Bob's Picks (page 1)

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Bob

BOB
Bob loves contemporary fiction augmented by an occasional mystery or science fiction novel. Non-fiction interests include physics, math, medicine, economics and anything by Malcolm Gladwell. When not watching ER or West Wing with Gayle, he indulges himself in Shakespeare, always willing to watch yet another version of Hamlet. And there's a dozen podcasts from NPR including Selected Shorts, Studio 360, On the Media, NYT Book Review, Writer's Almanac and the monthly short story from the New Yorker.

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Evvie Drake Starts Over: A Novel By Linda Holmes Cover Image
$17.00
ISBN: 9780525619260
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Ballantine Books - June 2nd, 2020

The audiobook on Libro.fm is read by Julia Whelan, one of the all-time top readers. In fact, it was while searching for books performed by Whelan that I found Evvie Drake and I loved every minute of it. It's a rom-com with a predictably convoluted plot line but the twists and turns are creative, the characters feel real and the prose is pretty darn good, too. I laughed and cried frequently while listening almost nonstop to Whelan's lively reading of Linda Holmes's novel.


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The Midnight Library: A GMA Book Club Pick (A Novel) By Matt Haig Cover Image
$18.00
ISBN: 9780525559498
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Penguin Books - May 9th, 2023

Have regrets? Wish you could go back and make a different choice at some point? Nora Seed has many regrets and doesn't see any possibility of happiness in the future. She's ready to end it all when she's offered an opportunity to relive an alternate life of her choice. Will her new future be worth living? This NYT bestseller is a non-stop read with great characters including a cat named Voltaire, a rescue dog named Pluto and a lovable 4-yr old named Molly.


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Water Witches (Vintage Contemporaries) By Chris Bohjalian Cover Image
$16.00
ISBN: 9780593081785
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Vintage - June 30th, 2020

This novel's main character is the 9-year-old daughter of the narrator. Her mother and aunt both have the ability to douse for water and she's inherited the trait. Her father respects the women's special power but rolls his eyes when they speak of ley lines, noxious rays and pendulum power. As a lawyer representing ski run developers, he often finds himself on women's enemy list when it comes to natural resources issues. He doesn't want to lose his daughter's respect but his top clients could walk if he doesn't support a project that will result in clear-cutting dozens of trees for ski runs down the side of beautiful Mt. Republic. Incredibly moving with terrific characters, superb dialogue, and abundant humor, Water Witches has a great ending that left me overjoyed and tear-soaked.


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The Juniper Tree By Barbara Comyns, Sadie Stein (Introduction by) Cover Image
By Barbara Comyns, Sadie Stein (Introduction by)
$14.95
ISBN: 9781681371313
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: NYRB Classics - January 23rd, 2018

Well written, but not just the language—Bella, fatherless and estranged from her mother, experiences sexism and British caste consciousness but perseveres and succeeds against the odds. However, success comes with a price and difficult choices must then be faced. I was taken from the start by Bella’s spirited character and the challenges she faces with such determination. Add the author's wit and wisdom and you have an absolutely compelling novel.


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The Testaments: A Novel By Margaret Atwood Cover Image
$18.00
ISBN: 9780525562627
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Anchor - September 1st, 2020


In the 3 decades, since it was published, The Handmaid‘s Tale has sold 8 million copies. Thousands of readers have asked Margaret Atwood what happens next. The Testament answers that question in three voices. One is a 16-year-old living in Canada having been smuggled out of Gilead as a baby by a handmaid. Another, 10 years older, lives in the women’s facility in Gilead, in training to become an Aunt. The third is Aunt Lydia, the highest ranking woman in Gilead, whose powers are second only to that of the government’s high commander. This book is a deeply moving joy to read. It moves quickly with moments of laughter and no shortage of tears.


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Our Missing Hearts: Reese's Book Club (A Novel) By Celeste Ng Cover Image
$29.00
ISBN: 9780593492543
Availability: Not Available In-Store - Usually Ships from Warehouse in 1-5 Days
Published: Penguin Press - October 4th, 2022


In Ng's dystopian autocracy, the love a father and son, the bravery of the librarians and the son's quest to find his mother who has become a leader of the resistance, combine to carry the reader non-stop through this tale which is also a warning to us all. This is a revolutionary novel in a time where revolution may soon become our last resort.


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The Last White Man: A Novel By Mohsin Hamid Cover Image
$26.00
ISBN: 9780593538814
Availability: Not Available In-Store - Usually Ships from Warehouse in 1-5 Days
Published: Riverhead Books - August 2nd, 2022

A gutsy foray into a world where the whites, including the narrator, are turning black and learning, first hand, what POC experience every day -- the looks, the snubs, the terror. And for the whites who have not yet transitioned to being dark skinned, the fear that they may soon be the oppressed minority. Amid all this social upheaval, Hamad's protagonist must deal with the chaos of suddenly being the black employee of his white boss, the black son of his white father and the black partner of his white lover. In the case of his father and his girlfriend, the question is will the racial difference destroy the relationships or will love conquer life-long attitudes to "the other."


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The Sentence: A Novel By Louise Erdrich Cover Image
$19.00
ISBN: 9780062671134
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Harper Perennial - September 6th, 2022

I've always loved Erdrich's novels so she had me at "hello." Then she swept me to a new level of respect for her ability to create a story in which even the minor characters, the part-timers, were well formed and fully deserving of our attention. As to the narrator and her family, I'd love to sit on the porch with them, wine glass or beer bottle in hand, and watch the sunset.


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Lucy by the Sea: A Novel By Elizabeth Strout, Kimberly Farr (Read by) Cover Image
$40.00
ISBN: 9780593669457
Availability: Special Order - Subject to Availability
Published: Random House Audio - September 20th, 2022

This was the kind of great writing that made me forget that I was reading a book. I could feel the narrator thinking as she tried to understand what was happening in her rapidly changing world of pandemic, politics, police violence, family and friends.


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The Passenger By Cormac McCarthy Cover Image
$30.00
ISBN: 9780307268990
Availability: Not Available In-Store - Usually Ships from Warehouse in 1-5 Days
Published: Knopf - October 25th, 2022

I love good dialog. In this gem of a novel it might be between Bobby, the mathematician turned physicist turned salvage diver and his co-workers. Or perhaps between young, but only in years, Alicia and her hallucinations. In either case, it's brilliant. Pauses are required at times to recover from a humorous exchange and at other times to wipe the tears. Far less violent than his previous two novels, you'll still find yourself propelled at high velocity from start to finish with an occasional pit stop for some particle physics and thoughts on the afterlife or lack thereof.


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The Man Who Came and Went : A Novel By Joe Stillman Cover Image
$23.99
ISBN: 9781947951389
Availability: Special Order - Subject to Availability
Published: City Point Press - March 1st, 2022

At the end of a bus line up from Phoenix lies a little town where Maybell’s Café is the only place to eat other than the quickie mart at the gas station. One morning during the breakfast rush, her temperamental cook tears off his apron and stomps out the door. A quiet young stranger walks over to the grill and takes over the flipping the eggs. He seems to have the ability to know what the customers want to eat before they order it! Wonderful chaos ensues, narrated by Maybell’s 16-year-old daughter. I couldn’t stop reading this novel except to occasionally dry my tears or recover from a fit of uproarious laughter.


Burning Questions: Essays and Occasional Pieces, 2004 to 2021 By Margaret Atwood Cover Image
$30.00
ISBN: 9780385547482
Availability: Not Available In-Store - Usually Ships from Warehouse in 1-5 Days
Published: Doubleday - March 1st, 2022


Atwood is brilliant--obviously, yes, but wonderfully so, nonetheless. These pieces took me to somewhere I have never traveled on the wings of a goddess. She informs, scolds, gives warnings, and inspires action. She talks about books she's written and books others have written. She speaks with authority and humility. I listen with awe and gratitude.


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We Measure the Earth with Our Bodies By Tsering Yangzom Lama Cover Image
$27.00
ISBN: 9781635576412
Availability: Not Available In-Store - Usually Ships from Warehouse in 1-5 Days
Published: Bloomsbury Publishing - May 17th, 2022


Spellbound! By the end of the first 2 or 3 pages, this novel of a Tibetan family fleeing from the Chinese army of occupation had me totally in its grip. I wanted to know more about the main characters and the minor ones; more about the country of the snow-capped Himalayas and its people. So well-written and insightful was this story, so movingly did the author combine humor, ethical dilemmas, and unpredictable plot twists, that it was nearly impossible to put it down until I'd reached the end.


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April in Spain: A Detective Mystery By John Banville Cover Image
$27.99
ISBN: 9781335471406
Availability: Not Available In-Store - Usually Ships from Warehouse in 1-5 Days
Published: Hanover Square Press - October 5th, 2021

The husband, an aging pathologist, and his wife, whose family perished in the holocaust, are on holiday in a Spanish beach town. Their conversations could’ve been written by Aaron Sorkin or Nora Ephron. However, just before we meet them, we’re introduced to a freelance hitman who not only kills for a fee but takes great pride in his work. How these two storylines will cross is not immediately revealed, but we’re happy to wait since every page by this prize-winning author is such a pleasure to read.


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An Atlas of Impossible Longing: A Novel By Anuradha Roy Cover Image
$16.00
ISBN: 9781451608625
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Free Press - April 5th, 2011

The unforgettable characters in Ms. Roy’s novel span three generations. Like planets, asteroids and comets, they move on separate paths which, in time, inevitably cross, pulled to the center by the force of love of family, of truth, of beauty and, ultimately, by the force of romantic love. We would read this aloud to each other in the car, hardly able to wait for our next ride together while at the same time wishing the story would never end. The unforgettable characters in Ms. Roy’s novel span three generations. Like planets, asteroids and comets, they move on separate paths which, in time, inevitably cross, pulled to the center by the force of love of family, of truth, of beauty and, ultimately, by the force of romantic love. We read this aloud to each other in the car, hardly able to wait for our next ride together while at the same time wishing the story would never end.
 
 


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Last Best Hope: America in Crisis and Renewal By George Packer Cover Image
$27.00
ISBN: 9780374603663
Availability: Special Order - Subject to Availability
Published: Farrar, Straus and Giroux - June 15th, 2021

Subtitled “An Essay on the Revival of America,” this is a short book modeled on pamphlets like Thomas Payne’s “Common Sense.” Packer doesn’t mess around but cuts to the core of what separates us Americans into rival clans and what it would take to break down the barriers between. He does this with wit by sharing personal experiences and brilliant insights. Packer’s writing is so relevant and moving that I went through The Last Best Hope non-stop -- well, almost, because there were times when I just had to pause, amazed at the impact of what I’d just read.