ISBN-13: 9780316202978
Published: Little, Brown and Company, 07/17/2012
Sam Kean is great at making the science of genetics accessible while bringing out the stories that litter the history of scientific discovery. He tells of the sexual scandals that led to important work being ignored, and of the "hibakusha," or survivors of both atomic bombings in Japan (who helped us learn about genetic damage and, more amazingly, how chromosomes can heal themselves). He offers lots of literary references and I've laughed out loud several times -- exactly what makes science writing awesome. (Emily)
List Price: $26.95
Our Price: $16.79
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ISBN-13: 9780393089103
Published: W. W. Norton & Company, 06/04/2012
You may not think you want to read a novel about the 2008 bank collapse, but you'd be wrong. Lanchester's examination of the lives of families on one street in London is smart, witty, and may even make you feel better about the crazy state of economics today. (Jenn)
ISBN-13: 9780553906295
Published: Random House Publishing Group, 02/24/2009
PALIMPSEST is Molly's favorite of Valente's grown-up novels: "Dreamy, eerie and bittersweet."
ISBN-13: 9780812984378
Published: Random House Publishing Group, 07/23/2012
Victor LaValle's short story LUCRETIA AND THE KROONS is only $0.99 -- staff-tested & approved!
ISBN-13: 9781101587409
Published: Penguin Books, 07/31/2012
If you're familiar with Jones's first novel, Light Boxes (which was briefly optioned by Spike Jonze), that should be reason enough to check out his latest. This book will also appeal to fans of Steven Hall's The Raw Shark Texts, Rivka Galchen's Atmospheric Disturbances, and any other fiction that lives in that hinterland where reality, imagination, hallucination, and coping with loss swirl around like wind, like the ocean.
List Price: $10.20
Our Price: $8.99
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ISBN-13: 9781439122433
Published: MTV Books, 06/29/2010
Read the (absolutely classic) book before you see the movie!
ISBN-13: 9780062079411
Published: HarperCollins, 04/12/2011
Whether you love poetry or are trying to find a way in, Orr's BEAUTIFUL AND POINTLESS is excellent.
We're catching up on Adam Rapp's backlist & highly recommend PUNKZILLA (although not for the faint of heart).
ISBN-13: 9780307907189
Published: Vintage, 07/24/2012
Jenn says: Yu's upcoming short story collection is mere days away! Coming out on July 24, it works with some of the same elements as his novel How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe, and then goes off in new, strange, and wonderful directions. The first short story in particular is a killer.
List Price: $11.99
Our Price: $8.69
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ISBN-13: 9781590514474
Published: Other Press, 05/03/2011
Molly says: It's hard to talk about this memoir--it's so intimate, so honest, so specific, so self-observant, that trying to describe how I felt while reading it feels like giving up some very personal information about myself. The voice of the title is her psychiatrist, who dies suddenly, leaving Forrest and his other patients bereft; the other man in the book is her ex, an actor whose presence in the story earned it plenty of the wrong kind of attention. It's not who he is; it's how they are. The highs and lows of Forrest's journey land in different spots, maybe, than those of many other lives, but the story reads like a quest in which the goal isn't treasure or glory, but calm and a certain kind of strength.
ISBN-13: 9780375896583
Published: Random House Books for Young Readers, 07/10/2012
Molly says: Musically gifted, smart, compassionate, and wary, Seraphina keeps to herself as the assistant music mistress at the court of Goredd--but she carefully guards a secret about her parentage, even as she becomes entangled in the complexities of human-dragon political intrigue. Hartman's worldbuilding is gloriously vivid, her heroine wonderfully complex, and her story so compelling, I may have cursed when I got to the end and realized I have to wait for the sequel.
ISBN-13: 9780385535014
Published: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 10/18/2011
Jenn says: Fans of horror and apocalypse will be delighted by Whitehead's vision of an overrun U.S. complete with zombies both terrifying and pitiful; fans of literature will revel in his linguistic flights of fancy and wry commentary on society. It's in my top five favorite end-of-the-world novels to date, and believe me when I say I've read more than my fair share.
ISBN-13: 9780345804730
Published: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 07/18/2012
Nora Ephron's CRAZY SALAD is at long-last available as an ebook! Score.
ISBN-13: 9780375899881
Published: Knopf Books for Young Readers, 02/14/2012
Jenny says of WONDER: "I laughed, I cried, I loved Auggie and his family & didn't want the story to end."
ISBN-13: 9780307958570
Published: Vintage, 06/12/2012
Christine calls SEATING ARRANGEMENTS "an often funny, often dark romp through a wedding weekend on Cape Cod."
ISBN-13: 9781101514399
Published: Berkley, 05/03/2011
Steamy dom/sub scenes and a shape-shifting dragon-dude -- this is pretty much the ultimate summer distraction.
ISBN-13: 9780307887450
Published: Crown, 08/16/2011
Molly has declared READY PLAYER ONE the perfect summer read for all our nerdfriends.
ISBN-13: 9780307588388
Published: Crown, 06/05/2012
We unanimously recommend GONE GIRL. Make sure you've got some time, though, because once you start it you won't want to stop.
ISBN-13: 9781429914710
Published: Tor Books, 04/01/2010
Jenn has fallen down a Scalzi rabbit hole. Funny and action-packed, perfect for the summer.
ISBN-13: 9781101594650
Published: The Penguin Press, 06/13/2012
Pynchon just got a million times easier to take with you on the subway.
ISBN-13: 9780316202770
Published: Orbit, 05/01/2012
Ninja-priests and dream magic! Need we say more?
ISBN-13: 9781590206508
Published: Overlook, 08/28/2007
Jenn just can't get enough of Mattie's sass.
ISBN-13: 9780345803726
Published: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 05/15/2012
Essays on technology and culture from one of our favorite novelists.
A great collection, perfect for your commute.
List Price: $13.99
Our Price: $9.39
(Save: $4.60 33%)
ISBN-13: 9781569768761
Published: Chicago Review Press, 05/01/2011
This is Stephanie's favorite presidential biography of 2011! (Why does our twentysomething store manager read so many dad books? We have no idea.)
ISBN-13: 9780307961679
Published: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 02/14/2012
As you know if you've been in the store lately, we are very excited about the March release of Harkaway's novel
Angelmaker (more about that in the next Staff Picks newsletter), and now we can introduce you to one of our favorite characters in the novel in this teaser of a short story (which is only available as an ebook). Edie Banister is an aging superspy, trying to mind her own business -- and failing dramatically and with ultimate bad-ass style. Bonus: You get the first chapter of
Angelmaker , too!
ISBN-13: 9781588369741
Published: Random House Publishing Group, 04/06/2010
The Imperfectionists is filled to the brim with stories and characters spanning continents and decades. From different vantage points we meet the same people, colored in entirely different ways dependant on the observer. At the finish, my mind was swimming with all the people I'd spent these 269 pages with. (Simone)
ISBN-13: 9781429947015
Published: St. Martin's Paperbacks, 11/02/2010
From the same author and series as WORD favorite
Cloudy With A Chance of Marriage , this Regency romance is as scandalous and racy as you want a good beach read to be. One of the most dramatic finales I've ever read in a book! (Stephanie)
ISBN-13: 9780440335160
Published: Dell, 10/26/2004
If you aren't already aware of Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series, you should be. Time travel meets historical fiction meets romance with a heavy dose of men in kilts, and they're all available in ebook! Instant gratification on so many levels. Start with this one, and see if you don't get hooked. (Jenn)
ISBN-13: 9780062079480
Published: HarperCollins e-books, 05/24/2011
Everyone who saw Lama Das speak at the store this year is still thinking about it; his Buddhist approach to time management is a breath of fresh air (sometimes even literally!). This is the book for everyone who thinks they don't have enough time to read anymore. (Jenn and Stephanie)
We fell in love with this book even before it won the 2010 National Book Award for Non-Fiction.
List Price: $14.95
Our Price: $10.09
(Save: $4.86 33%)
ISBN-13: 9781565126374
Published: Algonquin Books, 03/04/2008
A fine, suspenseful, and dark read in which you can't trust any of the characters, but somehow the truth outs itself anyway.
List Price: $6.99
Our Price: $6.64
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ISBN-13: 9780316129114
Published: Little, Brown and Company, 09/13/2010
One of our absolute favorites of 2010! Literally everybody who works here read it and loved it.
ISBN-13: 9780061969447
Published: HarperCollins, 02/09/2010
The debut short story collection from one of Brooklyn's newest literary stars has been widely acclaimed.
ISBN-13: 9780061966354
Published: HarperCollins, 01/05/2010
Man, this book is good! A classic miss-your-subway-stop-because-you're-paying-too-much-attention-to-the-story novel.
ISBN-13: 9780061879234
Published: HarperCollins e-books, 05/12/2009
Ohhhhhhhhh, we love Simon Van Booy. Read this book and you will too (for reasons beyond his having a delightful British accent).
