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Editorial Content for A Dangerous Age

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Bronwyn Miller

“All happy friends are alike, but unhappy friends are unhappy in awful ways.” Author Kelly Killoren Bensimon gives her modern-day spin on the opening line of Leo Tolstoy’s ANNA KARENINA in her first novel about four fabulous friends living out their dreams (or trying to) during one sweltering New York City summer. But trying to carve out a fabulous life means something much different than it did in your 20s, when sneaking into a glamourous after-party and staying out until dawn meant you were living the dream. Read More

Teaser

Four sophisticated best friends who once took New York by storm are secretly falling apart at the seams. Lucy’s marriage to a renowned artist is slowly crumbling, with an explosive secret that threatens them both. Sarah, in the middle of auditioning for an auspicious new television show, realizes that her socialite standing is in jeopardy after countless disastrous events. Billy has finally left her former life behind to become a highbrow cuisine artist. And Lotta, a knockout downtown art dealer, spends her free time guzzling cocktails in both the grittiest and most expensive clubs around town --- but now, she’s taken it a little too far.

Promo

Four sophisticated best friends who once took New York by storm are secretly falling apart at the seams. Lucy’s marriage to a renowned artist is slowly crumbling, with an explosive secret that threatens them both. Sarah, in the middle of auditioning for an auspicious new television show, realizes that her socialite standing is in jeopardy after countless disastrous events. Billy has finally left her former life behind to become a highbrow cuisine artist. And Lotta, a knockout downtown art dealer, spends her free time guzzling cocktails in both the grittiest and most expensive clubs around town --- but now, she’s taken it a little too far.

About the Book

Couture royalty meets downtown grit and heady artists mingle with freewheeling socialites in A DANGEROUS AGE, a sophisticated, indulgent and delicious novel of contemporary New York City that women of all ages will devour.

It’s the dog days of a sweltering Manhattan summer, and four sophisticated best friends who once took New York by storm are secretly falling apart at the seams. Lucy’s marriage to a renowned artist is slowly crumbling, with an explosive secret that threatens them both. Sarah, in the middle of auditioning for an auspicious new television show, realizes that her socialite standing is in jeopardy after countless disastrous events. Billy --- a queen in the kitchen --- has finally left her former life behind to become a highbrow cuisine artist. And Lotta, a knockout downtown art dealer, spends her free time guzzling cocktails in both the grittiest and most expensive clubs around town --- but now, she’s taken it a little too far.

In this addicting and refreshing comedy of manners reminiscent of Edith Wharton, Lucy, Sarah, Billy and Lotta go to all ends to hide their troubles in a city that worships only the young, twentysomething it-girl. But in the end, there’s no denying that these women have all entered a very dangerous age...and who knows how they’ll emerge on the other side.

Audiobook available, narrated by Jorjeana Marie

Editorial Content for The Maximum Security Book Club: Reading Literature in a Men's Prison

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Jane Krebs

Mikita Brottman, a professor of humanities at Maryland College Institute of Art in Baltimore, selected pieces of fiction for her newly formed book club at Jessup Correctional Institution, 45 minutes from her home. In THE MAXIMUM SECURITY BOOK CLUB, she shows us the progress that both she and her nine (plus) convicted felons made over their discussions during the almost three years they met. Read More

Teaser

On sabbatical from teaching literature to undergraduates, and wanting to educate a different kind of student, Mikita Brottman starts a book club with a group of convicts from the Jessup Correctional Institution in Maryland. She assigns them 10 dark, challenging classics that don’t flinch from evoking the isolation of the human struggle, the pain of conflict and the cost of transgression. Although Brottman is already familiar with these works, the convicts open them up in completely new ways. Their discussions may “only” be about literature, but for the prisoners, everything is at stake.

Promo

On sabbatical from teaching literature to undergraduates, and wanting to educate a different kind of student, Mikita Brottman starts a book club with a group of convicts from the Jessup Correctional Institution in Maryland. She assigns them 10 dark, challenging classics that don’t flinch from evoking the isolation of the human struggle, the pain of conflict and the cost of transgression. Although Brottman is already familiar with these works, the convicts open them up in completely new ways. Their discussions may “only” be about literature, but for the prisoners, everything is at stake.

About the Book

A riveting account of the two years literary scholar Mikita Brottman spent reading literature with criminals in a maximum-security men’s prison outside Baltimore, and what she learned from them --- ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK meets READING LOLITA IN TEHRAN.

On sabbatical from teaching literature to undergraduates, and wanting to educate a different kind of student, Mikita Brottman starts a book club with a group of convicts from the Jessup Correctional Institution in Maryland. She assigns them 10 dark, challenging classics --- including Conrad’s HEART OF DARKNESS, Shakespeare’s MACBETH, Stevenson’s DR. JEKYLL and MR. HYDE, Poe’s story “The Black Cat,” and Nabokov’s LOLITA --- books that don’t flinch from evoking the isolation of the human struggle, the pain of conflict, and the cost of transgression. Although Brottman is already familiar with these works, the convicts open them up in completely new ways. Their discussions may “only” be about literature, but for the prisoners, everything is at stake.

Gradually, the inmates open up about their lives and families, their disastrous choices, their guilt and loss. Brottman also discovers that life in prison, while monotonous, is never without incident. The book club members struggle with their assigned reading through solitary confinement; on lockdown; in between factory shifts; in the hospital; and in the middle of the chaos of blasting televisions, incessant chatter and the constant banging of metal doors.

Though THE MAXIMUM SECURITY BOOK CLUB never loses sight of the moral issues raised in the selected reading, it refuses to back away from the unexpected insights offered by the company of these complex, difficult men. It is a compelling, thoughtful analysis of literature --- and prison life --- like nothing you’ve ever read before.

Audiobook available, read by Beverley Crick

Editorial Content for Falling: A Daughter, a Father, and a Journey Back

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Norah Piehl

I’ve been a longtime admirer of picture book author and illustrator Elisha Cooper, whose books include the beautifully impressionistic BEACH and MAGIC THINKS BIG, about a cat who has an outsize imagination but lacks follow-through. So when I saw that Cooper was publishing a memoir for adults, FALLING, I was intrigued. It turns out that this is his  second memoir: his first, CRAWLING, was a chronicle of his first year of fatherhood. Read More

Teaser

Elisha Cooper spends his mornings writing and illustrating children's books, his afternoons playing with his two daughters. But when he discovers a lump in five-year-old Zoë's midsection as she sits on his lap at a Chicago Cubs game, everything changes. In FALLING, Elisha writes about what it took for him and his wife to preserve a sense of normalcy and joy in their daughters' lives; how the family emerged from this experience profoundly changed; and how we are all transformed by the fear and hope we feel for those we love.

Promo

Elisha Cooper spends his mornings writing and illustrating children's books, his afternoons playing with his two daughters. But when he discovers a lump in five-year-old Zoë's midsection as she sits on his lap at a Chicago Cubs game, everything changes. In FALLING, Elisha writes about what it took for him and his wife to preserve a sense of normalcy and joy in their daughters' lives; how the family emerged from this experience profoundly changed; and how we are all transformed by the fear and hope we feel for those we love.

About the Book

Elisha Cooper spends his morn­ings creating children’s books and his afternoons playing with his two daughters. But when he discovers a lump in five-year-old Zoë’s midsection as she sits on his lap at a Chicago Cubs game, everything changes. Surgery, sleepless nights, months of treatment, a drumbeat of worry. Even as the family moves to New York and Zoë starts kindergarten, they must navigate a new normal: school and soccer and hot chocolate at the local café, inter­rupted by anxious visits to the hospital. Elisha and his wife strive to help their daughters maintain a sense of stability and joy in their family life. And he tries to understand this new world --- how it changes art and language and laughter --- as he holds on to the protective love he feels for his child.
 
With the observant eye of an artist and a remarkable sense of humor, Elisha captures his family’s journey through a perilous time and, in the process, shows how we are all transformed by the fear and hope we feel for those we love.

Editorial Content for A Million Years in a Day: A Curious History of Everyday Life from the Stone Age to the Phone Age

Reviewer (text)

Barbara Bamberger Scott

Romping through ancient times in the framework of a single day in the modern Western world, British public historian Greg Jenner invites us to question our place in world history and scratch our heads. Who, for example, really invented dentistry? Nine thousand years ago, in Pakistan, someone was making holes in teeth with a flint-tipped bow drill to relieve the pain of cavities. And what about clothing? Read More

Teaser

Who invented beds? When did we start cleaning our teeth? How old are wine and beer? Which came first: the toilet seat or toilet paper? What was the first clock? Every day, from the moment our alarm clock wakes us in the morning until our head hits our pillow at night, we all take part in rituals that are millennia old. Structured around one ordinary day, A MILLION YEARS IN A DAY reveals the astonishing origins and development of the daily practices we take for granted. In this entertaining romp through human history, Greg Jenner explores the gradual --- and often unexpected --- evolution of our daily routines.

Promo

Who invented beds? When did we start cleaning our teeth? How old are wine and beer? Which came first: the toilet seat or toilet paper? What was the first clock? Every day, from the moment our alarm clock wakes us in the morning until our head hits our pillow at night, we all take part in rituals that are millennia old. Structured around one ordinary day, A MILLION YEARS IN A DAY reveals the astonishing origins and development of the daily practices we take for granted. In this entertaining romp through human history, Greg Jenner explores the gradual --- and often unexpected --- evolution of our daily routines.

About the Book

Who invented beds? When did we start cleaning our teeth? How old are wine and beer? Which came first: the toilet seat or toilet paper? What was the first clock?

Every day, from the moment our alarm clock wakes us in the morning until our head hits our pillow at night, we all take part in rituals that are millennia old. Structured around one ordinary day, A MILLION YEARS IN A DAY reveals the astonishing origins and development of the daily practices we take for granted. In this gloriously entertaining romp through human history, Greg Jenner explores the gradual --- and often unexpected --- evolution of our daily routines.

This is not a story of wars, politics or great events. Instead, Jenner has scoured Roman rubbish bins, Egyptian tombs and Victorian sewers to bring us the most intriguing, surprising and sometimes downright silly historical nuggets from our past.

Drawn from across the world, spanning a million years of humanity, this book is a smorgasbord of historical delights. It is a history of all those things you always wondered about --- and many you have never considered. It is the story of your life, one million years in the making.

Audiobook available, narrated by Matthew Lloyd Davies

Editorial Content for Willnot

Book

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Joe Hartlaub

It doesn’t get any better than this. One can say that about quite a bit of James Sallis’ work, from the science fiction short stories that he wrote in the mid-1960s when I was just a wee lad (okay, maybe not so wee) right up to his mystery, suspense and crime caper novels of this century. Even his books are short by modern standards, usually clocking in at around 200 pages, and his output appears in fits and starts. But whatever he sacrifices in quantity is made up for in the quality of his work. Read More

Teaser

In the woods outside the town of Willnot, the remains of several people have suddenly been discovered, unnerving the community and unsettling Dr. Lamar Hale, the town's all-purpose general practitioner, surgeon and town conscience. At the same time, Bobby Lowndes --- his military records disappeared, being followed by the FBI --- mysteriously reappears in his hometown, at Hale's door. Over the ensuing months, the daily dramas Hale faces as he tends to his town and to his partner, Richard, collide with the inexplicable vagaries of life in Willnot. And when a gunshot aimed at Lowndes critically wounds Richard, Hale's world is truly upended.

Promo

In the woods outside the town of Willnot, the remains of several people have suddenly been discovered, unnerving the community and unsettling Dr. Lamar Hale, the town's all-purpose general practitioner, surgeon and town conscience. At the same time, Bobby Lowndes --- his military records disappeared, being followed by the FBI --- mysteriously reappears in his hometown, at Hale's door. Over the ensuing months, the daily dramas Hale faces as he tends to his town and to his partner, Richard, collide with the inexplicable vagaries of life in Willnot. And when a gunshot aimed at Lowndes critically wounds Richard, Hale's world is truly upended.

About the Book

In his celebrated career, James Sallis has created some of the most finely drawn protagonists in crime fiction, all of them thoughtful observers of the human condition: Lew Griffin, the black New Orleans private investigator; retired detective John Turner; the unnamed wheelman in Drive. Dr. Lamar Hale will now join the ranks of Sallis's finest characters.

In the woods outside the town of Willnot, the remains of several people have suddenly been discovered, unnerving the community and unsettling Hale, the town's all-purpose general practitioner, surgeon and town conscience. At the same time, Bobby Lowndes --- his military records disappeared, being followed by the FBI --- mysteriously reappears in his hometown, at Hale's door. Over the ensuing months, the daily dramas Hale faces as he tends to his town and to his partner, Richard, collide with the inexplicable vagaries of life in Willnot. And when a gunshot aimed at Lowndes critically wounds Richard, Hale's world is truly upended.

In his inimitable spare style, James Sallis conjures indelible characters and scenes that resonate long after they appear. "You live with someone year after year, you think you've heard all the stories," Lamar observes, "but you never have."

Audiobook available, read by Kevin Kenerly

Editorial Content for In Love and War

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Judy Gigstad

In the spring of 1937, Great Britain teems with the various political energies seeking domination over one another. Esmond Lowndes, son of Sir Lionel Lowndes, indulges in a forbidden relationship at Cambridge and is expelled from the school. Both he and his best friend, Philip, are banished from England; Sir Lionel grimly sends Esmond off to Florence, Italy, where he will set up a radio broadcast system to bolster Fascist ideology. Esmond’s mother seals his humiliation by feeding a bonfire with his books, literary treasures he had cherished. Read More

Teaser

Desperate to prove himself to his politician father, Esmond Lowndes is sent to Italy to forge ties between the British Union of Fascists and Mussolini's government. In Florence, he discovers art and passion amongst the eccentric expatriates and glamorous locals. But with the coming of war, Esmond chooses to leave his past behind and joins the Florentine resistance. Finding himself closely bound to his comrades and unexpectedly in love, Esmond becomes involved in undercover operations and assassination plots, culminating in a final mission of extraordinary daring.

Promo

Desperate to prove himself to his politician father, Esmond Lowndes is sent to Italy to forge ties between the British Union of Fascists and Mussolini's government. In Florence, he discovers art and passion amongst the eccentric expatriates and glamorous locals. But with the coming of war, Esmond chooses to leave his past behind and joins the Florentine resistance. Finding himself closely bound to his comrades and unexpectedly in love, Esmond becomes involved in undercover operations and assassination plots, culminating in a final mission of extraordinary daring.

About the Book

Desperate to prove himself to his politician father, Esmond Lowndes is sent to Italy to forge ties between the British Union of Fascists and Mussolini's government. In Florence, he discovers art and passion amongst the eccentric expatriates and glamorous locals. But with the coming of war, Esmond chooses to leave his past behind and joins the Florentine resistance. Finding himself closely bound to his comrades and unexpectedly in love, Esmond becomes involved in undercover operations and assassination plots, culminating in a final mission of extraordinary daring.

John Mulaney

The more you do stuff, the better you get at dealing with how you still fail at it a lot of the time.

Attribution

John Mulaney

Late June 2016

I can finally wish you all a happy summer now that it's official! More hours of sunlight = more time to read outside, so you can definitely count me in for the season. If you ask me, there's nothing better than kicking back with an iced coffee and a great read while you work on that summer glow.

Books to Add to Your Guy-Brary Bookshelf TRC (300x250) 4

Ages 10-13

 

Magnus Chase has always been a troubled kid. Since his mother's mysterious death, he's lived alone on the streets of Boston, surviving by his wits, keeping one step ahead of the police and the truant officers.