Bookworks Presents Its November Edition of IT'S ABOUT BOOKS

Dear Bookworks Bookworm
It is all about how an author carefully and purposely beckons each word to each page until those words pull together into a magnificent creation having a life of its own. The book I am reviewing,All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr, is one such masterful creation. Don't wait for the paperback, don't wait for the movie, buy the book, now. Buy it as a gift, buy it for yourself, insist that your book club adds it to the list of must reads. Read it when you have the time to savor each and every word that has been so carefully placed. This book puts to shame many of the other books I have read this year. The characters, the story line, the settings, the time periods, the premise and purpose that stand behind the book are knitted together flawlessly, satisfying the reader completely. Every sentence is fraught with beautiful imagery.
We meet The girl, Marie-Laure, and The boy, Werner, in 1934. Marie-Laure is French, living in Paris with a loving father who works at the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle as the one in charge of locks and keys. Werner and his sister, Jutta, are in an orphanage in a coal mining town in Germany with a French speaking house mother. Marie-Laure becomes blind by the time she is eight. Her father builds for her an intricate replica of her neighborhood so she can memorize the avenues and sidewalk landmarks enabling her to find her way home without him along. Werner, two years older, possess an innate, brilliant aptitude for building radios from scrap parts. Fooling around with his radio he latches onto a wave of sound from France where the voice is telling children's stories seeped in science. Werner and Jutta are spell bound by the voice and stories. We know intuitively Marie-Laure and Werner will meet. The story is the hows and whys of the encounter. The war comes, Marie-Laure's father is encumbered with the burden of saving the Muséum's most precious object from Nazi hands. Hardships and cruelty for everyone ensue. Werner is conscripted and charged with ferreting out illegal radio signals in Poland, Russia and, as the war ends, finally France. That, in a nutshell, is the briefest of brief outlines of the story. But what happens within the pages of this book is a transportation into a very real world with Nazi monsters, everyday heroes, one magical diamond, those just trying to live to see another day and those with an amazing belief in the future.
Doerr is brilliant, writing a compelling yet completely human piece of fiction. Don't miss one word of this timeless work which you will want to keep in your permanent collection of great books.

Joanne Matzenbacher
Editor, It's About Books

novellas
Brown Dog
by Jim Harrison (Grove/Atlantic $18)New York Times best-selling author Jim Harrison is one of America's most beloved writers, and of all his creations, Brown Dog, a bawdy, reckless, down-on-his-luck Michigan Indian, has earned cult status with readers in the more than two decades since his first appearance. For the first time, Brown Dog gathers all the Brown Dog novellas, including one never-published one, into one volume-the ideal introduction (or reintroduction) to Harrison's irresistible Everyman.

fiction
The Luminaries
by Eleanor Catton (Little, Brown & Co $18)In January 1866, young Walter Moody lands in a gold-mining frontier town on the west coast of New Zealand to make his fortune and forever leave behind a family scandal. On arrival, he stumbles across a tense gathering of twelve local men who have met in secret to investigate what links three crimes that occurred on a single day: the town's wealthiest man has vanished. An enormous fortune has been discovered in the home of a luckless drunk. A prostitute has supposedly tried to end her life. But nothing is quite as it seems.

Chain of Events by Fredrik T. Olsson
(Little, Brown & Co $26)
William Sandberg, once a well-respected military cryptologist pursuing cutting-edge research, is a ruined man. His career is in shambles, his marriage is over, and he's succumbed to a dark depression. But William's talents haven't gone unnoticed. A nameless, top-secret organization abducts him and tasks him with a daunting mission: decode a message that will reveal the disastrous prophecies hidden in our DNA before it is too late.

The Outcasts by Kathleen Kent
(Little, Brown & Co. $16)
It's the 19th century on the Gulf Coast, a time of opportunity and lawlessness. After escaping the Texas brothel where she'd been a virtual prisoner, Lucinda Carter heads for Middle Bayou to meet her lover, who has a plan to make them both rich, chasing rumors of a pirate's buried treasure. Meanwhile Nate Cannon, a young Texas policeman with a pure heart and a strong sense of justice, is on the hunt for a ruthless killer named McGill who has claimed the lives of men, women, and even children across the frontier. Who-if anyone-will survive when their paths finally cross?

Red Sky in Morning
by Paul Lynch (Little, Brown & Co $15)
It's 1832 and Coll Coyle has killed the wrong man. The dead man's father is an expert tracker and ruthless killer with a single-minded focus on vengeance. The hunt leads from the windswept bogs of County Donegal, across the Atlantic to the choleric work camps of the Pennsylvania railroad, where both men will find their fates in the hardship and rough country of the fledgling United States.

romance fiction
All He Desires
by C.C. Gibbs (Grand Central $12)
Kate Hart and Dominic Knight's volatile love affair continues in the last book in the All or Nothing trilogy from C.C. Gibbs. Being tied down to just one woman was the last thing Dominic wanted. But from the moment he laid eyes on Kate, he couldn't deny his overwhelming desire for her or his need to possess her.

The Notebook
by Nicholas Sparks (Grand Central Pub $20)
Set amid the austere beauty of coastal North Carolina in 1946, The Notebook begins with the story of Noah Calhoun, a rural Southerner returned home from World War II. Noah, 31, is restoring a plantation home to its former glory, and he is haunted by images of the beautiful girl he met 14 years earlier, a girl he loved like no other. Unable to find her, yet unwilling to forget the summer they spent together, Noah is content to live with only memories...until she unexpectedly returns to his town to see him once more.

Breaking Nova
by Jessica Sorensen (Grand Central $12)
Quinton once got a second chance at life-but he doesn't want it. The tattoos on his arm are a constant reminder of what he's done, what he's lost. He's sworn to never allow happiness into his life . . . but then beautiful, sweet Nova makes him smile. He knows he's too damaged to get close to her, yet she's the only one who can make him feel alive again. Quinton will have to decide: does he deserve to start over? Or should he pay for his past forever?

mythology
Bulfinch's Mythology by Thomas Bulfinch
(Thunder Bay $24.95)
For almost a century and a half, Bulfinch's Mythology has been the text by which the great tales of the gods and goddesses, Greek and Roman antiquity; Scandinavian, Celtic, and Oriental fables and myths; and the age of chivalry have been known. The stories are divided into three sections: The Age of Fable or Stories of Gods and Heroes (first published in 1855); The Age of Chivalry (1858), which contains King Arthur and His Knights, The Mabinogeon, and The Knights of English History; and Legends of Charlemagne or Romance of the Middle Ages (1863).

poetry / humor
Egghead: Or, You Can't Survive on Ideas Alone by Bo Burnham
(Grand Central $15)
A strange and charming collection of hilariously absurd poetry, writing, and illustration from one of today's most popular young comedians...
Bo Burnham was a precocious teenager living in his parents' attic when he started posting material on YouTube. 100 million people viewed those videos, turning Bo into an online sensation with a huge and dedicated following.

fantasy fiction
Burn by Julianna Baggott
(Grand Central $16)
With his father now dead, Partridge has assumed leadership of the Dome, one of the last few refuges from the ravaged wastelands of the outside world. At first, Partridge is intent on exposing his father's lies, taking down the rigid order of the Dome, and uniting its citizens with the disfigured Wretches on the outside. But from his new position of power, things are far more complex and potentially dangerous than he could have ever imagined.

thriller / mystery
Mean Streak by Sandra Brown
(Grand Central $26)
From #1 New York Times best-selling author Sandra Brown comes a heart-pounding story of survival, that takes the age-old question, "Does the end justify the means?" and turns it on its head.
Dr. Emory Charbonneau, a pediatrician and marathon runner, disappears on a mountain road in North Carolina. By the time her husband Jeff, miffed over a recent argument, reports her missing, the trail has grown cold. Literally. Fog and ice encapsulate the mountainous wilderness and paralyze the search for her.

The Betrayers by David Bezmozgis
(Little Brown & Co $26)
These incandescent pages give us one fraught, momentous day in the life of Baruch Kotler, a Soviet Jewish dissident who now finds himself a disgraced Israeli politician. When he refuses to back down from a contrary but principled stand regarding the settlements in the West Bank, his political opponents expose his affair with a mistress decades his junior, and the besieged couple escapes to Yalta, the faded Crimean resort of Kotler's youth. There, shockingly, Kotler comes face-to-face with the former friend whose denunciation sent him to the Gulag almost forty years earlier.
Shortlisted for the 2014 Giller Prize

Cobra by Deon Meyer
(Grove/Atlantic $26)
These incandescent pages give us one fraught, momentous day in the life of Baruch Kotler, a Soviet Jewish dissident who now finds himself a disgraced Israeli politician. When he refuses to back down from a contrary but principled stand regarding the settlements in the West Bank, his political opponents expose his affair with a mistress decades his junior, and the besieged couple escapes to Yalta, the faded Crimean resort of Kotler's youth. There, shockingly, Kotler comes face-to-face with the former friend whose denunciation sent him to the Gulag almost forty years earlier.
Shortlisted for the 2014 Giller Prize

The Forgers by Bradford Morrow
(Grove/Atlantic $24)
The rare book world is stunned when a reclusive collector, Adam Diehl, is found on the floor of his Montauk home: hands severed, surrounded by valuable inscribed books and original manuscripts that have been vandalized beyond repair. Adam's sister, Meghan, and her lover, Will-a convicted if unrepentant literary forger-struggle to come to terms with the seemingly incomprehensible murder. But when Will begins receiving threatening handwritten letters, seemingly penned by long-dead authors, but really from someone who knows secrets about Adam's death and Will's past, he understands his own life is also on the line-and attempts to forge a new beginning for himself and Meg.

cooking
America--Farm to Table: Simple, Delecious Recipes Celebrating Local Farmers by Mario Batali, Jim Webster
(Grand Central $35)
Mario Batali, who knows the importance of ingredients to any amazing dish, sees farmers as the rock stars of the food world. In this new book he celebrates American farmers: their high quality products and their culture defined by hard work, integrity, and pride. Batali asked his chef friends from Nashville, Tennessee, to San Francisco, to tell him who their favorite farmers were,

Aarti Paarti: An American Kitchen with an Indian Soul by Aarti Sequeira
(Grand Central $28)
A collection of memories and 101 recipes from the popular blogger(www.aartipaarti.com) and Food Network personality. The recipes will make cooking with traditional Indian flavors and spices approachable for the US market. Aarti's stories will dissolve the "foreign-ness" of Indian flavors and make seemingly complicated technique and flavor accessible.

autobiography
But Seriously
by John McEnroe (Little Brown & Co $28)

Over a decade after his #1 bestselling book You Cannot Be Serious, John McEnroe is finally back and ready to talk once again. Since his hit book, he's maintained a huge presence announcing at tennis's majors, has guest starred in TV shows like 30 Rock and Curb Your Enthusiasm, and has been competing on the court, winning ATP Tour of Champions tournaments and playing in special events, exhibitions, and charity events around the globe. The beloved, controversial, and respected tennis legend reveals even more from his life and career with the signature style that has made him the enduring cultural figure and icon he is.

memoir
Alone in Antarctic: The First Woman to Ski Solo Across the Southern Ice
by Felicity Aston (Counterpoint $26)

Felicity Aston, physicist and meteorologist, took two months off from all human contact as she became the first woman -- and only the third person in history - to ski across the entire continent of Antarctica alone. She did it, too, with the simple apparatus of cross-country, without the aids used by her prededecessors - two Norwegian men - each of whom employed either parasails or kites.

non-fiction
The Accidental Superpower: The Next Generation of Preeminence & the Coming Global Disaster
by Peter Zeihan (Grand Central $18)

Near the end of the Second World War, the United States made a bold strategic gambit that rewired the international system. Empires were abolished and replaced by a global arrangement enforced by the U.S. Navy. With all the world's oceans safe for the first time in history, markets and resources were made available for everyone. Enemies became partners. We think of this system as normal-it is not. We live in an artificial world on borrowed time.

America Again: Re-becoming the Greatness We Never Weren't
by Stephen Colbert (Grand Central $28)

Book store nation, in the history of mankind there has never been a greater country than America. You could say we're the #1 nation at being the best at greatness. But as perfect as America is in every single way, America is broken! And we can't exchange it because we're 236 years past the 30-day return window. Look around-we don't make anything anymore, we've mortgaged our future to China, and the Apologist-in-Chief goes on world tours just to bow before foreign leaders. Worse, the L.A. Four Seasons Hotel doesn't even have a dedicated phone button for the Spa. You have to dial an extension! Where did we lose our way?!

Dallas 1963
by Bill Minutaglio (Grand Central $17)

In the months and weeks before the fateful November 22nd, 1963, Dallas was brewing with political passions, a city crammed with larger-than-life characters dead-set against the Kennedy presidency. These included rabid warriors like defrocked military general Edwin A. Walker; the world's richest oil baron, H. L. Hunt; the leader of the largest Baptist congregation in the world, W.A. Criswell; and the media mogul Ted Dealey, who raucously confronted JFK and whose family name adorns the plaza where the president was murdered. On the same stage was a compelling cast of marauding gangsters, swashbuckling politicos, unsung civil rights heroes, and a stylish millionaire anxious to save his doomed city.

@War: The Rise of the Military-Internet Complex
by Shane Harris
(Houghton Mifflin Hourcourt $27)

A surprising, page-turning account of how the wars of the future are already being fought today. The United States military currently views cyberspace as the "fifth domain" of warfare (alongside land, air, sea, and space), and the Department of Defense, the National Security Agency, and the CIA all field teams of hackers who can, and do, launch computer virus strikes against enemy targets. In fact, as @WAR shows, U.S. hackers were crucial to our victory in Iraq. Shane Harris delves into the frontlines of America's new cyber war.

kids
A Perfectly Messed-Up Story
(ages 3-6)
by Patrick McDonnell
(Little Brown Young Readers $9.99)
In this interactive and engaging read-aloud, bestselling author and award-winning artist Patrick McDonnell creates a funny, engaging, and almost perfect story about embracing life's messes. Little Louie's story keeps getting messed up, and he's not happy about it! What's the point of telling his tale if he can't tell it perfectly? But when he stops and takes a deep breath, he realizes that everything is actually just fine, and his story is a good one-imperfections and all.

older kids
Ever After High: The Hat-tastic Tea Party Planner (ages 8 -12) by Melissa Yu
(Little Brown Young Readers $9.99)
Grab your teapots, teacups, and tiny hats! Madeline Hatter and some of her BFFAs (best friends forever after)--Apple White, Briar Beauty, Cedar Wood, and Cerise Hood--are throwing the most hat-tastic tea party ever! Brighten up a warm cup of tea with this book of wonderlandiful tips and tricks. Inside you'll find tea-rrific finger sandwich recipes, elegant par-tea invitations, and party games that even Earl Grey can play!

teens
Glory O'Brien's History of the Future (age 15-18)
by A.S. King (Little Brown Young Readers $18)
In this masterpiece about freedom, feminism, and destiny, Printz Honor author A.S. King tells the epic story of a girl coping with devastating loss at long last-a girl who has no idea that the future needs her, and that the present needs her even more.

The Angel Experiment (age 13-17)
by James Patterson (Grand Central $8)

This new incarnation of the multi-million copy-selling Maximum Ride series is the perfect way to discover the blockbuster adventures of a heroic flock of winged kids! This volume contains the complete story of the series' launch title, The Angel Experiment. Fourteen-year-old Maximum Ride, better known as Max, knows what it's like to soar above the world. She and all the members of the "flock"-Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Gasman and Angel-are just like ordinary kids, only they have wings and can fly.

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