"Nothing makes me happier than finding that little-known or first-time author who really deserves to make it, and selling a boatload of their books -well, that and putting just the right books into each customer's hands.." jill
Poison for Breakfast is a delightful, diminutive tome wherein Lemony himself discovers a paper slipped under his door that reads "You had poison for breakfast."
Lemony embarks upon a journey to discover who might have written the note and how he might have been poisoned before it's too late.
This book, by turns hilarious (I laughed until I cried and couldn't wait to read parts aloud to someone else) and thought provoking, is described as 'a love letter to readers young and old about the vagaries of real life.'
If you enjoy great writing, a good laugh, and a little thinking and are between the ages of 9 and 99, Poison for Breakfast should be on your next to-read list.
If you've lived in or around Gaylord for any length of time, you are familiar with the Catt family.
Glen A. Catt has penned a history of this family's Glen's grocery store chain (a part of the Spartan Family Fare chain since 1999), and the leadership style that engendered loyalty for decades.
Glen's father, C. Glen Catt, began with $400, big dreams and a philosophy of treating his associates as family in 1951, and grew his company to a household name around Northern Michigan, known for its good leadership and fair treatment of employees and shoppers alike.
Mitch Rapp, CIA assassin extraordinaire, has finally returned to live out his life training for triathlons and living with Claudia and young Anna in South Africa.
Yeah, right.
An African terrorist has attacked the research compound of the world's most promising virologist in Uganda, chasing the scientist and two colleagues into the jungle.
With the backing of the world's wealthiest philanthropist, a special mercenary force is sent to rescue them.
But deep within the CIA, someone doesn't want that to happen and sends classified info via the Saudis to the terrorist.
How could stuff of this magnitude go down without the involvement of our man Mitch Rapp? Obviously, it can't and he's right back in the game with all of the characters Vince Flynn fans have rooted for for decades.
The world lost Vince Flynn to cancer several years ago, but Kyle Mills has done an admirable job of filling Flynn's shoes and keeping the Mitch Rapp franchise alive.
I always love 'em. I blew through this in a day.
This is hands-down the most inspiring book I've read this year. Jon Turnbull was a classmate of my son Andrew's, and I remember him as a happy, smart, funny kid. I wasn't surprised when he received an appointment to West Point, but was shocked, like the rest of the nation, to learn that he'd been gravely injured in a suicide bombing attack in Syria and wasn't expected to live.
The title of Major Turnbull's memoir, Zero Percent Chance, reflects the opinion he heard medics, nurses and doctors venture about his chances of survival.
But Jon Turnbull was a leader of men. He'd dedicated his life to keeping our country safe against any odds. So, true to form, when they said "zero percent chance," Jon said "challenge accepted."
This memoir introduces us to the members of Jon's unit - several of whom died in the attack. He says he wrote this book for their families to always remember them as great human beings and as heroes. It doesn't flinch from describing the bombing or the grueling surgeries and treatments Major Turnbull, now blind but decidedly still with us, has endured. And throughout it all, he references his faith and his family and friends and you believe that he's actively both grateful and hopeful that his life of service is not yet done. This is the stuff true heroes are made of, and we were honored to be able to host him at the store. Read this book!
The subtitle of Music, Lakes, and Blue Corduroy is 'A Memoir of Interlochen', so of course I was intrigued to read about the music school and camp that looms large in the cultural life of Northern Michigan.
The author attended, first as a camper and then as a high school student, in the 1960s, and this book is essentially her story of musical awakening, the influences of the extremely talented staff and of her own adolescence - of crushes and insecurities despite being one of "America's Gifted Youth."
If you've ever attended a concert at Interlochen or know a youth who has gone to camp or school there, you'll appreciate this behind-the-curtains look at a US artistic institution.
When Sally Rooney has a new novel, readers sit up and take note. In England, bookstores opened at midnight so at 12:01 on Tuesday folks could get their copies. It's gonna be big.
This book, like Normal People and Conversations with Friends, is a novel relying heavily on characterization to tell the story. In this case it's Alice, a brilliant but troubled author, and her best friend and email correspondent Eileen, and the men in their lives as they all begin to realize that, in their 30s now, they aren't waiting for 'real life' - they are in it.
If everyone were as introspective and able to communicate their thoughts on everything from sex to politics to global issues to relationships the way these 30-somethings are, the world would either be incredibly morose or incredibly, happily self-aware. The mere fact of the title, Beautiful World, Where Are You, lets us know that Rooney's characters are going to be of the angsty variety.
I think as with Normal People, readers in their 20s and 30s will eat this up. Older readers like myself may be left feeling as if we've been too busy just living our lives to give it the thorough examination Alice and her tribe are struggling to understand.
Classic Alice Feeney - dark, twisted, and surprising.
Mr. and Mrs. Wright's outwardly perfect marriage has actually gone very wrong. In a last-ditch effort to save the union, they take the weekend away in Scotland which Amelia won at a raffle at work.
Interspersed throughout the 'he said, she said' chapters are letters Adam's wife wrote each anniversary and never let him read. Until now. Because this is a trip that Adam and Amelia didn't win, and at least one of them is lying.
Even if you think you figured this one out, I'm positive you didn't figure it all out. It's that good.
This is one of those delicious novels in which there is no one to like.
Florence Darron is a small-town girl convinced she deserves a spot among the country's most celebrated authors. She's not willing to work her way there, when a little cheating, sleeping, and blackmailing her way there will be so much faster.
When that doesn't work out and Florence lands the coveted position as assistant to a very famous but anonymous novelist whose pseudonym is Maud Dixon, Florence is sure it's her big break.
Helen - aka Maud - seems to be taking young Florence under her wing. She even invites her along on a research trip to Morocco. But when a freak accident leaves Helen/Maud dead, Florence thinks an upgrade in her life is in order. Why not? No one knows who Maud Dixon really is anyway...
Aloysius Archer, the WWII vet who is straight out of prison after serving a sentence for a murder that was actually self-defense, decides it's time for a fresh start and heads west.
But not before he picks up a 1939 French Delahaye convertible and aspiring actress Liberty Callahan for the journey.
Archer and Callahan make it to Bay Town, CA, where Archer has arranged to apprentice himself to wizened P.I. Willie Dash, and Callahan looks for work to showcase her talents.
Unsurprisingly, the dance hall where Callahan is singing and dancing becomes the center of Archer's first case as prominent townspeople and showgirls alike start turning up dead.
This mystery is set in the 1950s and Baldacci uses the era's mores and peculiarities to bring this story to life.
This book is like a novelized version of The Professor and the Madman - the very popular nonfiction book and, more recently, Netflix film.
In this novel, Esme is a young girl growing up in the Scriptorium where her father is assistant to Dr. Murray, the Scotsman in charge of the OED.
Early on, Esme gets into trouble for sneaking off with words whose slips have fallen beneath the table where she played.
And as Esme grew, she began to see that certain words - many having to do with women - were left out of the decades-in-the-making dictionary.
Autor Pip Williams, bothered by the thought that all of the dictionary's editors were men, did some research and discovered female volunteers, contributors, assistants and spouses - none of whose contributions were acknowledged. And that gave her the germ of her story. The Dictionary of Lost Words.
Lovers of the language, of historical fiction, of The Professor and the Madman will revel in this retelling from Esme's point of view.