STAFF PICKS

Iona Iverson’s Rules for Commuting by Clare Pooley. What a fun read! Clare Pooley is a genius at transforming something as monotonous as a daily commute into a story of self-discovery and friendship. A medical emergency on the train forces engagement amongst seemingly indifferent fellow commuters, encouraged by the eclectic advice columnist, Iona Iverson. A feel-good read about human connection and the rewards of friendship. – Jessica

 

Cult Classic by Sloane Crosley. I read a review of this book recently that called it "zany," and that's definitely spot-on, but it's also so so funny and smart and enjoyable. Crosley is an astute observer of the modern dating scene and the sad-sack contemporary man, in particular. It's worth buying just for her one-liners, which will alternatively make you cackle and singe your eyebrows. Hilarious and fun! - Nick

 

TIME SHELTER by Georgi Gospodinov, translated by Angela Rodel. Bulgarian author Gospodinov’s narrator meets (invents?) Gaustine, a psychiatrist who creates “clinics for the past," perfectly reproducing prior decades to help dementia patients recall that time and thus improve their memory. The concept grows in popularity and unexpectedly transforms Europe. Mind-bending, it’s a meditation on time and memory and how one’s perspective on both can evolve. - Eric

FIVE DECEMBERS by James Kestral. This year's Edgar winner for Best Mystery is a hard-boiled delight, following a Honolulu detective immersed in a murder case over five years of World War II. Although there is no shortage of violence and mayhem, Kestral effectively evokes a historical time and place and weaves a surprisingly moving love story into his rich crime classic. - Hut

THIS TIME TOMORROW by Emma Straub. Straub deftly uses time travel in a fresh manner to weave a moving and endearing tale that in the end is about a daughter’s ache to “solve” her ailing father’s health issues and the eternal bond of love between them. Engaging, funny, hopeful. “It’s not about the time, it’s about how you spend it." - Eric

NEW MERCHANDISE THAT MAY BOWL YOU OVER

These blue and white Miya ceramic bowls are back by popular demand. Their versatile size and shape - 6" in diameter - is perfect for cereal, soup, and snacks, and they are both microwave and dishwasher safe. Mix and match your set!

OUR LATEST AUTHOR EVENT

Many thanks to ANITA BARROWS, whose recent in-store reading from her new novel The Language of Birds, was a big hit with her engaged and enthusiastic crowd. (Photo by Andy Ross)

Check out our upcoming author events at the top of the right hand column on this home page.

READ WITH PRIDE!

PREORDER OFFER FOR MRS. DALLOWAY'S CUSTOMERS

RANDALL MUNROE is the bestselling author of What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions - one of our favorite (and most offbeat) science books. The millions of people who read and loved What If? still have questions, and those questions are getting stranger. Thank goodness Munroe has the answers.

Planning to ride a fire pole from the Moon back to Earth? The hardest part is sticking the landing. Hoping to cool the atmosphere by opening everyone’s freezer door at the same time? Maybe it’s time for a brief introduction to thermodynamics. Want to know what would happen if you rode a helicopter blade, built a billion-story building, made a lava lamp out of lava, or jumped on a geyser as it erupted? Okay, if you insist.

What If? 2: Additional Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions will publish on September 13. Click on the image to preorder, and receive an Exclusive Enamel Pin with your book (while supplies last).

AUTHOR DROP-INS AT MRS. DALLOWAY'S

Hard-working children's author JOANNA HO surrounded herself with three of her latest picture books - Eyes That Speak to the Stars, Eyes That Kiss in the Corners, and Playing at the Border: A Story of Yo-Yo Ma, in a recent visit. Her newest book, The Silence That Binds Us, is a departure for Joanna - a young adult novel that explores timely themes of mental health, racism, and classism through a Chinese Taiwanese American family. It publishes June 14.

Artist CASSANDRA ROCKWOOD GHANEM, illustrator of Basho’s Haiku Journeys, (written by Freeman Ng), came by and posed with her children's picture book about the 17th-century Japanese haiku poet Matsuo Basho, who is  best known for his travel journals. This delightful volume--written entirely in haiku and illustrated by Cassandra with vibrant hand-painted scenes taken directly from the poet's written travelogues--tells the true story of Basho and of the five great journeys he then took through the length and breadth of Japan.

Middle grade author ANNE NESBET holds two of her historical fiction paperbacks. In Daring Darleen, Queen of the Screen,  the 12-year old star of silent films faces villains both on and off screen when a fake kidnapping goes terribly wrong, The Orphan Band of Springdale is a historical novel set in 1941 in which a young girl is sent to a prphange and discovers small-town prejudices--and a huge family secret.