The House Girl (9780062207395 $25.99) ~Tara Conklin

2004: Lina Sparrow is an ambitious young lawyer working on a historic class-action lawsuit seeking reparations for the descendants of American slaves.

1852: Josephine is a seventeen-year-old house slave who tends to the mistress of a Virginia tobacco farm-an aspiring artist named Lu Anne Bell.

It is through her father, renowned artist Oscar Sparrow, that Lina discovers a controversy rocking the art world: art historians now suspect that the revered paintings of Lu Anne Bell, an antebellum artist known for her humanizing portraits of the slaves who worked her Virginia tobacco farm, were actually the work of her house slave, Josephine.

A descendant of Josephine’s would be the per-fect face for the lawsuit-if Lina can find one. But nothing is known about Josephine’s fate following Lu Anne Bell’s death in 1852. In piecing together Josephine’s story, Lina embarks on a journey that will lead her to question her own life, including the full story of her mother’s mysterious death twenty years before.

Alternating between antebellum Virginia and modern-day New York, this searing tale of art and history, love and secrets explores what it means to repair a wrong, and asks whether truth can be more important than justice.

Only One You (9781589797482 $7.95) ~Linda Kranz

There’s only one you in this great big world. Make it a better place. Adri’s mama and papa share some of the wisdom they have gained through the years with their eager son. Their words, simple and powerful, are meant to comfort and guide him as he goes about exploring the world. This exquisitely illustrated book explodes with color and honest insights. Kranz’s uniquely painted rockfish, set against vibrant blue seas, make an unforgettable and truly special impression. Only One You will inspire parents and children of all ages as they swim through life.

 

Lawn Gone! Low-Maintenance, Sustainable, Attractive Alternatives for Your Yard (9781607743149 $19.99) ~Pam Penick

A colorful guide covering the basics of replacing a traditional lawn with a wide variety of easy-care, no-mow, drought-tolerant, money-saving options that will appeal to today’s busy, eco-conscious homeowner.
Homeowners spend billions of hours-and dollars-watering, mowing, and maintaining their lawns. You don’t have to be one of them. Free yourself with “Lawn Gone!,” a colorful, accessible guide to the basics of replacing a traditional lawn with a wide variety of easy-care, no-mow, low-water, money-saving options. It includes:
- alternative grasses that seldom (or never) need mowing
- drought-tolerant, eco-friendly landscapes
- regional plant recommendations for all parts of the country
- artificial turf that looks like the real thing
- step-by-step lawn-removal methods
- strategies for dealing with neighbors and HOAs
- ways to minimize your lawn if you’re not ready to go all the way
Whether you’re a beginner or expert gardener, green thumb or black, “Lawn Gone!” provides realistic choices, achievable plans, and simple instructions for renovating your yard from start to finish.

Vampires in the Lemon Grove: Stories (9780307957238 $24.95) ~Karen Russell

A dejected teenager discovers that the universe is communicating with him through talismanic objects left behind in a seagull’s nest. A community of girls held captive in a silk factory slowly transmute into human silkworms, spinning delicate threads from their own bellies, and escape by seizing the means of production for their own revolutionary ends. A massage therapist discovers she has the power to heal by manipulating the tattoos on a war veteran’s lower torso. When a group of boys stumble upon a mutilated scarecrow bearing an uncanny resemblance to the missing classmate they used to torment, an ordinary tale of high school bullying becomes a sinister fantasy of guilt and atonement. In a family’s disastrous quest for land in the American West, the monster is the human hunger for acquisition, and the victim is all we hold dear. And in the collection’s marvelous title story-an unforgettable parable of addiction and appetite, mortal terror and mortal love-two vampires in a sun-drenched lemon grove try helplessly to slake their thirst for blood.
Karen Russell is one of today’s most celebrated and vital writers-honored in “The””New Yorker”‘s list of the twenty best writers under the age of forty, Granta’s Best of Young American Novelists, and the National Book Foundation’s five best writers under the age of thirty-five. Her wondrous new work displays a young writer of superlative originality and invention coming into the full range and scale of her powers.

The Aztec Diet: Get Skinny Fast and Unlock the Power of Chia, the Original Superfood (9780062124050 $25.99) ~Bob Arnot

The Aztecs cultivated the world’s most nutritious foods, which provided them with the strength to build one of civilization’s greatest empires. The key to the astounding fitness and energy levels of the Aztec warriors? The miracle superfood: chia. Already fueling endurance athletes and distance runners like those featured in the bestselling book Born to Run, chia is quickly gaining popularity as the biggest diet breakthrough in years. Now, in The Aztec Diet, New York Times bestselling author Dr. Bob Arnot incorporates the eating habits of this mighty civilization into our modern-day lives to unlock the answer to lasting weight-loss success.

Follow The Aztec Diet’s three-phase plan to lose weight quickly and effortlessly, improve overall health and wellness, end hunger cravings, and eliminate the exhaustion that accompanies blood-sugar spikes and drops. Phase I jump-starts your weight loss, supercharging your metabolism with three chia smoothies per day. Phase II keeps you satisfied, replacing the midday smoothie with a delicious and nutritious lunch to help avoid the all-too-familiar dieter’s plateau. Phase III maintains your target weight for good with a guide to smart food choices and healthful recipes to keep your mind and body in top form.

With simple, delicious recipes and countless ways to include the superfood benefits of chia in every meal, The Aztec Diet provides all the tools necessary to keep you motivated and on track as you begin the journey to a better, healthier you.

The Patron Saint of Lost Dogs (9781401310882 $14.99) ~Nick Trout

After fifteen years, Dr. Cyrus Mills returns to rural Vermont to inherit the Bedside Manor for Sick Animals, the failing veterinary practice of his recently deceased and long-estranged father. Cyrus, a veterinary pathologist far more comfortable with cold clinical facts than living, breathing animals (not to mention their quirky, demanding owners), intends to sell the practice and get out of town as fast as he can.
Then his first patient-a down-on-her-luck golden retriever named Frieda Fuzzypaws-wags her way through the door, and suddenly life gets complicated. With the help of a black Labrador gifted in the art of swallowing underwear, a Persian cat determined to expose her owner’s lover as a gold digger, and the allure of a feisty, pretty waitress from the local diner, Cyrus gets caught up in a new community and its endearing residents, both human and animal. Sensing he may have misjudged the past, he begins to realize it’s not just his patients that need healing.
“The Patron Saint of Lost Dogs” is a winsome tale of new beginnings, forgiveness, and the joy of finding your way home.

The Water Witch (9780345524249 $15) ~Juliet Dark

After casting out a dark spirit, Callie McFay, a professor of gothic literature, has at last restored a semblance of calm to her rambling Victorian house. But in the nearby thicket of the honeysuckle forest, and in the currents of the rushing Undine stream, more trouble is stirring. . . .
The enchanted town of Fairwick’s dazzling mix of mythical creatures has come under siege from the Grove: a sinister group of witches determined to banish the fey back to their ancestral land. With factions turning on one another, all are cruelly forced to take sides. Callie’s grandmother, a prominent Grove member, demands her granddaughter’s compliance, but half-witch/half-fey Callie can hardly betray her friends and colleagues at the college. To stave off disaster, Callie enlists Duncan Laird, an alluring seductive academic who cultivates her vast magical potential, but to what end? Deeply conflicted, Callie struggles to save her beloved Fairwick, dangerously pushing her extraordinary powers to the limit-risking all, even the needs of her own passionate heart.

We Live in Water: Stories (9780061926624 $14.99) ~Jess Walter

We Live in Water, the first collection of short fiction from New York Times bestselling author Jess Walter, is a suite of diverse, often comic stories about personal struggle and diminished dreams, all of them marked by the wry wit and generosity of spirit that has made him one of our most talked-about writers. In “Thief,” a blue-collar worker turns unlikely detective to find out which of his kids is stealing from the family vacation fund. In “We Live in Water,” a lawyer returns to a corrupt North Idaho town to find the father who disappeared thirty years earlier. In “Anything Helps,” a homeless man has to “go to cardboard” to raise enough money to buy his son the new Harry Potter book. In “Virgo,” a local newspaper editor tries to get back at his superstitious ex-girlfriend by screwing with her horoscope. And the collection’s final story transforms slyly from a portrait of Walter’s hometown into a moving contemplation of our times.

Above All Things (9780399160585 $26.95) ~Tanis Ridout

“”Tell me the story of Everest,” she said, a fervent smile sweeping across her face, creasing the corners of her eyes. “Tell me about this mountain that’s stealing you away from me.”
“In 1924 George Mallory departs on his third expedition to reach the summit of Mount Everest. Left behind in Cambridge, George’s young wife, Ruth, along with the rest of a war-ravaged England, anticipates news they hope will reclaim some of the empire’s faded glory. Through alternating narratives, what emerges is a beautifully rendered story of love torn apart by obsession and the need for redemption.

 

Fight Song (9781593765088 $15.95) ~Joshua Mohr

When his bicycle is intentionally run off the road by a neighbor’s SUV, something snaps in Bob Coffin. Modern suburban life has been getting him down and this is the last straw. To avoid following in his own father’s missteps, Bob is suddenly desperate to reconnect with his wife and his distant, distracted children. And he’s looking for any guidance he can get.
Bob Coffin soon learns that the wisest words come from the most unexpected places, from characters that are always more than what they appear to be: a magician/marriage counselor, a fast-food drive-thru attendant/phone-sex operator, and a janitor/guitarist of a French KISS cover band. Can these disparate voices inspire Bob to fight for his family? To fight for his place in the world?
A call-to-arms for those who have ever felt beaten down by life, “Fight Song” is a quest for happiness in a world in which we are increasingly losing control. It is the exciting new novel by one of the most surprising and original writers of his generation.

 

 

The Genius of Dogs: How Dogs are Smarter Than You Think (9780525953197 $27.95) ~Brian Hare

Brian Hare, dog researcher, evolutionary anthropologist, and founder of the Duke Canine Cognition Center, and Vanessa Woods offer revolutionary new insights into dog intelligence and the interior lives of our smartest pets.
In the past decade, we have learned more about how dogs think than in the last century. Breakthroughs in cognitive science, pioneered by Brian Hare have proven dogs have a kind of genius for getting along with people that is unique in the animal kingdom.
Brian Hare’s stunning discovery is that when dogs domesticated themselves as early as 40,000 years ago they became far more like human infants than their wolf ancestors. Domestication gave dogs a whole new kind of social intelligence. This finding will change the way we think about dogs and dog training-indeed, the revolution has already begun.
Hare’s seminal research has led him to work with every kind of dog from the tiniest shelter puppy to the exotic New Guinea singing dog, from his own childhood dog, Oreo, to the most fashionable schnoodle. “The Genius of Dogs” is nothing less than the definitive dog book of our time by the researcher who started a revolution.

A Complaint Free World: How to Stop Complaining and Start Enjoying the Life You Always Wanted (9780770436391 $11.99) ~Will Bowen

Will Bowen developed the life-changing plan outlined in “A Complaint Free World” based on the simple idea that good things will happen for you in abundance if you can just leave your grumbling behind. In a sermon, Will passed out purple bracelets and offered his congregation a challenge: If you catch yourself complaining, take the bracelet off and move it to the other wrist. Just one year later, millions had joined in by going 21 days without complaining, criticizing, or gossiping. Through changing their words, they found they had changed their thoughts, resulting in healed relationships, relief from chronic pain, improved careers, and a higher level of happiness. It’s not easy reformatting your mental hard drive, but Bowen presents the steps that make it possible here, along with inspirational stories from those whose lives have been improved by it.

Temple of a Thousand Faces (9780451239174 $16) ~John Shors

In his international bestseller “Beneath a Marble Sky,” John Shors wrote about the ancient passion, beauty, and brilliance that inspired the building of the Taj Mahal. Now with “Temple of a Thousand Faces,” he brings to life the legendary temple of Angkor Wat, an unrivaled marvel of ornately carved towers and stone statues. There, in a story set nearly a thousand years ago, an empire is lost, a royal love is tested, and heroism is reborn.
When his land is taken by force, Prince Jayavar of the Khmer people narrowly escapes death at the hands of the conquering Cham king, Indravarman. Exiled from their homeland, he and his mystical wife Ajadevi set up a secret camp in the jungle with the intention of amassing an army bold enough to reclaim their kingdom and free their people. Meanwhile, Indravarman rules with an iron fist, pitting even his most trusted men against each other and quashing any hint of rebellion.
Moving from a poor fisherman’s family whose sons find the courage to take up arms against their oppressors, to a beautiful bride who becomes a prize of war, to an ambitious warrior whose allegiance is torn-“Temple of a Thousand Faces” is an unforgettable saga of love, betrayal, and survival at any cost.

Betty Goes Vegan (9781455509331 $26.99) ~Dan Shannon

BETTY GOES VEGAN is a comprehensive guide to creating delicious meals for today’s vegan family. This must-have cookbook features recipes inspired by “The Betty Crocker Cookbook,” as well as hundreds of original, never-before-seen recipes sure to please even meat-eaters. It also offers insight into why Betty Crocker has been an icon in American cooking for so long- and why she still represents a certain style of the modern super-woman nearly 100 years after we first met her. With new classics for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert, including omelets, stews, casseroles, and brownies, BETTY GOES VEGAN is the essential handbook every vegan family needs.

The City of Devi (9780393088755 $26.95) ~Manil Suri

Mumbai has emptied under the threat of imminent nuclear annihilation; gangs of marauding Hindu and Muslim thugs rove the desolate streets; yet Sarita can think of only one thing: buying the last pomegranate that remains in perhaps the entire city. She is convinced that the fruit holds the key to reuniting her with her physicist husband, Karun, who has been mysteriously missing for more than a fortnight.

Searching for his own lover in the midst of this turmoil is Jaz-cocky, handsome, and glib. “The Jazter,” as he calls himself, is Muslim, but his true religion has steadfastly been sex with men. Dodging danger at every step, both he and Sarita are inexorably drawn to Devi ma, the patron goddess who has reputedly appeared in person to save her city. What they find will alter their lives more fundamentally than any apocalypse to come.

A wickedly comedic and fearlessly provocative portrayal of individuals balancing on the sharp edge of fate, The City of Devi brilliantly upends assumptions of politics, religion, and sex, and offers a terrifying yet exuberant glimpse of the end of the world.

Blood Feud: The Hatfields and the McCoys: The Epic Story of Murder and Vengeance (9780762782253 $16.95) ~Lisa Alther

America’s most notorious family feud began in 1865 with the murder of a Union McCoy soldier by a Confederate Hatfield relative of “Devil Anse” Hatfield. More than a decade later, Ranel McCoy accused a Hatfield cousin of stealing one of his hogs, triggering years of violence and retribution, including a Romeo-and-Juliet interlude that eventually led to the death of one of McCoy’s daughters. In a drunken brawl, three of McCoy’s sons killed Devil Anse Hatfield’s younger brother. Exacting vigilante vengeance, a group of Hatfields tied them up and shot them dead. McCoy posses hijacked part of the Hatfield firing squad across state lines to stand trial, while those still free burned down Ranel McCoy’s cabin and shot two of his children in a botched attempt to suppress the posses. Legal wrangling ensued until the US Supreme Court ruled that Kentucky could try the captured West Virginian Hatfields. Seven went to prison, and one, mentally disabled, yelled, “The Hatfields made me do it!” as he was hanged. But the feud didn’t end there. Its legend continues to have an enormous impact on the popular imagination and the region.
With a charming voice, a wonderfully dry sense of humor, and an abiding gift for spinning a yarn, bestselling author Lisa Alther makes an impartial, comprehensive, and compelling investigation of what happened, masterfully setting the feud in its historical and cultural contexts, digging deep into the many causes and explanations of the fighting, and revealing surprising alliances and entanglements. Here is a fascinating new look at the infamous Hatfield-McCoy feud.

The Kiss (9780316101912 $17.99) ~James Patterson

Whit and Wisty Allgood, a witch and wizard with extraordinary abilities, have defeated the ruthless dictator who long overshadowed their world. But for the first time in their lives, the powerful brother and sister find themselves at odds as Wisty is drawn to a mysterious and magical stranger named Heath.
Wisty has never felt as free as she does with Heath, especially when the two of them share and test their magic together. But when a merciless Wizard King from the mountains suddenly threatens war, Wisty must make an excruciating choice. Will she unite with Whit to fight the mounting dangers that could return their world to a tyrant’s domain? Or will she trust the beautiful boy who has captured her heart?
James Patterson’s epic dystopian saga continues as the witch and wizard who have inspired countless imaginations must rally together before the world they fought to save collapses.

No One Here Except All of Us (9781594486494 $16) ~Ramona Ausubel

In 1939, the residents of a tiny Romanian village are counting upon their isolation to protect them from the catastrophe sweeping Europe. When a mysterious stranger is washed up on the riverbank and the illusion of peace is shattered, the villagers are forced to acknowledge the precariousness of their situation. But even with danger imminent in every direction, the territory of imagination is limitless. At the suggestion of an eleven-year-old-girl and the stranger, the villagers decide, through sheer will, to reinvent the world. Destiny is unwritten. Time and history are forgotten. And for years, there is boundless hope. But as the young girl comes of age, as the real world continues to unfold alongside the imagined one, she will learn the bigness of being alive as an individual, as a member of a tribe, and as a participant in history, and discover the power in shaping one’s own truths.

Bob Dylan by Greil Marcus: Writings 1968-2010 (9781610391993 $17.99) ~Greil Marcus

The book begins in Berkeley in 1968, and ends with a piece on Dylan’s show at the University of Minnesota-his very first appearance at his alma mater-on election night 2008. In between are moments of euphoric discovery: From Marcus’s liner notes for the 1967 Basement Tapes (pop music’s most famous bootlegged archives) to his exploration of Dylan’s reimagining of the American experience in the 1997 “Time Out of Mind.” And rejection; Marcus’s “Rolling Stone” piece on Dylan’s album “Self Portrait”-often called the most famous record review ever written-began with “What is this shit?” and led to his departure from the magazine for five years. Marcus follows not only recordings but performances, books, movies, and all manner of highways and byways in which Bob Dylan has made himself felt in our culture. Together the dozens of pieces collected here comprise a portrait of how, throughout his career, Bob Dylan has drawn upon and reinvented the landscape of traditional American song, its myths and choruses, heroes and villains. They are the result of a more than forty-year engagement between an unparalleled singer and a uniquely acute listener.

She Returns from War (9780857662750 $7.99) ~Lee Collins

Four years after the horrific events in Leadville, a young woman from England, Victoria Dawes, sets into motion a series of events that will lead Cora and herself out into the New Mexico desert in pursuit of Anaba, a Navajo witch bent on taking revenge for the atrocities committed against her people.

 

 

The Future: Six Drivers of Global Change (9780812992946 $30) ~Al Gore Jr.

From the former vice president and #1 “New York Times” bestselling author comes “An Inconvenient Truth” for everything-a frank and clear-eyed assessment of six critical drivers of global change in the decades to come.
Ours is a time of revolutionary change that has no precedent in history. With the same passion he brought to the challenge of climate change, and with his decades of experience on the front lines of global policy, Al Gore surveys our planet’s beclouded horizon and offers a sober, learned, and ultimately hopeful forecast in the visionary tradition of Alvin Toffler’s “Future Shock” and John Naisbitt’s “Megatrends.” In “The Future, ” Gore identifies the emerging forces that are reshaping our world:
- Ever-increasing economic globalization has led to the emergence of what he labels “Earth Inc.”-an integrated holistic entity with a new and different relationship to capital, labor, consumer markets, and national governments than in the past.
- The worldwide digital communications, Internet, and computer revolutions have led to the emergence of “the Global Mind,” which links the thoughts and feelings of billions of people and connects intelligent machines, robots, ubiquitous sensors, and databases.
- The balance of global political, economic, and military power is shifting more profoundly than at any time in the last five hundred years-from a U.S.-centered system to one with multiple emerging centers of power, from nation-states to private actors, and from political systems to markets.
- A deeply flawed economic compass is leading us to unsustainable growth in consumption, pollution flows, and depletion of the planet’s strategic resources of topsoil, freshwater, and living species.
- Genomic, biotechnology, neuroscience, and life sciences revolutions are radically transforming the fields of medicine, agriculture, and molecular science-and are putting control of evolution in human hands.
- There has been a radical disruption of the relationship between human beings and the earth’s ecosystems, along with the beginning of a revolutionary transformation of energy systems, agriculture, transportation, and construction worldwide.
From his earliest days in public life, Al Gore has been warning us of the promise and peril of emergent truths-no matter how “inconvenient” they may seem to be. As absorbing as it is visionary, “The Future” is a map of the world to come, from a man who has looked ahead before and been proven all too right.
Advance praise for “The Future”.

The Winter Witch (9781250001313 $24.99) ~Paula Brackston

In her small early nineteenth century Welsh town, there is no one quite like Morgana. She hasn’t spoken since she was a young girl, and her silence as well as the magic she can’t quite control make her a mystery. Concerned for her safety, her mother quickly arranges a marriage with Cai Jenkins, the widower from the far hills who knows nothing of the rumours that swirl around her. After their wedding, Morgana is heartbroken at leaving, but she soon falls in love with Cai’s farm and the rugged mountains that surround it, while slowly Cai himself begins to win her heart. It’s not long, however, before her strangeness begins to be remarked upon in her new village. A dark force is at work there-a person who will stop at nothing to turn the townspeople against Morgana, even at the expense of those closest to her. Forced to defend her home, her love, and herself from all comers, Morgana must learn to harness her power, or she will lose everything.
Paula Brackston’s debut novel, “The Witch’s Daughter,” was the little book that could-with a captivating story, remarkable heroine, and eye-catching package, it has now netted over 40,000 copies in all formats. Now Paula returns with “The Winter Witch,” another enchanting tale of love and magic, featuring her signature blend of gorgeous writing, a fabulous and intriguing historical backdrop, and a headstrong and relatable heroine readers will cheer for.

Girl Hunter: Revolutionizing the Way We Eat, One Hunt at a Time (9780738216058 $14.99) ~Georgia Pellegrini

What happens when a classically-trained New York chef and fearless omnivore heads out of the city and into the wild to track down the ingredients for her meals? After abandoning Wall Street to embrace her lifelong love of cooking, Georgia Pellegrini comes face to face with her first kill. From honoring that first turkey to realizing that the only way we truly know where our meat comes from is if we hunt it ourselves, Pellegrini embarks on a wild ride into the real world of local, organic, and sustainable food. Teaming up with veteran hunters, she travels over field and stream in search of the main course-from quail to venison and wild boar, from elk to javelina and squirrel. Pellegrini’s road trip careens from the back of an ATV chasing wild hogs along the banks of the Mississippi to a dove hunt with beer and barbeque, to the birthplace of the Delta Blues. Along the way, she meets an array of unexpected characters-from the Commish, a venerated lifelong hunter, to the lawyer-by day, duck-hunting-Bayou-philosopher at dawn-who offer surprising lessons about food and life. Pellegrini also discovers the dangerous underbelly of hunting when an outing turns illegal-and dangerous. More than a food-laden hunting narrative, “Girl Hunter”also teaches you how to be a self-sufficient eater. Each chapter offers recipes for finger-licking dishes like: wild turkey and oyster stewstuffed quailpheasant taginevenison sausagefundamental stocks, brines, sauces, and rubssuggestions for interchanging proteins within each recipe. Each dish, like each story, is an adventure from beginning to end. An inspiring, illuminating, and often funny journey into unexplored territories of “haute cuisine,” “Girl Hunter “captures the joy of rolling up your sleeves and getting to the heart of where the food you eat comes from.

Shadows in Flight (9780765368669 $7.99) ~Orson Scott Card

Ender’s Shadow explores the stars in this all-new novel…
At the end of Shadow of the Giant, Bean flees to the stars with three of his children-the three who share the engineered genes that gave him both hyper-intelligence and a short, cruel physical life. The time dilation granted by the speed of their travel gives Earth’s scientists generations to seek a cure, to no avail. In time, they are forgotten-a fading ansible signal speaking of events lost to Earth’s history. But the Delphikis are about to make a discovery that will let them save themselves, and perhaps all of humanity in days to come.
For there in space before them lies a derelict Formic colony ship. Aboard it, they will find both death and wonders-the life support that is failing on their own ship, room to grow, and labs in which to explore their own genetic anomaly and the mysterious disease that killed the ship’s colony.

When I Was a Child I Read Books: Essays (9781250024053 $15) ~Marilynne Robinson

Marilynne Robinson has built a sterling reputation as not only a major American novelist but also a rigorous thinker and an incisive essayist. In this lucid but impassioned collection, Robinson expands with renewed vigor the themes that have preoccupied her work. “When I Was a Child I Read Books” tackles the charged political and social climate in this country, the deeply embedded role of generosity in Christian faith, and the nature of individualism and the myth of the American West. Clear-eyed and forceful as ever, Robinson demonstrates once again why she is regarded as one of our essential writers.

 

In One Person: A Taoist Guide to Health, Longevity, and Immortality (9781451664133 $15.99) ~John Irving

“His most daringly political, sexually transgressive, and moving novel in well over a decade” (“Vanity Fair”).

A “New York Times” bestselling novel of desire, secrecy, and sexual identity, “In One Person” is a story of unfulfilled love-tormented, funny, and affecting-and an impassioned embrace of our sexual differences. Billy, the bisexual narrator and main character of “In One Person,” tells the tragicomic story (lasting more than half a century) of his life as a “sexual suspect,” a phrase first used by John Irving in 1978 in his landmark novel of “terminal cases,” “The World According to Garp.”

“In One Person” is a poignant tribute to Billy’s friends and lovers-a theatrical cast of characters who defy category and convention. Not least, “In One Person” is an intimate and unforgettable portrait of the solitariness of a bisexual man who is dedicated to making himself “worthwhile.”

Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking (9780307352156 $16) ~Susan Cain

At least one-third of the people we know are introverts. They are the ones who prefer listening to speaking, reading to partying; who innovate and create but dislike self-promotion; who favor working on their own over brainstorming in teams. Although they are often labeled “quiet,” it is to introverts that we owe many of the great contributions to society-from van Gogh’s sunflowers to the invention of the personal computer.
Passionately argued, impressively researched, and filled with indelible stories of real people, “Quiet “shows how dramatically we undervalue introverts, and how much we lose in doing so. Taking the reader on a journey from Dale Carnegie’s birthplace to Harvard Business School, from a Tony Robbins seminar to an evangelical megachurch, Susan Cain charts the rise of the Extrovert Ideal in the twentieth century and explores its far-reaching effects. She talks to Asian-American students who feel alienated from the brash, backslapping atmosphere of American schools. She questions the dominant values of American business culture, where forced collaboration can stand in the way of innovation, and where the leadership potential of introverts is often overlooked. And she draws on cutting-edge research in psychology and neuroscience to reveal the surprising differences between extroverts and introverts.
Perhaps most inspiring, she introduces us to successful introverts-from a witty, high-octane public speaker who recharges in solitude after his talks, to a record-breaking salesman who quietly taps into the power of questions. Finally, she offers invaluable advice on everything from how to better negotiate differences in introvert-extrovert relationships to how to empower an introverted child to when it makes sense to be a “pretend extrovert.”
This extraordinary book has the power to permanently change how we see introverts and, equally important, how introverts see themselves.

Why We Write: 20 Acclaimed Authors on How and Why They Do What They Do (9780452298156 $16) ~Meredith Maran

Twenty of America’s bestselling authors share tricks, tips, and secrets of the successful writing life.
Anyone who’s ever sat down to write a novel or even a story knows how exhilarating and heartbreaking writing can be. So what makes writers stick with it? In “Why We Write,” twenty well-known authors candidly share what keeps them going and what they love most-and least-about their vocation.

 

Oz, the Complete Collection Volume 1: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz; The Marvelous Land of Oz; Ozma of Oz (9781442485471 $10.99) ~L. Frank Baum

Discover the marvelous land of Oz in this collection of the first three books in L. Frank Baum’s classic American fairy tale series.

In “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,” Dorothy and her dog, Toto, find themselves in a strange land called Oz after their Kansas house is swept away by a cyclone. Here they meet the Munchkins and join the Scarecrow, Tin Woodman, and the Cowardly Lion on an unforgettable journey to the Emerald City, where the all-powerful Wizard of Oz lives. Can he help Dorothy return home?

In “The Marvelous Land of Oz, ” a young boy named Tip escapes from a witch and sets out to explore land of Oz. Along the way, he meets the Scarecrow and Tin Woodman, as well as some new friends like Jack Pumpkinhead and the Wooden Sawhorse. Eventually, Tip’s journey takes him to the Emerald City, where he realizes that his life will be changed forever.

In “Ozma of Oz, ” Dorothy is sailing to Australia when a huge storm washes her overboard. She only survives by clinging to a chicken crate. Eventually she and a yellow hen named Billina wash up on the magic shore of Ev where they meet the mechanical man Tik Tok. But Dorothy and Billina are taken prisoner by the evil Nome King who has captured the royal family of Ev. Only Ozma of Oz can save them, but will she be in time?

Oz, The Complete Collection Volume 2: Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz; The Road to Oz; The Emerald City of Oz (9781442485488 $10.99) ~ L. Frank Baum

Delve deeper into the world of Oz in this collection of books four through six in L. Frank Baum’s classic American fairy tale series.

In “Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz, ” Dorothy and the Wizard visit the center of the Earth, where people are vegetables, glass houses grow, and Oz characters reappear. Eventually they return to the Emerald City-but will they stay?

In “The Road to Oz, ” Dorothy sets out on another adventure with some new friends like the Shaggy Man, Button-Bright, and Polychrome, and some old ones like the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman. Will they reach the Emerald City in time for Ozma’s birthday?

In “The Emerald City of Oz, ” Dorothy, her Uncle Henry, and Aunt Em are going to live in the Emerald City. They set out of explore the land of Oz with the help of Dorothy’s friends, but must rush home again when they discover that the Nome King is busy gathering an army for an invasion of Oz. Will they be able to stop the invasion?

Last Ape Standing: The Seven-Million-Year Story of How and Why We Survived (9780802717566 $26) ~Chip Walter

Twenty-seven human species evolved but only one remains. How did that happen? Over the past 180 years scientists have sifted through evidence that at least twenty-seven human species have evolved on planet Earth. Yet of all of them, why does only one remain? What enabled us to survive when so many other human species were shown the evolutionary door? The author of “Thumbs, Toes, and Tears - And Other Traits That Make Us Human, “Chip Walter tells the intriguing tale of how against all odds and despite nature’s brutal and capricious ways we stand here today, the only surviving humans, and the planet’s more dominant species. Drawing on a wide variety of scientific disciplines, he reveals how a rare evolutionary phenomenon led to the uniquely long childhoods that make us so resourceful and emotionally complex. Walter explains why we developed a new kind of mind and how our highly social nature has shaped our moral (and immoral) behavior. And in exploring the traits that enabled our success, he plumbs the roots of our creativity and investigates why we became self-aware in ways that no other animals is. Along the way, “Last Ape Standing” profiles the mysterious “others” who evolved with us and who have also shaped our kind in startling ways - the Neanderthal of Europe, the “hobbits” of Indonesia, the Denisovans of Siberia, and the recently discovered Red Deer Cave people of China, who died off just as we stood at the brink of civilization eleven thousand years ago. “Last Ape Standing “is evocative science writing at its best - a witty, engaging and accessible story that explores the forces that molded us into the peculiar and astonishing creatures we are. If you’re curious to understand the roots of why we do, feel, and think the things we do as a species and as individuals - good and bad, ingenious and cunning, heroic and conflicted - read this book.

The Wolf Gift (9780307742100 $15) ~Anne Rice

The time is the present.
The place, the rugged coast of Northern California. A bluff high above the Pacific. A grand mansion full of beauty and tantalizing history set against a towering redwood forest.
A young reporter on assignment from the “San Francisco Observer .” . . An older woman welcoming him into her magnificent family home that he has been sent to write about and that she must sell with some urgency . . . A chance encounter between two unlikely people . . . An idyllic night-shattered by horrific unimaginable violence, the young man inexplicably attacked-bitten-by a beast he cannot see in the rural darkness . . . A violent episode that sets in motion a terrifying yet seductive transformation, as the young man, caught between ecstasy and horror, between embracing who he is evolving into and fearing what he will become, soon experiences the thrill of the wolf gift.
As he resists the paradoxical pleasure and enthrallment of his wolfen savagery and delights in the power and (surprising) capacity for good, he is caught up in a strange and dangerous rescue and is desperately hunted as “the Man Wolf” by authorities, the media, and scientists (evidence of DNA threatens to reveal his dual existence) . . . As a new and profound love enfolds him, questions emerge that propel him deeper into his mysterious new world: questions of why and how he has been given this gift; of its true nature and the curious but satisfying pull towards goodness; of the profound realization that there may be others like him who are watching-guardian creatures who have existed throughout time who possess ancient secrets and alchemical knowledge. And throughout it all, the search for salvation for a soul tormented by a new realm of temptations, and the fraught, exhilarating journey, still to come, of being and becoming, fully, both wolf and man.

 

The Antagonist (9780307961358 $25.95) ~Lynn Coady

A piercing epistolary novel, “The Antagonist “explores, with wit and compassion, how the impressions of others shape, pervert, and flummox both our perceptions of ourselves and our very nature.
Gordon Rankin Jr., aka “Rank,” thinks of himself as “King Midas in reverse”-and indeed misfortune seems to follow him at every turn. Against his will and his nature, he has long been considered-given his enormous size and strength-a goon and enforcer by his classmates, by his hockey coaches, and, not least, by his “tiny, angry” father. He gamely lives up to their expectations, until a vicious twist of fate forces him to flee underground. Now pushing forty, he discovers that an old, trusted friend from his college days has published a novel that borrows freely from the traumatic events of Rank’s own life. Outraged by this betrayal and feeling cruelly misrepresented, he bashes out his own version of his story in a barrage of e-mails to the novelist that range from funny to furious to heartbreaking.
With “The Antagonist,” Lynn Coady demonstrates all of the gifts that have made her one of Canada’s most respected young writers. Here she gives us an astonishing story of sons and fathers and mothers, of the rewards and betrayals of male friendship, and a large-spirited, hilarious, and exhilarating portrait of a man tearing his life apart in order to put himself back together.

True Refuge: Finding Peace and Freedom in Your Own Awakened Heart (9780553807622 $26) ~Tara Brach

How do you cope when facing life-threatening illness, family conflict, faltering relationships, old trauma, obsessive thinking, overwhelming emotion, or inevitable loss? If you’re like most people, chances are you react with fear and confusion, falling back on timeworn strategies: anger, self-judgment, and addictive behaviors. Though these old, conditioned attempts to control our life may offer fleeting relief, ultimately they leave us feeling isolated and mired in pain.
There “is” another way. Beneath the turbulence of our thoughts and emotions exists a profound stillness, a silent awareness capable of limitless love. Tara Brach, author of the award-winning “Radical Acceptance, “calls this awareness our true refuge, because it is available to every one of us, at any moment, no exceptions. In this book, Brach offers a practical guide to finding our inner sanctuary of peace and wisdom in the midst of difficulty.
Based on a fresh interpretation of the three classic Buddhist gateways to freedom-truth, love, and awareness-“True Refuge” shows us the way not just to heal our suffering, but also to cultivate our capacity for genuine happiness. Through spiritual teachings, guided meditations, and inspirational stories of people who discovered loving presence during times of great struggle, Brach invites us to connect more deeply with our own inner life, one another, and the world around us.

 

1q84 (9780307476463 $16.95) ~Haruki Murakami

The year is 1984 and the city is Tokyo.
A young woman named Aomame follows a taxi driver’s enigmatic suggestion and begins to notice puzzling discrepancies in the world around her. She has entered, she realizes, a parallel existence, which she calls 1Q84 -“Q is for ‘question mark.’ A world that bears a question.” Meanwhile, an aspiring writer named Tengo takes on a suspect ghostwriting project. He becomes so wrapped up with the work and its unusual author that, soon, his previously placid life begins to come unraveled.
As Aomame’s and Tengo’s narratives converge over the course of this single year, we learn of the profound and tangled connections that bind them ever closer: a beautiful, dyslexic teenage girl with a unique vision; a mysterious religious cult that instigated a shoot-out with the metropolitan police; a reclusive, wealthy dowager who runs a shelter for abused women; a hideously ugly private investigator; a mild-mannered yet ruthlessly efficient bodyguard; and a peculiarly insistent television-fee collector.
A love story, a mystery, a fantasy, a novel of self-discovery, a dystopia to rival George Orwell’s-“1Q84” is Haruki Murakami’s most ambitious undertaking yet: an instant best seller in his native Japan, and a tremendous feat of imagination from one of our most revered contemporary writers.

The Antagonist (9780307961358 $25.95) ~Lynn Coady

A piercing epistolary novel, “The Antagonist “explores, with wit and compassion, how the impressions of others shape, pervert, and flummox both our perceptions of ourselves and our very nature.
Gordon Rankin Jr., aka “Rank,” thinks of himself as “King Midas in reverse”-and indeed misfortune seems to follow him at every turn. Against his will and his nature, he has long been considered-given his enormous size and strength-a goon and enforcer by his classmates, by his hockey coaches, and, not least, by his “tiny, angry” father. He gamely lives up to their expectations, until a vicious twist of fate forces him to flee underground. Now pushing forty, he discovers that an old, trusted friend from his college days has published a novel that borrows freely from the traumatic events of Rank’s own life. Outraged by this betrayal and feeling cruelly misrepresented, he bashes out his own version of his story in a barrage of e-mails to the novelist that range from funny to furious to heartbreaking.
With “The Antagonist,” Lynn Coady demonstrates all of the gifts that have made her one of Canada’s most respected young writers. Here she gives us an astonishing story of sons and fathers and mothers, of the rewards and betrayals of male friendship, and a large-spirited, hilarious, and exhilarating portrait of a man tearing his life apart in order to put himself back together.

True Refuge: Finding Peace and Freedom in Your Own Awakened Heart (9780553807622 $26) ~Tara Brach

How do you cope when facing life-threatening illness, family conflict, faltering relationships, old trauma, obsessive thinking, overwhelming emotion, or inevitable loss? If you’re like most people, chances are you react with fear and confusion, falling back on timeworn strategies: anger, self-judgment, and addictive behaviors. Though these old, conditioned attempts to control our life may offer fleeting relief, ultimately they leave us feeling isolated and mired in pain.
There “is” another way. Beneath the turbulence of our thoughts and emotions exists a profound stillness, a silent awareness capable of limitless love. Tara Brach, author of the award-winning “Radical Acceptance, “calls this awareness our true refuge, because it is available to every one of us, at any moment, no exceptions. In this book, Brach offers a practical guide to finding our inner sanctuary of peace and wisdom in the midst of difficulty.
Based on a fresh interpretation of the three classic Buddhist gateways to freedom-truth, love, and awareness-“True Refuge” shows us the way not just to heal our suffering, but also to cultivate our capacity for genuine happiness. Through spiritual teachings, guided meditations, and inspirational stories of people who discovered loving presence during times of great struggle, Brach invites us to connect more deeply with our own inner life, one another, and the world around us.

Ever After (9780061957918 $27.99) ~Kim Harrison

The ever-after, the demonic realm that parallels our own, is shrinking, and if it disappears, so does all magic. It’s up to witch-turned-daywalking-demon Rachel Morgan to fix the ever-after before the fragile balance between magic users and humans falls apart.

Of course, there’s also the small fact that Rachel is the one who caused the ley line to rip in the first place, and her life is forfeit unless she can fix it. Not to mention the most powerful demon in the ever-after-the soul-eater Ku’Sox Sha-Ku’ru-has vowed to destroy her, and has kidnapped her friend and her goddaughter as leverage. If Rachel doesn’t give herself up, they will die.

Forced by circumstance, Rachel teams up with elven tycoon Trent Kalamack-a partnership fraught with dangers of the heart as well as betrayal of the soul-to return to the ever-after and rescue those she loves. One world teeters on the brink of interspecies war, the other on the brink of its very demise-and it’s up to Rachel to keep them both from being destroyed.

Canada (9780061692031 $15.99) ~Richard Ford

When fifteen-year-old Del Parsons’ parents rob a North Dakota bank, his normal life is altered forever, and a threshold is crossed that can never be uncrossed. His parents’ imprisonment threatens a turbulent and uncertain future for Del and his twin sister, Berner. Fierce with resentment, Berner flees their Montana home for California. But Del is not completely abandoned. A family friend spirits him across the Canadian border toward safety and a better life. There, afloat on the Saskatchewan prairie, Del finds only cold refuge from Arthur Remlinger, an enigmatic and alluring American fugitive with a dark and violent past.

Undone by the calamity of his parents’ robbery, Del struggles to remake himself. But his search for grace only moves him nearer to a harrowing and murderous collision with the forces of darkness that shadow us all.

A true masterwork of haunting and spectacular vision from one of our greatest writers, Canada is a profound novel of boundaries traversed, innocence lost and reconciled, and the mysterious and consoling bonds of family. Told in spare, elegant prose, both resonant and luminous, it is destined to become a classic.

Boundless (9780061996207 $17.99) ~Cynthia Hand

The past few years held more surprises than part-angel Clara Gardner ever could have anticipated. Yet through the dizzying high of first love to the agonizing low of losing someone close to her, the one thing she could no longer deny was that she was never meant to have a normal life.

Since discovering the special role she plays among the other angel-bloods, Clara has been determined to protect Tucker Avery from the evil that follows her . . . even if it means breaking both their hearts. Leaving town seemed like the best option, so she’s headed back to California-and so is Christian Prescott, the irresistible boy from the vision that started her on this journey in the first place.

As Clara makes her way in a world that is frighteningly new, she discovers that the fallen angel who attacked her is watching her every move. And he’s not the only one. . . . With the battle against the Black Wings looming, Clara knows she must finally fulfill her destiny. But it won’t come without sacrifices and betrayal.

In the riveting finale of the Unearthly series, Clara must choose her fate once and for all.

My Beloved World (9780307594884 $27.95) ~Sonia Sotomayor

The first Hispanic and third woman appointed to the United States Supreme Court, Sonia Sotomayor has become an instant American icon. Now, with a candor and intimacy never undertaken by a sitting Justice, she recounts her life from a Bronx housing project to the federal bench, a journey that offers an inspiring testament to her own extraordinary determination and the power of believing in oneself.
Here is the story of a precarious childhood, with an alcoholic father (who would die when she was nine) and a devoted but overburdened mother, and of the refuge a little girl took from the turmoil at home with her passionately spirited paternal grandmother. But it was when she was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes that the precocious Sonia recognized she must ultimately depend on herself. She would learn to give herself the insulin shots she needed to survive and soon imagined a path to a different life. With only television characters for her professional role models, and little understanding of what was involved, she determined to become a lawyer, a dream that would sustain her on an unlikely course, from valedictorian of her high school class to the highest honors at Princeton, Yale Law School, the New York County District Attorney’s office, private practice, and appointment to the Federal District Court before the age of forty. Along the way we see how she was shaped by her invaluable mentors, a failed marriage, and the modern version of extended family she has created from cherished friends and their children. Through her still-astonished eyes, America’s infinite possibilities are envisioned anew in this warm and honest book, destined to become a classic of self-invention and self-discovery.

Admission (9781455529797 $14.99) ~Jean Hanff Korelitz

For years, 38-year-old Portia Nathan has avoided the past, hiding behind her busy (and sometimes punishing) career as a PrincetonUniversity admissions officer and her dependable domestic life. Her reluctance to confront the truth is suddenly overwhelmed by the resurfacing of a life-altering decision, and Portia is faced with an extraordinary test. Just as thousands of the nation’s brightest students await her decision regarding their academic admission, so too must Portia decide whether to make her own ultimate admission.

 

The Age of Miracles (9780812982947 $15) ~Karen Thompson Walker

On an ordinary Saturday in a California suburb, Julia awakes to discover that something has happened to the rotation of the earth. The days and nights are growing longer and longer; gravity is affected; the birds, the tides, human behavior, and cosmic rhythms are thrown into disarray. In a world that seems filled with danger and loss, Julia also must face surprising developments in herself, and in her personal world-divisions widening between her parents, strange behavior by her friends, the pain and vulnerability of first love, a growing sense of isolation, and a surprising, rebellious new strength. With crystalline prose and the indelible magic of a born storyteller, Karen Thompson Walker gives us a breathtaking portrait of people finding ways to go on in an ever-evolving world.
“Gripping drama . . . flawlessly written; it could be the most assured debut by an American writer since Jennifer Egan’s “Emerald City.”””-The Denver Post”

The Backyard Parables: Lessons on Gardening, and Life (9781455501984 $25.99) ~Margaret Roach

Margaret Roach has been harvesting thirty years of backyard parables-deceptively simple, instructive stories from a life spent digging ever deeper-and has distilled them in this memoir along with her best tips for garden making, discouraging all manner of animal and insect opponents, at-home pickling, and more. After ruminating on the bigger picture in her memoir And I Shall Have Some Peace There, Margaret Roach has returned to the garden, insisting as ever that we must garden with both our head and heart, or as she expresses it, with “horticultural how-to and woo-woo.” In THE BACKYARD PARABLES, Roach uses her fundamental understanding of the natural world, philosophy, and life to explore the ways that gardening saved and instructed her, and meditates on the science and spirituality of nature, reminding her readers and herself to keep on digging.

Mrs. Lincoln’s Dressmaker (9780525953616 $26.95) ~Jennifer Chiaverini

In “Mrs. Lincoln’s Dressmaker,” novelist Jennifer Chiaverini presents a stunning account of the friendship that blossomed between Mary Todd Lincoln and her seamstress, Elizabeth “Lizzie” Keckley, a former slave who gained her professional reputation in Washington, D.C. by outfitting the city’s elite. Keckley made history by sewing for First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln within the White House, a trusted witness to many private moments between the President and his wife, two of the most compelling figures in American history.
In March 1861, Mrs. Lincoln chose Keckley from among a number of applicants to be her personal “modiste,” responsible not only for creating the First Lady’s gowns, but also for dressing Mrs. Lincoln in the beautiful attire Keckley had fashioned. The relationship between the two women quickly evolved, as Keckley was drawn into the intimate life of the Lincoln family, supporting Mary Todd Lincoln in the loss of first her son, and then her husband to the assassination that stunned the nation and the world.
Keckley saved scraps from the dozens of gowns she made for Mrs. Lincoln, eventually piecing together a tribute known as the Mary Todd Lincoln Quilt. She also saved memories, which she fashioned into a book, “Behind the Scenes: Thirty Years a Slave and Four Years in the White House.” Upon its publication, Keckley’s memoir created a scandal that compelled Mary Todd Lincoln to sever all ties with her, but in the decades since, Keckley’s story has languished in the archives. In this impeccably researched, engrossing novel, Chiaverini brings history to life in rich, moving style.

 

Little Wolves (9781616951900 $25) ~Thomas Maltman

A tragic act of violence echoes through a small Minnesota town
Set on the Minnesota prairie in the late 1980s during a drought season that’s pushing family farms to the brink, “Little Wolves” features the intertwining stories of a father searching for answers after his son commits a heinous murder, and a pastor’s wife (and washed-out scholar of early Anglo-Saxon literature) who has returned to the town for mysterious reasons of her own. A penetrating look at small-town America from the award-winning author of “The Night Birds,” “Little Wolves” weaves together elements of folklore and Norse mythology while being driven by a powerful murder mystery; a page-turning literary triumph.

On Looking: Eleven Walks with Expert Eyes (9781439191255 $27) ~Alexandra Horowitz

Alexandra Horowitz’s brilliant “On Looking: Eleven Walks with Expert Eyes “shows us how to see the spectacle of the ordinary-to practice, as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle put it, “the observation of trifles.” “On Looking “is structured around a series of eleven walks the author takes, mostly in her Manhattan neighborhood, with experts on a diverse range of subjects, including an urban sociologist, the well-known artist Maira Kalman, a geologist, a physician, and a sound designer. She also walks with a child and a dog to see the world as they perceive it. “What “they see, “how “they see it, and why most of us do “not “see the same things reveal the startling power of human attention and the cognitive aspects of what it means to be an expert observer.

As the million-plus readers of “Inside of a Dog “have discovered, Alexandra Horowitz is charmingly adept at explaining the mysteries of human perception. Trained as a cognitive scientist, she discovers a feast of fascinating detail, all explained with her generous humor and self-deprecating tone. “On Looking “presents the same engaging combination, this time in service to understanding how human beings encounter their daily worlds and each other.

Page by page, Horowitz shows how much more there is to see-if only we would really look. “On Looking “is nutrition for the considered life, serving as a provocative response to our relentlessly virtual consciousness. So turn off the phone and other electronic devices and “be “in the real world-where strangers communicate by geometry as they walk toward one another, where sounds reveal shadows, where posture can display humility, and the underside of a leaf unveils a Lilliputian universe-where, indeed, there are worlds within worlds within worlds.

The Last Runaway (9780525952992 $26.95) ~Tracy Chevalier

“New York Times “bestselling author of “Girl With a Pearl Earring “Tracy Chevalier makes her first fictional foray into the American past in “The Last Runaway,” bringing to life the Underground Railroad and illuminating the principles, passions and realities that fueled this extraordinary freedom movement.
In “New York Times “bestselling author Tracy Chevalier’s newest historical saga, she introduces Honor Bright, a modest English Quaker who moves to Ohio in 1850, only to find herself alienated and alone in a strange land. Sick from the moment she leaves England, and fleeing personal disappointment, she is forced by family tragedy to rely on strangers in a harsh, unfamiliar landscape.
Nineteenth-century America is practical, precarious, and unsentimental, and scarred by the continuing injustice of slavery. In her new home Honor discovers that principles count for little, even within a religious community meant to be committed to human equality.
However, drawn into the clandestine activities of the Underground Railroad, a network helping runaway slaves escape to freedom, Honor befriends two surprising women who embody the remarkable power of defiance. Eventually she must decide if she too can act on what she believes in, whatever the personal costs.
A powerful journey brimming with color and drama, “The Last Runaway “is Tracy Chevalier’s vivid engagement with an iconic part of American history.

The Happy Life: The Search for Contentment in the Modern World (9780307907714 $19.95) ~David Malouf

By Australia’s greatest contemporary author, an elegant, succinct meditation on what makes for a happy life.;-)
“Happiness surely is among the simplest of human emotions and the most spontaneous,” says David Malouf. But what exactly are we looking for when we chase happiness? At this particular moment in history, privileged, industrialized nations have lessened much of what makes us unhappy: widespread poverty, illness, famine. Yet we are still unfulfilled, turning increasingly to yoga, church, Match.com, drugs, clinical therapy and retail therapy. What is at the root of our collective stress, and how can we find our way to contentment?
Drawing on mythology, philosophy, art and literature, Malouf traces our conception of happiness throughout history, distilling centuries of thought into a lucid narrative. He discusses the creation myths of ancient Greece and the philosophical schools of Athens, analyzes Thomas Jefferson’s revolutionary declaration that “the pursuit of happiness” is a right, explores the celebration of sensual delight in Rembrandt and Rubens and offers a perceptive take on a modern society growing larger and more impersonal.
With wisdom and insight, Malouf investigates that simplest, most spontaneous of feelings and urges us to do the same.

A Memory of Light (Wheel of Time #14) (9780765325952 $34.99) ~Robert Jordan & Brandon Sanderson

Since 1990, when Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time(R) burst on the world with its first book, “The Eye of the World, ” readers have been anticipating the final scenes of this extraordinary saga, which has sold over forty million copies in over thirty languages.

When Robert Jordan died in 2007, all feared that these concluding scenes would never be written. But working from notes and partials left by Jordan, established fantasy writer Brandon Sanderson stepped in to complete the masterwork. With “The Gathering Storm” (Book 12) and “Towers of Midnight “(Book 13) behind him, both of which were # 1 “New York Times” hardcover bestsellers, Sanderson now re-creates the vision that Robert Jordan left behind.

Edited by Jordan’s widow, who edited all of Jordan’s books, “A Memory of Light” will delight, enthrall, and deeply satisfy all of Jordan’s legions of readers.

Meatless: More Than 200 of the Very Best Vegetarian Recipes (9780307954565 $25) ~The Editors of Whole Living Magazine

For anyone new to a vegetarian diet-flexitarians who adopt plans like Meatless Mondays-as well as committed vegetarians and fans of “Power Foods,” here is a comprehensive collection of easy, meat-free mains for everyday.
As inspiring as it is practical, “Meatless” features 200 recipes-each accompanied by a gorgeous photograph-for full-fledged vegetarians and meat-eaters alike. You’ll find recipes for classics and new favorites, plus plenty of low-fat, vegan, and gluten-free options, too.
More than just a cookbook, “Meatless” is also a roadmap to embracing a vegetable-based lifestyle. Here are dozens of versatile recipes that can be easily adapted, such as pizza with a variety of toppings, salads made from different whole grains, and pestos with unexpected flavors and ingredients. You’ll also find advice on stocking your pantry with vegetarian essentials (dried beans, pasta, herbs and spices), a collection of basic recipes and techniques (vegetable stock, tomato sauce, polenta), and make-ahead flavor-boosters (caramelized onions, roasted peppers, and quick pickles).
Comprehensive and indispensable, “Meatless” makes it easy to prepare flavor-packed dinners for any day, any occasion. And no one will miss the meat.

The Lifeboat (9780316185912 $14.99) ~ Charlotte Rogan

Grace Winter, 22, is both a newlywed and a widow. She is also on trial for her life.
In the summer of 1914, the elegant ocean liner carrying Grace and her husband Henry across the Atlantic suffers a mysterious explosion. Setting aside his own safety, Henry secures Grace a place in a lifeboat, which the survivors quickly realize has exceeded capacity. For any to live, some must die.
As the castaways battle the elements and each other, Grace recollects the unorthodox way she and Henry met, and the new life of privilege she thought she’d found. Will she pay any price to keep it?
THE LIFEBOAT is a page-turning novel of hard choices and survival, narrated by a woman as unforgettable and complex as the events she describes.

Jungleland: A Mysterious Lost City, a WWII Spy, and a True Story of Deadly Adventure (9780061802546 $27.99) ~Christopher Stewart

On April 6, 1940, explorer and future World War II spy Theodore Morde (who would one day attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler), anxious about the perilous journey that lay ahead of him, struggled to fall asleep at the Paris Hotel in La Ceiba, Honduras.

Nearly seventy years later, in the same hotel, acclaimed journalist Christopher S. Stewart wonders what he’s gotten himself into. Stewart and Morde seek the same answer on their quests: the solution to the riddle of the whereabouts of Ciudad Blanca, buried somewhere deep in the rain forest on the Mosquito Coast. Imagining an immense and immaculate El Dorado-like city made entirely of gold, explorers as far back as the Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortes have tried to find the fabled White City. Others have gone looking for tall white cliffs and gigantic stone temples-no one found a trace.

Legends, like the jungle, are dense and captivating. Many have sought their fortune or fame down the Rio Patuca-from Christopher Columbus to present-day college professors-and many have died or disappeared. What begins as a passing interest slowly turns into an obsession as Stewart pieces together the whirlwind life and mysterious death of Morde, a man who had sailed around the world five times before he was thirty and claimed to have discovered what he called the Lost City of the Monkey God.

Armed with Morde’s personal notebooks and the enigmatic coordinates etched on his well-worn walking stick, Stewart sets out to test the jungle himself-and to test himself in the jungle. As we follow the parallel journeys of Morde and Stewart, the ultimate destination morphs with their every twist and turn. Are they walking in circles? Or are they running from their own shadows? Jungleland is part detective story, part classic tale of man versus wild in the tradition of The Lost City of Z and Lost in Shangri-La. A story of young fatherhood as well as the timeless call of adventure, this is an epic search for answers in a place where nothing is guaranteed, least of all survival.

The River Swimmer: Novellas (9780802120731 $25) ~Jim Harrison

im Harrison is one of America’s most beloved and critically-acclaimed authors-on a par with American literary greats like Richard Ford, Anne Tyler, Robert Stone, Russell Banks, and Ann Beattie. His latest collection of novellas, “The River Swimmer,” is Harrison at his most memorable: a brilliant rendering of two men striving to find their way in the world, written with freshness, abundant wit, and profound humanity.
In “The Land of Unlikeness,” sixty-year-old art history academic Clive-a failed artist, divorced and grappling with the vagaries of his declining years-reluctantly returns to his family’s Michigan farmhouse to visit his aging mother. The return to familiar territory triggers a jolt of renewal-of ardor for his high school love, of his relationship with his estranged daughter, and of his own lost love of painting. In “Water Baby,” Harrison ventures into the magical as an Upper Peninsula farm boy is irresistibly drawn to the water as an escape, and sees otherworldly creatures there. Faced with the injustice and pressure of coming of age, he takes to the river and follows its siren song all the way across Lake Michigan.
“The River Swimmer” is a striking portrait of two richly-drawn, profoundly human characters, and an exceptional reminder of why Jim Harrison is one of the most cherished and important writers at work today.

World War Two: A Short History (9780465013722 $25) ~Norman Stone

After the unprecedented destruction of the Great War, the world longed for a lasting peace. The victors, however, valued vengeance even more than stability and demanded a massive indemnity from Germany in order to keep it from rearming. The results, as eminent historian Norman Stone describes in this authoritative history, were disastrous.
In “World War Two,” Stone provides a remarkably concise account of the deadliest war of human history, showing how the conflict roared to life from the ashes of World War One. Adolf Hitler rode a tide of popular desperation and resentment to power in Germany, promptly making good on his promise to return the nation to its former economic and military strength. He bullied Europe into giving him his way, and in so doing backed the victors of the Great War into a corner. Following the invasion of Poland in 1939, Britain and France declared war on Germany-a decision that, Stone argues, was utterly irrational. Yet Hitler had driven the world mad, and the rekindling of European hostilities soon grew to a conflagration that spread across the globe, fanned by political and racial ideologies more poisonous-and weaponry more destructive-than the world had ever seen. With commanding expertise, Stone leads readers through the escalation, climax, and mournful denouement of this sprawling conflict.
“World War Two” is an invaluable contribution to our understanding of the twentieth century and its defining struggle.

The Kashmir Shawl (9781468302462 $26.95) ~Rosie Thomas

Over three decades of writing, bestselling novelist Rosie Thomas has earned an untold number of awards and glowing critical praise. Like Penny Vincenzi, Thomas has long enthralled readers around the world. Her latest, “The Kashmir Shawl, ” is her most ambitious and captivating book yet and is currently dominating the bestseller lists in London. It is 1941 and World War II has engulfed the globe. Newlywed Nerys Watkins leaves rural Wales for the first time in her life, to accompany her husband on a missionary posting to India. When her husband leaves her in the exotic lakeside city of Srinagar to take on a more dangerous mission, Nerys discovers a new world. Here, in the heart of romantic Kashmir, the colonists dance, flirt, and gossip as if there is no war. Nerys becomes caught up in a dangerous liaison, and by the time she is reunited with her husband, she is a different woman.
Years later, when Mair Ellis clears out her dead father’s house, she finds an exquisite shawl. Wrapped in its folds is a lock of child’s hair. Tracing her grandparents’ roots back to Kashmir, Mair embarks on a quest that will change her life forever . . .
A sweeping multigenerational tale of marriage, isolation, and finding love in a magical place, “The Kashmir Shawl” is the inimitable Rosie Thomas at her very best.

The Host (9780316218511 $9.99) ~Stephenie Meyer

Our world has been invaded by an unseen enemy that takes over the minds of human hosts while leaving their bodies intact. But Wanderer, the invading “soul” who occupies Melanie’s body, finds its former tenant refusing to relinquish possession of her mind.
As Melanie fills Wanderer’s thoughts with visions of Jared, a human who lives in hiding, Wanderer begins to yearn for a man she’s never met. Soon Wanderer and Melanie-reluctant allies-set off to search for the man they both love.
Featuring one of the most unusual love triangles in literature, THE HOSTis a riveting and unforgettable novel about the persistence of love and the essence of what it means to be human.