Mary Ann's Picks

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Henny By Elizabeth Rose Stanton, Elizabeth Rose Stanton (Illustrator) Cover Image
$18.99
ISBN: 9781442484368
Availability: NONE IN-STORE but we can probably order it for you
Published: Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman Books - January 7th, 2014

heart  A clever picture book about Henny, a chicken born with human arms instead of wings (yes, the thought is a bit disturbing so don't think about it too much).  This anomaly makes her more than a little different. Of course, it's hard for Henny to fit in with the other chickens, but ...


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The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women By Kate Moore Cover Image
$18.99
ISBN: 9781492650959
Availability: NONE IN-STORE but we can probably order it for you
Published: Sourcebooks - March 6th, 2018

A New York Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, and Amazon Charts Bestseller!

"The glowing ghosts of the radium girls haunt us still." —NPR Books 


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My Absolute Darling: A Novel By Gabriel Tallent Cover Image
$27.00
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ISBN: 9780735211179
Published: Riverhead Books - August 29th, 2017

Raw, powerful, engrossing, disturbing, brutal, heart-pounding.

Best book I've read this year.


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Mental: Lithium, Love, and Losing My Mind By Jaime Lowe Cover Image
$28.00
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ISBN: 9780399574498
Published: Blue Rider Press - October 3rd, 2017

Mostly a fascinating insight into the author's mania due to Bipolar I.  Her treatment with lithium leads her to some interesting investigations regarding this element.


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Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things By Jenny Lawson Cover Image
$18.99
ISBN: 9781250077028
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Flatiron Books - February 7th, 2017

"Furiously Happy" is ridiculously funny!!


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Cold Sassy Tree By Olive Ann Burns Cover Image
$15.99
ISBN: 9780618919710
Availability: NONE IN-STORE but we can probably order it for you
Published: Mariner Books - September 4th, 2007

About a boy growing up in the South at the turn-of-the-century.  Full of enjoyable characters and descriptions of life at the time.


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The Angel of History By Rabih Alameddine Cover Image
$26.00
ISBN: 9780802125767
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Atlantic Monthly Press - October 4th, 2016

Cleverly and beautifully written - about a boy born to a prostitue in Yemen, growing up in a brothel in Egypt, sent to a Catholic school by his wealthy father, and ending up in San Fancisco at the start of the AIDS epidemic in San Francisco. 


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Sky Burial: An Epic Love Story of Tibet By Xinran Cover Image
By Xinran
$15.95
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ISBN: 9781400095643
Published: Anchor - August 8th, 2006

A beautiful love story of people, of place, of spirit.


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The Shadow of the Wind By Carlos Ruiz Zafon, Lucia Graves (Translated by) Cover Image
By Carlos Ruiz Zafon, Lucia Graves (Translated by)
$19.00
ISBN: 9780143034902
Availability: NONE IN-STORE but we can probably order it for you
Published: Penguin Books - January 25th, 2005

When I told people I was reading this book, they all said, "I love that book!"  Now I am one of them.

The story is mysterious, dark, clever, entertaining, and beautifully written (and translated well). 

I love this book!


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The October Country: Stories By Ray Bradbury Cover Image
$8.99
ISBN: 9780345324481
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Del Rey - April 12th, 1985

I do enjoy a good story-teller, and you've got to be good at your craft to be able to tell your stories in short form.  Ray Bradbury is among the best.  Here is Bradbury without the veil of Sci-Fi/Futurama (though I don't consider him a Sci-Fi writer, anyway).


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Grunt: The Curious Science of Humans at War By Mary Roach Cover Image
$26.95
ISBN: 9780393245448
Availability: NONE IN-STORE but we can probably order it for you
Published: W. W. Norton & Company - June 7th, 2016

Mary Roach does it again.  She gets funnier each time.


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Turn Again By Kris Farmen Cover Image
$19.95
ISBN: 9780985048716
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Vered Publishing & Design House, Inc. - July 1st, 2012

Historical fiction about the clash as well as merging of cultures toward the end of the 19th century along Cook Inlet. Powerful and sensitive, this is a richly told tale of people blazing toward the future, maintaining the past, seeking adventure, winning and losing.


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Jackaby By William Ritter Cover Image
$9.95
ISBN: 9781616205461
Availability: NONE IN-STORE but we can probably order it for you
Published: Algonquin Young Readers - August 25th, 2015

First in a series of young reader mysteries set in the late 19th centruy New England.  Newly-arrived adventurous Abigail Rook teams up with quirky detective Jackaby to solve fantastical crimes. A lot of fun.


Beastly Bones: A Jackaby Novel By William Ritter Cover Image
$17.95
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ISBN: 9781616203542
Published: Algonquin Young Readers - September 22nd, 2015

Second installment in the Jackaby yount mysteries series takes Jackaby and Miss Rook to an archaeological dig, where things soon get fantastically out of hand.


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Ghostly Echoes: A Jackaby Novel By William Ritter Cover Image
$17.95
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ISBN: 9781616205799
Published: Algonquin Young Readers - August 23rd, 2016

Number 3 in the series.  As good as1 and 2.


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The Doll: The Lost Short Stories By Daphne Du Maurier Cover Image
$19.25
ISBN: 9780062080349
Availability: NONE IN-STORE but we can probably order it for you
Published: William Morrow Paperbacks - November 22nd, 2011

Including stories written in her early twenties, before duMaurier attained fame for her gothic tale "Rebecca", these clever short stories are of varying styles and genres - some are witty, some are disturbing, all are beautifully crafted.


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Schizo: A novel By Nic Sheff Cover Image
$11.69
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ISBN: 9780147508850
Published: Speak - September 8th, 2015

There are mounds of books that try to explain schizophrenia written by doctors, therapists, family, and friends.  Here's a narrative as told by the schizophrenic himself. The author has struggled with substance abuse and addiction, as well as various forms of mental illness, including psychosis. His creative storyline pus the reader right into the world of a schizophrenic teen.

"I hope it shows that mental illness is not a death sentence."  -Nic Sheff


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The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread By Kate DiCamillo, Timothy Basil Ering (Illustrator) Cover Image
$8.99
ISBN: 9780763680893
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Candlewick - December 8th, 2015

A charming story about a tiny mouse with ears too-big, and his love for a kind and compassionate princess.


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Goodnight June: A Novel By Sarah Jio Cover Image
$23.54
ISBN: 9780142180211
Availability: NONE IN-STORE but we can probably order it for you
Published: Plume - May 27th, 2014

A charming story about a woman who inherit her great-aunt's much beloved bookstore.  Business-minded June prepares to close the financially struggling shop for good, but in the process, she discovers a heart-warming secret about her great-aunt, which leads to more discoveries about life's simple joys.


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Winter's Bone: A Novel By Daniel Woodrell Cover Image
$16.99
ISBN: 9780316066419
Availability: NONE IN-STORE but we can probably order it for you
Published: Back Bay Books - July 11th, 2007

A hauntingly lyrical telling of a desperate existence in a bleak reality. The plot is engrossing; the writing superb.


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Mockingbird By Kathryn Erskine Cover Image
$8.99
ISBN: 9780142417751
Availability: NONE IN-STORE but we can probably order it for you
Published: Puffin Books - February 3rd, 2011

THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER and ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT NOVELS OF OUR TIME FOR YOUNG READERS


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Johnny's Girl: A Daughter's Memoir of Growing Up I By Kim Rich Cover Image
$18.99
ISBN: 9780882405247
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Graphic Arts Books - September 1st, 1999

The Anchorage Mafia? Yup, you bet. Running gambling dens and strip clubs during the oil boom years. Kim Rich recalls growing up amidst the seedy folks of Alaska's largest city. Her dad was in the business, and she saw a lot. A fascinating look into Anchorage's history that they don't tell the tourists.


Legend of a Suicide: Stories By David Vann Cover Image
$15.99
ISBN: 9780061875847
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Harper Perennial - March 16th, 2010

“The reportorial relentlessness of [David] Vann’s imagination often makes his fiction seem less written than chiseled. A small, lovely book has been written out of his large and evident pain.”—New York Times Book Review


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Beloved: Pulitzer Prize Winner (Vintage International) By Toni Morrison Cover Image
$17.00
ISBN: 9781400033416
Availability: NONE IN-STORE but we can probably order it for you
Published: Vintage - June 8th, 2004

PULITZER PRIZE WINNER • NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A spellbinding novel that transforms history into a story as powerful as Exodus and as intimate as a lullaby. With a new afterword by the author. 


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The Awakening and Selected Stories By Kate Chopin, Claire Vaye Watkins (Introduction by) Cover Image
By Kate Chopin, Claire Vaye Watkins (Introduction by)
$9.00
ISBN: 9780142437322
Availability: NONE IN-STORE but we can probably order it for you
Published: Penguin Classics - February 4th, 2003

First published in 1899, Kate Chopin's "The Awakening" covers taboo topics of the era, such as a woman's self-identity separate from her husband and family. An engaging short-story with an historical perspective on women's rights to choose her path in life.


The Trial By Franz Kafka Cover Image
$15.95
ISBN: 9780805210408
Availability: NONE IN-STORE but we can probably order it for you
Published: Schocken - March 28th, 1995

From one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century, the author of The Metamorphosis: Written in 1914 but not published until 1925, a year after Kafka’s death, The Trial is the terrifying tale of Josef K., a respectable bank officer who is suddenly and inexplicably arrested and must defend himself against a charge about which he can get no information. 


The Way the Crow Flies: A Novel By Ann-Marie MacDonald Cover Image
$17.99
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ISBN: 9780060586379
Published: Harper Perennial - August 31st, 2004

 “One of the finest novels I’ve read . . . .a fiercely intelligent look at childhood, marriage, families, the 1960s, the Cold War and the fear and isolation that are part of the human condition…. it is not only beautifully written…. it is equally beautiful in its conception, its compassion, its wisdom, even in its anger and pain.