Sarah's Picks
I'd never read true crime before and boy did it make me jumpy! I found it very engrossing from the get go - I guess it's that macabre fascination that has made the genre take off in recent years. I appreciated the back and forth between the '60s and present day and found it all very suspenseful. I also thought it was neat to get to see the author's research process and dissection of Harvard culture as well.
I'm not a big modern mystery reader, but I adore a wonderfully written historical mystery in the vein of Agatha Christie and Anthony Horowitz. This book hooked me from page one and Willowjean and Ms. Pentecost definitely rock the Watson/Sherlock tone very well, but with feminist undercurrents and I absolutely love it. I cannot wait to share it with readers this holiday season!
My grandmother is a German citizen living in the US. My uncle and cousins still live outside Nürnberg. For a place I have never been, it's always felt like a second home. But how do you embrace the German side of your heritage when part of your family are post-WWII immigrants and your family were ostracized and called Nazis when they got here, a charge you can neither prove, nor disprove. While Nora grew up in Germany and I grew up stateside, she struggles to belong to either side of the Atlantic and embarks upon a mission of discovering her family’s past during the war years and intends to come to term with the results of her research, regardless of the outcome. It’s an thoughtful exploration of identity and finding the place where you can be comfortable with your own self.
I love books that dissect the differences between the 50 states, as well as within the states. Colin's Overstated is a fun, enlightening look at how the 50 states have been bludgeoned into staying together, and delves into the fact that it might be time for a divorce of sorts. Equal turns humorous and educational, it’s a great book for those who want to know more about the geopolitics of our country and who appreciate sarcasm.
This series just gets better and better! I loved getting more POVs in this second book of the series and I fell even more into the world of Langoreth’s Britain! I absolutely cannot wait for the sure-to-be epic next book!
What a fun book! I'm always looking for interesting books set in Scotland and I couldn't have lucked out more with Ink & Sigil. Full of mystery, funny and witty characters, with a little bit of Irish and Scottish mythology mixed in (I'm a sucker for fae stories), there's something for everyone in this book!
The Bookshop on the Shore continues Jenny Colgan's Bookshop series and in this installment she takes us back to the small village of Kirrinfief on the banks of Loch Ness. Our new heroine is responsible for Nina's book bus while she's awaiting the birth of her first "wee bairn" and it's another charming book of love and hope in the Scottish Highlands.
Sequel to The Royal We: The Heir Affair reunites royalist readers with British Prince Nick and his American wife Bex as they embark on their next journey post-disastrous wedding day scandal. From hiding out in a B&B above a bookshop in Scotland to discovering long lost mementos (and subsequently secrets) about dead royals, The Heir Affair has no shortage of royal drama which makes it the perfect sequel! It's witty and entertaining and the characters rough edges feel softer and more familiar. I found myself loving The Heir Affair even more than The Royal We!
I actually laughed out loud twice in the prologue. I don't remember the last time I actually laughed out loud while reading, and the laughs kept coming the further I got into the book. As an AVID SNL fan (it's been my way of dealing with grief in the past few years) and political/news junkie, I've read every book by an SNL alum that I can get my hands on with Bossypants, up until now, being my favorite. And Tina's from Philly, I didn't think she'd be succeeded by, well, her successor at SNL. Huh. Probably should have seen it coming really. Anyway, Colin's hysterical both on screen and in book form. His ability to mock himself is unparalleled and I eagerly anticipate every episode of SNL and try to pick out which sketches he wrote. I look forward to putting his memoir into not only the hands of Tina & Amy fans, but Nick Offerman and Eric Idle fans as well. What a great display all those titles would make together...
Phuc Tran is an AMAZING writer and while I selfishly wanted to read his memoir because we grew up in the same small town and my mother was a teacher at Carlisle High School when he was a student, I didn't expect to be so blown away by his story. Sigh, Gone paints a portrait of my hometown that I always knew existed in the back of my mind, but never really saw or acknowledged. Touching and eye opening, I cannot wait to share Phuc's memoir with customers at the store!
I absolutely loved The Jane Austen Society. As I read, I felt I was walking around Chawton, immersing myself in the world of her colorful inhabitants, surprised by how they handled certain situations, while simultaneously feeling like they were behaving exactly as they should. The plot is intricate and beautifully woven, written by the hand of the master storyteller, it's a great book for Austen lovers and historical fiction lovers alike!
Marie Lu’s new book arrived at the store last summer in the form of an ARC, I do believe I squealed loudly. And repeatedly. And then I started it reading it, and proceeded to talk about it for the next seven months. Seven months I’ve had to keep this one to myself. It was TORTURE. Torture I tell you. Every time someone would come into the store and ask for Legend, The Young Elites or Warcross, and asked if we liked them, I would say, “Yes, but her upcoming one is simply THE BEST.”
And it is. The best. Marie is one of my YA Fab Five and has been for some time, but with The Kingdom of Back, she elevated her writing to a new level. The book is written like a love letter to classical music and the instruments that are so well suited to it. It’s like a sonata in words, the lines of the score woven through Marie’s word choice.
House of Earth and Blood is a departure from Sarah Maas’ previous books, not just in that it’s her first adult fantasy, but in that it is more of an urban fantasy and, delightfully, references Norse mythology! I’ve enjoyed each of her books thus far and am so excited to share her new series with customers at the store, as well as delight in reading it myself!
Oh how I wish I had gotten to this book sooner. It is absolutely wonderful, a great addition to any sports, sociology, history or women's studies shelf in any bookstore, large or small. What the women of the united Korean hockey team managed to accomplish is absolutely amazing and commendable.
I fell in love with Zelda just from reading the back cover (and I'm partial to all things Vikings.) I found myself completely enthralled with her and her life outlook, as well as how she responded to the world around her. Despite all challenges in front of her (namely her brother), she found ways to thrive in her own way. I'm so excited to share this book with so many customers at the bookstore!
I was immediately pulled into Anna’s memoir. I’ve never been particularly interested in the tech world of Silicon Valley, but Anna’s literary background made me incredibly curious - why would you leave books for tech? And while I still can’t fathom doing so myself, I found Anna’s reasoning relatable and her personal experiences with the tech bros fascinating.
D-Day Girls first drew me in with its Erik Larson blurb and I stayed for the amazing English and French women who risked so much to relay information to the Allies before D-Day. It strikes me as a nonfiction companion to the story of the younger sister in Kristin Hannah's The Nightingale.
I love a good essay collection and when I picked up Make It Scream, Make It Burn, I opened it with great anticipation. It lived up to my expectations and then some. It is by far one of the best collections I have ever read.