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Staff Picks
Anne' Pick Change in Altitude
by Anita Shreve
$14.99
Margaret and Patrick have been married just
a few months when they set off on what they
hope will be a great adventure-a year
living in Kenya. Margaret quickly realizes
there is a great deal she doesn't know
about the complex mores of her new home,
and about her own husband.
A British couple invites the newlyweds to
join on a climbing expedition to Mount
Kenya, and they eagerly agree. But during
their harrowing ascent, a horrific accident
occurs. In the aftermath of the tragedy,
Margaret struggles to understand what
happened on the mountain and how these
events have transformed her and her
marriage, perhaps forever.
A Change in Altitude illuminates the
inner landscape of a couple, the
irrevocable impact of tragedy, and the
elusive nature of forgiveness. With
stunning language and striking emotional
intensity, Anita Shreve transports us to
the exotic panoramas of Africa and into the
core of our most intimate relationships.
Elena's Pick The Lacuna
by Barbara Kingsolver
$16.99
In this powerfully imagined, provocative
novel, Barbara Kingsolver takes us on an
epic journey from the Mexico of artists
Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo to the America
of Pearl Harbor, FDR, and J. Edgar Hoover.
The Lacuna is the poignant story of
a man pulled between two nations as well as
an unforgettable portrait of the artist—and
of art itself.
Laura's Pick The Promised World
by Lisa Tucker
$15.00
In acclaimed bestselling author Lisa
Tucker’s mesmerizing and suspenseful tale
of intimacy, betrayal, and lost innocence,
a literature professor’s carefully
constructed life shatters after her twin
brother’s death. On a March afternoon,
while Lila Cole is working in her quiet
office, her twin brother, Billy, points an
unloaded rifle out a hotel window, closing
down a city block. The aftermath of his
death brings shock after shock for Lila
when she discovers that her brilliant but
troubled twin was not only estranged from
his wife, but also charged with endangering
the life of his middle child and namesake,
eight-year-old William. As Lila struggles
to figure out what was truth and what was
fiction in her brother’s complicated past,
she will put her job, her marriage, and
even her sanity at risk. And when the
hidden meaning behind Billy’s stories comes
to light, she will have to act before
Billy’s children are destroyed by the same
heartbreaking reality that shattered her
protector and twin more than twenty years
ago.
MJ Weber's Pick A Duty to the Dead
by Charles Todd
$14.99
Dedicated to helping the many wounded
during the Great War, Bess Crawford
receives a desperate request from a dying
lieutenant while serving as a nurse aboard
a hospital ship. "Tell my brother Jonathan
that I lied," the young man says. "I did it
for Mother's sake. But it has to be set
right."
Back home in England, Bess receives an
unexpected response from the dead soldier's
family, for neither Jonathan Graham‚ his
mother‚ nor his younger brother admit to
understanding what the message means.
But the Grahams are harboring a grim
secret, and Bess must, somehow, get to the
bottom of it. It is her sacred duty to the
dead, no matter how painful, or dangerous,
that obligation might be.
Wendy's Pick The Blessings of the Animals
by Katrina Kittle
$14.99
From Katrina Kittle, critically acclaimed
author of The Kindness of Strangers,
comes a wry and moving story of
forgiveness, flexibility, happiness, and
the art of moving on.
Veterinarian Cami Anderson has hit a rough
patch. Stymied by her recent divorce, she
wonders if there are secret ingredients to
a happy, long-lasting marriage or if the
entire institution is outdated and
obsolete. Couples all around her are
approaching important milestones. Her
parents are preparing to celebrate their
fiftieth anniversary. Her brother and his
partner find their marriage dreams legally
blocked. Her former sister-in-law—still her
best friend—is newly engaged. The
youthfully exuberant romance of her teenage
daughter is developing complications. And
three separate men—including her ex-husband—
are becoming entangled in Cami's messy post-
marital love life.
But as she struggles to come to terms with
her own doubts amid this chaotic circus of
relationships, Cami finds strange comfort
in an unexpected confidant: an angry,
unpredictable horse in her care. With the
help of her equine soul mate, she begins to
make sense of marriage's great mysteries—
and its disconnects.
Stacy's Pick The Pretend Wife
by Bridget Asher
$15.00
What would life be like with the one who
got away? From the acclaimed author of My
Husband’s Sweethearts comes this
bighearted, funny, fiercely perceptive tale
about a happily married woman and the
little white lie that changed everything.
For Gwen Merchant, love has always been
doled out in little packets—from her
father, who lost himself in work after her
mother’s death, and from her husband,
Peter, who’s always been respectable and
safe. But when an old college boyfriend,
the irrepressible Elliot Hull, invites
himself back into Gwen’s life with a
surprising proposition, she suddenly starts
questioning everything she’s ever expected
from love.
Elliot, it turns out, is in need of a
pretend wife, just for the weekend, in
order to fulfill his dying mother’s last
wish. But as Gwen finds herself drawn into
Elliot’s quirky, wonderful family—and
uncovers a few secrets about her own—a
pretend relationship just might turn out to
be the most real thing she’s ever known.
Mary Jane Frank's Pick Open
by Andre Agassi
$15.95
Far more than a superb memoir about the
highest levels of professional tennis,
Open is the engrossing story of a
remarkable life.
Andre Agassi had his life mapped out for
him before he left the crib. Groomed to be
a tennis champion by his moody and
demanding father, by the age of twenty-two
Agassi had won the first of his eight grand
slams and achieved wealth, celebrity, and
the game’s highest honors. But as he
reveals in this searching autobiography,
off the court he was often unhappy and
confused, unfulfilled by his great
achievements in a sport he had come to
resent. Agassi writes candidly about his
early success and his uncomfortable
relationship with fame, his marriage to
Brooke Shields, his growing interest in
philanthropy, and—described in haunting,
point-by-point detail—the highs and lows of
his celebrated career.
Jennifer's Pick Brooklyn
by Colm Toibin
$15.00
“One of the most unforgettable characters
in contemporary literature” (Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette), Eilis Lacey has come of
age in small-town Ireland in the hard years
following World War Two. When an Irish
priest from Brooklyn offers to sponsor
Eilis in America, she decides she must go,
leaving her fragile mother and her
charismatic sister behind.
Eilis finds work in a department store on
Fulton Street, and when she least expects
it, finds love. Tony, who loves the Dodgers
and his big Italian family, slowly wins her
over with patient charm. But just as Eilis
begins to fall in love, devastating news
from Ireland threatens the promise of her
future.
Allie's Pick How We Decide
by Jonah Lehrer
$14.95
The first book to use the unexpected
discoveries of neuroscience to help us make
the best decisions.
Since Plato, philosophers have described
the decision-making process as either
rational or emotional: we carefully
deliberate, or we blink and go with our
gut. But as scientists break open the
mind's black box with the latest tools of
neuroscience, they re discovering that this
is not how the mind works. Our best
decisions are a finely tuned blend of both
feeling and reason and the precise mix
depends on the situation. When buying a
house, for example, it's best to let our
unconscious mull over the many variables.
But when we're picking a stock, intuition
often leads us astray. The trick is to
determine when to use the different parts
of the brain, and to do this, we need to
think harder (and smarter) about how we
think.
Jonah Lehrer arms us with the tools we
need, drawing on cutting-edge research as
well as the real-world experiences of a
wide range of deciders from airplane pilots
and hedge fund investors to serial killers
and poker players. Lehrer shows how people
are taking advantage of the new science to
make better television shows, win more
football games, and improve military
intelligence. His goal is to answer two
questions that are of interest to just
about anyone, from CEOs to firefighters:
How does the human mind make decisions? And
how can we make those decisions better?
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Saturday, September 25th
2:00PM
Shari Maurer More info on this event...
Saturday, October 16th
2:00PM
Jason Elias More info on this event...
Full listing of events
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