I Spy

If I hadn't decided to be a bartender, lawyer, bookseller and librarian, I might have approached the CIA about a job.  Maybe it's not too late......who would ever suspect me?  All I need is a trench coat, a fedora and a better poker face.  While I am contemplating this career change, I spend a lot of time reading books about espionage.  Here are some favorites:

The Spanish Game by Charles Cumming - I just read this one for my Mystery Book Club at the library. It takes place in Madrid and focuses on the Basque people and the ongoing tensions between the Spanish and the Basque. Every time I thought I had this one figured out it would swerve in another direction, completely surprising me. I liked that the main character is a bit of an antihero - paranoid and somewhat amoral.  This is the second Alec Milius novel, the first, A Spy By Nature, introduces Alec and provides an explanation for his actions in this second novel.

Stella Rimington used to be the Director General of MI5.  After her retirement she began to write novels. Her first, At Risk, features Liz Carlyle a 34 year old MI5 intelligence officer.  I enjoyed this book because spy novels rarely have female main characters.  While trying to stop terrorists, Liz has to deal with the issues of being a woman in a traditionally male world.  Rimington's novels are tightly plotted and the you will not be able to put this one down.

One of my favorite American writers of espionage is Daniel Silva.  Silva's main character, Gabriel Allon is an art restorer that keeps getting pulled back into the world of a semi-official Israeli intelligence agency.  I love these books because they take place in so many different parts of the world and are filled with action.  The English Assassin is one of my favorites. Gabriel travels from Switzerland to Portugal to a variety of other European capitals trying to solve the mystery of missing masterpieces, looted during World War II.  Smart and intense and exciting.......pick up a Daniel Silva for a great read.

So if you want to disappear into a world of secret codes, safe houses and intrigue, give one of the books a try.  And, as always, keep those pages turning.......

Of Wolves, Gypsies and New Releases

If you came into the store last summer, I am sure that I handed you a copy of The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney.  I loved this historic tale of the Northern Territories in the 1860's.  While there was a dead body and a search for the killer, the writing in this book was so good that you could feel the chill of the snowy wilds and know the emotions of even the most silent character.

So I was thrilled to hear that Stef Penney had written a new book that would be released this month. The Invisible Ones could not be more different than Penney's previous book.  Yet it has the powerful writing, complicated characters and twisty plot of The Tenderness of Wolves.  You are in for a treat with this one.

Ray Lovell awakes in a hospital bed, unable to move or speak.  He has driven his car into a tree, but the reason for this cannot be determined.  Slowly, his memory returns and he begins to piece together bits of the recent past.

Ray Lovell is a private investigator.  He father was a Gypsy or a Romany.  His mother was not.  His father gave up his way of life and most of his family to live in a house and turn his back on his roots.  While Ray is aware of the ways of the Romanie, he has never lived it.  When Leon Wood comes to Ray to help find his missing daughter, Rose,  because Ray is "one of them" and will understand, Ray almost refuses the case.

JJ is a 14 year old boy that lives in a group of trailers with his mother, his grandparents, his wheelchair-bound great uncle, his dour cousin Ivo and Ivo's sick child, Christo.  JJ tries to make sense of his life, but finds it difficult when nobody will answer any questions about the past.  Ivo was married to Rose and continues to insist that she ran off after Christo was born.

This story is haunting and intriguing.  Sometimes, you feel like you are looking through a dirty window at shadows, as you try to unravel the story.  The culture of the Gypsies is fascinating, the characters seem real, and the setting in rural England in the 1980's comes to life under Penney's hand.  I highly recommend this for a chilly winter afternoon.

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New Books this Week


Fiction:
A Grown Up Kind of Pretty by Joshilyn Jackson - Sure to be another great Southern story from one of my favorite authors.

An Available Man by Hilma Wolitzer - A charming story of love....the second time around.

The Flight of Gemma Hardy by Margot Livesey - An updated take on Jane Eyre which takes place on the Orkney Islands

Mystery:
All I Did Was Shoot My Man by Walter Mosley - The latest in the Leonid McGill series....murder and intrigue and Mosley's stellar writing.

Pineapple Grenade by Tim Dorsey - Serge Storms is back and Miami is weirder than ever!

Nonfiction:
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain - There is lots of buzz around this one.  Cain examines how introverts are undervalued and underestimated......interesting subject.

Young Adult:
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green - This popular author is back with a story of Hazel, a terminally ill teen and her chance to find love......sounds sappy but the sharp humor and true-to-life teens rescue it.

Children's:
Peepsqueak by Leslie Ann Clark - Cutest picture book about an energetic little chick


So grab a great book and keep those pages turning......

Wide Awake

For Christmas this year I received a single cup coffee brewer.  I just love coffee, so I have been very happy to be able to make a cup by popping a pod in the machine and pushing a button.  I have also been very wide awake from the massive amounts of caffeine I have consumed.  The up side of all this is that I have plenty of time to read in the middle of the night.  At 2am, the house is quiet and that big pile of books looks friendly rather than daunting.

For middle of the night reading I recommend:

What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty (Fiction).  Imagine that you could not remember the last ten years of your life.  The main character in this novel comes to after a fall in an exercise class and thinks that she is 29, pregnant and newly married. In reality, she is 39, the mother of three and in the midst of a bitter divorce.  The story is funny and poignant and full of a few life lessons about what happens as we grow older and forget our younger selves.  Perfect late night reading.....

Taken by Robert Crais (Thriller).  For those of you who are Elvis Cole and Joe Pike fans, this book (released on January 24th) is a great addition to the series.  Crais has written it in an interesting style, going back and forth between time periods and points of view.  Elvis and Pike, as always, make a great team and there is just enough suspense to keep you awake, even without more caffeine.

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness (Young Adult).  Get out the tissue box.  This novel appears to be a fantasy tale about a young boy and a giant tree monster.  It is so much more.  Beautiful black and white illustrations accompany a tale that is both frightening and a little heartbreaking.  You can read this book in a few hours, but you will want to go back and re-read it.

I am going to try to get some sleep now.  Keep those pages turning!

A Brand New Year

As 2012 begins, I am trying to become accustomed to being an ex-bookseller.  Owning The Open Book was one of the best things I ever did and just a few days after closing I already miss it like crazy. But, I have been assured that as doors close, windows will open and life will go on.  While I enjoyed most aspects of being a bookseller (except paying the bills and sweeping the floor),  I took the greatest pleasure in connecting books with readers.  I have started this blog so that I can continue to share my tips on what is new and what is great in the book world.  I hope you enjoy it and join the conversation by commenting on the posts and talking about your favorite books.

Did you know that many publishers release their newest books on Tuesdays?  I am not quite sure what the reason is.....I have heard that it allows retailers to spend Monday setting up displays.  It may be just a tradition.  In any case, if you wandered into The Open Book today, here are some new books that I would want you to consider.

The World We Found by Thrity Umrigar (HC $25.99) - I loved The Space Between Us by this author.  Her newest book focuses on four friends who grew up together in Bombay in the 1970s.  A reunion raises issues with each of the women as they revisit the past and face the future.

Running the Rift by Naomi Benaron (HC $24.95) - This book was in every bookseller's hand at last year's Book Expo.  This story of a young boy in Rwanda and the dangers he faces as he tries to pursue his dream to be a runner is said to be powerful and poignant.

The Confession by Charles Todd (HC $25.99) - This is the 14th novel by the mother/son writing team starring Inspector Ian Rutledge.  This detective, haunted by his actions in battle during WWI, is a complex and fascinating character.  The writers capture the feel of London and the surrounding countryside in the years between the two world wars.

Journal of Best Practices by David Finch ($25.00) - I cannot wait to read this memoir by a man who
decides to confront his newly diagnosed Asperger's Snydrome and try to be a better husband.  He keeps a Journal of Best Practices to remind him to, among other things, to not "change the radios station when she is singing along." Funny and touching, this sounds like my kind of memoir.

If, after the demise of The Open Book, you want to find a new independent bookstore to patronize, check out the Indie Bound website.  Many of these stores are able to fulfill your orders online.  If I cannot be your bookseller, I would love to see another indie get your business.

I hope everyone is enjoying the first few days of this new year with a good book. I hope you will subscribe to this new blog and comment often.  Keep those pages turning.......