Bookseller Summer Reading: Part 4 October 26, 2012
Posted by Galaxy in book review.Tags: favorite books, meet our booksellers, staff picks, summer reading
add a comment
It was brought to my attention that I missed posting Marisa’s summer reading list, so on this Indian Summer day, here’s a bit of summertime (or, really, anytime) reading for you:
1. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern.
An otherworldly circus, open only at night, is the setting for a duel between two young magicians. The imagery is amazing and the story compelling. It’s a hard book to put down!
2. Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend by Matthew Dicks
Budo is the imaginary friend of a boy named Max. He gives us the inside scoop on what it’s like to be an imaginary friend and a close look at the trials and tribulations he goes through to save Max’s life, at the risk of his own.
3. The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach
I got so attached to the characters in this novel that when I was through, I seriously considered starting over again. A novel about baseball, family, friends and love.
4. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
In this futuristic dystopian novel, 24 children ages 12-18 are pitted against each other in a televised fight to the death. It’s now a movie but as is often the case, the book is better. It’s worth a read, even if you’ve already seen it.
A few other books I liked: The Borrower by Rebecca Makkai, Cutting for
Stone by Abraham Verghese and The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving
by Jonathan Evison.
I also read Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy. Half the time I loved it and the other half I felt like “accidentally” losing it so I wouldn’t have to read it anymore. Some classics make me feel that way. I know I’m supposed to like them, but sometimes it’s hard.
Attica Locke’s novel, “The Cutting Season” September 11, 2012
Posted by Galaxy in book review, Book Reviews.Tags: fiction, mystery, staff picks
add a comment
Locke’s novel is a superb, multilayered, historical/mystrey/thriller. If you like female heroes, courageous but troubled single mothers, African-American history, Louisiana and the trouble caused by the discovery of a dead body, you will love this book. The story protagonist, Caren Gray is a law school drop-out who returns to the sugar plantation-turned tourist attraction where her mother worked and where she spent her childhood. Branded as a failure by the father of her nine year old daughter, Caren is not so much a quitter as she is a person that wants to impose her will on her own life story instead being subject to the wills of others. Her troubles are compounded when the body of a latina migrant worker is found in a ditch alongside the road that divides the ancient plantation grounds from the cane fields. It is also rumored that the slave quarters that still stand are haunted by the ghosts of her ancestors. I highly recommend this book.
–Edgar
Bookseller Summer Reading: Part 3 September 3, 2012
Posted by Galaxy in Book Reviews.Tags: staff picks, summer reading
add a comment
The next bookseller to weigh in on the question, “What did you read this summer?” is Sandy Scott.
My summer reading list is shorter than I’d like, but I’ve managed to get
a few good books under my belt. My favorites have been:
1. The Borrower, by Rebecca Makkai, which is a novel about a 26 year old librarian whose involvement in a young patron’s life leads to an unplanned kidnapping.
2. Seraphina, by Rachel Hartman, a young adult fantasy with a main character who pulled me right into her story. 
Seraphina is a talented musician whose world is built on an uneasy truce between humans and
dragons, who are able to shift into human form. With the 40th anniversary of the original peace treaty approaching, tensions are high and a dangerous secret that Seraphina guards is threatened with discovery. Excellent writing, fascinating dragons, and a strong female lead character should appeal to fans of the Eragon series and Kristin
Cashore’s Graceling trilogy.
I’ve also enjoyed Tina Fey’s Bossypants; Archer Mayor’s forthcoming novel, Paradise City; Privacy, by Garret Keizer; Penelope, by Rebecca Harrington; The Diviners, by Libba Bray; and Liar & Spy, by Rebecca Stead.
Bookseller Summer Reading: Part 2 August 27, 2012
Posted by Galaxy in Book Reviews.Tags: favorite books, meet our booksellers, staff picks, summer reading, the pile of books will never stop growing
add a comment
Diane Grenkow is the second bookseller to ring in with an answer to our “back to school” question: What did you read this summer?
Here are some of the books I’ve read this summer. I really did read The Pickled Pantry even though it is about pickling and doesn’t really tell a story exactly. Except maybe the story of summer. I read it cover to cover anyway and stuck slips of paper in where there are recipes I want to try. It turns out, it would have been easier to mark the ones that I DON’T want to try. I have been reading Anne of Green Gables books to my daughter and wishing we could run off to Prince Edward Island. My son suggested I read the Ranger’s Apprentice series and I’ll admit I picked up the first one just to be nice because he asked me to. Then I couldn’t put them down and neglected the things that should have been pickled because I was too busy reading the whole series. Whoops! The Man Who Quit Money provided food for thought about how to live one’s life and how to relate to money and what we do to get it and keep it that might not be in our best interest. I love Archer Mayor and Toni Morrison, whatever they write. Birds of a Lesser Paradise, a collection of stories, and Wild took me places the way you want a good summer read to take you. Right now I am reading Louise Erdrich’s forthcoming novel, The Round House. It tells a brutal story but I’m completely taken with it so far.
Bookseller Summer Reading: Part 1 August 20, 2012
Posted by Galaxy in Book Reviews.Tags: staff picks, summer reading
add a comment
Hey! We’re back! And we’re turning a (virtual) fresh page on the blog with a new series of bookseller Q&A.
For the first question, we’re tweaking the quintessential “What I did on my summer vacation” a bit and asking, “What did you read this summer?”
Our first answer comes from Edgar Davis, who has two books to recommend:
Blonde Faith, by Walter Mosley, is part of the Easy Rawlings Detective Series which includes Devil in a Blue Dress and Little Yellow Dog. This installment deliver the same detailed, imaginative and introspective narration from the story’s hero, Ezekial Rawlings, a private-eye and Korean War veteran who makes his home in the L.A. of the 1950′s, 60′s and 70′s. While using his detective’s skill to aid a member of of his close-knit African-American community, Easy’s own life becomes complicated when he’s abandoned by Bonnie, the love of his life.
Three reviews March 26, 2010
Posted by Galaxy in Book Reviews.Tags: Book Reviews, David Levithan, I Thought You Were Dead, John Green, My Name is Mary Sutter, Pete Nelson, Robin Oliveira, staff picks, Will Grayson
add a comment
March, and often into April, seem to me especially good months for reading. It’s a transitional time when winter’s fading but the really lovely, warm spring weather hasn’t arrived (except in a teasing “soon, but not yet” sort of way). I like to hunker down with a stack of books until green things start poking through last year’s dead grass and the last of the snowbanks have finally disappeared from the yard–total escapism.
This week, we’re each going to share one book that has kept us occupied (and sane) this season.
Linda:
I Thought You Were Dead by Pete Nelson (Find it on our Staff Picks table now!)
Talking dog? I had my doubts. But in the same way that I want a reader to take a risk–say when I am trying to sell them a book about sheep farmers in Iceland–I figured I owed it to this book to give it a try. In short, the relationship between Paul and his dog Stella is the best relationship between any characters–human, canine, feline, bovine–anything or anyone in fiction, and probably in life. I’d welcome Paul and Stella on my doorstep any day, and in the meantime I’ll be so happy I met them while I was reading.
Sandy:
Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan (available April 6)
I love this collaboration between David Levithan and John Green. It’s the story of two boys named Will Grayson who live in different suburbs of Chicago. One Will Grayson lives by rules that will keep him out of the spotlight, number one of which is “Shut up.” Unfortunately for him, it’s hard to avoid the spotlight when your best friend is Tiny Cooper, “world’s largest person who is really, really gay.” The other Will Grayson faces a daily battle with depression and finds his only solace in online meetings with a guy named Isaac. One night, the Will Graysons’ paths cross, and each boy finds his life changed in ways he wouldn’t have imagined. Engaging from the first page, the story is funny, heartbreaking, redemptive, and completely captures the frustration of those teenage years when you’re trying so hard to understand who you are and how to deal with life’s highs and lows. (Not to say that ends as soon as the teen years are over.)
Stella:
My Name is Mary Sutter by Robin Oliveira (available May 13)
Robin Oliveira’s debut novel is a Civil War story full of wonderful historical detail and strong writing. Mary Sutter is a woman who wants to become a surgeon, succeeds, and discovers her strengths and limitations along the way. The book is loosely based on the life of Mary Edwards Walker, the first American female surgeon and the first woman to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor. [edited 3/29: Though some aspects of the character's life might be similar to that of Mary Edwards Walker and other female surgeons of the Civil War, the author would like to note that Mary Sutter is a completely fictional character.]
(I really enjoyed this book, but if you have a weak stomach there are some graphic descriptions of battlefield wounds and amputations that you might want to skip past.)
It’s here! The pace quickens… December 4, 2009
Posted by Galaxy in Book Reviews, Store Events.Tags: holiday, sale, staff picks
add a comment
Wow, just like that, we’ve been dropped into the holiday season. Sorry I missed last week–what with Thanksgiving falling on my usual blog-writing day, it kinda slipped my mind. However, I hope you all had as lovely a day with family, friends, and food as I did!
It’s hard to believe that it’s really December, but that’s what the calendar seems to say. I won’t remind you how many shopping days! are Left! till Christmas! because that drives me nuts, but I will mention that The Galaxy Bookshop has put together a list of the books that we’re excited to recommend as great gifts (whether for someone else or for yourself.)
Here are the links to our various lists (which you will also find along the right had side of our website):
Babies & Toddlers , Growing Readers , Fiction , Non-fiction , for the Do-It-Yourself-ers , Seasonal titles , Vermont-centric , Marvelous Miscellany
You can also take a look at the New England Independent Booksellers’ Holiday Catalog for more suggestions from our cohorts in bookselling around the region.
After you’ve made your gift/wish list, come to our Annual Sirius Reader Sale & Party tomorrow–December 5! There will be sales on many of the titles from our Holiday Picks list; coffee, juice, and baked goodies; a good selection of advance reading copies to pick through (a suggested $1 donation per book will benefit the Hardwick Area Food Pantry); and you can help us officially name the two kittens (yes, they’re still here!) by voting for your favorite names.
On top of that, we have two authors coming for book signings during the day.
At 11 a.m., meet Leon Thompson, author of Not Too Awful Bad: A Storyteller’s Guide to Vermont. He’s got a unique and funny take on the state, and we are looking forward to getting to know more about this new Vermont author.
At noon, Ethan Hubbard will be here to sign copies of his new book of collected photos, Thirty Below Zero: In Praise of Native Vermonters. Well, we HOPE he’ll be signing copies–as I type this, the books are being held up by Homeland Security in Boston (routine procedure)–but Ethan does have some copies to flip through. In the worst case scenario, we’ll take orders for the book and expect to get them to you, autographed, in time for Christmas.
In other holiday news, cats love to help decorate:
Hmm...let's see what's in here.
Shh--don't tell Linda I used this pic!
