NEW: Expanded Graphic Novel Section!

From Sarah: We’ve recently expanded our graphic novels selection and now offer a range of great choice for adults and children. Comics, memoirs, fiction and fantasy, graphic novels come in a great variety of topics and elevate the reading experience to a new level by using images and words. If you haven’t discovered this literary medium before, they is something for everyone’s taste. For first timers, I suggest checking out Ghost World. [Ed. note: I concur. And Watchmen will blow your mind.] This was the first graphic novel I ever read and has cemented me as a life long lover of the medium. Exploring the themes of friendship and girlhood, this comical portrayal what it is like to be a young woman coming of age is this generation’s Catcher in the Rye.

Click here to reserve/order a copy.

Karen Hesse’s Safekeeping

From Sarah: Karen Hesse (Hardcover, Release date 9/18, $17.99) One of the best YA novels I have read, probably ever. The main character, Radley, goes to Haiti to do relief work, but when she comes back to America, she is welcomed with the news that the president has been assassinated and a fringe political party has taken over. Confronted with harsh government crack down, Radley must travel on foot to make it back home in Vermont. An eerie image of what could be, this novel is complex, exciting and an interesting examination of how radicalism and unrest can change a country. If you love dystopian fiction, thrillers, or just great writing, you will love it. Plus, the prose is accompanied by Hesse’s beautiful photography which adds another layer of depth.

Click here to reserve/order a copy.

Carol Rifka Brunt’s Tell the Wolves I’m Home

From Sarah: Tell The Wolves I’m Home by Carol Rifka Brunt (Hardcover, $25.00) This book made me laugh, cry, angry, smile, but ultimately warmed my heart and left me admiring the power of the human spirit. In her debut novel, Brunt intimately portrays the 1980’s AIDS epidemic through the eyes of a 14 year old girl growing up outside of NYC. A brilliant coming of age novel, it deals with a range of life lessons such as identity, family and loss. I found myself feeling what the main character, June, was feeling as she deals with issues of trust and acceptance. Beautiful and poignant!

Click here to reserve/order a copy.

Michael Poore’s Up Jumps the Devil

From Matt: I’m right in the middle of this one, but so far so good! As it turns out, the Devil (AKA John Scratch) isn’t so bad. Cut the guy some slack…after all, he is the world’s first love story and also its first broken heart. He also has a soft spot for the United States, which he sees as his pet nation. He inspired George Washington at the Battle of Trenton. He wagered (and lost) his soul to Ben Franklin. Most of all he wants America to do well, but is discovering that may not be so easy. At the halfway point, I’m enjoying this funny and entertaining work!

Click here to reserve/order a copy.

Donald Ray Pollack’s The Devil All the Time

From Matt: The Devil All the Time has been the best book I’ve read this year. [Ed. note: Sally’s sister Nancy loved this one too.] This is a novel composed of three vignettes which Pollock weaves effortlessly into a roaring orgy of murder, pain, hard times, and justice. First is the Russell family: Willard, Charlotte, and Arvin. Willard met Charlotte upon his return from the South Pacific after World War II. Together they had a son, Arvin, within whom Willard instills the virtues of faith, family, and justice. When Charlotte falls ill with cancer, Willard tries everything in his power to save her. Next are Carl and Sandy Henderson, a husband-and-wife duo of serial killers with a peculiar hobby. And then there are brothers Roy and Theodore, a pair of shysters on the lam. Pollock deftly brings these characters together with a tension that never stops. Even if you aren’t a fan of this genre, readers will appreciate Pollock’s formidable prose and his ability to distill evil into its truest form. This is a book you won’t forget.

Click here to reserve/order a copy.

Ron Rash’s The Cove

From Frank: Just like everyone in the store I loved The Cove by Ron Rash, Heading Out to Wonderful by Robert Goolrick, A Good American by Alex George, and A Land More Kind Than Home by Wiley Cash.

Click here to reserve/order a copy.

Maryann McFadden’s The Book Lover

From Frank: Maryann McFadden, author of The Richest Season, is back with her third novel about self publishing and book selling with all the twists of marriage, divorce and forbidden love. When Lucinda Barrett’s husband destroys their marriage in a shocking betrayal, she’s left with nothing but the shattered remnants of her life– and her novel. Desperate to keep one last dream alive, she sets out on a 1,000 mile journey to get it into the hands of readers– one bookstore at a time. Ruth Hardaway knows all about shattered dreams. For the last 30 years she’s devoted her life to her store, The Book Lover, trying to bury her painful past. When Ruth discovers Lucy’s novel, their lives intertwine as they move steadily toward the revelation of long-hidden secrets.

Click here to reserve/order a copy.

Robert Olmstead’s Coal Black Horse

From Frank: Robert Olmstead author of Coal Black Horse, one of my all time favorites, is back with a new novel The Coldest Night, in which he follows the third generation of this family to war and back. Henry Childs is just 17 when he falls into an intense love affair with Mercy, but when her father threatens his life, Henry runs as far as he can and enters combat at the height of the Korean War. Ask me for more. [Ed. note: I fully concur. Disclosure: another Algonquin novel. The war scenes in this novel are terrific, Tim O’Brien good.]

Click here to reserve/order a copy.

Dave Eggers’ A Hologram for the King

From Kate: McSweeney’s founder and brilliant writer of nonfiction and novels alike, Eggers’ newest foray into fiction oozes an evolved and polished style, laden with his signature commitment to discussing societal concerns that few are brave enough to tackle.

Click here to reserve/order a copy.