All posts by Emily Berg

Me: Elton John Official Autobiography, By Elton John

In his first and only official autobiography, music icon Elton John reveals the truth about his extraordinary life, from his rollercoaster lifestyle as shown in the film Rocketman, to becoming a living legend.

Christened Reginald Dwight, he was a shy boy with Buddy Holly glasses who grew up in the London suburb of Pinner and dreamed of becoming a pop star. By the age of twenty-three he was performing his first gig in America, facing an astonished audience in his bright yellow dungarees, a star-spangled T-shirt, and boots with wings. Elton John had arrived and the music world would never be the same again.

His life has been full of drama, from the early rejection of his work with song-writing partner Bernie Taupin to spinning out of control as a chart-topping superstar; from half-heartedly trying to drown himself in his LA swimming pool to disco-dancing with Princess Diana and Queen Elizabeth; from friendships with John Lennon, Freddie Mercury, and George Michael to setting up his AIDS Foundation to conquering Broadway with AidaThe Lion King, and Billy Elliot the Musical. All the while Elton was hiding a drug addiction that would grip him for over a decade.

In Me, Elton also writes powerfully about getting clean and changing his life, about finding love with David Furnish and becoming a father. In a voice that is warm, humble, and open, this is Elton on his music and his relationships, his passions and his mistakes. This is a story that will stay with you by a living legend.

Author: Sir Elton John, CBE, is a multi-award winning solo artist who has achieved 38 gold and 31 platinum or multi-platinum albums, has sold more than 300 million records worldwide, and holds the record for the biggest-selling single of all time, ‘Candle in the Wind 1997’. In August 2018 Elton was named the most successful male solo artist in the Billboard Hot 100 chart history, having logged 67 entries, including nine Number 1s and 27 Top 10s. Elton launched his first tour in 1970 and since then has performed over 4,000 times in more than 80 countries. When not recording or touring, Elton devotes his time to a number of charities, including his own Elton John AIDS Foundation, which has raised over $300 million and funded programmes across four continents in the twenty-four years it has existed. He is married to David Furnish, and they have two sons. Me is his first and only official autobiography.

The Guardians: A Novel; by John Grisham

John Grisham delivers a classic legal thriller – with a twist.

In the small Florida town of Seabrook, a young lawyer named Keith Russo was shot dead at his desk as he worked late one night. The killer left no clues. There were no witnesses, no one with a motive. But the police soon came to suspect Quincy Miller, a young black man who was once a client of Russo’s.

Quincy was tried, convicted, and sent to prison for life. For twenty-two years he languished in prison, maintaining his innocence.  But no one was listening.  He had no lawyer, no advocate on the outside. In desperation, he writes a letter to Guardian Ministries, a small nonprofit run by Cullen Post, a lawyer who is also an Episcopal minister.

Guardian accepts only a few innocence cases at a time.  Cullen Post travels the country fighting wrongful convictions and taking on clients forgotten by the system. With Quincy Miller, though, he gets far more than he bargained for. Powerful, ruthless people murdered Keith Russo, and they do not want Quincy Miller exonerated. 

They killed one lawyer twenty-two years ago, and they will kill another without a second thought.

Author: JOHN GRISHAM is the author of thirty-three novels, one work of nonfiction, a collection of stories, and six novels for young readers.

Olive, Again: A Novel by Elizabeth Strout

#1 New York Times bestselling author and Pulitzer Prize winner Elizabeth Strout continues the life of her beloved Olive Kitteridge, a character who has captured the imaginations of millions.

“Strout managed to make me love this strange woman I’d never met, who I knew nothing about. What a terrific writer she is.”—Zadie Smith, The Guardian.

NAMED ONE OF FALL’S MOST ANTICIPATED BOOKS BY People • Time • Entertainment Weekly • Vanity Fair • BuzzFeed • Vogue • USA Today • The Seattle Times • HuffPost • Newsday • Vulture • Bustle • Vox • PopSugar • Good Housekeeping • LitHub • Book Riot

Prickly, wry, resistant to change yet ruthlessly honest and deeply empathetic, Olive Kitteridge is “a compelling life force” (San Francisco Chronicle). The New Yorker has said that Elizabeth Strout “animates the ordinary with an astonishing force,” and she has never done so more clearly than in these pages, where the iconic Olive struggles to understand not only herself and her own life but the lives of those around her in the town of Crosby, Maine. Whether with a teenager coming to terms with the loss of her father, a young woman about to give birth during a hilariously inopportune moment, a nurse who confesses a secret high school crush, or a lawyer who struggles with an inheritance she does not want to accept, the unforgettable Olive will continue to startle us, to move us, and to inspire moments of transcendent grace.   

Advance praise for Olive, Again

“There’s no simple truth about human existence, Strout reminds us, only wonderful, painful complexity. ‘Well, that’s life,’ Olive says. ‘Nothing you can do about it.’ Beautifully written and alive with compassion, at times almost unbearably poignant. A thrilling book in every way.”Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“Strout’s stories form a cohesive novel, both sequel and culmination, that captures, with humor, compassion, and embarrassing detail, aging, loss, loneliness, and love. Strout again demonstrates her gift for zeroing in on ordinary moments in the lives of ordinary people to highlight their extraordinary resilience.”Publishers Weekly (starred review).

Author: Elizabeth Strout is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Olive Kitteridge, winner of the Pulitzer Prize; Anything Is Possible, her most recent book and winner of The Story Prize; My Name Is Lucy Barton, longlisted for the Man Booker Prize; The Burgess Boys, named one of the best books of the year by The Washington Post and NPR; Abide with Me, a national bestseller; and Amy and Isabelle, winner of the Los Angeles Times Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction and the Chicago Tribune Heartland Prize. She has also been a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, the International Dublin Literary Award, and the Orange Prize. Her short stories have been published in a number of magazines, including The New Yorker. Elizabeth Strout lives in New York City.

New Virtual Book Club Pick: This Tender Land

Lori’s pick for this month: THIS TENDER LAND by William Kent Krueger.

(Save 20% on this title all month in-store and online with code BC20.)

THIS TENDER LAND, is a profoundly moving story about four orphans traveling down the Mississippi River in search of a new home.

The leader of the group is 12-year old Odie O’Banion, who along with his older brother Albert, their Sioux friend Mose, and little Emmy Frost escape from the Lincoln Indian Training Center. Odie has a vague memory of an aunt, who may represent their best hope for a new life, so off they set in search of her. This is the beginning of the adventures and misadventures they will have during the summer of 1932 while the country was in the throes of the Great Depression.

There are other displaced families and individuals in search of the stability that they’ve lost, villains, and possibly saints along the way, and while it is hard at times to discern which is which,  these colorful characters all propel the little band towards what awaits them at the end of their journey.

There are religious overtones, but this is a story less about religion and more about grace and faith; the many small graces that are bestowed upon our little vagabonds by complete strangers, and the faith they had in themselves that they were doing the right thing during their quest.

This is a huge undertaking for a small boy, and Odie is often burdened in a way no child should have to be, but he is also their leader and accepts that responsibility with all of his being.  I loved the following passage.

In the distance beyond the trees that edged the riverbank, a gathering of lights marked a small village.  I imagined the people in the houses there, safe in their slumbering, happy in the comfort of the love they shared as families, as friends. I envied them once, but no longer. Like one of the Vagabonds, I had no idea where I was headed, but it didn’t matter.

Because I knew exactly where my heart was.

Evocative of some of my other favorites, The Wizard of Oz, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, News of the World, and even The Odyssey, I was truly sorry when their travels were brought to an end. I will keep this on my bookshelf and enjoy it again sometime.

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Every other month or so, we chose a new book for our virtual book club, giving us the chance to share a book we love with other readers far and near. Read along with us. Share your thoughts and photos with our virtual book club on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram by following and using the hashtag: #bbkwbookclub.

 

Upcoming Author Events

We have a remarkable and exciting season ahead. Here are a few authors who will be reading and signing books, so make your plans now and see you soon.

We kick-off the season with Meg Cabot on Monday, November 4th at 6pm. She will be here to discuss her latest title, No Judgments.

 

 

Rosalind “Roz” Brackenbury will be here to discuss her new novel, Without Her, on Tuesday, November 12, 2019 at 6pm.

 

 

Dani Shapiro will join us on November 20th at 6pm. We will discuss her latest release, Inheritance: Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love.

 

 

Jami Attenberg has a new release coming out on October 22nd. We welcome her to discuss her new novel, All This Could Be Yours, on Friday, December 6th at 6pm.

 

 

Steven Chbosky will be here to talk about Imaginary Friend on Monday, November 25th at 6pm.

 

 

Ayse Papatya Bucak will join us on Tuesday, December 10th at 6pm to discuss her latest book, The Trojan War Museum: And Other Stories.

 

 

 Roberta Marks will join us on Friday, December 13th at 6pm to discuss her latest, Roberta B. Marks: Works and Words: A Personal Anthology.

 

 

Then we move into 2020 and will welcome Alison Lurie to discuss Words and Worlds on February 18th at 6pm.

 

 

Next we will host Lily King to discuss Writers and Lovers on March 17th at 6pm.

 

 

Stay tuned for the date we will host Phyllis Rose to discuss Alfred Stieglitz: Taking Pictures, Making Painters (Jewish Lives).

 

 

Actually, we are just getting started. Check back soon for updated events. Stay tuned and stop by the store or check out our events page for updated information.  booksandbookskw.com/event-directory/

Ninth House; By Leigh Bardugo

The mesmerizing adult debut from Leigh Bardugo, a tale of power, privilege, dark magic, and murder set among the Ivy League elite.

Galaxy “Alex” Stern is the most unlikely member of Yale’s freshman class. Raised in the Los Angeles hinterlands by a hippie mom, Alex dropped out of school early and into a world of shady drug-dealer boyfriends, dead-end jobs, and much, much worse. In fact, by age twenty, she is the sole survivor of a horrific, unsolved multiple homicide. Some might say she’s thrown her life away. But at her hospital bed, Alex is offered a second chance: to attend one of the world’s most prestigious universities on a full ride. What’s the catch, and why her?

Still searching for answers, Alex arrives in New Haven tasked by her mysterious benefactors with monitoring the activities of Yale’s secret societies. Their eight windowless “tombs” are the well-known haunts of the rich and powerful, from high-ranking politicos to Wall Street’s biggest players. But their occult activities are more sinister and more extraordinary than any paranoid imagination might conceive. They tamper with forbidden magic. They raise the dead. And, sometimes, they prey on the living.

Author: Leigh Bardugo is a #1 New York Times bestselling author of fantasy novels and the creator of the Grishaverse. With over three million copies sold worldwide, her Grishaverse spans the Shadow and Bone Trilogy, the Six of Crows DuologyThe Language of Thorns, and King of Scars—with more to come. Her short stories can be found in multiple anthologies, including The Best of Tor.com and the Best American Science Fiction & Fantasy. Her other works include Wonder Woman: Warbringer and the forthcoming Ninth House. Leigh was born in Jerusalem, grew up in Southern California, and graduated from Yale University. These days she lives and writes in Los Angeles.

Letters from an Astrophysicist; By Neil DeGrasse Tyson

Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson has attracted one of the world’s largest online followings with his fascinating, widely accessible insights into science and our universe. Now, Tyson invites us to go behind the scenes of his public fame by revealing his correspondence with people across the globe who have sought him out in search of answers. In this hand-picked collection of 101 letters, Tyson draws upon cosmic perspectives to address a vast array of questions about science, faith, philosophy, life, and of course, Pluto. His succinct, opinionated, passionate, and often funny responses reflect his popularity and standing as a leading educator. 

Author: Tyson’s 2017 bestseller Astrophysics for People in a Hurry offered more than one million readers an insightful and accessible understanding of the universe. Tyson’s most candid and heartfelt writing yet, Letters from an Astrophysicist introduces us to a newly personal dimension of Tyson’s quest to explore our place in the cosmos.

Grand Union: Stories; By Zadie Smith

Longlisted for the Carnegie Medal!

A dazzling collection of short fiction

Zadie Smith has established herself as one of the most iconic, critically respected, and popular writers of her generation. In her first short story collection, she combines her power of observation and her inimitable voice to mine the fraught and complex experience of life in the modern world. Interleaving eleven completely new and unpublished stories with some of her best-loved pieces from The New Yorker and elsewhere, Smith presents a dizzyingly rich and varied collection of fiction. Moving exhilaratingly across genres and perspectives, from the historic to the vividly current to the slyly dystopian, Grand Union is a sharply alert and prescient collection about time and place, identity and rebirth, the persistent legacies that haunt our present selves and the uncanny futures that rush up to meet us.

Nothing is off limits, and everything—when captured by Smith’s brilliant gaze—feels fresh and relevant. Perfectly paced and utterly original, Grand Union highlights the wonders Zadie Smith can do.  

Author: Zadie Smith is the author of the novels White TeethThe Autograph ManOn BeautyNW, and Swing Time, as well as two collections of essays, Changing My Mind and Feel Free. Zadie was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2002, and was listed as one of Granta‘s 20 Best Young British Novelists in 2003 and again in 2013. White Teeth won multiple literary awards including the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, the Whitbread First Novel Award and the Guardian First Book Award. On Beauty was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and won the Orange Prize for Fiction, and NW was shortlisted for the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction. Zadie Smith is currently a tenured professor of fiction at New York University and a Member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.