Drew's Picks
Drew is the new owner here at Towne Book Center and has certainly been trying to fill the big shoes that were left for him by PK. Usually you can find Drew on the floor handselling his favorite books (at this point we all know about Johannes Cabal the Necromancer) or moving boxes as he tries to be somewhat useful. A devotee of Fantasy, Science Fiction and History Drew is an eclectic reader and will talk your ear off if you give him a chance! Below are some of his favorite books (we forbid him from picking Johannes Cabal!)
Vagabonds is perhaps one of my favorite Sci-Fis of the year! A classic story of the inherent conflict between the people who use the resources and the people who produce. This time its written in the stars instead of in the fields but the emotions are all the same. Another great piece of Sci-Fi from China, I cannot recommend this book enough!
Damien Vryce is a priest and he has been given a rather unusual mission, to begin to teach other priests the tenets of sorcery. These Sorcerers or Adepts as they are called each have a unique species of Fae that they work with and Damien must travel with an adept that has lost her memories as well as The Hunter an adept so dangerous that he is almost a devil to the church. The fate of the world hangs in the balance in this epic adventure!
This is the first book in the Bryant and May Mysteries and I absolutely adore it! A bombing claims the life of Arthur Bryant and sets his old parnter John May into coming out of retirement to try and track the bomber down. Then we travel back to the youths of Bryant and May as it appears that this bombing may have to do with their youth, when they were members of London's Peculiar Crimes unit.
The third, but apparently not final, book in the Dandelion Dynasty series The Veiled Throne continues the traditions of its predecessors by being a spectacular read! This book and this series in general have a way of making even the most mundane things exciting and beautiful. Better than a Game Of Thrones and likely to be done before Door Of Stone this book is a must read for all fantasy fans.
The Björkan Sagas is one of my favorite heave little books of 2021. In this small and heavy all at once! A masterfully blended story of norse and cree storytelling The Bjorkan Sagas is a haunting ode to family, loss, identity, community and grief. I cannot recommend this book enough. Come talk to me about it!
This is one of the more unique pieces of nonfiction that I have ever had the pleasure of reading! This book is the real diary of an executioner in Germany during the 16th century and chronicles his career of over 300 executions. In addition to being a gruesome and fascinating insight into the world of executions it also shed some light on the mental state of the man as well as the world view of the common man at the time. A great Halloween read!
As we all begin to reckon with our own history of race relations here in the United States it can at times be a daunting task. How do we approach correcting a system that has been built on the abuse of others, how do we reconcile our history with the fact that the same period in time can be viewed VERY differently depending on which Americans we're asking? Learning From The Germans does a wonderful job of showing how Germany approaches it's own history and provides some thoughts on how we could do the same.
WW1 is ofen overlooked here in the United States especially when compared to the second world war. In Good-Bye To All That Robert Graves tell his story of his time in the trenches and shows us all exactly why The Great War was also called the seminal tragedy. Raw and heartrbreaking I cannot recommend this book enough.
A wonderful and scary love letter to the slasher genre My Heart Is A Chainsaw is the incredible deconstruction of slashers that we all seem to crave and look for! If Randy Meeks from the Scream movies was a final girl this book would be about her. I cannot recommend this book enough to anyone that loves horror films or just loves to see some good revenge.
By 1941 general consensus was that the key to victory was control of the Atlantic. In an attempt to predict the moves and understand the tactics of the U-boats the WRENS devised and played a game that informed Allied tactics in the Atlantic throughout the war. A Game Of Birds And Wolves is the true story of these women and the game they played and a must have for any WW2 buff!
From the creator of The Wicked And The Divine come Once And Future is a horrific retelling of the Arthur Myth. It is truly England's darkest hour and the king has returned but has he returned to rule England well? Or is he instead a monster so driven by his hatred for his enemies that he will bring England to it's knees?