Category: Book

Blood in the Cut by Alejandro Nodarse

Blood in The Cut brims with dangerous energy in the face of existential entropy. A fantastic story.”
—S. A. Cosby, New York Times bestselling author of All the Sinners Bleed

Iggy Guerra is out of prison, but his homecoming is anything but smooth. His beloved mother is gone, his grief-stricken father Armando is deep in debt, and they are about to lose the butcher shop that has been in their family for generations.

Iggy must earn his father’s lost trust in order to save La Carnicería Guerra from the threats imposed by a new rival business, a vigilante activist, and big-game hunter Orin, who has dragged Armando into his dangerous money-making schemes deep in the Everglades, where more than secrets are buried. Iggy will wrestle with the beauty and the danger of the place he calls home as he tries to save his family—without losing himself forever.

Sharp as a butcher knife gleaming in the Miami sun, Alejandro Nodarse’s Blood in the Cut opens onto a deeply personal vision of the streets and swamps of Miami, where the roots are crooked but strong as mangroves.

When the Sea Came Alive by Garrett M. Graff

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Only Plane in the Sky and Pulitzer Prize finalist for Watergate comes the most up-to-date and complete account of D-Day—the largest seaborne invasion in history and the moment that secured the Allied victory in World War II.

D-Day is one of history’s greatest and most unbelievable military and human triumphs. Though the full campaign lasted just over a month, the surprise landing of over 150,000 Allied troops on the morning of June 6, 1944, is understood to be the moment that turned the tide for the Allied forces and ultimately led to the defeat of the Axis powers in World War II. Now, a new book from bestselling author and historian Garrett M. Graff explores the full impact of this world-changing event—from the secret creation of landing plans by top government and military officials and organization of troops, to the moment the boat doors opened to reveal the beach where men fought for their lives and the future of the free world.

Fascinating, action-packed, and filled with impressive detail, When the Sea Came Alive captures a human drama like no other, and offers a fitting tribute to the men and women of the Greatest Generation.

June Staff Pick: The Demon of Unrest

George with The Demon of Unrest by Erik Larson

The Demon of Unrest by Erik Larson, (Crown), picked by store co-founder George Cooper

There’s nothing so interesting as reading a history of a profound event when you have an uncomfortable dread that you are living through a run-up to its successor, in this time when a modern “Demon of Unrest” is plaguing our nation.  

Legendary story-teller Larson gives us a detailed account of the period from Lincoln’s election in November, 1860, to the fall of Ft. Sumter on April 13, 1861 and the beginning of the Civil War. We are with the protagonists, North and South, each step of the way as the opportunities for compromise slip away and war fever takes hold. The deadly bombardment of the Fort becomes not a military battle, but a grander version of the duels that still animated Southern manhood. 

In this brilliant addition to Civil War literature, Larson is a master of the telling detail, the moment or quotation that makes us pause. Like this from the southern Senator and plantation owner James Henry Hammond, famed for claiming “Cotton is King.” Near the end of the war, he acknowledged:  

We are here two races, white and black, now both equally American, holding each other in the closest embrace, and utterly unable to extricate ourselves from it, a problem so difficult, so complicated, and so momentous, never was placed in charge of any portion of mankind and on its solution rests our all. 

Who among us now, one-hundred sixty-five years later, would say that we have found that solution.

Camino Ghosts by John Grisham

New York Times bestselling author John Grisham takes you back to Camino Island where bookseller Bruce Cable and novelist Mercer Mann always manage to find trouble in paradise.

In this new thriller on Camino Island, popular bookseller Bruce Cable tells Mercer Mann an irresistible tale that might be her next novel. A giant resort developer is using its political muscle and deep pockets to claim ownership of a deserted island between Florida and Georgia. Only the last living inhabitant of the island, Lovely Jackson, stands in its way. What the developer doesn’t know is that the island has a remarkable history, and locals believe it is cursed…and the past is never the past…

Praise for Camino Island and Camino Ghosts:

“A fresh, fun departure . . . sheer catnip . . . a most agreeable summer destination.” —USA Today

“The type of wild but smart caper that Grisham’s readers love.” —Delia Owens, bestselling author of Where the Crawdads Sing

“Escapist entertainment…with elements of a more traditional Grisham thriller.” —Janet Maslin, The New York Times

Life’s Too Short by Darius Rucker

A raw, heartfelt memoir from Darius Rucker, the three-time Grammy Award–winning, Diamond-selling lead singer of Hootie & the Blowfish and Country music sensation—told through the remarkable stories of the music that coursed through his life.

“If I look back at my life and try to see into my past, everything seems blurry. But then I lean in and start to hear something. Melodies. Chords. Harmonies. Lyrics.”—From the Introduction

Raised by a single mother in Charleston, South Carolina, Darius Rucker founded Hootie & the Blowfish with three classmates at the University of South Carolina in 1986. What began as a party band playing frat houses and dive bars quickly became a global rock pop phenomenon through their Diamond-certified debut album Cracked Rear View, featuring the era-defining hit songs “Only Wanna Be With You,” “Let Her Cry,” and “Hold My Hand.” Later, Darius would also chart a pioneering path as a solo Country music artist, with the Diamond-certified hit “Wagon Wheel,” plus timeless anthems such as “Alright” and “Don’t Think I Don’t Think About It,” while sharing the stage and a mic with the likes of David Crosby, Al Green, Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young, Adele, Taylor Swift, and more.

Nearly 40 years into his illustrious career, Darius tells the story of his life through the music that made him, including songs by everyone from Frank Sinatra and Stevie Wonder to R.E.M., KISS, Prince and, of course, his own music with Hootie and as a solo artist. He recounts the unlikely ascent of his band and wild tales of his road-hardened life—one filled with stumbles, missteps and battles with demons, but ultimately resulting in triumph. LIFE’S TOO SHORT is the story of a man, his music and his life; a page-turning memoir that is raw, real, hilarious and deeply emotional.

The Second Coming by Garth Risk Hallberg

From the New York Times best-selling author of City on Fire, an intimate epic that plunges us deep into the lives of a teenage girl and her father as they navigate love, grief, betrayal, and redemption

“Beautiful and daring.” —Nathan Hill, author of Oprah’s Book Club pick Wellness

“Breathtaking.” —Christina Baker Kline, author of #1 New York Times best seller Orphan Train

When thirteen-year-old Jolie Aspern drops her phone onto the subway tracks in 2011, her estranged dad, Ethan, seems like the furthest thing from her mind. A convicted felon and recovering addict, Ethan has long struggled to see beyond himself. But then a call from New York makes him fear his daughter’s in deeper trouble than anyone realizes. And believing he’s the only one who can save her, he decides to return home.

So begins the journey that will, in time, push Jolie and Ethan—child and adult, apart and together, different yet the same—out past their depths.

Full of yearning and revelation, The Second Coming is at once an incandescent feat of storytelling and an exploration of an enduring mystery: Can the people we love ever really change?

The Bookmakers by Adam Smyth

The five-hundred-year history of printed books, told through the people who created them

Books tell all kinds of stories—romances, tragedies, comedies—but if we learn to read the signs correctly, they can tell us the story of their own making too. The Book-Makers offers a new way into the story of Western culture’s most important object, the book, through dynamic portraits of eighteen individuals who helped to define it.

Books have transformed humankind by enabling authors to create, document, and entertain. Yet we know little about the individuals who brought these fascinating objects into existence and of those who first experimented in the art of printing, design, and binding. Who were the renegade book-makers who changed the course of history?

From Wynkyn de Worde’s printing of fifteenth-century bestsellers to Nancy Cunard’s avant-garde pamphlets produced on her small press in Normandy, this is a celebration of the book with the people put back in.

Wolf at the Table – Adam Rapp

“Once you start this dark family saga you won’t want to put it down. Rapp’s writing is mesmerizing. His characters are wonderfully complex and flawed, and his ability to set them in the perfect time and place is masterful. It’s really hard to express just how incredibly special this novel is in just a few sentences… Just trust me!”
-Emily, store staff

“I couldn’t agree more!”
-Judy, store co-founder

The Corrections meets We Need to Talk About Kevin in this harrowing multigenerational saga about a family harboring a serial killer in their midst in this “masterful novel” that “peers into the dark heart of America” (Richard Ford, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Independence Day)



As late summer 1951 descends on Elmira, New York, Myra Larkin, thirteen, the oldest child of a large Catholic family, meets a young man she believes to be Mickey Mantle. He chats her up at a local diner and gives her a ride home. The matter consumes her until later that night, when a triple homicide occurs just down the street, opening a specter of violence that will haunt the Larkins for half a century.

As the siblings leave home and fan across the country, each pursues a shard of the American dream. Myra serves as a prison nurse while raising her son, Ronan. Her middle sisters, Lexy and Fiona, find themselves on opposite sides of class and power. Alec, once an altar boy, is banished from the house and drifts into oblivion. As he becomes an increasingly alienated loner, his mother begins to receive postcards full of ominous portent. What they reveal, and what they require, will shatter a family and lead to devastating reckoning.

Through one family’s pursuit of the American dream, Wolf at the Table explores our consistent proximity to violence and its effects over time. Pulitzer Prize finalist Adam Rapp writes with gorgeous acuity, cutting to the heart of each character as he reveals the devastating reality beneath the veneer of good society.

Joyful Reflections of Trauma by Paul Scheer

From award-winning actor and comedian Paul Scheer, a candid and hilarious memoir-in-essays on coming to terms with childhood trauma and finding the joy in embracing your authentic self.

Paul Scheer has entertained countless fans and podcast listeners with stories about the odd, wild, and absurd details of his life. Yet these tales have pointed to deeper, more difficult truths that the actor and comedian has kept to himself. Now, he is finally ready to share those truths for the first time—but, of course, with a healthy dose of humor.

Blending the confident, affable voice that has won him a dedicated following with a refreshing level of candor, Joyful Recollections of Trauma chronicles Paul’s often shocking, admittedly tumultuous childhood and how the experiences of his youth have reverberated throughout his life. In his comedy, Paul has always been unafraid to “go there,” to play naïve, cringeworthy characters, imbuing them with disarming charm and humanity. That daring openness is on display in the pages of this memoir, but in true Paul fashion, it is also surprising, eye-opening, and side-splitting.

In this madcap journey through the inner working of his mind and creative process, Paul Scheer demonstrates once again that the truth is often stranger—and funnier—than fiction. Joyful Recollections of Trauma offers a unique perspective on universal themes: growing up, working through a challenging childhood, staying true to yourself, and finding success, fulfillment, and happiness in often strange and difficult circumstances. Throughout, Paul shares both the hard-fought lessons and the laughter that can be found in the darkest parts of life, and reminds us that what matters is not what you’ve been through but who you are becoming. If you loved recent memoirs by Molly Shannon, Maria Bamford, RuPaul, and Jennette McCurdy—or any book that moves you to both laughter and tears—Joyful Recollections of Trauma is the perfect read for you.

You Like It Darker by Stephen King

From legendary storyteller and master of short fiction Stephen King comes an extraordinary new collection of twelve short stories, many never-before-published, and some of his best EVER.

“You like it darker? Fine, so do I,” writes Stephen King in the afterword to this magnificent new collection of twelve stories that delve into the darker part of life—both metaphorical and literal. King has, for half a century, been a master of the form, and these stories, about fate, mortality, luck, and the folds in reality where anything can happen, are as rich and riveting as his novels, both weighty in theme and a huge pleasure to read. King writes to feel “the exhilaration of leaving ordinary day-to-day life behind,” and in You Like It Darker, readers will feel that exhilaration too, again and again.

“Two Talented Bastids” explores the long-hidden secret of how the eponymous gentlemen got their skills. In “Danny Coughlin’s Bad Dream,” a brief and unprecedented psychic flash upends dozens of lives, Danny’s most catastrophically. In “Rattlesnakes,” a sequel to Cujo, a grieving widower travels to Florida for respite and instead receives an unexpected inheritance—with major strings attached. In “The Dreamers,” a taciturn Vietnam vet answers a job ad and learns that there are some corners of the universe best left unexplored. “The Answer Man” asks if prescience is good luck or bad and reminds us that a life marked by unbearable tragedy can still be meaningful.

King’s ability to surprise, amaze, and bring us both terror and solace remains unsurpassed. Each of these stories holds its own thrills, joys, and mysteries; each feels iconic. You like it darker? You got it.