The Galaxy Bookshop

Tecumseh Sparrow "T.S." Spivet is a brilliant cartographer. He draws maps of everything he observes, whether that might be mountains, migratory patterns of birds, or a conversation. T.S. has just learned that he is to receive the Smithsonian Institute's prestigious Baird Award and must travel to Washington, D.C. to accept the prize. The trouble is, T.S. is only 12 years old--the fact of which the people at the Smithsonian are unaware. Told from T.S.'s perspective, The Selected Works is a fascinating story about a boy who is wise beyond his years in some things, but still very young and unsure in others. Throughout the story, T.S. directs the reader to notes and maps in the margins. This is a special book that you'll want to give copies of to friends and family.

Steve Hely has written a very funny first novel, about a man who decides to become a best-selling novelist in order to impress an ex-girlfriend (and become rich, famous, and desired by beautiful women). Pete Tarslaw's observations of the literary world will have you laughing out loud, and will probably have you looking at the bestseller list in a whole new way.

This was a book that didn't pull me in right away. It was only after a friend got into it and told me how much she loved it that I resolved to try to stick with Monsters of Templeton and see what it was that made my friend so enthusiastic about it. Turns out, she was right! After wading through the first couple of chapters, I discovered that I was hooked--on the story, on the characters, on the historical flashbacks that flesh out the town of Templeton (a fictionalized version of the author's own hometown of Cooperstown) and the complicated network of familial relationships and infidelities.

I urge you to give yourself the treat of falling in love with this book like I did. Find out more about the story and the author at her website or here.

An interesting story about a Jewish spy in the civil war, his battles with his own ethical choices and the consequences resulting from those choices. Moments of suspense, romance, and even humor kept me turning the pages to the satisfying end. Dara Horn is an excellent writer, and I believe that she will gain many new fans with this book.

Sing Them Home is a deeply moving portrait of three grown siblings who have lived in the shadow of unresolved grief since their mother's mysterious disappearance when they were children. Everyone in Emlyn Springs, Nebraska, knows the story of Hope Jones, the physician's wife whose big dreams for their tiny town were lost along with her in the tornado of 1978. For Hope's three young children, the stability of life with their distant, preoccupied father, and with Viney, their mother's spitfire best friend, is no match for their mother's absence. Larken, the eldest, is an art history professor who seeks in food an answer to a less tangible hunger; Gaelan, the only son, is a telegenic weatherman who devotes his life to predicting the unpredictable and whose profession, and all too much more, depend on his sculpted frame and ready smile; and Bonnie, the baby of the family is a self-proclaimed archivist who combs the roadsides for clues to her mother's legacy, and permission to move on. When, decades after their mother's disappearance, they are summoned home after their father's sudden death, they are forced to revisit the childhood tragedy at the center of their lives. With breathtaking lyricism, wisdom, and humor, Stephanie Kallos explores the consequences of protecting the ones we love.