Monday 19 September 2016

Top Ten Novels of the Week

                                                  
1. 
Hardcover $17.46 | $28.99
Rushing Waters, by Danielle Steel
Storms have been rich sources of inspiration and metaphor for writers for as long as there have
 been writers, and Steel finds a fresh vein to explore in her newest novel, centered on a fateful day when Hurricane Ophelia bears down on New York City. The six characters Steel chooses to focus on and follow are each impacted by this historic storm and the flooding it unleashes on the city, offering different perspectives from different slices of modern New York life as these very real people struggle to search for loved ones to make safe, to protect those who lack the strength to protect themselves, and to simply survive nature at its most fierce—and most terrifying. This is a book for both longtime Steel fans and those who aren’t familiar with her work, as it’s a pulse-pounding close-to-home story that compels from its first line.
2.
Hardcover $20.14 | $26.00
Sting, by Sandra Brown
Shaw Kinnard is a hired assassin hired to kill the beautiful Jordie Bennett, owner of a run-down New Orleans bar. But Kinnard has other plans, because Jordie’s brother Josh recently made off with $30 million from an investment scheme in which he double-crossed his boss. Now Josh, his boss, and the money are all missing—and Shaw hopes he can use Jordie as leverage to get a share of the cash. Brown tells a story that is a battle of wills between two smart, resourceful people who are absolutely attracted to each other, giving their cat-and-mouse situation a spice that elevates it beyond its mere plot points. Things get complicated as the FBI, searching for Josh themselves, enter the chess board—but the real fireworks remain between Shaw and Jordie as they maneuver around each other in increasingly complex—and sexy—ways.
3. 
Hardcover $17.50 | $28.00
It would be nearly impossible to be unaware of Amy Schumer at this point in time; over the last few years Schumer has risen to very pinnacle of the comedy world, staking her claim as a smart, feminist comedian whose blend of raw, often uncomfortable humor is liberally mixed with intelligence and smart observation. In this collection of essays, Schumer continues to mine both her own life and her thoughtful take on everything from sex to her own introverted nature, all conveyed in a series of laugh-out-loud stories that will have you wishing you could be Amy’s best friend. While that’s probably not possible, this book is the next best thing. If you haven’t “gotten” Amy Schumer yet, The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo might just be where it all clicks.
4. 
Hardcover $17.28 | $27.99

Hillbilly Elegy, by J.D. Vance
It’s the rare memoir that aspires to do more than tell the author’s story, but Vance does just that in this remarkable book. Simultaneously the life story of this self-described “hillbilly” and an examination of the societal forces in operation throughout his existence that helped him rise up and graduate Yale Law School, Vance takes a refreshingly honest and objective view of his family, seeing their many strengths as well as their various flaws, and offers a complex and moving worldview that sees the power of a close-knit community and a tightly bonded family as the most important factors in his own success. If you’ve never known anyone who referred to themselves in all seriousness as a hillbilly, this book will be both a revelation and an education.
5. 
Hardcover $16.66 | $24.99
Armageddon: How Trump Can Beat Hillary, by Dick Morris and Eileen McGann
Morris doesn’t even pretend to be neutral in his new bestseller, and anyone who considers a potential President Hillary Clinton to be tantamount to a third term for Barack Obama (and in turn considers that to be a very bad thing for our country) will rally to Morris’ vision for Republican victory in November. Morris details a plan for Republican nominee Donald Trump to defeat Hillary—and by extension, the progressive agenda she represents, which Morris believes will result in an all-powerful President backed by an intrusive judicial branch, with the checks and balances of our government broken and rendered impotent.
6. 
Hardcover $21.56 | $26.95
The Underground Railroad, by Colson Whitehead
The newest selection of Oprah’s Book Club 2.0 is sure to finally launch Whitehead into the stratosphere of elite American authors. Set in the antebellum South and focused on a runaway slave named Cora, Whitehead electrifies a familiar story of cruelty and the struggle for freedom with a simple, powerful twist: he imagines the underground railroad to be a
 literalrailroad, a belching steam engine roaring on steel tracks deep below the surface. Cora and a fellow slave, the educated Caesar, find their way on board, pursued by an implacable, philosophical slave catcher, and embark on an epic journey that slowly explodes the myth that the north was a universal safe haven of abolitionists. A powerful, poetic epic, The Underground Railroad is sure to dominate conversations for months to come.
7. 
Hardcover $18.37 | $28.00
Bullseye, by James Patterson & Michael Ledwidge
The ninth Michael Bennett novel finds the NYPD detective pulled away from his family on the eve of an historic summit at the United Nations between the Presidents of Russia and the United States. Put on the trail of a threat, Bennett finds himself caught in the sights of a team of elite assassins, first as they engage in some “target practice” and then as Bennett realizes their true purpose—and the horrific consequences that would result if they are successful. Ledwidge and Patterson remain near-perfect partners, as the story crackles along with inventive twists and realistic characters, resulting in yet another James Patterson book that fans will devour in pulse-pounding speed reads that will leave them wanting the next one sooner rather than later.
8.
Hardcover $17.11 | $27.00
All the Light We Cannot See, by Anthony Doerr
A moving coming-of-age story about two teenagers growing up on opposites sides of the World War II conflict, All the Light We Cannot See is an intimate epic, as concerned with the broad sweep of conflict as it is with the day-to-day lives of its young protagonists. Blinded at a young age, Marie-Laure has memorized the crooked maze of Paris with the help of a perfect scale model constructed by her father. Her life is irrevocably changed when the Germans invade the city and she is forced to flee to an isolated home on the coast. Hundreds of miles away in Germany, a young orphan named Werner discovers he has a talent for building and fixing radios, a skill that finally earns him the home he has always longed for, though the brutal confines of an elite academy for the Hitler Youth are hardly a substitute for a loving family. Long before Marie-Laure and Werner cross paths, you’ll be swept up by the scope and clarity of Doerr’s storytelling, and by his artful prose, which is beautiful even when its contents are dark.
9. 
Hardcover $16.51 | $26.99
Truly Madly Guilty, by Liane Moriarity
Moriarity returns with a complicated and tension-soaked look at modern-day relationships, running the gamut from marriage to friendship to parenthood. Three couples—wealthy hosts Vid and Tiffany invite childless, driven Erika and Oliver over to their opulent home for a barbecue. Erika in turn invites disorganized, creative childhood friend Clementine and her husband Sam as well as their two daughters. Moriarity has far too much fun slipping between the day of the barbecue and the present, when something that happened that day has changed every single relationship for the worse. The mystery will keep readers on the edge of their seats, but it’s really the way Moriarity explores the relationships—before and after their disruption—that makes this book a fascinating must-read.
10. 
Hardcover $15.66 | $26.00
\The Woman in Cabin 10, by Ruth Ware
Ware proves that sometimes the classic approach still has modern bite in a thriller that recalls Agatha Christie in the best way. Laura “Lo” Blacklock is a travel writer who jumps at the chance to sub in for her boss on a cruise of the Norwegian Fjords onboard the luxury ship Aurora. Days before the voyage, her apartment is broken into; Lo is traumatized, and arrives for her trip sleep-deprived and suffering from PTSD. When sleepless Lo hears what she thinks is a body hit the water at night, she insists the woman in the cabin next to hers is missing—but everyone else asserts there was no one in the cabin next to hers. Even uncertain of her own perceptions, Lo proves to be a resourceful, defiant character who doggedly pursues the mystery even as the boat becomes increasingly claustrophobic, despite the elegant appointments and her wealthy fellow travelers. Readers will gladly follow Ware wherever she leads them in order to get to the bottom of the mystery.


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