franklin's portrait of Jackson gives us a way of reading Jackson and her work that threads her into the weave of the world of words, as a writer and as a woman, rather than excludes her as an anomaly (Neil Gaiman).

The increasingly prescient Jackson emerges as a ferociously talented, determined, and prodigiously creative writer in a time when it was unusual for a woman to have both a family and a profession.A mother of four and the wife of the prominentNew Yorkercritic and academic Stanley Edgar Hyman, Jackson lived a seemingly bucolic life in the New England town of North Bennington, Vermont. Yet, much like her stories, which channeled the occult while exploring the claustrophobia of marriage and motherhood, Jackson's creative ascent was haunted by a darker side. As her career progressed, her marriage became more tenuous, her anxiety mounted, and she became addicted to amphetamines and tranquilizers. In sobering detail, Franklin insightfully examines the effects of Jackson's California upbringing, in the shadow of a hypercritical mother, on her relationship with her husband, juxtaposing Hyman's infidelities, domineering behavior, and professional jealousy with his unerring admiration for Jackson's fiction, which he was convinced was among the most brilliant he had ever encountered.

Shirley by Susan Scarf Merrell 

In this darkly captivating novel, Susan Scarf Merrell uses the facts of Jackson's life as a springboard to explore the 1964 disappearance of Paula Weldon, a young Bennington College student. 

Told through the eyes of Rose Nemser the wife of a graduate student working with Jackson's husband, Bennington professor Stanley Edgar Hyman Shirley reimagines the connections between the Hymans volatile marriage and one of the era's great unsolved mysteries.

Scary Books!

It's my favorite time of year for reading. Not that I don't read at all other times of the year. It's only that reading October through December is THE BEST time for reading. It's like the sports year, sure, hockey is good all season long, but it's THE BEST during Stanley Cup playoffs.

Nothing is cozier than curling under a blanket, drinking a cup of tea, and reading to the sounds of rain falling and wind scattered leaves. I also like to put my Yule Log on, but you should feel free to light a real fire should you have a fireplace. Admit it, me describing it right now has you contemplating just how many sick days you can get away with.

Since Reading Season Playoffs begin in October, I like to start off with scary books. I've put together a table at the Lake Forest Park Store. Here are a few of the titles on display, come on down and check out the rest...if you dare.

Dawn  by Octavia Butler

Lilith lyapo awoke from a centuries-long sleep to find herself aboard the vast spaceship of the Oankali. Creatures covered in writhing tentacles, the Oankali had saved every surviving human from a dying, ruined Earth. They healed the planet, cured cancer, increased strength, and were now ready to help Lilith lead her people back to Earth--but for a price.

The Year of Voting Dangerously by Maureen Dowd

Trapped between two candidates with the highest recorded unfavorables, Americans are plunged into The Year of Voting Dangerously. In this perilous and shocking campaign season, Dowd traces the psychologies and pathologies in one of the nastiest and most significant battles of the sexes ever. If America is on the escalator to hell, then this book is the perfect guide for this surreal, insane ride.

White is for Witching by Helen Oyeyemi

There's something strange about the Silver family house in the closed-off town of Dover, England. Grand and cavernous with hidden passages and buried secrets, it's been home to four generations of Silver women Anna, Jennifer, Lily, and now Miranda, who has lived in the house with her twin brother, Eliot, ever since their father converted it to a bed-and-breakfast. The Silver women have always had a strong connection, a pull over one another that reaches across time and space, and when Lily, Miranda's mother, passes away suddenly while on a trip abroad, Miranda begins suffering strange ailments. An eating disorder starves her. She begins hearing voices. When she brings a friend home, Dover's hostility toward outsiders physically manifests within the four walls of the Silver house, and the lives of everyone inside are irrevocably changed.

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

At seven minutes past midnight, thirteen-year-old Conor wakes to find a monster outside his bedroom window. But it isn't the monster Conor's been expecting-- he's been expecting the one from his nightmare, the nightmare he's had nearly every night since his mother started her treatments. The monster in his backyard is different. It's ancient. And wild. And it wants something from Conor. Something terrible and dangerous. It wants the truth. From the final idea of award-winning author Siobhan Dowd-- whose premature death from cancer prevented her from writing it herself-- Patrick Ness has spun a haunting and darkly funny novel of mischief, loss, and monsters both real and imagined.

All the Single Ladies Unmarried Women and the Rise of an Independent Nation by Rebecca Traister

In 2009, award-winning journalist Rebecca Traister started All the Single Ladies about the twenty-first century phenomenon of the American single woman. It was the year the proportion of American women who were married dropped below fifty percent; and the median age of first marriages, which had remained between twenty and twenty-two years old for nearly a century (1890 1980), had risen dramatically to twenty-seven. 

But over the course of her vast research and more than a hundred interviews with academics and social scientists and prominent single women, Traister discovered a startling truth: the phenomenon of the single woman in America is not a new one. And historically, when women were given options beyond early heterosexual marriage, the results were massive social change temperance, abolition, secondary education, and more. Today, only twenty percent of Americans are married by age twenty-nine, compared to nearly sixty percent in 1960. 

And my favorite literary/author pun...

Richard Scarry's Best Storybook Ever

Boo!

-Erin

Reading Fast, and Reading Slow

In 16 years of bookselling, I’ve always been a voracious reader, devouring 2-3 books each week. This spring I hit a reading slump. My personal life turned upside down, and suddenly I couldn’t focus. Reading has always been a refuge, so it was strange to be so distracted that I couldn’t read more than a few pages without losing track of the narrative.

I loved Charles DuHigg’s The Power of Habit, so I snapped up an advance copy of his latest book, Smarter Faster Better. I took notes on the first few chapters and could hardly wait to read the rest, but life got in the way. Ironically, I fell out of the habit of picking up a book whenever I had a spare minute.

By April 4 I’d managed to finish one book: Marrow Island by Alexis Smith. I adored Smith’s debut gem, Glaciers, and her second effort is the type of novel I’d ordinarily finish in a day or two: literary fiction with an edge of mystery, set primarily in the San Juan Islands.  I spent six weeks reading this wonderfully stitched 256-page story, determined to see it through and return to my usual reading pace.

In May I had a few more false starts but only finished one book: Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi, a beautifully wrought portrait of two half-sisters and their descendants, from the Gold Coast of Africa at the peak of the slave trade to 21st century America. The memorable characters each evoke a unique time and place, bringing humanity to history.

June brought me just what I needed: Maria Semple’s forthcoming romp Today Will Be Different. Funny and smart with a touch of the ridiculous, it follows Eleanor Flood through a single day in which she tries to be a better person, to hilarious effect.

By the end of July I felt accomplished; I'd finished three whole books! I savored my favorite, A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles, over several weeks. Sentenced to live out his days as a Former Person at the Hotel Metropol in 1922, Count Alexander Rostov resolves to make the best of his reduced circumstances. With unparalleled charm, he moves through three decades, befriending staff, guests, and foreign journalists, always the gentleman. Fans of Helen Simonson’s delightful The Summer Before the War will enjoy the count's quick wit and the minutiae of his days.

In August I enjoyed a few pages a day of Eowyn Ivey’s second novel, To the Bright Edge of the World. Set in nineteenth century Alaska, this historical novel follows an expedition up the Wolverine River into the unknown, told through the leader’s journal entries and his wife’s letters.

At first I felt horribly guilty neglecting the stacks of unread advance reading copies on my shelves, but over the past few months I’ve let go of the guilt somewhat. I’ve fallen out of the reading habit, but I have faith it will return. Right now I’m spending 6-8 hours each week on my bike, writing loads of letters and postcards, journaling, paddle boarding, camping, and anything else that gets me out in the glorious summer sun.

-Emily

On This Day In (Literary) History

More comics here!

When Nobody Loves the Book You Love

Have you ever watched your child perform really poorly? Like you're at the soccer field and your kid can't even drink his Gatorade without spilling it all down his front, let alone run fast or kick the ball with any sort of accuracy? How about a television show you love being cancelled after one season? Or when they stop making your favorite brand of novelty breakfast cereal (you broke my heart Rice Krispies Treats Cereal)? All of those feelings of sadness, disappointment, abandonment, and unfairness...those are the feelings I feel every day when I walk by the book I love and you haven't bought it yet. 

Only I feel all those feelings times one million.

I bet you didn't think bookselling involved such angst and anguish. Well, it does, and it's mostly your fault. You see, I read this book, this book I really loved. I told people about it. I staff picked it. I put it on Instagram. It featured on one of our monthly theme tables. But you didn't care. You ignored it. It's like I'm shouting to an empty room. Or a room filled with angry people trying to read the books they bought instead of the book I'm suggesting.

So here's my last ditch effort, and if a hastily crafted, marginally edited blog post won't convince you to buy it, I guess I'm not very good at my job. Fair warning, I'm not above some pretty dubious tactics. Like pilfering words from this New York Times Book Review by Leonard Pitts Jr.:

 The Castle Cross the Magnet Carter... a narrative that sweeps forward (and then back) between World War II and the first decade of the new millennium, touching on the civil rights movement, AIDS, deaf culture, lynching, love and sexuality, that emotional terrain remains the book’s bedrock.

...what Corthron does best in this book. She blindsides you. She sneaks up from behind. Sometimes, it is with moments of humor, but more often with moments of raw emotional power — moments whose pathos feels hard-earned and true.

The Castle Cross the Magnet Carter is a big book that has a lot — arguably too much — on its mind. But it succeeds admirably in a novel’s first and most difficult task: It makes you give a damn. It also does well by a novel’s second task: It sends you away pondering what it has to say.

What he said. 

And what's a little plagarism compared to the exploitation of a good friend's emotional health and job stability? Because, I haven't been entirely unable to sell this book, in fact I convinced a friend to read it and she loved it. She loved it so much she had to call in sick while she was reading it. She couldn't wait to finish and refused to read at work because she didn't want to cry in front of coworkers. Those are real emotions people.

I will even do the thing I hate most about bookselling: the comparison. Here goes:

If you loved Hanya Yanagihara's A Little Life, then you will love The Castle Cross the Magnet Carter even more. They are both super long, super big books. 10 pounds each. Serious. Both have these characters your heart will break for. And both will make you weep. Castle Cross just does it WAY better.

And last but not least... I understand the importance of cover design, so I have updated the original cover with everyone's favorite things in an attempt to appeal to a wider audience.

All joking aside. The Castle Cross The Magnet Carter is a beautiful book. A sprawling, messy, sweeping epic. It gives you the chance to burrow in and really connect with the characters. Weirdly, Kia Corthron does a lot of things I usually hate: child narrators, dialects, switching perspectives, jumping through time. But in her hands they become this perfect conduit for a heartbreaking tale of race, sexuality, disability, familial strife, and the power of brotherhood. These pages deal with a lot of hate, sadness, and confusion but there's also a lot of courage and love here too. I wish this book were 800 more pages, and then 800 more after that.

Please read it. Don't let it be the book on the sidelines with Gatorade all down its front.

-Erin

Soon to be a Major Motion Picture

I was recently at the local cinema seeing a great art house piece, Ghostbusters. Perhaps you've heard of it? The movie was fantastic. Obviously. But the previews were pretty great too. And three of them are books!

For a book lover, I'm unusually unfazed by movie adaptations. I'm not the type to say, "the book is always better," because they really are two separate entities. But that doesn't mean an upcoming movie release won't compel me to read the book. Sometimes movie release schedules fairly dictate my to-read pile. Like right now.

Billy Lynn's Long Half-Time Walk  by Ben Fountain

Three minutes and forty-three seconds of intense warfare with Iraqi insurgents has transformed the eight surviving men of Bravo Squad into America's most sought-after heroes. Now they're on a media-intensive nationwide tour to reinvigorate support for the war. On this rainy Thanksgiving, the Bravos are guests of the Dallas Cowboys, slated to be part of the halftime show alongside Destiny's Child.

Among the Bravos is Specialist Billy Lynn. Surrounded by patriots sporting flag pins on their lapels and Support Our Troops bumper stickers, he is thrust into the company of the Cowboys' owner and his coterie of wealthy colleagues; a born-again Cowboys cheerleader; a veteran Hollywood producer; and supersized players eager for a vicarious taste of war. Over the course of this day, Billy will drink and brawl, yearn for home and mourn those missing, face a heart-wrenching decision, and discover pure love and a bitter wisdom far beyond his years.

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

At seven minutes past midnight, thirteen-year-old Conor wakes to find a monster outside his bedroom window. But it isn't the monster Conor's been expecting-- he's been expecting the one from his nightmare, the nightmare he's had nearly every night since his mother started her treatments. The monster in his backyard is different. It's ancient. And wild. And it wants something from Conor. Something terrible and dangerous. It wants the truth. From the final idea of award-winning author Siobhan Dowd-- whose premature death from cancer prevented her from writing it herself-- Patrick Ness has spun a haunting and darkly funny novel of mischief, loss, and monsters both real and imagined.

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

A mysterious island.

An abandoned orphanage.

A strange collection of very curious photographs.

It all waits to be discovered in "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children," an unforgettable novel that mixes fiction and photography in a thrilling reading experience. As our story opens, a horrific family tragedy sets sixteen-year-old Jacob journeying to a remote island off the coast of Wales, where he discovers the crumbling ruins of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. As Jacob explores its abandoned bedrooms and hallways, it becomes clear that the children were more than just peculiar. They may have been dangerous. They may have been quarantined on a deserted island for good reason. And somehow impossible though it seems they may still be alive. A spine-tingling fantasy illustrated with haunting vintage photography, "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children" will delight adults, teens, and anyone who relishes an adventure in the shadows.

-Erin