As I tried to reclaim a reading life leading up to and right after the birth of my twins, a friend recommended I stick to reading young adult fiction. Perhaps in an attempt to regress to my own childhood, I picked up a book I remembered fondly: The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare.

The New England witch hunts endure as a fascinating piece of history, and before I graduated to The Crucible,  The Witch of Blackbird Pond whet my appetite for fiction about the era. Set in the late 1800s, this coming-of-age story follows the orphan Kit from her home in Barbados to a Puritan community in Connecticut. The death of her beloved father and a distasteful suitor have forced her to go to America, and Kit is grudgingly taken into her aunt’s family as something of a Cinderella. Although her aunt and one of the sisters are kind to Kit, her fiery uncle and other competitive cousin make her life particularly difficult. Kit’s loneliness prompts her into a friendship with an older widow, Hannah Tupper, who the community believes to be a witch.

For readers who enjoy portraits of everyday life in a different time period, like Civil War era New England in Little Women or the American frontier in Little House on the Prairie, this glimpse of 17th century New England will be a good fit. Alongside Kit’s individual story, Speare brings the political and religious issues of the time to light by using the community’s persecution of Hannah Tupper as a specific example of how the Puritan settlers persecuted the Quakers. Kit’s uncle, Matthew, is deeply involved in early American politics. His passionate commitment to the right of Americans to govern themselves and his desire to break free from England foreshadows the American Revolution.

The most powerful reason this story resonates is the fact that both Kit and Hannah are outsiders in a community where everyone is expected to conform. The Puritans go to church every Sunday and live a life of hard labor, and they persecute and ostracize anyone who wants to live outside that rigid structure. No matter the time period or specifics, the outsider story endures and appeals to most children and teens.

By the end of the book, both Kit and Hannah find a place in the world that finally makes sense and allows them to pursue their own versions of happiness. It’s a hopeful ending that promises good things can come after the struggles of coming of age. As my husband and I welcomed our babies into the world after a difficult twin pregnancy, I found renewal in The Witch of Blackbird Pond in a completely different way than when I read it as a teenager. We’re all still growing up, no matter how old we get.

—Miriam

Whether you’re a fan of John Green or not, I suggest you peruse this New York Times piece from January 16th. It’s startling to discover that authors are taking over more than just the internet. They’re taking over Carnegie Hall. As in, the Carnegie Hall that serves as legendary concert venue to artists such as Yo-Yo Ma and Joshua Bell. A new era for writers has arrived, and I’m not talking about the age of ebooks.

It was just a year ago that I cheered for Green on this blog, and he’s continued taking over the world. An Evening of Awesome, a variety show celebrating the one-year anniversary of publication for John Green’s bestseller, The Fault in Our Stars, played Carnegie Hall to a sold-out house last week. The show starred John Green and his brother Hank, his VLog partner. Besides their riffing, the night included two readings from John Green’s books: the section of the kiss in Anne Frank’s house from The Fault in Our Stars and later, a selection from Paper Towns. In the middle were surprise guest appearances (the Mountain Goats band and author Neil Gaiman), Hank’s songs, including his original Harry Potter hit that made them a YouTube sensation back in 2007 (“I couldn’t care more about Harry Potter / than if Hogwarts was my alma mater…”), and Twitter questions from the audience (predominantly female teenagers). The questions ranged from inane (“Who’s your favorite Power Ranger?) to obvious (“What advice would you give aspiring writers?”). My favorite answer was when Green suggested hopeful authors tell their friends stories and notice when they get bored.

It’s obvious from John Green’s Tumblr that this guy has interests pulling him in all kinds of directions. His fans get to connect with him like no other author out there. But don’t short-change him because of his youthful and spirited persona. He’s the real deal and his books are just as good as their hype. He’s got the writing chops. And he can sell out Carnegie Hall with nothing more than a low-key variety show.

Now that’s talent.

—Miriam

Even if you’re not much of a reader, chances are you’ve heard of The Da Vinci Code and The Kite Runner. They were movies too, after all. But it’s been a few years. No one’s been talking about Dan Brown or Khaled Hosseini in a long time, despite the fact that Brown has sold over two hundred million copies of his six novels and Hosseini has sold thirty-eight million copies of his two books. Well, let the whispering and speculation begin, because these guys are back with new novels in 2013.

Here’s what we know so far: Dan Brown’s new novel, Inferno, is another Robert Langdon adventure, this time returning to Italy (where Angels & Demons took place) and centering around a great piece of literature, Dante’s Inferno. Let me guess—there will be a secret code embedded in the poem. General readers will love the revelations, and scholars will go nuts trying to convince the public that the book is fiction. Religious leaders were beside themselves over the assertions about Christ in The Da Vinci Code, so the Christianity-laced text of Inferno will likely cause as much of an uproar. An obscure author is bound to sue Dan Brown for stealing his idea. And Brown’s love for puzzles and symbols will engage readers once again.

Khaled Hosseini will be offering up his first book in six years with And the Mountains Echoed. The description floating around is so vague it could be about anything. The clearest hints I’ve heard about this one are “multi-generational novel, the surprising actions of those closest to us, lives and loves and choices around the globe.” Let’s hope the book jacket has a little more detail once the publication date approaches, but suffice it to say this will be another tearjerker.

Crotchety readers often sigh when they hear blockbuster authors have another book on the way. “It’s the same old formula,” they complain, or, “his prose wasn’t that good,” or “that last book was so overrated.” Perhaps they fancy themselves another Michiko Kakutani harshly critiquing for the New York Times.

I’ll make an argument for those who only have time to read a few books a year. Sometimes, people want to read what everyone else is reading. Maybe they want to be entertained rather than impressed. A formula that works can be a good thing. There’s something to be said for authors who have the ability to speak to such a broad audience, even if their character development or plot structure isn’t perfect.

Stop by the store in May to inspect the new Dan Brown or Khaled Hosseini (and smell the books—you can’t do that online). We know people will flock towards these obvious choices, even though we love to steer customers to our more obscure favorites peppering the shelves. Booksellers anticipate the big books too, and not just for the guaranteed sales. Whether Brown and Hosseini’s latest turn out to be enjoyable or not, we love seeing customers excited about reading. These authors motivate people who don’t always read to tackle a book, and for that, we thank them.

—Miriam

Until now, one of the most detailed accounts available about the raid that killed Osama bin Laden was published in the New Yorker in August 2011. The article takes us into the moment of bin Laden’s death with this description:

“Nine years, seven months, and twenty days after September 11th, an American was a trigger pull from ending bin Laden’s life. The first round, a 5.56-mm. bullet, struck bin Laden in the chest. As he fell backward, the SEAL fired a second round into his head, just above his left eye. On his radio, he reported, ‘For God and country—Geronimo, Geronimo, Geronimo.’ After a pause, he added, ‘Geronimo E.K.I.A.’—’enemy killed in action.’ Hearing this at the White House, Obama pursed his lips, and said solemnly, to no one in particular, ‘We got him.’”

(“Geronimo” was the code word that bin Laden had been found.)

The New Yorker article pieced together the narrative using interviews with officials who had interviewed the SEAL team, not with the individuals themselves.

There have been other more extended accounts of the raid, including former SEAL commander Chuck Pfarrer’s well-received Seal Target Geronimo. That book also relied on interviews with members of the SEALS. But our curiosity about such a monumental and secretive event remains, however, and on September 11, a new account of the killing of Osama bin Laden hits stores. Written under the pseudonym Mark Owen, No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account of the Mission that Killed Osama bin Laden, is by one of the Navy SEALs who participated in the raid in Pakistan last year (his co-writer is Kevin Maurer) and will likely be a huge bestseller. The first printing is set for 300,000 copies and the author will promote his book in disguise and with his voice altered. He also intends to donate a portion of what the book earns to the families of slain SEALs.

Problems are already popping up. Almost immediately after the book was announced, FOX News revealed the real identity of the author, an experienced 36-year-old member of the elite Navy SEALs who recently retired. He’s from Alaska and also participated in the highly publicized rescue of Captain Richard Phillips in the Indian Ocean in 2009. I’ll refrain from repeating his real name here. Not surprisingly, other former and current SEALs have expressed their anger over the book and fear that future missions may be compromised if inappropriate details are leaked.

Another source of anger is that No Easy Day has not been submitted to the White House for review, although the publisher, Penguin, says a former special ops attorney vetted the manuscript. The assumption then is that the author will share his personal thoughts and feelings about the experience rather than any classified information because he must have signed a nondisclosure agreement when he joined the SEALs. If he doesn’t stick with that angle, “Mark Owen” could be subject to prosecution for revealing national security secrets.

The timing of publication is as nerve-wracking as the potential content. With the presidential election just months away, Republicans probably won’t appreciate a bestseller that calls more attention to Obama’s success. Other media related to the mission has already been pushed back until after election day, including producer Kathryn Bigelow’s anticipated film about the bin Laden raid, Zero Dark Thirty. Yet No Easy Day pushes ahead with its September 11th release.

I, for one, am hoping this narrative offers more on the thoughts and feelings of the author. I’ve liked the factual accounts, but I still want more than a story based on interviews that come to us secondhand. Ideally, No Easy Day will vividly describe the relationships between the team members and what it felt like to be part of such an important historical event, especially the experience afterwards where they couldn’t receive individual public acknowledgment for their heroism. Perhaps it’s precisely the anonymity that drove “Mark Owen” to write this book. It will be interesting to see both how he’s received once we can put a personality on one of our national heroes, and how the government officials, politicians, and other SEALs react to the book’s content.

—Miriam

Weather isn’t just for scientists. Climate has always played an important symbolic role in literature, and many writers use the close relationship of psychology and weather to tell their stories. Cold and lonely? Warm and amorous? Stormy and scared? Sunny and happy? Moods and weather go together like peanut butter and jelly.

This year in the Pacific Northwest, we’ve been lucky enough to escape most of the painfully hot summer across the rest of the United States. We did, however, get our taste of heat this past week with a short but record-breaking heat wave, and for the many of us that don’t have air conditioners, the days were miserable. In my third trimester of twin pregnancy, I was near delirious and flashing back to books that sympathized with my situation. So, in honor of the August heat, here’s a list of titles that come to mind. I’m sure I’m missing a lot of good ones though, so will you share your additions in the comments?

Heat Wave by Eric Klinenberg: If you’re looking for nonfiction, this book revisits the events of  July 13, 1995, when the temperature in Chicago reached 106 degrees. What was originally predicted as a two-day heat wave went on for a week, and by then, the city was in acute distress. Streets had buckled, records for use of electricity were shattered, and power grids had failed. Some people went without electricity for up to two days. Over seven hundred people died, making the incident one of the deadliest in American history. The reasons behind the number of deaths and the tragic ways they occurred during the 1995 Chicago heat wave were eye-opening. If you’re curious why, this book is a good place to start because it examines the social and political foundations of the city that made this urban disaster so much worse than it ought to have been.

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald: A classic summertime novel, The Great Gatsby uses weather to set the tone in many of its key scenes. The heat becomes oppressive during the climactic chapter 7, when Tom, Daisy, Nick, Jordan, and Gatsby head to the city as the tension increases in their relationships. Nick describes the day as “broiling, almost the last, certainly the warmest of the summer.” Daisy complains, “It’s so hot, and everything’s so confused.” The oppressive heat becomes a symbol for the oppressive situation, and, as in many novels, represents a kind of hell. As the temperature rises, both Gatsby’s aspirations with Daisy and Myrtle Wilson’s infidelity come to a boiling point.

Atonement by Ian McEwan: Atonement begins on a summer day in 1935 with the characters coping in a stifling heat. Briony decides to put on a play, Mrs. Tallis rests in her bedroom, and others go for a swim. The heat is making everyone restless and impatient. Their discomfort evokes feelings that seem to throw good judgment out the window, making their actions that much more weighted. Cecelia’s and Robbie’s relationship intensifies and Briony’s imagination runs wild with the weather, leading to consequences that will play a huge role in all of their destinies.

Lord of the Flies by William Golding: After a nuclear war lands the boys on a deserted island, the warm weather contributes to their initial impression that they’ve landed in a tropical paradise. But as the dynamics take a turn for the worse, the heat increases, once again paralleling the oppression of the situation. By chapter 4, the heat is no longer a good thing, and neither is their predicament.

Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel: Everything is on the verge of boiling in this romantic tale filled with magical realism, from the weather to the food to Tita’s passionate heart. Heat is a major theme, and it’s no coincidence that fire plays such a big role in the way the story plays out.

—Miriam

From early 2005 to late 2007, I worked my way up from editorial assistant to assistant editor at Hyperion Books in Manhattan. I always supported two executive editors during my tenure, and while the second boss changed many times, I had the good fortune to remain with the incomparable Leslie Wells throughout. My other constant manager was our editor-in-chief, Will Schwalbe.

Readers across the world are about to meet Will in a whole new way come October 2012, when his first memoir, The End of Your Life Book Club, hits shelves. The buzz is already building, so I thought this might be good timing to prepare you for why his book is going to be big. There are many reasons to talk up a new title, whether it’s from an author who already has an amazing back list of books, tackles a compelling and unique subject, or has an early wave of enthusiastic supporters within the industry who have already read an advance copy and can’t stop talking about it. But with Will’s new book, I have a different reason. This is a man I greatly respect and worked closely with for almost three years.

The End of Your Life Book Club is Will’s story about reading and discussing a wide array of books with his mother, Mary Anne Schwalbe, while she was being treated for pancreatic cancer. As they both come to terms with the realities at hand, they’re able to use their reading list as an entry into deeply personal topics and conversations about gratitude, listening, and the bond between mother and son.

While I’m not a huge fan of books about reading, I’m confident this book is going to be different and compelling. Here are some things I know about Will that suggest it:

1) Once I asked Will what his favorite book was, since I needed some vacation reading. He had many, of course, but gave such a strong endorsement for A Fine Balance that I went out and bought a copy that same day. I’ve blogged about that book here more than once, and as you can guess, it remains one of my favorite books today.

2) In weekly editorial meetings, Will routinely heard his editors present book proposals from major celebrities and bestselling authors. Yet I always saw more excitement on his face when he mentioned one of his favorite book ideas: a tell-all from the shoeshine boy on the corner outside of our office. Will knew a good story trumped everything. He floated that idea back in 2005, and something similar came out in 2008. I always wondered if he mentioned the idea in publishing circles around town and that’s how it came to be.

3) As an assistant editor, I was always trying to discover new authors. Typically the good book proposals went to the more experienced staff, so I knew I was grasping at straws when I read in the New Yorker about a 1930s Russian bestseller that had never been published in the United States. The book was called Physics for Entertainment, and while I thought it was kooky and cool, I feared I’d be laughed out of the editorial meeting when I presented it. But Will not only took me seriously, he helped me negotiate the rights with a Russian publishing house that only spoke a few words of English. Within the year I was able to shoehorn that little known gem into stores. It never would have happened without Will.

4) When Hyperion published J.R. Moehringer’s bestselling memoir, The Tender Bar, Will made such a heartfelt speech about the book at the annual BookExpo convention that he nearly came to tears. Many thought his speech alone was the impetus that brought the book to such a wide readership.

5) Will’s first book, co-written with New York Times editor David Shipley, was Send, a book about email etiquette. I was initially surprised at the subject but upon further reflection, realized Will had a ridiculous amount of experience navigating the delicate politics of high-powered email exchanges. His favorite sign-off, “As ever, Will” managed just the right blend of original, endearing, and not too personal or distant as to make the recipient uncomfortable. That took skill. The book presents both stellar and horrific email exchanges, and even with such a seemingly dry subject, I couldn’t help but find the voice on the page both intelligent and entertaining.

All the anecdotes aside, I’ve never met a person who doesn’t like Will (and he knows nearly everyone in New York publishing circles). In fact, most people light up at the mere mention of his name. Even though I haven’t seen him since 2007, I imagine Will has only gotten better with time and the creative experience of focusing on his own work. He supported and inspired so many authors as well as others in the publishing industry that it’s only fair he finally gets his own turn in the sun. As good as Send is, I’m thrilled this time Will chose to write something more personal. He’s so passionate about books and reading that I can’t think of a more appropriate starting point. And if The End of Your Life Book Club is half as enjoyable and energized as Will is in person, it’s bound to be a hit. I can’t wait to get my hands on a copy.

—Miriam

Literary Reality TV:

Norman Mailer and Gore Vidal

We recently lost Gore Vidal, the elegant, often-quoted writer of novels, plays, and essays, at age 86. Out of all the internet coverage you can find about him, his 1971 Dick Cavett Show appearance with Norman Mailer is something you shouldn’t miss. In this clip, Vidal and Mailer spar as vituperously as the contestants on reality television today, just with a lot more intelligence. Vidal never shied away from feuds with his contemporaries, and Mailer wasn’t the only one Vidal brazenly insulted. Truman Capote, Ayn Rand, and Andy Warhol were all subject to Vidal’s sharp opinions at one time or another.

This interchange, in the presence of host Cavett, journalist Janet Flanner, and the live studio audience, highlights the nature of Vidal and Mailer’s relationship. It also shows the particularly abrasive personality that so often got Mailer in trouble (and made him notorious). Here, Mailer resents that Vidal likened him to Charles Manson in a review for The New York Review of Books and mentioned in the piece that Mailer once stabbed his second wife (Mailer had six wives during his lifetime). Mailer also admitted in an Esquire interview that he had been drinking before the taping.

This is only a short clip of what was a longer altercation in real life, and the story goes that Mailer actually headbutted Vidal right before the taping.  Vidal and Mailer had an ongoing clash that at one point resulted in Mailer punching Vidal at a party, to which Vidal lay on the floor and replied with, “Once again, words fail Norman Mailer.”

Where the Wild Things Are came out in 1963, and since then, Maurice Sendak’s brilliant metaphor for how children work through their anger has been reincarnated as an opera, a movie, and other various adaptations.

Sendak passed away this past May at 83, and his unique and unsentimental approach to storytelling is a huge loss. I read the obituary a few months ago with a mixture of sadness and nostalgia. Where the Wild Things Are made a huge impression on me as a kid, enough that the mere mention of the title still makes my eyes light up.

Max, the main character, is a child most three- to six-year-olds can relate to, and that’s why the book became such a phenomenon (look past the countless awards Sendak won and focus on the real test of a children’s book—how kids react to it). At the time it was published, Wild Things was the only book that crossed over into the dark side of children’s emotions, especially into the overwhelming force of a child’s anger. Other picture books for kids just didn’t go there.

When we meet Max, he’s dressed up in his wolf suit, looking for attention and misbehaving in every way he can. His fed-up mother calls him a “wild thing” and sends him to his room without dinner. He retreats to his room in a state of fury. Max’s imagination, fueled by his powerful emotions, takes over and turns his bedroom into a dream world with a forest, an ocean, and a boat that Max uses to reach a land full of “wild things.” The wild things look and sound fierce, but Max tames them with a look. They recognize he is “..the most wild thing of all” and make him their king. Max has fun with the wild things until he starts to miss home, “…where someone loved him best of all.” The smell of his dinner convinces Max to sail back to his own room where he finds his supper waiting for him.

The land of the wild things is where Max goes to work through his feelings, and that process of calming down and becoming ready to return to reality is something all kids Max’s age are in the process of learning. I remember finding refuge in Max’s story when I was little and angry at the world. Somehow his story gave me permission to feel my feelings and let me know it was normal to feel such overpowering emotions. Sendak’s ability to reassure kids without explicitly conveying his message was one of his great gifts.

I’ve been thinking about Sendak’s passing again this week because I just saw the first ad this year for Pacific Northwest Ballet’s annual holiday tradition, The Nutcracker. Seattle has a special connection to Sendak because he designed the colorful trademark sets. For local Nutcracker fans, Sendak will continue to affect us year after year on the stage of McCaw Hall. Here’s a picture of Sendak (left) bowing with company dancers and former PNB co-director, Kent Stowell, after a performance of the ballet. His vision of The Nutcracker is bold and almost frightening, unlike any other production, and over the years the sets have become part of our city’s cultural heritage.

When he gave interviews, Sendak often said his favorite book of the many he wrote and illustrated was Higglety Pigglety Pop!, a story inspired by his dog that he published in 1967 about Jennie, a Sealyham terrier who feels compelled to leave her safe and comfortable life at home to see the world and gain “experience.” The illustrations are less cartoony and more realistic than Sendak’s later work. I just discovered this book and couldn’t be more delighted. So on a final note, if you’re a fan of Where The Wild Things Are, I encourage you to check out this less well-known Sendak gem.

—Miriam

This past week, author and business professor Stephen Covey, whose 1989 leadership manifesto The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People sold more than 20 million copies, passed away due to complications from a bike accident. He was 79, and in addition to all of his extraordinary professional accomplishments, Covey leaves behind a wife, nine children, and a whopping fifty-two grandchildren. If that isn’t a highly effective person, I don’t know what is.

The one thing I know about self-help authors is that they tend to write the books they need for themselves. When I was an assistant editor in New York, I worked with a woman recovering from a bitter divorce who was writing a marriage advice book, a man with obsessive-compulsive disorder who had survived two heart attacks about to publish his seventh book on living stress-free, and a soap opera actress known for her diva behavior on set working on a book about humility and gratitude. I found it so ironic to watch authors give out advice (and good advice!) that they couldn’t always seem to take for themselves.

Which leads me to the reason I think Covey was such a successful and special self-help author: The guy lived his own advice. He was a walking advertisement for his message. We don’t always see that with self-help authors, and when you’re choosing books in this category, I recommend you examine the author as closely as their credentials. Remember, it’s a lot easier to give advice than to take it. For example, I’d take marriage advice from John Gottman (married over twenty years with one child and 40 years of breakthrough marriage research) over Steve Harvey (married three times and accused of cheating by an ex-wife).

Another shining example of living their message is Kay Redfield Jamison, who started off with an unforgettable memoir about her struggle with bipolar disorder and went on to write numerous books about coping with and understanding mental illness and moods. She’s not a self-help author exactly, but she definitely has offered hope, education, and inspiration to an enormous readership. Both a tenured professor of psychiatry and a patient with first-hand experience, Jamison lives and exemplifies the positive outcomes of her thoughts and advice, much like Covey.

I’ll leave diet books for another time, but I will pause to suggest you avoid dieting advice from Kirstie Alley. Walter Willett (chairman of the Department of Nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health and a professor of medicine at the Harvard Medical School) would be a better resource. And keep in mind that the newest advice isn’t always the best, so you might want to remain on the skeptical side when it comes to fads.

Finally, I’m going to touch on one of my favorite self-help authors of all time, Richard Carlson. He had a Ph.D. in psychology, was married for over twenty-five years, and the father of two girls. The irony? Carlson died at age forty-five of a pulmonary embolism during a flight from San Francisco to New York. Was he sweating the small stuff? I guess we’ll never know, but my understanding was he was a terrible workaholic in his younger years. His advice is so simple and practical, but also some of the hardest to put into practice. With Carlson I think the magic was in the way he put things. Even if we have a hard time “stepping back and seeing the bigger picture,” it’s a comforting thing to read.

After all, we read self-help books not only for their advice, but for the comfort, reassurance, and inspiration that we are not alone in struggling with our problems. Stephen Covey will live on by giving those feelings back to generations of readers that will have never known him as a living author. Talk about effective.

—Miriam

While Roger might be thinking about classics like Tom Sawyer this month, watching teenagers buy books this summer made me nostalgic about another breed of classic, and I hope it won’t make you think less of my literary tastes. I’m just going to come right out and revisit what a certain readership of teenagers from the 80s will appreciate: The Sweet Valley High series. 

All the girls my age were reading Sweet Valley High as early as elementary school. How could any of us resist Elizabeth and Jessica Wakefield, the blonde twins with a red sports car and a trail of boyfriends? Their ongoing drama was far more interesting than my daily life, from Elizabeth’s kidnapping to Jessica’s job at “Tofu-Glo Cosmetics” to the death of their brother’s girlfriend.

And then there were the moral lessons. Here are a few key learnings:

1) If you use drugs just once you will die (farewell, Regina Morrow).

2) Disobey your parents just once and you will get in an accident (Elizabeth, they told you to stay off Todd’s motorcycle).

3) Promiscuity will ruin your reputation, or more specifically, if you kiss a guy just once who is not your boyfriend you will be looked down on. The only way to gain self-respect is to snag a loving boyfriend (it worked for Easy Annie).

Granted, when I look at the original books today, they’re laughable, but they were addictive and well loved. Now they’re painful, with superficial characters, too many exclamation points, and outdated views on gender, class, and race. But I loved them at the time I first read them, and that’s what matters.

Where I take issue is with the updated versions of the originals released a few years ago, where suddenly the Wakefield twins, who were always a perfect size six, have now become a perfect size four. That’s just wrong. They don’t drive a Fiat Spider anymore either. Now it’s a Jeep Wrangler. As if this description (which appears in almost every book in the series) from the very first SVH book, Double Love, wasn’t enough to make a girl insecure? “Both girls had the same shoulder-length, sun-streaked blond hair, the same sparkling blue-green eyes, the same perfect skin. […] Both girls were five feet six on the button and generously blessed with spectacular all-American good looks.”

Besides the updated versions, last year, the Wakefield twins tried for a whole new comeback when Sweet Valley Confidential hit the shelves. In their new reincarnation, Elizabeth and Jessica were twenty-seven and bitterly estranged. I felt the same about this book as I do about the new editions: No thank you. There’s apparently a movie in the works too, but I’m not sure I’ll see that. I never watched the television series for the simple reason that the girls they cast didn’t look like the twins on the covers of the original books. I guess I don’t really want to know what happens when they grow up and change. Something tells me today’s teenagers won’t be all that interested in Sweet Valley High, just like their future kids might not share their parents’ obsession with the Twilight series. These books are for a specific generation, let’s face it. So why keep trying to update them?

Call me a curmudgeon, but I never read the sequel to Gone with the Wind or any of the followups to Pride and Prejudice. That’s the thing about the classics. In my mind, there’s no need for the characters to continue beyond where they were originally conceived. I’d rather revisit them the same way I look at old pictures that capture one moment in time. It’s that flood of nostalgia that I’m looking for, and I don’t want any commercialism extending the original and messing with it.

—Miriam

As promised in a post six months ago, it’s time to review Tana French’s new thriller, Broken Harbor. The July 24th pub date is fast approaching, and there’s already a video clip out of the author talking about her book.

Broken Harbor is French’s fourth effort, after In the Woods, The Likeness, and Faithful Place.  Her books are character-driven and feature flawed and compelling though not necessarily likeable protagonists. With each new book, French brings a new detective to the forefront, always a character who lurked in the background in the preceding novel. In Broken Harbor, the spotlight is on Mick “Scorcher” Kennedy, the jerky and by-the-book-only cop who tried to keep Frank away from the investigation in Faithful Place.

The recession, the property developers, the real estate promoters, and the banks are invisible yet present villains in this timely story. Kennedy’s big case calls him out to Broken Harbor, one of the half-built, half-abandoned “luxury” developments scattered across Ireland, where Patrick Spain and his two young children are found dead. Spain’s wife, Jenny, is the only survivor, but she’s hanging on by a thread in intensive care. The Spains had fallen into the trap of the property boom and the dream of idyllic suburban life, and instead found they had spent ten times their income to get stuck out in the middle of nowhere in a never-to-be-finished development. Developers ran out of the money, the neighborhood remained unfinished and unpopulated, and Pat Spain lost his job. But what could have gone so completely wrong out there that led to murder?

The murders at the Spain house are only part of the story. Detective Kennedy has a past of his own in Broken Harbor. He’s dealing with a mentally ill sister whose childhood memories of Broken Harbor resurface when she learns her brother is on the case. His naive rookie sidekick, Richie, thinks the murders should be easy to solve. But there are too many holes in the obvious assumption that Pat Spain was responsible. Weird things were happening at the house: holes smashed in the walls, files missing off the computer, and a stalker who has been spying on the family.

One of French’s favorite plot devices is inadmissible evidence, and she uses it here in an utterly heartbreaking way that puts the flaws of the main detectives on full and painful display. One of Kennedy’s main characteristics is his by-the-rules approach, so what’s a guy like that to do when truth and justice are at odds with the law?

I liked Broken Harbor and remain as steadfast an admirer of Tana French as ever. If this is the first novel of hers that you read, you’ll be impressed. She’s a one-of-a-kind storyteller, truly in a league of her own. If, however, you’ve read her other books, you might share my nagging sentiment that she can do better. Faithful Place set the bar particularly high. You won’t go wrong reading Broken Harbor this summer if you want to read her newest, but for the best of Tana French, I’d send you to her backlist.

—Miriam

This week is July 4th and most of us will be thinking about barbecues and fireworks. Don’t forget that we’ll be closed on Wednesday, July 4th, but if you happen to stop in any other day this week, you might want to read up on why this holiday is so fascinating. Our country, the sweet land of liberty, is about to turn 236. For the rest of the year, we can complain about the economy, taxes, and health care, but on our country’s birthday, let’s celebrate all the things we like about America. If you get tired of fighting the crowds and prefer to spend the day relaxing on a boat or in the backyard, a good way to appreciate where we live is by reading some history. Here are some options to remind you what’s cool about the good ol’ U.S. of A:

1776 by David McCullough: You might not know that Americans nearly lost their battle for independence, but we very nearly did. This bestseller focuses on a crucial aspect of the year of America’s birth, when George Washington got involved in the creation of the Continental Army. Washington faced an ongoing struggle to build a working military and defeat the British. The victories that his fledgling effort met outside Boston were fleeting and followed by brutal losses as they reached New York and the series of defeats and retreats were near disastrous. Washington’s men had lost faith in his ability to lead them. It wasn’t until their victory over the British at the Battle of Trenton that Washington became a respected leader. McCullough offers an irresistible narrative that demonstrates how the spirit and willingness to learn and improve helped make the beginning of our nation’s independence possible.

Benjamin Franklin by Walter Isaacson: Franklin has always seemed the most human of the founding fathers, and by Isaacson’s account we can see why. It’s hard not to love this guy and remain in awe of him. The narrative follows Franklin’s life from Boston to Philadelphia to London and Paris and back, demonstrating how Franklin’s adventures and accomplishments as a writer, inventor, scientist, diplomat, and political leader helped influence the events of his time. This book goes beyond autobiographical details and explores the cleverness behind Poor Richard’s Almanac and the wisdom behind the Declaration of Independence among other important documents, and how compromises influenced the creation of the Constitution. Franklin was passionate about democracy and believed in middle class values and the wisdom of the working people, and this biography manages both to entertain and engage us as well as demonstrate how his commitment to America helped shape our national identity.

Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow: Here’s a book that does much to take us beyond our preconceived notions about Hamilton as a difficult and turbulent character. Chernow’s biography aims to set the record straight and give Hamilton the respect he deserves, and he does it by demonstrating how Hamilton’s passion and sacrifices played a key role in the politics and economy of America today. Hamilton wasn’t eligible to become president because he was born in the Caribbean, but he was an American patriot through and through and it’s impressive how he grew up an orphan, educated himself, and somehow rose up to become a key force in Washington’s Continental Army. His other accomplishments included coauthoring The Federalist Papers, founding the Bank of New York, leading the Federalist Party, and becoming the first Treasury Secretary of the United States. Alongside his impressive professional accomplishments, Hamilton carried on countless tumultuous relationships, affairs, and feuds with friends  and colleagues, all with his loyal wife Eliza by his side. One of the best parts of the book is the detailed and dramatic account of Hamilton’s death in a duel with Aaron Burr in July of 1804. (If you like this book, you’ll enjoy Chernow’s biography of Washington too.)

Paul Revere’s Ride by David Hackett Fisher: We all learned about Paul Revere’s midnight ride back in fifth grade, and to many the cry of “The British are coming!” is the first thing that springs to mind when we think of the founding of America. Open this book and you’ll quickly learn that chant is mostly a myth, since most people didn’t join in because they thought they were still British. The alarm worked though, and by the next day people weren’t so sure. The events of the night of April 18, 1775, are actually much more complex and interesting than what we learned back in elementary school, and this book goes beyond a dull academic narrative and shares great insight into the build-up to the revolution and the creation of the American republic. Revere himself is a compelling subject, and the narrative explains how he wore many hats in the community, from organizing local mechanics to mingling with the likes of John Hancock and Samuel Adams to organizing more than sixty men and women to help him sound the alarm on that fateful night.

So that’s my shortlist for the upcoming holiday. Did I miss anything? What will you be reading?

Have a great Fourth of July from all of us at Island Books!

—Miriam

Mary Jane Beaufrand’s is a name many of you will recall fondly. She’s the author of the young adult novel Primavera, among other work, and a teacher of writing, but we know her best for her years behind the counter here at Island Books. We checked in with her just recently and asked her to share some memories and tell us what’s new.

—Miriam Landis

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Maybe it’s not fair, but the part that stands out most in my mind from my time on the staff at Island Books was the outbreak of the swine flu.

I used to go around the store, armed with a can of Orange Antibiotic Wipes and use them on every surface, until the place reeked and my coworkers complained, pretending to gag and demanding, “Somebody please! Open a window! MJ’s at it again!”

During that time, I finished working on my novel for young adults, Dark River. Which is ironic because I don’t recall the time as being dark at all. I remember the staff and customers as being the charming, welcoming types, with a wonderful sense of community.

Since then I’ve continued to write and teach writing to middle-school aged children. I love working with the age group because they have no shortage of imagination. They want to write about ninja academies. They want to write about being stranded in the wilderness with a hatchet and a pet wolf. They want to write about being a young but plucky heroine in a future where teens are forced to battle each other to the death.

I love being able to provide—in a classroom—what Island Books does in a store: a safe place to express yourself. Granted, at Island Books there was more talk about where to get a good cheeseburger and microbrew, but the principle applies. No one has to move it along. There’s no drive through.

The main difference between being a teacher and a children’s book specialist is that, as a teacher, I have a captive audience. And the first thing I always tell my students is this:

Before you can be a great writer, you have to be a great reader.

If you’re a parent and you’re reading this blog, you’ve already got your kids on the right path, not just to writing itself, but to finding a career that they’re passionate about.

The staff at IB can help your kids find books they need to get through the summer, but here are three I wanted to mention, two for kids, one for you, that you might not necessarily look for because there are no vampires or zombies. (Not that there’s anything wrong with those guys. Just wouldn’t wanna kiss ‘em):

1) The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate. A book for ages 8-12. Does anyone remember the real Ivan the Gorilla? The one kept in a 14x14 habitat in the BI Shopping Center in Tacoma? I picked this book up for my children thinking that it might have had something to do with the real Ivan, and it does. And, like with the story of the real Ivan, there are difficult spots, but it works out fine in the end. By far the best novel for middle grades this year.

2) Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein. For teens. A historical novel about two girls in World War II, one of whom is a spy being forced to collaborate with the Nazis. The other? Let’s leave some mystery intact, shall we? It’s an especially good read if anyone in your family—you or your child—has been watching Downton Abbey.

3) Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter. For all ages. This is the first novel I’ve read in years that has truly blown me away. And how exciting is it that it’s by Washington State’s own Jess Walter? The novel begins the early 1960s with its hero, Pasquale, trying to “build a beach” in a small rocky fishing village to the south of Cinque Terre in Italy. Against this lush backdrop, and the filming of the movie Cleopatra, characters come together and break apart, make bad decisions (a tennis court on a rocky coast? What happens when the ball goes out?), but by the end, the very best manage to redeem themselves in unexpected ways. For a total hoot, check out the dialogue in the scene between Pasquale and Richard Burton, the actor, as they are driving up the Italian coast.

Hope you all have a good summer of reading and thanks for taking your business to such a great independent bookstore!

—Mary Jane Beaufrand

When we sat down to brainstorm our June newsletter, Roger, James, and I wanted to make a list of good summer reading. The question we struggled with was, what is summer reading about? Is it romance? Fluffy comedy? Edge-of-your-seat suspense? Biography? Could be any of those, depending on the individual. But what we all agreed on was that the most memorable summer reading is the big, fat, book you lug everywhere with you for months on end. During the year, we get busy with work, school, and family and most people are lucky to make it through a 200 pager. In the summer, things lighten up. We go on vacation. We sit by the pool. There are more hours of sun in the day. And therefore, we can read more. So it makes sense to set a summer goal of reading a big honkin’ tome that you’ve been meaning to conquer for ages.

Our list includes some new titles that have already left an indelible mark on the collective readership (1Q84, The Art of Fielding), a fantasy classic (Game of Thrones), sweeping historical fiction (The Crimson Petal and the White), a panoramic novel set in India and one of my personal favorites of all time (A Fine Balance), and more. But honestly, the list is just a jumping off point. What I’d really like to recommend is more specific to you as an individual and where you are in your life at this moment. Because I guarantee that if you pick out a huge book to tackle, you will always remember that the summer of 2012 was that year you had your house remodeled and you spent the hours between choosing door hardware and window casings escaping all your anxieties between the pages of The Pillars of the Earth. (Somehow a house remodel seems less stressful compared to building the greatest Gothic cathedral the world has ever known.)

What I don’t recommend is any huge self-help book that’s going to make you feel inadequate. Save that for fall or even for January New Year’s resolutions. This is summer, after all. Be with your family, enjoy the outdoors, and by all means, laugh and cry with an epic novel that you can brag about conquering for the rest of the year.

—Miriam

You can often find Marni behind the front counter of Island Books, her honey-colored hair and love for dogs an innocent cover for her reading taste. She’s the other Island Books staffer besides me who gets positively giddy over a good psychological thriller. This became obvious when Marni and I tried to snatch an advanced copy of Tana French’s Broken Harbor out of each others’ hands. In a friendly way, of course. So when she emailed me at the end of March to say “There’s a new mystery/thriller by Gillian Flynn called Gone Girl that you should read. I’m so excited for it to come in so I can sell it!” I knew what needed to be next on my reading list.

I’m limited in what I can say without spoiling Gone Girl, but I will tell you this: no matter how much you think you have the mystery figured out, the second half of the book will blow you away. And if my review here isn’t sufficient to hook you, ask Marni to tell you more about Gone Girl when you drop by the store. Her eyes will light up (as much as if you bring your dog by).

Here’s a book that looks like a classic “the-husband-did-it” thriller. Believably told from alternating points of view (and not all writers can pull this off well, but Flynn does), the story begins when bar owner Nick comes home to find his stay-at-home wife Amy has disappeared, leaving only suspicious signs of a struggle, some tell-tale blood on the kitchen floor, and the back door wide open. As the investigation begins, sections of Amy’s diary written in past tense are interspersed with Nick’s experience in the present as he deals with the aftermath of her disappearance.

Amy tells the story of how they met as young writers in New York, fell in love, and got married. Then the economy turned sour and both lost their jobs, which led to a decision to move back to Nick’s hometown in Missouri to care for his dying mother. Amy’s parents are bestselling authors of a children’s book series called Amazing Amy, which chronicled a fictional version of their daughter as she grew up. Their bestselling work turned Amy into a trust-fund child, and allowed her to loan Nick the money to open a bar with his twin sister, Margo.

The Amy that comes across in the diary is madly in love with her husband and increasingly lonely after they leave New York. She leaves behind warning signs in her narrative that suggest that they struggled in their marriage and Nick has a temper he can’t control. Nick, on the other hand, despite his earnestness over the seriousness of the situation, lies to the police, Amy’s parents, and worst of all, us readers. The media doesn’t like him and his behavior following Amy’s disappearance is suspicious. We can see where this is going. Nick must be the one responsible. The question is why, and how. Or is it?

That’s where the story seems to be going, but then we’re smarter readers than that, aren’t we? The explanation can’t possibly be that simple. Then other suspects begin to pop up, including stalkers from Amy’s past (she’s had a few since she was the inspiration for a popular children’s book character). Her parents seem a little off, too. And then there’s that something that Nick’s sister Margo is hiding…

At this point in the review I’m using all my restraint to keep from dropping the bombshell on you. All I can say is you’ve never met a villain as creepy and distinctive as this one, or an ending that’s as uniquely disturbing. The darkest parts of this novel are not the crimes. What’s most unnerving about Gone Girl is, shockingly, the true nature of Nick and Amy’s superficially normal marriage.

—Miriam