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Cindy's Picks

Cindy CINDY
Cindy loves reading thought-provoking fiction, social issues and history books. In the end, it’s not the story, but how the story is told and the sentence structure that keeps her reading.  Often, she can be found in the craft/art/gardening aisle at the store seeking inspiration.

A Constellation of Vital Phenomena (Hardcover)

By Anthony Marra
$26.00
ISBN-13: 9780770436407
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Hogarth, 5/2013
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Reading A Constellation of Vital Phenomena was like reading One Hundred Years of Solitude for the first time. It is simply a remarkable reading experience. It's a novel about the human condition over a ten year period in Chechnya. The prose is extraordinary and eloquent, and leaves you breathless as you re-read phrases wondering how a first-time novelist can write so beautifully. This is a story about coincidence, betrayal, and forgiveness in a war-torn country, and about how together those conditions can decide a child's fate and future. This is one of the best novels I've read in many years. The story and prose stayed with me long after I'd finished the last extraordinary page.

Flat Water Tuesday (Hardcover)

By Ron Irwin
$24.99
ISBN-13: 9781250030030
Availability: Coming Soon - Available for Pre-Order Now
Published: Thomas Dunne Books, 6/2013
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Flat Water Tuesday is a coming of age novel that brings to life the rituals of team sports, most specifically rowing. Our main character is from a lower-class family and has won a rowing scholarship at an elite boarding school. The novel weaves together stories of rivalry, class differences, tragedy, and romance. This is a great read for anyone who liked The Art of Fielding and Dead Poets Society.

Container Atlas: A Practical Guide to Container Architecture (Hardcover)

By Han Slawik, Julia Bergmann, Matthias Buchmeier
$78.00
ISBN-13: 9783899552867
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Gestalten Verlag, 3/2010
This book gives a phenomenal overview of the shipping container movement across the world. When the economy crashed, architects and communities rose to the challenge by looking at the standard and discarded shipping containers as a low-cost temporary solution to activating vacant parcels. Container Atlas provides the history and document plans of this trend, and introduces these innovative, new ideas to a global audience.

Yes, Chef: A Memoir (Hardcover)

By Marcus Samuelsson, Veronica Chambers
$27.00
ISBN-13: 9780385342605
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Random House, 6/2012
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Marcus was only three years old when he, his mother, and his sister who were all battling tuberculosis walked seventy-five miles to a hospital in Ethiopia. His mother died, but Marcus and his sister recovered, and one year later they were adopted by a white family in Sweden. It was there that Marcus’s new grandmother sparked in him a lifelong passion for cooking. Markus went on to study in Europe and eventually ended up in New York City where his talent and ambition earned him rave reviews, awards and a place on Top Chef Masters. This story gives the readers a view into the European culinary schooling and the issues of race not only in the kitchen but in the community at large.

Handheld Pies: Dozens of Pint-Size Sweets and Savories (Hardcover)

By Rachel Wharton, Sarah Billingsley, Ellen Silverman
$19.95
ISBN-13: 9781452102146
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Chronicle Books, 12/2011
One of my methods for relaxation is reading through cookbooks; another is baking. This book satisfies the best of both worlds. There are some great recipes for small pies that you can eat with your hands. I still haven't made them, but I'm looking forward to the PB&J pop tart.

The Art of Fielding (Paperback)

By Chad Harbach
$14.99
ISBN-13: 9780316126670
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Back Bay Books, 5/2012
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The Art of Fielding—an amazing debut novel that took ten years to write—is one of the best books of the year. I could not put it down, and missed it when I wasn’t reading it. The Art of Fielding is the story of a baseball team at a small college near Lake Michigan, but this not a book about baseball. This is a story about people, and how psychological barriers and self-doubt can spin interconnected lives out of control. Harbach’s characters are so realistically rendered that you begin to love them for their flaws. This is a book about communities and commitments to oneself and to others—and good enough to consider reading it a second time!   —Cindy

The Hottest Dishes of the Tartar Cuisine (Paperback)

By Alina Bronsky, Tim Mohr
$15.00
ISBN-13: 9781609450069
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Europa Editions, 4/2011
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Our unreliable narrator is Rosa—a relentlessly interfering, self-centered matriarch of a Tartar family living in the former Soviet Union. The Hottest Dishes of the Tartar Cuisine is the story of three women—Rosa, her daughter Sulfia, and her granddaughter Aminat. Their roller-coaster relationships with one other are funny and very dark. The narration continuously takes unexpected turns through impoverished USSR and into industrious West Germany. But as soon as the family is settled in the West, the dysfunctional ties that bind mother, daughter, and grandmother begin to come apart.  —Cindy

Life, on the Line: A Chef's Story of Chasing Greatness, Facing Death, and Redefining the Way We Eat (Paperback)

By Grant Achatz, Nick Kokonas
$18.00
ISBN-13: 9781592406975
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Gotham, 3/2012
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This autobiography rises above a single genre. It’s a story about Grant Achatz—an artistic, culinary genius who puts everything into his work, becoming one of the youngest award-winning chefs in the world. But during his greatest success, Achatz is diagnosed with Stage IV tongue cancer. He chooses to reject treatment that could jeopardize his tongue and sense of taste. His partner, Nick Kokonas, refuses to give up; he researches alternative treatments and pushes Achatz to see specialists. When an article in the Chicago Tribune appears about Achatz’s diagnosis, the University of Chicago offers Achatz a spot in a pioneering medical program, which could save his tongue, and his life. This is a compelling read and I could not put this down for three days.   —Cindy

House of Prayer No. 2: A Writer's Journey Home (Paperback)

By Mark Richard
$15.00
ISBN-13: 9781400077779
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Anchor, 2/2012
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A memoir in second person! I didn’t think it could be done, but leave it to Mark Richard to tell his story from a new viewpoint. Richard grew up in the South and was called a “special child”—an euphemism for mentally and physically challenged. Richard learned about racial tensions and social norms from a state hospital bed. His mother sought comfort in scripture, while his father was
a perfectionist and struggled with his imperfect son. Richard grew up to defy his doctors’ predictions that he would spend his adult life in a wheelchair and become a disc jockey, fishing boat deckhand, house painter, naval correspondent, and more. Throughout his life, Richard questions his faith, and he weaves this through out his memoir in extraordinarily beautiful prose where not one word is wasted.  —Cindy

How to Read the Air (Paperback)

By Dinaw Mengestu
$15.00
ISBN-13: 9781594485398
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Riverhead Trade, 10/2011
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How to Read the Air by Dinaw Mengestu is a remarkable multi-layered novel about the fictions we create and the lies we tell to create our identities for the sake of love and family. Mengestu's prose is beautiful. He tells a grand sweeping tale of an immigrant experience, an African experience. He also tells a deeply intimate story, one that illustrates a second-generation immigrant's American experience as he negotiates our landscape seeking his footing and a sense of place. —Cindy

Threadless: Ten Years of T-shirts from the World's Most Inspiring Online Design Community (Paperback)

By Jake Nickell, Jeffrey Kalmikoff
$22.50
ISBN-13: 9780810996106
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Harry N. Abrams, 10/2010
T-Shirts have become a lifestyle. This book celebrates the uniquess of the designs created by the small start-up company: Threadless. Threadless is an essential read/gift for any creative. Not only is this book filled with graphic images from the Threadless portfolio, but it also tells the story of a company founded by two people who stumbled into success and created a community of designers and consumers bonded by good design. —Cindy

Party (Paperback)

By Tom Leveen
$8.99
ISBN-13: 9780375863929
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Ember, 4/2011
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Brilliant! Each chapter of this first novel is written from the viewpoint of a different teen attending an end of school year party. There is the cool kid, the wallflower, the athlete and the rest, and each chapter continues and expands the story, by not only giving you one characters’ personal experience, but their view of their peers. —Cindy

The Lonely Polygamist (Paperback)

By Brady Udall
$15.95
ISBN-13: 9780393339710
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: W. W. Norton & Company, 4/2011
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The title alone summarizes this book. It is laugh-out-loud funny and full of sad and bittersweet moments. Despite the fact that The Lonely Polygamist is a story about a man in a mid-life crisis, with four wives, 28 children, and one dog in need of constant attention, it is a universal story. Any reader can recognize the “sister-wife” or “plural-child” in each of us. Udall's skill is not only his fine prose, but the treatment of his characters. He writes them equally and without judgment, because they are all flawed. The novel goes to unexpected places, as everyone finds a way to fit in without alienating everyone else around them. —Cindy

Indignation (Paperback)

By Philip Roth
$15.00
ISBN-13: 9780307388919
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Vintage, 10/2009
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Indignation is a powerful book that draws upon Roth’s familiar themes–an overbearing religious family and injustice in the world at large. The Korean War looms overhead while young men and women pursue the boundaries of sexual mores. As always, Roth's words are impeccable and his characters complex. It’s a must read for his fans and highly recommended for all who appreciate great writing and storytelling. —Cindy

When You Reach Me (Hardcover)

By Rebecca Stead
$15.99
ISBN-13: 9780385737425
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Wendy Lamb Books, 7/2009
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When You Reach Me is a wonderful story with a great voice. Miranda is a New York City kid who knows how to navigate her way through her neighborhood, but she is suddenly thrown off by some mysteries—her best friends stops speaking to her, the extra apartment key her mother hides for her has gone missing, and scrawled notes referencing the future start arriving. This is an original story with that is also a tribute to A Wrinkle In Time. —Cindy

The Help (Paperback)

By Kathryn Stockett
$16.00
ISBN-13: 9780425232200
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Berkley Trade, 4/2011
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The Help is set in the state of Mississippi in the late 1960’s. Slavery has been abolished and black and whites have been deemed equal, but this novel goes deep into the homes where black maids work for white women. Despite the fact that the maids prepare the food, care for the children, and clean the home, the white community still sees their black neighbors as an alien race. This novel captures the ironies and hypocrisies of southern hospitality at the cusp of changing times. —Cindy

The History of Love (Paperback)

By Nicole Krauss
$14.95
ISBN-13: 9780393328622
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: W. W. Norton & Company, 5/2006
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The History of Love is a beautiful novel about two main characters whose lives are woven together in complex ways. Each main character, from adult to child, deals with the issue of loneliness and the desire to understand and experience love. All the characters have been damaged by loss, and yet struggle to define their damage. The prose is astonishingly breathtaking. I re-read passages, in an effort to commit her language to memory. —Cindy

The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America (Paperback)

By Erik Larson
$15.95
ISBN-13: 9780375725609
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Vintage, 2/2004
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This book has been on my nightstand for five years. Finally, running out the door to catch a plane, I grabbed it. What took me so long? I read it straight through the plane ride, barely stopping to put on my safety belt. The Devil in the White City is a historical account of the building of the 1853 Chicago World’s Fair. This is a story about architecture, engineering, the success, and failure of the World’s Fair, the plight of a second tier city during a depression, and a serial killer who prays upon the visitors to the city and fair. Each chapter delivers a cliff hanger at its end, which reads like a mystery novel. —Cindy

Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal (Paperback)

By Christopher Moore
$14.99
ISBN-13: 9780380813810
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: William Morrow Paperbacks, 2/2003
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The Gospels according to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John leave a big hole in the story of Jesus and those missing teenage years. Christopher Moore fills in the gap. Jesus, as expected, is a good guy, but happens to have a best friend named Biff who is an idiot, sponging off of Jesus’ magnetic personality. This book is laugh out loud funny! One of my favorite books to re-read and gift to anyone in need of a laugh. It is the perfect holiday gift, especially for those who get a bit burnt out on the Holiday spirit. —Cindy

Mr. Ives' Christmas (Paperback)

By Oscar Hijuelos
$13.99
ISBN-13: 9780060927547
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Harper Perennial, 1/2004
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Mr. Ives' Christmas is a timeless story about faith and forgiveness told like no other before. The unlikely hero, Mr. Ives must find spiritual peace in the midst of crises. On the first few pages we discover that his son is murdered on the street just before Christmas, yet this is not a novel about loss, but one of forgiveness and the quest for enlightenment in the wake of tragedy. The story transpires over decades, with the pat and present colliding brilliantly on the page. —Cindy
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