Jennifer Parmelee Childs Recommends:

The End of the Alphabet by CS Richardson

This slight book packs a big emotional punch. The story of Ambrose Zephyr and his wife Zipper Ashkanazi, a loving couple that perfectly complement each other. Just as Ambrose is turning 50, he is told by his doctor that he has only one month to live. This news sends the couple off on a whirlwind tour of the places Ambrose has most loved or most wanted to visit, from A to Z, as they try to deal with the revelation that their remaining time together is all too short. Richardson's spare, unsentimental prose keeps the book from being too sappy and rather than being depressing, it is a bittersweet reading experience that is decidedly life-affirming. I finished the novel and immediately went to the beginning and skimmed the whole book again, the second time finding even more meaning throughout the pages. A wonderful gem of a book with moments that will linger in your mind long after you've put it down.

978-0-385-52255-7 (0-385-52255-X) | $16.95 | Doubleday | HC | August

Erica McDonald Recommends:

De Niro's Game by Rawi Hage

How does your life change when war breaks out all around you? In the very city of your childhood? With bombs falling and violence erupting on every street corner, best friends Bassam and George must find a way to survive the war-torn streets of Beirut during Lebanon’s civil war. The physical and emotional effects of war are conveyed through this compelling story of the choices available and how these young men find themselves on two very different paths to survival. Particularly poignant considering current events, and illuminating for those of us who are largely ignorant of the costs of war when it is at your front door.

978-1-58195-223-0 (1-58195-223-6) | $23.95 | Steerforth | HC | August

Marcia Purcell Recommends:

The Wild Trees: A Story of Passion and Daring by Richard Preston

I love trees. Having grown up in the country in Louisiana it comes naturally, but I find that New Yorkers, for the most part, have this same affinity. (Horror rocks the city when longhorn beetles are discovered.) Therefore no surprise that I was drawn to The Wild Trees which takes as its subject the last remaining stands of giant redwood trees, scattered along the California coast, and those few passionate climbers and naturalists that have discovered the very tallest and live to protect them. It came as a shock that the redwoods in Muir Woods (just north of San Francisco and heavily visited by tourists) are just babies! The trees discussed here are true giants, some equaling the height of a 38 storey building and living between two and three thousand years! No wonder the explorers in these pages literally live to climb trees called The Lost Monarch, Terex Titan, Stratosphere Giant, Hyperion. They even inspire a canopy wedding! Preston, himself a tree climber, is in rare form! You won't want to come out of the forest.

978-1-4000-6489-2 (1-4000-6489-9) l $25.95 l Penguin Random House l HC (Available Now)

Courtney Russell Recommends:

Manless in Montclaire: How a Happily Married Woman Became a Widow Looking for Love in the Wilds of Suburbia by Amy Holman Edelman

Calling all single women out there! This is a terrific first novel for all faced with looking for Mr. Right—again—among the sea of Mr. Wrongs. After Isabel, a savvy publicist, comes home one day to discover her husband dead on the living room floor, she finds herself in the unexpected position of being a 40-year-old widow with two kids. Yes, it’s a tale of love and loss, but it's also a quirky story of a down-to-earth mother—who finds herself suddenly single in the world of speed dating and on-line matchmakers. Isabel’s voice is sincere, yet funny and poignant, and she saves her irreverence for exactly the right moments. The setting of Montclair in this book is a township in New Jersey—about 12 miles west of New York City, but it could really be suburbia, anywhere. I simply had to rush through this book in order to find out if things work out with Charlie the upstairs neighbor, or if it’s the mystery guy Isabel meets via email…

978-0-307-23695-1 (0-307-23695-1) | $22.00/$28.00C | Shaye Areheart Books | HC | November

David Eicke Recommends:

Postcards: True Stories That Never Happened edited by Jason Rodriguez

Ever found a folded-up, trampled-on, mud-soaked note in the middle of the Target parking lot? Did it say something like “See u at 5:00. Bring your sponge!”? And did you find yourself really wanting to know who the intended recipient was, the purpose of this recipient’s early-evening rendezvous, why in God’s name he or she needed a sponge, and if they’d actually remembered to bring one? If so, or if something close to that has happened to you, I may have a book for you. Postcards is a collection of graphically told stories inspired by real found postcards. Editor Jason Rodriguez has unearthed them from who-knows-where and passed them off to different artists, who, using their individual styles, have postulated on the stories behind them. Conceptually brilliant and perfectly executed, this book brings the reader into the midst of the creative process, allowing him or her to see how the artists draw on misspellings, handwriting, initials, or idiosyncratic phrasings in order to generate a heart-breaking, shocking, or triumphant graphic tale for our enjoyment. This is a must for anyone interested in graphic storytelling…or in nosey speculation.

978-0-345-49850-2 (0-345-49850-X) | $21.95/$27.95C | Villard | HC (Available Now)

Guest Pick!

Eric Weinstein, Prodigious Summer Intern, Recommends

like you'd understand, anyway by Jim Shepard

Devastation-physical, emotional, social, environmental-and the many possible responses to its impact is the theme of Jim Shepard's new collection of short stories. From the Chernobyl nuclear reactor accident of 1986 to a perilous nineteenth century exploration of the Australian interior, from war-torn ancient Greece to Nazi expeditions in the Himalayas, Shepard guides us through the human struggle for hope in the face of insurmountable odds, bringing to life a cast of characters whose beliefs, choices, and personalities are not only wholly credible—even against the backdrop of fantastic circumstance—but will strike you closer to home than you thought possible. "like you'd understand, anyway" challenges us to identify with these disparate minds, to overcome the chaos of their lives and ours, and to erase the boundaries, real and imagined, that prevent one life from connecting with another. 

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