INFERNO
Dan Brown
In his international blockbusters, The Da Vinci Code, Angels & Demons, and The Lost Symbol, Dan Brown masterfully fused history, art, codes, and symbols. In this riveting new thriller, Harvard professor of symbology Robert Langdon is drawn into a harrowing world centered on one of history’s most enduring and mysterious literary masterpieces, Dante’s Inferno, pulling him into a landscape of classic art, secret passageways, and futuristic science. order here

DIRTY WARS
Jeremy Scahill
Dirty Wars follows journalist Scahill, author of the international bestseller Blackwater, into the heart of the U.S. War on Terror's most dangerous battlefields as he uncovers one of the most important foreign policy stories. order here

FROZEN IN TIME
Mitchell Zuckoff
A gripping true story of survival, bravery, and honor in the vast Arctic wilderness during World War II, from the author of "New York Times"-bestseller "Lost in Shangri-La."
order here

BURIED IN THE SKY
Peter Zuckerman
In August 2008, eleven climbers lost their lives on K2 while two Sherpas survived. The authors explore the intersecting lives of Chhiring Dorje Sherpa and Pasang Lama, following them from their villages high in the Himalaya to the slums of Kathmandu, across the glaciers of Pakistan to K2 Base Camp. When disaster strikes, Chhiring finds Pasang stranded on an ice wall. The rescue that follows has become the stuff of mountaineering legend--a gripping, white-knuckled adventure and a rich exploration of Sherpa culture that explores this dramatic catastrophe from a fascinating new perspective. order here

DEVIL IN THE GROVE
Gilbert King
A gripping true story of racism, murder, rape, and the law that brings to light one of the most dramatic court cases in American history and offers a rare and revealing portrait of Thurgood Marshall. This book tells the story of a dangerous and uncertain case from the days immediately before Brown v. Board of Education in which the young civil rights attorney Marshall risked his life to defend a boy slated for the electric chair for a crime he did not commit. order here

Author Readings at Bloomsbury Books are Free and Open to the Public

THE ART OF HEARING HEARTBEATS
Jan-Philipp Sendker

Wednesday, June 5th at 7pm

International Bestseller The Art of Hearing Heartbeats is a Bloomsbury Books favorite, and a bookclub favorite as well! We are delighted to host Jan-Phillip Sendker on his US tour.

After a successful New York lawyer suddenly disappears without a trace, neither his wife nor his daughter Julia has any idea where he might be--until they find a love letter he wrote many years ago, to a Burmese woman they have never heard of. The Art of Hearing Heartbeats is a magical and uplifting tale of hardship and resilience, and the unyielding power of love. order here

100 TRICKS EVERY BOY CAN DO: A MEMOIR
Kim Stafford

Friday, June 7th at 7pm

Bret and Kim Stafford, the oldest children of the poet and pacifist William Stafford, were pals. Bret was the good son, the obedient public servant, Kim the itinerant wanderer. In this family of two parent teachers, there was a code of silence about hard things: "Why tell what hurts?" This reticence took its toll on Bret, unable to reveal his troubles, and against the backdrop of the 1960s, Bret became a casualty of his interior war and took his life in 1988. 100 Tricks Every Boy Can Do teaches us about depression, the tender ancestry of violence, the quest for harmonious relations, and finally the trick of joy. Author reading June 7th, 7pm. order here

ELIZABETH THE FIRST WIFE
Lian Dolan

Monday, June 17th at 7pm

Lian will be giving a talk called The Bard meets Bridget Jones: Incorporating Shakespeare into Contemporary Fiction. In Elizabeth the First Wife, Elizabeth Lancaster, an English professor at Pasadena City College, finds her dull but stable life upended with an out-of-the-blue visit from her ex-husband, A-list action star FX Fahey. While her high-profile family sniffs its disapproval, Elizabeth heads to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival to protect FX from public humilia­tion in an avant-garde production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. During her summer in Ashland, Elizabeth adopts a dog, attracts the attention of a handsome political operative, and proves that the immortal Bard knew something about modern relationships. The course of true love never did run smooth ...but it is definitely worth the trouble. Author reading: June 17th, 7pm. Free. order here

PRAGUE WINTER
Madeleine Albright
A memoir of her formative years in Czechoslovakia during the Nazi occupation, WWII, fascism and the onset of the Cold War. At once a deeply personal memoir and an incisive work of history, Prague Winter serves as a guide to the future through the lessons of the past—as seen through the eyes of one of the international community's most respected and fascinating figures.  order here

THE THOUSAND AUTUMS OF JACOB DE ZOET
David Mitchell
The story begins in 1799 in Dejima in the harbor of Nagasoki. A Dutch trader travels to Dutch East India and falls in love with a Japanese midwife. But then she is whisked away to a sinister mountain temple cult. Mitchell, who is meticulous regarding period detail, explores the borders between propriety, profit, and pleasure. A good read. order here

THE ROSSETTI LETTER
Christi Phillips
A modern historian discovers a courtesan's secret role in a shocking conspiracy. In this captivating debut, Christi Phillips blends fact and fiction, suspense and sensuality into a vibrant, richly imagined novel in which a modern historian uncovers a courtesan's secret role in a shocking conspiracy of seventeenth-century Venice. order here

NETHERLAND
Joseph O'Neil
New York Times Book Review Best Book of the Year
In post-9/11 New York, Hans van den Broek stumbles upon the vibrant New York subculture of cricket, where he revisits his lost childhood and, thanks to a friendship with a charming Trinidadian named Chuck Ramkissoon, begins to connect with his adopted country. The two men share their experiences of contemporary immigrant life in America and an unforgettable portrait emerges of a New York populated by strivers of every race and nationality. Echoes of The Great Gatsby, and an exquisite meditation on the American dream, according to Michiko Kakutani of the New York Times. order here

THE SEA
John Banville
In this luminous new novel about love, loss, and the unpredictable power of memory, John Banville explores the themes of mortality, grief, death, childhood and memory. What the protagonist, Max, comes to understand about the past and its effects on him is at the center of this elegiac, gorgeously written novel — among the finest we have had from this masterful writer. Winner of the Mann Booker Prize. order here

MYSTERIES
Knut Hamsun
In a Norwegian coastal town, society's carefully woven threads begin to unravel when an unsettling stranger named Johan Nagel arrives. With an often brutal insight into human nature, Nagel draws out the townsfolk, exposing their darkest instincts and suppressed desires. Knut Hamsun (1859-1952) was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1920. Isaac Bathshevis Singer says that Hamsun belongs to a select group of writers who not only interest readers, but hypnotize them. order here

HUNGER
Knut Hamsun
Another great novel by Hamsun wherein an artist struggles to survive. A modern classic about a penniless, unemployed young writer, this powerful, autobiographical novel paints an unforgettable portrait of a man driven to the edge of self-destruction by forces beyond his control. order here

THE GOOD APPRENTICE
Iris Murdoch
This is as sly, witty, and beautifully orchestrated tale about the difficulty of being good--at once a supremely sophisticated entertainment and an inquiry into the spiritual crises that afflict the modern world. order here

MY NAME IS RED
Orhan Pahmuk
This philosophical thriller is constructed around two views of artistic meaning. At once a fiendishly devious mystery, a beguiling love story, and a brilliant symposium on the power of art, My Name Is Red is a transporting tale set amid the splendor and religious intrigue of sixteenth-century Istanbul, from one of the most prominent contemporary Turkish writers. Pamuk won the Nobel Prize in literature in 2006. order here

THE MASTER
Colm Toibin
A portrait of Henry James presented in this sympathetic, triumphant novel.  It starts off with the most painful experience of James' life--the failure of his dramatic play. James then abstains from politics, history, sexuality and expressions of emotions. Toibin borrows James' voice, but not his long sentences. order here

THE CAPTAIN: The Journey of Dereck Jeter
Ian O'Conner
Ian O’Connor draws on unique access to Derek Jeter and more than 200 new interviews to reveal how a biracial kid from Michigan became New York’s most beloved sports figure and the face of the steroid-free athlete. Behind his leadership and hero’s grace there are hidden struggles and complexities that have never been explored, until now. order here

BLUE NIGHTS
Joan Didion
Didion's struggle to recover from the deaths of both her husband and daughter. As she reflects on her daughter’s life and on her role as a parent, Didion grapples with the candid questions that all parents face, and contemplates her age, something she finds hard to acknowledge, much less accept. order here

FICTION

THE ORPHAN MASTER'S SON
Adam Johnson
Shocking and disturbing, this brave piece of fiction takes readers deep inside isolated North Korea. Set in the recent past, during the reign of the now deceased Kim Jong-il, Johnson paints an Orwellian world in which government officials are kidnappers and heroes have privileges but not rights. Johnson waxes lyrical and walks a fine line between between what little is known about North Korea and what the imagination can conjure. -review by Becky  order here

DRAMA

DISGRACED
Ayad Akhtar
A moving play that depicts a successful corporate lawyer painfully forced to consider why he has for so long camouflaged his Pakistani Muslim heritage.
can be ordered--call or visit our store

HISTORY

EMBERS OF WAR:
The Fall of an Empire and the Making of America's Vietnam
Fredrik Logevall
An epic story of wasted opportunities and tragic miscalculations, featuring an extraordinary cast of larger-than-life characters, Embers of War delves deep into the historical record to provide hard answers to the unanswered questions surrounding the demise of one Western power in Vietnam and the arrival of another. This book will become the definitive chronicle of the struggle’s origins for years to come. order here

BIOGRAPHY

THE BLACK COUNT:
Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo
Tom Reiss
Here is the remarkable true story of the real Count of Monte Cristo—the forgotten hero who inspired The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers. General Alex Dumas, father of the novelist, was born a slave in Haiti and made his way to Paris where he commanded armies at the height of revolution—until he met an enemy he could not defeat. The Black Count is simultaneously a riveting adventure story, a lushly textured evocation of 18th century France and a window into the modern world's first multi-racial society. It is also a heartbreaking story of the enduring bonds of love between a father and son. -review by Sheila  order here

POETRY

STAG'S LEAP
Sharon Olds
In this wise and intimate telling, Sharon Olds opens her heart to the reader, sharing the feeling of invisibility that comes when we are no longer standing in love’s sight. She is naked before us, curious and brave and even generous toward the man who was her mate for thirty years and who now loves another woman. Olds’ propulsive poetic line and the magic of her imagery are as lively as ever. Her unsparing approach to both pain and love makes this one of the finest, most powerful books of poetry Olds has yet given us. order here

GENERAL NONFICTION

DEVIL IN THE GROVE:
Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America
Gilbert King
A gripping true story of racism, murder, rape and the law. King's novel brings to light one of the most dramatic court cases in American history and offers a rare portrait of Thurgood Marshall. In this great untold story of American legal history, young civil rights attorney Marshall risked his life to defend a boy slated for the electric chair—saving him, against all odds, from being sentenced to death for a crime he did not commit. order here

MORE THAN HUMAN
Tim Glach
Award-winning photographer Tim Flach has spent years inquiring into the essential bond we have with animals. Now he presents the culmination of a career-long endeavor, an extraordinary body of work in which each image is more striking and powerful than the last. The book showcases a menagerie of creatures as they have never been seen before, along with texts, written and edited by author Lewis Blackwell. Order here

THE MORAL LIVES OF ANIMALS
Dale Peterson
Wild elephants walking along a trail stop and spontaneously try to protect and assist a weak and dying fellow elephant. Laboratory rats, finding other rats caged nearby in distressing circumstances, proceed to rescue them. A chimpanzee in a zoo loses his own life trying to save an unrelated infant who has fallen into a watery moat. These examples and others show that our fellow creatures have powerful impulses toward cooperation, generosity, and fairness.This rigorous and stimulating book shows the profound connections—the moral continuum—that link humans to many other species. Understanding the moral lives of animals offers new insight into our own. Order here 

ANIMAL WISE
Virginia Morrell
Released this month, February 2013, Virginia Morrel's highly anticipated book, Animal Wise: The Thoughts and Emotions of Our Fellow Creatures, takes us out of the laboratory and the realm of scientific jargon to show us that even the smallest creatures are capable of thought, reason, and emotion, debunking the myth that humans are the only beings capable of these sensations. Order here

THE TAO OF EQUUS
Linda Kohanov
The Tao of Equus considers the mystical nature of horses and the magical connection between horses and humans. Using neurological research, cultural history, mythology, and firsthand anecdotes from years of teaching and facilitating equine therapy, Kohanov does justice to the profound communion that people — women in particular — often experience with horses.  Order here

ANIMALS IN TRANSLATION
Temple Grandin
Temple Grandin draws upon a long, distinguished career as an animal scientist and her own experiences with autism to deliver an extraordinary message about how animals act, think, and feel. Grandin is a faithful guide into their world, exploring animal pain, fear, aggression, love, friendship, communication, learning, and, yes, even animal genius. The sweep of Animals in Translation is immense and will forever change the way we think about animals. Order here

OF WOLVES AND MEN
Barry Lopez
Humankind's relationship with the wolf is based on a spectrum of responses running from fear to admiration and affection. Drawing on an astonishing array of literature, history, science, and mythology, as well as considerable personal experience with captive and free-ranging wolves, Lopez argues for the necessity of the wolf's preservation and envelops the reader in its sensory world. Order here

OINK: MY LIFE WITH MINI-PIGS
Matt Whyman
Humankind's relationship with the wolf is based on a spectrum of responses running from fear to admiration and affection. Drawing on an astonishing array of literature, history, science, and mythology, as well as considerable personal experience with captive and free-ranging wolves, Lopez argues for the necessity of the wolf's preservation and envelops the reader in its sensory world. Order here

Recommendations by Karen

CATHERINE THE GREAT: PORTRAIT OF A WOMAN, by Robert K. Massie
Just out in paperback, Massie returns with another masterpiece of narrative biography. I also enjoyed his biographies of Nicholas and Alexandra and Peter the Great. 

THE SENSE OF AN ENDING, by Julian Barnes
This intense novel follow Tony Webster, a middle-aged man, as he contends with a past he never thought much about--until his closest childhood friends return with a vengeance: one of them from the grave, another maddeningly present. Tony thought he left this all behind as he built a life for himself, but when he is presented with a mysterious legacy, he is forced to revise his estimation of his own nature and place in the world. A great read and a good candidate for book club discussion.

Recommendations by Sheila

I loved Ian McEwan's ATONEMENT and I highly recommend his new novel, SWEET TOOTH, which features a female M15 secret agent. It's a great, and unlikely, combination of espionage, love and the art of writing.

We really did have a scuffle in the store over who would first read the new Barbara Kingsolver novel, FLIGHT BEHAVIOR. I loved it, and thought it to be a much better book than her previous, LACUNA. Set in Appalachia, great plot, beautiful nature writing and a protagonist who will charm you.

THIS IS HOW YOU LOSE HER, by Pulitzer Prize-winner Junot Diaz, is splendid. He is young, dazzling and totally unique. This collection of his short stories is one of my favorite new books.

More Recommendations by Sheila

DOG STARS, by Peter Heller, is the story of a pilot surviving in a post- apocalypse world. The premise has been used a lot lately, but I found this one very moving, mainly because of the main character's valiant struggle to maintain his own humanity and capacity for love.

PARIS: A LOVE STORY, by Kati Marton. Can there possibly be too many stories set in Paris? This lovely, candid memoir is about love, loss and life after loss - with Paris at its heart. I finished it in a day.

CITY OF WOMEN, by David R. Gilham, is particularly for those, like myself, who were mesmerized by World War II Berlin in IN THE GARDEN OF BEASTS. This novel is so atmospheric that I felt I could hear the Gestapo rapping on the attic door. Berlin, during the war, is mostly a city of frightened women, and this story of a Nazi soldier's wife and her clandestine life is scary, steamy and excellent historical fiction.

Gen-Xers cannot get enough of Jonathan Tropper (BOOK OF JOE). ONE LAST THING BEFORE I GO is touching and outrageously funny. This was the requested title from both of my thirty-something offspring.

THE UNLIKELY PILGRIMAGE OF HAROLD FRY, by Rachel Joyce, is what you should read now if you loved MAJOR PETTIGREW'S LAST STAND and GUERNSEY WOMEN'S LITERARY AND POTATO PEEL SOCIETY.

Michael Kardo's debut novel, THE THREE DAY AFFAIR, is about three friends who went to Princeton together and reunite for a road trip that takes an unexpected turn when one of them kidnaps a young woman.

BLACK FRIDAYS, by Michael Sears, who spent twenty years on Wall Street is exciting, appalling and you'll learn a lot about hedge funds (not much of it good).

Ariel Walker's, THE TWENTY-YEAR DEATH, which consists of three interrelated sections, is written in the styles and periods of Georges Simenon, Raymond Chandler and Jim Thompson. It is, to use an over-used phrase, a tour de force.

Staff Recommendations

ARCADIA, by Lauren Groff
Set on a commune in New York State during the 1970s, Groff's prose simultaneously romanticizes and illuminate the realities of rural community life, finding a balance between the hilarity and tragedy of living off the land in a mostly commercial and industrialized world. Wide in scope, full of heart and quirky humor, the rise and fall of the Arcadia House community is narrated by the ever lovable Bit, the first child of Arcadia, who stole my heart from the first page. If you like Brady Udall, Tom Perrotta or loved THE MONSTERS OF TEMPLETON read this original coming-of-age tale next!
-review by Becky

THE ROUND HOUSE, by Louise Erdrich
Returning to the Ojibwe reservation (rez) in North Dakota for the first time since The Plague of Doves, Erdrich's newest book is a luminous tale of familial love with a terrible accident at the heart. Part mystery, part Native American history and part coming of age tale, Erdrich's story captures the complexity of human relationships, our frailty and resilience and the place where the two meet. This book brings up morality and mortality without preaching, and beautifully evokes the traditions of Native American culture.  I love this book and cannot recommend this highly enough.
-review by Becky

GONE GIRL, by Gillian Flynn
Nick and Amy Dunn appear to be the dream couple, super-attractive journalists with great jobs and an enviable life in NY. Both lose their jobs in the recession and relocate to Nick's home town in rural Missouri. Their story is told in a he said/she said format. Nick begins with the day his wife disappears under suspicious circumstances; In her diary, Amy recalls their meeting and storybook life. As Nick moves closer to being arrested for Amy's murder, the diary confirms Amy's fear of her husband's increasingly volatile behavior. However, both narrators are wildly unreliable; The psychological tension and surprises will leave you breathless, and you will understand why Gone Girl remains at the top of the NY Times bestseller list.
-review by Marilyn

AGE OF INSIGHT, by Eric Kandel
Though Kandel focuses on Vienna of 1900, his scope of inquiry brings one to the most cutting-edge and far reaching conclusions. Through revelatory investigations of the biology of the brain, art, and science of the mind, Kandel engagingly reveals how our perceptions and thoughts can be mapped within the brain. Studies show how brain function reflects mind function, shedding light on the very core of our aesthetic, emotional, and perceptual experiences. Rather than reduce the mystery of the mind, such understanding expands its wonder and vastness. Kandel brilliantly weaves together such greats as Darwin, Freud, Klimt, and Einstein, always making his subject understandable and connecting it to a greater scope. Few books can be said to alter the way one comprehends the world. This is one of them. I used almost an entire tablet of Post-Its, as I fervently marked page after luminous page.
-review by Rebecca

RULES OF CIVILITY, by Amor Towles
Towles has written a good old-fashioned novel of manners with overtones of F. Scott Fitzgerald. It is set in New York City, 1938, with a bright, first-generation heroine who rises from secretary to a power in the publishing world. The Gatsbyesque hero, Tinker Grey, is an investment banker with "a smile on his face that could have lit every lamp on the North Pole." One of the charms of the novel is the re-creation of the period, still mired in the depression, on the verge of a bloody war, with a class structure struggling to preserve its elegance and boundaries--and is just about to collapse.
-review by Sheila

TURN OF MIND, by Alice LaPlante
Turn of Mind is the best literary thriller since Presumed Innocent. The narrator is a hand surgeon who has dementia, though she experiences lucid moments. She is also the prime suspect in the murder of her best friend, who was found with her fingers surgically removed. She doesn't know whether she did it or not. This is a page-turning thriller and a moving and fascinating glimpse into the deteriorating mind of a tightly controlled, intelligent woman who is slowly succumbing to her disease. Alzheimer's works brilliantly as a literary device, revealing family secrets, tragedies and an ending you won't expect. It will be one of the most read and talked-about books of 2011.
-review by Sheila

WHY BE HAPPY WHEN YOU COULD BE NORMAL?  by Jeanette Winterson
A soul-searching and vivid memoir by one of the more intriguing contemporary British Writers of our time. Adopted into a family in a north England industrial town, Winterson confronts the ravages of an extreme religious upbringing and her own burgeoning homosexuality within that context. Winterson explores her adopted mother's erratic, brutal and manic behavior with searing honesty. She courageously attempts to understand herself and her childhood beyond the pain, stigma and her evident genius. With Winterson, one feels you are with her on a quest and that you are part of the incandescence of a brilliant mind struggling to illuminate even the darkest recesses.