Week of January 15, 2024

Paperback releases for the week of January 15th include HORSE by Geraldine Brooks, a sweeping story of spirit, obsession and injustice across American history that revolves around a discarded painting in a junk pile, a skeleton in an attic, and the greatest racehorse in American history; THE 9th MAN, a thrilling, action-packed adventure from Steve Berry and Grant Blackwood that sends Luke Daniels on an international manhunt for the truth about the assassination of President John F. Kennedy; Patricia Engel's THE FARAWAY WORLD, a collection of 10 exquisite, award-winning short stories set across the Americas and linked by themes of migration, sacrifice and moral compromise; and REALLY GOOD, ACTUALLY by Monica Heisey, a hilarious and painfully relatable debut novel about one young woman’s messy journey to find joy in the wake of a devastating breakup.

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Week of January 8, 2024

Paperback releases for the week of January 8th include THE NAZI CONSPIRACY by Brad Meltzer and Josh Mensch, which recounts the little-known true story of a Nazi plot to kill FDR, Joseph Stalin and Winston Churchill at the height of World War II; JUST THE NICEST COUPLE, a twisty novel of domestic suspense from Mary Kubica in which a husband’s disappearance links two couples; REEF ROAD, a riveting, haunting and timely thriller that finds the lives of two women colliding when a severed hand washes ashore in the wealthy enclave of Palm Beach, Florida; HOW FAR THE LIGHT REACHES, Sabrina Imbler's fascinating tour of creatures that invite us to envision wilder, grander and more abundant possibilities for the way we live; and AFTER SAPPHO by Selby Wynn Schwartz, an exhilarating debut novel that reimagines the intertwined lives of feminists at the turn of the 20th century.

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Week of January 1, 2024

Paperback releases for the week of January 1st include CODE 6, a bold thriller from James Grippando that asks at what price do we open our lives to Big Data; HOW TO SELL A HAUNTED HOUSE by Grady Hendrix, a gripping novel that explores the way your past --- and your family --- can haunt you like nothing else; CHILDREN OF THE STATE, Jeff Hobbs' timely, insightful and groundbreaking look at the school-to-prison pipeline and life in the juvenile “justice” system; Sarah Levy's DRINKING GAMES, an intimate and darkly funny memoir about how one woman drank and lived --- and how, for her, the last drink was just the beginning; and the paperback original THE LOST VAN GOGH by Jonathan Santlofer, a riveting tale based on rumors that Van Gogh completed a final self-portrait before his death, one that has since been lost to time --- or the black market.

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January 2024

January's Books on Screen roundup includes the series premieres of "Fool Me Once" on Netflix, "Expats" on Prime Video, and "Masters of the Air" on Apple TV+; the season premiere of "All Creatures Great and Small" on PBS "Masterpiece"; the season finales of Prime Video's "Reacher," Disney+'s "Percy Jackson and the Olympians," and The CW's "Son of a Critch"; the films Origin, The End We Start From and Which Brings Me to You in theaters, along with Killers of the Flower Moon on Apple TV+ and Foe on Prime Video; and the DVD release of Eileen.

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The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters

December 2023

I had heard such great things about THE BERRY PICKERS by debut novelist Amanda Peters that I was curious to read it. Clearly, I was not alone as it was tough to get my hands on a copy. It was sold out in so many places. I had read the pitch for it, and when we shared it at our November “Bookaccino Live” book preview program, it was the book that our attendees most wanted to read.

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Absolution by Alice McDermott

December 2023

When we think about Vietnam, what comes to mind are soldiers, battles, napalm and a war that no one wants to talk about. With ABSOLUTION, Alice McDermott delivers a book with beautiful prose that I just inhaled, and it gave me a different perspective on the place before it really erupted.

But first, the setup. The story takes place before we formally entered the war in 1965. Trouble is brewing, but the US is not deeply involved. We are there more as advisors to the South Vietnamese. Alice explores these days through the story of the wives of those who accompanied their husbands to Vietnam in 1963.

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