Customer Comments

Cloud Cuckoo Land is a brilliant, multi-layered story that will stay with me for the rest of my days. Anthony Doerr has created a magnificent tapestry here, weaving time and space, history and speculation, everyday heroes and the power of libraries into an extraordinary masterpiece. Rarely do I re-read books, but I will definitely revisit this perilous and magical journey. No doubt, each new reading will offer undiscovered gifts. Release date is 9/28/2021. Pre-order your copy now and get ready to delve into the best book of the year.

They had me at the first cartoon. I woke my husband up with my laughing. Pairing the intelligence and sarcasm of Florida journalist Carl Hiassen with the brilliance of The New Yorker’s Roz Chast and we have WAY more than a graduation speech. Assume the Worst is a vivid picture of today’s world. This book is packed with wisdom and dark humor, a most excellent guide to adulting. Think about it, talk about it, buy lots of copies to give away.

Humor, history, and a heck of a story for our times. Bill McKibben, a renowned environmentalist, tackles politics, local economies, community, and resistance in the best possible ways. Radio Free Vermont “underground, underpowered, and underfoot” is advocating for an independent Vermont. This book is described as a fable (moral message included) and I couldn’t put it down. This would make be a great choice for book group discussion.

What an unexpected delight! This literate, quirky, hilarious, not-quite-mystery is my new favorite book. Take a rather staid Englishman named Atticus who loves his Earl Grey tea, toss in five feisty Spanish women in Madrid who staff a literary magazine, mix in a bumbling police officer with a “pirate” on a motorcycle and the plot begins to thicken. Need a change of pace? Want to meet some characters? Any interest in Spain? Fancy yourself a detective? Set aside some time, pick up this book and enjoy the ride.

Every typewriter has a story. In this treasure chest of a collection, every story has a typewriter. Uncommon Type: Some Stories offers time travel, an early morning visit to Mars, recurring characters and my favorite, meditations of the heart. Tom Hanks is a brilliant storyteller! Librarians, add this to your collection. Readers, get ready to laugh and cry and tell your friends. Awarders of literary prizes, remember this one.

Megan Hunter’s The End We Start From is phenomenal, in both its concept and understated nature. Her way with words is breathtaking, while the story left me nearly speechless. High praise, yes. Worth every keystroke. Read this book!

Thank you, John Green. Your brilliance as a writer came through on so many levels. Readers, this is something very special. Pick it up. Read the book. Talk about it with your teens, your friends, your book buddies. Lots of discussion opportunities for book groups. 5 stars...

Along with 400 other people, I spent tonight hearing Anne Hillerman talk about her stories and share her writing journey during our annual Loveland Loves to Read event. Spider Woman's Daughter continues the work of Tony Hillerman's Leaphorn & Chee series, but it stands on its own with a new direction and expanded characters. This is top-notch storytelling woven around an intriguing mystery. The author offers a unique look into the Navajo Nation with place and culture as characters in their own right. I am a fan.

Atomic Weight of Love is the best book I have read since Tony Doerr's All the Light We Cannot See.That is 2 years and more than 200 books. Church is meticulous in her details; she captures culture and place (northern New Mexico) in a magical way. Spanning nearly 80 years, this book is multi-layered, poetic, creative, and oh-so-smart. Her seemingly effortless blending of science, ornithology, relationships, life for women in post-WWII Los Alamos and the crows created a story I did not want to put down. This is literary fiction at its very best. Book groups will love it!

Great used bookstore in Silicon Valley, crazy cat hiding in the stacks, quirky characters I wanted to meet. King captured the essence of a day in the life of a great bookstore. Like Powells, like the one I look for in every new town. I laughed, I cried, I did not want it to end. Book geeks, read this one, share it with your friends and hope King keeps writing.

Absolutely brilliant! Whether you call yourself geek, librarian, philosopher or superhero, this book is for you. One of a kind... Read it in one sitting... Could not put it down. As I finished the last page, my thoughts went immediately to "who needs to read this next? How many copies should I buy to share?" Andrew Kaufman's All My Friends Are Superheroes has earned a permanent place on my bookshelves. This one is a keeper.

The Golem and the Jinni was our latest book club pick and I expected not to like it. Was that notion wrong! This book is quite fabulous... Historical fiction melded with tales of the Arabian Nights, Jewish folktales, a bit of time travel, fantasy and characters that seemed real enough to walk right off the page. Great choice for book groups; our discussion continued long after we disbanded for the night. Read this book and then spread the word. Helene Wecker is a talent to be watched.

Less than 7 pages into The Glass Kitchen, I am completely caught. The prose is poetic, the story already laid down. It's about food and love and "the knowing". Pretty sure that I will be reading late into tonight and am delighted that there is a weekend with nothing planned. Lee's earlier novel Emily and Einstein was great; this looks to be better. Need something to sink your teeth into, buy The Glass Kitchen and enjoy.

All the Light We Cannot See is the best book I've read in years. The brilliant writing kept me reading late into many nights. Doerr's characters were so fully drawn that I felt a personal connection. The settings were real enough to imagine myself there, and the language... that's the part that gave me chills. The creativity, minute attention to detail and radiance which make up this story rendered me nearly speechless. My prediction is that All the Light We Cannot See will quickly become the book that the booksellers handsell, that readers cannot stop talking about, and that book groups put at the top of their to-read lists. I hope this is Tony's year for a major literary prize; nobody is more deserving.

My President's Hat is a pair of green Dansko sandals. Maybe not life-changing, but things are better when I wear them. READ this book and you will understand. Engaging beginning with fun characters and a very satisfying ending I didn't see coming. Paris in the 1980s... made me smile.

The Scar Boys is everything I appreciate about young adult literature. Great characters, catch you and keep you hooked-in story line and it all felt so real. Didn't want to put it down and immediately started thinking about who would be lucky enough to be next in line to read it. High school librarians, buy this book for your collection. Readers who want a good story, pick it up and enjoy. This is a great choice for reluctant readers, boys and girls alike. Finally, a note to the author: you've got the goods, please keep writing.

Brilliant! Working with high school students made me want to read this. Reading this made me want to climb up on the rooftop and shout "READ THIS BOOK!". And now I want to meet Matthew Quick and engage in that discussion which starts with "Please talk to us about how you do what you do". For every teacher, parent or teen, popular or misunderstood, this ought to be mandatory reading. As for bookclubs, duscussion possibilities abound. Needless to say, I am a fan.

9 pm. New book. Looks promising. Who would have guessed that The Rosie Project would keep me totally engaged from the first chapter straight through until 2:30 in the morning? If you want to laugh a lot, jump into Human Relationships 101, learn a bit about Asperger's, or simply read a really entertaining book, The Rosie Project is for you. I am anxiously awaiting the sequel. Perfect way to kickoff 2014!

Junger has quite the concept here. Your gut runs most of the health and well-being in your body and if you treat it right, health will return. The book is highly readable and his honest assessment of human behavior will go far towards assisting people to succeed with this task. The anecdotes are thought-provoking, the 21 day diet sounds do-able, and the end results amazing. Summer is the perfect time to take on a health challenge with this whole foods cleansing/repairing diet. What have we got to lose?

Watch for for Prairie Chicken Little and friends. This is the perfect Easter book for young and old alike! The pictures are eye-grabbing, the rhyming is toe-tapping and the animals run the show. I laughed out loud and my granddaughter was enchanted. Most definitely a "can we read that again" kind of picture book.

What a great way to kick off a new year... a small cafe in Paris, a recently ruined romance, book publishing people and a story I couldn't put down.

Best collection of short stories (loosely tied together) I've read! Alan Heathcock has mad skills as a writer and he is a nice guy too. Personal appearance at our book club sealed the deal. The depth of emotion and the character development is unsurpassed. Light and full of giggles, not so much; make me think long and hard, absolutely. Volt is a book to talk about over and over again.

I'm stingy with 5 stars, but this one earned it. If you haven't read Rosamund Lupton, do it soon! Afterwards is her 2nd novel and it is a dandy. Although there are elements of a who-done-it, there is so much more to this one (also true of her earlier novel, Sisters); it is a novel about family and loyalties and friendship, with plenty of psychological twists. I was completely caught up by the end of the first 3 pages and the tension, mood, story didn't let up. Lupton has a unique way with words; a book a year would be a gift to her readers.

Wildwood will become a modern classic. It is a wondrous fantasy for all ages. Who doesn't love a magical forest filled with jousting knights and a powerful queen? There's a mailman who is not what he appears to be, everyday kids on a life-changing mission and enough heroics to satisfy the most cynical among us. The illustrations are stunning and tell a story by themselves. The good news, this is the beginning of a series; the less than good news, the next installment cannot be written quickly enough.

The Night Circus is a stunning book in more ways than I can say. Amazing writing that sets the scene - Europe & America in the late 1800s, characters that are so real you feel you could have tea with them, and a sparkling storyline. It's about a circus, a challenge, regular folks, quirky circus people, and the unexpected around every corner. Erin Morgenstern deserves lots of literary praise (and awards) for this one... and it's her debut novel. DO NOT miss The Night Circus!

What a great choice for book groups! Verghese is brilliant in his recapturing of another time, place and culture. Ethiopia in the early 50s right up to now. It's science, it's medicine, it's family life, it's a coming-of-age tale for identical twins, and so much more. Long saga with pitch-perfect writing, it is worth every minute that you get to read it. Big recommendation for Cutting for Stone.

Rules of Civility made me feel like I was living in a highly entertaining movie. Perfect depiction of the time and place... New York City, late 1930s. Katey Kontent meets Tinker Grey and the story takes off. There's romance, adventure, art, and wonderfully atmospheric writing. This book made me wish I had been there then. Take a chance... do a little traveling back in time.

Sones had me laughing out loud, crying just a little and wishing she would hurry up and write another book for grown women. To date, her highly popular work has been free verse for a young adult audience. Imagine your teenage daughter readying herself for college... hanging out with the boyfriend, acting as if her mother is wildly distressing, and generally being a pill... while you, the mother, are remembering the sweet baby, the mother-daughter connections, the major preparation for college bound kids, the upcoming empty nest. Hunchback of Neiman Marcus gets my high recommendation!

What a wonderful story! Stepakoff's second effort (after Fireworks Over Toccoa, which was an engaging love story)made me want to find this elusive apple and sample it. The Orchard is about scents and how we capture them, tastes and why we like them, science and a very touching romance all mixed up in a highly readable novel. You will smell things differently after reading this book!

Sister is the best thing I've read in months. The author catches you up and does not let you down until the last page. It's a story of sisters told in the most engaging manner and it will keep you guessing the outcome right up to the end. Did she really kill herself?

Take one of my favorite books of all time - Little Women - and add a contemporary family in London with plenty of mostly grown daughters, a therapist mother, huge personalities. I laughed, I cried and I committed to read Little Women et al all over again. This is a good one! Perfect summer (or any other time) read!

Wrecker completely rocks! It undid me in much the same way this boy, Wrecker, moves through the world... unexpected kindnesses, unpredicted happenings, and quite simply, a wonderful tale with plenty of life lessons mixed in. It's about motherhood (found and lost), community, coming of age and so much more. 5 STARS... I LOVED this story! (note to author: Summer, Keep at it! Your gift with words is genius-like.)

Science for the layperson but it offers SO much more. Skloot's research was impeccable and this reads like incredibly good literary fiction... hard to put down. I work in a high school library and continue to recommend "Immortal Life" to my friends as well as our staff and students. Top of my list for 2010! Hats off to the author.

Nancy Werlin has done it again. Extraordinary is a suggested Young Adult title, but it is SO much more. Adults will appreciate this as least as much as the younger readers. Extraordinary is magical realism at it's best!

Imagine that your dead wife's heart gets donated and the recipient wants to be part of your life. If that isn't enough, how about the driver who killed your wife and wants to be your new best friend? It's all here in this excellent debut novel.

Need a great new book for your book club? Elegance of the Hedgehog offers great discussion possibilities. We're given an odd assortment of colorful characters, including a gifted 12 year old who wants to kill herself and a concierge who has a secret life. The translation from the original French is simply amazing.

From middle school readers through gram & gramps, this is a must read. Savvy is an ingenious story with a cast of characters (with a capital "c") that is uncannily familiar. Savvy won a well-deserved 2009 Newbery honor.

Spring is coming and if I had to choose only one book to keep about maintaining a sustainable lifestyle (everything from growing an indoor herb garden to raising a goat), this would be it. It has beautiful color photographs and easy-to-understand articles, and offers more ways than you can imagine to maintain a green lifestyle.

When you've read all of Twilight and want MORE, this is the book. Ariella Montero, a 14-year-old vampire, is wise beyond her years, on her way to college, and can’t explain why her friends keep showing up dead. Hubbard’s characters, place descriptions, and story are as engaging as anything I’ve read this year.

Mones tells the story of the cultural and historical aspects of Chinese cooking within a story about an American food writer, Maggie McElroy, who is desperately trying to figure out her own life. This is food and travel writing at its best.

Erica Bauermeister is my new favorite author! Even though it's early in the year, this is most definitely my top "READ ME" choice for 2009. Poetic prose, food descriptions you can almost taste, and characters I want to befriend. This will be a great Book Group choice. Where is Lilian's restaurant anyway? I'd like to make a reservation.

This one kept me engrossed from beginning to end. Never Tell a Lie is what good mysteries are all about.

What better way to start a new year than with a new perspective? Sylvia Boorstein captures the essence with this hands-on introduction to Buddhism; personal stories and vignettes personalize it as well as touch your heart. This is is her best (and most readable) work to date.

I have just finished the most delicious book! Magic, Paris, folklore, chocolate and did I mention Zozie? What a wonderful story that will keep you wanting more. This sequel to Chocolat is even better than the original.