EP2: New mysteries, re-visiting Amor Towles, romance novels in the Indian diaspora - and why are there no Thanksgiving books?

Is March Fourth a "declarative sentence"? No, Sam, it's an imperative sentence. But it's Hannah's birthday and at least he remembered that, if not his grammar lessons. Not to worry, though, this episode is chock full of weighty discussion, starting with "Women and Children First," the biography of the pioneering Dr. Susan Dimock (with a side bar on the enshittification of Google), and the subject of our first Sunday Salon on March 10 in Beverly Farms. From there, we head into discussion of a cool little collection of Jonathan Lethem essays, interviews, and short stories from PM Press, which got Sam buzzing, and not just because Lethem is living in Maine right now. This leads to a solid discussion of what makes for a good interview (or a bad one) — and that dovetails perfectly into Hannah's read of "Supercommunicators," by Charles Duhigg, which leads into a discussion of ski instructors who could really use the book and communication techniques that may seem obvious, but also work. 

Someone who doesn't need much advice about communication is Philip Pullman, whose "The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ" is a triumph and has Sam very excited, despite the fact it was released 13 years ago. He's not sure how he missed it. If you're interested in mythmaking and Christianity's core stories, you have to read it. And, speaking of mythmaking, Hannah has read the new Katherine Arden, "The Warm Hands of Ghosts," and it does seem to deliver on all of her promise from the "Bear and the Nightingale" trilogy, which makes Sam hyperbolic. It's dark and makes clear that war is, indeed, very bad. The new Stephen King, though? Yeah, it's also pretty bad. Sam's going to finish "Holly," but he's not sure why. The phrase "social commentary for three-year-olds" may have been uttered. However, it does trigger a pretty good discussion about whether you can write a good book that's only for a certain subset of people or if truly good books are "for everyone."

Like Paul Lynch's "Prophet Song," which everyone really needs to read. As a reminder. 

Hannah is back from Winter Institute and she has all sorts of thoughts on the state of the bookselling industry (900 booksellers in the same place is NOT illegal, it turns out). She's not sure she's a hero, exactly, but not every bookseller is in tony Beverly Farms. Also, it turns out she didn't learn all that much about what's coming down the pipeline, but she did get a little jazzed about "Our Hidden Conversations," by Michele Norris, and she's really jazzed about "The Other Valley," the debut novel from Scott Alexander Howard (it's "speculative," which is apparently "all the genres that depart from realism"), who studied philosophy at the University of Toronto. Depending on your view of the current state of the world, you might find Paul Lynch's "Prophet Song" either speculative or all-too-realistic — Sam loves it. A look at the domestic side of fascism's rise that forces you to consider what happens when it comes to your front door. 

Even more dystopian is "Earth Abides," George R. Stewart's classic from 1949, which is back in print and in development for an Amazon series. You may feel like you've read it before, but that's because it spawned a ton of imitators. Thanks to Cincinnati's Downbound Books for the find! Finally, Sam can't figure out why Colson Whitehead's "Crook Manifesto" didn't hit the way "Harlem Shuffle" did. It's great, a continuation of Whitehead's exploration of the mid-century Harlem underground with his trademark sentence-level excellence and expert ability to show, not tell. 

Sam has covid, but it's been a good four-year run of not getting it, and it's an easy way to remember it's our fourth anniversary of buying the Book Shop. We start off this week with a little look back on things we didn't expect when we got into this mess (why are publishers so mean? How do you stock all the books that people want?), and then launch into a book discussion proper. First up is Lois Lowry's classic, "The Giver," which is an absolute banger that you need to read right now if you haven't already. And probably even if you have. Second is Hannah's effort to brand "Joan January," whereby she reads Joan Didion at the beginning of each year, and this year it's "A Book of Common Prayer," an odd little novel from the 1970s that reminds Hannah of Gatsby and would be a good book club book. Then Sam is back in middle school for "The Glass Sentence." by S.E. Grove, which is a triumph and he was happy to read again. Magic maps! 

We're doing a whole new paragraph now, because next up is "A Love Song for Ricki Wilde," by Tia Williams, for which we have no transition, but Hannah is listening to and loves the dialog. Great V-Day book. And it's got a little vodou, just like "Devil Makes Three," which Sam didn't get and stopped reading. Oh well. You might like it if you like Haitian history and the CIA. Luckily, Hannah has just read most of "The Orchard," by Adele Crockett Robertson, which she really likes, and is based in Ipswich, and features a much more realistic badass woman. Finally, we finish up with some Pullman, some Winter Institute, and some self-promotion. Don't miss it! (Also, at the end, there is a rare instance where Sam actually remembers something correctly, and Hannah is wrong.)

Sam is just back from Dallas, where he visited Interabang Books and learned of Dallas writer Ben Fountain, and so has his brand-new "Devil Makes Three," instead of a Larry McMurtry book. In the meantime, Hannah has read the new Kelly Link, "The Book of Love," which she is big-time into ("It was so. good."), which leads into a discussion of why we like books about magic, including magic and dragons, like the new "Murtagh," after a quick sidebar on Hannah's twisted ankle. 

That leads to talk about books on airplanes, books that 17-year-old boys like, the NYT 10 best books of the year, and then the very-well-narrated new Kiley Reid audiobook, "Come and Get It." Sophomore efforts can be difficult, but the book did get Hannah to say "denouement." Finally, a quick note about a great book for family purchases, which leads to a chat about the Newbury Medal-winning "The Eyes & the Impossible," which Sam really liked. Oh, also, George Harrison was kinda weird. 

After a quick treatise on the Murderbot Diaries, Sam's all jazzed up about the new release coming in February from Kirsten Bakis, who has taken 25 years to release a second novel after the revelatory "Lives of the Monster Dogs." A classic gothic tale, "King Nyx" is a creepy feminist text you need to read ASAP. Unfortunately, Hannah is less jazzed about the new Alex Michaelides, "The Fury," which Hannah found at times "unacceptable." Just how much unreliable narrator can one book have? And just how many islands are there in the world? Seems like every novel is set on one nowadays, including Rachel Lyon's "Fruit of the Dead," which is, like King Nyx, is on an island and features some Hades mythology. 

Maybe islands make things intersting, since Hannah thought "Mercury," set in middle America, was kinda boring, with not much happening. Is this only set in the '90s so Amy Jo Burns didn't have to deal with phones? It's unclear.

Then we get into a bit of a grab bag, including a graphic novel in the Grishaverse; a new YA amnesia number called "That's Not My Name" that Hannah found satisfying; the new George Harrison biography; and a book by a fantasy writer called "Listen" about how and why we listen to music. Finally, we wrap up with a tease of Kelly Link's debut novel, which, WATCH OUT.

This week, we're in the thick of it, busy with all the things the holiday season brings to little retail shops like ours. It's a stressful time. So, Sam's been reading the Magicians, along with the Magician King and the Magician's Land, as a bit of comfort reading. He's discovered he's not being mocked by them. But don't worry! Hannah's been reading more substantive fare, including "We Must Not Think of Ourselves," which left her "really seriously crying, in a way that I love." Author Lauren Grodstein is her former writing teacher from Brooklyn, too. Then we get into a little segue on buying poetry — Sam's been reading Betsy Sholl and Phil Kaye and enjoying them immensely.

In her audiobook listening this week, Hannah was a bit underwhelmed by "The Other Half," a mystery that has what feels like a betrayal at the end, but "The Frozen River," by Ariel Lawhon, a book set in Hallowell, Maine (though it wasn't Maine yet), is a lot more enjoyable, with a midwife, and a murder trial, and so much more. Just give it some time to get past the archaic dialogue. 

• Your teenaged niece or nephew (Sam really did tear up during this read; but he misremembered and someone does, in fact, die).
• Your voraciously reading mom/teacher/hostess (Clarie Keegan!).
• The sports-loving dude in your life.
• The chef in your life who's already got all the basics (get loose in the kitchen with Erin French!).
• Your music-loving uncle (Sam does, in fact, know that Neil Peart was the drummer for Rush).
• Anyone who has a coffee table (Dolly! Willie!).
• Anyone looking for something trashy (who isn't?).
• Someone how loves Christmas mysteries (who doesn't?), or mysteries of any kind.
• Someone who already has "The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse" (or anyone going off to college or otherwise needing life advice).  
• Your grumpy grandfather, who still cares deeply about WW2.
• Your aging parents. No, really. 
• The children in your life (very young, young, and middle readers — lots of ideas!).

Really, we've got ideas for everyone on your list this giving season. Listen up!

This week, Hannah and Sam are just back from the New England Crime Bake, where crime-fiction authors gather, along with murder consultants and the like — don't miss people like Elly Griffiths, Deborah Crombie (the new one was "A Killing of Innocents"), and Chris Fabricant, who calls into question the way prosecutors use evidence in "Junk Science." Then we move into Hannah's love for "The Unmaking of June Farrow," by Adrienne Young, which has strong "Time Traveler's Wife" vibes, with time travel, romance, and mystery. Don't worry: It's not like "The Girl on the Train." Sam isn't quite as enamored with the new Paul Auster book, "Baumgartner," and is mildly troubled by the fact he's read three books this year, now, that feature 70-year-old men having sex. Sam says it's like "Wonder Boys" without any weed (Auster's book about a man whose sons and wife have died is "Book of Illusions," FYI). On the other hand, Hannah also loves "Down Here We Come Up," Sara Johnson Allen's debut novel, and not just because Sara lives in Ipswich. You can tell, in a good way, that Sara worked on the book for 15 years, a story of con artists and heart. Unfortunately, Sam follows with a couple books he just couldn't finish. Meh. Lessons learned. Not for him. Luckily, Hannah rescues the vibe with "Hotel Nantucket," her Elin Hilderbrand dive in preparation for our big event (it's not much like "Hotel New Hampshire," though), and Sam does like the new John Prine book (don't know who John Prine is? Ho boy, you're in luck). We're all over the map this week, folks, but next week we're doing a "gift-giving" thing, so stay tuned. 

For the first time recording in the ... afternoon ... Hannah and Sam are perhaps more lucid than normal and have a lot of books to chat about after a brief sidebar on Reddit posting (Sam's getting tooled on). First up is "The Future," from Naomi Alderman, which is an important novel that people really need to read, a commentary on where we are and where we're going that Sam highly recommends. Why are we still using social media, again? Next up is "Starling House," by Alix Harrow, a piece of "horror-light" that took Hannah a bit to warm up to. Then we hear about Sam's new project taking out new books from the library, which he has already violated by going back in time to read the first book in Christopher Paolini's "Fractalverse" series, "To Sleep in a Sea of Stars," which is VERY long and has lots of scenes with people eating in space, but Sam generally liked as impressive new science fiction. Hannah's reading a different kind of book with stars in the title, Tommy Orange's new "Wandering Stars," which is a highly anticipated follow up to "There There" (a novel, not short stories, as Sam believed). It's another must-read, if not an easy read, a multi-generational look at the Native American experience in the United States that makes a nice pair with Jesmyn Ward's new "Let Us Descend." This is how you grapple with the horrors of our history. 

Then we transition into "Lazy City," which Sam says is like a Gen Z "Bright Lights Big City," a look at the culture of people in Belfast, Ireland, in their 20s, with all the dating and partying you might imagine. It's bleak, but a great read for understanding "what's going on with the kids these days." Watch out, though, there are no quotation marks. But, wait, there's more! Hannah listened to Britney's memoir — read by Michelle Williams! It's amazing. But the people around Britney are despicable. And, finally, Sam sings the praises of "Of Boys and Men," an examination by Richard Reeves of why men are struggling in today's society, and why policymakers aren't doing anything about it.