strange and random happenstance

Bookstore: Barnes and Noble 82nd and Broadway

Location: New York, New York

Why I Love Them: What's interesting about visiting any city is that after a couple of visits there are a few places that become your "go to" places. You have your favorite restaurant, your favorite museum, your favorite movie theatre, and your favorite bookstore. In recent years the main reason I was visiting New York was to visit my friend Jess, but I was also applying to grad school, and therefore my world became her world, which for quite some time was the Upper West Side. First up around Columbia University and later near the American Museum of Natural History. The Upper West Side has one Barnes and Noble located on 82nd street, two blocks from the American Museum of Natural History and right around the corner from Jess's apartment during one of my long stays. It also happens to be located as a convenient disembarkation point if you're riding the subway to any location on the Upper West Side. Therefore if Jess and I were discussing a book and saying that we thought the other should get it, we'd just get off the subway and wander into the 82nd Street Barnes and Noble and see if they had the book we were discussing. Oddly enough they usually did. They had impeccable buyers for this location. One time I remember I got on the express versus the local on the subway, but that wasn't a problem, because it meant I could swing by Barnes and Noble and grab a drink and a book before getting back to Jess's.  

Best Buy: Though my best buy just inadvertently ended up being my best buy. Back in 2005 a few of my friends and I were meeting in New York to continue on to Halifax for a thesis gallery show our mutual friend Sara was staging. The trip happened to coincide with one of my fellow travelers birthday. So Jess and I went to the 82nd Street Barnes and Noble one day after lunch because Jess wanted to buy Sarah Dunant's The Birth of Venus for our friend Orelia. I didn't know too much about the book other than a few years previously when I had been visiting Jess in Boston she had been raving about the book. She was still raving about it and it was going to be Orelia's present. I picked up the book and was reading the back and thought, damn, this does sound good, so I bought myself a copy hoping to read it on my vacation. In fact what with reading Anne of Green Gables, I was going to Canada AND visiting Prince Edward Island after all, and then finding a cool Elizabeth Gaskell book called Lois the Witch I just HAD to read immediately, I don't think I picked up The Birth of Venus until I got home. But when I did it was better than I could have hoped for. Art, mystery, intrigue, nuns! It made me realize that historical fiction could be awesome. In fact, I'd go so far as to say The Birth of Venus gave birth to my absolute love of historical fiction, and I thank Jess and the 82nd Street Barnes and Noble for that just as much as the book!    

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: American Museum of Natural History, Anne of Green Gables, Barnes and Noble, Elizabeth Gaskell, Lois the Witch, New York, Sarah Dunant, Support Your Brick and Mortar, The Birth of Venus, Upper West Side

Bookstore: Barnes and Noble East

Location: East Side of Madison, Wisconsin

Why I Love Them: I'm not quite sure when the Barnes and Noble higher-ups decided that the east side of Madison needed some book love, probably around the same time the Waldenbooks in East Towne Mall closed, but in 2004 a new Barnes and Noble opened in Madison. Much smaller than it's west side counterpart and having the disadvantage of being attached to the food court of East Towne Mall, it has still found a place in my heart over the years. Beyond the parking lot nightmare, the echoing noises and smells from the food court, this Barnes and Noble has a different vibe. While the stock is condensed due to size restrictions, whomever is responsible for the culling has somehow curated sections better than the west side location despite them having more room. In particular the sales section and the science fiction and fantasy section are top notch. They almost always have exactly what you are looking for, and back when I was desperate to fill out my Terry Pratchett paperback collection I turned to this Barnes and Noble and was very successful. At this point my brother would say I am being remiss if I didn't mention their CDs and DVDs. Their selection is spot on, I seriously don't know if this store just has better buyers, but if there's something rare and unique you are looking for you are sure to find it here.    

Best Buy: But what I feel really sets this Barnes and Noble apart from it's west side counterpart is their signed books. I don't know how they get so many in! I know that Barnes and Noble as an organization has been trying to get more customers through signed edition but these are usually only available online so to find them in-store, to just stumble across them, it makes my book loving heart pitter-patter with glee. They always have a plethora of Patrick Rothfuss, seeing as he lives up in Stevens Point and this Barnes and Noble is right off the interstate north it makes sense. But he isn't my best buy, that would be Blood and Beauty: A Novel About the Borgias signed by the author, Sarah Dunant. While I will wax lyrical later on about my love of Sarah Dunant and another Barnes and Noble in New York City, I still must provide a little context as to why this is my best buy. Back in 2005 I read Sarah Dunant's The Birth of Venus and something inside me clicked. I had always liked the concept of historical fiction, but I had never found a book that I instantly loved, until The Birth of Venus. If not for this book I would have probably given up on the genre and never found my favorite authors, from Lauren Willig to Tasha Alexander. I had been needing to buy Dunant's newest book, Blood and Beauty for awhile, and months after it's release I felt really bad about not supporting a favorite author, and then, there in Barnes and Noble was a signed copy. The reasons for dragging my feet were clear, I was meant to find this signed edition and add it to my library! Thank you Barnes and Noble! 

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Barnes and Noble, Blood and Beauty, East Towne Mall, Historical Fiction, Madison, Patrick Rothfuss, Sarah Dunant, Stevens Point, Support Your Brick and Mortar, Terry Pratchett, The Birth of Venus, Waldenbooks

Silence Fallen by Patricia Briggs
Published by: Ace
Publication Date: March 7th, 2017
Format: Hardcover, 384 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"In the #1 New York Times bestselling Mercy Thompson novels, the coyote shapeshifter has found her voice in the werewolf pack. But when Mercy’s bond with the pack—and her mate—is broken, she’ll learn what it truly means to be alone...

Attacked and abducted in her home territory, Mercy finds herself in the clutches of the most powerful vampire in the world, taken as a weapon to use against alpha werewolf Adam and the ruler of the Tri-Cities vampires. In coyote form, Mercy escapes—only to find herself without money, without clothing, and alone in the heart of Europe...

Unable to contact Adam and the rest of the pack, Mercy has allies to find and enemies to fight, and she needs to figure out which is which. Ancient powers stir, and Mercy must be her agile best to avoid causing a war between vampires and werewolves, and between werewolves and werewolves. And in the heart of the ancient city of Prague, old ghosts rise..."

I mean obviously, it's Mercy Thompson, so yeah! But more so, Mercy in Europe, and in Prague, and with a Golem and ghosts!!! Dream. Come. True.

The Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco
Published by: Sourcebooks Fire
Publication Date: March 7th, 2017
Format: Hardcover, 432 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"In the captivating start to a new, darkly lyrical fantasy series for readers of Leigh Bardugo and Sabaa Tahir, Tea can raise the dead, but resurrection comes at a price...

Let me be clear: I never intended to raise my brother from his grave, though he may claim otherwise. If there's anything I've learned from him in the years since, it's that the dead hide truths as well as the living.

When Tea accidentally resurrects her brother from the dead, she learns she is different from the other witches in her family. Her gift for necromancy means that she's a bone witch, a title that makes her feared and ostracized by her community. But Tea finds solace and guidance with an older, wiser bone witch, who takes Tea and her brother to another land for training.

In her new home, Tea puts all her energy into becoming an asha―one who can wield elemental magic. But dark forces are approaching quickly, and in the face of danger, Tea will have to overcome her obstacles...and make a powerful choice.

Memoirs of a Geisha meets The Name of the Wind in this brilliant new fantasy series by Rin Chupeco!"

Name-checking both Leigh Bardugo and Patrick Rothfuss in the description is sure a way to get my attention.

In the Name of the Family by Sarah Dunant
Published by: Random House
Publication Date: March 7th, 2017
Format: Hardcover, 448 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The author of Blood and Beauty returns with another captivating novel about Renaissance Italy and one of history’s most notorious families. Before the Corleones, before the Lannisters, there were the Borgias.

Bestselling novelist Sarah Dunant has long been drawn to the high drama of Renaissance Italy: power, passion, beauty, brutality, and the ties of blood. With In the Name of the Family, she offers a thrilling exploration of the House of Borgia’s final years, in the company of a young diplomat named Niccolò Machiavelli."

Ever since The Birth of Venus if Sarah Dunant writes it I read it.

The Confessions of Young Nero by Margaret George
Published by: Berkley
Publication Date: March 7th, 2017
Format: Hardcover, 528 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The New York Times bestselling and legendary author of Helen of Troy and Elizabeth I now turns her gaze on Emperor Nero, one of the most notorious and misunderstood figures in history.

Built on the backs of those who fell before it, Julius Caesar’s imperial dynasty is only as strong as the next person who seeks to control it. In the Roman Empire no one is safe from the sting of betrayal: man, woman—or child.

As a boy, Nero’s royal heritage becomes a threat to his very life, first when the mad emperor Caligula tries to drown him, then when his great aunt attempts to secure her own son’s inheritance. Faced with shocking acts of treachery, young Nero is dealt a harsh lesson: it is better to be cruel than dead.

While Nero idealizes the artistic and athletic principles of Greece, his very survival rests on his ability to navigate the sea of vipers that is Rome. The most lethal of all is his own mother, a cold-blooded woman whose singular goal is to control the empire. With cunning and poison, the obstacles fall one by one. But as Agrippina’s machinations earn her son a title he is both tempted and terrified to assume, Nero’s determination to escape her thrall will shape him into the man he was fated to become—an Emperor who became legendary.

With impeccable research and captivating prose, The Confessions of Young Nero is the story of a boy’s ruthless ascension to the throne. Detailing his journey from innocent youth to infamous ruler, it is an epic tale of the lengths to which man will go in the ultimate quest for power and survival."

Sure, it's a wait between Margaret George books, but you do get a huge book once the wait is over! Here's to Margaret's latest, a Madisonian like myself and a friend of my family.

The Girl from Rawblood by Catriona Ward
Published by: Sourcebooks Landmark
Publication Date: March 7th, 2017
Format: Paperback, 368 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Winner of BEST HORROR NOVEL (August Derleth Award) at British Fantasy Awards 2016.

For generations the Villarcas have died mysteriously, and young. Now Iris and her father will finally understand why...

At the turn of England's century, as the wind whistles in the lonely halls of Rawblood, young Iris Villarca is the last of her family's line. They are haunted, through the generations, by "her," a curse passed down through ancient blood that marks each Villarca for certain heartbreak, and death.

Iris forsakes her promise to her father, to remain alone, safe from the world. She dares to fall in love, and the consequences of her choice are immediate and terrifying. As the world falls apart around her, she must take a final journey back to Rawblood where it all began and where it must all end...

From the sun dappled hills of Italy to the biting chill of Victorian dissection halls, The Girl from Rawblood is a lyrical and haunting historical novel of darkness, love, and the ghosts of the past."

Firstly, if it wins an August Derleth Award I'm honor bound to promote it. Secondly, come on, this sounds awesome!

Magic for Nothing by Seanan McGuire
Published by: DAW
Publication Date: March 7th, 2017
Format: Paperback, 368 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The sixth book in New York Times-bestselling Seanan McGuire's witty urban fantasy InCryptid series about a family of cryptozoologists who act as a buffer between humans and the magical creatures living in secret around us.

"The only thing more fun than an October Daye book is an InCryptid book." —Charlaine Harris, #1 New York Times-bestselling author of Sookie Stackhouse series

Improbable, adjective:

1. Not very likely to happen; not probable.
2. Probably not a very good idea anyway.
3. See also “bad plan.”

As the youngest of the three Price children, Antimony is used to people not expecting much from her. She’s been happy playing roller derby and hanging out with her cousins, leaving the globe-trotting to her older siblings while she stays at home and tries to decide what she wants to do with her life. She always knew that one day, things would have to change. She didn’t think they’d change so fast.

Annie’s expectations keep getting shattered. She didn’t expect Verity to declare war on the Covenant of St. George on live television. She didn’t expect the Covenant to take her sister’s threat seriously. And she definitely didn’t expect to be packed off to London to infiltrate the Covenant from the inside…but as the only Price in her generation without a strong resemblance to the rest of the family, she’s the perfect choice to play spy. They need to know what’s coming. Their lives may depend on it.

But Annie has some secrets of her own, like the fact that she’s started setting things on fire when she touches them, and has no idea how to control it. Now she’s headed halfway around the world, into the den of the enemy, where blowing her cover could get her killed. She’s pretty sure things can’t get much worse.

Antimony Price is about to learn just how wrong it’s possible for one cryptozoologist to be."

New Seanan McGuire book? Yes please.

The Hollywood Daughter by Kate Alcott
Published by: Doubleday
Publication Date: March 7th, 2017
Format: Hardcover, 320 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"From the New York Times bestselling author of The Dressmaker and A Touch of Stardust, comes a Hollywood coming-of-age novel, in which Ingrid Bergman's affair with Roberto Rossellini forces her biggest fan to reconsider everything she was raised to believe.

In 1950, Ingrid Bergman—already a major star after movies like Casablanca and Joan of Arc—has a baby out of wedlock with her Italian lover, film director Roberto Rossellini. Previously held up as an icon of purity, Bergman's fall shocked her legions of American fans.

Growing up in Hollywood, Jessica Malloy watches as her PR executive father helps make Ingrid a star at Selznick Studio. Over years of fleeting interactions with the actress, Jesse comes to idolize Ingrid, who she considered not only the epitome of elegance and integrity, but also the picture-perfect mother, an area where her own difficult mom falls short.

In a heated era of McCarthyism and extreme censorship, Ingrid's affair sets off an international scandal that robs seventeen-year-old Jesse of her childhood hero. When the stress placed on Jesse's father begins to reveal hidden truths about the Malloy family, Jesse's eyes are opened to the complex realities of life—and love.

Beautifully written and deeply moving, The Hollywood Daughter is an intimate novel of self-discovery that evokes a Hollywood sparkling with glamour and vivid drama."

I'm a sucker for stories about old Hollywood, especially if they have a scandal!

You Are Here: An Owner's Manual for Dangerous Minds by Jenny Lawson
Published by: Flatiron Books
Publication Date: March 7th, 2017
Format: Paperback, 160 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A new book from #1 New York Times bestselling author Jenny Lawson, destined to be a classic―part therapy, part best friend, part humor, part coloring book.

When Jenny Lawson is anxious, one of the things she does is to draw. Elaborate doodles, beautiful illustrations, often with captions that she posts online. At her signings, fans show up with printouts of these drawings for Jenny to autograph. And inevitably they ask her when will she publish a whole book of them. That moment has arrived.

You Are Here is something only Jenny could create. A combination of inspiration, therapy, coloring, humor, and advice, this book is filled with Jenny’s amazingly intricate illustrations, all on perforated pages that can be easily torn out, hung up, and shared. Drawing on the tenets of art therapy―which you can do while hiding in the pillow fort under your bed―You Are Here is ready to be made entirely your own.

Some of the material is dark, some is light; some is silly and profane and irreverent. Gathered together, this is life, happening right now, all around, in its messy glory, as only Jenny Lawson could show us."

I am continually astounded by the talent of the Bloggess! 

Big Mushy Happy Lump by Sarah Andersen
Published by: Andrews McMeel Publishing
Publication Date: March 7th, 2017
Format: Paperback, 128 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Swimsuit season is coming up! Better get beach-body ready! Work on those abs! Lift those butts!

...Um, or how about never mind to all that and just be a lump. Big Mushy Happy Lump!

Sarah Andersen's hugely popular, world-famous Sarah's Scribbles comics are for those of us who boast bookstore-ready bodies and Netflix-ready hair, who are always down for all-night reading-in-bed parties and extremely exclusive after-hour one-person music festivals.

In addition to the most recent Sarah's Scribbles fan favorites and dozens of all-new comics, this volume contains illustrated personal essays on Sarah's real-life experiences with anxiety, career, relationships and other adulthood challenges that will remind readers of Allie Brosh's Hyperbole and a Half and Jenny Lawson's Let's Pretend This Never Happened. The same uniquely frank, real, yet humorous and uplifting tone that makes Sarah's Scribbles so relatable blooms beautifully in this new longer form."

Ironic that this is compared to and coming out on the same day as a new Jenny Lawson book... but just to talk about this book: Buy it. Seriously. It is amazing. It is funny. You will laugh, cry, laugh about crying, it is just perfection. I've only seen the ARC, but I also hope it's flocked like the first one. I like tactile books! 

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: August Derleth, Catriona Ward, Jenny Lawson, Kate Alcott, Margaret George, Mercy Thompson, Patricia Briggs, Rin Chupeco, Sara Scribbles, Sarah Andersen, Sarah Dunant, Seanan McGuire, The Bloggess

Blood and Beauty by Sarah Dunant
Published by: Random House
Publication Date: July 16th, 2013
Format: Hardcover, 528 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The New York Times bestselling author of the acclaimed Italian Renaissance novels—The Birth of Venus, In the Company of the Courtesan, and Sacred Hearts—has an exceptional talent for breathing life into history. Now Sarah Dunant turns her discerning eye to one of world’s most intriguing and infamous families—the Borgias—in an engrossing work of literary fiction.

By the end of the fifteenth century, the beauty and creativity of Italy is matched by its brutality and corruption, nowhere more than in Rome and inside the Church. When Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia buys his way into the papacy as Alexander VI, he is defined not just by his wealth or his passionate love for his illegitimate children, but by his blood: He is a Spanish Pope in a city run by Italians. If the Borgias are to triumph, this charismatic, consummate politician with a huge appetite for life, women, and power must use papacy and family—in particular, his eldest son, Cesare, and his daughter Lucrezia—in order to succeed.

Cesare, with a dazzlingly cold intelligence and an even colder soul, is his greatest—though increasingly unstable—weapon. Later immortalized in Machiavelli’s The Prince, he provides the energy and the muscle. Lucrezia, beloved by both men, is the prime dynastic tool. Twelve years old when the novel opens, hers is a journey through three marriages, and from childish innocence to painful experience, from pawn to political player.

Stripping away the myths around the Borgias, Blood and Beauty is a majestic novel that breathes life into this astonishing family and celebrates the raw power of history itself: compelling, complex and relentless."

Ever since 2005 when I read and fell in love with Dunant's The Birth of Venus I have been in love with her books. So how excited am I that she has a new one? Very is the answer... she is one author I really look forward to.

The Melancholy of Mechagirl by Catherynne M. Valente
Published by: VIZ Media LLC
Publication Date: July 16th, 2013
Format: Paperback, 304 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Science fiction and fantasy stories about Japan by the multiple-award winning author and New York Times best seller Catherynne M. Valente.

A collection of some of Catherynne Valente’s most admired stories, including the Hugo Award-nominated novella Silently and Very Fast and the Locus Award finalist “13 Ways of Looking at Space/Time,” with a brand-new long story to anchor the collection."

This isn't so much a "go buy this book" (which I probably will anyway, it's Cat Valente afterall) but a STOP USING THIS FONT! It's one of the fonts from the Lost Type Co-op... and yes, they are beautiful, but so overused that now every time I see one I cringe.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Blood and Beauty, Catherynne M. Valente, Sarah Dunant, The Birth of Venus, The Borgias, The Melancholy of Mechagirl