Fall books are arriving, and there's a particularly good batch this year. Here are 20 new books we loved and can't stop talking about, the books you should be reading....
Bluff City Pawn by Stephen Schottenfeld
A surprising, smart, and subtle novel about a Memphis pawn shop owner, his brothers, a cache of antique guns, and the thin line between straight business and crime. Dramatic, engaging, and deeply informative about the world of second-hand collectors. Signed copies coming soon.
The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber
Peter is a Christian missionary in a distant land. To sustain him, he has only his faith, his love for his wife, and his Bible, which the ‘natives’ call his ‘book of strange new things.’ But no mission has ever been this ambitious or difficult. After all, how do you explain Jesus Christ to the beings of another planet? While Peter ministers to the people of Oasis, Earth begins to fall apart. In this unique and unforgettable book, Faber asks if faith—in love, civilization, and God—can survive even to the end of the world.
The Cat at the Wall by Deborah Ellis
Two reconnaissance soldiers are hiding in a house when they find themselves pinned down by gunfire. Their situation escalates when they find they are not the only inhabitants. The Cat at the Wall is an important book that teaches young readers the meaning of humanity. A story so affecting adults will love it too.
Crooked River by Valerie Geary
Sam McAlister’s life is already in turmoil when her father is falsely accused of murder. Everyone in town believes the evidence, but Sam isn’t so sure. The police are not looking for answers, and her father seems to have given up. It is up to Sam and her unusual little sister to solve the mystery before the two McAlister girls are separated from their father. This is a fast-paced dramatic mystery set in the Pacific Northwest. Part To Kill a Mockingbird, part John Hart.
Egg & Spoon by Gregory Maguire
Maguire, whose best-selling Wicked put a new spin on The Wizard of Oz, revamps classic Russian folklore in this story of a young peasant girl and her desperately impoverished family. One day, after a train pulls in to their abandoned village station with a mysterious guest aboard, the girl’s life changes forever. An exuberantly written adventure for readers of all ages. Signed copies available.
Empire of Sin by Gary Krist
This non-fiction account of early-1900s New Orleans reads like a juicy crime thriller. For about twenty years, the Storyville neighborhood was a factory of vice: prostitution, corruption, murder, and drunken brawling were the norm, but it was all carefully orchestrated by a coalition of tavern keepers and brothel madams. All of this churns in the middle of a city gripped by Italian Mafiosi, a serial ax-murderer, and the birth of jazz music.
The Future for Curious People by Gregory Sherl
What if you had married your Junior Prom date? Or stayed with the girl who gave you your first kiss? In this hilarious romantic adventure, the new outpatient procedure of ‘envisioning’ allows clients to see their alternative futures with various partners. But what happens when ‘happily-ever-after’ doesn’t look like a fairytale after all? Sherl’s debut novel bubbles with unexpected one-liners and courageous overtures of love straight out of a John Hughes movie. Signed copies available.
In the Kingdom of Ice by Hampton Sides
One of our best storytellers, Hampton Sides, delivers an astoundingly good yarn – the true account of a harrowing 19th century polar expedition that set sail at the peak of Arctic fever in the post-Civil War U.S. Perfectly paced, colored with memorable details, and cast with first-rate heroes and eccentrics, this is choice reading for history buffs. Signed copies available.
The Killer Next Door by Alex Marwood
Collette is running out of money and being pursued by gangsters when she lands in an apartment complex amid a host of secretive tenants. Little does she know that nothing is as bad as one of these new neighbors. This addictive, character-driven British mystery is a fast and fun novel that will keep you reading well past bedtime.
Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan
A devastating novel about the lead-up to World War II and its repercussions on survivors, with an astounding, unforgettable middle section about Australian prisoners of war and their Japanese captors in Thailand labor camp. This one has it all -- love, war, survival, heroism -- all composed in Flanagan's rich, hypnotic prose. Signed copies available.
Rebel Yell by S.C. Gwynne
Legendary Confederate General Stonewall Jackson comes alive in the pages of Gwynne’s epic, briskly paced biography. Jackson’s military genius and eccentric character are of special interest, along with the vivid writing and battle analysis, making this essential reading for Southern history buffs. Author signs Oct. 7.
The Return of George Washington by Edward Larson
Yet another brilliant new aspect of America’s most iconic statesman is revealed in this compelling history. Larson mines that obscure period in George Washington’s life between his Revolutionary heroics and his presidency when he retired to his Virginia farm, only to be called back into service to by the organizers of a fumbling, start-up democracy.
Short Stories by Jesus by Amy-Jill Levine
Jesus’ parables remain the most-discussed and well-known stories in the western world, but what did they sound like to Jesus’ first audiences? Dr. Levine (who will visit Greenwood in January) transports readers back to the shores of Galilee and lets us hear these ‘short stories’ as if for the first time. Cutting through two thousand years of interpretation, this audacious and provocative study will challenge you like few other Christian books ever dared.
Sister Golden Hair by Darcey Steinke
A 12-year-old girl and her family move to a housing development in Roanoke, Virginia, circa 1972. What begins as an easy, unassuming, often humorous coming-of-age tale blooms into something tremendous – a look at the difficult climb a young girl must make toward maturity and the varying influences that contribute to her character. Original and eye-opening. Author signs Oct. 21.
The Smallest Girl in the Smallest Grade by Justin Roberts and illustrated by Christian Robinson
A very special children’s picture book, with perfectly childlike illustrations and a rhyming story that conveys a simple, perfect message about the importance of one person speaking up for the collective good. Our October kids signed book club selection. Bookplates signed by author and illustrator.
Some Luck by Jane Smiley
Smiley’s masterful new novel introduces us to the Langdons, a young couple starting a family on their Iowa farm in 1920. Each chapter reveals another year, touching on high points or just an image of a character in place, and these telling pieces add up to a rich family saga, filled with highs and lows, told in time-lapse brilliance through the early 1950s. There are two more volumes on the way that continue the hundred-year evolution of this family, illustrating that you never know what life may bring. Signed copies coming soon.
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
Twenty years after a worldwide pandemic devastates the earth, a caravan of actors and musicians tramps across the Great Lakes region performing Beethoven and Shakespeare for those who are left, because ‘survival is insufficient.’ Mandel weaves together several narratives in a harrowing road novel that’s also a love song to the world as we know it.
The Story of Land and Sea by Katy Simpson Smith
This is a quiet, haunting novel of people bound together by love and family, living along the North Carolina coast around the time of the Revolutionary War. It’s as once a history of their lives and a stunning meditation on how we grieve, featuring some of the loveliest, most evocative prose we’ve read all year. Maybe the most auspicious debut by a Mississippi writer since Donna Tartt’s The Secret History. Signed copies available.
Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! – The Story of Pop Music by Bob Stanley
The entire history of pop music—with all its diverging evolutions and family trees—is transformed into one great narrative in this ambitious work. Refreshingly, Stanley stays away from scholarly depth and instead recaptures, in a conversational tone, the sprawling universe that billowed from our jukeboxes, turntables, cassette decks, and iPods. Like an afternoon spent at the corner record store, Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! unearths old favorites and plugs the reader into forgotten classics. The perfect book for any music lover.
You Only Get Letters From Jail by Jodi Angel
A great collection of short stories full of twisted characters in equally twisted situations. A significant new literary voice in the tradition of Ron Rash, Skip Horack and John Brandon.
