| The June 2013 Staff Picks can also be viewed or printed as a PDF Staff Picks June 2013 (750KB) |
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JUNE FEATURE
A cautionary tale about wealth and family ties, moving with the speed of a cattle stampede, with inevitable comparisons to Lonesome Dove, Blood Meridian and Giant. It is a meticulously researched historical examination of a changing, expanding land and the people who must change with it or be buried beneath it. –Alden Graves A violent, harrowing story about love, honor, power and family. A great book, not to be missed! ~ Liz Barnum. |
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The Son| FICTION | ||
 The Black Country by Alex Grecian. Inspector
Walter Day from
Scotland Yard investigates
the disappearance
of three
members of a family
from a remote village
in the Midlands, home to many
superstitions, including tales about a
creature prowling the woods. Grecian
is a master at creating a palpable atmosphere
of suspense. ~ Alden Graves |
 Americanah by
Chimamanda Ngozi
Adichie. From
the author of the
critically acclaimed
Half a Yellow Sun, a
new, seductive very
different story of Ifemalu,
a young woman who moves
to the US for new opportunities; despite
some success she returns to her
true home in Lagos. Lush, sprawling,
modern, intelligent. ~ Liz Barnum |
 Southern Cross the
Dog by Bill Cheng. Part homage
to bluesmen like
Robert Johnson and
Muddy Waters, reminiscent
of Flannery
O'Connor and Faulkner,
this debut is set against the great
flood of 1927 in Jim Crow-era Mississippi
and is an odyssey you won't
be able to put down. ~ Amy Palmer |
 We Need New Names by Noviolet Bulawayo. Darling,
a young girl growing
up in Zimbabwe,
eventually finds
herself in America,
struggling to get
comfortable in a new country. The
story is intense, the writing musical,
beautiful and simply wouldn't
let me go. A wonderful debut book;
I'm looking forward to more from
Bulawayo! ~ Liz Barnum |
 Trains and Lovers by Alexander McCall Smith. A
gentle exploration
of love, through a
series of intertwined
romantic stories
exchanged by four
strangers traveling by rail between
Edinburgh and London. With compassion
and tenderness for the human
condition, McCall Smith is unwavering
in his belief in the goodness
of the human heart. ~ Amy Palmer |
 All the Dead Yale
Men by Craig Nova. The sequel to
Nova's outstanding
The Good Son follows
the next generations
of Mackinnons into
the present. Nova
writes with sensitivity, humor and
subtlety as he delves into the complex
family ties that divide and unite.
Powerful, evocative of emotions and
place. ~ Louise Jones |
 Sight Reading by
Daphne Kalotay. With an
eye for exquisite detail
and a supreme
sensitivity about the
musical mind, the
author of Russian
Winter creates a
compelling story around the talent,
creativity, family relationships and
general complexities of life affecting
members of the Boston art and
music community. ~ Karen Frank |
 Norwegian by Night by Derek Miller.
A complex yet simple
story, suspenseful
but more intricate
than a genre
thriller, this original
debut follows an
elderly American living in Norway
as he tries to save a youngster from
his vicious father, who they both
saw murder his mother. Beautifully
written, thoughtful, tense, evocative.
~ Louise Jones |
 The Morels by
Christopher Hacker. It's often
unclear whether this
debut novel is a
challenging examination
of the social
limits of creative expression
or a profile of the unusual
and ultimately troubling life of writer
Arthur Morel. The fact that it turns
out to be both is most impressive.
~ Jonathan Fine |
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FAVORITE THINGS  Kobo Glo &
Kobo Mini This outstanding eReader
is the perfect graduation
gift – Northshire Bookstore
in your pocket: pre-loaded
with 100 books, access to over a
million free titles and plenty more
to purchase, can store up to 1,000
books, newspapers or magazines
while supporting Northshire.
~ Jess Krawczyk |
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 Gulp: Adventures
on the Alimentary
Canal by Mary
Roach.
A glorious romp
through the historic
and current
science of the digestive
tract. Roach
rivals Sedaris in her wit and humor,
informing you of things you didn't
know you wanted to know (you
do), while not leaving you (terribly)
disgusted. ~ Krysta Piccoli |
Bill Lewis
recommends history
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AUTHOR EVENTS June 14  To Eat:
A Country Life by Joe Eck and
Wayne Winterrowd. This
final celebration
of food and gardening
(Winterrowd
died in 2010 before the book
was completed) is a lovely and
moving tribute to companionable
lives well-lived by the partners who
founded the garden design firm
North Hill in southern Vermont and
created the spectacular gardens there.
~ Louise Jones |
 Let's Explore Diabetes
with Owls by David Sedaris. Whether going
to his "happy
place" during a
colonoscopy, contemplating
a severed
forearm at his
neighborhood taxidermist's, sharing
drugs with a stranger in a men's room
or obsessively collecting rubbish
along the roadsides of rural England,
Sedaris continues to delight with his
witty commentary on life's absurdities.
~ Amy Palmer |
July 13  Bunker Hill: A City,
A Siege, a Revolution by
Nathaniel Philbrick. A riveting
examination of one
of the most decisive
events in American history. An intimate
look at pivotal figures and reverberant
events that led up to the
bloody confrontation on what was
actually Breed's Hill outside of Boston,
after the skirmishes at Lexington
and Concord. ~ Alden Graves |
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 Yes is the Answer:
(And Other Prog-
Rock Tales) edited by Marc
Weingarten.
Most people would
rather shoot themselves
than listen to
Tarkus. This book
could change all that. Funny, touching,
enlightening essays on that whitest
of music – prog rock. A trip to
a topographic ocean worth taking.
~ Charles Bottomley |
10th Women Read The Unlikely
Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by
Rachel Joyce 11th Cookbook Vermont Farm Table Cookbook by Tracy Medeiros 17th Dark Side Midnight In Peking by Paul French 17th Fountain of Youth The Uses of Enchantment by Bruno Bettelheim, Briar Rose by Jane Yolen 18th History For Adam's Sake by Allegra Bonaventura 20th Mystery & Thriller Midnight In Peking by Paul French 27th Poetry Sing: Poetry from the Indigenous Americas edited by Allison Adelle Hedge Coke |
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 The Complete Don
Quixote by Rob
Davis and Miguel de
Cervantes.
Beautifully drawn
and always hilarious,
this comic adaptation
of the Man
of La Mancha's misadventures
remains true to the anarchic
spirit of Cervantes' novel. A treat for
fans and a great intro for young readers.
~ Charles Bottomley |
 Father's Day: A
Journey into the
Mind and Heart
of My Extraordinary
Son by Buzz
Bissinger.
Bissinger portrays
himself with brutal
honesty as he
plays second fiddle to his mentally challenged,
uncannily savant 24 year
old son. A father/son cross-country
road trip at times painful to read, but
ultimately a beautiful work of art.
~ Stan Hynds |
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The Red Book
Those Angry Days: Roosevelt, Lindbergh,
and America's Fight Over
World War II, 1939-1941
The Girls of Atomic City: The Untold
Story of the Women Who
Helped Win World War II
The Guns at Last Light: The War
in Western Europe, 1944-1945