December 2019 Newsletter

December 2019

Happy December!

I hope your Thanksgiving was filled with joy and gratitude.

About 95% of human history has been spent as foragers. Foraging societies from the Arctic to the Amazon to the Outback were (and still are) characterized by three dominant characteristics: 1) egalitarianism/sharing, 2) mobility and 3) gratitude. I learned this from a terrific new book which I had not heard of and, therefore, had no intention of reading. It was a gift from the publisher (thank you Jofie & Julianna) of Avid Reader Press, who sent me a box of their standout books from their first year. I am fascinated by Christopher Ryan’s, Civilized to Death: The Price of Progress ; and while I have not yet finished it to review it properly I know I have discovered a book that will entertain me while making me think and look at the world in new ways.

Even for me, with piles of free books everywhere and easy access to everything in print, serendipity and discovery drives what I read. Why did this title pop out from the stack? Why did I open the flap and start reading? No need to ask why, just enjoy. At the Northshire Bookstores, we endeavor to arrange the stores to provoke discovery and promote serendipity. I hope you will come in and experience the joy of exploration.

With gratitude,

Chris Morrow

Featured Events at Northshire Bookstores

Please note the location of each event Manchester Center or Saratoga Springs

Yaddo Presents

Meghan Daum

The Problem with Everything: My Journey Through the New Culture Wars

Friday, December 6th at 7:00 p.m.

Saratoga Springs, NY

Northshire Bookstore is thrilled to partner with Yaddo to present an evening with Meghan Daum as part of our Yaddo Presents series on Friday, December 6 at 7 pm. The Yaddo Presents speakers series brings the best in new writing and new ideas to the Capital District. Daum will discuss her new book The Problem with Everything with Kristy Davis, Yaddo's Program and Public Relations Associate.

From “one of the most emotionally exacting, mercilessly candid, deeply funny, and intellectually rigorous writers of our time” (Cheryl Strayed, author of Wild ) comes a seminal new book that reaches surprising truths about feminism, the Trump era, and the Resistance movement. You won’t be able to stop thinking about it and talking about it.

Featured Book of the Month

Cabin Porn: Inside

Learn to make your own quiet place somewhere with this inspiring journey inside tranquil cabins and handmade homes, from the creators of the wildly popular Cabin Porn phenomenon.

Cabin Porn began as an online project created by a group of friends to inspire their own homebuilding. It has grown into a global phenomenon, attracting thousands of submissions from fellow cabin builders and a passionate audience of millions interested in simple, efficient homes and the beauty of nature.

Cabin Porn : Inside invites readers into these handmade homes to discover rooms of warmth and simplicity, connected by the universal desire to bring a simple building to life in harmony with the land around it. Each of these tranquil getaways is a lesson in living simply and joyfully.

Here you will find hundreds of examples of what makes a cabin: the small details that enable their dwellers to live pleasantly and sustainably, as well as the mistakes and adaptations that reveal what builders must learn while creating their own homes. Perhaps most touching is the evidence that these homes have hosted charming and memorable evenings for the people who worked together to build them.

Full of spellbinding spaces of warmth and ingenious simplicity, Cabin Porn: Inside is an invitation to the cabin of your dreams and to the serenity of a simpler life.

Order Online

December Pre-order Highlight

American Dirt

By Jeanine Cummins

"Lydia's husband is a journalist dedicated to eradicating the scourge of drugs in Mexico. When he and fifteen other family members are massacred, Lydia is forced to flee her comfortable life in Acapulco with her eight-year-old son. Their only hope is to begin a grueling trek toward the relative safety of the United States. It is, as she is told, "a path for people with no choice." The author is so skilled at drawing us into the narrative, we instinctively sense the impending danger posed by every stranger, swelter in the unrelenting assault of the desert sun, and fight succumbing to despair when one more step seems beyond the realm of human endurance . This is an unforgettable journey, as topical as today's headlines."

— Reviewed by Alden Graves

"Imagine you are hosting a birthday party for your fifteen-year old niece in your home in your pleasant middle class neighborhood. Your whole family is there in the backyard. It’s a cookout. Gunmen walk into the yard and shoot everybody. They murder your whole family—your spouse, your mother, cousins. Sixteen in all. But by blind luck you survive because you are hidden in the house at the time of the ambush. You and your eight-year old son. If you linger one hour more in your house, in your hometown, you know with complete certainty you and your son will be murdered. Never mind the police. Your only chance to survive is to flee two thousand miles to the neighboring country to the north. This is the fiction that is the truth that Jeanine Cummins has created in her explosive novel. For the love of humanity, read it." — Reviewed by Stan Hynds

“If it's only a better life you seek, seek it elsewhere...This path is only for people who have no choice, no other option, only violence and misery behind you..”. It is hard to exactly put into words the profound impact that this poignant, epic telling of a migrant’s arduous journey had on me. It is a beautifully written and timely book that puts a human face on those seeking asylum. Heart-wrenching and filled with humanity. You will never look at this issue the same again, I know I won’t. EVERYONE should read this book!"

— Reviewed by Tambra Johnson Reap

Pre-order Online - Out 1/21/19

New Fiction on our Shelves

New Non-Fiction on our Shelves

New Paperbacks on our Shelves

From our own Shires Press

Murder on Skis

by Phil Bayly

A ski resort owner in Montana is murdered.

Other deaths, once believed to be accidental, receive a fresh look from television reporter JC Snow and police investigators.

There could be a serial killer in the resort community.

Grizzly Mountain is a ski resort full of snow country characters, from ski racers to ski bums to overdressed billionaires. An unfortunate few may be caught in the claws of Grizzly Mountain.

“This is a fabulous novel... A fantastic writer and storyteller... It’s amazing when a story stays with you for days. It’s a gift.”

—Deirdre Stoelzle, Author of Branded, The Making of a Wyoming Cowgirl

Learn More about Shires Press

New Releases from our Children's Department

New Featured Signed Books page

We are featuring some of our signed books from publishers and author events online. You can also come into our bookstores to see all of our signed books.

*Limited quantities; while supplies last.