The Reader's Shelf

From Library Journal

Now Voyager:  Book a Journey of the Imagination

Little Bee By Cleave, Chris 2010-02 - Simon & Schuster 9781416589648 Check Our Catalog BookPage Notable Title The publishers of Cleave's new novel don't want to spoil the story by revealing too much about it. They will say that the beach scene is brutal, and that it braids the fates of a 16-year-old Nigerian orphan and a well-off British couple. …More

The Outermost House: A Year of Life on the Great Beach of Cape Cod By Beston, Henry Introduction by Finch, Robert 2003-07 - Owl Books (NY) 9780805073683 Check Our Catalog A chronicle of a solitary year spent on a Cape Cod beach, "The Outermost House" has long been recognized as a classic of American nature writing and is now available in a 75th anniversary edition. Illustration & map. …More

The Little Book By Edwards, Selden 2009-05 - Plume Books 9780452295513 Check Our Catalog An irresistible triumph of the imagination more than 30 years in the making, "The Little Book" is a breathtaking love story that spans generations, ranging from fin-de-sicle Vienna through the pivotal moments of the 20th century. …More

Encore Provence: New Adventures in the South of France By Mayle, Peter 2000-04 - Vintage Books USA 9780679762690 Check Our Catalog In his most delightful foray into the wonders of Provençal life, Peter Mayle returns to France and puts behind him cholesterol worries, shopping by phone, California wines, and other concerns that plagued him after too much time away. In Encore Provence, Mayle gives us a glimpse into the secrets of the truffle trade, a "parfumerie lesson on the delicacies of scent, an exploration of the genetic effects of 2,000 years of foie gras, and a small-town murder mystery that reads like the best fiction. Here, too, are Mayle's latest tips on where to find the best honey, cheese, or "chambre d'hite the region has to offer. Lyric, insightful, sparkling with detail, Encore Provence brings us a land where the smell of thyme in the fields or the glory of a leisurely lunch is no less than inspiring. …More

The Accidental Tourist By Tyler, Anne 2002-04 - Ballantine Books 9780345452009 Check Our Catalog "POIGNANT . . . FUNNY . . . "THE ACCIDENTAL TOURIST IS ONE OF HER BEST. . . . [TYLER] HAS NEVER BEEN STRONGER." -"The New York Times Macon Leary is a travel writer who hates both travel and anything out of the ordinary. He is grounded by loneliness and an unwillingness to compromise his creature comforts when he meets Muriel, a deliciously peculiar dog-obedience trainer who up-ends Macon's insular world-and thrusts him headlong into a remarkable engagement with life. "BITTERSWEET . . . EVOCATIVE . . . It's easy to forget this is the warm lull of fiction; you half-expect to run into her characters at the dry cleaners . . . Tyler [is] a writer of great compassion." -"The "Boston Globe "Tyler has given us an endlessly diverting book whose strength gathers gradually to become a genuinely thrilling one." -"Los Angeles Times "A DELIGHT . . . A GRACEFUL COMIC NOVEL ABOUT GETTING THROUGH LIFE." -"The Wall Street Journal …More

Never a City So Real: A Walk in Chicago By Kotlowitz, Alex 2004-07 - Crown Publishing Group (NY) 9781400046218 Check Our Catalog The acclaimed author of There Are No Children Here takes us into the heart of Chicago by introducing us to some of the city's most interesting, if not always celebrated, people. Chicago is one of America's most iconic, historic, and fascinating cities, as well as a major travel destination. For Alex Kotlowitz, an accidental Chicagoan, it is the perfect perch from which to peer into America's heart. It's a place, as one historian has said, of "messy vitalities," a stew of contradictions: coarse yet gentle, idealistic yet restrained, grappling with its promise, alternately sure and unsure of itself. Chicago, like America, is a kind of refuge for outsiders. It's probably why Alex Kotlowitz found comfort there. He's drawn to people on the outside who are trying to clean up--or at least make sense of--the mess on the inside. Perspective doesn't come easy if you're standing in the center. As with There Are No Children Here, Never a City So Real is not so much a tour of a place as a chronicle of its soul, its lifeblood. It is a tour of the people of Chicago, who have been the author's guides into this city's--and in a broader sense, this country's--heart. …More

On Whale Island: Notes from a Place I Never Meant to Leave By Hays, Daniel 2002-05 - Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill 9781565123458 Check Our Catalog When the author of the bestselling memoir "My Old Man and the Sea" takes his family to their new home on a desolate island off the coast of Nova Scotia, their idyllic escape from civilization becomes a warped version of Walden. …More