| The January 2013 Staff Picks can also be viewed or printed as a PDF Staff Picks January 2013 (1.4MB) |
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NEW BOOKS by Popular Authors
COMING OUT in JANUARY 8th - The Last Runaway by Tracy Chevalier
8th - On Looking: Eleven Walks with Expert Eyes by Alexandra Horowitz, author of Inside of a Dog. 15th - Standing in Another Man's Grave by Ian Rankin Rebus returns! 15th - Heat: Adventures in the World's Fiery Places by Bill Streever 22nd - The Inventor and the Tycoon: A Gilded Age Murder and the Birth of Moving Pictures by Edward Ball author of Slaves in the Family. 29th - Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain |
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| NONFICTION | ||
| NEW HARDCOVER | NEW PAPERBACK | |
 Jungleland: A
Mysterious Lost
City, a WWII Spy,
and a True Story of
Deadly Adventure by Christopher S.
Stewart. Journalist
Stewart, intrigued by
the story of Theodore
Morde's search for a fabled mysterious
"White City" in the Ecuadorian rain
forest 70 years ago, sets out to repeat
the journey, using notebooks given to
him by Morde's nephew. A terrific read!
~ Louise Jones |
 Freedom National:
The Destruction of
Slavery in the United
States, 1861-1865 by
James Oakes. Although
most Americans
believe the Civil War
was fought to destroy
slavery as a military
necessity, it's not true. Lincoln and the
Republicans began abolishing slavery
in 1861, relentlessly pursuing it before
the Emancipation Proclamation (1863)
and 13th Amendment (1865). An
important, well written book, carefully
argued. ~ Bill Lewis |
 Judging a Book by
Its Lover: A Field
Guide to the Hearts
and Minds of
Readers Everywhere by Lauren Leto. This
hilarious book was
written for book
lovers and book lover
wannabes. I tried to read it slowly but
ended up finishing it in two evenings
and discovered that, as a Hesse lover,
I'm required to own one straw chair.
Hmm. ~ Krysta Piccoli |
 Open Heart by
Elie Wiesel. Facing
emergency open-heart
surgery at the age of
82, humanitarian,
scholar and Holocaust
survivor Wiesel reflects
on his life, works and
mortality, probing
essential questions
about the nature of humanity and the
existence of God. Eloquent, moving,
beautiful. ~ Amy Palmer |
 The Voyeurs by
Gabrielle Bell. This
acclaimed cartoonist
has an extraordinary
eye for the manners
and foibles of the
young and hip.
These funny, keen
autobiographical
fragments truly show the way we live
now. ~ Charles Bottomley |
 Eating Dirt: Deep Forests, Big
Timber, and Life
with the Tree-Planting Tribe by
Charlotte Gill. This
book reads as fluidly
as fiction. It tells the
story of professional
tree planters who
live a rough and
grimy life. Gill does not sugarcoat,
but the story is still romantic with an
intimate writing style. ~ Krysta Piccoli |
 The Carter Family:
Don't Forget This Song by Frank M. Young.
Few artists cast a longer
shadow over country
music than the Carter
family. This graphic
novel shows just how
much hard times, hard work and
heartbreak went into making it so.
Not just a great book about country,
but a great book about music.
~ Charles Bottomley |
 The World Until
Yesterday: What
Can We Learn from
Traditional Societies? By Jared Diamond.
Diamond's fantastic and
much-anticipated new
book details the
differences and
similarities of modern culture vs.
traditional societies. As always, he is
a readable expert, making this book
perfect for the casual reader or the
scholar. ~ Krysta Piccoli |
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| NEW HARDCOVER | NEW PAPERBACK | |
 Breed by Chase Novak.
A childless couple
travels to Eastern
Europe for fertility
treatments from a
shady doctor, leaving
them with a set of
twins and a lot of problems they
hadn't anticipated. A creepy story
with contemporary overtones – a
great way to pass a winter's night.
~ Alden Graves |
 Finding Camlann by Sean Pidgeon.
Welsh archeologist
Donald Gladstone is
working on a book
that will reveal the
"real" King Arthur
when a surprising
discovery confounds him. An
intricate novel incorporating myth,
history, archeology, literature,
academic backstabbing, politics -
and a lovely romance. ~ Louise Jones |
 Hope: A Tragedy by Shalom
Auslander.
What would you
do if you found
Anne Frank living
in your attic? That's
the jump-off point
for one of the funniest novels since
Portnoy's Complaint.
~ Charles Bottomley |
 Magnificence by
Lydia Millet. Susan
Lindley, newly
widowed, inherits a
strange mansion in
Pasadena CA, which
further changes her
life. An engrossing,
disturbing, odd story by a gifted
writer, with a plot that surprises and
satisfies in ways you won't expect.
Third in a trilogy, but complete by
itself. ~ Louise Jones |
 Happiness
is a Chemical
in the Brain by Lucia Perillo.
A pitch-perfect
collection of
glimmering short
stories dominated
by wild, tough women who may
be down, but are never out. Then
there's "Ashes," in which a young
burnout takes his father's remains
to a strip-bar. We will hear a lot
more from Perillo, and I can't wait.
~ Charles Bottomley |
 Vulture Peak by John Burdett.
Burdett's detective
Sonchai Jitpleecheep
might be the last
good cop in Bangkok
- and even he
stumbles sometimes.
He's on the collective tail of twin
body-part black marketers in a
thriller that combines Third World
cunning with plenty of smart riffs
on our new globalized reality.
~ Charles Bottomley |
 The Painted Girls
by Cathy Marie
Buchanan.
At the end of the
19th century, three
sisters aspire to the
world of ballet in
Paris, then the center
of the world for all the arts. Based
on historical figures and incidents,
this novel delivers great atmosphere
and characters, who weave through
the harsh yet rich tapestry of life at
the time. ~ Karen Frank |
 The Intercept by Dick Wolf.
Yes, the creator of
the hit TV series,
Law & Order, can
also write a fastpaced
entertaining
thriller with good
characters. Just before July 4th,
NYPD's rule-breaking detective
Jeremy Fisk investigates a thwarted
airplane hijacking, which he believes
has ramifications for the future.
~ Sarah Knight |
OLD FAVORITES
 The Other by
Thomas Tryon.
Reissue of a gripping
psychological horror
story about identical
twins, one good
and one bad. There
is a revelation as
jaw-dropping as
anything I've ever read, and the
author masterfully keeps the reader
from seeing it coming.
~ Alden Graves |
 Hikikomori and the
Rental Sister by Jeff
Backhaus.
After a tragedy,
Thomas Tessler
withdraws from
his wife and closes
himself in his
bedroom. The Japanese call this
Hikikomori. His wife hires a young
Japanese woman, called a "rental
sister," to rescue him. A beautifully
written novel about grief, intimacy
and dealing with emotions.
~ Sarah Knight |
 The Siege of
Krishnapur by J. G. Farrell.
Farrell's masterpiece,
set during the Great
Indian Mutiny of
1857, examines
culture, class and
race with insight, subtlety and wit.
Farrell's superb writing brings to
life an historical event by creating
memorable characters, action and
suspense. One of my favorite novels.
~ Louise Jones |
 On the Road by Jack Kerouac.
"...it's a valentine to the
United States," wrote Kerouac
scholar Douglas Brinkley
about the infamous road trip
undertaken with Neal Cassady.
This novel is a fierce personal
quest for "IT" - meaning and
belonging - Kerouac's manic,
jazz-inspired, poetic voice is the
definitive one for The Beats!
~ Amy Palmer |