John’s Picks
The Traveler by John Twelve Hawks
This is an eerie futuristic novel that examines the potential direction of today’s “Big Brother” society. Slightly Sci-Fi and certainly not my usual cup of tea — The Traveler is written with page turning speed it is hard to put down. The correlations between today’s society and Hawks’ portrayal of the US are startling and frankly, a bit scaring. A joy to read — even if a bit out there.
Provincetown Follies Bangkok Blues by Randall Peffer
This is the second mystery I have read by local author and PA professor Randy Peffer. The last novel, Killing Neptunes Daughter, was gruesome, dark, and intriguing; this mystery is more interesting. Fascinating character Tuki Aparecio is framed for murder and arson — yet is one of P-Town’s headliners. Extrovert and performer on stage — Tuki is withdrawn and defenseless off the stage. It is up to lawyer Michael DeCastro to sort through Tuki’s past and get her off.
Riding with Rilke by Ted Bishop
This is a book for a particular audience — and the title really does say it all. This is about books and motorcycling and the open road experience in America — wonderfully written — just makes you want to fire up the bike and head to Mexico without looking back. . . .
The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop by Lewis Buzbee
There are always many books about books, and since I work here in the Andover Bookstore they all seem wonderful. That said, I don’t often put them on my Staff Picks, but this memoir is so eloquently and cogently written I have to recommend it. If anyone has any interest in the independent book industry or the people who work for little money but enormous love for their product, this is a stellar little gem. A weekend read that reminds us of the great independent spirit embodied by bookstores and often forgotten in a world rained on by “big box” chains and Internet giants. Enjoy!
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
This is the best novel on the entire spring list! I love it when we happen on a new author whose book is published by a small independent press that we as the “little guys” can make a national bestseller. Jacob Jankowski is an old man living out the last few years of his life in a nursing home reminiscing about his experience 50 years before as a veterinarian on the Benzini Brothers traveling circus. The chapters alternate between Jacob’s musings on the coming end of life — and his coming of age story years before with train circus. Both philosophical and riveting as a story you’ll learn about “red-lighting,” “rubes,” dwarves, intense animal cruelty combined with intense animal love. I can’t say enough about this book — it’s amazing!!
The History of Love by Nicole Krauss
I decided to try this new author’s book when I noticed that her husband is author Jonathan Foer, one of my favorite young novelists who recently gained national success with Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. Krauss has a completely different style, but also very engrossing and unique. The History of Love connects two generations and two very different people, 14-year-old Alma Singer and the elderly Leo Gorsky, both living in New York City. The story of both characters’ lives builds up in humorous, heart-wrenching, and wonderful narrative before the inevitable crossing of paths.
Fingersmith by Sarah Waters
A customer pointed out this gem of a novel and I ordered it — intrigued to find out more about a book with a stunning jacket and a catching back cover. A few late nights later I can say with confidence this is a really great novel with a twisted and complex plot set in Victorian England much like Dickens’ Oliver Twist, albeit with a female protagonist. Well written and engrossing — if only I could thank the mystery customer who made the recommendation.
The Lost Mother by Mary McGarry Morris
A stunning novel of loss, the human will to survive and the importance of family. local author and local favorite Mary McGarry Morris has a wonderful knack for vivid character description. Thomas and Margaret are strong children who are not soon to be forgotten. If you missed this in hardcover, don’t pass it by in paper — it is truly the saddest story to have a happy ending.
The Exile by Alan Folsom
An awesome, fast paced, novel from the author who brought us The Day After Tomorrow. Filled with fantastic twists, great characters, and a good story. Nothing over the top or too literary here — but a fabulous book for the plane or your spring break on the beach.
Shantaram by Gregory Roberts
A magnificent journey into the heart of India; both an amazing adventure and a fascinating look at a unique culture. Just flip this book over and read the author's biography and you, like me, will surely be interested. A wonderful page-turner with the depth and description that reminds me of Charlie Dickens’s Tale of Two Cities.
Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
The author interviewed one of Japan’s most famous Geishas before writing this fascinating novel. She told him of her life with more candor than he ever expected. As you read this book you enter a world where appearances are everything, where girls are auctioned off to the highest bidder, where women are trained to beguile the most powerful men, and where love is scorned as an illusion. The woman whose story was told (and changed in a number of ways) in Golden’s novel, wrote her own autobiography called Geisha with photos and details of her life. These books carried me into a world that I had heard of, but never could have imagined.
Bait and Switch by Barbara Ehenreich
Ehrenreich’s latest installment of economic investigation after Nickel & Dimed takes a look at the middle manager, white collar, corporate employee in his/her forties who is out of a job and searching futilely for new positions in the corporate ladder. A heartbreaking look at those that have college degrees, years of management experience, and are thrown back into “survival” jobs as the corporate world turns a cold shoulder. A thoroughly interesting look at a struggling economic class in America.
Julie and Julia by Julie Powell
Julie Powell is 30 years old, living in a rundown apartment in Queens and working at a soul-sucking secretarial job that’s going nowhere. She needs something to break the monotony of her life, and she invents a deranged assignment. She will take her mother’s dog eared copy of Julia Child’s 1961 classic Mastering the Art of French Cooking, and she will cook all 524 recipes. In the span of one year. At first she thinks it will be easy. But as she moved from the simple Potage Parmentier into the more complicated realm of aspics and crepes, she realizes there’s more to Mastering the Art of French Cooking than meets the eye.
Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly
Mickey Haller has spent all his professional life afraid that he wouldn’t recognize innocence if it stood in front of him. Haller is a Lincoln Lawyer, a criminal defense pro who operates out of the backseat of his Lincoln Town Car, to defend clients at the bottom of the legal food chain. It’s no wonder that he is despised by cops, prosecutors, and even some of his own clients.
From brokers to con artists to drunk drivers and drug dealers, they’re all on Mickey Haller’s client list. But when a Beverly Hills rich boy is arrested for brutally beating a woman Haller has his first high paying client in years. It’s a franchise case and he’s sure it will be a slam dunk in the courtroom. For once, he may be defending a client who is actually innocent.
But an investigator is murdered for getting too close to the truth and Haller quickly discovers that his search for innocence has taken him face to face with a kind of evil as pure as a flame. To escape without being burned, Haller must use all of his skills to manipulate a system in which he no longer believes.
One of a Kind: The Rise and Fall of Stuey “The Kid” Ungar by Nolan Dalla and Peter Alson
Stuey Ungar, the son of a Lower East Side bookie, grew up in a New York of the 1950s and ’60s. In 1980, competing in his second tournament ever and playing a game — no-limit Texas Hold’em — he’d just learned, he shocked the poker universe by winning the World Series of Poker. He would go on to win the event a record three times. In One of a Kind, authors Nolan Dalla and Peter Alson tell the startling tale of a man who managed to win millions of dollars and live the highest of high-roller lives without ever quite understanding or respecting the value of money. Whether tossing away his winnings at the racetrack or on a single roll of the dice, Ungar was notorious for gambling every single dollar in his pocket on a daily basis. The risk that he embodied in his gambling carried over to his personal life. He had no concept of night or day. He didn’t own a wristwatch, didn’t have a bank account, and for years had no home address or personal possessions. For all his gambling successes, at the end of his life he bounced between hotel rooms, casinos, and crack houses, dependent upon the kindness of friends and strangers.
The Eight by Katherine Neville
Protagonist Catherine Velis is sent on the adventure of several lifetimes as she searches for the clues to a game that began centuries before. . . . An oldie but goodie, Neville combines the symbol for infinity (the eight) and “a game of chess” over several centuries and worldwide into a mystery hard to put down.
Captain Alatriste by Arturo Perez-Reverte
Perez Reverte comes out with another wonderful swashbuckling adventure. Captain Alatriste is a dry up and beaten upon man — who lives and dies at the mercy of his sword. A well-written, nice light, summer read to go swimming in.
Carnivore’s Inquiry by Sabina Murray
Just out in paper, former Phillips Academy professor’s dark and twisted journey into the mind of a modern day cannibal. Eerily written and quite disturbing with superb narrative and character descripotion — not a page turner here at all, but an odd journey for sure!
The Innocent by Harlan Coben
The summer is finally here and it’s time to kick up your feet, grab ice-cold lemonade and relax with another great Harlan Coben mystery. Nice plot, super fast page turning exciting — just what you need to tune out for summer vacations.
Queen of the South by Arturo Perez-Reverte
Perez-Reverte, known as the “Master of the intellectual thriller,” tells the tale of Theresa Mendoza, a Mexican “Prietita” who rises to the upper echelon in the transportation of drugs between Mexico, Colombia, and Southern Spain. Packed with adventure and emotion Perez-Reverte hits another homerun in the world of “literary beach-reads!”
Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Ever picked up a seemingly lost and forgotten book at the Andover Bookstore — and been taken on an enchanting ride to a magical and mystical world where you’ve never been before?
The Shadow of the Wind, a former bestseller in Spain, recently translated into English is the stunningly written story about the right book ending up in just the right hands. A phenomenal read that is literary, romantic & thrilling — all at once — and it’s about books. Can’t go wrong here a wonderful novel. Also one of Sarah & Betsy’s favorites.
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
In his debut novel, The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini accomplishes what very few contemporary novelists are able to do. He manages to provide an educational and eye-opening account of a country’s political turmoil — in this case, Afghanistan — while also developing characters whose heartbreaking struggles and emotional triumphs resonate with readers long after the last page has been turned over. And he does this on his first novel. Absolutely one of the best books I’ve read all year — Andover Bookstore’s #1 bestseller for 2004–2005. Also one of Betsy’s favorites.
The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay
The epic story of Peekay, a child born into the hardship and struggles of a young man without a family during the dawn of the First World War. Certainly not a new title, but a classic that stays with you long after you’ve finished it. Those who enjoyed The Kite Runner will love The Power of One.
Killing Neptune’s Daughter by Randall Peffer
Local author and Phillips Academy English professor Randall Peffer writes a haunting seaside tale of the deception, murder, and a deep inquiry into one’s childhood past. Not to be too cliché, but this one’s dark and stormy — nestle up to the fire with a nice port and set out to sea. All copies are signed.
