Alice Walker
Stories differ from advice in that, once you get them, they become a fabric of your whole soul. That is why they heal you.
Attribution
March 17, 2017
It’s confession time. Though my last name is Fitzgerald, I am not one bit Irish. And my husband Tom, well, he is something like 1/4 Irish and the rest German. That said, we are cooking corned beef and cabbage (which I know from our readers of true Irish heritage is not an authentic Irish meal, but then again we are imposters, so I can see why we are making an imposter meal). We agree with Mary Kay Andrews that boiled potatoes are rather boring with corned beef. Thus, after seeing her Facebook Live event the other night, I am making the Scalloped Potatoes from her BEACH HOUSE COOKBOOK that will be in stores on May 2nd. Here’s the recipe, and you can watch MKA whip up this recipe here.
Editorial Content for Without Warning: A J. B. Collins Novel
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
J. B. Collins, chief foreign correspondent for the New York Times, has survived a terrorist attack on what would have been a historic peace agreement meeting between Israel and Palestine. He has met with and interviewed the head of the attacking jihadist ISIS forces, Abu Khalif, and heard the terrorist outline the plans he has to go to war against all who do not swear loyalty to him. The journalist has helped rescue the president of the United States, Harrison Taylor, held captive by Khalif. Read More
Teaser
As he prepares to deliver the State of the Union address, the President of the United States is convinced that the Islamic State is on the run, about to be crushed by American forces once and for all. But New York Times foreign correspondent J. B. Collins tells the President he’s dead wrong. With the Middle East on fire, the Israeli prime minister dead, and Amman in ruins, Collins fears a catastrophic attack inside the American homeland is imminent. He argues that only an all-out manhunt to capture or kill Abu Khalif --- the leader of ISIS --- can stop the attack and save American lives. But will the President listen and take decisive action before it’s too late?
Promo
As he prepares to deliver the State of the Union address, the President of the United States is convinced that the Islamic State is on the run, about to be crushed by American forces once and for all. But New York Times foreign correspondent J. B. Collins tells the President he’s dead wrong. With the Middle East on fire, the Israeli prime minister dead, and Amman in ruins, Collins fears a catastrophic attack inside the American homeland is imminent. He argues that only an all-out manhunt to capture or kill Abu Khalif --- the leader of ISIS --- can stop the attack and save American lives. But will the President listen and take decisive action before it’s too late?
About the Book
As he prepares to deliver the State of the Union address, the President of the United States is convinced that the Islamic State is on the run, about to be crushed by American forces once and for all. But New York Times foreign correspondent J. B. Collins tells the President he’s dead wrong. With the Middle East on fire, the Israeli prime minister dead, and Amman in ruins, Collins fears a catastrophic attack inside the American homeland is imminent. He argues that only an all-out manhunt to capture or kill Abu Khalif --- the leader of ISIS --- can stop the attack and save American lives. But will the President listen and take decisive action before it’s too late?
Audiobook available, read by David de Vries
Editorial Content for all Grown Up
Book
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
Andrea Bern will soon turn 40. Her life is a mess and has been for a long time. Her father, a musician and a drug addict, died from an overdose when she was in her early teens. Her mother was an activist who, after her father’s death, made a living by throwing parties, until Andrea almost got hurt during one. Andrea wanted to become a painter, but left school and never fulfilled her dreams. Read More
Teaser
Who is Andrea Bern? When her dippy therapist asks the question, Andrea knows the right things to say: she’s a designer, a friend, a daughter, a sister. But it’s what she leaves unsaid --- she’s alone, a drinker, a former artist, a shrieker in bed, captain of the sinking ship that is her flesh --- that feels the most true. Everyone around her seems to have an entirely different idea of what it means to be an adult, though. But when Andrea’s niece finally arrives, born with a heartbreaking ailment, the Bern family is forced to reexamine what really matters. Will this drive them together or tear them apart?
Promo
Who is Andrea Bern? When her dippy therapist asks the question, Andrea knows the right things to say: she’s a designer, a friend, a daughter, a sister. But it’s what she leaves unsaid --- she’s alone, a drinker, a former artist, a shrieker in bed, captain of the sinking ship that is her flesh --- that feels the most true. Everyone around her seems to have an entirely different idea of what it means to be an adult, though. But when Andrea’s niece finally arrives, born with a heartbreaking ailment, the Bern family is forced to reexamine what really matters. Will this drive them together or tear them apart?
About the Book
Who is Andrea Bern? When her dippy therapist asks the question, Andrea knows the right things to say: she’s a designer, a friend, a daughter, a sister. But it’s what she leaves unsaid --- she’s alone, a drinker, a former artist, a shrieker in bed, captain of the sinking ship that is her flesh --- that feels the most true. Everyone around her seems to have an entirely different idea of what it means to be an adult, though.
But when Andrea’s niece finally arrives, born with a heartbreaking ailment, the Bern family is forced to reexamine what really matters. Will this drive them together or tear them apart? Told in gut-wrenchingly honest, mordantly comic vignettes, ALL GROWN UP is “[an] exquisitely of-the-moment novel” (Oprah Magazine) about “what is means to be a woman and a grown-up in today’s times” (PopSugar).
Audiobook available, narrated by Mia Barron
Editorial Content for The Hearts of Men
Book
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
I admit that I was initially drawn to Nickolas Butler’s new novel, THE HEARTS OF MEN, more for its setting than for its premise. It’s not the sort of book I ordinarily read. Steeped in male characters and masculine traditions (like the Boy Scouts), with few female characters, the novel would at first glance seem very far away from my own experience. Read More
Teaser
Camp Chippewa, 1962. Thirteen-year-old Nelson Doughty, a social outcast and an overachiever, is the Bugler, sounding the reveille proudly each morning. Yet this particular summer marks the beginning of an uncertain and tenuous friendship with a popular boy named Jonathan. Over the years, Nelson, irrevocably scarred from the Vietnam War, becomes Scoutmaster of Camp Chippewa, while Jonathan marries, divorces and turns his father’s business into a highly profitable company. And when something unthinkable happens at a camp get-together with Nelson as Scoutmaster and Jonathan’s teenage grandson and daughter-in-law as campers, the aftermath demonstrates the depths --- and the limits --- of Nelson’s selflessness and bravery.
Promo
Camp Chippewa, 1962. Thirteen-year-old Nelson Doughty, a social outcast and an overachiever, is the Bugler, sounding the reveille proudly each morning. Yet this particular summer marks the beginning of an uncertain and tenuous friendship with a popular boy named Jonathan. Over the years, Nelson, irrevocably scarred from the Vietnam War, becomes Scoutmaster of Camp Chippewa, while Jonathan marries, divorces and turns his father’s business into a highly profitable company. And when something unthinkable happens at a camp get-together with Nelson as Scoutmaster and Jonathan’s teenage grandson and daughter-in-law as campers, the aftermath demonstrates the depths --- and the limits --- of Nelson’s selflessness and bravery.
About the Book
An epic novel of intertwining friendships and families set in the Northwoods of Wisconsin at a beloved Boy Scout summer camp --- from the bestselling author of SHOTGUN LOVESONGS
Camp Chippewa, 1962. Nelson Doughty, age 13, social outcast and overachiever, is the Bugler, sounding the reveille proudly each morning. Yet this particular summer marks the beginning of an uncertain and tenuous friendship with a popular boy named Jonathan.
Over the years, Nelson, irrevocably scarred from the Vietnam War, becomes Scoutmaster of Camp Chippewa, while Jonathan marries, divorces and turns his father’s business into a highly profitable company. And when something unthinkable happens at a camp get-together with Nelson as Scoutmaster and Jonathan’s teenage grandson and daughter-in-law as campers, the aftermath demonstrates the depths --- and the limits --- of Nelson’s selflessness and bravery.
THE HEARTS OF MEN is a sweeping, panoramic novel about the slippery definitions of good and evil, family and fidelity, the challenges and rewards of lifelong friendships, the bounds of morality --- and redemption.
Audiobook available, performed by Adam Verner
Editorial Content for White Tears
Book
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
WHITE TEARS is many things. It begins as the story of a partnership between two young men and ends as a tale of revenge and justice with supernatural elements. What occurs in between is a hallucinatory journey in which the past and present meet and commingle. The resulting work is puzzling in parts, haunting in others, and compulsively readable. Read More
Teaser
Seth is a shy, awkward twentysomething. Carter is more glamorous, the heir to a great American fortune. But they share an obsession with music --- especially the blues. One day, Seth discovers that he's accidentally recorded an unknown blues singer in a park. Carter puts the file online, claiming it's a 1920s recording by a made-up musician named Charlie Shaw. But when a music collector tells them that their recording is genuine --- that there really was a singer named Charlie Shaw --- the two white boys, along with Carter's sister, find themselves in over their heads, delving deeper and deeper into America's dark, vengeful heart.
Promo
Seth is a shy, awkward twentysomething. Carter is more glamorous, the heir to a great American fortune. But they share an obsession with music --- especially the blues. One day, Seth discovers that he's accidentally recorded an unknown blues singer in a park. Carter puts the file online, claiming it's a 1920s recording by a made-up musician named Charlie Shaw. But when a music collector tells them that their recording is genuine --- that there really was a singer named Charlie Shaw --- the two white boys, along with Carter's sister, find themselves in over their heads, delving deeper and deeper into America's dark, vengeful heart.
About the Book
Ghost story, murder mystery, love letter to American music --- WHITE TEARS is all of this and more, a thrilling investigation of race and appropriation in society today.
Seth is a shy, awkward twentysomething. Carter is more glamorous, the heir to a great American fortune. But they share an obsession with music --- especially the blues. One day, Seth discovers that he's accidentally recorded an unknown blues singer in a park. Carter puts the file online, claiming it's a 1920s recording by a made-up musician named Charlie Shaw. But when a music collector tells them that their recording is genuine --- that there really was a singer named Charlie Shaw --- the two white boys, along with Carter's sister, find themselves in over their heads, delving deeper and deeper into America's dark, vengeful heart.
WHITE TEARS is a literary thriller and a meditation on art --- who owns it, who can consume it, and who profits from it.
Audiobook available; read by Lincoln Hoppe, Danny Campbell and Dominic Hoffman










