It’s hard to believe that it’s been three years since we opened our doors on November 3^rd, 2008 — so much has happened in that time, both in the world around us, as well as in our shop. It hardly seems possible for it to all have gone on in just three years!

Here at The Next Chapter, Tresa and I have watched a dream grow, first becoming a startup indie bookshop with a few gifts and lots of ideas; and then blossoming into the thriving shop we like to call our Book and Gift Boutique, where we are fortunate to be working, every day.

Three years ago, we were just opening our doors, hoping that you would find something you liked on our shelves.  You were wonderful! You supported us beyond most predictions, so we got to work, and the startup grew into a bustling shop.  It was the Next Chapter in both of our lives.

We knew we wanted to have used books as well as new.  So we opened our used book basement, seeded it with books from our own collections and began taking donations, giving 10% of each month’s used book sales back to the community in the form of checks to local charities.

We wanted The Next Chapter to have a warm and welcoming atmosphere, so we made a seating area with soft couches and a table with chairs.  We installed the book shelves all along the perimeter of the space and arranged displays of books and gifts on tables and shelves and spinners throughout the middle of the shop. We invited people to stop, have a cup of coffee, take a few minutes to browse, relax, enjoy.

Over the next three years, we listened to feedback, we worked to fulfill requests, we watched what was happening in our community, and tried to help wherever we could. We read countless book reviews and fine tuned our book selection. When we didn’t have what you were looking for, we helped you locate the books you wanted.  When you responded to the few gift lines we carried, and asked for more, we slowly began to carry more kinds of items, or bigger selections of the kinds of things you shopped for.  When other shops on the square closed their doors, or opened, we responded to fulfill the needs of our town by carrying items like greeting cards.

We tried a few things that just didn’t work, like magazines; or that were initially intended to be temporary like blooming plants during the spring season. We sought out some of the things that weren’t available in our community, to encourage you to shop locally.  We added some specific gift lines that you asked for, like Willow Tree figurines and WoodWick Candles, to name just two.

And again, your response has been great!  All the kind words and encouragement, as well as the willingness to shop locally, have made The Next Chapter a success.  In April of this year, we annexed the suite of offices between the main shop and the dental office, and added a Home and Garden Décor section, stocking it with lots of beautiful things to make your house a home, and gourmet food mixes, coffees and teas to feed your loved ones.

A few months later, we realized we needed more help, so we hired Diane Gordon, the third member of our team, who brings years of bookshop and book-keeping experience along with a generous portion of creativity to the mix. We’ve enjoyed having her, and her new perspective, helping make this an even better place.

If you haven’t been to The Next Chapter lately, you may not know that the term ‘gift selection’ is perhaps a bit misleading.  We have a fashion accessories section, a paper goods section with cards and journals, and a toy section, and of course, our Home and Garden section.

One day, a year or so ago, a woman from out of town, who had spent some time browsing and shopping, stopped on her way out carrying several bags, and exclaimed, “This is a Book Boutique!  I love it!” We liked it too, and have added that to our description of The Next Chapter.

We like being a Book and Gift Boutique.  We also like being part of Knoxville’s own next chapter, as our town looks to the future and works to solve the problems facing many communities of our size.

Here are some of the ways we are trying to help:

• We have donated over $5000 to local causes benefitting everything from homeless pets to college bound students.
• We’ve sold nearly 20,000 new books, and 9000 used books since we opened – just think of all that reading!
• We have entered into partnerships with other local businesses, such as the Peace Tree Brewing Company to bring entertaining events to the town.
• We have worked with local schools, libraries and churches, offering discounts and services, because we want to be the local source for the books they need.
• We have offered adult education classes on such diverse topics as Basic Computers, Flower Arranging, Memory Quilt Crafting and more.
• We provide meeting space for several local organizations, and gathering space for the community at large.
• We have sold tickets to numerous events for organizations like the Red Rock Arts Alliance and K-Act.
• We have welcomed other would-be entrepreneurs, offering encouragement and practical assistance whenever we could.

As we look to the future, we’re ready for yet another chapter as we begin our 4^th year of business.  We will continue to bring the best new books each season, finding those titles that make you happy and keep you informed and entertained. We will continue to find great new product lines for your gift-giving needs and your own pleasure.  We will continue to support our community with financial contributions, in-kind donations, and institutional discounts; as well as by being the local outlet for event tickets, and the ideas incubator for would-be entrepreneurs.

We not only want to encourage folks to shop local, we also want to become a destination for people outside of our community.  We will bring in more authors, more events, and more classes.  We want to live up to our name, by helping to bring the ‘Next Chapter’ to Knoxville.

Want more photos of life at The Next Chapter?  See our photo album

Moo by Matthew Van Fleet

Simon & Schuster, 2011, Babies & Preschoolers

The newest installment in the ever-popular, and oh-so-fun series of popup/pullout/swirl books from Van Fleet that include such titles as Tails, Heads, and Alphabet

 Every Thing On It by Shel Silverstein

Harper Collins, 2011, Children of all Ages & the Young at Heart

A new, posthumous collection of poems and illustrations by the beloved Silverstein, carefully selected by a committee of his family and close associates, these poems have all the silly, absurd, spot-on charm of the collections Silverstein released while he was alive.  A must for every home with children!

Grandpa Green by Lane Smith

Roaring Brook Press, 2011, Picture Book, 4 to 8 year olds

A young boy shares his great-grandfather’s history through Grandpa Green’s fabulous topiary garden that documents the many stories of his life.  A tribute to the love between generations.

The Sniffles for Bear by Bonny Becker illustrations by Kady MacDonald Denton

Candlewick, 2011, 4 to 8 year olds

Perennial favorites, Bear and Mouse return for a lighthearted but somewhat dramatic tale about the time Bear comes down with a bad cold and is nursed back to health by his loyal friend, Mouse.  Filled with warm-hearted messages about friendship and enough humor to keep the reading adults entertained.

Otis and the Tornado by Loren Long

Philomel, 2011, 4 to 8 year olds

Otis the little tractor is back again in a new adventure in which he helps save his animal friends on the farm from a destructive tornado.  With art echoing Grant Wood in mostly grey and sepia tones with splashes of color, this is an exciting tale about how doing the right thing has unexpected rewards.

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star by Jerry Pinkney

Little Brown, 2011, 4 to 8 year olds

Last year’s Caldecott winner (for The Lion and the Mouse) is back with this classic childhood song done up as the prisma-color dream of a young chipmunk. Lush water-colors and simple text combine to let you imagine the story your own way. You will never visualize Twinkle Twinkle Little Star the same again!

Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site by Sherri Duskey Rinker & Tom Lightenheld

Chronicle, 2011, 4 to 8 year olds

With sweet rhyming text, this gentle book a lovely way for your little truck aficionado to end the day  The art is calming with its muted colors and sleepy faces on the trucks, making it the perfect bed time story.

Moon over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool

Delarcorte, 2010,  9 to 12 year olds

This years’ Newberry Award Winner, as well as the Midwest Bookseller’s Choice Award Winner, this is the story of a young girl named Abilene growing up during the depression. She is sent to Manifest, Kansas, to live with her father’s childhood friend when her dad takes a railroad job, and spends the summer learning more about her father’s orphaned childhood, and the ways in which the Manifest community came together to help raise him.  Ingeniously plotted and gracefully told, this father/daughter tale will resonate with any reader who’s ever wondered whether those old family stories really tell the whole truth.

The Books of Elsewhere : The Shadows and Spellbound by Jacqueline West

Dial, 2010-11,9 to 12 year olds

Roald Dahl meets Neil Gaiman in this creepy but whimsical series about an 11-year-old girl named Olive who moves into a Victorian mansion and discovers she can enter another world through the antique paintings left behind. With an engaging heroine and a batch of talking housecats this is a fun read, even for some reluctant readers.

Into the Trap by Craig Moodie

Roaring Brook Press, 2011,  9 to 12 year olds

A rip-roaring adventure about a boy from a New England fishing town who discovers that someone has been stealing his family’s lobster catch, and sets out to catch the culprits, facing down bullies and the rough seas along the way.  Set over a single, tense day, the novel’s chapter titles track the hours and give the book an immediate, real-time pace. An exciting drama for fans of Will Hobbs and Gary Paulsen.

Heroes of Olympus: The Lost Hero and  Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan

Hyperion, 2011,  9 to 12 year olds

A huge hit with the young readers here at The Next Chapter, these are the continuing adventures of the demi-god teens, modern children of Greek and Roman gods, With the same setting as the hugely successful Percy Jackson series.  With a fresh new cast of characters, Riordan continues the action-packed fun with a new prophecy and a new quest, complete with appearances by favorite characters from the previous series.  These books will delight especially the boys — but there are plenty of us girls who love a great adventure too!

Secrets at Sea by Richard Peck, illustrated by Kelly Murphy

Dial, 2011, 9 to 12 year olds

In the tradition of the Rescuers, and the Tale of Despereaux, comes a lighthearted tale of three plucky orphaned mice sisters caring for their little brother, and living among the Victorian-era Cranston family in their mansion in America.  When the Cranstons travel to England to find a husband for their elder daughter, the mice stow away in the luggage and have the adventure of their lives! Along the way they meet other mice, brave the dangers of the ship’s cat, help their human sisters find love, and find their own destinies along the way.  With wonderful, insightful writing from this beloved author, this is a definite don’t miss for any girl grades 3 and up!

The Winnitock Tales: The Hunt for the Eye of Ogin and The Mornith War by Patrick Doud

North Atlantic, 2010-2011,  9 to 12 year olds

A beautifully written epic fantasy adventure series that begins when Elwood, a 13 year old boy, and  his faithful dog Slukee are suddenly transported to the land of Winnitock, in another world, and must undertake a series of dangerous quests to try to save the inhabitants of Winnitock and return home. Winnitock has definite elements of Native America, and Dodd employs many of the traditional epic fantasy tropes, but the result is fresh and engrossing.  A bit off the best-seller beaten path, this series is not an easy read, but will engage fans of the Harry Potter series, (and even adult fans of Tad Williams) with its intricate plots, strong characters, imaginative setting, and poetic prose.

Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick

Scholastic, 2011,  9 years and up

Selznick, the author of The Invention of Hugo Cabret, is back with this wonderful story that gives the readers two independent tales, set 50 years apart, one told in words, and the other told in pictures, in Selznick’s signature form.  Ben feels lost since the death of his mother, and Rose feels alone in her life with her father, both are searching for something that is missing, each finds a clue, and each will risk everything to find what they seek.  With over 460 pages of original drawings and playing with the form he invented in his trailblazing debut novel, The Invention of Hugo Cabret, Brian Selznick once again sails into uncharted territory and takes readers on an awe-inspiring journey. Rich, complex, affecting and beautiful, Wonderstruck is a stunning achievement from a uniquely gifted artist and visionary

Ship Breakers by Paolo Bacigalupi

Little Brown, 2010,  Teens

In a dystopian not-so-distant future, a boy named Nailer ekes out a living as a scavenger on grounded oil-tankers in the Gulf Coast Region; but when a beautiful clipper ship is grounded by a hurricane, and Nailer discovers a lone survivor — a beautiful girl — he faces a decision whether to strip the ship and make his fortune or to rescue the girl, which could lead to a better life.

Leviathan Series: Leviathan, Behemoth, and Goliath by Scott Westerfeld

Simon Pulse, 2009-2011,  Teens

Teen and adult readers will enjoy this beautifully illustrated alternate-history / steam-punk vision of the life and adventures of Prince Aleksander, son of the assassinated Duke Leopold whose murder sparked WWI.  Along the way, the Prince meets Deryn, a young British airman, who is actually a girl in constant danger of being discovered. They make their way through a wold filled with giant machines and genetically modified machine beasts, as they seek a way to end the world’s war.

Five Flavors of Dumb by Antony John

Speak, 2011,  Teens

Piper has one month to get the high school student band, Dumb a paying gig.  If she can do this, she’ll become the band’s manager, and earn a share of the profit.  But how do you turn a rag-tag group of teens into a working band — especially when you can’t hear if they are any good because you are deaf?  But Piper has grit, and talent, and she rises to the challenge, and soon her self confidence, not to mention a budding romance are growing, In the meantime her family decides on a cochlear implant for her deaf baby sister, and Piper will have to learn what it truly means to be a flavor of Dumb.

Rosebush by Michelle Jaffe

Razorbill, 2011, Teens

A teen thriller, in which Jane finds herself paralyzed in a hospital bed after a terrible accident. One minute she was at a party, wearing fairy wings and cuddling with her boyfriend. The next, she was lying near-dead in a rosebush after a hit-and-run.  Everyone else believes it was an accident, and as her friends visit her in the hospital, and as she has plenty of time to lay and think, more memories surface, including ones about the day her best friend died, years earlier. With nearly everyone in her life a suspect now, Jane must unravel the mystery before her killer attacks again. Along the way, she’s forced to examine the consequences of her life choices in this compulsively readable thriller.

The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson
(Shades of London #1)

GP Putnam, 2011, Teens

Louisiana teenager Rory Deveaux goes to London to start a new life at a boarding school, but the same day as her arrival, the city is rocked by a series of brutal murders echoing the crimes of the infamous Jack the Ripper over a century before.  Soon “Rippermania” takes hold of modern-day London, and the police are left with few leads and no witnesses. Except one. Rory spotted the man police believe to be the prime suspect. But she is the only one who saw him. Even her roommate, who was walking with her at the time, didn’t notice the mysterious man. So why can only Rory see him? And more urgently, why has Rory become his next target? In this edge-of-your-seat thriller, full of suspense, humor, and romance, Rory will learn the truth about the secret ghost police of London and discover her own shocking abilities.

Glow by Amy Kathleen Ryan

St. Martin, 2011, Teens

Fast paced science fiction in which two spaceships travel away from a ravaged Earth toward a new planet with carefully selected colonists on board.  When the first ship breaks with plans and waits for the second ship to catch up with it, two years later, a chain of violent and life altering events takes place, leaving the children of the colony at war with the surviving adults from the first ship, and forced to govern and care for each other.  With some deep questions and pulse pounding action, this is a great story for older teens.

We’ve been taking a tour of popular fiction genres, reading three iconic or representative novels from a given genre each season.  We read romances in summer, and are finishing up Westerns next week.  We’ll take a break and meet again January 3rd, 2012, to discuss the first of our three Spy Thrillers! We’ve had a lot of fun with this ‘tour’, it has brought new people to our group, and we’re all reading a few books that are definitely out of our respective reading boxes.

I’ve done some googling, and learned that the Spy Thriller, as a genre, began to develop in the late 1800s, with a few suspense and mystery novels veering toward the espionage side of the tracks, with books like Kipling’s Kim, and then later by authors like James Fenimore Cooper. WWI and the Russian Revolution also spurred a number of spy novels, including The 39 Steps by John Buchan, and works by Joseph Conrad.

Later, during WWII, Helen MacInness and other writers revived the genre, which had languished a bit between the wars, but it was after the war was over, and the Cold War went into full swing, that Spy Thrillers really got going.  I have chosen to focus on titles written since this florescence, and have compiled a list of best-of-the-best Spy Thrillers for your feedback.

At our last meeting, I told our book club members that I would ask for input (I’m having a hard time choosing), so I’ve made a poll (see below) to allow you to vote for your top three favorites.  We are looking for those three Spy novels that are the best of the best and classics of the genre, or the best of one of the crucial authors in the genre.

So please, help me, vote for your TOP 3 Spy Thrillers from the list below.

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

Knopf, 2011, $26.95, Fiction
The magical tale of a mysterious circus that moves from place to place, unannounced, and sets up overnight in a palette of black, white, and silver.  Each tent holds surprises more wonderful than the last, and this book is well worth reading just for the descriptions of the tents and their contents.  But it is so much more.  It is also the story of two young magicians who are groomed since early childhood to compete in a mysterious rivalry with unknown rules and an unknown victory point.  And arching over these two themes, are the love stories of the people of the circus who feel every sort of love from filial and fraternal to the unrequited and the sublime.  This is the best book we’ve read in a very long time!

Before Ever After by Samantha Sotto

Crown Publishing, 2011, $23.00, Fiction
A widow learns that her husband, Max, was not who she thought he was when a young man claiming to be Max’s grandson comes to her door and tells her Max is still alive. The two set out to find the elusive Max, and along the way they tell one another their stories of life with Max, and slowly reveal his true nature.  Mystery, history and romance with a lovely thread of golden baked eggs running through it. Yummy!

Coming Up for Air by Patty Callahan Henry

St. Martin’s Press, 2011, $24.99, Fiction
A moving novel about an artist grieving both her mother and her empty nest who must come to terms with her marriage and life.  Everything she thought she understood is then challenged when the writer researching her mother’s philanthropic life turns out to be an old flame, revealing more about her mother’s unknown life and about her own feelings.

Wildflower Hill by Kimberley Freeman

Touchstone, 2011, $16.00, Fiction
An injured ballerina from London learns that she has inherited a sheep station in Australia from her grandmother.  When she travels to Australia with the intent of selling the sheep station, she begins to learn more about her grandmother, whose life was rich, if not easy, and she finds that a new life is possible in the most unexpected places. Compelling, atmospheric, and romantic.  If you liked Kate Morton’s Forgotten Garden, pick up Wildflower Hill!

Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh

Random House, 2011, $25.00, Fiction
An emotionally shattered young woman ages out of the foster care system, and struggles to find her way in the world, building a flower business along the way based on the Victorian idea of the Language of Flowers.  A dark condemnation of the current foster care system, this is not a happy book, but one with plenty of questions about what makes us who we are, and how we may someday be able to overcome it.

Nightwoods by Charles Frazier

Random House, 2011, $26.00, Fiction
Nightwoods may be Frazier’s best work to date. This is the lucid and beautifully written story of a reclusive woman who finds herself raising her murdered sister’s very damaged young twins in the South of the 1970s. A layered cast of characters includes the heir to a fortune, and the unholy duo of her lawman father and her psychotic brother-in-law.

State of Wonder by Ann Patchett

Harper Collins, 2011, $26.99, Fiction
A pharmaceutical researcher goes to the Amazonian jungle to retrieve the notes and personal effects of a colleague who recently died there.  When she gets there, she encounters her former mentor, a renowned gynecologist researching the exceptional fertility among one of the native tribes, and comes face to face with her own past and the decisions that shaped it in the midst of the humid heat and hardships of the jungle. Beautiful and atmospheric writing drives home this emotional tour-de-force.

Lost in Shangri La by Mitchell Zuckoff

Harper, 2011, $26.99, History
Set during WWII in the Pacific, this is the suspenseful story of the search and rescue operation undertaken after a plane full of Medics crash lands among the dreaded Head Hunters of New Guinea, leaving only three survivors, including one woman.  A riveting story of deliverance under the most unlikely circumstances, Lost in Shangri-La deserves its place among the great survival stories of World War II.

Thirteen Hours & Trackers by Deon Meyer

Grove Atlantic, 2010 & 2011, $24.00, Mystery / Thriller
Where do you go after you’ve read the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo?  You move on to other top-notch foreign authors like Deion Myer.  In 13 Hours, South African police detective Benny Greisl must find a fleeing American girl who witnessed a terrible crime before the bad guys do while he solves another murder across town, all the while navigating the new social rules in South Africa.  If you liked the TV show 24, you’ll like the hour-by-hour non-stop action here.  In Trackers , Meyer’s brand new novel, a highly skilled bodyguard becomes embroiled in an animal smuggling and rescue operation. This is a brilliantly complex standalone thriller set in his native South Africa, which captures the many facets of modern South Africa.

Operation Napoleon by Arnaldur Indridason

Minotaur, 2011, $24.99, Mystery / Thriller
Another foreign writer to catch, the popular Icelandic author Indridason.  When the remains of a crashed WWII plane re-surface on an Icelandic glacier, a woman and her brother find themselves embroiled in a plot to hide its secrets that reaches from Nazi Germany to the highest reaches of government in the 21^st century.  With skillfully-wrought pulse-pounding suspense, authentic locales, and plenty of secrets and twists, the ending to this thriller was satisfying and left me ready for more Indridason!

The Hare with Amber Eyes by Edmund De Waal

Picador, 2011, $16.00, History / Biography
This strange and graceful family memoir follows the history of a group of Japanese Netsuke carvings from the late 19th century when they joined the collection of the Ephrussis, a prominent European Jewish family, through the family’s misfortunes during WWII, when a faithful maid saved the Netsukes – the only survivors from the vast art collection destroyed by the Nazis —  to the modern day when they were inherited by the author, a famous ceramicist in England.

Rin-Tin-Tin: The Life and the Legend by Susan Orlean

Simon & Schuster, 2011, $26.99, History
The life, legend and business of Rin-Tin-Tin, the soulful German shepherd who was born on the battlefields of World War I, immigrated to America, conquered Hollywood, struggled in the transition to the talkies, helped mobilize thousands of dog volunteers against Hitler and himself emerged victorious as the perfect family-friendly icon of cold war gunslinging, thanks to the new medium of television.  Epic and heartwarming, this is one terrific story, beautifully written and meticulously researched.  Perfect for the US history buff on your Christmas list!

American Boy by Larry Watson

Milkweed, 2011, $24.00, Fiction
Renowned Midwest author Larry Watson returns with this poignant coming-of-age story about a young boy in a small Midwestern town 1960s, and of the conflicts of loyalty that confront him after he is taken under the wing of the local doctor and his family.  This is one beautiful and wise novel that will linger in your mind for a long time to come.

Sacred Acre : The Ed Thomas Story by Mark Tabb

Zondervan 2011, $22.99, Biography / Memoir
The moving and inspiring biography of beloved Parkersburg, Iowa, coach who was a high school football coach, a man of deep faith, and a pivotal leader in his community, and who was senselessly gunned down by a disturbed former student.  This is also the story of the grace and love that his family showed to Thomas’ murderer and his family in the aftermath.  Riveting, and highly recommended.

Wicked River : The Mississippi When it Last Ran Wild by Lee Sandlin

Knopf, 2011, $15.95, History
The fascinating history of the mighty Mississippi River during its heyday as the nation’s highway in the first half of the 19th century.  A tribute to the river’s complexity and power with all its floods and snags, this narrative is populated by slaves and merchants, farmers and drifters, would-be revolutionaries and artists, their stories told with humor and a certain raw authenticity that adds another dimension to the classic vision of the Mississippi written by Mark Twain.  A fun and thought provoking chapter of our nation’s history.

The Orchard : A Memoir by Theresa Weir

Grand Central, 2011, $24.99, Biography / Memoir
This is the moving and surprising memoir of a city girl who after a whirlwind courtship, marries into an Iowa Apple farming family, only to find that life on the farm is isolated and heartbreaking.  She struggles to integrate into her new husband’s family, and with the family, she struggles against the pests that threaten not only the apples but also their livelihood and their lives.

Heartland: The Cookbook by Judith Fertig

Andrews McMeel, 2011, $30.00, Cooking
This gorgeous cookbook celebrates the bounty of locally grown food, and the traditions of the Midwest with all its rich ethnic and historical heritage in a mouth-watering presentation of traditional ingredients and wonderful recipes.  What a great gift for any cook, or any midwesterner!

Woodland Style by Marlene Hurley Marshall

Feiwel & Friends, 2010, $24.95, Home Décor
Both art-book and craftista-inspiration, this gorgeous volume is chock full of beautiful things to make and admire from materials gathered in the forest.  A wonderful gift for those of us who never return from a walk in the woods with empty pockets.

Life is a Verb and Creative is a Verb by Patti Digh

Globe Pequot, 2010, $19.90 each, Inspiration
Life is a Verb is brilliantly-crafted, beautifully-designed, and not your mother’s kind of ‘self-help’ book. It guides the reader, through stories that sparkle, astonish and soar, how to move toward who you really are and what you want through actions.  Creative is a Verb, the follow up, helps the reader realize their own creative spirit, whether they be artists or folks who say ‘I’m not creative’.

Tolstoy and the Purple Chair : My Year of Magical Reading by Nina Sankovitch

Harper, June 2011, $23.99, Memoir
After her sister’s death, a woman who grew up in a family of readers, resolves to spend a year reading one book a day, and writing about it.  The result is this thoughtful memoir that explores the healing and transformational power of reading.

The Sojourn by Andrew Krivak.

An exquisitely written novel of a young Hungarian shepherd turned sharpshooter during WWI.  Brought to my attention by John Leeper (a big thanks to John!), this is a beautiful little book with a great big story written in some of the most beautifully evocative prose I’ve encountered on a very long time.  My favorite read so far this year, this gem is surely destined to become a classic!  Read more.

Empire of the Summer Moon : Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History, by S.C. Gwynne

S. C. Gwynne’s Empire of the Summer Moon spans two astonishing stories. The first traces the rise and fall of the Comanches, the most powerful Indian tribe in American history. The second entails one of the most remarkable narratives ever to come out of the Old West: the epic saga of the pioneer woman Cynthia Ann Parker and her mixed-blood son Quanah, who became the last and greatest chief of the Comanches.

Beautiful Disaster by Laura Spinella

Our wonderful customer, Karen Zeck brought this one to my attention, with an effusive endorsement — this from someone who reads dozens of books a month!  Beautiful Disaster is the story of a love lost…and found.

Mia Wells’s eco-friendly career goals are about to become a reality-but her life-altering moment is interrupted when an unexpected call ushers in her tremulous past. A man who’s never left Mia’s memory: Flynn, the enigmatic, passionate man whose disappearance broke her heart, has mysteriously resurfaced.  Now back in her life and in the hospital, Flynn is gravely injured. Mia keeps a bedside vigil- terrified that he will die, awestruck at the prospect of his survival. In a story filled with sweetness and suspense, Mia’s what-ifs are endless. And Flynn’s return ignites an achingly powerful tale about the most enduring love, one that is greater than honor, or friendship, or the passing of time.  Read more.  Here’s another review

Folly Beach : A Lowcountry Tale by Dorothea Benton Frank

Experience the wild beauty and sultry magic of New York Times bestselling author Dorothea Benton Frank’s Carolina Lowcountry—where the pull of family is as powerful as the ocean tides and love can strike faster than lightning in summer.

New Books to Check Out!

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children  by Ransom Riggs (read Bob Leonard’s review here).

In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson,

From the author of The Devil in the White City comes a masterful new history.  This time, bestselling author Larson turns his attention to the early days of the Nazis in Germany, as one American family bears eyewitness to the complex and horrifying events that unmasked Hitler’s true character.  A dazzling and addictively readable work that speaks volumes about why the world did not recongize the grave threat posed by Hitler until Berlin, and Europe were awash in blood and terror.  Read more.

22 Britannia Road by Amanda Hodgkinson

The wrenching, beautifully wrought chronicle of how one damaged Polish family goes to England to try to become, once again a true family in the aftermath of WWII.  It is a searing tour de force of war and the terrible choices it inflicts on human beings, and how love is the only redemption possible.  It is a powerful story of primal maternal love, survival, and ultimately, acceptance.  Read more.

The Orphan Sister by Gwendolen Gross

“With exquisite language and an empathetic ear, Gwendolen Gross paints a gorgeous portrait of life, love, loss and sisterhood, and forces you to ask yourself: how far will you go for your family and what secrets can shatter even that bond? The Orphan Sister will linger long after you’ve turned the final page.” —Allison Winn Scotch.  Read more.

Freedom, by Jonathan Franzen

In his first novel since The Corrections, Jonathan Franzen has given us an epic of contemporary love and marriage. Freedom comically and tragically captures the temptations and burdens of liberty: the thrills of teenage lust, the shaken compromises of middle age, the wages of suburban sprawl, the heavy weight of empire. In charting the mistakes and joys of Freedom’s intensely realized characters as they struggle to learn how to live in an ever more confusing world, Franzen has produced an indelible and deeply moving portrait of our time.  Read More

Ape House, by Sara Gruen

In her new novel, Water for Elephants author Sara Gruen once again examines the relationship – both emotional and biological – between man and animal. This time, focusing on highly intelligent bonobo apes, she infuses the story with an unexpected level of humor, mystery and a foray into popular culture. What the reader can be assured of is yet another thoroughly engaging story, brimming with deftly drawn characters and compelling storylines.  Read More

West of Here, by Jonathan Evison

Set in the fictional town of Port Bonita, on Washington State ‘s rugged Pacific coast, “West of Here” is propelled by a story that both re-creates and celebrates the American experience it is storytelling on the grandest scale. With one segment of the narrative focused on the town ‘s founders circa 1890 and another showing the lives of their descendants in 2006, the novel develops as a kind of conversation between two epochs, one rushing blindly toward the future and the other struggling to undo the damage of the past.  Read More

When We Were Strangers, by Pamela Schoenewaldt

When Irma Vitale, a young girl growing up in a tiny mountain village in Italy, realizes that her life stretches out before her with no appealing possibilities, she sets out, on foot and alone, for America, and the promise of opportunity it holds.  We follow her through the terrible ocean crossing to Cincinnati, where she hopes to find her brother who disappeared two years earlier.  But life in America is not all she dreamed of, and making her way requires grit and determination Irma doesn’t know if she possesses.  A wonderful book that sheds new light on the hardships suffered by our ancestors who dared to emigrate and face an unknown future.  Read More

The Autobiography of Mark Twain, Vol. 1, by Mark Twain

Unpublished until a century after the author’s death, per his explicit instructions, this is a literary event not to be missed!  With all the acerbic wit we expect from Twain, and many of the ideas he was reluctant to express during his lifetime, this is the much anticipated, much discussed, carefully curated account of the life of an American icon — in his own words.  Read More

Tammy Wynette : Tragic Country Queen, by Jimmy McDonough

An emotional and revealing exploration of the life of the Queen of Heartbreak. Based on dozens of interviews, McDonough’s book unveils a life of profound extremes, from Wynette’s impoverished youth in Mississippi, to her meteoric rise after meeting legendary producer Billy Sherrill, to her star-crossed marriage to music legend George Jones. What emerges is an unforgettable view of a Nashville that no longer exists-and a woman whose life mirrored the sadness captured in her music.

The Other Wes Moore : One Name, Two Fates, by Wes Moore

Two kids named Wes Moore were born blocks apart within a year of each other. Both grew up fatherless in similar Baltimore neighborhoods and had difficult childhoods; both hung out on street corners with their crews; both ran into trouble with the police. How, then, did one grow up to be a Rhodes Scholar, decorated veteran, White House Fellow, and business leader, while the other ended up a convicted murderer serving a life sentence? Wes Moore, the author of this fascinating book, sets out to answer this profound question. In alternating narratives that take readers from heart-wrenching losses to moments of surprising redemption, The Other Wes Moore tells the story of a generation of boys trying to find their way in a hostile world.  Read More

Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter, by Tom Franklin

Set in the late 1970s in Mississippi this taught, psychological thriller was Dr. Bob’s pick as the best of the year.  Larry Ott and Silas “32″ Jones were boyhood pals. Their worlds were as different as night and day: Larry, the child of lower-middle-class white parents, and Silas, the son of a poor, single black mother. Yet for a few months the boys stepped outside of their circumstances and shared a special bond. But then tragedy struck: Larry took a girl on a date to a drive-in movie, and she was never heard from again. She was never found and Larry never confessed, but all eyes rested on him as the culprit. The incident shook the county—and perhaps Silas most of all. His friendship with Larry was broken, and then Silas left town.  More than twenty years have passed. Larry, a mechanic, lives a solitary existence, never able to rise above the whispers of suspicion. Silas has returned as a constable. He and Larry have no reason to cross paths until another girl disappears and Larry is blamed again. And now the two men who once called each other friend are forced to confront the past they’ve buried and ignored for decades.  Read More

Little Princes: One Man’s Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal, by Conor Grennan

Grennan takes a year off from his job with the EastWest Institute and volunteers for three months in a Nepalese orphanage. He is captivated by his lively and affectionate young charges, but the story grows darker as he learns more about the for-profit traffic in young children stolen from their families and villages. Grennan vows to return to help reunite the children with their families, and the story of his fulfillment of that quest is powerful and moving.  Read More

Committed, by Elizabeth Gilbert

At the end of her memoir Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert fell in love with Felipe, a Brazilian living in Indonesia. The couple swore eternal love, but also swore (as skittish divorce survivors) never to marry. However, providence intervened in the form of a U.S. government ultimatum: get married, or Felipe could never enter America again. Told with Gilbert’s trademark humor and intelligence, this fascinating meditation on compatibility and fidelity chronicles Gilbert’s complex and sometimes frightening journey into second marriage, and will enthrall the millions of readers who made Eat, Pray, Love a number one bestseller.  Read More

Women Food & God, by Geneen Roth

After three decades of studying, teaching and writing about our compulsions with food, bestselling author Geneen Roth adds a powerful new dimension to her work in Women Food and God. She begins with her most basic concept: The way you eat is inseparable from your core beliefs about being alive. Your relationship with food is an exact mirror of your feelings about love, fear, anger, meaning, transformation and, yes, even God.  Read More

Shmirsky, by E.

“Shmirshky” is a groundbreakingly brisk, hilarious, and also entirely serious girlfriend’s guide to perimenopause and menopause, inspired by the author’s own struggles with what she calls PM&M.  Let’s face it, perimenopause and menopause are still too rarely talked about. Shmirshky turns this taboo topic into an all-inclusive page-turner.  Read More

Emily and Einstein, by Linda Francis Lee

Haunting Jasmine, by Anjali Banerjee

This delicious little book was a no-brainer choice for a bookstore lady who also loves anything hinting of magic!  When recently divorced Bengali-American Jasmine Mistry is called home to Shelter Island to run her beloved aunt’s bookstore for a month, she decides a change of scenery will do her good.  What she finds is a wonderful, dusty, magical bookshop where strange things happen as a matter of course.  Surrounded by her loving, if somewhat quirky family, and a collection of savvy ghosts, Jasmine begins to face her heartbreak as she does her best to care for her aunt’s business.  And then, of course, a mysterious handsome stranger appears … but is he more than he seems?  Read More

The Witch Doctor’s Wife and The Headhunter’s Daughter, by Tamar Myers

The Congo beckons to young Amanda Brown in 1958, as she follows her missionary calling to the mysterious “dark continent” far from her South Carolina home. But her enthusiasm cannot cushion her from the shock of a very foreign culture—where competing missionaries are as plentiful as flies, and oppressive European overlords are busy stripping the land of its most valuable resource: diamonds.  Little by little, Amanda is drawn into the lives of the villagers in tiny Belle Vue—and she is touched by the plight of the local witch doctor, a man known as Their Death, who has been forced to take a second job as a yardman to support his two wives. But when First Wife stumbles upon an impossibly enormous uncut gem, events are set in motion that threaten to devastate the lives of these people Amanda has come to admire and love—events that could lead to nothing less than murder.  Read More

You Know When the Men are Gone, by Siobhan Fallon

There is an army of women waiting for their men to return in Fort Hood, Texas. Through a series of loosely interconnected stories, Siobhan Fallon takes readers onto the base, inside the homes, into the marriages and families-intimate places not seen in newspaper articles or politicians’ speeches.  When you leave Fort Hood, the sign above the gate warns, You’ve Survived the War, Now Survive the Homecoming. It is eerily prescient.  Read More

The Good Son, by Michael Gruber

Somewhere in Pakistan, Sonia Laghari and eight fellow members of a symposium on peace are being held captive by armed terrorists. Sonia, a deeply religious woman as well as a Jungian psychologist, has become the de facto leader of the kidnapped group. While her son Theo, an ex-Delta soldier, uses his military connections to find and free the victims, Sonia tries to keep them all alive by working her way into the kidnappers’ psyches and interpreting their dreams. With her knowledge of their language, her familiarity with their religion, and her Jungian training, Sonia confounds her captors with her insights and beliefs. Meanwhile, when the kidnappers decide to kill their captives, one by one, in retaliation for perceived crimes against their country, Theo races against the clock to try and save their lives.  Read More

A Discovery of Witches, by Deborah Harkness

I lost a good deal of sleep turning the pages of this tale of adventure, suspense, and romance. Ride along with this witch-in-denial and her guardian vampire prince as she struggles to reclaim her legacy and avoid the terrible fate visited earlier upon her family. The author did her homework and the history rings as true as the passion. I can’t wait for the sequel!  Read More

Wapsipinicon Almanac, by Timothy Fay, editor

Published on an old fashioned printing press, this annual is a New Yorker Magazine for Iowans — filled with great articles, stories, reviews, and even advertisements, this is a must read for Iowan readers!  Read More

The Book of Awesome, by Neil Pasricha

And to wrap up the list, just because we all need a little help now and then with remembering how sweet the little things in life really are, we suggest this joyful little gem that celebrates the little pleasures, like the smell of rain on a sidewalk, or the feeling you get when you see the colors lined up in a fresh box of crayons !

Bringing Adam Home : The Abduction that Changed America, by Les Standiford with Det. Sgt. Joe Matthews

Before Adam Walsh there were no faces on milk cartons, no Amber Alerts, no National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, no federal databases of crimes against children, no pedophile registry.  His 1981 abduction and murder—unsolved for over a quarter of a century—forever changed America.  This book is the definitive account of this horrifying crime and its aftermath, a true story of tragedy, love, faith, and dedication. It is the story of how Adam’s parents fought to change the way our country deals with crimes against children, and of their unwavering quest, with the help of one determined cop, to bring their son’s killer to justice. Read More

Getting to Heaven : Departing Instructions for your Life Now, by Don Piper and Cecil Murphey

From Piper, the beloved author of 90 Minutes in Heaven, comes this set of instructions designed to reinforce Christians’ belief and faith in heaven.  With a message of hope and love, Getting to Heaven draws from both Don Piper’s amazing personal experience and the words of the Gospel to offer a set of “departing instructions” that can help us face the inevitable battles ahead, prepare for eternal life, and – starting today – live a happy, fulfilling, purposeful life on Earth while making ourselves ready for the glory of Heaven.  Read More.

The Decision Tree : How to Make Better Choices and Take Control of Your Health, by Thomas Goetz.

The New York Times calls this “a sophisticated and thought-provoking consumer update for those inclined to captain their own medical destinies.”  For all the talk about personalized medicine, our health care system remains a top-down, doctor-driven system where individuals are too often bit players in their own health decisions.  In The Decision Tree, Goetz proposes a new strategy for thinking about health, one that applies cutting-edge technology to put us at the center of the equation and explains how the new frontier of health care can impact each of our lives.  Read More

Life in Year One : What the World Was Like in First-Century Palestine, by Scott Korb

What was life like at the time that Jesus was alive?  The answers will surprise you in this down-and-dirty exploration of everyday life in 1^st Century Palestine, when the Roman Empire was at its zenith and Christianity was born.  Read More

The Book of Awesome, by Neil Pasricha

Sometimes it’s easy to forget the things that make us smile.  Sometimes it’s tempting to feel that the world is falling apart.  But awesome things are all around us.  Things like the smell of rain on a hot sidewalk, or waking up and realizing it’s Saturday, or nailing a parallel parking spot in one try.  The Book of Awesome reminds us that the best things in life are free.  Wise and witty!  Read More

If you’d like to learn about more hot new titles, consider joining us on Saturday, March 3rd, at 2 pm for a Top 20 Picks for Spring program, where Tresa and I will tell you about our top 20 favorite books of the season.

Young Adult Fiction

By These Ten Bones, by Clare B. Dunkle

A fresh new take on werewolves set in a long-ago Scotland, in which a weaver’s daughter and a young woodcarver must confront an ancient evil that stalks their tiny village.

A mysterious young man has come to a small Highland town. His talent for wood carving soon wins the admiration of the weaver’s daughter, Maddie. Fascinated by the silent carver, she sets out to gain his trust, only to find herself drawn into a terrifying secret that threatens everything she loves.
There is an evil presence in the carver’s life that cannot be controlled, and Maddie watches her town fall under a shadow. One by one, people begin to die. Caught in the middle, Maddie must decide what matters most to her-and what price she is willing to pay to keep it. Read more.

Adult Fiction

Finding Jack, by Gareth Crocker

A reader favorite, this is the story of Fletcher Carson, an American soldier in Vietnam, who finds a wounded scout dog named Jack while out on patrol. Fletcher nurses Jack back to health, and the two become inseparable.  Jack was one of thousands of dogs who served alongside American troupes in Vietnam, and when the order to evacuate and leave the dogs behind comes down, Fletcher cannot bear to leave his faithful friend, and resolves instead to walk from Vietnam to Thailand, taking them both through great danger.  Read More

The Good Son, by Michael Gruber

In this richly layered tale, Sonia Laghari’s attempt to convene a conference in Pakistan called “Conflict Resolution on the Subcontinent: A Therapeutic Approach” goes awry when the conferees are abducted by jihadis and told that one of them will be beheaded after each fresh infidel outrage. In the U.S., Sonia’s commando son, Theo, instigates a plot to bring about a military-backed rescue. But Sonia, with her wiles and her understanding of her captors, just might rescue herself!  Read More

Discovery of Witches, by Deborah Harkness

I lost a good deal of sleep turning the pages of this tale of adventure, suspense and romance.  Ride along with this witch-in-denial and her guardian vampire prince as she struggles to reclaim her legacy and avoid the terrible fate visited earlier upon her family.  The author did her homework and the history rings as true as the passion.  Read More

Adult Non-Fiction

You Know When the Men are Gone, by Siobhan Fallon

There is an army of women waiting for their men to return in Fort Hood, Texas. Through a series of loosely interconnected stories, Siobhan Fallon takes readers onto the base, inside the homes, into the marriages and families-intimate places not seen in newspaper articles or politicians’ speeches.  Read More

The Routes of Man : Travels in the Paved World, by Ted Conover

Conover, author of the NBCC award–winning Newjack, reveals globalization’s neural system growing along the world’s expanding and connecting road systems. Governments and smugglers, armies and insurgents, and the local poor and international NGOs negotiate their ambitions at border crossings, checkpoints, and dives.  Read More

If you’d like to go a step or two further for the ones you love, we’ve got playful heart and flower themed notepads with pens; lots of trendy accessories, including scarves, bags, jewelry, and more;  journals and notecards, gift books and lots of great romance novels and poetry.

I’m a big advocate of the love poetry route — whether you write it yourself, or find it in a book.  There’s something about Valentine’s day that allows us to pause for a moment, and savor a poem, even though we may be so busy the rest of the time that it’s hard to slow down long enough.  I’ll be working to find a selection of love poems  myself next week, in preparation for a midwinter tea I’ve been invited to speak at.  I’m looking at some of the greats like Emily Dickinson and Pablo Neruda, and also tracking down a few lesser-known morsels of verse that embody the sentiment of love so well.

That’s all I’ve got for now.  I hope to see you all soon! And remember, this year, take some time to Express your feelings of love for the wonderful people in your life!