| Those yellowing, reddening leaves
beginning to pile in the back yard and floating down the sidewalks
indicate the beginning of the ever transforming New England
autumn. Fall is a busy, fun season here at Book Ends as the
calendars arrive, new novels pour into every corner of the store,
and the holiday season subtly starts to peak into our consciousness.
Many authors have chosen this fall to debut their great new
books, and although we can’t possibly describe them all
to you in these few pages, here are just a few new blips on
the literary scene…
Dede writes:
If you enjoyed Jennifer Weiner’s hilarious
novel Good in Bed, you will be pleased to
know that she has a new book out this fall. The four mothers
in Little Earthquakes (00743470095)  will
make you laugh and cry as they face the powerful joys and
sorrows of parenthood. Weiner is a new mother herself, so
she is all too familiar with the subject. This novel’s
a winner.
In The Love Wife
(14000421350),
critically acclaimed novelist Gish Jen continues to write
about quirky characters in Chinese-American life. Although
Carnegie Wong is a successful adult, husband and father, his
overpowering mother runs his life. Mama Wong is capable of
controlling her son even after her death. While you will be
horrified by her meddling, you cannot help but be fascinated
by her brute strength.
Compromising Positions—the
movie as well as the novel—launched Susan Isaac’s
writing career. Her new novel Any Place I Hang My
Hat (0743242157)
is one of her best. A young reporter, Amy Lincoln, was abandoned
by her mother as a baby and was raised in Manhattan by her
charming ex-con father and her eccentric grandmother under
the poorest circumstances. Propelled by her intelligence into
a better life, Amy finds herself at home in the world but
without a true home in her heart.
Alice writes:
There are so many books arriving daily that it’s at
once exciting and overwhelming, and, I must admit, I suddenly
feel that I’m not such a great reader because there’s
no way to keep up. Here are just a few of the titles that
are in the store now or being delivered within the next few
days, and I hope to delve into soon…
Philip Roth’s The
Plot Against America (0618509283)
paints an alternative picture
of America had Charles Lindbergh defeated FDR. It is a reality
where Jews are persecuted after Lindbergh makes an alliance
with Adolf Hitler.
Natives and tourists come together
in the face of tragedy on a small Greek island in Maeve
Binchy’s Nights of Rain and Stars (052594754x).
A beautiful setting is the backdrop for a whole spectrum of
emotions laid out in typical Binchy style.
Michael Holley’s
Patriot Reign is all about Bill Belichick and is
reported to be required reading for football fans who want
to understand what makes a champion tick.
Also, now out in paperback, are
Bill Bryson’s A Short History of Nearly Everything
(076790818x) and
Nathaniel Philbrick’s Sea of Glory
(0142004839)—two
popular and critically-acclaimed works of non-fiction.
We are daily receiving many,
many others in large quantities—books by David
Baldacci, T.C. Boyle, Patricia
Cornwell, Ina
Garten, Ben
Schott, Anita
Shreve, John
Updike and more. Stay tuned in November for yet
more accomplished writers who will entertain us.
I did read The Turkish
Lover (0738208205),
Esmeralda Santiago’s third memoir,
and while I have never read her work before, I was entranced
by this, her most recent book. Aligned by critics with Julia
Alvarez and Sandra Cisneros, Santiago’s Puerto Rican
heritage is never far from her experiences nor is the title
character, a man seventeen years her senior. The book opens
with Santiago leaving Brooklyn with Ulvi, a man with whom
she will spend the next seven years. While Ulvi was a plane
ticket away from her strict, overbearing, judgmental mother,
she soon discovers that she is entering another oppressive
relationship.
For our book group, apropos to
Tracy Kidder’s visit to Winchester to talk about Mountains
Beyond Mountains, we’ll be reading Haitian novelist
Edwidge Danticat’s Breath, Eyes, Memory
(037570504X).
It’s the story of Sophie Caco who leaves her home in
Croix-des-Rosets when she is twelve to live with her mother
in New York. Greeted by a mother who is haunted by the secrets
of her past, Sophie’s story transports the reader into
a character’s experiences that are wholly personal while
shedding light on her country’s political and economic
climate as well as the status of Haitian women.
FROM THE CHILDREN’S
ROOM:
Isabel and Marilyn
write:
This fall, many new titles have just been released, including
ones by favorite authors such as Jan Brett, with her beautifully
illustrated The Umbrella (0399242155);
Brian Jacques, with his latest Redwall adventure,
Rakkety Tam (0399237259);
and Lemony Snicket, with the greatly anticipated
newest installment of his Series of Unfortunate Events series,
Book # 11, Grim Grotto (0064410145).
We also have some other exciting
new titles that our busy student reviewers critiqued:
Megan, Cathy, and Britta (aged
9) enjoyed Katy Kelly’s Lucy Rose: Here’s
the Thing About Me (0385732031).
The story, told in journal form, is about eight year old Lucy
Rose, starting third grade. Her parents have separated, and
she’s moved from Ann Arbor, Michigan to Washington,
D.C. with her mom. Britta writes that Lucy Rose is “great
and has a funny ending. On a scale of one to ten, I would
give this book a 9.”
Nicole (also aged 9), writes
that No Time Like Show Time (0399238808),
the third adventure of Hermux Tantamoq by Michael
Hoeye, “is a really good book! This mystery
and adventure rolled into one will really catch a reader’s
interest!” Time Stops for No Mouse
(0698119916)
and The Sands of Time (014250176x)
are the first and second chronicles of mild-mannered watchmaker
Hermux Tantamoq’s adventures.
Fifth-grader Hailey reviewed
The Sea of Trolls (0689867441)
by National Book Award winner Nancy Farmer.
Hailey writes, “I loved this book!!! The Sea of Trolls
is a great book about a boy named Jack, his sister (who thinks
she’s a princess) Lucy, and some unlikely characters
like a crow named Bold Heart and a giant troll queen named
Frosteen…This breathtaking book will capture the imagination
of young and old as they fall in love with the characters
and learn the qualities of friendship and trust.”
Perry, aged 12 ½, thought
that Peter and the Starcatchers (0786854456)
by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson “was a great book,
although a tiny bit young for me. The cool thing is that it’s
actually the prequel to Peter Pan…If you’ve ever
wondered where Peter met Captain Hook, or where he found Tinker
Bell, or how he can fly, here’s a great tale, full of
danger and mystery.”
Patrick, aged 13, writes that
Odo Hirsch’s Yoss (0385731876)
“is a very good book, and
I recommend it to all teenagers. Yoss lives in a small village
separated from the rest of the world. The village has a tradition
that when boys become 14, they must leave the city and when
they come back they will be a man. Well, Yoss has just turned
14 so it is his turn to leave. However, instead of just going
to the lake and returning the next morning, he decides to
go around the lake to see what is on the other side…Yoss
has to learn to cope with the many dangers of the city along
with numerous other things…Yoss is a superb book and
I give it a nine out of ten.”
With the days growing shorter
and the nights longer, it’s getting closer to one of
our favorite holidays: Halloween. If you like to curl up with
a spooky tale, we have several wonderful collections of short
stories about ghosts, vampires, monsters, and other things
that go bump in the night.
We also have a great selection
of books related to autumn in New England for our younger
readers as well as a varied collection about the upcoming
elections that would appeal to all ages. Please stop by and
browse through our children’s room next time you have
a few minutes! |
