Early Reviewers: Free advance copies of books
Check out the rules and Frequently Asked Questions and learn more in the Early Reviewers group. Eligibility: Publishers do things country-by-country.
Books in this batch are open to residents of the US and Canada, the UK, and Australia only. Check the flags ( Update: The deadline to request copies of these books is Monday, May 19th at 6pm, EDT. | ||
 | Abbeville by Jack Fuller (Unbridled Books) | |
Until the dot.com bubble burst, George Bailey never gave much thought to why his grandfather seemed so happy. But then George's wealth vanished, rocking his self-confidence, threatening his family's security and making his adolescent son's difficult life even more painful. Returning to the little Central Illinois farm town of Abbeville, where his grandfather had prospered and then fallen into ruin, flattened during the Depression, George seeks out the details of this remarkable man's rise, fall, and spiritual rebirth, hoping he might find a way to recover himself. ... (show rest) Abbeville sweeps through the history of late-19th through early-21st century America—among loggers stripping the North Woods bare, at the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893, with French soldiers at the Battle of Verdun, into the abyss of the Depression, and finally toward the new millennium's own nightmares. At the same time it examines life at its most intimate. How can one hold onto meaning amidst the brutally indifferent cycles of war and peace, flood and drought, boom and bust, life and death? In clean, evocative prose that reveals the complexity of people's moral and spiritual lives, Fuller tells the simple story of a man riding the crests and chasms of the 20th century, struggling through personal grief, war, and material failure to find a place where the spirit may repose. An American story about rediscovering where we've been and how we've come to be who we are today, Abbeville tells the tale of the world in small, of one man's pilgrimage to come to terms with himself while learning to embrace the world around him. | ||
 | After Hours at the Almost Home by Tara Yellen (Unbridled Books) | |
It's Super Bowl Sunday at the Almost Home Bar and Grill with the hometown Broncos playing for their second championship in a row, and the already busy night is about to get busier. When the bartender walks off, she leaves the remaining staff to the chaos of the night—and with the real question. Not why did she leave but why do they stay? After closing time and on a school night, Colleen's 14-year-old daughter is no stranger to the Almost Home. She'll do almost anything to leave, to move her life forward or somehow return to earlier, better times, anywhere but here. But it doesn't matter; there seems to be no way out. ... (show rest) For one night, we follow all of them as they make their cash, close up, and then linger into the after hours, as they always do, their lives colliding, past and present, in the dark back corner at table 14—drinking, talking, and, now, in the wake of Marna's absence, facing questions: Where did she go? Will she return? Why do we stay? How dangerous is restaurant love? Smart, provocative, and flawlessly on target, Tara Yellen's revealing debut offers keen insights on a group of people left to put the pieces of their own lives back together in the wake of a friend's disappearance. After Hours at the Almost Home will put you in an altered state—it's got kick and goes down like a shot. But its effects might be far more lasting. | ||
 | Anathem by Neal Stephenson (William Morrow) | |
The acclaimed New York Times bestselling author Neal Stephenson of Cryptonomicon and The Baroque Cycle returns with a thrilling new adventure. | ||
 | Belonging: New Poetry by Iranians Around the World by Niloufar Talebi (North Atlantic Books) | |
Recent political developments, including the shadow of a new war, have obscured the fact that Iran has a long and splendid artistic tradition ranging from the visual arts to literature. Western readers may have some awareness of the Iranian novel thanks to a few breakout successes like Reading Lolita in Tehran and My Uncle Napoleon, but the country's strong poetic tradition remains little known. This anthology remedies that situation with a rich selection of recent poetry by Iranians living all around the world, including Amir-Hossein Afrasiabi: "Although the path / tracks my footsteps, / I don't travel it / for the path travels me." Varying dramatically in style, tone, and theme, these expertly translated works include erotic divertissements by Ziba Karbassi, rigorously formal poetry by Yadollah Royaii, experimental poems by Naanaam, powerful polemics by Maryam Huleh, and the personal-epic work of Shahrouz Rashid. ... (show rest) Eclectic and accessible, these vibrant poems deepen the often limited awareness of Iranian identity today by not only introducing readers to contemporary Iranian poetry, but also expanding the canon of significant writing in the Persian language. Belonging offers a glimpse at a complex culture through some of its finest literary talents. | ||
 | Between Here and April by Deborah Copaken Kogan (Algonquin Books) | |
When a deep-rooted memory suddenly surfaces, Elizabeth Burns becomes obsessed with the long-ago disappearance of her childhood friend. Driven to investigate April Cassidy's vanishing, Elizabeth discovers a thirty-year-old newspaper article revealing the details that had been hidden from her as a child. She begins to seek out anyone who might be able to explain why April's mother, Adele, drove deep into the woods with her two young daughters and, there, first killed them and then herself. From Adele Cassidy's neighbor to her psychiatrist to her sister, Elizabeth—now a mother herself—tracks down anyone who might give her the insight necessary to understand how a mother could commit such a monstrous crime. ... (show rest) Where Elizabeth's investigation leads her is, uncomfortably, back to her own self: her compromised marriage, her demanding children, her increasing self-doubt, her desire for more out of her own life—and a fearsome reckoning with what it means to be a mother and wife. | ||
 | Dragon Forge: The Draconic Prophecies, Book 2 by James Wyatt (Wizards of the Coast ) | |
A heroic battle to uphold the balance of Eberron! Gaven has fulfilled part of the prophecy and become the Storm Dragon. Now he seeks the Draconic Prophecy at its source in Argonessen, the dragon nation—but as he travels towards that ancient continent, Gaven may discover much more than he expected. ... (show rest) Meanwhile, Aundairian loyalists—assisted by a sinister dragon cabal—are assembling the Dragon Forge: an eldritch machine designed to harness the power of a Siberys dragonmark and amplify it. In this case, to create a devastating storm of hail and acid rain to go before Aundair's armies as they march into the Eldeen Reaches. And they know just the dragonmarked to use... | ||
 | Hal Spacejock : no free lunch by Simon Haynes (Fremantle Press) | |
In this, the fourth installment in the ongoing adventures of Hal Spacejock, Hal and his sidekick are looking for a job to earn some cash to help settle their debts. They believe they've found just the thing on Planet D. When Hal ducks out for a quick coffee and an attractive young woman asks him out on a date, he thinks his luck has finally changed. Yeah, right! ... (show rest) The Hal Spacejock series is gradually building a dedicated readership in Australia, as more and more readers discover these hilarious, action-packed adventures. | ||
 | Hallam's War by Elisabeth Payne Rosen (Unbridled Books) | |
Hugh and Serena Hallam have made the decision to leave everything they knew in Charleston behind them, hoping to create a stable, productive home for themselves and their three children in the near-wilderness of West Tennessee. Though now war may loom on the horizon, life at Palmyra is good, for both themselves and—they believe—their slaves. Hugh is convinced that reasonable men of good will with a tolerant respect for their countrymen might yet prevail against the increasingly tense atmosphere that is dividing the two American cultures. Capable and practical, he is nevertheless considered by his neighbors to be an idealist, with progressive notions concerning the science of agriculture and the requirements of Southern commerce, an ambivalent attitude toward slavery, and a confidence about the way things should be done. But when events move their entire world toward destruction, Hugh's values are put to the test, with only his surpassing love for Serena and his belief in himself to possibly sustain him. ... (show rest) Hallam's War is the saga of one man's struggle to defend his family, his neighbors and his honor, and of the moral compromises forced upon an otherwise good man caught in a maelstrom that leaves him no acceptable choices. A man of remarkable resilience, resourcefulness and contradictions, Hugh must learn to face his own conscience with as much courage as he displays at Shiloh. Ultimately, Hugh and Serena confront the reality surrounding their relationships with their neighbors and with their slaves. If neither of them is completely transformed, each takes a step toward a new understanding. Elisabeth Payne Rosen's near-epic debut is thoughtful, authentic and carefully researched. From Nashville and Memphis to Richmond, Charleston and Washington D.C., and across the bloody battlefields of Shiloh and Bull Run, Rosen brings vividly to life a heart-rending tale that resonates with deep personal grief shot through with moments of beauty and joy. In the end, there is hope for reconciliation among us all, even in the face of all the struggles that lie ahead. | ||
 | Meeting Lizzy by SarahBeth Carter (LJW Publishing) | |
If you heard a strange noise from the apartment upstairs would you make an effort to find out what happened? What if something happened, but the victim begged you to leave it alone? What if there was obvious evidence of violence, but the denials were adamant? Would you forget about it and walk away? What if you were only seventeen? I'm Cy McEntire. I wouldn't call myself a typical teenager. I'm only average in the smarts department. I can boast of only a few insignificant run ins with girls of less than stellar moral character. I often have no idea what city or state my Dad is currently staying in, and I get up practically before the dawn to apply the tar like substance to my hair that finishes off my "look." (Purposefully becoming a freak everyday to try to give your Dad a conniption fit is more time consuming than it may at first appear). ... (show rest) Meeting Lizzy was an accident... but one I'd never be able to forget. I was just sitting at home watching Law & Order reruns when I heard a girl in the apartment upstairs. She was hurt. I was breaking the golden rule of being a successful hermit, but I couldn't help it. If what I thought was happening in that upstairs apartment was actually happening... I had to find out. I was so sure that I would be wrong that when I wasn't I had no idea what to do. So I didn't do anything. It was obvious the girl was being abused, but she adamantly denied anything was wrong. What was I supposed to do? I'm not all knowing... I just left. But I couldn't get the girl out of my head. | ||
 | Mister Sandman by Barbara Gowdy (Zoland Books) | |
Barbara Gowdy's outrageous, hilarious, disturbing, and compassionate novel is about the Canary family, their immoderate passions and eccentricities, and their secret lives and histories. The deepest secret of all is harbored in the silence of the youngest daughter, Joan, who doesn't grow, who doesn't speak, but who can play the piano like Mozart though she's never had a lesson. Joan is a mystery, and in the novel's stunning climax her family comes to understand that each of them is a mystery, as marvelous as Joan, as irreducible as the mystery of life itself. In its compassionate investigation of moral truths and its bold embrace of the fractured nature of every one of its characters, Mister Sandman attains the heightened quality of a modern-day parable. | ||
 | My Fantoms by Theophile Gautier (NYRB Classics) | |
Théophile Gautier is a dominant figure in nineteenth-century French literature and a complex and alluring one. No one so epitomized the "Bohemian artist" as this friend of Victor Hugo and Baudelaire who is credited with coining the slogan "Art for Art's Sake." At the same time, Gautier was one of the first French professional men of letters, a masterful journalist as well as an inspired proponent of the short story. Seven samples of Gautier's genius—all exploring themes of love and death—have been brought together in My Fantoms, a book that brilliantly illuminates the subtlety and range of his singular imagination. Compiled and translated by Richard Holmes, whose investigations into Shelley, Coleridge, and Dr. Johnson have established him as the modern master of the art of biography, My Fantoms is not so much a collection of stories as a unified work spanning the whole of Gautier's career and revealing his subtle and many faceted sensibility. From the erotic awakening of "The Adolescent" through the beautiful lament for the mad genius Gérard de Nerval that Gautier offers in "The Poet," these are tales that celebrate the senses and investigate the spirit with style and wit. "What ever would the Devil find to do in Paris?" Gautier wonders. "He would meet people just as diabolical as he, and find himself taken for some naive provincial . . ." ... (show rest) Tapestries, statues, and corpses come to life, young men dream their way into ruin, and through it all Gautier keeps his faith in the power of imagination: "No one is truly dead, until they are no longer loved." | ||
 | No One You Know by Michelle Richmond (Delacorte Press) | |
Michelle Richmond dazzled readers and critics alike with her luminous novel The Year of Fog. Now Richmond returns with an intensely emotional, multilayered family drama—a woman's search for her sister's killer that spirals into a journey of secrets, revelations, and damaged lives. All her life Ellie Enderlin had been known as Lila's sister. Until one day, without warning, the shape of their family changed forever. Twenty years ago, Lila, a top math student at Stanford, was murdered in a crime that was never solved. In the aftermath of her sister's death, Ellie entrusted her most intimate feelings to a man who turned the story into a bestselling true crime book—a book that both devastated her family and identified one of Lila's professors as the killer. ... (show rest) Decades later, two Americans meet in a remote village in Nicaragua. Ellie is now a professional coffee buyer, an inveterate traveler and incapable of trust. Peter is a ruined academic. And their meeting is not by chance. As rain beats down on the steaming rooftops of the village, Peter leaves Ellie with a gift—the notebook that Lila carried everywhere, a piece of evidence not found with her body. Stunned, Ellie will return home to San Francisco to explore the mysteries of Lila's notebook, filled with mathematical equations, and begin a search that has been waiting for her all these years. It will lead her to a hundred-year-old mathematical puzzle, to a lover no one knew Lila had, to the motives and fate of the man who profited from their family's anguish—and to the deepest secrets even sisters keep from each other. As she connects with people whose lives unknowingly swirled around her own, Ellie will confront a series of startling revelations—from the eloquent truths of numbers to confessions of love, pain and loss. A novel about the stories and lies that strangers, lovers and families tell—and the secrets we keep even from ourselves—Michelle Richmond's new novel is a work of astonishing depth and beauty, at once heartbreaking, provocative, and impossible to put down. | ||
 | On a Day Like This by Peter Stamm (Other Press) | |
On a day like any other, Andreas changes his life. When a routine doctor's visit leads to an unexpected prognosis, a great yearning takes hold of him—but who can tell if it is homesickness or wanderlust? Andreas leaves everything behind, sells his Paris apartment; cuts off all social ties; quits his teaching job; and waves goodbye to his days spent idly sitting in cafe to look for a woman he once loved, half a lifetime ago. The monotony of days has been keeping him in check; now he hopes for a miracle and for a new beginning. Andreas' travels lead him back to the province of his youth, back to his hometown in Switzerland where he returns to familiar streets, where his brother still lives in their childhood home, and where Fabienne, a woman he was obsessed with in his youth, visits the same lake they once swam in together. Andreas, still consumed with longing for his lost love and blinded by the uncertainty of his future, is tormented by the question of what might have been if things had happened differently. ... (show rest) Peter Stamm has been praised as a "stylistic ascetic" and his prose as "distinguished by lapidary expression, telegraphic terseness, and finely tuned sensitivity" (Bookforum). In On a Day Like This, Stamm's unobtrusive observational style allows us to journey with? our antihero through his crises of banality, of living in his empty world, and the realization that life is finite—that one must live it, as long as that is possible. | ||
 | Requiem, Mass. by John Dufresne (W.W. Norton) | |
In the tragicomic mode of his best-selling Louisiana Power & Light, a hilarious and tenderhearted novel about a son's attempts to save his family. John Dufresne takes us to Requiem, Mass., heart of the Commonwealth, where Johnny's mom, Frances, is driving in the breakdown lane once again. She thinks Johnny and his little sister Audrey have been replaced by aliens; she's sure of it, and she's pretty certain that she herself is already dead, or she wouldn't need to cover the stink of her rotting flesh with Jean Naté Après Bain. Dad, truck driver and pathological liar, is down South somewhere living his secret life. And Audrey, when she's not walking her cat Deluxe in a baby stroller, spends her time locked in a closet telling herself stories. Johnny, meanwhile, is hell-bent on saving the family from itself. ... (show rest) In his "truly original voice" (Miami Herald) and with the "miraculous beauty of his tale-telling" (New York Times Book Review), Dufresne brings his unparalleled eye for the tragic and the absurd to the dysfunctions and joys of family in this powerful new novel. | ||
 | Stone Creek by Victoria Lustbader (Harper) | |
In the small town of Stone Creek, a random encounter offers two lonely people a chance at happiness. Danny, a young widower, still grieves for his late wife, but for the sake of his five-year-old son, Caleb, he knows he must move on. Alone in her summer house, Lily has left her workaholic husband, Paul, to his long hours and late nights back in the city. In Stone Creek, she can yearn in solitude for the treasure she's been denied: a child. ... (show rest) What occurs when Lily and Danny meet is immediate and undeniable—despite Lily being ten years older and married. But ultimately it is little Caleb's sadness and need that will tip the scales, upsetting a precarious balance between joy and despair, between what cannot happen . . . and what must. An unforgettable novel of tremendous emotional heft, Stone Creek brilliantly illuminates how the powers of love and loss transform the human heart. | ||
 | Sucks to Be Me: The All-True Confessions of Mina Hamilton, Teen Vampire (maybe) by Kimberly Pauley (Mirrorstone) | |
Mina Hamilton's parents want her dead. (Or undead to be precise.) They're vampires, and like it or not, Mina must decide whether to become a vampire herself. But Mina's more interested in hanging out with best friend Serena and trying to catch the eye of the too-hot-for-high-school Nathan Able than in the vampire training classes she's being forced to take. How's a girl supposed to find the perfect prom date and pass third-year French when her mom and dad are breathing down her neck—literally? | ||
 | Swordmage: Blade of the Moonsea, Book I by Richard Baker (Wizards of the Coast ) | |
Four Words: Forgotten Realms Fourth Edition! The Spellplague—and other things from horrifying disasters to monumental achievments—has changed the face of the Forgotten Realms world, and this series is the first to plunge fully into a bold new era for the venerable line. ... (show rest) The first novel to fully embrace the exciting new elements from the next edition of the Dungeons & Dragons game, award-winning game designer and New York Times best-selling author Richard Baker's Swordmage goes where—and when—no Forgotten Realms novel has gone before. | ||
 | The Collector of Worlds by Ilya Troyanov (Faber and Faber) | |
A colourful swashbuckling story of one of the most flamboyant characters of the nineteenth century. The Collector of Worlds is a meditation on the extraordinary life of infamous explorer Sir Richard Burton. The first westerner to make the hajj to Mecca, he also discovered the source of the Nile with Speke. His translation of the Arabian Nights is one of the great moments in the encounter between Islam and the West, that scandalised his contemporaries with its salty eroticism. Troyanov's novel does full justice to this great, controversial mediator between cultures. The book imagines his encounter with India as a young officer, and brings to life his trials and travels through the eyes of his Indian servant, the Sharif of Mecca and the former slave who guided Burton to the Nile. | ||
 | The Deceived by Brett Battles (Delacorte Press) | |
"Unputdownable."* "Brilliant and heart-pounding."** "A tightly written page-turner."*** Brett Battles won rave reviews for his debut novel, The Cleaner, which introduced hero Jonathan Quinn. A freelance operative and professional "cleaner," Quinn knows better than to get emotionally involved in any of his jobs. But in this superb powerhouse of suspense, Quinn's latest job is different. A friend and old colleague has been murdered. A woman has gone missing. And for Jonathan Quinn, this time it's personal. ... (show rest) Anonymity. Trust. Professionalism. In his world, Jonathan Quinn has a few rules. He'll get rid of bodies that have to disappear; nothing ever gets traced back to him. But when Quinn is called to a busy Los Angeles port where a shipping container has just come in from the sea, it's clear his rules have been violated. Inside the crate is a dead man—a man who once saved Quinn's life. And while no one knows how CIA agent Steven Markoff died, Quinn has to do more than clean. He has to find Markoff's girlfriend, Jenny. To tell her that Markoff is dead. To find out why—and why someone sent Markoff's body to him. Until a week ago, Jenny Fuentes was an assistant to an ambitious congressman. Now Jenny is missing, too, and a lot of man power is making sure she isn't found. But Quinn has his own man power. He has tools that can pry into secrets held anywhere in the world. He has the skill to trade blows with killers and spies. And he has covert weapons: his eager and smart apprentice, Nate, and brilliant Orlando, his closest friend, who's saved his life more than once. Racing from the corridors of power in Washington to the bustling streets of Singapore, Quinn won't stop until he uncovers the truth behind his friend's violent death, the astounding reason Jenny has vanished—and what she knows about the most explosive deception of all. *Tess Gerritsen **Jeffery Deaver ***Booklist | ||
 | The End Of Mr. Y by Scarlett Thomas (Canongate Books) | |
When Ariel Manto uncovers a copy of The End of Mr. Y in a second-hand bookshop, she can't believe her eyes. She knows enough about its author, the outlandish Victorian scientist Thomas Lumas, to know that copies are exceedingly rare. And, some say, cursed. With Mr. Y under her arm, Ariel finds herself thrust into a thrilling adventure of love, sex, death and time-travel. | ||
 | The Genizah at the House of Shepher by Tamar Yellin (St. Martin's Griffin) | |
Returning to Jerusalem after a long absence, Shulamit Shepher becomes embroiled in a family feud over possession of the so-called Shepher Codex, a mysterious and valuable Torah manuscript discovered in her granparents' attic. In unraveling the origins of the codex, Shulamit uncovers not only her ancestors' history but must reconsider her own past, present and ultimately, her choices for the future. The tale of the family Shepher, is a haunting one of exile, belonging, struggle. "Yellin's first novel is impossible to put down...Beauty, deep love, and a timelessness will likely make it a classic." —Booklist starred review | ||
 | The Given Day by Dennis Lehane (William Morrow) | |
From New York Times bestselling author Dennis Lehane—a beautifully written novel of American history, set at the end of the Great War; an unflinching, utterly spectacular family epic that captures the political unrest of a nation dangling between a well-patterned past and an unpredictable future. | ||
 | The Inverted World by Christopher Priest (NYRB Classics) | |
The city is winched along a track through a devastated land full of hostile tribes. Tracks must be freshly laid ahead of the city and carefully removed in its wake. Rivers and mountains present nearly insurmountable challenges to the ingenuity of the city's engineers. But if the city does not move, it will fall farther and farther behind the "optimum," slipping into the crushing gravitational field that has transformed life on earth. The only alternative to the city's forward progress is death. The secret directorate that governs the city makes sure that its inhabitants know nothing of this. Raised in common in crèches, nurtured on synthetic food, prevented above all from venturing outside the closed circuit of the city, they are carefully sheltered from the dire necessities that have come to define human existence. And yet, for all that, the city is in crisis. The people are growing restive, the population is dwindling, and the rulers know that, for all their efforts, slowly but surely the city is slipping ever farther behind the optimum. Helward Mann is a member of the city's elite. Better than anyone, he knows the risks the city runs, how tenuous is its continued existence, how essential it is that discipline be maintained. And yet, as he is about to discover, the world is even stranger than he dreamed. ... (show rest) Christopher Priest's The Inverted World is a meticulously imagined, deeply disconcerting vision of an alternate reality that lights up not only the dreams that sustain what passes for reality but the alien essence of the human. | ||
 | The Marriage of True Minds by Stephen Evans (Unbridled Books) | |
Together as husband and wife, Nick Ward and Lena Grant ran a successful boutique law firm in Minneapolis, vanquishing all their legal foes side by side. When Nick's charmingly erratic behavior finally became too much for Lena, the marriage and the partnership ended. But—like C. K. Dexter Haven and Tracy Lord—it seems that Lena and Nick just can't quite separate. ... (show rest) Lena works out fiercely, keeps her dates with the boring and conventional Preston Winter, and daily battles on against corporate greed. But Nick's not doing so well. Still brilliant and devilishly clever, he is now also almost crazy. He is prone to fantasy and the big gesture, and he engages frantically in guerrilla activism for the sake of animals wild and domestic. Nick doesn't make plans; he has visions. And eventually his antics put him back into Lena's hands. While she tries to navigate the legal waters into which he's thrown them, Nick veers out of her wake and into the midst of a strange set of companions, including Oscar, his psychiatric attendant and Action Comics collector; Ralph and Alice Wilson, the rebellious managers of the city animal shelter; and an aging Russian hound named Wolfram. Often laugh-out-loud funny, with bright wit and brilliant machine-gun dialogue, The Marriage of True Minds sweetly explores modern love, undying idealism, and one cracked partnership that can't be sundered—from without or from within. | ||
 | The Master Bedroom by Tessa Hadley (Picador) | |
After more than twenty years in London, Kate Flynn has abandoned her career, rented her apartment, and moved back to live with her mother in the home she grew up in. Bored and lonely, Kate meets a married childhood friend, David Roberts, but Kate finds herself falling for him against her better judgment. At the same time, David's seventeen-year-old son is visiting Kate's house in secret. As both father and son set about their parallel courtships, Tessa Hadley's intricate, graceful novel discovers the anxieties of adulthood, and the hazards of refusing to grow up. | ||
 | The New Yorkers by Cathleen Schine (Picador) | |
Inspired by her account in The New Yorker of adopting a profoundly troubled dog named Buster, acclaimed author Cathleen Schine's The New Yorkers is a brilliantly funny story of love, longing, and overcoming the shyness that leashes us. On a quiet little block near Central Park, five lonely New Yorkers find one another, compelled to meet by their canine companions. Over the course of four seasons, they emerge from their apartments, in snow, rain, or glorious sunshine to make friends and sometimes fall in love. A love letter to a city full of surprises, The New Yorkers is an enchanting comedy of manners (with dogs!) from one of our most treasured writers. | ||
 | The Richest Season by Maryann McFadden (Hyperion) | |
After more than a dozen moves in twenty-five years of marriage, Joanna Harrison is lonely and tired of being a corporate wife. Her children are grown and gone, her husband is more married to his job than to her, and now they're about to pack up once more. Panicked at the thought of having to start all over again, Joanna commits the first irresponsible act of her life. She runs away to Pawleys Island, South Carolina, a place she's been to just once. The Richest Season is a stunning debut about three very different people, each changing their lives when such transformations are usually long over. It will resonate with any woman who's ever fantasized about leaving home to find herself. | ||
 | The Story of a Marriage by greerandrewsean (Farrar Straus Giroux) | |
A heartbreakingly beautiful love story full of secrets and astonishments set in the changing world of 1950s San Francisco. It is 1953 and Pearlie, a dutiful housewife, finds herself living in the Sunset district of San Francisco, caring not only for her husband's fragile health but also for her son, who is afflicted with polio. Then, one Saturday morning, a stranger appears on her doorstep and everything changes. All the certainties by which Pearlie has lived are thrown into doubt as she struggles to understand the world around her, most especially her husband, Holland. The Story of a Marriage portrays three people trapped by the confines of their era, and the desperate measures they are prepared to take to escape it. | ||
 | The Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen (Bantam) | |
In this irresistible follow-up to her New York Times bestselling debut, Garden Spells, author Sarah Addison Allen tells the tale of a young woman whose family secrets—and secret passions—are about to change her life forever. Twenty-seven-year-old Josey Cirrini is sure of three things: winter in her North Carolina hometown is her favorite season, she's a sorry excuse for a Southern belle, and sweets are best eaten in the privacy of her hidden closet. For while Josey has settled into an uneventful life in her mother's house, her one consolation is the stockpile of sugary treats and paperback romances she escapes to each night... Until she finds it harboring none other than local waitress Della Lee Baker, a tough-talking, tenderhearted woman who is one part nemesis—and two parts fairy godmother... ... (show rest) Fleeing a life of bad luck and big mistakes, Della Lee has decided Josey's clandestine closet is the safest place to crash. In return she's going to change Josey's life—because, clearly, it is not the closet of a happy woman. With Della Lee's tough love, Josey is soon forgoing pecan rolls and caramels, tapping into her startlingly keen feminine instincts, and finding her narrow existence quickly expanding. Before long, Josey bonds with Chloe Finley, a young woman who makes the best sandwiches in town, is hounded by books that inexplicably appear whenever she needs them, and—most amazing of all—has a close connection to Josey's longtime crush. As little by little Josey dares to step outside herself, she discovers a world where the color red has astonishing power, passion can make eggs fry in their cartons, and romance can blossom at any time—even for her. It seems that Della Lee's work is done, and it's time for her to move on. But the truth about where she's going, why she showed up in the first place—and what Chloe has to do with it all—is about to add one more unexpected chapter to Josey's fast-changing life. Brimming with warmth, wit, and a sprinkling of magic, here is a spellbinding tale of friendship, love—and the enchanting possibilities of every new day. | ||
 | Tomato Girl by Jayne Pupek (Algonquin Books) | |
For eleven-year-old Ellie Sanders, her father has always been the rock that she could cling to when her mother's emotional troubles became too frightening. But when he comes under the thrall of the pretty teenager who raises vegetables and tomatoes for sale at the general store that Sanders runs, Ellie sees her security slowly slipping away, as now she must be witness and warden to her mother's gradual slide into madness. Told from Ellie's point of view, Tomato Girl takes the reader into the heart and mind of a terrified young girl who clings desperately to childhood while being forced into adulthood before she is ready. Disturbing yet compulsively readable, Tomato Girl marks the debut of an exciting new author with a fresh and engaging voice. | ||
 | A Calculated Risk: The U.S. Decision to Recognize Israel by Evan M. Wilson (Clerisy Press) | |
In the aftermath of World War II and the Holocaust, the Truman White House led the effort to establish the state of Israel. But, was it inevitable that the U.S. would endorse the concept of a Jewish state? Was U.S. policy entirely pro-Jewish? To what extent did the State Department influence Presidents Roosevelt and Truman in regard to Palestine? How aware were the two presidents of the probable consequences of their decisions about the Middle East? A Calculated Risk explores these questions and more. It examines the intricate international diplomacy that helped pave the way for the creation of the Jewish state and evaluates the conflicting pressures brought to bear on the U.S. with respect to the Palestine question, and specifically the recognition of Israel, from 1942-1948. Impartial, well researched, and highly readable, it tells the complete story of the balancing act that changed the geopolitical landscape in the Middle East. | ||
 | 21st Century Advertising for New Home Builders: Everything Has Changed by Preston John (LJW Publishing ) | |
Selling new homes just got easier...the 5 M's come together to create a "beyond advertising" marketing strategy that ensures maximum conversion of all sales prospects; even those you didn't know you had! 21st Century Advertising for New Home Builders: Everything had Changed is the only appropriate guide for new home builders when it comes to current advertising, sales and marketing strategies in today's industry. The general purpose is still the same. You want to sell homes; as many homes as possible. But the methods have changed. With the aid of this easy to follow, step by step guide you'll be able to set up your own advertising strategy to accommodate the many changes that have occurred in the industry... Don't get left behind! | ||
 | Am I a Normal Parent? by Sara Dimerman (Hatherleigh Press) | |
Is it okay to get angry when your toddler doesn't listen? Do other parents get jealous when their child monopolizes their spouse's time? Is it normal to wonder if you are being judged by your peers? Who defines normal, anyway? Finally, parents will have the answers to the questions they were afraid to ask. Am I A Normal Parent? teaches parents that they are not alone. It candidly discusses the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that many parents hide for fear of being judged as "not normal." Featuring a self-assessment questionnaire, answers and advice from parents around the world, and tips from parenting experts such as Adele Faber, author of How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk, the book includes such thought-provoking topics as: ... (show rest)
The definitive guide to figuring out what's normal for parents in the 21st century, Am I A Normal Parent? reassures parents that their worries are normal—and encourages them to think about why being normal isn't always what it's cracked up to be. | ||
 | Bikeman by Thomas F. Flynn (Andrews McMeel Publishing) | |
"On September 11, 2001, journalist Tom Flynn set off on his bike toward the World Trade Towers not knowing what he was riding into. Bikeman is one man's journey back to the horrors of that day and to the humanity that somehow emerged from the dust and the death. Both heartbreaking and haunting, his words will stay with you like that 'forever September morning.'" -Meredith Vieira, NBC's Today "Tom Flynn brings to his subject three invaluable attributes: the eye of a seasoned journalist, the soul of a poet, and his stunning, first-hand experience of that horrific day." -David Friend, Vanity Fair ... (show rest) From Bikeman: The dead from here Modeled on Dante's Inferno, veteran journalist Thomas Flynn's Bikeman chronicles the morning of September 11, 2001 like no other published work. Flynn delivers a personal account of his experiences beginning with the first strike on the World Trade Center when he decided to follow his journalist's instinct and point his bike's handlebars in the direction of the north tower. His story continues as he transitions from reporter to participant hoping to survive the fall of the south tower. Now Flynn, as both journalist and now survivor, must come to terms with the harrowing ordeal and somehow find peace in the very act of surviving. Part journalist's record, part survivor's eulogy, Flynn writes: Survival is the absence of death. | ||
 | Bullet with Your Name on It: What You'll Probably Die From and What You Can Do About It by Avery Hurt (Clerisy Press) | |
For each person, though, there can be many bullets — and by knowing where to look, and what actions to take, readers may be able to dodge most of them. Consumers looking for reliable medical advice face a barrage of uncertain, often contradictory, and occasionally deadly misinformation, with as many prescriptions for better living as there are lobbying groups and pharmaceutical companies. Avery Hurt sifts through the chaff of current medical hype to focus on the key health issues that everyone faces. She simplifies the current research on risk factors for heart disease, cancer, Alzheimer’s, and other conditions so that readers can make meaningful decisions based on their own situations and lifestyles. Through her by-the-numbers approach, readers can adopt preventative steps that lessen their odds for contracting terminal illnesses. | ||
 | F.N.G. Revised Edition by Donald Bodey (Modern History Press) | |
Gabriel Sauers of Two Squad is a soldier, newly arrived in Vietnam—a country too beautiful to invate so savagely unreal a war. But Gabriel won't be a New Guy for long. He'll go through incoming mortars, he'll see the enemy alive. He'll wander through a hell that will turn the green recruit lucky enough to survive into a death-hardened veteran, longing for nothing more than a return to the world of hot baths and cold beer, no bullets, and no noise. Now, 40 years later, he is grappling with an action on the verge of his grandson's deployment to Iraq that will change both their lives forever. | ||
 | Happy Hour Is for Amateurs: A Lost Decade in the World's Worst Profession by Philadelphia Lawyer (William Morrow) | |
One part Office Space, one part Howard Stern, Happy Hour Is for Amateurs is an drunken and debauched tour through the court rooms, bars, and bedrooms of the American legal system based on the hit anonymous blog The Philadelphia Lawyer (www.philalawyer.net) | ||
 | In the Country of Brooklyn: Inspiration to the World by Peter Golenbock (William Morrow) | |
One of every seven people in the United States can trace their family back to Brooklyn, New York—the destination of choice for millions of people from every corner of the globe over the last 150 years. Now Peter Golenbock, the author of the acclaimed book Bums: An Oral History of the Brooklyn Dodgers, returns to Kings County with this fascinating look into the life and times of the people of Brooklyn in the 20th and 21st Century. | ||
 | Jungle King Secrets: A Libido-Liberating Lifestyle For Superior Sexual Satisfaction by Paul Adcock (Loving Healing Press) | |
In modern civilization, one of the most tormenting tragedies, impotence, is increasing dramatically, due to the side effects of industrialization.In fact, modern man is under covert chemical attack everyday by various toxic pollutants that can cause chemical castration, and therefore domestication. In contrast, within the pristine jungle lives wildlife that always has the vitality needed to victoriously validate its virility. Turn your bedroom into a lion's den by becoming one with the wild, harmonizing with the primal power of nature. Jungle King Secrets is the way of sexual rejuvenation, invigoration, and libido liberation! | ||
 | Loose Girl: A Memoir OF Promiscuity by Kerry Cohen (Hyperion) | |
Loose Girl is Kerry Cohen's captivating memoir about her descent into promiscuity and how she gradually found her way toward real intimacy. The story of addiction—not just to sex, but to male attention—Loose Girl is also the story of a young girl who came to believe that boys and men could give her life meaning. Cohen's journey from that hopeless place to her current confident and fulfilled existence is a cautionary tale and a revelation for girls young and old. | ||
 | Miami and the Siege of Chicago by Norman Mailer (NYRB Classics) | |
1968. The Vietnam War was raging. President Lyndon Johnson, facing a challenge in his own Democratic party from the maverick anti-war candidate Eugene McCarthy, announced that he would not seek a second term. In April, Martin Luther King was assassinated, and riots broke out in inner cities throughout America. Bobby Kennedy was killed after winning the California primary in June. In August, Republicans met in Miami, picking the controversial Richard Nixon as their candidate, while in September, Democrats in Chicago backed the ineffectual Vice President Hubert Humphrey. TVs across the country showed anti-war protestors filling the streets of Chicago and the police running amok, beating and arresting demonstrators and delegates alike. Forty years after 1968, the year still looms as a decisive one in modern American politics, a year of cultural and political revolution and counter-revolution, from which arose today's bitterly divided country. ... (show rest) In Miami and the Siege of Chicago, Norman Mailer, America's most protean and provocative writer, brings a novelist's eye to bear on the events of 1968. Mailer describes the fall of Rockefeller and the liberal Republicans while capturing the tinsel gleam of rising star Ronald Reagan. He confronts the stupefying pageantry of Miami and the mayhem in Chicago. He presents sharply-etched yet strikingly nuanced portaits of the complicated, ominous Richard Nixon and the enigmatic Eugene McCarthy. He shows himself struggling to do his job in the new mediated world of TV and expresses his sorrow, fear, fury, and pity at seeing his country nearing collapse. Miami and the Siege of Chicago is a great book not only about 1968, but about America. | ||
 | Mindfulness and The Art of Choice: Transform Your Life by Karen H. Sherman (Loving Healing Press) | |
Do You Have the Life You Want? Each person is entitled to have "the good life." Most don't experience this because of getting caught up in reacting, continually recycling old patterns that keep you stuck and emotionally frozen. By practicing the simple tools in Mindfulness and the Art of Choice, you'll learn how to live mindfully and create the great life you want. The Art of Choice Will Make a Difference. | ||
 | My Father's Paradise by Ariel Sabar (Algonquin Books) | |
Award-winning journalist Ariel Sabar weaves a tale of two men—father and son—and two worlds—Ancient Iraq and Modern America—in this enlightening journey through Kurdish-Jewish history in search of clues to his own family story. Born to illiterate parents in the mountains of northern Iraq and raised in an isolated village of Kurdish Jews who still spoke Aramaic, Ariel Sabar's father, Yona, emigrated to Israel in the 1950s as part of an exodus of some 120,000 Jews from Iraq. The Jews of Kurdistan were peasants and peddlers, and also renowned storytellers, with a distinct exotic culture and language—the 3,000-year-old language of Jesus. In Israel, the Kurdish Jews suffered poverty and bigotry and watched their culture all but vanish. Yona eventually reinvented his life in California, where he remains a professor at UCLA and has dedicated his career to preserving his people's traditions in a race against time. But to his first-generation American son, Ariel, trying to grow up cool in 1980s Los Angeles, he was a reminder of a strange immigrant past, and their relationship was strained. In My Father's Paradise, Ariel Sabar conjures his father's past, traveling with Yona across America, through Israel, into Kurdish Iraq, finally connecting to a heritage on which he had turned his back. | ||
 | Names on the Land: A Historical Account of Place-Naming in the United States by George R. Stewart (NYRB Classics) | |
This beloved classic about place-naming in the United States was written during World War II in a conscious effort to pay tribute to the heritage of the nation's peoples. George R. Stewart's love of the surprising story, and his focus not just on language but on how people interact with their environment, make Names on the Land a unique window into the history and sociology of America. From the first European names in what would later be the United States—Ponce de León's flowery Florida, Cortez's semi-mythical isle of California, and the red river Rio Colorado—to New England, New Amsterdam, and New Sweden; the French and the Russians; border ruffians and Boston Brahmins: Names on the Land is no dry dictionary but a fascinating panorama of language in action, bursting at the seams with revealing details. In lively, passionate writing, Stewart explains where Indian names were likely to be kept, and why; the fad that gave rise to dozens of Troys and to Athens, Georgia, as well as suburban Parksides, Brookmonts, and Woodcrest Manors; why "Brooklyn" is Dutch but looks English and why "Arkansas" is Arkansaw, except of course when it isn't. ... (show rest) His book has delighted generations of road-trippers, armchair travelers, and anyone who ever wondered how their hometown, or (more likely) the next town over, could be called that. Stewart's answer is always a story—one of the countless stories that lie behind the rich and strange diversity of America. | ||
 | Practically Perfect in Every Way: My Misadventures Through the World of Self-Help--and Back by Jennifer Niesslein (Berkley) | |
Love it or hate it, self-help has become a national pastime. From Martha Stewart Living to Money Magazine, Oprah to Dr. Phil, modern life is beset by advice-givers of all stripes, whose counsel is frequently and hilariously contradictory. Named one of the season's most promising books by the Washington Post Book World when it released in hardcover, Practically Perfect in Every Way by Jennifer Niesslein, recognizes and deconstructs our favorite cultural obsession, taking on our uniquely American preoccupation with the perfectibility of man and turning it squarely on its ear. ... (show rest) Jennifer Niesslein, wife, mother, and magazine editor, has a perfectly okay life. Even so, plagued by a nagging sense that she's not her best, most perfect self, and egged on by our culture's merciless mania for self-improvement, she embarks on a revealing and sharply observed voyage to perfection in all areas of her life, beginning with the relatively mundane (her house), moving on toward progressively larger themes (money, marriage, motherhood), and ending up with the burning issues of life (spirituality and meaning). Her insights into our peculiar obsession with making ourselves better will strike a chord with every reader who has tried (and, inevitably, failed) to achieve perfection—in housework, financial management, marriage, child-rearing, or faith. Practically Perfect in Every Way exposes the perils of too much self-help, as observed by an honest, outspoken writer. With Niesslein's mordant sensibility and uncanny insight into the tenor of the times, would-be perfectionists everywhere will see themselves reflected in this wry, witty and candid memoir. | ||
 | REPAIR Your Life: A Program for Recovery from Incest & Childhood Sexual Abuse by Marjorie McKinnon (Loving Healing Press) | |
A seven-step program for adults recovering from childhood sexual abuse. Can be used individually, with a therapist, or in a group setting. | ||
 | Spanish: Live it and Learn it! The Complete Guide to Language Immersion Schools in Mexico by Martha Racine Taylor (Cypress House) | |
This is the essential resource for anyone who wants to learn Spanish by the immersion method—taking classes at a Spanish-language school while living with a nearby Spanish-speaking family. Martha Racine Taylor, award-winning professor of Spanish, has researched and studied in language-immersion programs in Spain, Mexico, and Peru. After visiting Spanish-language schools in fourteen cities in Mexico, staying with local families, attending classes, and talking with students, teachers, and directors at each school, she created this book to address the needs of every student. Live It and Learn It is packed with detailed information about forty-nine of Mexico's finest language-immersion schools, the history and points of interest of the cities they're located in, and practical advice to help you have the best possible experience while you live and study in Mexico. | ||
 | The Best Creative Nonfiction, Vol. 2 by Lee Gutkind, editor (W.W. Norton) | |
"Blending precise research and astute observation with flavorful, fascinating narratives." -Publishers Weekly, starred review (for Vol. 1) From Lee Gutkind, the "Godfather behind creative narrative nonfiction" (Vanity Fair), and the staff of the landmark literary journal Creative Nonfiction comes this fresh collection of fact-based personal narratives, mined from literary blogs, 'zines, and other fringe publications. In "My Glove: A Biography," Stefan Fatsis, author of Word Freak and a Wall Street Journal reporter, traces the history of his baseball glove—"the one thing I would be devastated to lose, my last, best connection to the baseball that defined my life as a kid"—as he relinquishes it to the glove designer at Rawlings for an overhaul. Heidi Julavits, editor of The Believer, imagines a future in which book-related fatalities—"Death of the intellect is one thing, but actual death is quite another"—revolutionize the writer's market. This new volume of The Best Creative Nonfiction continues to engage and delight with exceptional work from writers old and new. | ||
 | The Quest for Kaitiakitanga: The Ancient Maori Secret from New Zealand that Could Save the Earth by Richard Bangs (Menasha Ridge Press) | |
A companion to the second in the series of PBS specials on Adventures with Purpose, The Quest for Kaitakitanga is a grand adventure that traces a trail from the bottom of the earth, the southern-most tip of the South Island of New Zealand, up through the heart of this country, ending at the tree of the Maori spirit myth at the north end of the North Island. | ||
 | The Return of Desire: A Guide to Rediscovering Your Sexual Passion by Gina Ogden (Trumpeter) | |
According to a study published in The Journal of the American Medical Association, 43 percent of American women are sexually dysfunctional: they don't desire sex or don't enjoy it. In The Return of Desire, Dr. Gina Ogden draws on decades of clinical experience as well as on her own sex research to understand this startling statistic and offer new approaches to reviving women's sexual desire and pleasure. While there are several books available about the problem of low sex drive among women, Dr. Ogden resists the trend of seeing low libido as a primarily physiological problem. Instead of recommending pills or patches, Dr. Ogden takes a holistic perspective, helping readers to understand how mental and emotional patterns and relationship dynamics can stifle sexual desire—and how to help desire flow more freely. Low desire is the number one reason that women have come to Dr. Ogden for treatment, and in this book she shares the insights and exercises that she offers to her clients and at workshops around the country. ... (show rest) | ||
 | Traveler's Tool Kit: Mexico & Central America by Rob Sangster (Menasha Ridge Press) | |
Traveler's Tool Kit: Mexico and Central America shows you how to find delicious, affordable meals anywhere in Mexico and Central America, not just where to eat in Cuernavaca. Instead of rating Panama City's "best" hotels (usually meaning the most expensive), this book shows you how to locate comfortable, affordable lodging anywhere. You'll learn how to travel happily by air, bus, and all sorts of local transport, negotiate successfully with cab drivers and merchants, and dramatically cut the costs of travel. You will be convinced you can afford to travel—and that you can't afford not to. | ||
 | America America by Ethan Canin (Random House) | |
From Ethan Canin, bestselling author of The Palace Thief, comes a stunning novel, set in a small town during the Nixon era and today, about America and family, politics and tragedy, and the impact of fate on a young man's life. ... (show rest) In the early 1970s, Corey Sifter, the son of working-class parents, becomes a yard boy on the grand estate of the powerful Metarey family. Soon, through the family's generosity, he is a student at a private boarding school and an aide to the great New York senator Henry Bonwiller, who is running for president of the United States. Before long, Corey finds himself involved with one of the Metarey daughters as well, and he begins to leave behind the world of his upbringing. As the Bonwiller campaign gains momentum, Corey finds himself caught up in a complex web of events in which loyalty, politics, sex, and gratitude conflict with morality, love, and the truth. America America is a beautiful novel about America as it was and is, a remarkable exploration of how vanity, greatness, and tragedy combine to change history and fate. | 100 review copies available closed for requests Request by Apr 30 On sale Jun 24 | |
 | The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff (Random House) | |
A masterful novel set in the world of the Mormon Church, and in a strange modern polygamous sect, that intertwines a fictional memoir by Brigham Young's nineteenth wife and a contemporary murder mystery about a woman accused of murdering her polygamist husband. | 100 review copies available closed for requests Request by Apr 30 On sale Aug 05 | |
 | The Age of the Conglomerates: A Novel of the Future by Thomas Nevins (Ballantine Books) | |
A futuristic novel about the transcending power of love and family in a time of political and cultural dictatorship. | 50 review copies available closed for requests Request by Apr 30 On sale Aug 19 | |
 | Black Wave by John Silverwood (Random House) | |
An extraordinary, dramatic narrative of one American family's voyage of self-discovery and survival at sea. Tense relationships, alcoholism, teenage rebellion, and ultimately courage and redemption—it's all here, making this a book everyone can identify with and get swept up in. | 70 review copies available closed for requests Request by Apr 30 On sale Jul 01 | |
 | Home Girl by Judith Matloff (Random House) | |
After twenty years as a foreign correspondent in tumultuous locales including Rwanda, Chechnya, and Sudan, Judith Matloff is ready to put down roots and start a family. She leaves Moscow and returns to her native New York City to house-hunt for the perfect spot while her Dutch husband, John, stays behind in Russia with their dog to pack up their belongings. Intoxicated by West Harlem's cultural diversity and, more important, its affordability, Judith impulsively buys a stately fixer-upper brownstone in the neighborhood. ... (show rest) Little does she know what's in store. Judith and John discover that their dream house was once a crack den and that "fixer upper" is an understatement. The building is a total wreck: The beams have been chewed to dust by termites, the staircase is separating from the wall, and the windows are smashed thanks to a recent break-in. Plus, the house—crowded with throngs of brazen drug dealers—forms the bustling epicenter of the cocaine trade in the Northeast, and heavily armed police regularly appear outside their door in pursuit of the thugs and crackheads who loiter there. Thus begins Judith and John's odyssey to win over the neighbors, including Salami, the menacing addict who threatens to take over their house; MacKenzie, the literary homeless man who quotes Latin over morning coffee; Mrs. LaDuke, the salty octogenarian and neighborhood watchdog; and Miguel, the smooth lieutenant of the local drug crew, with whom the couple must negotiate safe passage. It's a far cry from utopia, but it's a start, and they do all they can to carve out a comfortable life. And by the time they experience the birth of a son, Judith and John have even come to appreciate the neighborhood's rough charms. Blending her finely honed reporter's instincts with superb storytelling, Judith Matloff has crafted a wry, reflective, and hugely entertaining memoir about community, home, and real estate. Home Girl is for anyone who has ever longed to go home, however complicated the journey. | 100 review copies available closed for requests Request by Apr 30 On sale Jun 24 | |
 | The Wishing Year by Noelle Oxenhandler (Random House) | |
One New Year's Day, Noelle Oxenhandler took stock of her life and found that she was alone after a long marriage, seemingly doomed to perpetual house rental and separated from the spiritual community that once had sustained her. With little left to lose, she launched a year's experiment in desire, forcing herself to take the plunge and try the path of Putting It Out There. It wasn't easy. A skeptic at heart, and a practicing Buddhist as well, Oxenhandler had grown up with a strong aversion to mixing spiritual and earthly matters. Still, she suspended her doubts and went for it all: a new love, a healed soul, and the 2RBD/1.5 BA of her dreams. Thus began her initiation into the art of wishing brazenly. ... (show rest) In this charming, compelling, and ultimately joyful book, Oxenhandler records a journey that is at once comic and poignant, light and dark, earthy and spiritual. Along the way she wonders: Does wishing have power? Is there danger in wishing? Are some wishes more worthy than others? And what about the ancient link between suffering and desire? To answer her questions, she delves into the history of wishing, from the rain dance and deer song of primeval magic to modern beliefs about mind over matter, prosperity consciousness, and the law of attraction. As the months go by, Oxenhandler is humbled to discover the courage it takes to make a wish and thus open oneself to the unknown. She is surprised when her experiment expands to include other people and other places in ways she never imagined. But most of all, she is amazed to find that there is, indeed, both power and danger in the act of wishing. For soon her wishes begin to come true—in ways that meet, subvert, and overflow her expectations. And what started as a year's dare turns into a way of life. A delightfully candid memoir, unfettered, poetic, and ripe with discovery, Oxenhandler's journey into the art and soul of wishing will inspire even the most skeptical reader to search the skies for the next shooting star. | 50 review copies available closed for requests Request by Apr 30 On sale Jul 08 | |
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