Visit Books & Company and go home with a bookstore or a library. Well, not the actual brick and mortar building but definitely a novel set in a bookstore or a library. I've come across so many authors setting their novels in the places where readers love to meet. Maybe you've read one or two of them in your reading group.
The newest is The Paris Bookseller by Kerri Mahler which is a wonderful salute to American Sylvia Beach, who opened her famous bookstore Shakespeare and Company in Paris in 1919. She was instrumental in publishing the first editions of her friend James Joyce's Ulysses which had been banned in England and the United States. Her bookstore was a gathering place for writers including Gertrude Stein, Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald. The novel is currently on our bestseller list.
Madeline Martin's The Last Bookshop in London is about Grace Bennet who works at Primrose Hill, a dusty old bookshop in the heart of London. As the Blitz intensifies, she discovers the power of storytelling to unite her community in ways she never dreamed---a force that triumphs over even the darkest nights of the war.
Some of you might have purchased The Paris Library by Janet Skeslien Charles in hardcover. For those who wanted to wait, I have great news! The paperback comes out on March 1. Odile Souchet gets a job at the American Library in Paris in 1939. But when the Nazis march in to occupy the city, Odile stands to lose everything she holds dear, including her beloved Library. Together with her fellow librarians, Odile joins the Resistance with the best weapons she has: books.
Authors Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray have teamed up to write The Personal Librarian. This is the story of J. P. Morgan's personal librarian, Bella da Costa Greene, the Black American woman who was forced to hide her identity and pass as white to leave a lasting legacy that enriched our nation. The novel shares the lengths she must go to---for the protection of her family and her legacy---to preserve her carefully crafted white identity in the racist world in which she lives. The paperback will be released in June.
There are several other bookstore/library novels available at Books & Company. I hope you have a chance to come in and check them out.
I've chosen four books that you might consider for your reading group. I hope you enjoy them!
Happy Reading!
Ken
kenbksco@gmail.com
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Our Valentine blind date with a book tradition lives on this year!
When you make a purchase in store at Books & Company from Saturday, February 12 - Monday, February 14, you will get a chocolate kiss and a wrapped advanced readers copy of a title already published while supplies last.
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by Andrew J. Graff
This exciting and heartfelt novel has so many things going for it: the beautiful and dangerous Wisconsin Northwoods setting; ten-year-old Fischer "Fish" Branson and Dale "Bread" Breadwin who run away into the wilderness because of a crime they might have committed; the many obstacles the boys face on their journey including: roaring rapids, charging bears, loaded rifles and hunger; and most of all, the writing skills of first time novelist Andrew J. Graff, who makes the story come alive. Author Nickolas Butler says of the novel, "In ruggedly beautiful prose and with a deep affection for his damaged but always lovable characters, Graff delivers a novel with real heart and soul. It's an authentic look into the heartland of America, into one-parent households, where mothers and grandparents are supporting the next generation where fathers are either absentee or should be. Like a barrel going over a waterfall, Raft of Stars sweeps its reader downstream, and fast. Hold on for the ride." Author Richard Russo says, "I had no idea people wrote books like Andrew J. Graff's Raft of Stars anymore---a rousing adventure yarn full of danger and heart and humor and characters worth worrying about. It's as if, after observing the deplorable state we're all in right now, the author took it upon himself to raise our collective spirits. Bravo!" A reading group guide is at the end of the novel.
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by Annabel Abbs
My cooking skills include scrambling eggs, toasting English muffins and thawing frozen dinners in my microwave. I'm certain that Miss Eliza Acton would rap my knuckles with a wooden spoon if she were alive today. Miss Eliza, one of the two central characters in Annabel Abbs' latest novel, became a winning cook in 1830s England and went on to write the bestselling Modern Cookery, in All Its Branches: Reduced to a System of Easy Practice, for the Use of Private Families. When she was commissioned to write the cookery book, she didn't know much about cooking. But with the help of Ann Kirby, her kitchen maid and assistant, she relished being in the kitchen and creating a feast of delectable dishes that any family could make. Although Annabel Abbs invented the character of Ann, she represents the poorer class who hardly made ends meet during the 1800s. Miss Eliza and Ann develop a radical friendship, breaking the boundaries of class while creating new ways of writing receipts (recipes). Library Journal calls the novel "a fascinating, long overdue tribute to the unconventional Eliza Acton, the woman who revolutionized the English cookbook. Ann's and Eliza's drives for independence are inspiring, and their passion for cooking will awaken readers' inner chef." Thanks, bookseller Lynn, for suggesting this novel to me.
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by Stephanie Graves
The small village of Pipley in Hertfordshire is the perfect setting for this first in a series of Olive Bright mysteries. She and her veterinarian father train racing pigeons and they hope that the National Pigeon Service will enlist their loft and use their birds to deliver critical, coded messages for His Majesty's Forces. But it turns out that Olive and her pigeons are needed for a much more secret mission run by a covert British intelligence organization known as Baker Street. This clever novel includes a murder mystery (like the ones Poirot used to solve), a look at village life during wartime, and of course, plenty of pigeons doing their part for King and Country. Author Tasha Alexander says, "Stephanie Graves' debut novel is utterly charming, written in the spirit of the best classic mysteries and peppered with delightful literary references. Its daring heroine, Olive Bright, who is equal measures smart, bold, and quirky, leads a cast of unforgettable characters readers will take to in an instant. A marvelous read." A Valiant Deceit, the second book in the series, is on our shelves now in hardcover.
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by Ruth Hogan
Ruth Hogan, the author of The Keeper of Lost Things, turns to Brighton in the 1970s and London in the present day for her latest novel. Brighton in 1975 is a magical world of holiday camps, entertainers, eccentrics and the great Madame Imelda Burova, beloved tarot reader, palmist and clairvoyant. Imelda has taken over her mother's fortune telling booth on the pier and enjoys days with her customers and walks on the beach with her darling dog Dasha. As the years come and go she meets entertainers from the holiday camp like the Mermaids Dolly, Daisy and Dixie; hypnotist Titus Marlow; Daredevil Motorcyclist Cillian Byrne; and contortionist Sarah-Jade Virtue. They become her family. Through it all, people trust her with their secrets. So when a woman named Billie arrives one day claiming she was left as a baby in front of Imelda's booth, she asks for answers about her real mother and father. And Imelda is just the one to help her discover who she really is. Publisher's Weekly says of the novel, "Engrossing. Hogan does a great job expanding on themes of friendship, racism, loyalty and love."
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BOOKS & COMPANY BOOK GROUPS
Open to the Public
BOOK GROUPS ARE ALL SCHEDULED
AS VIRTUAL MEETINGS VIA ZOOM
Check WWW.BOOKSCO.COM for updates and registration links!
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Wednesday, February 23rd
1:00 p.m.
Zoom Meeting
by Paulette Jiles
Wednesday, March 23rd
1:00 p.m.
Zoom Meeting
by Freya Sampson
Registration coming soon.
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Sunday, March 27th
3:00 p.m.
Zoom Meeting
Sunday, May 29th
3:00 p.m.
Zoom Meeting
Registration coming soon
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Wednesday, February 16th
6:30 p.m.
Zoom Meeting
by Darcie Little Badger
Wednesday, March 16th
6:30 p.m.
Zoom Meeting
by Stacey Lee
Registration coming soon.
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Wednesday, February 23rd
6:00 p.m.
Zoom Meeting
by Stephen Spotswood
Wednesday, March 23rd
6:00 p.m.
Zoom Meeting
by Terry Roberts
Registration coming soon
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LAN SAMANTHA CHANG
in conversation with
CHANG-RAE LEE
Thursday, February 24th
7:00 p.m.
Via ZOOM
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Boswell Book Company of Milwaukee and Books & Company of Oconomowoc present a virtual evening with Lan Samantha Chang in conversation with Chang-rae Lee for her latest novel The Family Chao: a kaleidoscopic, highly entertaining portrait of a Chinese American family grappling with the dark undercurrents of a seemingly pleasant Wisconsin small town.
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Readings from Oconomowaukee
NANCY JOHNSON
in conversation with
Daniel Goldin & Lisa Baudoin
Tuesday, March 8th
7:00 p.m.
Via ZOOM
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Join us for our March installment of Readings from Oconomowaukee. This month, Daniel Goldin and Lisa Baudoin will be in conversation with author Nancy Johnson for her debut novel The Kindest Lie- a powerful and unforgettable story of an American family that reveals the secrets, lies, and promises we make to protect one another.
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We support over 50 private book groups with their monthly selection available on the Book Group shelf in store. If your book group is registered with us, we offer 15% off of the book group title each month. To register your book group, just let us know what your book group name is and what you're reading, as well as a contact name for the group. As long as we have an updated list of your books, we will have them on the book group shelf in the store and listed on our website. Books & Company hosts two Book Group celebrations a year, as well as book talks for your book group. To set up a book talk for your book group with a bookseller, please email info@booksco.com
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Books & Company
1039 Summit Ave Oconomowoc, WI
262-567-0106
HOURS
Mon-Fri 9:00-7:00
Sat-Sun 9:00-5:00
Books & Company is OPEN for in-store shopping,
phone orders, and website orders.
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