Everything about books and the people who write them.
Author du jour: Susan Strecker, "Nowhere Girl"
Rick Moody, “On Celestial Music.” A dazzling selection of essays about music. Moody’s anatomy of the word cool
reminds us that in the postwar 1940’s, the word was infused with the
feeling of jazz music, whereas now it is merely a synonym for neat.
The collection laments the loss in contemporary music, without failing
to inspire us and dive into the music that enhances our lives.
Mary Morris,
“The Jazz Palace.” In the midst of boomtown Chicago, two Jewish
families suffer terrible blows. They have lost their boys on the SS Eastland,
which sank in 1915. But Benny Lehrman, the only son left, has no
interest in saving the family business and making hats. His true passion
is piano—especially jazz.
Julia Titus, “Poetry Readers for Russian Learners.” Through the poetry of 19th and 20th
Centuries Russian authors, including Pushkin and Akhmatova, the book
helps all level of Russian learners refine their language skills. Poems
have their own music and rhythm, singing to the witnesses of history,
clamoring human insights and the muffling of tragic biographies.
Mary Pilon,
“The Monopolists: Obsession, Fury, and the Scandal Behind the World’s
Favorite Board Game.” The way the Parker Brothers tells it, Monopoly,
the world’s most famous board game, was invented by an out-of-work
salesman in the depths of the Great Depression, who sold his invention. A
fabulous rags-to-riches story to say the least. But as Pilon explains
it: “it’s just not quite exactly true.” 
Charles Spencer,
“Killers of the King” relates for the first time to the shocking
stories and fascinating fates of the 59 men who signed Charles I of
England’s death warrant in 1649. This act not only changed British
history forever, reverberated across the ocean to the young British
colonies in American, which more than 100 years later also rose up
against their king, but also became their death sentence.
Greg O’Brien,
“On Pluto” is a first person account with Alzheimer. O’Brien speaks
freely about what it is like to lose your mind and “see slices of your
very identity being shaved off” on a daily basis. The story is a beacon
of hope to anyone who can read and listen.
Jena La Flamme,
“Pleasurable Weight Loss.” For Jena “the key to losing weight is not
about enjoying less, it’s about enjoying more.” This radical insight has
allowed thousands of her students to lose weight without food plans,
arduous rules, or punishing exercises. Pleasure is the secret to
switching off the stress triggers.
Charlotte N. Markey,
in “Smart People Don’t Diet: How Psychology, Common Sense, and the
Latest Science Can Help You Lose Weight Permanently,” Markey uses
psychology and brain chemistry and more than 100 years of research and
scientific findings to provide an accessible approach to weight loss
that yields sustainable, long-term results.
Shari Goldhagen,
“In Some Other World Maybe” explores family dynamics and relationships
with a sharp eye and six-degrees-of-separation, coming-of-age tale,
written from multiple POVs. An absorbing ensemble heads to the movie
theater in December 1992, in different parts of the globe, and mulls
over their friendships, sex, ambition, fame and tragedy.
Alan Hruska,
“Pardon the Ravens” is a fast-paced legal thriller about a gifted young
lawyer who lets his heart get in the way of his business affairs and
the consequences of crossing the man who controls organized crime in New
York during the Mad Men era.
John Oller,
“American Queen: The Rise and Fall of Kate Chase Sprague” depicts the
story of the charismatic and beautiful daughter of Lincoln’s Treasury
Secretary who used her social graces and political acumen to make a name
for herself in Washington and ran the show from behind the scenes, only
to lose everything at the end and be forgotten.
Alyson Richman,
“The Garden of Letters,” follows Elodie, a young cello prodigy. When
Mussolini’s fascist regime strikes her family, Elodie is drawn into the
burgeoning resistance movement by a young and impassioned bookseller.
“The Garden of Letters” is a story of love, courage, and the power of
the human spirit to find hope against the backdrop of war.
David Margolick, “Dreadful: The
Short life and Gay Times of John Horne Burns” portrays the once-celebrated
largely forgotten author of what’s arguably the first great gay novel in
American literature. “Dreadful” retraces the breathtaking rise of a writer
hailed as a worthy successor of Hemingway, John Dos Passos, only to vanish as
quickly as he appeared, in just six years.
Paul Strohm,
“The Chaucer’s Tale” takes on the theme of rebirth. At the start of
1386, Chaucer was a middle-aged Londoner with a distasteful customs job
and husband to a higher-ranking wife. By 1387, he was forced to leave
London jobless, a widower, and without political allies. Strohm unravels
how this calamitous year led to Chaucer’s rebirth as a literary
celebrity.
Okey Ndibe,
“Foreign Gods, Inc.” tells the story of Ike, a New York Nigerian cab
driver who sets out to steal the statue of an ancient Wa deity from his
home village to sell it to a New York art gallery. Ike’s plan is fueled
by desperation. Despite a degree in economics from a major American
college, Ike has a strong accent, which bars him from the corporate
world.
Nina Darnton,
“The Perfect Mother” explores the painful relationship between a
beloved daughter who acts against her privileged upbringing and her
devoted mother who experiences unimaginable fears. Inspired by the
infamous Amanda Knox case, the novel examines the complex questions of
how well do we know our children, and how far we would go to protect
them.
Bradford Morrow,
“The Forgers” starts with the death of a reclusive rare book collector,
whose hands have been severed, then shifts to Meghan and her lover, who
specializes in forging the handwriting of Sir Conan Doyle. But when
they receive threatening handwritten letters penned by long dead
authors, a gripping tale of love and an exploration of the tenuous
nature of authenticity follow.
