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Sally's Picks

Sally began working at QRB as one response to a mid-life crisis.

After years of being a restrained ecologist, she is now a happily unrestrained bookseller.

Why We Broke Up (Hardcover)

$19.99
ISBN-13: 9780316127257
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 12/2011
The fine illustrations enhance a wonderful story of unexpected love found and then unexpectedly lost. I recognized my teen self in Min Green as she struggled in a relationship outside of her crowd and with the compromises needed to maintain the relationship. The interesting and sometimes quirky characters came alive for me, and I found myself cheering for Min.

The Taste of Salt (Paperback)

$13.95
ISBN-13: 9781565129252
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 9/2011
I enjoyed this book about a black woman in a (mostly) white man's world. Josie is a research marine scientist, and is satisfied with her job and with her husband. Her carefully constructed life begins to fall apart when she is forced to face the past about which she had been in denial.

$25.00
ISBN-13: 9780807871867
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: University of North Carolina Press, 6/2011
Because of the deep sand, intense light and overbearing heat of the Sandhills, many plants and several habitats are unique to the region. Seasoned botanist Sorrie has given us this outstanding field guide. Arranged by habitat, each species is described, its specific habitat information and distribution are given, and most are shown in clear, very useful photographs.

$25.00
ISBN-13: 9780802119926
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Atlantic Monthly Press, 8/2011
In the excellent novel Matterhorn, Marlantes gave us the experiential side of the hell that is being a participant in a war. This book is more thoughtful, though equally as excellent, and presents Marlantes's take on the spiritual, philosophical and emotional side of war. I think that everyone should read this book.

$15.95
ISBN-13: 9780767929967
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Anchor, 10/2011
Washington Post columnist Robinson posits that the time when black Americans all wanted and needed the same things (e.g. jobs, racial equality, opportunities) has passed. He defines four black Americas: mainstream middle-class, abandoned minority, transcendent elite and newly emergent. As expected from Robinson, the writing is engaging and persuasive.

$15.00
ISBN-13: 9780143118596
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Penguin (Non-Classics), 3/2011
Two adolescents are each isolated, like prime numbers, by acts of self-inflicted trauma. They become friends of a sort, able to empathize and share with each other. They meet and separate again and again. In exquisite simplicity, Giordano shows the lifelong effects of childhood wounding and its attendant loneliness.

$24.00
ISBN-13: 9780385343794
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Delacorte Press, 9/2010
That Mark is Kurt's son is undeniable from his writing style, but this is definitely Mark's story. If you read Eden Express, you remember Mark's breaks - as he calls his schizophrenia episodes. This is the story of his medical school days, his marriage and fatherhood, his learning to live with his disease, his views on modern medicine, his stories of pre-success Kurt, and much more. It is a little zany, and well worth reading.

$15.95
ISBN-13: 9780899241210
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Lynx House Press, 6/2011

This prize-winning collection contains the poetry of a man who has lived his life thoughtfully and reflectively, and has grown through experience. The poetry is lyrical, imaginal and accessible.

From Now After So Many Days:

now i come into the room where

i have not known how to work and find three long hours waiting; the sunlight;

the vast heavy sadness i knew would

call to me. and in my gratitude i begin

to weep, and then, wiping my tears,

sit down to write these lines, to

tell you of this, the strange aching freedom.


$35.00
ISBN-13: 9780691147789
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Princeton University Press, 1/2011
This is an outstanding book! Crossley has used multiple photographs of a species superimposed on a photograph of its natural habitat to produce a unique, appealing and often mind-blowing ID guide. Complete information for each species includes a distribution map, habitat, distinguishing characteristics, habits and oh, those photos! Not exactly field guide size, this book fits well on the lap for many hours of delightful viewing and learning.

$25.00
ISBN-13: 9781400068111
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Random House, 5/2011
Jon-Jon gives us an unflinching look at his transition from “jock-scholar” to a “sexually neutered androgyne.” If you are offended by blunt descriptions of sex and bodily fluids, beware. If you want to read about how one very funny and articulate man carved his unique niche away from the expectations of society in general, and his upper middle class family in particular, I urge you to spend a few hours with Jon-Jon.

The Illumination (Hardcover)

$24.95
ISBN-13: 9780375425318
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Pantheon, 2/2011
A man read that it is important to find something new to love about your partner each day, so every morning he left a note to his wife, who copied the notes into journals until she died in an accident. The last, incomplete journal ends up in the hands of several strangers whose stories we learn through their relationships with the journal. At the same time, a strange worldwide phenomenon has occurred. Physical, and sometimes emotional, pain is visible as a glow. How do we respond to people when their pain is obvious and oddly attractive? How does reading simple and tender expressions of love affect those who have no love?

Collected Poems (Paperback)

$16.00
ISBN-13: 9781555974787
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Graywolf Press, 9/2007

Jane Kenyon died in 1995 at the age of 48. Despite her early death, she left us a significant body of work. Her sparse style makes her poetry accessible; regardless, the deep and sometimes dark emotions she evokes are highly palpable.

Having It Out with Melancholy

1 From the Nursery

When I was born, you waited behind a pile of linen in the nursery, and when we were alone, you lay down on top of me, pressing the bile of desolation into every pore.


$30.00
ISBN-13: 9780807834671
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: University of North Carolina Press, 4/2011
North Carolina Natural Heritage Program ecologist Schafale, and forest ecologist and photographer Blevins, have combined their talent and experience to bring us this unparalleled look at our state's natural communities.  Alluring photographs and clear, stimulating text join to give us a portrait of the  beauty and biodiversity that is North Carolina.

A Tidewater Morning (Paperback)

$13.00
ISBN-13: 9780679754497
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Vintage, 8/1994
These three long, short stories give us Styron at his most intimate.  We see a man's struggle with war and bravery, a boy's confusion at his mother's final illness and death, and the ugliness of racism.  This book comes after Darkness Visible and his major novels.

$30.00
ISBN-13: 9781439107959
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Scribner, 9/2010

This very well researched book presents the story of the development of human understanding of cancer, and of our attempts to conquer it. Along with solid scientific information are anecdotes of such familiar names associated with cancer research as Farber and Halsted, and a recounting of the efforts of tobacco companies to bury data that did not support their position. A fascinating biography!


$30.00
ISBN-13: 9781423602149
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Gibbs Smith Publishers, 8/2008
Bark shingles from the American Chestnut tree were first used in building construction in western North Carolina.  The chestnut blight of the last century eliminated this magnificent tree and the building tradition it spawned.  Now yellow poplar is being used to recreate the rugged style that symbolizes mountain houses at their best.  With its historical content and gorgeous photographs, this book is a must-have for all North Carolinians.

$14.00
ISBN-13: 9780312427801
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Picador, 2/2009
This elegant novel is simply written and very charming.  Because of an accident, a brilliant mathematician has an attention span of eighty minutes, but remembers everything from before his accident.  He uses number theory to express his emotions and to cover his confusion and frustrations.

The book is told through the eyes of his housekeeper - an earnest, dutiful, single mother of a ten-year-old latch-key boy. The growing affection between this unlikely trio is heart-warming.

Do not be put off by fear of mathematics (you may even learn some)! 

$19.95
ISBN-13: 9781604690958
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Timber Press (OR), 5/2010

Because I am botanist, my friends frequently ask me for advice about their plants and gardens. It is important to know what your plants are feeling to best meet their needs. (In contrast to Michael Pollan, I believe that plants can feel but not think; see BOTANY OF DESIRE). A good first step toward understanding plants is to read this well illustrated, clearly written book for the layperson.


$24.95
ISBN-13: 9780802119285
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Atlantic Monthly Press, 3/2010
This book opened my eyes to the hellish world of war. I had not read a war book in decades, but having a friend who was deployed to Iraq three times spurred me to read MATTERHORN . Marlantes places us right on the battlefields in the jungles of monsoon-season Vietnam - and spares us nothing. I urge you to read it.

The Odd Women (Mass Market Paperback)

$16.00
ISBN-13: 9780140433791
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Penguin Classics, 8/1994

Written in the 1890s, the THE ODD WOMEN is an early feminist novel - written by a man. The women are odd because they are unmarried and struggling to get by in a society that has little use for them. This is a book of social realism and vividly portrays a culture on the brink of change. It has been suggested that this is from where Gail Godwin got the idea and title for her wonderful, early novel THE ODD WOMAN.


The Moonstone (Mass Market Paperback)

$9.00
ISBN-13: 9780140434088
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Penguin Classics, 6/1999

Wilkie Collins was a friend of Charles Dickens; they published in the same magazines. The body of Collins's work does not stand up well to that of Dickens, but this early detective novel is a real gem. The characters, settings and mood are very well done and the writing is excellent.


$18.00
ISBN-13: 9781556592454
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Copper Canyon Press, 9/2006
Palestinian poet Taha Muhammad Ali was born in Galilee in 1931; his home village was destroyed in the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.  These poems are full of imagery and contain a lifetime's worth of emotions.
“Poetry hides
somewhere
behind the night of words
behind the clouds of hearing,
across the dark of sight,
and beyond the dusk of music
that's hidden and revealed.
But where is it concealed?“

$15.00
ISBN-13: 9780143116028
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Penguin (Non-Classics), 8/2009
I thought that I would never read, much less recommend, a book about a missing child, but O'Nan takes us gracefully and thoughtfully into the worlds of the child's family, friends and community. He dwells much less on grief than on the ways in which such an event affects people's relationships and senses of themselves. I found this book thought- and emotion-provoking, but not disquieting.

$16.95
ISBN-13: 9781590305713
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Shambhala, 7/2008
This book deals with transference - the unconscious redirection of feelings for one person to another person.  These feelings largely derive from childhood and are redirected in adulthood.  Richo helps us to recognize when transference is occurring, to search for its roots and, with great effort, to learn from it and to heal the wounds that cause it.  I have found the information in this book to be very accessible and useful. 

$35.00
ISBN-13: 9780743262453
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Scribner, 11/2009
I am an ardent Ray Carver fan, particularly of his poetry.  Well written and researched, this book provides new insight into Carver's troubled and regrettably short life.
Of particular interest to me are Carver's times at the Iowa Workshop with John Cheever (it's as you might expect) and the fleshing out of Maryanne, Carver's first wife.

$26.99
ISBN-13: 9780060742171
Availability: Special Order - Subject to Availability
Published: Ecco, 4/2009
I am delighted to make the acquaintance of Heinrich, an emeritus biology professor. His elegant writing, deep knowledge and spiritual connection with the natural world combine to make this a highly satisfying book.

$29.95
ISBN-13: 9780811863421
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Chronicle Books, 5/2008

This is by far the most fun book in the store! I play songs picked at random to challenge myself, but the book is equally useful for learning new songs. As if the clear, crisp recordings were not enough, there are also range maps, habitat information and descriptions of the species' songs. I know that you will love this book as much as I do.

There is also an edition for Western North America.


$25.95
ISBN-13: 9780525951278
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Dutton Adult, 8/2009
Take four adult children and their more or less significant others, add their eccentric mother, mix in an assortment of neighbors and old friends and acquaintances, and put them together for seven days in one house while they sit shiva for their father. This darkly comic novel brilliantly explores the complexity of relationships and the powers of our pasts to rule our presents.

$17.99
ISBN-13: 9780060924201
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Harper Perennial, 8/1993
This is a wonderful anthology subtitled "Poetry for Men." It is a great place to start a journey into poetry, and is also for women. What I like is that there is a great range from Rumi and Hesiod to Neruda and Machado. There are a few gaps but there is much to like.

$16.00
ISBN-13: 9780375726347
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Vintage, 5/2001
It is 1998, the year in which America is whipped into a frenzy of prurience by the impeachment of a president, and in a small New England town, an aging classics professor, Coleman Silk, is forced to retire when his colleagues decree that he is a racist. The charge is a lie, but the real truth about Silk would have astonished even his most virulent accuser.
Coleman Silk has a secret, one which has been kept for fifty years from his wife, his four children, his colleagues, and his friends, including the writer Nathan Zuckerman. It is Zuckerman who stumbles upon Silk's secret and sets out to reconstruct the unknown biography of this eminent, upright man, esteemed as an educator for nearly all his life, and to understand how this ingeniously contrived life came unraveled.

$16.00
ISBN-13: 9780375703805
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Vintage, 4/2000
You may know Ray Carver best as a short story author, but this complete collection of his poems will assure of his talent in poetry. These are wonderful, accessible poems about love lost, love found, alcoholism and recovery, youth, joy, being down and out, and hope, among other emotions. There is something here for everyone.

$16.00
ISBN-13: 9781594481437
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Riverhead Trade, 11/2005
This is a big book in many ways beyond the number of pages. It is filled with big characters, big ideas, big losses, big loves, and big words.

There are seven narrators, each advancing the plot and lending ambiguity to some of the previous narrator's contributions. I found myself surprised by the way in which my sympathy shifted, and quite surprised by the ending. The writing is wonderful and arouses many emotions.

I was not able to read this without taking a break every now and then, but even during these breaks I thought a lot about the ideas and the characters in the book.

Stay with it - it's worth it!


$15.00
ISBN-13: 9780060928773
Availability: Special Order - Subject to Availability
Published: Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2/1998
This is a wonderful collection and features many of Neruda's odes, including my favorite, "Ode to my Socks." (p. 113)

There are also several poems from one of Neruda's last volumes -Fully Empowered (in full power.) Take a look at "To Sadness" (p. 259).


$26.95
ISBN-13: 9780007149827
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Harper, 5/2007

Dust off your Yiddish dictionary and jump right into this artfully written tale of the Jews in the Federal District of Sitka. This is the story of superbly drawn characters fighting for their lives and their honor. There is humor, pathos, and above all, absolutely beautiful language.


$24.00
ISBN-13: 9780805082159
Availability: Special Order - Subject to Availability
Published: Henry Holt and Co., 2/2008

Winspear continues her great story-telling tradition in this fifth of the Maisie Dobbs books. The self-described psychologist and private investigator finds herself in the British countryside during hops picking time and tries to unearth the cause of a rash of fires and other unexplained events in the neighboring village. As usual, there is good historical and pacifist content, and we learn more about Maisie's past.


$15.00
ISBN-13: 9780375726286
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Vintage, 1/2001

I often hesitate to read posthumously published material, but this is a wonderful volume. The 1st two short stories are the equal of anything he has written, and there are some very interesting essays. There is also a short biographical piece about his father. Additionally, Ray Carver is one of my favorite poets, and he talks about why he writes poetry & provides comments on some of his poems.

If you are a Carver fan, do read this. If you are not yet a fan, read some of his fiction or poetry, and you soon will be.


$13.99
ISBN-13: 9780316016391
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Back Bay Books, 2/2008

This is a deceptively simple book. Superficially a story of what happens in an upscale ad agency when the money dries up, (it is much more). The author is a skillful manipulator of emotion and perception. I was fascinated with my changing feelings as the characters developed. Watch out for the zinger at the end!


$60.00
ISBN-13: 9780060890162
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Collins Reference, 12/2008

I got my first copy of this a long time ago, and it is still one of my FAVORITE books! I can look up a literary term, an author, or a book, and find all sorts of interesting information about it. For fun, I can pick it up and open it to any page, and I always learn something. If you're a book geek like I am, I guarantee that you will love it!


Nobody's Fool (Paperback)

$15.95
ISBN-13: 9780679753339
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Vintage, 4/1994

Almost all of Richard Russo's books are set in forlorn cities in upstate New York, and feature men with greater or lesser alcoholic tendencies, who are usually pretty down on their luck and do little to improve their life situations.

Sully is my favorite of these protagonists. He is by far the most compassionate, and I like his philosophy. When things start going badly, he just bides his time & waits for better times to arrive. If you have not read Russo, he is a wonderful writer concerned with life straight on, and the trials of the common man. Highly recommended.