lisa RECOMMENDS:

Although this is labeled as a children’s book, it is really a book for any of us who look up at the night sky with wonder and awe. The exquisite illustrations in the book take their inspiration from the engravings and lithographs made in the 19th-century that helped to spread the science of astronomy to the general public before there was technology to do so photographically. This one is going right on my coffee table at home to be enjoyed before I go outside and look up.

nancy RECOMMENDS:

Nina Totenberg, journalist and NPR legend, has written a captivating memoir about her friendship with Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Their friendship spanned an era of many momentous political and national events. The perspective and wisdom of these two legendary women and the warm friendship they shared is delightful and illuminating. 

Laura will be signing books in the store on December 3rd at 4:00– just in time for Holiday gifts! 

kyle RECOMMENDS:

I nominate this one as the year’s Best Movie Book: a collection of chatty observations, memories, and other knowing, juicy bits from top filmmakers and workaday studio staff, from technical crew to directors and stars: Hitchcock, Hepburn, Fonda. One of its editors is Sam Wasson, the snappy stylist who has given us great books on BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S, CHINATOWN, and Bob Fosse. A can’t-miss gift for the friend who’s usually tuned in to TCM or the Criterion Channel.

lori RECOMMENDS:

A tender, exquisitely written portrait of a tiny island civilization near Maine’s coast victimized by government officials. Paul Harding’s captivating novel is based on the mixed-race fishing community of Malaga Island, settled in the late eighteenth century by a mix of freed slave and white immigrants. Harding celebrates the stamina and ingenuity of the islanders, and the struggles of a young missionary-teacher whose desire to help the islanders is frustrated by the prejudice and ignorance of the mainlanders in power. It is an important story, and Harding privileges it with writing that sings with emotional resonance and descriptive vivacity. This is especially true of the author’s depiction of Ethan, a boy with raw artistic talent whose fair skin affords him the opportunity to inhabit the mainland but whose innocence of the world denies the pursuit of his art.