Tag: staff picks

January 2025 Staff Pick: The Safekeep

December 28, 2024
by Robin Wood

The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden (Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster), picked by store co-founders Judy Blume & George Cooper

George raved about this novel so I had to see for myself. And I came away equally enthusiastic. It’s dark and different.

~ Judy

It’s 1961, the terrible war with a German occupation has settled into the past, and Isabel is living alone in the family home in the East of Holland, a house she shared with her mother until the mother’s recent death. Title to the house is held by her uncle, who has no interest in living there, nor do her two brothers, who have busy lives elsewhere.

But the uncle still believes the house will be for the older brother Louis once he marries and begins a family. So when Louis asks Isabel to take in his new girlfriend Eva for a short time, she feels compelled to do so, even though she finds the girl crude and unpleasant.

Thus begins a tale with more twists than a plate of fusilli, and a political revelation that will shake your beliefs in the humanity of the Dutch.

~ George

December Staff Pick: Everyone This Christmas Has a Secret

December 3, 2024
by Robin Wood

Everyone This Christmas Has a Secret by Benjamin Stevenson (Mariner), picked by social media manager, Robin

Ernest Cunningham’s 7 Commandments of Holiday Specials:

3. The detective must, at some point, learn the true meaning of the word Christmas.

And, indeed, Ern, does. You, Dear Reader, will not, unless your holiday is even more skewed towards murder and mayhem than the typical holiday get-together.

Everyone This Christmas Has a Secret by Benjamin Stevenson, our December featured staff pick, is a fun take on the holiday mystery, and as this series is known for, full of classic misdirection. Full of secret Santas, advent calendar clues, and rigged magic tricks, it’s a great way to spend a cozy afternoon.

And here’s a few more seasonal reads to get you in a holiday mood:

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

Most Wonderful: A Christmas Novel by Georgia Clark

Brightly Shining by Ingvild Rishøi, translated by Caroline Waight

Kissing Kosher by Jean Meltzer

The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year by Ally Carter. And the audiobook is currently on sale via Libro.fm!

Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan

Eight Very Bad Nights: A Collection of Hanukkah Noir Edited by Tod Goldberg

November Staff Pick: The Hypocrite

November 20, 2024
by Robin Wood

The Hypocrite by Jo Hamya (Pantheon), picked by bookseller Leslie

The country is Italy, specifically the island of Sicily.  To me, the opening conjured images of lazy afternoons, reading, Aperol spritzes, and warm, family togetherness, while exploring.  That’s not what this book is about.

The book takes place during present day London (during Covid) where the daughter, Sophia, has written a play, and about ten years earlier when Sophia is a teenager taking a holiday on Sicily with her father, a writer.  Coming from a divorced family, Sophia believes that their holiday will be a time to connect while her father treats her like an employee at times, dictating his new book to her.

Flash forward to London – her father sits down to see his daughter’s play; he is horrified to see it is about him.  Sophia is brutal in her characterization of her father and his old fashioned ways, and how he treated her during their holiday. The father can’t believe it!!

This book is about different generations, being uncomfortable, expectations, disappointment, love, all of it!

The book goes back and forth between Sicily and London, a format I love.  I was surprised and uncomfortable at times while reading this book.  There are no easy answers especially with family – I really thought a lot about that, and isn’t that what a good book should do?

~ Leslie

October Staff Pick: You Like It Darker

September 29, 2024
by Robin Wood

You Like It Darker by Stephen King (Scribner), picked by bookseller Lori

Twelve new short stories from the master of horror. Standouts for me: “Rattlesnakes,” a sequel to 1981’s Cujo, and “The Answer Man,” my personal favorite, which asks us to ponder the meaning of our own lives and ask ourselves how we will approach the inevitable end of it. 

Beauty, horror, humor and humanity are all present in the pages from the true King of the genre.

~ Lori

September Staff Pick: Colored Television

September 3, 2024
by Robin Wood
Emily with an ARC of Colored Television by Danzy Senna in the bookstore

Colored Television by Danzy Senna (Riverhead Books), picked by manager Emily

When her novel (dubbed the “mulatto War and Peace”) is rejected by her agent, Jane wonders if pivoting to television might finally give her the life she wants; time and energy to enjoy her family, a nice house in a good school district and an audience that will actually consume and appreciate her work. 

Jane is used to life between worlds but will this new venture, and the deception she practices to get there, all finally be too much? 

No book is ever about one thing, at least not the good ones, but rarely does a story perfectly mix together life’s big issues. Senna cleverly examines race, class, and cultural consumption while still producing a fun and compelling read. 

~ Emily, store manager

August Staff Pick: The God of the Woods

July 30, 2024
by Robin Wood

The God of the Woods by Liz Moore (Riverhead Books), picked by assistant manager Sara

I couldn’t put this book down – the perfect summer mystery read! It had me all the way until the last sentence!

The dynamic of the two alternating timelines are seamlessly woven together uncovering family secrets and lies that leave you wondering exactly how far this family is willing to go to keep things hidden – and who is helping them.

This book has an ending you won’t see coming, and leaves you with a smile on your face.

July Staff Pick: The Paris Novel

July 13, 2024
by Robin Wood

The Paris Novel by Ruth Reichl (Random House), picked by bookseller Gina

When her mother dies Stella is left with a one way ticket and an unusual request “Go to Paris”…

Very similar to myself, Stella isn’t one to stray to far out of her comfort zone, but impulsively she honors her mother’s final request.

Here’s where the fun starts: through fashion, new friends, a mysterious painting and most importantly FOOD Stella begins to understand what it truly means to live YOUR life, take chances, and live your life to the fullest. (Hey, I quit my job and moved to Key West!)

This book is a true feast for the senses (especially your taste buds – did I mention the food???)

Transport yourself to Paris and LIVE!

~ Gina

June Staff Pick: The Demon of Unrest

May 29, 2024
by Robin Wood
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.

May Staff Pick: Long Island

April 30, 2024
by Robin Wood

Long Island by Colm Tóibín (Scribner, May 7), picked by bookseller, Leslie

Long Island tells the story of Eilis Fiorello, nee Lacey. Colm Tóibín first wrote about Eilis in his terrific novel Brooklyn, published in 2009. Eilis is now living in Long Island with her family – husband Tony and teenage children Larry and Rosella. When a stranger comes to Eilis’s door to tell her that he will be depositing a baby that Tony has fathered with the stranger’s wife while working as a plumber in their house, Eilis decides to handle the matter in a very straightforward way. She tells her children about it. She then informs Tony that she’ll be going back to Ireland for her mother’s birthday because she doesn’t want to be home when the baby is delivered. Eilis tells Tony that this has nothing to do with her and he should handle the situation. 

While reading this book, I could feel the suffocation that Eilis must have felt in her marriage and in her house, with Tony’s brothers and Italian mother always in everybody’s business. Tony’s mother believes her sons can do no wrong.  I found her to be most annoying and irritating.

Eilis hasn’t been back to Ireland since she left as a young woman and made a life with Tony. Once there, she lives in her mother’s house and rekindles relationships from her past. There is so much that is not said in this book. For one, I could sense that Eilis asked herself – What do I want?  How do I want to live?  I kept asking myself – What will Eilis do? She yearns for love.

As Long Island progressed, I came to love Eilis more and more, and her happiness became so important to me. Then I wondered – what is it she is seeking?  Is it happiness, purpose or something else. Colm Tóibín’s intimate story is captivating.

~ Leslie

April Staff Pick: The Creative Act

March 28, 2024
by Robin Wood
Sara holding The Creative Act by Rick Rubin

The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Rubin (Penguin Press), picked by our Assistant Manager, Sara

Sara holding The Creative Act by Rick Rubin

With The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Rubin, I found myself going back to it whenever I needed a little inspiration. It is an extraordinary book that captures the practice of creating.

The Creative Act is a collection of short reflections from Rubin’s career as a legendary music productor who is well known for helping artists connect with their own creativity by creating a space where they can offer who they really are to the world. With his own insights from his experiences, the tools he provides is as simple as listening to your own intuition, finding out what works for yourself, and incorporating your own creative routine with habits that include meditating, being in nature and exercises. These insights are then elaborated further in different chapters that are easy to pick up and follow. I read it and listened to the audiobook, which I found relaxing and enjoyable.

One takeaway from the book is that we are all creators of something in our daily lives. It does a great job capturing the sacred practice of trusting one’s own intuition and being free to experiment with finding ways to express yourself. My favorite quote from the book reads, “Look for what you notice but no one else sees.”

When I am not at the bookstore, I enjoy walking the island and taking pictures. This is my way of creating something while also documenting it for memories – my own journal that I get to share with friends and family. It’s nothing serious, just a hobby I picked back up during the pandemic that I have grown to love doing. During this process, I allow my mind to wander as I take in the simple act of walking in nature. This book reminded me to touch back on my hobbies and how important it is to have routines and continue to create – or what creating means to me. I have become more mindful as I capture the beauty of what I see in hopes that others can see it too.

Another component that drew me into this book was the cover. It’s the alchemical symbol for the sun which represents life, energy, and spirituality where I found the simplicity of it had so much depth behind it that it made it even more meaningful. Rubin has a minimalist way of living so it only fit that the book would represent this in some way too with keeping everything simple.