New and Notable
A Life in Pictures by Keith Richards $37.95 What an extraordinary book! It's a wonderful look at a well-known performer on stage as well as off. A really striking image for me is the one of him on his wedding day in a tux and looking relaxed and happy. Worth a look for Stones as well as music and celebrity fans.
Queen of the Night by Alexander Chee $28 From a ferociously talented writer, praised as "the fire, in my opinion. And the light," by Junot Diaz, comes a blazing portrait of one woman's rise from courtesan to world-renowned diva.
Lilliet Berne is a sensation of the Paris Opera, a legendary soprano with every accolade except an original role, every singer's chance at immortality. When one is finally offered to her, she realizes with alarm that the libretto is based on a hidden piece of her past. Only four could have betrayed her: one is dead, one loves her, one wants to own her. And one, she hopes, never thinks of her at all.
Avenue of Mysteries by John Irving $28 Embarking on a trip to the Philippines, senior-aged Juan Diego reflects on dreams and memories of his childhood in Mexico before his past and present intersect in unexpected ways. Did you miss this in the holiday rush? Here you go.
Liar, A Memoir by Rob Roberge $26 Embarking on a trip to the Philippines, senior-aged Juan Diego reflects on dreams and memories of his childhood in Mexico before his past and present intersect in unexpected ways.
Leon & Louise by Alex Capus $15 Longlisted for the German Book Prize.
A life-long love affair that survives the tribulations of two World Wars, Léon and Louise tells the story of Alex Capus' French grandfather. It charmed readers in Germany, where it sold nearly two hundred thousand copies and, in the year following publication, never left the Der Spiegel bestseller list.
Summer 1918. The First World War is drawing to a close when Léon falls in love with Louise Janvier. Both are severely wounded by German artillery fire, are separated, and believe each other to be dead. Briefly reunited two decades later, the lovers are torn apart again by Louise's refusal to destroy Léon's marriage and the German invasion of France. Through occupied Paris during the Second World War, where Léon struggles against the abhorrent tasks imposed on him by the SS, and the wilds of Africa, where Louise confronts the hardships of her primitive environment, they battle the vicissitudes of history and the passage of time for the survival of their love.
These two books contain short stories that the Word for Word theater company is performing. Plus, good short stories are fabulous!
The Woman Who Gave Birth to Rabbits by Emma Donoghue $19.95
The Empty Family by Colm Toibin $15
13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl by Mona Awad $16 Growing up in the suburban hell of Misery Saga (a.k.a. Mississauga), Lizzie has never liked the way she looks-even though her best friend Mel says she's the pretty one. She starts dating guys online, but she's afraid to send pictures, even when her skinny friend China does her makeup: she knows no one would want her if they could really see her. So she starts to lose. With punishing drive, she counts almonds consumed, miles logged, pounds dropped. She fights her way into coveted dresses.She grows up and gets thin, navigating double-edged validation from her mother, her friends, her husband, her reflection in the mirror. But no matter how much she loses, will she ever see herself as anything other than a fat girl?
A Dangerous Place by Jacqueline Winspear $15.99
Four years after she set sail from England, leaving everything she most loved behind, Maisie Dobbs at last returns, only to find herself in a dangerous place . . .
In Jacqueline Winspear's powerful story of political intrigue and personal tragedy, a brutal murder in the British garrison town of Gibraltar leads Maisie into a web of lies, deceit, and peril. Spring 1937. In the four years since she left England, Maisie Dobbs has experienced love, contentment, stability-and the deepest tragedy a woman can endure. Now, all she wants is the peace she believes she might find by returning to India. But her sojourn in the hills of Darjeeling is cut short when her stepmother summons her home to England; her aging father Frankie Dobbs is not getting any younger.
But on a ship bound for England, Maisie realizes she isn't ready to return. Against the wishes of the captain who warns her, "You will be alone in a most dangerous place," she disembarks in Gibraltar. Though she is on her own, Maisie is far from alone: the British garrison town is teeming with refugees fleeing a brutal civil war across the border in Spain. Ahhhh, another Maisie Dobbs. Great spring reading.
