Ann Patchett's Blog, page 22

November 6, 2020

Thank Goodness for Books: 20 New Reads for the Young and Young at Heart

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One thing we’ve been thankful for already this month is being able to welcome people back into the store, albeit on a limited basis. We know there’s nothing quite like being able to see books up close. One constant through all of this has been our booksellers, constantly looking for the best new books for young readers — and this month is no exception!


Looking for more great recommendations? Join us next Tuesday, Nov. 10, at 6pm for the first virtual Parnassus Holiday Special! Ann Patchett and the gang will give you their top picks for everyone on your list!








PICTURE BOOKS


Recommended by Rae Ann
You Know How to Love Cover Image You Know How to Love


By Rachel Tawil Kenyon & Mary Lundquist



This rhyming picture book about love encourages us to look around at our world and “let kindness flow.” Beautiful illustrations with diverse characters complement the story.


Editor’s note: Join us for a virtual event with the author and illustrator on Sunday, Nov. 8 at 2pm Central!


Recommended by Rae Ann


The Little Mermaid Cover Image The Little Mermaid


By Jerry Pinkney



A mermaid reclaims her voice in this powerful re-imagining of the classic story. Friendship and repairing her seaside kingdom are the mermaid’s goals in this gorgeous book starring diverse characters.


Recommended by Rae Ann


A Polar Bear in the Snow Cover Image A Polar Bear in the Snow


By Mac Barnett & Shawn Harris (Illustrator)



This simple yet captivating picture book follows a polar bear on a journey through the snow to the blue sea. The art and the suspenseful journey blend together into a wonderful tale.


Recommended by Rae Ann


All Because You Matter Cover Image All Because You Matter


By Tami Charles & Bryan Collier (Illustrator)



This lyrical love letter resonates with the message “you matter,” complemented by beautiful collage art.


Recommended by Becca


Julián at the Wedding Cover Image Julián at the Wedding


By Jessica Love



Julián is back in this vibrant new book that is a celebration of love, friendship, and individuality. This is a book that you will want to read again and again, as each reading reveals joyful new details.


Recommended by Heather


Awesome Man: The Mystery Intruder Cover Image Awesome Man: The Mystery Intruder


By Michael Chabon & Jake Parker (Illustrator)



Awesome Man is a superhero who secretly worries about being replaced and possibly forgotten. What he finds is not a competitor but a new sidekick. Fabulous illustrations bring the story to life and make me wish I had had this book 18 months ago when my Awesome Man got his sidekick. (But he will love the book now too!)


Recommended by Chelsea


One Girl Cover Image One Girl


By Andrea Beaty & Dow Phumiruk (Illustrator)



A beautiful book that is a gorgeous love letter to education and the power of reading.


Recommended by Becca


Homecoming Tales: 15 Inspiring Stories from Old Friends Senior Dog Sanctuary Cover Image Homecoming Tales: 15 Inspiring Stories from Old Friends Senior Dog Sanctuary


By Old Friends Senior Dog Sanctuary, with Tama Fortner



Old Friends Senior Dog Sanctuary, located just 30 minutes from Nashville, has become something of a viral sensation on social media. Chances are you know someone who follows the dogs at this foster-sanctuary obsessively, and for good reason! This book for young animal lovers features the stories of just 15 of the hundreds of hilarious, heartwarming senior pups that have called OFSDS home.


Recommended by Patsy


Bill Nye's Great Big World of Science Cover Image Bill Nye’s Great Big World of Science


By Bill Nye & Gregory Mone



The newest book from America’s favorite scientist is chock full of information, beautiful photographs, and related experiments for young readers. It’s the ideal instruction book for a curious young person and for families in search of interesting ways to engage their learners at home.


INDEPENDENT READERS


Recommended by Rae Ann


No Ordinary Thing Cover Image No Ordinary Thing


By G. Z. Schmidt



This is a fun time-travel adventure containing a magical snow globe, a boy who lives above a bakery, and a mystery to be solved.


Editor’s note: Our Spark Book Club pick for October. Read an excerpt here!


Recommended by Kay


The Magic Fish Cover Image The Magic Fish


By Trung Le Nguyen



The Magic Fish is a gorgeous interweaving of heartfelt family relationships, classic fairy tales, and stunning artwork. Each layer of this story is more tender and charming than the last as a mother and son seek to communicate through stories the things they can’t otherwise find the words to say.


Recommended by Kay


The Invasion (Animorphs Graphix #1) Cover Image The Invasion (Animorphs Graphix #1)


By K. A. Applegate, Michael Grant & Chris Grine



Animorphs was an all-time favorite series of mine when I was growing up, and now it’s back for a new generation in graphic novel form! Intense intergalactic warfare, cool shapeshifting powers used to tackle unique challenges, and well-defined characters you’re always rooting for make this an unforgettable series. The adventure begins again in The Invasion, with (hopefully) much more to come!


Recommended by Madeline


On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness (The Wingfeather Saga #1) Cover Image On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness (The Wingfeather Saga #1)


By Andrew Peterson



This book is a masterfully crafted middle-grade perfect for young audiences and older ones. Andrew Peterson captures the essence of what it means to stick together though the thick and thin, staying determined through hardship, and the meaning of family. This book, along with the rest of the Wingfeather Saga, is perfect for everyone!


Recommended by Heather


Becoming Muhammad Ali Cover Image Becoming Muhammad Ali


By James Patterson, Kwame Alexander & Dawud Anyabwile (Illustrator)



Ann said that if you think poetry is not for you, read Billy Collins. I say read Kwame Alexander. His new novel with James Patterson brings to life Muhammad Ali in a way I would not have thought possible unless you grew up with “The Greatest.” Interesting, enlightening, engaging, and a punch to the gut.


YOUNG ADULT


Recommended by Rae nn


Nemesis and the Swan Cover Image Nemesis and the Swan


By Lindsay K. Bandy



A 19-year-old aristocrat is imprisoned during the French Revolution. Spies, romance, and intrigue abound in this atmospheric novel.


Recommended by Chelsea


Charming as a Verb Cover Image Charming as a Verb


By Ben Philippe



Henri relies on his charm in all aspects of his life, but that charm doesn’t extend to his classmate Corinne Troy. When she uncovers Henri’s less-than-honorable dog-walking business, she blackmails him into helping her social life. Philippe has once again written a cast of characters that readers will love and puts them in realistic dilemmas that will make readers laugh and cringe in solidarity.





Recommended by Chelsea


This Is All Your Fault Cover Image This Is All Your Fault


By Aminah Mae Safi



The teenaged staff of Wild Nights Bookstore must work together to save their workplace from closing. Set in just twenty-four hours, this story is full of endearing characters and full of heart, making it the perfect read for these times.


Recommended by Becca


I Hope You're Listening Cover Image I Hope You’re Listening


By Tom Ryan



After witnessing her best friend’s abduction 10 years earlier, Dee starts a wildly popular anonymous true crime podcast to help online sleuths solve similar cold cases and disappearances. But when a second child goes missing under mysterious circumstances from her childhood home, Dee risks much more than her anonymity to seek answers to the mysteries in her own life.



Spark Book Club: November Selection
Serena Says Cover ImageSerena Says


By Tanita S. Davis



The Spark Book Club selection for November is Serena Says, by Tanita S. Davis. Serena loses her best friend status with JC when a classmate steps into her role as class ambassador to deliver JC’s get-well-soon gift bag. Serena navigates the changes at middle school by creating a vlog.


Early sparks for the novel:


“A delightful multicultural narrative that spotlights friendship and self-awareness.” —Kirkus (starred review)


“Davis capably touches on matters of chronic illness, mental health, and friendship growing pains in this quiet but impactful slice-of-life novel.” —Publishers Weekly


Spark Book Club is the first editions club for middle grade readers. Every month members will receive a first edition middle grade novel — plus a letter written by the author especially for club members. Makes a great gift for the independent reader! Sign ups are available for 3, 6, or 12 months.






ParnassusNext November Selection
The Enigma Game Cover Image The Enigma Game


By Elizabeth Wein



The November ParnassusNext selection is The Enigma Game by #1 New York Times bestselling author Elizabeth Wein. This gripping WWII story follows three very different people whose lives converge in a Scottish village on the day a German pilot lands under mysterious circumstances. Their race to decode the Enigma machine left behind is a thrilling historical read.


Join us for a virtual event with Elizabeth Wein, in conversation with Monica Hesse, today — Friday, Nov. 6 — at 3:30pm Central!


Early buzz for the novel:


“Another soaring success.” —Kirkus (starred review)


“Wein again seamlessly weaves extensive research into a thriller populated by fully dimensional characters.” —Publishers Weekly


ParnassusNext is the book subscription box for YA lovers. Every member of ParnassusNext receives a first edition hardcover of each month’s selected book, signed by the author. There is no membership fee to join — and no line to stand in for the autograph. Not only will you have one of the best YA books of the month when it comes out, you’ll have it straight from the author’s hands, with an original, authentic signature! Set up a subscription for yourself or buy a gift membership for your favorite YA reader for 3, 6, or 12 months.

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Published on November 06, 2020 04:30

November 4, 2020

Here Comes Ann-ta Claus: 21 Great New Reads for November

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Before we dig into this month’s Staff Picks, we just want to let you know that for the first time, our Parnassus Holiday Special is going virtual! What is the Special? Well, it’s when Ann Patchett, aka Ann-ta Claus — along with store manager Andy Brennan, Inventory Manager and Adult Buyer Cat Bock, and Director of Books and Events for Young Readers Rae Ann Parker — give their personal book recommendations for everyone on your holiday lists! And since it will be online this year, you can tune in no matter where you live for a donation amount of your choice. It’s a little earlier than we usually do it, but with so much uncertainty this year, we wanted to do it sooner rather than later. Join us next Tuesday, Nov. 10 at 6pm Central!


And now, on to November’s hand-picked staff favorites …








FICTION


Recommended by Ann


The Lying Life of Adults Cover Image The Lying Life of Adults


By Elena Ferrante, translated by Ann Goldstein



Is Giovanna really like her aunt Vittoria? Could anything be worse? For those of us who’ve longed to return to the lying, cheating, hateful world of the Naples we loved in Ferrante’s Neopolitan novels, this book is a huge gift.


Recommended by Karen


The Cold Millions: A Novel Cover Image The Cold Millions: A Novel


By Jess Walter



This book’s setting could not be more different than Walter’s delightful and touching Beautiful Ruins. Set during 1909-10 in Spokane, it depicts the rise of the labor unions through the eyes of two brothers and the true to life figure of the teenage activist, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn. The setting is dark, but the cast of characters will draw you in and keep you turning the pages. Walter is a master storyteller.


Editor’s Note: Our First Editions Club selection for December!


Recommended by Cat


The Pull of the Stars: A Novel Cover Image The Pull of the Stars: A Novel


By Emma Donoghue



Over the course of three days in a Dublin maternity ward, in the midst of the 1918 flu pandemic, one nurse must work with the meager resources at her disposal to tend to her patients and navigate the complex social structure of the hospital. It’s devastating and full of the best and worst of humanity. I was riveted.


Recommended by Sissy


Plain Bad Heroines: A Novel Cover Image Plain Bad Heroines: A Novel


By Emily M. Danforth & Sara Lautman (Illustrator)



Did you love Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl? Were you disappointed in Night Film? This is the book you wanted. Ghosts (real? imagined?) are flitting between 1902 boarding school girls and 2020 writers and film starlets. Haunting, funny and gripping.


Recommended by Chelsea


Black Sun (Between Earth and Sky) Cover Image Black Sun (Between Earth and Sky)


By Rebecca Roanhorse



Roanhorse’s expansive worldbuilding and pre-Columbian inspired mythology wowed me. I immediately wanted the next book.


Recommended by Jordan


Butter Honey Pig Bread Cover Image Butter Honey Pig Bread


By Francesca Ekwuyasi



This debut novel by Francesca Ekwuyasi spans three continents. Following a series of traumatic events, Kambirinachi and her twin daughters Kehinde and Taiye become estranged. After more than a decade, the twins return home to Lagos to care for their mother, and the three women must face the wounds of the past. This is a story of faith, family, and love with complex dynamics and strained relationships.


Recommended by Andy


V2: A novel of World War II Cover Image V2: A novel of World War II


By Robert Harris



The master of historical fiction does it again. Harris brings to life both those launching V2 rockets and those receiving them. His attention to historical detail makes his storytelling come alive.


Recommended by Kay


The Once and Future Witches Cover Image The Once and Future Witches


By Alix E. Harrow



Harrow’s second novel is a ferociously feminist story of witchcraft and women’s suffrage that had me spellbound the whole way through. Three sisters, each with challenges and traumas her own, must seek out the hidden remnants of lost magic in order to reclaim the power society has systematically denied to women in countless ways. Harrow’s gorgeous prose is equal parts beauty and bite, an absolute dream to read.


Recommended by Rae Ann


The World That We Knew: A Novel Cover Image The World That We Knew: A Novel



By Alice Hoffman



Alice Hoffman tells a unique World War II story of the human and the mystical. Now in paperback, The World That We Knew is the journey of three women trying to survive in a world where the Angel of Death follows their steps, love means sacrifice, and connection is everything.


Recommended by Chelsea


Ninth House Cover Image Ninth House


By Leigh Bardugo



The wonderful thing about Ninth House (now in paperback) is that protagonist Alex Stern is a normal person thrust into a crazy situation, and that crazy situation is a free ride to Yale to monitor its secret societies. This first installment of Alex’s story is full of hidden magic, plot twists, and the examination of friendship.


NONFICTION


Recommended by Karen


Greetings from New Nashville: How a Sleepy Southern Town Became It City Cover Image Greetings from New Nashville: How a Sleepy Southern Town Became It City


By Steve Haruch (ed.)



Steve Haruch’s first edited book was a posthumous collection of the beloved Jim Ridley’s writings. This new collection features essays from some of Nashville best journalists and authors (like Ann Patchett) writing about the people, places, and issues that make Nashville the city it is today. I found out so much I didn’t know about the city I love.


Recommended by Ben


The Fragile Earth: Writing from The New Yorker on Climate Change Cover Image The Fragile Earth: Writing from The New Yorker on Climate Change


By David Remnick & Henry Finder (eds.)



Blending the in-depth research and storytelling the New Yorker is known for, these essays discuss how a changing climate is altering the planet we love, and what we can do about such a dire shift. Exploring topics as varied as golden frogs in Panama, Iñupiat whalers in a remote Alaskan village, and megafires on the Great Plains, the collection is fascinating, terrifying, and ultimately galvanizing.


Recommended by Becca


Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants Cover Image Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants


By Robin Wall Kimmerer



This beautiful new edition of a modern classic features embossed cover art, five gorgeous new color illustrations, deckled page edges, and a ribbon bookmark. Kimmerer draws on her experience as an indigenous scientist, mother and woman to reveal the gifts and lessons of nature. This book, in celebration of Milkweed Editions’ 40th anniversary, would make a thoughtful gift for any nature lover in your life.


Recommended by Kathy


In Faulkner's Shadow: A Memoir (Willie Morris Books in Memoir and Biography) Cover Image In Faulkner’s Shadow: A Memoir


By Lawrence Wells



Lawrence Wells was married to Dean Faulkner, William Faulkner’s niece. This memoir is full of stories of famous Southern authors, their lives, and the whole literary scene in Oxford, Miss., for the last 40 years. Fascinating!


Recommended by Becca


In Bibi's Kitchen: The Recipes and Stories of Grandmothers from the Eight African Countries that Touch the Indian Ocean [A Cookbook] Cover Image In Bibi’s Kitchen: The Recipes and Stories of Grandmothers from the Eight African Countries that Touch the Indian Ocean


By Hawa Hassan, with Julia Turshen



Fans of Bon Appétit may recognize Somali chef Hawa Hassan from the magazine, as well as the BA YouTube channel. In this book, she works with renowned food writer Julia Turshen to present 75 recipes from grandmothers from eight different East African countries. These comforting, flavorful recipes are accessible enough for even the least experienced home cook.


Recommended by Ben


The Bible With and Without Jesus: How Jews and Christians Read the Same Stories Differently Cover Image The Bible With and Without Jesus: How Jews and Christians Read the Same Stories Differently


By Amy-Jill Levine & Marc Zvi Brettler



These professors break down how Jews and Christians can look at the same texts and come to wildly different conclusions due to linguistic translation, theological emphasis or traditional interpretation. Showing how “polemic can be turned to possibility,” they’ve penned a bold thesis for understanding and empathy between Jews and Christians, as well as those of any faith and culture. Scholarly and insightful.


Recommended by Patsy


Having and Being Had Cover Image Having and Being Had


By Eula Biss



In this delightful collection of essays, ostensibly reflections on her recent purchase of an older house, Eula Biss ponders the nature of capitalism and consumerism as encountered in everyday life, questioning the value system of the world she inhabits. This book makes the perfect gift for readers who appreciate both beautiful prose and big ideas.


Recommended by Patsy


The Book of Delights: Essays Cover Image The Book of Delights: Essays


By Ross Gay



The poet Ross Gay spends a year noting bright moments in his days. The collection of reflections is pure comfort to the soul for, as he writes, “Delight grows as it is shared.”


POETRY


Recommended by Ben


Negotiations Cover Image Negotiations


By Destiny O. Birdsong



In this unflinching powerhouse of a debut, Birdsong mines her experiences of assault, disease, rage, assertiveness, and longing as a Black woman. Grounded in the body, both personal and communal, she takes form, meter, and imagery to fresh and thoroughly unexpected places. These poems are fearless and fierce as she transcends trauma, tender and contemplative as she creates joy.


Recommended by Ann


Whale Day: And Other Poems Cover Image Whale Day: And Other Poems


By Billy Collins



Anyone who thinks that poetry isn’t for them just needs to read Billy Collins.






First Editions Club: November Selection
Memorial: A Novel Cover ImageMemorial


By Bryan Washington



I first heard of Bryan Washington about two years ago at a bookseller conference. One night, the publisher brought a number of its authors together with some booksellers at a dinner — to get their new books on our radar so we could read and then recommend them to you, lovely readers.


As is usual at these dinners, Bryan Washington addressed the room and gave a quick pitch for his book, a collection of stories called Lot. He also talked about who he was as a writer and what he hoped his work would accomplish in the world. Every author’s pitch that night was engaging, but I was really stuck by Washington’s vision for what he wanted to write: stories centered his hometown of Houston, with great food as a central theme, featuring lots of characters who looked like him and the variety of people he saw in his daily life. That doesn’t necessarily sound radical, and yet something about the way he presented it, with such clarity and certainty, was wonderful.


The stories in Lot truly did feel radical and necessary, and so when I saw earlier this year that Washington had a novel coming out, I was elated. After reading it, I knew this was a story we would want to share with as many people as possible. His writing about food is mesmerizing and the complex relationships he is able to evoke with his sparse language feel true and unapologetic in their imperfection. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.


Yours in reading,

Catherine Bock

Inventory Manager


More about our First Editions Club: Every member receives a first edition of the selected book of the month, signed by the author. Books are carefully chosen by our staff of readers, and our picks have gone on to earn major recognition including the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, and the PEN/Faulkner Award. Plus, there’s no membership fee or premium charge for these books. Build a treasured library of signed first editions and always have something great to read! Makes a FABULOUS gift, too.

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Published on November 04, 2020 04:00

October 31, 2020

The Shop Dog Diaries: We Have a Few Things to Say About Halloween

[image error]Lewis is following his humans on a new adventure, and turning in his Shop Dog badge. We’ll miss you, Lewis!

Dear Chuckleheads,


When we were puppies and wanted a treat, we simply went up to a human and asked for one. We did this by looking cute. We didn’t need a costume for that because we looked cute every single day of our lives. You humans gave us treats not only because of how we looked but because we were good and loyal and kind. And because we were all these good things, you continued to give us treats every day of the year, sometimes many times a day, sometimes many times an hour on the days that Pete was working in the back of the bookstore, what the Shop Dogs call “Our Happy Place.”


But every year when Halloween rolls around you feel the need to dress us up in humiliating costumes in order to get the very things that should be given freely and with love. Maybe the members of your species need to dress up like a cow in order to score a free snack, but we’re Parnassus Shop Dogs. We have our dignity.


See how you like it.


[image error]Sparky with a side of fries.

 


[image error]Hey, you know what you can do with your fries.

 


[image error]I am a trained therapy dog. I have a license. I am not a bumblebee.

 


[image error]Hard to get people to take you seriously like this, isn’t it, Heather?

 


[image error]Oh, I wish I weren’t an Oscar Mayer weiner.

 


[image error]Andy discovers it’s the mustard that’s so humiliating.

 


[image error]Just because I’m malleable doesn’t mean I want to be a pig.

 


[image error]It looks like a fascinator on Becca.

 


Need some spooky reads? Here are some good ones for the smaller humans we like.

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Published on October 31, 2020 05:00

The Shop Dogs Diaries: We Have a Few Things to Say About Halloween

[image error]Lewis is following his humans on a new adventure, and turning in his Shop Dog badge. We’ll miss you, Lewis!

Dear Chuckleheads,


When we were puppies and wanted a treat, we simply went up to a human and asked for one. We did this by looking cute. We didn’t need a costume for that because we looked cute every single day of our lives. You humans gave us treats not only because of how we looked but because we were good and loyal and kind. And because we were all these good things, you continued to give us treats every day of the year, sometimes many times a day, sometimes many times an hour on the days that Pete was working in the back of the bookstore, what the Shop Dogs call “Our Happy Place.”


But every year when Halloween rolls around you feel the need to dress us up in humiliating costumes in order to get the very things that should be given freely and with love. Maybe the members of your species need to dress up like a cow in order to score a free snack, but we’re Parnassus Shop Dogs. We have our dignity.


See how you like it.


[image error]Sparky with a side of fries.

 


[image error]Hey, you know what you can do with your fries.

 


[image error]I am a trained therapy dog. I have a license. I am not a bumblebee.

 


[image error]Hard to get people to take you seriously like this, isn’t it, Heather?

 


[image error]Oh, I wish I weren’t an Oscar Mayer weiner.

 


[image error]Andy discovers it’s the mustard that’s so humiliating.

 


[image error]Just because I’m malleable doesn’t mean I want to be a pig.

 


[image error]It looks like a fascinator on Becca.

 


Need some spooky reads? Here are some good ones for the smaller humans we like.

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Published on October 31, 2020 05:00

October 28, 2020

Read Two Excerpts From River Jordan’s The Ancient Way

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If you’ve been a regular customer at the bookstore, the author of the new book The Ancient Way: Discoveries on the Path of Celtic Christianity probably looks familiar. River Jordan was a bookseller at Parnassus for many years — always ready with a big smile, a compassionate ear and as many book recommendations as you could handle. She always had a good story, too, if you needed one.


And you may already know she’s got quite a few books under her belt, including Praying for Strangers and Confessions of a Christian Mystic. Speaking of Confessions, River had a wonderful talk here on Musing with Parnassus favorite Silas House when that book came out. And now she’s back with a new one!


Ann Patchett describes The Ancient Way as “a warm and glorious book for our time,” and recommends it if you’re looking for something “meditative an hopeful and profoundly kind.” Aren’t we all right about now?


River Jordan will be in conversation with Lisa Patton, author of Rush, this Thursday, Oct. 29, at 6pm Central, in a virtual event held on Zoom. Please join us for what’s sure to be a delightful discussion — multiple ticket options include a pay-what-you-want donation!


Here are two short excerpts from The Ancient Way.



From Chapter 11: The World is Light and Shadow 


[image error]River Jordan

They believed in angels and they believed in demons. In the forces of good and the shadows of evil. They were superstitious and they were believers. They prayed St. Patrick’s words, “Christ in peace, Christ in danger,” and they prayed for the encircling of protection, as if they were weaving a spell of light, of God. Three being the magic number and as part of their prayers for protection from evil, they would sometimes make the rounds, walk three times around a cross, a home, or a person, encircling them with the good and sealing the evil out.


The Celtic people had long understood that both darkness and light were part of their lives. And they understood the space O’Donohue referred to as the “Celtic consciousness being a penumbral light,” which belonged neither to the light nor to the dark. They were aware of the space in between. What they would call the threshold and the thin places, which we’ll speak of now and later. They knew the pause as night becomes morning and day becomes night again. The space of thresholds and thin laces. Doorways to different dimensions or times. The crossing of one to another as thin as a dime, a hair, a hope.


From Chapter 17: Revelation in the Ruins


There is always something that affects me when I walk through sites where there are remnants of a society that has come and gone. The skeletal remains of entire communities echoing from the stones they left behind. The ghost cities of the Anasazi carved within the rocks of Southwest United States. The paintings found on the walls of the caves of Borneo and in Indonesia. The ruins of a monastery with stones still standing.


Somewhere here a man built a fire; somewhere there a woman stirred a pot; in this corner of the cave a baby nestled at his mother’s breast. I reach to touch this thread of life that carried us forward, vow to not let go. We belonged to the people who came before us, and we belong to them still. And they remind me that I have to be about the business of my life, which is to live it fully, without apology and without regret.


This is what the ruins spoke to. me on Iona as I slowly walked through the remnants of the Augustinian nunnery built in 1203. I stepped over the stones, walked between the arched pink doorways, and thought of the Celtic concept of the significance of thresholds. This one was the threshold of time.


***

Virtual Event

River Jordan

The Ancient Way: Discoveries on the Path of Celtic Christianity

Thursday, Oct. 29 at 6pm Central

in conversation with Lisa Patton

Registration required

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Published on October 28, 2020 04:30

October 14, 2020

Read an Excerpt From No Ordinary Thing by G.Z. Schmidt

[image error]

In No Ordinary Thing by G. Z. Schmidt, it’s 1999 and twelve-year-old Adam lives with his uncle above their Biscuit Basket bakery in New York City. One day a stranger arrives with a snow globe and a cryptic message. Days later, Adam finds an almost identical snow globe and soon he’s on a time travel adventure. He’s on a search for two more magical objects that may change his past and his future. This fantastical debut middle grade novel is our October Spark Book Club selection. It’s a fun, adventurous read that would also make a great family read-aloud.


The excerpt below comes from the beginning of the book, when the stranger arrives. Read, then sign up for the Spark Book Club to get your first edition copy, along with a special letter from the author!


CHAPTER ONE

NEW YORK CITY, 1999


About two hours before midnight on a busy street in Manhattan, a man in a raincoat appeared out of nowhere. His sudden presence should have been startling, but no one took notice of him. That particular part of New York bustled with cars and people at all hours, so much so that nobody really saw each other in the crowds. Everyone had other business to attend to, and a stranger lingering in the shadows—even one who had quite literally materialized from thin air—did not capture their interest that October evening.


The man in the raincoat walked several blocks until the path broke off to reveal a cobblestone side street leading to a quieter patch of neighborhood. He stood at its edge and silently observed the area with a smile.


If anyone had bothered to take a glance at him that night, they might’ve found it slightly odd that the man’s raincoat was dripping wet when it hadn’t rained any- where nearby that day.


They might’ve found it odder still that he carried what looked like a snow globe in his hands, with the care of someone cradling a cherished pet.


But New York City was full of oddballs, so again, no one bothered with him.


Which is unfortunate, because had these passersby stopped to ask who he was and what he was doing there, they would’ve found the answer the oddest of all.


Because our friend in the raincoat wasn’t supposed to exist yet.


 


CHAPTER TWO

THE VISITOR IN THE RAINCOAT


The same cobblestone street had a tiny bakery on the corner called the Biscuit Basket.


Ask anyone in the neighborhood, and they would tell you the Biscuit Basket was a “perfectly adequate bakery, now please get out of my way”—which was a sore understatement, because the bakery’s goods were far above average.


In the early mornings, when the sun had barely tinted the glassy skyscrapers along the East River, the aroma of freshly baked breads and chocolate croissants wafted from the tiny brick building and filled every inch of the street.


Despite its enticing smells and first-rate offerings, however, the bakery had only a scarcely adequate share of customers. On good days, mornings saw one or two adults who stopped by for a quick sugar doughnut before work. In the afternoons came the neighborhood kids fresh from school, their pockets jingling with allowance money as they gathered around the colorful array of cupcakes along the counter. And of course there were the occasional weary ladies in large, fancy hats who needed two orders of peach cobbler, immediately if you please, for their evening book club every third Tuesday of the month.


But on bad days, the Biscuit Basket had hardly any visitors at all. On those days, the baker—a stocky and balding man named Henry—could be seen waiting behind the counter anxiously, or else rearranging the cakes at the display window for the thousandth time, or else trying to attract customers by offering free samples of strawberry-and-almond tarts to passersby.


It wasn’t Henry’s fault. No matter how hard he pounded the dough, no matter how fast he mixed the cream and sugar, the Biscuit Basket never seemed to entice quite enough customers to its corner of the street. Not when an enormous candy shop, a coffee shop, and two other bakeries sat just two streets over.


So on those lonely days, Henry would look wistfully at the untouched pastries that had grown stale and hope he had enough money to pay the rent.


It was such a day on that Saturday evening when our story begins. A few hours before the mysterious man in the raincoat appeared, the streets were cold and dreary and darkening with October gloom. Not a single customer had stopped by the bakery, where Henry had sat behind the counter for the better part of the day.


[image error]G.Z. Schmidt

Finally, it was closing time. Henry sighed and looked up from the dollar bills he was counting. Money had been tight that week as always, but at least this time he could afford to donate most of the leftovers instead of saving them for the next day’s discount shelf. Baked goods are never as tasty the day after.


“Adam,” the baker called to his nephew, “do you mind delivering the leftover breakfast pastries to the Hole?”


Henry had one helper in the shop—his twelve-year-old nephew, Adam. Adam was small for his age, with pale skin and eyes the color of charcoal. One could occasionally glimpse the top of the boy’s tousled dark hair behind the kitchen window. Or, if you were to watch carefully, you might see him slip your order of lemon custard on the counter before disappearing to the back without a peep.


Because of his uncle’s job, Adam spent his time either at school or at the bakery. Adam didn’t mind. He didn’t have too many friends. Adam was, by all accounts, a peculiar boy. But we shall get to that later.


“Sure, Uncle Henry,” Adam answered. He closed the pages of Self-Guide to Caring for Mice he was reading and collected the unsold pastries from that day into a large paper bag. He lugged the bag outside.


The stars were hidden in the cloudy night sky, the moon barely visible. Adam cautiously made his way down the sidewalk, taking care to stay in the parts lit by streetlights as he approached the Hole.


Most things don’t belong in holes. Holes are damp and dark, and ideal for dog bones, trash, and pesky night critters that dig up people’s vegetable gardens. In the same way, the Hole was what most people called the local homeless shelter and, with it, the city’s unwanted inhabitants.


As usual, the Hole’s tired brick walls and murky windows greeted Adam. Several disheveled folks stood out- side the scratched door, their worn faces half-hidden in the shadows, their hands stuffed in their pockets. None of them seemed to have smiled in a long time. Adam sometimes wondered if they’d forgotten how.


He passed them silently and went inside the battered building to the kitchen. A skinny, elderly man in a wheelchair sat stirring a large pot of what smelled like cabbage stew. Upon hearing Adam’s footsteps, he turned his tanned and weathered face to the boy and broke into a nearly toothless grin.


“Hello, fellow!” said the old man.


“Hi, Victor. Special delivery,” Adam murmured. He placed the bag of muffins and croissants in the man’s out- stretched hands. “Extras from today.”


Victor was a resident of the homeless shelter. He spent his mornings on the streets, chatting with the other homeless folks or telling entertaining tales to children. He spent his evenings cooking for the hungry. Victor was one of the few people Adam didn’t mind talking to. The old man never made fun of Adam for his eyes or size.


Victor gratefully took the pastries and held the bag close to his scruffy beard. “They smell wonderful,” he sighed, and put the crinkled bag in the basket attached to his wheelchair. Rumor had it that he lost his leg in a street fight against a bulldog. Or was it an alligator? Victor changed the story every time he told it.


Adam mumbled something in reply. Victor leaned forward with his ear cupped. “Sorry, sonny, my hearing isn’t as good as it once was.”

The twelve-year-old said louder, “There’s a blueberry muffin in there. Your favorite.”


“Excellent. I’ll make sure to save that for myself. Did you know, just this morning, I met a lady who grows blueberries for a living? Right in a little garden on the roof of her apartment building. Just imagine the mathematical probability of a blueberry patch’s existence on a rooftop like that . . .”


Normally, Adam would stay longer to listen to Victor recount his day’s adventures and conversations. The old man had a way of telling stories that instantly capti- vated listeners, even if the story was about something as simple as going to the grocery store for milk.


But that evening, something particular was weighing on Adam’s mind, and he itched to return home as soon as possible.


Victor seemed to read his thoughts. “How is Speedy?” the old man asked.


Speedy was Adam’s pet mouse, rescued from the confines of the Biscuit Basket’s kitchen cabinet one fateful evening two months ago. Uncle Henry had been pre- paring a batch of vanilla cupcakes and was searching the cabinet for a box of rainbow sprinkles when the white mouse peeked out from behind a jar of flour. Before Uncle Henry could react, the mouse had zoomed down the baker’s outstretched arm onto the counter. Uncle Henry, who liked rodents as much as he liked moldy cupcakes, didn’t hesitate to grab his bread knife. It was Adam’s dismayed “Wait, don’t hurt it!” that stopped what would have been a disastrous evening for Speedy.


[image error]Speedy was a big reason Adam didn’t need friends at school. The mouse did what any boy could do: eat, run, sleep, listen. What’s more, Speedy could do tricks. He could climb onto Adam’s hand when his name was called, and wiggle his pink nose and soft whiskers against Adam’s fingers. He could stand up on his tiny hind legs when directed. He had once even crawled across a pencil Adam held in midair. Adam was very fond of the dear mouse, though he wisely avoided letting Uncle Henry know he’d adopted it.


“Speedy’s fine.” Adam avoided Victor’s eyes and cleared the catch in his throat. “I have to get back home. See you later.”


“Goodbye! Say hello to your uncle for me.”


Adam and his uncle lived in the small apartment above the Biscuit Basket. It had one bedroom the size of a normal closet, a narrow kitchen, a tight bathroom, and a living room that might have been spacious had it not doubled as Uncle Henry’s bedroom and a storage space for baking utensils. The one good thing about a cramped apartment above a bakery was that every nook and cranny smelled of baked goods.


After returning home, Adam raced to his bedroom. He stepped over the animal care brochures and half-finished library books he’d borrowed, and reached under his narrow mattress to retrieve the old shoebox where Speedy slept. He gently prodded the white mouse, but it didn’t budge. The mouse hadn’t moved in a day, and its breaths were faint.


“Come on, buddy,” Adam whispered. “I brought you something.” He placed a smashed blueberry inside the box next to Speedy. Blueberries, according to Self-Guide to Caring for Mice, had “antioxidants”—nutritious energy that supposedly boosted the body. It should make Speedy move again.


Adam waited, but nothing happened.


“Adam?” Uncle Henry peered inside the room. Adam shoved the box behind him, but not before his uncle had caught a glimpse. His uncle sighed.


“Adam, we’ve talked about this,” he said. “Mice are not household pets.” “I know . . .”


“They spoil the flour and ruin everything.”


“Not Speedy. He only eats the lettuce and fruits I feed him.”


Uncle Henry gave another sigh and shook his head.


Some people said the baker looked just like Adam’s father. This made sense, since siblings tend to look alike, although from what Adam could remember, his father had been leaner and taller, with fair hair and tanner skin, whereas Uncle Henry stayed pale from a lack of sunlight due to working many hours indoors. Adam took after his mother more, who had dark hair like Adam and had also been short for her age.


Uncle Henry opened his mouth to say something— likely a lecture about how mice are the reason exterminators have secure jobs—but before he could launch into his spiel, the doorbell chimed downstairs. Adam and his uncle exchanged a puzzled look. The bakery was closed.


“It’s probably the landlord,” said Uncle Henry with a slightly worried expression.


Adam followed his uncle downstairs. Visits from the dreaded landlord, especially at night, were never a good sign. The last time the landlord had arrived, Uncle Henry had gotten a warning letter for being late on the rent.


It was not the landlord. Instead, a cheerful stranger in a raincoat stood outside the door, waving to Adam and his uncle through the glass. He held a map in one hand, and ran his other hand through his wet, graying wheat-colored hair.


“I’m terribly sorry, I know it’s late,” the man called through the door. “But I was passing by, and, well, may I say your cakes look fabulous? I simply must buy one. Or five. I hope you’re not closed?”


After the long, empty day of no customers, Uncle Henry was so giddy at the potential business that he threw open the door and practically kissed the stranger’s hand. The stranger had barely finished introducing himself as J.C. Walsh before the baker started speaking a mile a minute about the goods available.


“We have every kind of cake imaginable,” said Uncle Henry. “Carrot cake, coffee cake, a red velvet cake that I can frost for you right now with the most scrumptious whipped cream you’ve ever tasted . . .”


“Excellent,” said the man in the raincoat. “I’ll have that red velvet cake, please.” Then he added, “Make it with buttercream frosting—my favorite—and I’ll pay double what you’d normally charge.”


This was more than Uncle Henry could bear. He stammered a “Y-yes, of c-course,” and stumbled into the kitchen in a daze. There followed a clanging of pots and bowls, and the sound of Uncle Henry’s humming was soon accompanied by the soothing whir of the mixer.


Adam was about to head back upstairs when, to his surprise, the man in the raincoat turned to address him.


“You must be Adam Lee Tripp.”


Growing up in a city as large as New York had taught Adam not to share personal information with strangers. He didn’t answer, but stared blankly at the man, who stared back with a big smile.


“It’s been a while,” said the stranger, his voice softening.


The man reached into his pocket and held up a snow globe. Inside the glass sphere was a miniature cityscape that looked just like Manhattan, sprinkled with bright snow confetti. The man gazed at the snow globe in a sort of admiration.


“The one in which past days unfold,” he murmured. Then, as if he suddenly remembered Adam was there, he raised his head and said, “Speedy is sick and dying, but great things are in store for you.”


Adam gaped at the man. He had no idea how the stranger knew about Speedy. Could he be a fortune-teller? Adam wondered. Uncle Henry always said that fortune- tellers were con artists wrapped in glitzy shawls who charged twenty dollars per reading, and whose predictions were most of the time as wrong as two left feet.


“Speedy’s not dead yet,” Adam said hoarsely, but he said it so quietly he doubted the man heard.


“Hear me, Adam?” the man persisted. “Great things await you. Fantastic things. You will find new friends in new places, and go on journeys more magical than you could have ever imagined.”


From the kitchen in the back, Uncle Henry shouted, “Do you want fondant roses on the cake?”


“Yes, that would be delightful!” the man in the rain- coat called back. He put the snow globe back in his pocket and winked at Adam. “Tonight, go up to the attic,” he instructed with a mysterious smile. “Your adventures await you there.”

Adam decided this character was not to be trusted. “Um, okay, sir,” he said, taking a step back. “Bye.”


He ran upstairs before the man could say another word. As soon as Adam was alone, he checked on Speedy again. The blueberry lay untouched. The mouse still didn’t move.


Adam felt sick. His throat burning, he gently placed the cardboard box back under the bed. He then angrily kicked his copy of Self-Guide to Caring for Mice across the floor before crawling under the covers and turning off the lights.


He spent a long time thinking about the man in the raincoat. The stranger was a weirdo; he’d known it as soon as the man said Adam’s name. And then the man mentioned the attic, of all places, which was by far Adam’s least favorite room in the building.


It was a long time before he finally drifted uncomfortably to sleep.


Little did Adam know, the stranger was right. Things were about to change in ways he couldn’t begin to imagine.




Spark Book Club is the first editions club for middle grade readers. Every month members will receive a first edition middle grade novel — plus a letter written by the author especially for club members. Makes a great gift for the independent reader! Sign ups are available for 3, 6, or 12 months.
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Published on October 14, 2020 04:00

October 9, 2020

The Battle Rages: An Interview With Connor Towne O’Neill, Author Down Along With That Devil’s Bones

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The past isn’t even past, as the saying goes, and perhaps nowhere is that more apparent than in debates over monuments to the Confederacy. In his remarkable new book Down Along with That Devil’s Bones: A Reckoning with Monuments, Memory, and the Legacy of White Supremacy, Connor Towne O’Neill digs deep into the history of a particular subset of these monuments: those honoring Confederate general Nathan Bedford Forrest.


O’Neill’s book begins with a chance encounter with a “Friends of Forrest” group gathered around an empty pedestal in Selma, Alabama, and takes the reader to other monuments in Memphis, Murfreesboro and Nashville, Tennessee. It’s a fascinating and sobering look at the conflict that, in many ways, has never ended. As Kiese Laymon says in his endorsement, “O’Neill walks in that radical love tradition” of young people from the North helping to “exorcise the worst parts of our region.”


O’Neill will appear online as part of the Southern Festival of Books this Sunday, Oct. 11 at 2pm. In the meantime, read his interview below and get your copy of Down Along With That Devil’s Bones from our festival shop!



Rev. James Perkins, the first Black mayor of Selma, refers to the erection of a statue of Nathan Bedford Forrest there as a “pronouncement of war.” How do you see that war as it stands now?


That statue went up in 2000. For more than a decade a battle raged over where that statue should stand, whether that statue should stand, and what that statue meant. Then it was stolen in 2012. But that theft and the possibility of replacing the statue kicked off another heated battle. Eventually the “Friends of Forrest,” as the group who put up the statue call themselves, won a federal suit allowing them to replace the statue. The replacement statue stands to this day, with no recent movement on that front. Elsewhere, though, the battle rages. We just saw a summer of monument toppling, in which President Trump gave a July 4th speech, at the foot of Mount Rushmore, declaring the summer’s protests to be “the end of America” and in which the Department of Homeland Security is expanding surveillance on activities surrounding monument protests. As Selma goes, so goes the nation.


In the book, you quote Mary Singleton Slack, a Daughters of the Confederacy leader in Kentucky in 1916, as urging the like-minded to “build the greatest of all monuments, a thought monument.” Do you see this mindset at work today?


We hear the thought monument at work every time someone avows that “all lives matter” or advocates for “school choice.” We hear it when people refer to polices meant to address inequity as “handouts” while overlooking the massive government programs — from the Homestead Act to FHA loans — that have built white wealth while excluding Black Americans. We see it in the disproportionate deaths along racial lines from COVID-19. We see it every time the assumption of Black criminality leads to the extrajudicial killing of Black Americans at the hands of police officers. Any unwillingness to acknowledge the forces that structure American life to the benefit of white Americans — that’s the thought monument.


[image error]Connor Towne O’Neill. Photo by Joel Brouwer.

Throughout the book there is this argument about whether these monuments are simply symbolic. Do you have an opinion about whether it’s ultimately worth fighting over these monuments, spending energy that might be used in other ways?


Symbols matter. As one activist I interviewed for the book pointed out to me, “For us to have those things removed, I think articulates to us that other things are possible. That a more equitable city and a more equitable county and a more equitable state and country is possible.”


I think Confederate monuments serve as the other side of the coin to all the images documented in Henry Louis Gates’s book Stony The Road, demeaning depictions of Black Americans from the Reconstruction era that, Gates argues, planted ideas of black inferiority and inhumanity deep into white America’s psyche. The Confederate monuments start to go up at the same time, enshrining these traitors into the landscape and into the minds of passersby.


To your point, though, these battles are part of a larger fight. And nearly every activist I talked to was engaged in other protest work, too, from pro bono legal representation to community oversight of police precincts to resisting voter suppression. The symbols are there because the systems of power in each of these cities keeps them there. Activists know you can’t go after one without going after the other.


This happened after you were finished writing your book, but it would appear that the state of Tennessee is headed in the direction of removing the Nathan Bedford Forrest bust from the state capitol. Having witnessed similar removal battles, and knowing quite a bit about the state Historical Commission, do you have any sense of how this might end? Or have you made yourself take a (deserved) break from following these stories?


I’ve been following that story and, honestly, I’m not optimistic. The Tennessee Historical Commission has rejected all three of the appeals to remove Forrest symbolism that have come before the body. Maybe it will be different this time. I suppose it’s possible that the commission may be chastened. After the Historical Commission twice denied the City of Memphis permission to remove their statue of Forrest the city then found a way to remove it anyway. So, after that, the commission may decide to simplify things and just grant a waiver. It would be, even at this eleventh hour, the just thing to do. On the other hand, state legislators were recently seen posing for selfies in front of the Forrest bust so, like I said, I’m not optimistic.


You grew up in Pennsylvania, not Alabama, but you find yourself implicated in this story in an interesting way. Can you talk about that a bit?


The prevailing wisdom growing up was that racism, in so far as it was a problem at all, was a problem of hearts and minds and that it was only a problem “down there.” But digging into the history embedded in these four monuments, I came to see how race was and is used in America to hoard wealth and resources and opportunities for white people, North and South.


Before embarking on this book, frankly I hadn’t spent much time reckoning with the ways that race shapes our lives, from how we buy houses to how we zone and fund our schools to how we’re served (or not served) by police officers. To come to that understanding, it took moving to the South and immersing myself in the central unresolved question of the Civil War: Could a settler-slaver society transform itself into a multi-racial democracy? It’s a question we’re still grappling with and a question that we all have a stake in.


And finally, we always ask: What do you love about bookstores?


I love the atmosphere created by bookstores. They’re hives of imagination. I love standing in the shelves and thinking about all the creative energy and all the knuckle-biting work that goes into producing a single book. And reading just one of them could expand your horizons, introduce you to new ideas, love you, terrify you, see you, change you. And there are so many of them! It’s almost too much to bear sometimes. It’s like being in a gallery of possibility. I love them so much. I’m grateful for all you do.



[image error]


Connor Towne O’Neill

Down Along With That Devil’s Bones

Appearing Online at the 32nd Annual Southern Festival of Books

Sunday, Oct. 11 at 2pm


This is part of our Southern Festival of Books preview series. See our interview with Cinelle Barnes, editor of A Measure of Belonging, and Authors in Real Life featuring C. Pam Zhang, author of How Much of These Hills Is Gold!

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Published on October 09, 2020 04:00

October 8, 2020

The Great Escape (Goat) and Other Adventures in Reading for the Young and Young at Heart

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With mobility limited these days, books are a great way to get away. Whether that’s to a farm or a community kitchen, a spooky school or secret lab. And speaking of getting away, this month’s batch of hand-picked recommendations includes Escape Goat — the new picture book by Ann Patchett and Robin Preiss Glasser! Whatever your preferred literary destination, we’ve got something for you. So take a look and find your next great read to share or run off with!








PICTURE BOOKS


Recommended by Everyone
Escape Goat Cover Image Escape Goat


By Ann Patchett & Robin Preiss Glasser



The Farmer family farm is a hectic place where things are blamed on the goat, until everyone takes responsibility for their mistakes. This fun picture book written by our own Ann Patchett and illustrated by the fabulous Robin Preiss Glasser makes a great read-aloud and you can search the pages for our shop dog pal, Sparky.


Recommended by Rae Ann


Lights on Wonder Rock Cover Image Lights on Wonder Rock


By David Litchfield



A girl dreams of a UFO landing in her yard, and then it does! She waits for the day when it will return, trying to make contact with her friend from space. Detailed illustrations make this delightful story even more fun.


Recommended by Rae Ann


The Barnabus Project Cover Image The Barnabus Project


By Terry Fan, Eric Fan & Devin Fan



Barnabus is part mouse, part elephant, so he doesn’t get the Perfect Pet stamp of approval in the secret lab. One day he and his friends decide to make an escape. A delightful read-aloud with wonderful illustrations.


Recommended by Rae Ann


If You Come to Earth Cover Image If You Come to Earth


By Sophie Blackall



This stunning picture book begins “Dear Visitor from Outer Space.” It is a delightful look at earth and its inhabitants highlighting our activities, music, and the places we live.


Recommended by Karen


When You Breathe Cover Image When You Breathe


By Diana Farid & Billy Renkl



What happens when we breathe? This book, in lush language by physician and poet Diana Farid explains it, and the collages by Billy Renkl illustrate it in such a beautiful way. We have a limited number of frameable signed prints from Billy Renkl that will come with purchase.


Recommended by Becca


Way Past Worried Cover Image Way Past Worried


By Hallee Adelman & Sandra de la Prada



As the world changes, the one thing that becomes more and more apparent is that we need to be teaching kids to identify and address overwhelming feelings. This book provides an opportunity to work on mindfulness techniques with the whole family, and to normalize talking through confusing emotions as they come up. Read it out loud, take a few deep breaths together, and see if you don’t feel a little bit better by the time you’re done.


Recommended by Ginger


Nothing in Common Cover Image Nothing in Common


By Kate Hoefler & Corinna Luyken



This is such a beautiful, quiet picture book. I wish I had this book when my kids were little. It was the perfect story book for a rainy day.


Recommended by Chelsea


The Wanderer Cover Image The Wanderer


By Peter Van den Ende



This wordless picture book shows the story of a lone paper boat on a strange and wonderful journey. The images are stunning, full of texture and life. I enjoyed spending time pouring over each page, finding hidden delights at the bottom of the sea to the top of the sky.


Recommended by Becca


Our Little Kitchen Cover Image Our Little Kitchen


By Jillian Tamaki



A group of neighbors comes together to prepare a family-style meal in their community kitchen. Jillian Tamaki’s illustrations perfectly capture the feeling of people from all different backgrounds working to take care of one another. The book is beautiful, the illustrations are jam-packed with detail, and the story will leave you craving the connection that comes from sharing your time and energy with the people around you.


Recommended by Sarah


Just a Story Cover Image Just a Story


By Jeff Mack



This bright and engaging book is about the power of stories. What starts as a trip to the library can turn into a quest with treasure hunting pirates, a scooter ride with elephants, or an encounter with a big baby dragon! A good book can take you anywhere.


Recommended by Shop Dog Marlee


Madeline Finn and the Therapy Dog Cover Image Madeline Finn and the Therapy Dog


By Lisa Papp



This book tells you all about becoming a therapy dog and all the cool places you get to go and the people you meet and the ones that give you pets and the ones you work real hard to make friends with and I just loved it and I am going to be a real therapy dog very soon and I would love to come and read with you!


Recommended by Shop Dogs Opie and Charles


What's Up, Fire Truck? (A Pop Magic Book) Cover Image What’s Up, Fire Truck? (A Pop Magic Book)


By Matthew Reinhart & Toby Leigh



This book folds into a 3-D fire truck and there’s a dog. What more needs to be said!


INDEPENDENT READERS


Recommended by Heather


Skunk and Badger (Skunk and Badger 1) Cover Image Skunk and Badger


By Amy Timberlake & Jon Klassen



I was a bit sorry to realize that I am a Badger, and relate well to rock collecting and order and control. But Skunk, in spite of his distractions, brings a lot of positives to the house. This is a great tale of the importance of understanding and sharing — for all ages.


Recommended by Kay


Séance Tea Party Cover Image Séance Tea Party


By Reimena Yee



Séance Tea Party is a great October graphic novel read about a spooky girl who befriends the ghost living in her attic. Full of fun Halloween touches, this is a story about growing up at your own pace and not being afraid to move forward. Magical and warm from beginning to end.


Recommended by Gavin, Age 9


Dog Man: Grime and Punishment: From the Creator of Captain Underpants (Dog Man #9) Cover Image Dog Man: Grime and Punishment


By Dav Pilkey



Great story! Teaches you that you should love more in your life than hate.


YOUNG ADULT


Recommended by Kay


The Summer of Everything Cover Image The Summer of Everything


By Julian Winters



What’s better than a sweet and funny summer love story full of yearning and self discovery? One that features an indie bookstore! Wes has one summer to confess his feelings for his best friend, pick a college major, and save his beloved local bookstore. With a cast of lovable booksellers and so much heart it’s practically bursting off the page, this book is the perfect way to bring a little more sunshine into your year.


Recommended by Kay


Grown Cover Image Grown


By Tiffany D. Jackson



This will not be an easy book for some teenagers to read, but it is very much necessary. Through the story of Enchanted Jones, a teenage singer caught up in a predatory relationship with a much older celebrity, Jackson examines the harsh consequences young people often find at the intersection of love, admiration, and power with both sharp insight and deep compassion. The story is expertly paced and full of stunning lines and unforgettable scenes. I read the whole thing in one sitting because I could not look away.


Recommended by Chelsea


Watch Over Me Cover Image Watch Over Me


By Nina LaCour



Mila has graduated out of the foster care system and accepted a teaching job on a remote farm. When she arrives, she is greeted by her new students, the couple who runs the farm, and ghosts. Mila must confront the trauma of her past if she is going to accept both the ghosts and her new setting. LaCour writes emotions, loneliness, and loss with an adept hand. Readers will be immediately drawn into Mila and the relationships she cultivates as she heals.


Recommended by Kay


Legendborn Cover Image Legendborn


By Tracy Deonn



When Bree enrolls in an early college program at UNC Chapel Hill, she has no way of knowing she’s about to be swept into a world of secret societies, Arthurian knights, and invisible monsters. Somehow this secret order appears connected to her mother’s recent death, and Bree will risk everything to find out how. What unfolds is a story of grief, legacy, and love with powerful writing that captures every emotion beautifully.






Spark Book Club: October Selection
No Ordinary Thing Cover ImageNo Ordinary Thing


By G. Z. Schmidt



The Spark Book Club selection for October is No Ordinary Thing by G. Z. Schmidt. Adam lives with his uncle above their Biscuit Basket bakery. One day a stranger arrives with a snow globe, sending Adam on a time travel adventure. Can the past be changed? And if so, should it?


Early sparks for the novel:


“A magical New York journey through time and the grieving process.” —Kirkus


“Resolving mysteries and featuring glimpses into its hero’s future, No Ordinary Thing is no ordinary time travel story; it contains timeless lessons on friendship, bravery, and letting go.” —Foreword Reviews


Spark Book Club is the first editions club for middle grade readers. Every month members will receive a first edition middle grade novel — plus a letter written by the author especially for club members. Makes a great gift for the independent reader! Sign ups are available for 3, 6, or 12 months.






ParnassusNext October Selection
Everything I Thought I Knew Cover Image Everything I Thought I Knew


By Shannon Takaoka



The October ParnassusNext selection is Everything I Thought I Knew by Shannon Takaoka. This is a page-turning debut novel about a girl whose senior year of high school is derailed due to a heart transplant. She must go to summer school with a new heart and new memories that may not belong to her.


Join us for a Facebook Live event with Shannon Takaoka on Tuesday, Oct. 13 at 6pm!


Early buzz for the novel:


“Romance and quantum physics intertwine in this frothy introduction to multiverse Sci Fi.” —Kirkus


“The thoughtful balance of self-discovery, humor, and realistic relationships will bring in fans of John Green and Nicola Yoon. Readers looking for a good, cathartic cry will love Chloe’s journey from losing everything she thought she was, to finding the person she was meant to be.” —School Library Journal


ParnassusNext is the book subscription box for YA lovers. Every member of ParnassusNext receives a first edition hardcover of each month’s selected book, signed by the author. There is no membership fee to join — and no line to stand in for the autograph. Not only will you have one of the best YA books of the month when it comes out, you’ll have it straight from the author’s hands, with an original, authentic signature! Set up a subscription for yourself or buy a gift membership for your favorite YA reader for 3, 6, or 12 months.

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Published on October 08, 2020 04:00

October 7, 2020

October (Not Really a) Surprise: 26 Great New Mid-Festival Reads

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We know you expect our Staff Picks every month, and this time around they’re coming to you right in the middle of the Southern Festival of Books! Normally we’re hunkered down in our tent, but with the festival online this year for the first time, we’re all enjoying the ability to watch from anywhere — and any time. Missed Ann Patchett interviewing Yaa Gyasi? Watch it now! The festival continues through Oct. 11, and you can buy books and help support the festival at our official SFB shop. Meanwhile, we’ve scared up another batch of great books to feed your need to read!






FICTION


Recommended by Ann
The Index of Self-Destructive Acts Cover Image The Index of Self-Destructive Acts


By Christopher Beha



This is a big novel of big ideas. Beha tackles finance, faith, war, entitlement, and no end of self-destructive acts. I greatly admired both the writing and the ambition. Bonus: It’s on the longlist for the National Book Award.


Recommended by Cat


Missionaries: A Novel Cover Image Missionaries


By Phil Klay



Anyone who read Klay’s first book, the short story collection Redeployment, has anxiously been awaiting his first novel. Wait no longer! Missionaries follows a disparate collection of characters who all end up in Colombia with various connections to the military conflict there and the involvement the U.S. has fostered over recent decades. Klay brings the reader to no clear conclusions as to what “right” and “wrong” are amidst the chaos, but rather dwells in the complex gray areas.


Recommended by Kay


Piranesi Cover Image Piranesi


By Susanna Clarke



Piranesi is a peculiar story told through the journal entries of a man trapped in an endless labyrinthine house. Full of flooded hallways and enigmatic statues, the House provides the perfect atmosphere for the mysteries at the heart of the journal-keeper’s life. How did he get there? Who is the Other man in the House? Is there a world outside the House at all? Strange and captivating, Clarke’s return does not disappoint.


Recommended by Erin


Anxious People: A Novel Cover Image Anxious People


By Fredrik Backman



Backman is back with a study of death, life, fear and hope that is equal parts heartbreaking and heartwarming. When a robber bursts in on an apartment open house and takes a group of strangers hostage, everyone involved learns that first appearances can be deceiving. No one is entirely who they appear to be, and all of them — bank robber included — crave rescue. This novel is surprising, and surprisingly delightful.


Recommended by Becca


Leave the World Behind: A Novel Cover Image Leave the World Behind


By Rumaan Alam



This eerily familiar tale about two families coping in the face of unknown disaster is on the 2020 National Book Award Longlist, so you don’t need me to tell you that it is worth reading, even while it really does feel like the world is falling apart around us. If you are looking for a suspenseful story to keep you distracted from worrying about your own problems, look no further than Leave the World Behind!


Recommended by Ben


Jack: A Novel Cover Image Jack


By Marilynne Robinson



Marilynne Robinson may be my favorite living writer. Jack Boughton is many things — disheveled, blundering, thieving, wayward son of Gilead’s Presbyterian reverend — but he’s also falling in love with Della Miles, the bright, assured daughter of a Baptist minister. Set in post-WWII St. Louis, and told in generous, luminous prose, their interracial relationship explores the crevices in America’s heartland and the many facets of our motives and souls.


Editor’s note: Our First Editions Club pick for October; see more below!


Recommended by Chelsea


A Deadly Education: A Novel (The Scholomance #1) Cover Image A Deadly Education: A Novel (The Scholomance #1)


By Naomi Novik



Imagine a magic school with staircases and cool magic classes but with monsters who definitely want to eat you. That’s the setting where El has to learn to control the dark power she unwillingly possesses. Her antics inside the dangerous school make other magic-based academia novels look tame. I’m very much looking forward to the next installment.


Recommended by Sissy


Cursed Objects: Strange but True Stories of the World's Most Infamous Items Cover Image Cursed Objects: Strange but True Stories of the World’s Most Infamous Items


By J. W. Ocker



Ocker quickly became one of my favorite horror writers last year with the publication of Twelve Nights at Rotter House. He’s hilarious and scary at the same time. This book isn’t scary … it’s like watching Ripley’s Believe it … or Not with your witty best friend. A must-have autumn bedside book as the days grow shorter.


Recommended by Becca


Only What's Necessary 70th Anniversary Edition: Charles M. Schulz and the Art of Peanuts Cover Image Only What’s Necessary 70th Anniversary Edition: Charles M. Schulz and the Art of Peanuts


By Chip Kidd & Geoff Spear



The American Book Association has a campaign to let book buyers know that October is the new December (meaning that if you want to give books as gifts this year, you should start shopping early). This beautiful 70th anniversary edition is full of rare and previously unpublished art as well as early comic strips. While perhaps not truly necessary, it would make for an excellent gift for any Peanuts fan in your life.


Recommended by Chelsea


Hench: A Novel Cover Image Hench


By Natalie Zina Walschots



Anna is a temp hench — an evil sidekick for hire. One day, she’s a seat-filler at a press conference that goes horribly wrong. While recovering from injuries caused by Supercollider, the most famous superhero, Anna crunches the numbers on just how much collateral damage superheroes cause, and decides to do something about. This is possibly my favorite read of the year, and I so hope there’s more to this story and this world.


Recommended by Rae Ann


When We Were Young & Brave: A Novel Cover Image When We Were Young & Brave


By Hazel Gaynor



This unique WWII novel is set in a boarding school in China. An English teacher and her young students are forced into an internment camp when war arrives. Based on a true story, this is a novel of humanity and courage.


Recommended by Kathy


Winter Counts: A Novel Cover Image Winter Counts


By David Heska Wanbli Weiden



Virgil Wounded Horse sets out to find the members of Mexican drug cartels responsible for involving his young nephew and other residents of the Rosebud Indian Reservation in deadly drug activity. It’s been years since I’ve run across a book which kept me up half the night to finish it. This is a can’t-put-it-down, heart-pounder of a suspense story.


Recommended by Ben


Against the Loveless World: A Novel Cover Image Against the Loveless World


By Susan Abulhawa



From an Israeli solitary confinement cell, Nahr recounts the struggles she faced in Kuwait, Jordan, Palestine as she searches for a place to belong. In a saga filled with family, friends, and enemies, her desperation and defiance shine through. The beauty of land and culture sits next to the pain of living as a refugee and second-class citizen. Harsh realities can’t hold strong-willed Nahr back as she embodies the human longing for love and peace.


Recommended by Heather


The Sacrament: A Novel Cover Image The Sacrament


By Olaf Olafsson



Just out in paperback! If you missed reading this last winter, give yourself the luxury of escaping into a different world. Foreign landscapes, love, abuse, intrigue and religion are interwoven to draw you away from the stressors of this world into another where things do find resolution.


Recommended by Ginger


Bear Necessity: A Novel Cover Image Bear Necessity


By James Gould-Bourn



A delightfully quirky love story between a father and son, Bear Necessity shows the lengths a parent will go for family.


NONFICTION


Recommended by Steve


Down Along with That Devil's Bones: A Reckoning with Monuments, Memory, and the Legacy of White Supremacy Cover Image Down Along with That Devil’s Bones: A Reckoning with Monuments, Memory, and the Legacy of White Supremacy


By Connor Towne O’Neill



In this impressive, powerful book, Connor Towne O’Neill starts with a question: Why are these people planning to put a bust of Confederate general and Ku Klux Klan leader Nathan Bedford Forrest on public property in, of all places, Selma, Alabama? He follows his curiosity into all kinds of uncomfortable places, including his own upbringing. This is a fraught, compelling read even if you’ve made up your mind about these kinds of monuments.


Editor’s Note: Look for an interview with O’Neill later this week!


Recommended by Sarah


A Measure of Belonging: Twenty-One Writers of Color on the New American South Cover Image A Measure of Belonging: Twenty-One Writers of Color on the New American South


By Cinelle Barnes (Editor)



This moving anthology addresses the central question, “Who is welcome?” The contributing authors use a wide range of topics, from food to music, academia to immigration, to explore what it means to be a person of color in the modern American South. Learning about the nuances of the BIPOC experience, especially in the South, is crucial for anyone looking to continue their education in antiracism.


Editor’s Note: Read our interview with editor Cinelle Barnes!


Recommended by Andy


Reaganland: America's Right Turn 1976-1980 Cover Image Reaganland: America’s Right Turn 1976-1980


By Rick Perlstein



Over four volumes, Rick Perlstein has chronicled the political right rising from the Goldwater campaign to the election of Ronald Reagan. Reaganland, the final book in the series, examines the Carter administration and Reagan’s election running on the slogan “Let’s Make America Great Again.”


Recommended by Sissy


Solutions and Other Problems Cover Image Solutions and Other Problems


By Allie Brosh



Allie Brosh was our favorite blogger a decade ago. She put into pictures and words the despair many of us were feeling; my friends and I (mostly in our 30s) were finally seeing therapists and admitting that something was wrong. She drew her dogs and her memories, and we got this girl. Chronic depression plagued her family, and eventually her posts and books just stopped. Her fans often wondered if she’d write for us again. Thank goodness she’s put together another book that’s both hilarious and heartbreaking. You’ll cheer her on and laugh and cry.


Recommended by Sissy


Love is the Way: Holding on to Hope in Troubling Times Cover Image Love is the Way: Holding on to Hope in Troubling Times


By Bishop Michael Curry with Sara Grace



Bishop Curry has put together a touching memoir of his spiritual growth that aligns with the growth he wishes for our entire nation. I love how he details again and again what it’s like to have your mind and heart opened and changed. It’s not a one time miracle. It’s an every day practice to learn and to love. He eloquently describes his path to wisdom, and admits he’s nowhere near the end of his journey.


Recommended by Nell


Wagnerism: Art and Politics in the Shadow of Music Cover Image Wagnerism: Art and Politics in the Shadow of Music


By Alex Ross



An astonishing exploration of composer Richard Wagner’s influence. His churning mix of musical phrases paved the way for Virginia Woolf. His operas used myths to speak to his audience, a device that inspired W.E.B. DuBois (and George Lucas). Alex Ross guides us through these and other surprising histories without bypassing Wagner’s most notorious admirer: Adolf Hitler. Wagnerism is a prism through which to see anew the art and ideologies of the past 150 years. I can’t stop talking about this book!


Recommended by Andy


Agent Sonya: Moscow's Most Daring Wartime Spy Cover Image Agent Sonya: Moscow’s Most Daring Wartime Spy


By Ben Macintyre



Macintyre weaves an incredible narrative about the Soviet spy Ursula Kuczynski. Reading like a novel, Agent Sonya chronicles Kuczynski’s espionage activities — including passing information crucial for the Soviet’s development of atomic weapons. In her lifetime she was hunted by the Chinese government, the Japanese secret police, the Nazis, MI-5, MI-6, and the F.B.I. and evaded them all.


Recommended by Chelsea


Eat a Peach: A Memoir Cover Image Eat a Peach: A Memoir


By David Chang with Gabe Ulla



I picked this up because I enjoyed Chang’s philosophy about food. I kept reading because of his unflinching discussion of mental illness. Accessible and easy to read, Eat a Peach is about running a business, building a team, and being honest to yourself about yourself.


Recommended by Ben


World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments Cover Image World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments


By Aimee Nezhukumatathil & Fumi Nakamura (Illustrator)



Nezhukumatathil weaves musings on flora and fauna with personal experiences in this effortless melding of nature writing and memoir. Buoyant and mesmerizing, her observations of axolotls, ribbon eels, cassowaries, narwhals, dragon fruit, and so on, are nuanced by insights into her family, herself, her fellow human creatures. A taut profusion, this joyous book begs the reader to slow down and savor its language the way one should the ripest cara cara orange.


Editor’s Note: Watch our virtual event with Nezhukumatathil and Margaret Renkl on Facebook!


Recommended by Andy


[image error] Sec Planet Golf USA: The Definitive Reference to Great Golf Courses in America, Revised Edition


By Darius Oliver



If you had to cancel your golf trip this year because of the pandemic, Darius Oliver offers the perfect antidote. Featuring the top 100 courses in the United States, Planet Golf is beautifully illustrated and completely revised for 2020.


POETRY


Recommended by Ben


Ledger: Poems Cover Image Ledger: Poems


By Jane Hirshfield



Hirshfield’s ninth collection is a stirring meditation on wonder, loss, memory, climate, war, connection, the sheer strangeness of being alive. With uncomplicated language, yet startlingly original images and metaphors, the precision of her diction delicately connects each poem to the next. Spare and pulsing, they are deeply moving and profound, and taken together illuminate the importance of noticing, caring, pondering, acting, existing.






Book Club

In-person Book Club is on hold for now, and space is full for our virtual sessions.






First Editions Club: October Selection

 


Jack: A Novel Cover Image Jack


By Marilynne Robinson



Marilynne Robinson, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Humanities Medal, returns to the world of Gilead with Jack, the latest novel in one of the great works of contemporary American fiction.


Marilynne Robinson’s mythical world of Gilead, Iowa–the setting of her novels GileadHome, and Lila, and now Jack–and its beloved characters have illuminated and interrogated the complexities of American history, the power of our emotions, and the wonders of a sacred world. Jack is Robinson’s fourth novel in this now-classic series. In it, Robinson tells the story of John Ames Boughton, the prodigal son of Gilead’s Presbyterian minister, and his romance with Della Miles, a high school teacher who is also the child of a preacher. Their deeply felt, tormented, star-crossed interracial romance resonates with all the paradoxes of American life, then and now.Robinson’s Gilead novels, which have won one Pulitzer Prize and two National Book Critics Circle Awards, are a vital contribution to contemporary American literature and a revelation of our national character and humanity.


More about our First Editions Club: Every member receives a first edition of the selected book of the month, signed by the author. Books are carefully chosen by our staff of readers, and our picks have gone on to earn major recognition including the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, and the PEN/Faulkner Award. Plus, there’s no membership fee or premium charge for these books. Build a treasured library of signed first editions and always have something great to read! Makes a FABULOUS gift, too.

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Published on October 07, 2020 04:00

October 2, 2020

Meet C Pam Zhang, Author of How Much of These Hills Is Gold, at the Southern Festival of Books

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In C Pam Zhang’s stunning debut novel How Much of These Hills Is Gold, two young siblings set out to bury their father. That’s a difficult task that only gets more difficult and more dangerous. What unrolls from this inauspicious beginning is a breathtaking journey across the West, full of struggle, and a look back at their father’s fevered ambitions, and how they came to be outcasts. It’s a story of people who are broken but, in their devotion to each other, are also unbreakable.


Zhang’s writing is beautiful, powerful, cinematic. And she doesn’t “re-imagine” the Western frontier so much as render it more fully and more inclusively than we’re accustomed to reading. Set against the Gold Rush and the early arrivals of Chinese Americans to this land, How Much of These Hills Is Gold is, as author R.O. Kwon (The Incendiaries) puts it, “ferocious, tender epic.” For her effort, Zhang was longlisted for the Booker Prize.


Musing founding editor Mary Laura Philpott will moderate the Coffee With Authors session, sponsored by the Women’s National Book Association, at the Southern Festival of Books. That event takes place online this Sunday, Oct. 4 at 2pm, and will feature Zhang alongside fellow authors Samira Ahmed (Mad, Bad & Dangerous to Know) and Brit Bennett (The Vanishing Half). As always, the festival is free! Unlike always, you won’t have to worry about reserving a seat for this session (unless someone in your household wants the computer that day).


Check out the rest of the Southern Festival of Books schedule online here. Meanwhile, get to know C Pam Zhang as she answers our Authors in Real Life questionnaire.



[image error]C Pam Zhang. Photo by Gioia Zloczower

I’ve been listening to: Old school Tame Impala and the You’re Wrong About podcast.


I love to watch: Top Chef, Terrace House.


Something I saw online that made me laugh, cry, or think: An out-of-work bartender serving formula to his toddler with the most beautiful swooping moves. I appreciate our service workers so, so much.


Best meal I’ve had in the past month: Fried chicken made, out of desperation, by me.


A creator who’s doing something I admire or envy: Michaela Coel.


A book I recently recommended to someone else: The Mountain Lion by Jean Stafford, Luster by Raven Leilani, Milk Blood Heat by Dantiel W. Moniz.


The last event I bought tickets to was: The New York Film Festival’s virtual screening of Swimming Out Till the Sea Turns Blue by Jia Zhangke.


Most meaningful recent travel destination: The lush, green border of California and Oregon, just before the fires hit.


I wish I knew more about: Architecture, and how to physically fix things.


My favorite thing about bookstores: Browsing bookseller recommendations!



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The Southern Festival of Books

What: Talks and conversations featuring more than 100 of the nation’s foremost writers

When: Through Sunday, October 11, 2020

Where: Online

Cost: Free


For information on schedule and how to access, click here, or download the festival app (Android or Apple). Buy all festival titles online at the official shop.

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Published on October 02, 2020 04:00

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