THE

1511 South 1500 East Salt Lake City, UT 84105 InkslingerHoliday Issue 2 015 801-484-9100

Need Gift Ideas? Think Indies First on Small Business Just Ask Our Customers Saturday, November 28th!

Here’s what our customers have loved all year long in hardcover On the Saturday after Thanksgiving, fiction. Some are brilliant, some light, some just great reads. There authors are giving thanks to indepen- are also picks from all over the store, whether mystery, nonfiction or dent bookstores all over the country children’s, sprinkled throughout this issue, just look for stockings! as a way of showing their support on All the Light We Cannot See, Anthony Doerr - Scribner, $27 Small Business Saturday. ThinkIndies First! Save 15% all day while authors Our Souls at Night, Kent Haruf - Knopf, $24 you love—from Rosemary Wells and Martin Marten, Brian Doyle – Thomas Dunne Books, $24.99 Jennifer Adams to Julie Checkoway and Jeff Metcalf—hand sell you books along with the booksellers at The King’s English. And don’t The Buried Giant, Kazuo Ishiguro - Knopf, $26.95 forget TKE’s annual holiday party Thursday, December 3, 5-7 p.m. Last Bus to Wisdom, Ivan Doig - Riverhead, $28.95 with local authors galore and 20% off everything! Spool of Blue Thread, Anne Tyler - Knopf, 25.95 Imagine this: If we all shift just 10% of our spending to local busi- The Nightingale, Kristin Hannah – St. Martin’s Press, $27.99 nesses, on a yearly basis, $1.3 billion will stay in our Utah economy! So think Indies First all week long as Did You Ever Have a Family, Bill Clegg – Gallery/Scout, $26 our 15% discount continues in sup- Fishbowl, Bradley Somer – St. Martin’s Press, $24.99 port of the Local First Utah Shift Extraordinary Journey of the Fakir Who Got Trapped In an Ikea Your Spending Campaign which runs Wardrobe, Romain Puertolas - Knopf, $22.95 through December 5. Purity, Jonathan Franzen – Farrar, Strauss, Giroux, $28

Holiday Fun for One and All!

Saturday, November 28, all day Tuesday, December 8, 7 p.m. James Dashner Small Business Saturday means signing The Game of Lives. Indies First! 15% discount all day! Wednesday, Decem- Rosemary Wells will sign books at 11 a.m., ber 9, 7 p.m. Todd and authors will participate as booksellers through- Wilkinson & Tom out the store: Join Julie Checkoway and Jeff Metcalf, Mangelsen discuss and Jennifer Adams, Kristyn Crow, Jennifer sign Grizzly: The Bears Jenkins, Mark Pett, Rubin Pingk, of Greater Yellowstone. Emily Wing Smith and TKE booksellers. Event location: Rowland Thursday, December 3, 5-7 p.m.Our Hall Larimer Auditorium, 843 Lincoln Street. The event is free; two holiday party! Take 20% off and visit with signing line tickets provided with each book purchase. Pat Bagley (cartoonist extraordinaire), Mark & Thursday, December 10, 7 p.m. Andrew Hunt Caralyn Buehner (Merry Christmas, Mr. Mouse), reads and signs A Killing in Zion. Julie Checkoway (The Three-Year Swim Club), Leo Espinoza (Jack- rabbit McCabe & the Electric Telegraph), Kate Harrington & Mary Friday, January 1, all day New Year’s Day Sale! McIntyre (Savor), Lora Kohler (The Little Snowplow), Jeri Parker A bit of the bubbly and 25% off everything in the (Unmoored), Donna & Jim Poulton (Painters of Grand Teton Na- store! tional Park), and June Williamson (Thai Food Made Easy). Saturday, December 5, 11 a.m. The Grinch visits for Story time.

FREE SAME DAY DELIVERY IN SALT LAKE CITY! Holiday Gift Dilemmas? Fabulous Solutions from TKE by Betsy Burton and Kenneth Loosli

Be they lovers of books or the wilderness, hard rock, art, poetry or For those who have a more active take cuisine, there’s something for everyone on TKE’s laden shelves this on the wilderness, The World’s Most year—in glorious technicolor, whether that color comes through im- Extreme Challenges: 50 Feats of Endur- ages or words. Browse these pages to your heart’s content—until you ance from around the Globe by Paul spot the perfect gift for the one(s) you love. Moore (Bloomsbury USA, $34) takes WILDERNESS IN IMAGES readers from the North Pole to the Nile to the Iditarod trail, whether by foot Tom Mangelsen, one of the or by sled on by kayak, while Alone on world’s most renowned nature the Wall by Alex Honnold and David photographers, has been track- Roberts (Norton & Company, $26.95) ing a family of Grizzlies, Mother chronicles, in words and images, Honnold’s death-defying solo Grizzly 399 and her generations climbs of the world’s most dangerous peaks—without ropes. There is of cubs, for a decade. The result no better book this year for the mountaineer in your life (although is Grizzly: The Bears of Greater let’s not give him or her any ideas about forsaking safety….) Yellowstone (Rizzoli, $60), a THE WORD AS IMAGE spectacular look at some of the world’s most awe-inspiring creatures and their equally inspiring habi- Art or Nature? It’s hard to say which tat—Yellowstone and the Tetons. Photographer Mangelsen and the moves the heart more. But whatever author, environmental writer Todd Wilkinson, are coming to town! your personal preference, everyone Get a signed copy of this breathtaking and groundbreaking volume would agree that one of the most spec- for the love of your life at TKE’s event (see page 1) or pick one up at tacular books of the year is Florence by the store. And, speaking of magnificent Western wilderness areas, Ross King and Anja Grebe (Black Dog Painters of Grand Tetons National & Leventhal, $75). The Uffizi, the Pitti Park by Donna and James Poulton Palace, the Duomo; 2000 paintings and (Gibbs Smith, $75) allows us to see the frescos; 2500 full-color images; a lively Tetons through others’ eyes—those and informed text…ANYONE who loves art will cherish this book. of artists across two centuries. What Forever. As they will the glorious and insightful Portraits (Verso, better way to celebrate the creation of $44.95) in which John Berger, one of the masters of art writing in the national parks on this the 100th an- our time, walks us through a gallery of portraits stretching back in niversary of the National Park Service time to the caves of Lascaux and forward to today, placing art in the than the gift of this magnificent volume context of the culture which gave rise to it. For a modern sensibility, featuring painters such as Edward Hop- Cees W. de Jong’s Piet Mondrian: The per, Thomas Moran, and others. The Studios (Thames & Hudson, $50) shows Poultons will be at TKE’s Holiday Party on Dec. 3, signing their book us not only the stages of a modernist’s which, along with the Mangelsen, is one of the season’s best gifts for art, but through the lens of Mondrian’s those who love wilderness. work the successive stages of mod- Another stunning book that looks at ernism as well. A very different path our national parks more broadly in into the modern world is evident in terms of space and time is National American Chronicles: The Art of Nor- Geographic: The National Parks: An man Rockwell, Danilo Eccher (Skira, Illustrated History by Kim Heacox $50), in which we see the combina- (National Geographic, $50). Gorgeous, tion of realism and humor that made comprehensive, fascinating. Or, for a Rockwell, whose illustrations for The very different sort of armchair journey, Saturday Evening Post were so iconic, seem as American as, well, mystery apple pie. And on a similarly sweet if more quirky note from our own writer era, noted illustrator, artist and designer Maira Kalman, in Beloved Peter Dog (Penguin Press, $29.95), evokes May of the dogs in her life in her own inimi- The Lewis Trilogy fame, chronicles the table style. Then there’s the ‘out there’ spare, lovely corner of the world where Vargic’s Miscellany of Curious Maps his dark and moody tales are set in (Harper Design, $35) in which Martin haunting prose and images in Heb- Vargic maps the wilderness of the ultra- rides (Quercus, $26.99), perfect for modern—from maps of websites world- those who love mysteries or, for that wide to maps of stereotypes to maps matter, Scotland. of You-Tube and music—ironically all cloaked in the style of the antique and the arcane. 2 Fabulous Gift Solutions from TKE

Finally, a sweeping intellectual look at 21st century perspective, knowing as he the world of art is Keeping an Eye Open did the power of the written word not (Knopf, $30), Julian Barnes’ collection only to narrate history but to change it, of the Booker Prize-winning novel- he’d have loved 100 Documents That ist’s erudite and fascinating art essays, Changed the World by Scott Christian- tracing the world of modern art history son (Rizzoli, $29.95), a book that takes from Romanticism to Modernism. In us, word by word, document by docu- Looking at Pictures (New Directions, ment from The Magna Carta to The $24.95) on the other hand, Robert Gettysburg Address, from the Apollo Walser’s responses to art are simply de- Flight Plan to Wikileaks. And he’d no lightful to read, each only a few pages of doubt have penned a stunning play with insight, charming confessions and more Assange at its heart… like short stories than art essays. For the poet in your life there are all A WILDERNESS OF WORDS sorts of riches from which to choose, For those from 16 or 96 who love read- among them: Erratic Facts (Grove ing, love the touch and feel of books, Press, $24), Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and adore Jane Austen, the most lavish Kay Ryan’s new collection of poems that and loving gift imaginable isJane shows how much power she packs into Austen: The Complete Works(Pen - her short lines and spare poems, bring- guin Classics, $159), a gorgeous boxed ing to mind Theodore Roethke and set that includes everything from her Robert Creeley; Felicity (Penguin Press, novels to her juvenilia. And for those $24.95), Mary Oliver’s new collection of who remember childhood literature love poems in which every lovely page fondly and want to know more as an is a meditation on love and human con- adult about the books they loved, publisher W.W. Norton, known for nection; or slip Cathay by Ezra Pound its exquisite and informative annotated (New editions, has published two such this Directions, $15.95), a centennial edition year, each $39.95, both long on schol- of his seminal work of Chinese-English arship and beautifully illustrated: The poetry into a holiday stocking along Annotated Alice, a 150 anniversary edi- with The Best American Poetry 2015 tion of Lewis Carroll’s classic, and The (Scribner, $18.99), Sherman Alexie Annotated Little Women by Louisa May (guest editor) & David Lehman (series Alcott. Both are treasures that shed light editor). With names both familiar and on the authors, the text and the times— new, this collection of recent work will important additions to anyone’s library. be read and re-read for years to come. For those And fi- who love the Bard, the gift beyond all nally, sure others is The Year of Lear: Shakespeare to please in 1606 (Simon & Schuster, $30) in the literati in your life and perfect for which James Shapiro, one of our great holiday stockings, Bohumil Hrabal’s Mr. popular historians of Shakespeare, re- Kafka and Other Tales from the Time turns with a thoroughly researched and of the Cult (New Directions, $14.95) yet very readable account of historical offers whimsical and sometimes enig- events in England, in the process shed- matic tales that bring 1950s Czechosla- ding light on the Bard’s three 1606 com- vakia to life with Hrabal’s characteristic positions, “Macbeth,” “King Lear” and verve and witty prose, while The Hollow “Antony & Cleopatra.” And Present- Land, by Jane Gardam (Europa, $15) ing Shakespeare: 1,100 Posters from addresses with humor and charm the Around the World by Mirko Ilić and shifting changes in the countryside, Steven Heller (Princeton Architectural constant tensions between country and city life and the community’s Press, $50) is a stunning compendium of theater posters for Shake- efforts to hang onto their way of life for future generations. Too big speare’s plays spanning centuries and continents—a one-of-a-kind for stockings but a perfect addition to any reader’s library is 100 Years visual feast for any Shakespeare enthusiast. Or, wrap up a copy of of The Best American Short Stories, edited by Lorrie Moore and the three plays being performed at The Utah Shakespearean Festival Heidi Pitlor (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $30), which takes us from next summer in Cedar City along with a ticket! While you’re there, Hemingway and Faulkner to Paley to Alexie all telling their tales in consider that if the Bard had the power to look at the world from our different cadences, each speaking to our hearts. 3 Fabulous Solutions from TKE FICTION

The Tsar of Love and Techno, Anthony MUSIC OF THE SPHERES Marra Perhaps the most direct route to our The title story of this stunning collec- hearts is music and whatever your tion begins dead-center in the book’s tastes, they’ll find a match on our 300+ pages. Which is appropriate since shelves. If classical is your thing, John it connects the book’s disparate pieces Paxman’s In Classical Music: A Chro- into one dazzling whole. Suddenly you nology (Overlook, $49.95) takes us realize what you’re reading is more novel from Bach and the baroque to Glass than collection, a sweeping tale of Russian and the modern in a book that looks history’s cruel ironies in which memory at composers, their environments, and is the incandescent heart. In the first tale, the musical movements of which they which takes place in 1937, a failed por- are a part. Comprehensive and lav- traitist whose job is to expunge the im- ishly illustrated, this is ideal for musicologists and neophytes alike. ages of the disloyal from all paintings and photographs replaces the On a very different note (no pun intended), inUnfaithful Music & faces of those he’s supposed to remove with that of his dead brother. Disappearing Ink (Blue Rider Press, $30), Elvis Costello, one of the The next tale, “The Granddaughters,” is a kind of Greek chorus of most verbally talented musicians of this or any era, has produced a village gossip in which the image that doomed our painter is brought typically wordy but always moving memoir about his unique and to life in the form of a dancer and her progeny, and we are introduced extremely lengthy career as a post-punk pop singer, while Phillipe to each of the characters whose intersecting lives people this amaz- Margotin and Jean-Michel Guesdon’s Bob Dylan: All the Songs is a ing book from 1937 forward to the era of technology—whether in marvel of information brilliantly show- Kirovsk, high above the Arctic Circle, St. Petersburg, or Chechnya. cased by the creative publisher (Black At its heart are star-crossed lovers whose fates are woven from tale Dog & Leventhal, $50). And finally, for to tale and into our hearts; the love of brothers; and of mothers and lovers of Ol’ Blue Eyes, Sinatra: The fathers. If there is betrayal it is that of the state in a story with the Chairman by James Kaplan (Double- breadth of scope and the depth of feeling of the finest literature. day, $35) and Sinatra 100 by Charles – Betsy Burton and Anne Holman, Hogarth, $25 Pignone (Thames & Hudson, $60) with Eyes, William H. Gass forewards by Tony Bennett and Steve Wynn and afterwards by his three Following last fall’s reissue of his seminal children chronicles the life and times of In the Heart of the Heart of the Country, “The Chairman of the Board.” Officially William Gass returns with a new collec- approved by the family, it’s chock full of tion of short fiction that looks at how we new photos from the family archives. see things and, more provocatively, how things see us. Some of these stories are narrated by objects—in one story, the THE ART OF THE KITCHEN narrator is a folding chair in a men’s bar- Jacques Pépin: Heart & Soul in the ber shop and it shares its impressions of Kitchen, (Rux Martin/Houghton its fellow chairs and the people who sit on Mifflin Harcourt, $35) laces 200 recipes them; in another, the narrator is the piano from simple suppers with frank views from Casablanca who dishes about the on everything from the local food actors’ on-set drama and its life as a film prop. Displaying Gass’ usual movement to molecular gastronomy blend of the profound and the profane, Eyes shows he still has one of and personal tales. As entertaining as is the best imaginations in the business. – Kenneth Loosli, Knopf, $26 the PBS series to which it is a compan- Two Years Eight Months and Twenty- ion volume, it belongs in the kitchen Eight Nights, Salman Rushdie of every chef, amateur or otherwise, as It may not be immediately apparent to does 100 Recipes: The Absolute Best Ways to Make the True Essen- math-averse book people, but the title of tials (America’s Test Kitchen, $40) in which America’s Test Kitchen Salman Rushdie’s new novel adds up to has tried, re-tried, and determined the best way to simplify, inspire one thousand and one nights—perhaps and reimagine old recipes, creating wonderful new variations for our the most (in)famous duration of time time. Finally don’t forget Nigella Lawson (she wouldn’t let us) whose associated with storytelling. Rushdie’s Simply Nigella: Feel Good Food (Flatiron Books, $35) contains 150 riff onThe Arabian Nights tells the story recipes from brunches to suppers to feasts—from the simple to the of an exceptional jinna (a female jinn or sumptuous. Happy eating, happy reading, and to all a goodnight. genie) who leaves the world of her kind and falls in love with a series of human men. Her unlikely offspring live un- aware of their supernatural heritage but as the slits that allow jinni 4 FICTION to travel between their world and ours begin to open up, she seeks Numero Zero, Umberto Eco out her progeny to alert them to their powers. Soon “strangenesses” Eco’s short but excellent book is more begin to occur with regularity, the fabric of reasonable society comes cautionary tale than suspense novel apart and the War of the Worlds (between the human world and the and satire is at its center. Set in Milan in jinni world) begins. This book gives you everything you want from 1992, it supposes that a failed academic is a Rushdie novel—wild wit and humor, earthy characters, his unique hired to ghostwrite a memoir based on a style of magical realism mixed with almost classical romance, Joycean nascent newspaper that is to be a heroic wordplay, and a truly epic storyline that spans millennia. It’s perfect example of journalism at its best. The staff for fans of Rushdie’s earlier classics Midnight’s Children and The of the paper, when not failing to report Moor’s Last Sigh. – Kenneth Loosli, Random House, $28 stories that might negatively impact their And West Is West, Ron Childress patron, brainstorms stories out of vapor A hand hovering over a control; a ques- by grouping together unrelated facts until tion about what the camera is reveal- they are made to seem significant, simply ing; an order from above. And so lives because they’re being reported. Until suddenly, a reporter stumbles change—just as they do in another part of across what could actually be a story: a theory that Mussolini was the U.S. where another finger hovers over never executed after the war, but was spirited away, until an attempt another button while a distracted mind could be made to bring him back. Which had happened 20 years calculates odds. Once again a button is before, in a coup attempt that failed because El Duce died before the pushed and once again lives change. The takeover could occur. A whacked-out conspiracy theory or truth? control in the first instance is in the hands A question that becomes more pressing when the reporter is mur- of Jessica, a drone pilot in the Nevada dered. Numero Zero looks at the forces that have battered Italy since desert, who sees innocents enter her tar- the war, whether political, journalistic, or religious, with the eye of a get area but is ordered to fire anyway. The cynic, a caustic tongue, and a scathing sense of humor. button in the second instance is controlled by Ethan, whose specialty – Betsy Burton, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $24 is calculating the impact of terrorism on the markets of the world and The Blue Guitar, John Banville who, with one push of a button, one miscalculation he may or may Oliver Orme is both a successful and a not have made, is cast out like Jessica, adrift in a world with which he failed artist. He’s made enough money to is not prepared to cope. Through the eyes of Ethan and Jessica, both return to his hometown with a beautiful on the run, both searching for a way to get at the truth of what has young wife and buy the big house on the happened, the story expands, explodes, pulling us into intersecting hill, but he has stopped painting, leaving lives and into the web of technologies the impact of which we’re just him a bit listless. Oliver is also an admit- beginning to understand. And West Is West is not just a great read, ted kleptomaniac—he likes to steal things it’s eye-opening in terrifying ways. – Betsy Burton, Algonquin Books, that will certainly be missed, like one half $26.95 of a set of ceramic figurines or a special Hotels of North America, Rick Moody book of poetry or, worst of all, his friend’s Rick Moody’s output has been uneven wife. His muse gone and his philandering and controversial—one of the most discovered, Orme becomes the bête noire notorious takedowns in all of litera- of his small-town coterie, so he sits down to write his narrative as a ture was Dale Peck’s review of Moody’s way to hold together a life that seems to be unraveling before his eyes. PEN-award-winning memoir, showing It’s a subtle novel, but it’s classic Banville; it has a lot to say about art, how he could be on top and bottom all love, deception, family, class and the shiftiness of human relation- at once—but his newest novel could be a ships. – Kenneth Loosli, Knopf, $25.95 real crowd-pleaser. It’s an always-funny Slade House, David Mitchell and frequently hilarious novel told in the Mitchell does it again in this compact form of brief online reviews of hotels, thriller that may or may not be a sequel motels, inns, and even big-box store park- to The Bone Clocks. Companion piece or ing lots—any place a traveler might find himself passing a night away spin-off is perhaps a better description. from home. The traveler/reviewer is Reginald Edward Morse, a for- Slade House is tucked away down an alley mer financier turned motivational speaker who is not above employ- behind a pub with a small, mysterious ing some dirty tricks (such as bringing his own dead cockroaches to iron door that only appears every nine stage an infestation) in order to gain a discounted price. One might years. Invited in by a strange brother and think of Morse as a twisted version of Anne Tyler’s Macon Leary (aka sister, the unique and unfortunate souls the Accidental Tourist) as written by Richard Brautigan. Unlike his who enter that door are never heard from Internet-hating contemporary Jonathan Franzen, Moody has moved or seen again. Spanning 50 years, from the late 70s to the present, this his fiction comfortably into the 21stcentury with this web-inspired little novel will make you feel as if you have dropped inside an Escher comic novel that sometimes feels like Fawlty Towers in reverse. drawing and will keep you up at night as you hurtle to the conclusion – Kenneth Loosli, Little, Brown, $25 5 TO STOCK YOUR STOCKINGS: CUSTOMER FAVORITES THIS YEAR IN FICTION

Station Eleven, Emily St. John Mandel - Vintage, $15.95 (dystopian with an artistic difference) The Red Notebook, Antoine Laurain – Gallic Books, $14.95 (a francophile’s delight) Euphoria, Lily King – Grove Press, $16 (anthropology, sensuality, histo- ry—a pulse-racer) Nora Webster, Colm Tóibin - Scribner, $16 (hidden strengths, hidden truths—unforgettable) Dear Committee Members, Julie Schumacher – Anchor, $14.95 (unforget- tably funny) The Painter, Peter Heller - Vintage, $15.95 (art, fishing, love, violence—and great writing besides) Americanah, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - Anchor, $15.95 (spellbinding) My Brilliant Friend, Elena Ferrante - Europa, $17 (first in a fabulous tril- ogy) The Children Act, Ian McEwan - Anchor, $15 (intense and clever) Tell the Wolves I’m Home, Carol Rifka Brunt - Dial Press, $16 (unforget- table child protagonist) The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared, Jonas Jonasson - Hyperion, $16 (unforgettable century-old protagonist) Lowland, Jhumpa Lahiri - Vintage, $15.95 (exquisite tale of two worlds) The Dog Stars, Peter Heller - Vintage, $15.95 (exquisite tale of a world disappearing) Where’d You Go Bernadette, Maria Semple - Back Bay, $14.99 (darkly funny) Mink River, Brian Doyle - Oregon State University, $18.95 (quirky and gorgeous) All That Is Solid Melts into Air, Darragh McKeon - HarperPernnial, $14.99 (gorgeous, harrowing) Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, Rachel Joyce – Random House, $16 (an odyssey you’ll never forget) Brooklyn, Colm Tóibin - Scribner, $15 (even better than the movie—and the movie is fabulous) Narrow Road to the Deep North, Richard Flanagan - Vintage, $15.95 (ex- quisitely painful) Orphan Train, Christina Baker Kline - Harper, 14.99 (compelling history) Language of Flowers, Vanessa Diffenbaugh – Random House, $16 (roman- tic and engaging) We Are Called to Rise, Laura McBride – Simon & Schuster, $15 (the side of Vegas you never knew)

*Look for the stocking throughout this issue to find other customer favorites!

6 FICTION FICTION PAPER discovering the secrets of this haunted-house story as only Mitchell mother playing Chopin; a teacher in love can reveal them. – Anne Stewart Mark, Random House, $26 with her students, children for whom The Improbability of Love, Hannah pain is the fabric of life, nightmares their Rothschild memories. Then “Translation,” the poem at the book’s heart. Again children. And Annie, an aspiring chef, finds the per- “Requiem:” a brother and a sister living fect gift for her former lover. It is a small the poetry of urban violence, of scorched painting found in a dusty junk shop. The earth, of a home where nothing is safe, painting, in the style of Watteau, eventu- except the insistence of the garden. This ally becomes the center of a major sale at braided with the poetry of Chernobyl, of a London auction house and attracts the scorched earth now safe harbor to what is attention of the international rich who are wild. Hope braided with despair. – Betsy prepared to fight for it. As a chef Annie Burton, University of Alabama Press is an artist and is hired by the rich and $16.95 Editor’s note: Thon will read at The famous to create themed dinners, but her King’s English Bookshop at 7 p.m. on Monday, November 23 with poet knowledge of art is limited. She doesn’t and novelist Noy Holland. realize that others are looking at her not as a cook but as the owner of an important art work and are plotting devious means of acquir- The 7th Man, Melanie Rae Thon ing the piece. In the course of verifying the work, she meets a young Brief, ecstatic, searing, The 7th Man is guide at the Wallace Collection who falls in love with her and leads an interior prose poem from the heart her through the maze of art scholars and greedy dealers who compete of a man who has helped to perform 131 for ownership with whatever means available. The painting itself is executions, part of the team who take also a narrator within the book and reveals its travels from France to turns rehearsing and then escorting and Russia and into the world of Nazi Germany and stolen art. Author strapping down the victims. His interior Hannah Rothschild offers a fictional look behind the curtains of the monologue takes us from pride in his art world which can be read as a piece of crime fiction or a comment team to the reality of bearing witness, an on the business of art. – Wendy Foster Leigh, Alfred A. Knopf, $27.95 act that eventually brings the executions After You, Jojo Moyes to life, cracking open the executioner’s life and giving him another in the process. In this delightful sequel to Me Before You, Thon, like no one else alive, captures the Lou finds herself drifting in the wake of pain and the ecstasy of our existence, its Will’s death, unable to move on, unable harrowing, too-often brutal nature, and the transcendent joy of soil to live the life he charged her with at his and of souls, making sense of the urge to hurt and the will to rescue, death. After an extraordinary accident the unbearable loneliness and the solace that makes life bearable. Her she wakes to discover she must return slender volumes speak volumes about humanity in all its agony and to more judgments from her family, her its undying glory. – Betsy Burton, New Michigan Press, $9 friends and everyone who knows her. Lou has been resigned to her grief support meetings, her dreadful job and her barely- GRAPHIC NOVELS lived-in apartment until her complacency is disturbed by a knock on her door. A City of Clowns, Daniel Alarcón & Sheila young woman inserts herself into Lou’s sloppy existence; forced back Alvarado into the Traynors lives, she must once again find a way to carve an Artist Sheila Alvarado illustrates Daniel identity for herself. Surprises abound as we sail along on this funny, Alarcón’s moving short story about com- affecting ride as Lou tries to find her happy-ever-after. ing to terms with his philandering father – Anne Stewart Mark, Pamela Dorman Books, $26.96 and exploring Lima’s vast collection of bizarre street performers. FICTION PAPER – Kenneth Loosli, Riverhead, $27.95 Nimona, Noelle Stevenson Silence and Song, Melanie Rae Thon For younger readers, Nimona, which was Hope in the face of despair. A single fragment of line in the prose shortlisted for the 2015 NBA Young Adult poem connecting the two ecstatic, shattering pieces that are Silence Literature prize, started as a webcomic. In and Song, a book that takes us into the hearts and souls of the dispos- book format this graphic novel is a blast sessed and of those who try to save them. In “Vanishings” a thief tears to read, a romp that puts science fiction into a medieval setting and up the Saguaro cactus, killing what he can’t steal; a car careens off the mixes up the good and the bad guys. – Margaret Brennan Neville, road, bodies flying out. Brothers struggle across hot sand, bodies blis- Harper, $12.99 tered; a good Samaritan brings water into the desert, wanting to help; a boy with a gun, filled with the pain of thorns, bad drugs, cruelty; a 7 MYSTERY/THRILLER

A Banquet of Consequences: A Lynley The Searcher, Simon Toyne Novel, Elizabeth George Solomon Creed just walked away from Detective Sargent Barbara Havers has a plane crash and only knows his name been forced to sign a transfer request to because it is sewn into the jacket he’s Berwick-upon-Tweed which Detective wearing. His past is clouded and his Superintendent Isabelle Ardery keeps on future could be very uncertain indeed her desk waiting for Havers’ next wrong because the town he’s walking towards, move. Havers, on the other hand, is fran- Redemption, Arizona, holds many se- tic to get back into the game of solving crets—secrets he must uncover to save a murders and is willing to risk the horrors man named James Coronado, someone he of a transfer to do so. When a prominent has never met. While Solomon may have feminist dies of an apparent heart attack, some unusual skills, time travel isn’t one Havers is drawn into examining the of them, which is a shame because James death, which is more complicated than it appears. Lynley does his Coronado was buried that morning. All Solomon has to help him is best to guide her in a prudent direction during the investigation, but, Coronado’s widow, Holly and a book by the Reverend Jack Cassidy, as usual, she goes her own way. In the process, she uncovers more Redemption’s founder. The plane had been carrying a precious cargo than enough motives to incriminate a cast of murderers. Once again, and the man that cargo was destined for will raze the town to the George has given us, the reader, ample opportunity to escape into the ground himself to get it. Toyne, author of the Sanctus series, gives world of Lynley and Havers as well as to delve into murder most vile. us the start of another taut page-turning trilogy. – Paula Longhurst, Terrific. – Barbara Hoagland, Viking, $28.95 William Morrow, $26.99 Ghostly, collected and introduced by A Killing in Zion, Andrew Hunt Audrey Niffenegger When a polygamist leader and his body- A collection of ghost stories perfect for guard are murdered, the anti-polygamy dark winter nights, Ghostly features squad of the Salt Lake Police Department haunted houses, haunted cottages, faces the mixed messages which come paintings that move, magic and cats—to from the police, the politicians, and pow- name just a few ghastly details, all told erful polygamous leaders. Art Oveson, by masters of the genre including Poe, deputy sheriff, is caught in the middle M.R James, Kelly Link, Neil Gaiman, P.G. of these forces. He has strong feelings Wodehouse, Saki and Niffenegger herself. about the evils of the polygamous sects Whether you want that sense of creeping and takes it upon himself to care for a unease, full-on scares or a laugh or two young mute girl found at the scene of the there’s something for everyone here. crime. She seems to be at the center of the – Paula Longhurst, Scribner, $28 conflict. Oveson attempts to solve the crime and thwart the dealings The Reflection, Hugo Wilcken of the various sects who are now moving down to the Utah-Arizona border. He is passionately opposed to plural marriage and the illegal Lovers of black and white noir films will actions of the groups. His passion puts him into danger along with identify with the tone and plot of The Re- his friends and the young people he tries to protect. Andrew Hunt flection, set in 1948 New York. Psychia- may live in Canada but his knowledge of Salt Lake City, Utah, and trist David Manne rents an upscale office Mormon history makes the mystery come alive. Those who live in simply for show and is satisfied picking Utah will enjoy the picture of the state in 1934 and those who know up jobs from the police—during one of nothing about Utah will read this as a picture of a curious place and which he is convinced that something is curious people. An action novel, it is also a discerning look at the vio- not quite right with the suspect he is to lence that can result from religious extremism and a warning to those interview. His curiosity gets the better of who ignore that violence. – Wendy Foster Leigh, Minotaur Books, him, and he attempts to aid the suspect $25.99 Editor's note: See page 1 for event info. and investigate the strange hospital to which he has been sent. Through a series of twists and turns Manne ends up with the man’s ID, trapped in the MYSTERY STOCKING STUFFERS hospital and in the role of the patient, involved in a case of mistaken Norwegian by Night, Derek B. Miller, Mari- identity or amnesia or, perhaps, paranoia. The book caters to the hu- ner, $14.95 (An old man and a boy running man fear of losing a personal identity—one where the psychiatrist as for their lives…) the patient is unable to convince others of his sanity. Hugo Wilcken I Am Pilgrim, Terry Hayes, Atria $16 (ter- has created a sympathetic character in this well-written thriller. rifying tale of spies and terrorism) – Wendy Foster Leigh, Melville House, $25.95 Slow Horses, Mick Herron, Soho, $9.99 (funny tale of spies and betrayal)

8 NONFICTION

The Witches: Salem, 1692, Stacy Schiff Home Is Burning: A Memoir, The Massachusetts Bay Colony in the late Dan Marshall 1600s would appear to have been overrun For those who grew up in Holladay as by the Devil, who infiltrated the colony a non-Mormon, this tale of coming of via witchcraft. Founded by the Puritans age in Utah in the 80s, which is inter- who fled Europe in order to practice their twined with the painful reality of coping religion in the way they saw fit, the colony with the death of a parent, will resonate was a rigidly run theocracy. The Devil in ways that might make you flinch or was as real as night and day, and once the cry but will also make you laugh. Up- accusations of witchcraft began flying a roariously. Dan grew up with a pack of kind of mass hysteria took hold. Schiff siblings in a sprawling house in Holladay has done a brilliant job of untangling set squarely in the center of a heavily this most incredible story. The reasons Mormon neighborhood. His father was are complex and ultimately tragic for the innocents who were put to a prominent newspaper figure and was not Mormon. Nor was Dan’s death. Schiff brings alive a story that to the modern mind beggars mother. She was, however, fierce, to put it mildly. Her stratagem for comprehension as she draws us into the world of 17th century New coping with disapproving neighbors? Open all the windows and drop England. That world was a frightening place which became even among many other expletives, the f-bomb—at the top of her voice. more terrifying with the realization that anyone around you could be Her big boisterous family gleefully followed her example. When the a pawn of the Devil. –Barbara Hoagland, Little Brown, $34 book opens Dan, who is in LA working in PR, learns that his beloved Prisoners of Geography, Tim Marshall father has ALS and that his mother is again battling recurrent cancer. Dan goes home, and the ensuing tale of fart jokes, profanity and Marshall has used his experience as a war death, laced with hilarity and howling pain, is raw, honest and pro- correspondent and leading authority on found. Had Dan never moved away, the anger which is part of grow- foreign affairs to produce a most marvel- ing up as an outsider here might have dissipated at least in part. Salt ous and timely collection of maps of 10 Lake has changed, as we all know. But he left and his memories evoke critical countries, regions and continents. a time that may have passed but which we all remember. His mixing His description of the natural geologic of those cultural memories with family pain and family hostility and boundaries of the continents and how family love hits home. Ouch. – Betsy Burton, Flatiron Books, $27.99 they have either safeguarded people or left them unprotected, and how leaders The White Road, Edmund de Waal used them in strategic ways, is fascinat- Edmund de Waal, whose first book, ing. This geopolitical landscape helps The Hare with Amber Eyes, focused on one to recognize current events and why inherited Japanese Netski and his travels decisions are made. I can’t leave it alone and keep referring back to it through Asia and Europe to find their to help explain the news of the day. It will rest on my bookshelf next origins, is both a writer and ceramist. He to Guns, Germs and Steel and Why Nations Fail. – Sue Fleming, has worked with porcelain, his current Scribner, $26 obsession, for 25 years, and it is the basis Then Comes Marriage: United States for his pilgrimage to the three “white v. Windsor and the Defeat of DOMA, hills” of China, Germany and England. Roberta Kaplan, Lisa Dickey He portrays both the process of creating porcelain and the fixation throughout Edie Windsor and Thea Spyer were in the ages with possessing “white gold” in a committed relationship for over 40 a book that is a history of porcelain, its geography and its effect on years but were denied the legal recogni- those who create it and those who acquire it. He begins in China tion marriage in the United States would in Jiangxi province and the first of the three hills where it has been convey. When Spyer died, Windsor was produced for 1000 years and then moves on in the footsteps of the forced to pay enormous estate taxes Jesuits to France and then Germany and the second hill, explaining because their Canadian marriage was not the role of the philosophers, Spinoza and Leibnitz. At the third hill, recognized. Roberta Kaplan became lead close to his home in Cornwall, the land of the Quakers, he tells the attorney in the case that would ultimately stories of the commercialization of the white clay by Wedgewood come before the United States Supreme and of the clay in North America in the Cherokee nation. He then Court which would then declare the Defense of Marriage Act to be brings the reader into the modern age through the porcelain works at unconstitutional. This decision was one of the major civil rights cases Dachau. De Waal’s 400-page book is autobiography as well as history, that led to the eventual ruling on marriage equality throughout the told in the simple, white tone of a ceramicist who works alone at his country. Kaplan and Windsor’s story is captivating from both a per- wheel creating beauty out of clay. A big and complicated book, this is sonal and a legal standpoint, and the details of their fight for equality worthy of quiet and thoughtful reading. – Wendy Foster Leigh, Far- are an important part of civil rights history. – Barbara Hoagland, rar, Straus and Giroux, $27 Norton, $27.95 9 NONFICTION

Lafayette in the Somewhat United States, the two opponents evenly matched, even though the U.S. has very Sarah Vowell poor aircraft and other equipment when compared to Imperial Japan. I’m not sure how someone who knows Into this mix is flung a Patrol Torpedo (PT) boat force. PT boats are so much can be so funny when impart- just glorified large speed boats made out of wood and equipped with ing what she knows, but Sarah Vowell faulty torpedoes that malfunction about 75% of the time. This is the has that knack. Her latest saga, long on story of JFK as commander of PT 109. His father, Joseph Kennedy history, short on boring, high on humor, Sr., has pulled strings to get the sickly JFK a combat command with begins with a question: How did the an eye toward future Kennedy political ambitions, never imagining Marquis de Lafayette win over the stingi- his son would be tested in a way not many other men of his age could est, crankiest tax protestors in the world? endure. This is a great read for anyone, even those of us who think Vowell then proceeds to answer that ques- they know the story of PT 109 and JFK, as it gives a perspective as tion with an improbably funny saga that only 75 years of elapsed time can. – Patrick Fleming, William Mor- manages to give you a vivid, witty picture row, $27.99 of not only the brash young Marquis but our founding fathers as well. Empire of Self: A Life of Gore Vidal, Jay The young Marquis dashes about on his horse, ignoring wife, child, Parini and king, shuttles nervously back and forth as the French finally Gore Vidal was not only a 20th century arrive, to end regarding America with rosy adoration. Vowell both literary icon, he was also an iconoclastic skewers and admires this view of us, making clear what a fractious, critic of his age. He came in contact with uneasily bound-together lot we Americans are and always have been, virtually every notable figure of his time and how naïve our hero. Vowell never met a joke she didn’t like, and and usually had something acerbic to say her weaving of present-day politics, the personal and the past with about each of them. Parini was a close history lights up that past until it illuminates the present. friend of Vidal and, thus, has had un- – Betsy Burton, Riverhead Books, $27.95 precedented access to documents, letters Pacific, Simon Winchester and reminisces of those who were close Simon Winchester delivers this seemingly to both men. The figure we see in this eclectic narrative of 10 incidents occur- ambitious biography is brilliant as well ring in the Pacific which appear to be as troubled. Gore Vidal was not only a man of his time, but a man of unrelated—but as he tells the back story the world, and we are lucky to have access to his life through the eyes on each incident the reader sees how of a friend who is a skilled biographer as well. – Barbara Hoagland, inter-related they are. Winchester, with Doubleday, $35 his sharp British wit, writes in a quick My History, Antonia Fraser style making a compelling case for the Fraser’s earliest days were spent in an pivot away from the Atlantic and to the aristocratic family in pre-World War II Pacific by arguing that the United States Britain. Her parents were both deeply (and Canada and Mexico to some degree) involved in politics, while Antonia was are really Pacific Rim nations and that the mesmerized by history; it was the one future interests of the U.S. lie with the Pacific and her people, includ- constant in her life, and she researched ing the Chinese. From the birth of surfing and the California beach and wrote one magnificent histori- culture it spawned to the nuclear explosions on remote Pacific atolls cal biography after another including to Australia and its emerging role to the potential for confrontation Mary, Queen of Scots, The Wives of with an increasingly militarizing China, Winchester blends all 10 in- Henry VIII, and Faith and Treason. This cidents together, providing some terrific insight into the history and memoir is a lyrical celebration of a time future of the Pacific and why it matters to the United States. and place that has largely disappeared, – Patrick Fleming, Harper Collins, $28.99 and a great companion to the memoir she wrote on her marriage and PT 109, William Doyle partnership with Harold Pinter (Must William Doyle, author of numerous You Go?). – Barbara Hoagland, Double- works focusing on American militaria, day, $28.95 re-tells the story of PT 109 and the impact Elizabeth, Renaissance Prince, its saga had on JFK and America. Early Lisa Hilton in the South Pacific campaign of WWII, While there are a multitude of biogra- the United States is out-gunned and phies of Elizabeth, Hilton has delved into over-matched by the Japanese military. the life of this Tudor monarch from a The U.S. has decided to make its stand, in slightly different perspective, giving us a order to protect its ally, Australia, in the more nuanced portrait as a result. From Solomon Islands and at Guadalcanal. In- her birth until her death, Elizabeth’s life tense fighting occurs on land and sea with was one long invention; she created one 10 NONFICTION of the most successful courts in Europe using her femininity to cover admiration for each other was apparent the iron will that allowed her to govern a nation and confound her to all who knew them. Fraser has done a fellow rulers. Hilton also details Elizabeth’s loves and how she subju- commendable job of revealing how they gated these loves to the necessity of rule. It’s an unusual and insightful leaned on each other; whether it was do- look at an always fascinating woman and time in British history. mestic issues or a recalcitrant Continental – Barbara Hoagland, Houghton Mifflin, $27 Congress, George and Martha looked We Were Brothers, Barry Moser to each other for advice and sustenance. Fraser’s book is a revealing look at both When the last surviving member of a the Mother, the Father and the Nation. family writes a memoir, that person has – Barbara Hoagland, Knopf, $30 license to say what he wants to say, with little resistance from others. Barry Moser, Hemingway the incomparable book printmaker and in Love, His illustrator who has created vivid and Own Story, memorable illustrations for classic books A.E. Hotchner ranging from The Holy Bible to Alice in Hemingway’s biographer Hotchner (Papa Wonderland, has written a lovely tribute Hemingway) has written a wonderful and to his now-deceased brother, their family touching account of the loves and lives of and the Southern world they all lived in. one of our favorite authors. Taken from While he worries that his recollections are the words of Papa himself, entrusted to one-sided, I can say with confidence that his family would approve Hotchner, this lovely little memoir tells of of We Were Brothers, which is set at the base of the Appalachian his very personal struggle when choosing Mountains in Chattanooga, Tennessee during the last century. While between his two great loves: Hadley and Moser’s illustrations are black and white, with rendered realism bor- Pauline. After his near-death experiences dering on the photographic, this book is written in vivid color. Moser surviving two consecutive plane crashes, Hemingway and Hotchner and his older brother Tommy are typical of brothers growing up in spent the next eight months together as Papa told him of the pain- the same household who, on the way to independent adulthood, fail ful period, never before discussed, when he lived in Paris, wrote The to truly connect with each other. Their differences continue to grow Sun Also Rises, and was in love with two women at the same time. and when the two men finally engage, both wanting some resolution Beautiful reminisces and frank confessions take us to the bohemian before they are dead, the cultural and social differences between them world of Paris in the 20s, the bullfights in Spain, the sultry days of create an emotional chasm that they struggle to cross. The message Key West, and of Cold War Cuba. We see inside the mind of someone here is clear: do not wait until a loved one dies to make amends. who struggled with his knowledge of his own mortality and existence – Rob Eckman, Algonquin Books, $24.95 of his immortal soul during the 100 days when he had to decide be- Lady Bird and Lyndon, Betty Caroli tween his first and second wives. Photographs from Hotchner’s own collection grace the pages and we hear from one of his dearest friends Marriage is a complicated relationship of Hemingway’s greatest mistake. – Anne Stewart Mark, St. Martins, and the marriage between Lady Bird and $19.99 Lyndon Johnson was more complicated than some. While a brief look would indi- cate Lyndon was the driving force in that NONFICTION STOCKING STUFFERS relationship, Caroli posits that Lady Bird The Boys in the Boat: Nine was the guiding hand that led him to the Americans and Their Epic presidency. A sad and lonely childhood Quest for Gold, Daniel forged a personality of steel and determi- James Brown – Penguin, nation that belied her soft Southern man- $17 (boats, wood, rowing, ner. She was a shrewd businesswoman endurance, history...and a and skilled politician who wooed those great read besides) whose approval she (and Lyndon) needed. That she also managed the Just Mercy, Bryan Steven- oversized personality of her husband is revelatory, as is the informa- son – Spiegel and Grau, tion that Lyndon quite likely suffered from bipolar disorder. Her life $16 (most important was complicated and Caroli has done an admirable job of revealing nonfiction about justice in an interesting and compelling 20th century first lady. a decade) – Barbara Hoagland, Simon & Schuster, $29.99 My Beloved World, Sonia The Washingtons, George and Martha, Flora Fraser Sotomayor – Vintage, Much has been written about George Washington, but Fraser’s exam- $15.95 (most important ination of the marriage between George and Martha is unique. Their justice appointed in this decades-long marriage was punctuated by revolution, the creation of decade) a new country and personal tragedy. Through the years their love and 11 BIG Books for Children and their Families by Becky Hall

TKE’s shelves are brimming with beautiful, oversized children’s books, all terrific additions to your library. They not only meet the needs of various age groups, they come with deluxe illustrations and make perfect gifts for the whole family!

Counting Lions, Katie that illuminate their Cotton, illustrated by ancient cultures. This Stephen Walton beautiful oversized book At first glance, this is is a welcome addition to just a counting book, family libraries. – Candle- but wait! In present wick Press, $35 (8-12) tense, the text describes Maps, the qualities and Alek- behavior of each of 10 threatened species, sandra and the charcoal drawings are breathtak- Mizielin- ing. The end pages offer more information ska and about each animal. – Candlewick Press, Daniel Mizielinska $22 (all ages) This oversized book of The 50 States, Gabrielle maps of the continents Balkin and countries includes fun Well-researched and illustrations of animals, graphically engaging, this places and events from book is a great family each place. The capital, language, popula- resource. It’s filled with tion and area are given for each country. information, including – Candlewick Press, $35 (all ages) an overview of each state, Pierre the Maze Detec- and a map which identi- tive, Hiro Kamigaki fies important events, places and people, moments to remember, Pierre is a detective but key facts (like state bird, flower and tree, he is a specialist who only name origin, statehood date, and more). works on mazes. Find – Wide Eyed Editions, $30 (7-12) the objects on each page by traveling through the Harry Potter and the mazes. A new take on Sorcerer’s Stone: The Where’s Waldo, this will Illustrated Edition, J.K. challenge the best sleuths. Rowling, illustrated by Jim – Laurence King Publish- Kay ing, $19.95 (7-12) With beautiful visuals by The Wonder Garden, Kristjana S. Williams an award-winning illustra- tor, this luxurious edition Travel through five of the first book in the habitats to learn about 80 series makes a great gift different animals in this for the child who is just discovering Harry lavishly illustrated over- Potter. – Scholastic, $39.99 (8 and up) sized information book. – Wide Eyed Editions, $30 Historium, Richard Wilkinson and Jo (8-12) Nelson Looking at six of the continents, the authors present us with museum artifacts

12 Ho, Ho, Ho, Happy Holidays in Pictures for Children by Ann Cannon

Merry Christmas, Mr. Mouse, Caralyn Buehner, illustrated by A Christmas Carol, Charles Mark Buehner Dickens, retold for young The husband and wife who readers by Adam McKeown, il- brought us the sensational lustrated by Gerald Kelley Snowmen at Night return with And speaking of classic Christ- a charming new holiday title. mas “carols” . . . . Dickens’ Merry Christmas, Mr. Mouse iconic holiday tale is given follows the adventures of a mouse family as new life in this picture book they discover Christmas for the very first time. re-telling of Ebenezer Scrooge and his three In the process, readers are invited to re-dis- holiday visitors. A nice addition to the family cover the season’s pleasures for themselves—as Christmas canon. – Doubleday, $17.99 well as to search for a cat, a rabbit and a T-Rex Click, Clack, Ho! Ho! Ho!, hidden in each illustration. – Dial, $17.99 Doreen Cronin, illustrated by How to Catch Santa, Jean Rea- Betsy Lewin gan, illustrated by Lee Wildish Devoted readers of the Click, It’s been so satisfying to watch Clack series know that Farmer local author Jean Reagan ex- Brown’s animals always keep tend her New York Times best- things interesting—even (espe- selling “How To” series—How cially!) during the Christmas to Babysit a Grandpa, How season. Thank goodness Santa to Babysit a Grandma, How Claus knows exactly what to to Surprise a Dad. And now do with a chimney full of barn (just in time for the holidays) critters. – Atheneum, $17.99 Reagan offers some failproof The Reindeer Wish, Lori Evert, tips for trapping the jolly old elf himself. photographs by Per Breiehagen Wildish’s visual details add to the book’s high humor. – Knopf, $17.99 The family who createdThe Christmas Wish and The Tiny Zombelina Dances the Nut- Wish returns with another cracker, Kristyn Crow, illus- story about young Anja, who trated by Molly Idle wishes for a puppy to keep her Utah author Kristyn Crow company but winds up with a and Caldecott Honor illustra- baby reindeer named Odin in- tor Molly Idle team up again stead. In spite of the gorgeous for another Zombelina story. photographs, parents may find This time our favorite dancing themselves thinking a pet dog isn’t such a bad zombie lands the role of Clara option after all. – Random House, $17.99 in "The Nutcracker" Ballet. But Song of the Stars: a (as usual) Grandpa Phantom Christmas Story, Sally can’t resist interfering. How can Zombelina as- Lloyd-Jones, illustrated sure that the show will go on? As always, Crow by Alison Jay displays a pitch-perfect ear for rhyme. – Bloomsbury, $16.99 People interested in finding a fresh take on The Twelve Days of Christmas, the traditional Christ- Alison Jay mas story will appreciate Alison Jay’s unmistakable this lovely tale about the glazed-crackle illustrations natural world’s joyful celebration of the Christ graced the first-edition covers child’s birth. First published in hardback in of Shannon Hale’s popular 2011, this board book version is particularly Bayern books. Fans can now well-suited for very young children. enjoy Jay’s work in this truly beautiful render- – Zonderkidz, $7.99 ing of a Christmas carol classic. Highly recom- mended. – Knopf, $17.99 13 Ho, Ho, Ho, Happy Holidays in Pictures for Children cont’d

The Not Very Merry Pout- about aging and its attendant Pout Fish, Deborah Diesen, issues—isolation, loss, fear— illustrated by Dan Hanna that also manages to be kind In his quest to find the and even light-hearted? The perfect Christmas gift for word “unusual” doesn’t begin each of his friends, Pout-Pout to describe this handsome Fish runs out of time. What’s book about an elderly woman a poor fish to do? While the book’s mes- whose plans for Christmas sage—that the best gifts come straight from the Eve are interrupted by a family heart—feels familiar, Hanna’s wacky illustra- with car trouble. Kudos to tions give it a refreshing spin. – Farrar Straus Enchanted Lion Books for tak- Giroux, $16.99 ing on such original projects. – Enchanted Lion Books, $19.95 The Smallest Gift of Christmas, Peter H. Reynolds Dear Santa, Love, Rachel Rosenstein, Amanda Peet When Roland sees the small and Andrea Troyer, illustrat- size of his present on Christ- ed by Christine Davenier mas morning, he’s disap- pointed. Roland wants big. He Rachel Rosenstein loves cel- wants bigger. He wants biggest. ebrating her family’s Jewish But is biggest always the best? holiday traditions—search- While not new this year, The ing for the afikomen on Pass- Smallest Gift of Christmas is still a witty and over, blowing the shofar on relevant take on the things that matter most. Rosh Hashanah, eating latkes – Candlewick Press, $10 during Hanukkah. But when Christmas rolls around, Rachel wants Santa to visit her, too. Marguerite’s Christmas, India Desjardins, Will he? An appealing book for families of all illustrated by Pascal Blanchet faiths. – Doubleday, $17.99 Wow. How do you describe a Christmas story

Children’s Picture Books by Ann Cannon

love the book so much? Because it’s the one The Day the Crayons Came that turned him into a reader—which is why Home, Drew Daywalt, illus- the boy is so upset when he loses the book. Will trated by Oliver Jeffers the two ever be reunited? Daywalt and Jeffers follow up – Tundra, $16.99 their monster hit, The Day the Tucky Jo and Little Heart, Crayons Quit, with this wry Patricia Polacco sequel wherein the AWOL Although there is a strong crayons discover that being on their own isn’t editorial prejudice these days everything it’s cracked up to be. Like its prede- against text-heavy picture cessor, this picture book is both original and books, Polacco continues hugely entertaining. – Philomel, $17.99 to write the longer, heartfelt The Good Little Book, Kyo Mc- stories for which she is deserv- Clear, illustrated by Marion Arbona edly famous. Tucky Jo, based This thoroughly charming new on a true story told to Polacco by a WWII vet title follows the adventures of a who served in the Pacific theater, is one of her book that is “neither thick nor thin, very best. It serves as a powerful testament that popular nor unpopular” and the men and women are capable of great humanity, boy who loves it. Why does the boy even during times of war. – Simon & Schuster, $17.99 14 Children’s Picture Books by Ann Cannon

Lenny & Lucy, Philip C. Stead, illustrated by Erin E. Stead When Peter and his faithful Snowplow is eager to prove dog, Harold, arrive at the fam- them wrong. Will he succeed? ily’s isolated new home, he is Koehler, a librarian in the Salt troubled by the dark expanse Lake County library system, of woods beyond the bridge. So he creates two scores with this winning pic- guardians—Lenny and Lucy—who watch over ture book debut. As always, Parker’s energetic the house. A sweet and subtle look at the nature illustrations are guaranteed to entertain both of friendship. – Roaring Book Press, $17.99. children and their parents. The Queen’s Hat, Steve Antony – Candlewick, $15.99 The Queen is on her way “to Louis I, King of the Sheep, visit someone very special” Olivier Tallec when the wind snatches the Translated from the French, hat right off her royal head. this is the whimsical story Where the wind takes it—as of an ordinary sheep that well as the Queen and her stumbles upon a crown one trusty guards—provides the day and declares himself to be reader with a hat’s eye view of king. Children will enjoy the London. Witty and imaginative, The Queen’s amusing illustrations. Adults Hat is one of the staff’s favorite books of the will appreciate the sly biting season. – Scholastic, $16.99 references to the French mon- Little Tree, Loren Long archy of yore. – Enchanted Lion Books, $17.95 Created by the author and il- lustrator of the Otis series, this Who Done It?, Olivier is a truly special picture book. Tallec Because it refuses to shed its “Who didn’t get enough leaves each fall, Little Tree can’t sleep? Who played with the grow. This riff on the impor- mean cat? Who’s shy about tance of letting go will appeal dancing?” The endlessly to both children and adults. amusing Tallec scores again in this mostly- Wonderful! – Philomel, $17.99 wordless picture book that asks astute young Is Mommy?, Victoria Chang and readers to pick out the “culprit” in a line-up of Marla Frazee adorable characters. – Chronicle, $15.99 Text and illustrations come Dewey Bob, Judy Schachner together perfectly in this romp Fans of the Skippyjon Jones of a picture book! A toddler series know that when it loves his or her mommy above comes to creating appealing all others, and this darling critters, author and illustrator exploration of that love will Judy Schachner has few peers. make everyone smile. Plan on Her newest character, Dewey reading this out loud over and Bob, is a young raccoon who over again. Margaret Brennan is a natural-born collector. Neville, Simon & Schuster, $15.99 But when he tries to collect The Little Snowplow, Lora Koehler, illustrated friends, Dewey Bob learns an important lesson: by Jake Parker finding friends is easier than keeping them. This big-hearted book will appeal to picture None of the big trucks on the mountain think book lovers of all ages. – Dial, $17.99 the Little Snowplow will be up to the task of clearing roads once winter sets in. But the Little

15 Children’s Picture Books

Robo-Sauce, Adam Rubin, illustrated by Daniel Salmieri The Whisper, Pamela The creators of the enormously Zagarenski popular Dragons Love Tacos return with this energetic story A teacher loans a little girl who about a boy who concocts a loves to read a special book. special sauce that turns him But the girl is disappointed into a robot. It’s all fun and when she realizes the book is games and laser beams for the boy robot . . . wordless—until she realizes until the book itself turns into a robot. After she can create magical stories that, young readers are on their own. What of her own as she thumbs they do with a robot book is up to them. – Dial, through the book’s pages. Zagarenski’s stunning $18.99 illustrations are nothing short of magical. – Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $17.99 Shark Detective!, Jessica Olien The Wonderful Things You Shark, who loves detective Will Be, Emily Winfield shows on TV almost as much Martin as he loves eating potato chips, decides to open his “When I look at you/And you own agency. Clients are hard look at me,/I wonder what to come by, however, because wonderful/ Things you will Shark is—you know—a shark! And people be.” With her unique visual flee when they see him. Will Shark ever realize style, Martin creates another his dream of becoming a detective? Sublimely wonderful picture book in her goofy. – Balzer + Bray, $17.99 Dreamers series, which includes Dream Ani- mals and Day Dreamers. The perfect gift for a Jack Frost, William Joyce baby shower! – Random House, $17.99 The latest title in Joyce’s Fire Engine No. 9, Mike Austin Guardians of Childhood series tells the story of Jack Frost and Reminiscent of Little Golden how he came to be. While the Books’ iconic The Fire Engine story itself packs an unexpect- Book (illustrated by the great ed emotional punch, Joyce’s Tibor Gergely), Austin’s color- distinctive art (as always) ful new title will appeal to carries the day. – Atheneum, lovers of fire trucks, no matter $17.99 their age. – Random House, $16.99 Inside This Book (Are Three B Is for Bear: a Natural Al- Books), Barney Saltzberg phabet, Hannah Viano Inside this book there are three Paper artist Viano dedicates B books. Literally. Our young Is for Bear to “all of those who narrator, Seymour, explains let children run a little wild, why: “My mom made us books climbing trees and splash- with blank pages.” Seymour ing in puddles. It is worth all and his two siblings fill the the laundry and lost mit- pages with stories of their own, tens.” Viano’s affection for the which will no doubt inspire natural world is on full display young readers to do the same. A nice choice in this beautiful alphabet book for teachers (and parents!) who are interested with images inspired by the in finding a book that can be used as a starting great outdoors. point for a child’s own writing projects. – Little Bigfoot, $16.99 – Abrams, $15.95 What in the World?: Numbers in Nature, Nancy Raines Day, illustrated by Kurt Cyrus “Birds two by two . . . leaves three by three.

16 Children’s Picture Books

grows up—and can’t understand why the teacher doesn’t love her papers. A clever take on distrac- Look around your world. What tions, jealousy, and how NOT to get a paper do you see?” Another book written. – Charlesbridge, $17.95 that draws its inspiration from nature, What in the World? is a One Word from Sophia, numbers primer with a sooth- Jim Averbeck, illustrated ing visual style. – Beach Lane, by Yasmeen Ismail $17.99 Sophia is an extremely The Full Moon at verbal and verbose little the Napping House, Don and girl with big ideas for her Audrey Wood upcoming birthday (a giraffe is involved). But What happens when it’s the there’s one little word that Sophia needs to say middle of the night and EV- to make her wishes come true . . . . – Simon & ERYONE—a granny, a child, Schuster, $17.99 a poodle, a cat, and one little mouse—is too restless to sleep? Happy!, Pharrell Williams Children who grew up listening “Clap along if you feel like a to The Napping Housewill want to read this room without a roof! Clap brand new sequel to children of their own. along if you feel like happiness Like the original, this is a perfect book for is the truth!” Fans of Williams’ sharing aloud. – Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, toe-tapping chart-topping song $17.99 “Happy!” may also enjoy his Waiting, Kevin Henkes picture book of the same name. Photographs and illustrations ac- A new picture book by Kevin company the song’s upbeat lyrics. Henkes (Lilly’s Purple Plastic – Putnam, $19.99 Purse) is always a cause for cel- ebration. The story inWaiting is Color Dog, Matthew Van quiet—maybe too quiet. Five toys Fleet, photography by sit by a window and observe the Brian Stanton world outside. But Henkes’ pastel Could there be a more illustrations are too good to miss. entertaining way to teach –Greenwillow, $17.99 toddlers their colors than Holey Moley, Lois Ehlert by showing them amus- ing pictures of dogs? ANSWER: No. (Obv.) At 80 years of age, Lois Ehlert And when the book featuring all those amusing is still creating colorful, tac- pictures is also interactive, you have a surefire hit tile books for children. Holey on your hands. – Simon & Schuster, $19.99 Moley, the story of a mole searching for a new home, Imagine a World, Rob Gonsalves showcases Ehlert’s trademark “Imagine a world . . . where the interest in the natural world, beauty that has fallen can find a as well as her bright and bold collages. –Simon way to fly.” With its surreal im- & Schuster, $17.99 ages and sentiments, Gonsalves’s Poppy’s Best Paper, Susan Eaddy, illustrated new companion picture book by Rosalinda Bonnet to his previous titles (Imagine a Place, Imagine a Night, Imagine Anybody who has ever written a Day) fits nicely into the Pic- a paper will recognize herself ture-Books-For-Adults category. This beautiful or himself in Poppy, who does book is worth a second and third look. – Simon everything short of settling & Schuster, $17.99 down to work on an assigned essay. The problem is that Poppy wants to be a writer when she

17 Children’s Nonfiction by Margaret Brennan Neville

How Machines Work: Zoo Break!, all over the world—including Chicago and a gig with Al Capone. David Macaulay But his most famous con was selling the Eiffel Tower. Unbelievably Macaulay brings his famous touch to this entertaining, proving again that you can’t make this stuff up! Pizzoli interactive look at how to escape from the uses a mixed media art format that is both entertaining and unusual. zoo, which is also a funny and interesting – Penguin, $17.99 (7 and up) device to explore construction, or in this Hiawatha and the Peacemaker, Robbie case de-construction of buildings and ob- Robertson, illustrated by David Shannon jects. The book has lots of moving parts, The story of Hiawatha is moving and including gears, levers, flaps, pop-ups, evocative; Robertson tells it with great and hidden surprises throughout. – DK, reverence. The Iroquois set an unprec- $19.99 (7 and up) edented example, showing how different Creaturepedia: Welcome to the Greatest tribes, different people, can work for Show on the Earth, Adriennne Barman peace. Picture book fans will recognize This is a playful animal book organized the colorful and dynamic work of David by categories like “The Big-Eared Beasts,” Shannon which brings the story to life. I “The Fierce,” and “The Pretty-in-Pinks.” love the art! – Abrams, $19.99 (8 and up) Drawings that are colorful and eye-catch- It’s Your World: Get Informed Get In- ing will give readers something to com- spired & Get Going, Chelsea Clinton ment on on every page. With very few Clinton starts with the premise that every words it manages to be entertaining and child, every individual can change the witty; it is also very nicely put together world. The book is set up like the sub title: too, and works for all ages! – Wide Eyed first information, then inspiration, then Editions, $22.99 (5 and up) concrete ideas on how to affect change. Koala Hospital, Suzi Eszterhas Some of the subjects Clinton covers in- Fans of A Little Book of Sloth will be clude poverty, education, gender equality thrilled by Koala Hospital. Eszterhas, and global warming. Very readable and who has been photographing wildlife constructive. Clinton has a strong com- all her life, explores the world of koalas passionate voice. We have signed copies at and the dangers that man has intro- the bookstore! – Penguin, $18.99 (10 and up) duced into that world. The photographs Big Top Burning, Laura A. Woollett are endearing and the narrative will A nonfiction retelling of the Ringling make readers want to do anything they Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus fire can to help the koalas. Part of the proceeds of the book go to the in Hartford, Connecticut, on July 6, 1944, preservation of this fascinating species. – Owlkids, $17.95 (7 and up) this book follows individual circus attend- A Friend for Lakota, Jim and ees, some of whom lived, and the 167 who Jamie Dutcher did not make it out of the circus tent. The Lakota is at the bottom of his pack, and author explains the ongoing detective and things look pretty bad until his older forensics studies. Readers will be swept sibling Matsi sticks up for him, and La- away by this interesting depiction of life kota has a chance to grow up. Lakota and and disaster in middle-class America his wolf pack are found in the Sawtooth during the 1940s. – Becky Hall, Chicago Mountains where the Dutchers have been Review Press, $18.95 (Ages 10 and up) following them for more than six years. Lincoln’s Spymaster, Samantha Seiple Informative and insightful, this books explores the dynamics of a Most readers know that Abraham Lincoln wolf pack, and the accompanying photographs bring the story to life. was assassinated. What many readers – National Geographic, $16.99 (7 and up) do NOT know is that there were ear- Tricky Vic: The Impossibly True Story of lier attempts on his life. In one of them the Man Who Sold the Eiffel Tower, Allan Pinkerton and his staff changed Greg Pizzoli the course of the Civil War. Seiple starts Robert Miller, who was born in 1890 in this biography with that startling story. the Czech Republic, would not be Robert Pinkerton, who left England because he Miller for very long. A precocious, smart was in trouble with the law himself, was a kid, he turned into a famous con man smart and wily detective. He needed all of whose exploits casued him to change those talents when he was chasing gangs his name more than once and took him and robbers—not to mention saving the life of the President! A fast- paced adventure, this is all true! – Scholastic, $17.99 (10 and up) 18 Children’s Nonfiction Middle Reader by Margaret Brennan Neville and Becky Hall This Side of Wild, Gary Paulsen The Marvels, Brian Selznick We know Gary Paulsen is an outdoors- man. We know he is an animal lover. We Selznick does it again, this time in a also know he is a storyteller. In his new combination of art and narrative that, book, he tells us the real-life stories that unlike Wonderstruck, starts and ends are fodder for his fiction, claiming that with Selznick’s trademark drawings. The the animals he has known have taught time is 1766, and a shipwreck, a dragon, him lessons and made him a better per- an angel, a vibrant theater, immediately son,. My favorite is the story of Gretchen, draw the reader in. Decades later we the dog who truly communicated with meet Joseph, running away from school, him. If you love animals, you will love desperately hoping that the uncle he has these stories. – Becky Hall, Simon and never met will help him. This is ultimately Schuster, $16.99 (10 and up) a story about running away and finding more than you could ever have imagined. When the Earth Shakes, Simon It is tender and full of hope and heart. Selznick is a genius. – Scholas- Winchester tic, $32.99 (9 and up) When the earth moves—whether The Thing about Jellyfish, Ali Benjamin due to earthquakes, volcanoes or tsunamis—terrible things happen. After her best friend dies, Suzy quits talk- Winchester brings all of his experi- ing. There has to be an explanation, and ence (Krakatoa, The Man who Loved she starts trying to figure out the reason. China) to the task of presenting this That’s when she discovers that jellyfish information in a thoughtful and acces- sting more people than anyone knows— sible way. Illustrations and photographs support the strong narrative something that could be the answer as her in a book that is both a historical and geographical look at the move- quest to understand Franny’s death first ments of the earth. – Penguin, $18.99 (11 and up) closes off her world and then, surpris- ingly, opens it back up. This is a book that Symphony for the City of the Dead: Dmi- feels totally authentic. I loved it. – Little tri Shostakovich and the Siege of Lenin- Brown, $17 (9 and up) grad, M.T. Anderson The Blackthorn Key, Kevin Sands This biography follows the life story of famous Russian composer Dmitri This novel starts with the warning “do not Shostakovich. His genius and his talent try this at home,” definitely motivation to showed up when he was very young, and keep reading! Debut author Kevin Sands the worldwide attention his work at- does not disappoint. Christopher was tracted probably saved his life. Against literally saved from the short life of an the backdrop of 20th century violent war- orphan by Master Benedict and his need ridden Russia, Shostakovich survived in for an apprentice. Learning how to be an a page-turner ideal for readers who love apothecary is fraught with perils, and in history, WWII, music and great narrative, this case the political ones are even riskier whether young or old. Definitely one of my favorite books of the year. than making gunpowder. When Master – Candlewick Press, $24.99 (12 and up) Benedict is murdered, Christopher and his friend Tom are in more danger than The Boy Who Fell Off the Mayflower or they know. Solving the mystery of the murder takes cunning, daring John Howland’s Good Fortune, P.J. Lynch and a bit of luck. Part adventure, part mystery, part history, this is a Lynch, much beloved for his illustrations very satisfying read. – Aladdin, $17.99 (10-14) in The Christmas Miracle of Jonathon The Entirely True Story of the Unbeliev- Toomey, shares with readers the true able Fib, Adam Shaughnessy story of John Howland, who actually fell off the Mayflower. This incredible tale, Prudence might be the only person who combined with Lynch’s masterful, com- could actually see the mysterious invi- pelling artwork, make for a standout in narrative nonfiction. Lynch tation, and it might be the only good brings the teenage boy to life as he leaves family and England, en- thing in her life right now. Her quaint dures the long grim boat ride and undergoes the extreme hard work New England town is covered by dark, of surviving—and finally, chooses his own future. Readers, young and foreboding clouds that are not moving. old alike, will see the seeds of America in Howland’s story. This is the Her teacher saddles her with the new first book in which Lynch is both author and illustrator. Can’t wait to kid, ABE, and a stranger is asking them see what he does next. – Candlewick Press, $17.99 (any age) to help find magical creatures. All of a 19 Middle Reader sudden they are forced to decide if they believe in magic! An ancient Diary of a Mad Brownie, Bruce Coville connection to the Vikings and their gods turns out to be more real Angus Cairns, a brownie who is bound by than Pru and ABE could have guessed; they’re challenged at every a curse to continue serving the McGona- turn. Clever and smart, fast-paced, this book will not only have read- gall family, must travel from Scotland to ers turning pages, but also searching for Norse myths. Great start for the USA to find his new human. After a new author Adam Shaughnessy! – Algonquin, $16.96 (9-12) harrowing journey (involving a selkie) he Adam & Thomas, Aharon Appelfeld finds Alex, who turns out to be the messi- Adam and his mother walk into the forest est kid ever. But Angus is committed to at sunrise. The last thing she says before being the best brownie which involves she leaves him is, “Don’t be afraid. You cleaning up, playing tricks and trying to know our forest very well and everything keep the other part of the curse secret. that’s in it. I’ll try very hard to come this Told in diary and letter form, this novel is evening.” She does not return. Adam funny, full of magical creatures, part fam- and another student from school, both ily, part adventure, all adding up to a romp. Bruce Coville continues 9-year-old Jewish boys in World War II, to surprise and delight readers. – Random House, $16.99 (8 and up) are alone and must learn to exist in the The Tale of Rescue, Michael J. Rosen, forest. The voice in this beautiful tome illustrated Stan Fellows is innocent and hopeful. It breaks your Dog lovers of all ages will be thrilled with heart and lifts your soul. – Seven Stories Rosen’s new book about a farm dog, a Press, $18.95 (8-12) heeler, who rescues a stranded family. The Rules for Stealing Stars, Corey Ann family, from Florida, is up in Vermont Haydu to experience the cold and the snow, but Home life is not good for Priscilla and her when the blizzard starts and they cannot three older sisters. Their mom is falling find their way to shelter, things get very apart again, and their dad can’t remember scary. Interesting writing and rich art anything. When the girls discover the give this story some heft not usually seen magic world in their closets, they at first in novels this size! – Candlewick Press, think it’s a comfort. But the magic comes $14.99 (9 and up) with a price. Priscilla has to believe in My Diary from the Edge of the World, herself, share the truth and find the magic Jodi Lynn Anderson in other places too. This novel takes on Gracie’s world, full of dragons, mermaids, serious issues but leaves readers with giants, and lost souls, seems familiar to hope! I loved the intersection of real life her. Until a Black Cloud appears. She and magic. – Harper, $16.99 (10 and up) and her family flee, trying desperately to stay ahead of the Black Cloud because it means that someone in her family is go- MIDDLE READER ing to die. This tale about Gracie’s attempt STOCKING STUFFERS to save her little brother ends being much more—an unlikely adventure/fantasy Echo, Pam Muñoz Ryan wrapped up in tender awareness of family and what is truly important in family life. Rain, Reign, Ann M. Martin – Simon & Schuster (9 and up) Gregor the Overlander, Suzanne Collins The One and Only Ivan, Katherine Applegate Ivy Takes Care, Rosemary Wells This book is a remake of the Newbery Award winner. The oversized full-color edition has larger print and the original illustrations have added color. The story of Ivan was inspired by the real life Shop- ping Mall Gorilla. – Harper, $24.99 (Ages 8-12)

20 Young Adult by Margaret Brennan Neville

Friends for Life, Andrew Norriss kidnapping someone from the depths of the most ferocious kingdom, Francis is the kind of kid who gets bullied enlists the help of an unlikely group of fellow untouchables. This in middle school. He has learned to hide novel is fast-paced, its world is complex, and the characters are fully his love of fashion and designing clothes. developed. It is an adventure, a fantasy and even a bit of a romance. Avoiding trouble, he eats his lunch alone The only criticism I have is that it had to end, and I have to wait until on the playground until he meets Jessica. next year for the sequel. – Henry Holt, $18.99 (12 and up) She needs a friend too but for different Trouble is a Friend of Mine, reasons. She is a ghost. These two are Stephanie Tromly joined by another boy and girl who are Zoe’s life has changed because of her par- also friendless. The question they all ask ents’ divorce. When Digby shows up on though is Why is Jessica still on earth? her front porch, she knows he’s trouble, They know ghosts usually appear if there but she can’t seem to say no to him—es- is some kind of unfinished business. What pecially because she realizes that his fam- is it that Jessica needs to do? – David Fickling Books, $17.99 (8-12) ily situation is worse than hers. Tromly The Accident Season, Moira Fowley- (an INDIES INTRODUCE author!) has Doyle written a mystery/adventure with quirky Every October Cara and her family are characters who do not like each other, subject to accidents, injuries, even death. but still click, in some weird ways. This is Family curse or coincidence, no one really what a YA book should be—smart, funny, knows or cares to investigate. Cara, deal- surprising, and a terrific read! – Penguin, $17.99 (12 and up) ing with all the typical high school issues, Court of Fives, Kate Elliott gets swept up in the disappearance of her Jessamy is stuck between two worlds; classmate, Elsie. And to tempt the fates she’s not a Patron and not really a com- she and her siblings are going to throw moner either, and when her father’s status the most outrageous Halloween party changes, her life becomes much harder. ever. It is clear that this October is going She does have a talent that could make to be different. Mystery, infused with a difference to her family. She has been magical realism and self-realization tinged with a touch of romance, sneaking out to train for the Fives (think this book has a moody, dark feel to it, peppered with moments of American Ninja Warrior here!). But her color and light. Fowley-Doyle turns this October tale appropriately efforts are complicated by feelings for set in Ireland, into the must-read book of the fall! I couldn’t put it another trainee. Elliott has done of a great down. – Kathy Dawson Books, $17.99 (16 and up) job of creating a strong female lead who The Hired Girl, Laura Amy Schlitz has to be competitive and strong. – Little I was surprised by this novel. Janet is a Brown, $18 (12 and up) runaway, from a terrible home/father. Nightfall, Jake Halpern and With support from her deceased and Peter Kujawinski much-loved mother, Janet manages to Because the “Long Night” is coming. escape and ends up a servant in a strict Marin, along with her family, is getting Jewish household in Baltimore. Janet’s ready to leave the only home she has story is complicated by her lies, her age, known. She, her brother Kane and her her religion, her naivety. The Rosenbach’s friend Line do not understand why they household is so different from anything have to leave the island, or the curious, she has known before. I loved the com- downright weird preparations the adults plexities of are taking. But when they are accidentally her exploration of Judaism. Janet loves to left behind, they find out. The island’s true read, and references to her beloved stories occupants are on a rampage to reclaim are scattered throughout the novel! New- their homes and get rid of any trace of bery winner Schlitz portrays the strug- the humans. Marin and the boys must risk life and limb to find a gling 14-year-old serving girl perfectly. boat and flee this horror. Great story and clever plotting make this a – Candlewick Press, $17.99 (12 and up) thriller you will not put down. – Penguin, $17.99 (12 and up) Six of Crows, Leigh Bardugo Dumplin’, Julie Murphy Bardugo’s (Shadow and Bone) fan base Willowdean Dickinson, affectionately nicknamed Dumplin’ by her is going to get a lot bigger with her new former beauty queen mother, is a fat girl who refuses to apologize for novel; it grabs readers from the very first her existence—or her size. Sharp-witted and heartbreakingly funny, page. Kaz Brekker, who is offered a job Dumplin’ is for any girl who has ever felt too fat, too ugly, or not 21 Young Adult

good enough. Dumplin’ speaks from the A Madness So Discreet, Mindy McGinnis soul and she’s perfect. Grace was sent to an insane asylum by – Rachel Haisley, Balzer+Bray, $17.99 (14 her father, a terrible punishment that is and up) pushing her literally to the brink of mad- 13 Days of ness. Her rescue comes when the attend- Midnight, ing doctor realizes that her potential, her Leo Hunt mind, is not completely gone. He offers a Luke’s father way out but payment is helping him with passed away, his detective work as a criminal psycholo- leaving him a gist. This is a Gothic mystery set in the “Host” and a 19th century featuring a strong female locked copy lead. Compelling read! – Harper, $17.99 of “The Book of Eight.” Turns out that (14 and up) means eight demons are now at his beck The Appearance of Annie Van Sinderen, and call, sort of. Luke needs to kick the Katherine Howe demons out of his house, send them back Howe (Conversion) again combines an to hell, and find his mother. Although historical moment with modern sensibili- he manages to get a little bit of help from classmate Elza, he has no ties. Wes has just arrived at NYU for a idea how to take on this new role of necromancer—but if he does not summer term on filmmaking. While help- figure it out quickly the world will be a much scarier place. Set in a ing a fellow classmate film a séance, he small town in England, this novel is atmospheric, moves very quickly, meets Annie who is beautiful, provoca- and is just scary enough! – Candlewick Press, $13 (14 and up) tive, but somehow ‘off.’ Annie’s search for Stone Rider, David Hofmeyr a lost ring is only part of Wes’s desire to In Adam’s world, a world everyone wants help her; he has never met anyone like her to get out of, the only way to escape is on before. Part mystery, part historical fic- a motorcycle. Adam thinks he can win tion, part romance, two stories are wound the Blackwater Trail race, a brutal, harsh, together in a fascinating and compelling way. This is a page-turner test of all the riders’ abilities and their aimed at sophisticated readers. – Penguin, $18.99 (14 and up) equipment. Such races are performances The Truth Commission, Susan Juby or contests for the Watchers, a fact that Three friends, juniors at an exclusive art gives Stone Rider a dark dystopic feel. Set academy, form the Truth Commission. in a perpetually dry dusty environment, Normandy, Dusk and Neil decide that the book has a Western flavor but with knowing the real story is best, but that a biomechanical bike instead of horses. comes back to haunt them when some- Non-stop action, strong story, and an ap- one turns the table, pushing them to look pealing girl add up to an entertaining read. – Random, $18.99 at their own lives. Normandy tells the (14 and up) story, drawing readers into her life. The narrative is accentuated with text mes- sages, footnotes, comments to her writing YOUNG ADULT teacher, and an occasional illustration STOCKING STUFFERS (these are art students!). Revealing secrets and feelings is harder than anyone thought but on the upside the consequences are better than An Ember in the Ashes, Sabaa Tahir anyone could imagine. Friendship, family, loss, and potential are all part of the story. Readers will laugh and cry over this smart, witty, I Am Princess X, Cherie Priest very real book. – Penguin, $18.99 (14 and up) Steelheart and Firefight, Brandon Sanderson Nimona, Noelle Stevenson Shortlisted for the 2015 NBA Young Adult Literature prize, Nimona started as a web- comic. In book format this graphic novel is a blast to read, a romp that puts science fiction into a medieval setting and mixes up good and bad guys. Nimona pushes herself onto Ballister as his sidekick—and when he finds out she is a shapeshifter, the ongoing duel with Goldenloin shifts! I can’t wait to read the next one. – Harper, $12.99 22 (12 and up) Forthcoming Next Year or Beloved in the Past: The Best Books to Begin 2016

is forced to spend a couple of weeks with a veteran who can’t come to MIDDLE READER terms with her own life. Meanwhile, Pax must learn to survive in the wild, a far more difficult task. In alternating voices, Peter and Pax tell Salt to the Sea, Ruta Sepetys (January) their stories of abandonment and struggle, and also expose the reader to an intimate and terrible view of war. You have to read this novel to Most readers know the big story of experience its power. The ending will surprise readers, and the book WWII, but it is the individual voices that will inspire countless conversations. – Margaret Brennan Neville, we remember. Ruta Sepetys proved this Harper, $16.99 (8-12) with her brilliant first book,Between Shades of Gray. In her new novel she puts Summerlost, Ally Condie (March) faces on a tragedy that few people know Cedar Lee, her mother and brother Miles about, the 1945 sinking of the Wilhelm have moved to a new summer home in Gustloff in the Baltic Sea. In multiple Iron Creek hoping to heal after Cedar’s voices, Sepetys slowly and carefully father and special-needs brother were reveals the individual stories of the war as killed in a car accident. Cedar gets a job, thousands of people run from the Russian a new friend and a mystery to solve as her army and the horrific devastation they family forges a new life as a threesome. wreak. Joanna, a nurse in training and This is tender, at times funny and always Florian, an art preserver, are the anchors, struggling to survive and thought-provoking. Ally Condie has to get everyone in the group to the coast. The minor characters, the moved into middle grade with a beautiful cobbler and the little boy, Ingrid the blind girl add a poignant depth. new story. – Becky Hall, Dutton, $17.99 They and thousands of other refugees are hoping there is room on a (10 and up) ship that will take them even farther away from Stalin’s rampage. One of Sepetys’s strengths is her inclusion of details that give her work such authenticity. Everything from the Amber Room to the earless FICTION rabbit adds up to one of the most powerful books I have read in a long time, a story infused with hope. – Margaret Brennan Neville, Your Heart Is a Muscle the Size of a Fist, Philomel, $18.99 Sunil Yapa A Night Divided, Jennifer Nielsen Victor, who has been roaming the world (January) since he was 16, is back in Seattle, living beneath an underpass. It’s 1999 and the When the Soviets erect the Berlin Wall, World Trade Organization protests are Gerta’s life changes dramatically. Her just beginning; what happens during that family is now divided because her dad violent, world-changing day is told from and middle brother are on the West side his point of view, from that of his father, and cannot come home. Everywhere she who is the Chief of Police, and from that turns the guns are pointing at her and her of two other members of the police force, friends. Doesn’t everyone want to escape? a Sri-Lankan diplomat, and two protesters Is she the only one who wants to be free? who believe in non-violence. The action When she spots her dad on the other side is propulsive, the mix of perceptions and doing a strange dance, Gerta thinks there of warring impulses creates visceral tension, and the philosophical might be an opportunity, although she questions surrounding WTO, both globally and domestically, are and her brother will have to take some very scary chances. Nielsen fascinating. Yapa’s debut novel brims with compassion for the worst does a great job showing readers how repressive East Berlin must of its characters and asks the unanswerable questions at the heart of have been in a book that shows off her storytelling skills in a compel- our existence. – Betsy Burton, Lee Boudreaux Books, $26 ling way. – Margaret Brennan Neville, Scholastic, $16.99 (10 and up) The Guest Room, Chris Bohjalian Pax, Sara Pennypacker, illustrated by (January) Jon Klassen (February) Bohjalian again draws on his Armenian Pax is a thoughtful, tender novel about ancestry to highlight a contemporary di- a boy who knows right from wrong and lemma. Young girls are kidnapped from a pet that knows all humans are not bad. Armenia by Russians and turned into Peter’s young life takes a turn for the sex slaves; three of these young women worse when his father, who is going to eventually brought to New York City from join the military, forces him to give up his Moscow, create mayhem, murder and beloved pet fox, Pax. Left at his grumpy treachery within the family of Richard grandfather’s house with no hope of any and Kristin Chapman and their 9-year comfort, Peter knows he must find Pax. old daughter, Melissa. At a bachelor His quest takes an unusual turn when he 23 FICTION party gone horribly wrong, events occur swiftly; in their wake none Free Men, Katy Simpson Smith of those attending or their families would ever be the same in this (February) page-turner which examines moral consequences. –Sue Fleming, In 1788 three men meet in the southern Doubleday, $26.95 woods of what is now Alabama: Cat, an Fallen Land, Taylor Brown (January) emotionally scarred white man from During the Civil War years, Callum, a South Carolina on the run after abandon- 12-year-old Irish immigrant-turned- ing his home; Bob, a black man fleeing horse-thief, and Ava, a 16-year-old slavery on a Pensacola sugar plantation; survivor of the latest raid on her home- and Istillicha, a Creek Indian edged out stead by both blue and gray coats, team of leadership in his village and bound by up to outdistance bounty hunters and honor to seek retribution. In the few days independent marauders. Their trail moves they spend together they commit a shock- through the Blue Ridge Mountains of ing murder and are thereafter tracked North Carolina into Georgia where Sher- by a Frenchman, Le Clere. Each of these four men tells his story in man has recently marched, burning much this historic novel based upon actual events. – Sue Fleming, Harper, of the country. During these final years $26.99 of war two outcasts are attempting the impossible—to survive and perhaps find a home. – Sue Fleming, St. MYSTERY/THRILLER Martin’s Press, $25.99 Thirteen Ways of Looking At a Fat Girl, Real Tigers, Mick Herron (January) Mona Awad (February) Slough House is a dumping ground for Sluiced with the acid of irony, awash many a bumbling intelligence agent, and with humor and peppered with angst, River Carter has earned his place in the Mona Awad’s short story collection, midst of these so called “slow horses.” It Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl, is not that the slow horses have any great is a 13-part wonder. As Awad pulls us love for each other, but when one of their into the existence of Lizzie, a girl who midst is kidnapped, their loyalty emerges. weighs more than she wants to and later a The leader of this strange bunch, Jackson woman who diets obsessively, we see her Lamb, realizes that they are caught in the from inside and from outside—from the midst of a power struggle in the higher ways she sees herself to the ways others echelon of the security services. He gath- see her, to, most tellingly, the ways that ers them together and spurs them into a she supposes others see her. The 13 tales, linked chronologically, form strange, disjointed action: In order to free their comrade, they must a near-novel as the protagonist comes of age binging on food and sex steal into the secure world of Regent’s Park, headquarters of the secu- and sadness, working her way toward self-knowledge the hard way. rity service. Herron has an irreverent style and a jaded view of MI5 As the pounds come and go, Lizzie makes us laugh and cringe and and the world of spies and secrecy. This is book three in theSlough cry at her all-too-familiar self-doubt in a multi-part tale of lust and House series, and readers who became enamored of River and the longing and confusion, of eating and losing and learning to love— other second-rate spies will enjoy the further adventures of the “slow oneself most of all. Told with an effective juxtaposition of the carnal horses.” – Wendy Foster Leigh, Soho Press, $26.95 and the absurd, caustic hostility and hidden sadness, scenes that shock and understated descriptions, this is the stuff of real talent, an NONFICTION astonishing debut. – Betsy Burton, Penguin, $16 The Knife, Ross Ritchell (February) The Road to Little Dribbling, Bill Bryson (January) Ritchell taps his personal experience as a former member of the 75th Ranger It has been 20 years since Bryson wrote Regiment, a U.S. Special Operations Notes on a Small Island, a travel narrative Command direct-action team, in this, his of Great Britain. Now a newly proclaimed first novel. Reminiscent of Tim O’Brien’s British citizen (proudly holding both Vietnam novel The Things They Carried American and British citizenship), he and of the more recent Redeployment by embarks once more on a quest to find the Phil Klay, it tells the tale of five men with best and worst of England along what he a special ops squadron. The “forever war” has dubbed “The Bryson Line,” traveling they are inserted into time and again is so south from Bognor Regis to the northern authentic and so heartbreaking it leaves tip of Scotland, Cape Wrath. With his one breathless. Readers will not look at matchless instinct for the funniest and the news headlines the same again. – Sue Fleming, Blue Rider Press, $16 quirkiest and his unerring eye for the idiotic, the bewildering and the 24 NONFICTION ridiculous, he offers acute and perceptive insights into all that is the husband to cancer. Lyrical and poetic, often hilarious, this is one of best and worst of Britain today. An absolute must for the Anglophile the sweetest of literary works I have enjoyed for some time. or anyone who might consider traveling to our “Mother Country.” – Sue Fleming, Ecco, $24.99 – Sue Fleming, Doubleday, $28.95 Dead Presidents, Brady Carlson When Breath Becomes Air, Paul (February) Kalanithi (January) Carlson is a humorous writer, sort of a Doctors are supposed to be invincible. Bill Bryson-lite, and his book is chock full They are supposed to have all the answers of interesting bits of history and wacky to all our problems. We go to them to happenings associated with the mortal enter this world, leave it, and for about remains of the dead American presidents. everything in between. In this memoir, He groups them into such categories as: an aspiring young resident, Dr. Paul well-liked during life; rich or poor when Kalanithi, must come to terms with his they died; died in office, etc. He then -re own mortality as he is diagnosed with searches and visits the final resting place cancer in the midst of a neurosurgical of each and answers age-old questions residency. It is a lovely piece about life, like ‘who is buried in Grant’s Tomb” and death, passion, and love. I highly recom- who died of poisoning? This is an easy read for the person who wants mend this book for anyone who loves the writing of Atul Gawande to go beyond what is written in our history books about our presi- and Abraham Verghese. It’s also an important read for everyone who dents. – Patrick Fleming, Norton, $26.95 is interested in medicine and literature. – Rosie Neville, Random Mesa of Sorrows, James F. Brooks House, $25 (February) The Sound of Gravel, Ruth Wariner The Anglo understanding of the history (January) of the Pueblo is clouded at best. The Hopi “I am my mother’s fourth child and my and Zuni are very protective of their father’s thirty-ninth.” So begins this history and culture as well they should powerful memoir of a woman who grew be. Then add in the Spanish Conquista- up in a fundamentalist Mormon family. dors’ savage pacification of these Pueblo Her father was the son of Alma LeBaron, Indians and you get a perfect mystery, full who founded the Colony of LeBaron of conjecture about what really happened in the Mexican desert south of El Paso. at this pueblo on Antelope Mesa. Brooks Ruth, her mother, and an ever-increasing is an academic and weaves a tale based on number of siblings, lived in an adobe folklore and science to help us under- house with no electricity or running stand the events on this isolated Arizona mesa in 1700, illuminating water. Within the polygamist community, service to the church and another consequence of European conquest of North America. Great to a husband who may or may not have provided for his family took for anyone interested in the history of the Southwest. precedence over any individual desires, especially if you were female. – Patrick Fleming, Norton, $26.95 That Ruth not only survived but flourished as she ultimately took responsibility for her younger siblings is remarkable. Her memoir is a tribute to a young woman’s determined sense of self despite almost unsurmountable odds against her. Fascinating. – Barbara Hoagland, For the Flatiron, $27.99 Moby Dick Thomas Murphy, Roger Rosenblatt Enthusiasts (January) Thomas Murphy—poet, singer of the oldies, friend of the down-and-out, card shark, raconteur, piano bar player, bon vi- vant, and all-around good guy—contem- plates his sunset years. Through stream- of-consciousness, he relives his boyhood on Inishmaan, a small rocky island off the west coast of Ireland; his adult years in his beloved New York City; his avoidance of a neurologist (a visit insisted upon by his daughter who is convinced he is losing his mind); and his uncanny but timely meeting with Sarah, a blind woman who will soon lose her

25 Forthcoming Next Year or Beloved in the Past: The Best Books to Begin 2016

And for those who would like to sit down with an old and cherished friend, here are TKE’s old loves revisited each month as promised, along with the Indie Next Backlist picks for January and February:

Indie Next Backlist Titles for January Indie Next Backlist Titles for February Plainsong, Kent Haruf The Fire Next Time, James Baldwin Cutting for Stone, Abraham Verghese Nickel & Dimed, Barbara Ehrenreich The Devil’s Highway, Luis Alberto Urrea A Fine Balance, Rohinton Mistry

TKE January Backlist Titles TKE February Backlist Titles Two Old Women, Velma Wallis Of Love and Shadows, Isabel Allende Old School, Tobias Wolf Stoner, John Williams Tracks, Louise Erdrich The Second Coming, Walker Percy Lying Awake, Mark Salzman Three Weeks in December, Audry Schulman The Air We Breathe, Andrea Barrett World’s Fair, E.L. Doctorow

A Selection of Signed Copies

We are fortunate this season to have an abundance of signed books for your holiday gift-giving. Call or visit us online to see these authors and many more.

Bonnie Jo Campbell Valynne Maetani Ann Cannon Sally Mann Julie Checkoway Jennifer Nielsen Jennifer Choldenko David Pace Frank Cole Jean Reagan James Dashner Brian Selznik John Flanagan Clare VanderPool Jessica Day George Rosemary Wells Chris Grabenstein Brooke Williams Lily Havey Terry Tempest Laura Kohler Williams

26 WHAT OUR BOOK CLUBS ARE READING NOW All are open to the public and meet at the bookshop unless otherwise noted.

ARMCHAIR TRAVEL MYSTERY at U of Utah. Contact Barbara Ban- 3rd Tuesday of the month, 7 p.m. non, 801-583-4289 November: The Hidden Child, Ca- November: All the Light We Cannot milla Lackberg (Sweden) See, Anthony Doerr December: The Ides of April, Lindsey Davis (Rome) ROZ READS! January: Minotaur, Barbara Vine Last Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday (Essex) of the month at 7 p.m. See www.roz- February: Murder at Cape Three reads.com for details. $10 per evening Points, Kwei Quartey (Ghana) paid to Roz March: Speakers of the Dead, November: Nora Webster, J. Aaron Sanders (New York City) Colm Tóibin December: Holiday Break BRIAN SHORT BOOK CLUB January: Americanah, Chimamanda 2nd Tuesday of the month, 7 p.m. Ngozi Adichie, Part 1 November: The Life We Bury, February: Americanah, Chimam- Allen Eskens anda Ngozi Adichie, Part 2 December: Endurance, March: Lila, Marilynne Robinson Alfred Lansing SLC LESBIAN BOOK CLUB INSIGHTS TO CONSERVATION 1st Wednesday of the month, 7 p.m. BOOK CLUB at TKE. Contact: Nicki Hill nickihi@ 1st Tuesday of the month, 6:30 p.m. gmail.com November: Canyon Sacrifice, November: Apocalypse Baby, Vir- Scott Graham ginie Despentes December: Howl, Susan Imhoff Bird December: Holiday Break January: The Last Report on the GAY MEN’S BOOK CLUB Miracles at Little No Horse, Louise 3rd Wednesday of the month, 6 p.m. Erdrich at Sprague Library February: Holding Still for as Long November: The Stupidest Angel, as Possible, Zoe Whittall Christopher Moore March: Sub Rosa, Amber Dawn December: Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell SLOW FOOD UTAH BOOK CLUB Open to the public; 3rd Wednesday MARGARET’S BOOK CLUB every other month; visit slowfoodu- 2nd Monday of the month; 7 p.m., $5 tah.org for more details. per evening paid to Margaret November: Savor, Kate Harrington November: Euphoria, Lily King December: Bread, Wine, Chocolate: December: Holiday Break The Slow Loss of Foods We Love, January: Northanger Abbey, Jane Simran Sethi Austen January: Julia’s Chocolates, Cathy February: The Power and the Glory, Lamb Graham Greene March: City of Thieves, David Benioff YOUNG ADULT 2nd Wednesday of the month, 7 p.m. NEWMAN CENTER November: I’ll Give You the Sun, Meets monthly at the Newman Center Jandy Nelson December: Holiday Break

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Join us for your holiday shopping!

HOLIDAY OPEN HOUSE Dec. 4th 6-9PM Featuring all of our talented artists. 15% OFF gifts and accessories.

INKSLINGER’S INKSLINGERS Hilary Dudley Rachel Haisley Anne Holman Anne Brillinger Anne Stewart Mark Rob Eckman Becky Hall Wendy Foster Leigh Betsy Burton Rosie Neville Patrick Fleming Deon Hilger Paula Longhurst Ann Cannon Margaret Brennan Neville Sue Fleming Barbara Hoagland Kenneth Loosli

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