Fiction

Call Me By Your Name, Andre Aciman

Loving Frank, Nancy Horan

The Maytrees, Annie Dillard

Mister Pip, Lloyd Jones

On Chesil Beach. Ian McEwan

Out Stealing Horses, Per Peterson

This Night's Foul Work, Fred Vargas

The Yiddish Policemen's Union, Michael Chabon

Nonfiction

Alice Waters & Chez Panisse, Thomas McNamee

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, Barbara Kingsolver

The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game, Michael Lewis

Einstein: His Life & Universe, Walter Isaacson

Gardening at the Dragon's Gate, Wendy Johnson

How Doctors Think, Jerome Groopman

Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA, Tim Weiner

*These titles do not combine with Frequent Buyer purchases.

January 1946: London is emerging from the shadow of the Second World War, and writer Juliet Ashton is looking for her next book subject. Who could imagine that she would find it in a letter from a man she’s never met, a native of the island of Guernsey, who has come across her name written inside a book by Charles Lamb….

As Juliet and her new correspondent exchange letters, Juliet is drawn into the world of this man and his friends—and what a wonderfully eccentric world it is. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society—born as a spur-of-the-moment alibi when its members were discovered breaking curfew by the Germans occupying their island—boasts a charming, funny, deeply human cast of characters, from pig farmers to phrenologists, literature lovers all.

Juliet begins a remarkable correspondence with the society’s members, learning about their island, their taste in books, and the impact the recent German occupation has had on their lives. Captivated by their stories, she sets sail for Guernsey, and what she finds will change her forever. Written with warmth and humor as a series of letters, this novel is a celebration of the written word in all its guises, and of finding connection in the most surprising ways.

Mary Ann Shaffer worked as an editor, a librarian, and in bookshops. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society was her first novel. Her niece, Annie Barrows, is the author of the children’s series Ivy and Bean, as well as The Magic Half.

In this charming, compelling, and ultimately joyful book, Oxenhandler records a journey that is at once comic and poignant, light and dark, earthy and spiritual. Along the way she wonders: Does wishing have power? Is there danger in wishing? Are some wishes more worthy than others? And what about the ancient link between suffering and desire? To answer her questions, she delves into the history of wishing, from the rain dance and deer song of primeval magic to modern beliefs about mind over matter, prosperity consciousness, and the law of attraction.

As the months go by, Oxenhandler is humbled to discover the courage it takes to make a wish and thus open oneself to the unknown. She is surprised when her experiment expands to include other people and other places in ways she never imagined. But most of all, she is amazed to find that there is, indeed, both power and danger in the act of wishing. For soon her wishes begin to come true–in ways that meet, subvert, and overflow her expectations. And what started as a year’s dare turns into a way of life.

Noelle Oxenhandler is the author of two previous nonfiction books, A Grief Out of Season and The Eros of Parenthood. Her essays have appeared in many national and literary magazines, including The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, San Francisco Chronicle Magazine, Vogue, Tricycle, Parabola, Utne Reader, and O: The Oprah Magazine. She has taught in the graduate writing program at Sarah Lawrence College and is a member of the creative writing faculty at Sonoma State University.

As the years roll on and their children grow, the quintet forms a writers circle to express their hopes and dreams through poems, stories, and, eventually, books. Along the way, they experience history in the making: Vietnam, the race for the moon, and a women’s movement that challenges everything they have ever thought about themselves, while at the same time supporting one another through changes in their personal lives brought on by infidelity, longing, illness, failure, and success. Humorous and moving, The Wednesday Sisters is a literary feast for book lovers that earns a place among those popular works that honor the joyful, mysterious, unbreakable bonds between friends.

"Move over, Ya-Ya sisters!"--Amanda Eyre Ward

Meg Waite Clayton is the author of The Language of Light, a finalist for the Bellwether Prize. She lives in Palo Alto with her husband and their two sons.

Fourteen-year-old Anna Maria, abandoned at the Ospedale della Pietà as an infant, is determined to find out who she is and where she came from. Her quest takes her beyond the cloister walls into the complex tapestry of Venetian society; from the impoverished alleyways of the Jewish Ghetto to a masked ball in the company of a king; from the passionate communal life of adolescent girls competing for their maestro's favor to the larger-than-life world of music and spectacle that kept the citizens of a dying republic in thrall. In this world, where for fully half the year the entire city is masked and cloaked in the anonymity of Carnival, nothing is as it appears to be.

A virtuoso performance in the tradition of Girl with a Pearl Earring, Vivaldi's Virgins is a fascinating glimpse inside the source of Vivaldi's musical legacy, interwoven with the gripping story of a remarkable young woman's coming-of-age in a deliciously evocative time and place.

Barbara Quick is the author of the novel Northern Edge, which won the Discover Award and has been optioned for a film, as well as a young adult novel set in 18th century Bologna, due to be published by HarperCollins in fall 2009. Vivaldi’s Virgins was chosen as one of the 10 best books of summer by Redbook, an editor’s choice for the Historical Novel Review, and a BookSense Notable Novel. She lives in Berkeley.

For more information, see www.BarbaraQuick.com

In presenting the story of CD 318, Hafner also introduces us to the world and art of piano tuning, including a central character in Gould’s life, the nearly blind tuner Verne Edquist, who lovingly attended to CD 318 for more than two decades. We learn how a concert grand is built, and the fascinating story of how Steinway & Sons weathered the war years by supplying materials for the military effort.

"This book is about the oldest human intoxicant, the quest for perfection. Katie Hafner describes in fascinating detail the entire human apparatus--teachers, tuners, piano builders, sound engineers, impresarios--that made possible Glenn Gould's singular art. With the narrative force of fiction she explores the uncertain territory where unbridled artistic imagination meets the limits of an instrument, and shows us the emotional costs."--Thad Carhart, author of The Piano Shop on the Left Bank

Katie Hafner, former reporter for the New York Times, comes from a family of truly gifted musicians and is a clumsy, but dedicated pianist. She grew up listening to her father, a physicist and talented pianist, play the piano and expound on Glenn Gould’s interpretations of Bach. Hafner is the author of four books: Cyberpunk (with John Markoff), The House at the Bridge, Where Wizards Stay Up Late (with Matthew Lyon), and The Well. She lives in the Bay Area.

Now, for the first time ever, his most popular characters—Kate Higgins, Miss Goggins and the gorilla, and Martha Matilda O'Toole—hop, stomp, and skip to life on the pages of this book. They're as captivating today as they were back when the New York Times called Jim's work "inspired nonsense." So come take a look, and also have a listen. Jim's offbeat recordings will have everybody—even the most mutinous among us—dancing and singing along.

Includes an author's note and a CD that features three of Jim Copp's original recordings.

Jim Copp is best known for the children's records he wrote, performed, produced, and distributed through his own label, Playhouse Records, which are still available.

Lindsay DuPont has illustrated everything from children's books to tissue boxes. She lives in New York.

"For eighteen years or so, ever since your baby's first cry, you are tuned in to her every move and mood: each tear, each skinned knee. . . right up to the first time behind the wheel, the first slammed door, and the first date. Then, one day, the kids leave: some for college, some to don a uniform and join the service, some to follow a dream, and some to find space to grow. And now you are standing in the doorway of a vacant bedroom, feeling the silcnce and emptiness as it echoes through your home. You should be able to sleep easy, not waiting for that car to pull up, or that door to slam again. But maybe you can't. Maybe you discover that missing your child has turned into an ache that can't be touched. Or, perhaps your child has made a successful transition and you are already leafing through design books or travel brochures and planning the rest of your life. Maybe it was easier than you thught it was going to be. I handled that pretty well, you think . . . and then you get a phone call that abegins with a catch in the throat: 'Mommy . . .' --from the Introduction