American Gods
Neil Gaiman

Into the Water
Paula Hawkins

One of my favorite genres to read is psychological thrillers. Paula Hawkins, the author of The Girl on the Train, has released a new book called Into the Water. To be honest, Into the Water reminds me more of Tana French’s Irish Murder Squad series (which I love) than The Girl on the Train. In Into the Water, a particular pool of water keeps claiming lives. Those who drowned are connected. Some reviewers have complained that there are too many characters and the plot is too complicated to which I cry, “WIMP!” The relationships between characters are fascinating and believable. Hawkins especially does a great job of capturing the voice of a teenage character. I can’t wait to see what Hawkins writes next.

Option B
Sheryl Sandberg and Adam Grant

The narrative focuses on Sheryl’s unexpected widowhood with two young children to raise. Adam Grant is a psychologist and professor at Wharton. Together, Sandberg and Grant blend Sandberg’s experience of enormous loss with Grant’s expertise. Option B has a lot of terrific insight (and advice) for dealing with overwhelming grief—both for the survivor(s) and those who care about them. I found myself nodding along and saying, “Yes, yes, YES!” a lot.

LaRose
Louise Erdrich

While hunting on land near his home, Landreaux Iron accidentally shoots and kills five year old Dusty, the son of Pete and Nola Ravich, his neighbors and friends. Following an old custom Landreau and his wife, Emmaline, decide to give their own five year old son, LaRose, to the Raviches. LaRose tells the story of the two families and how the tragedy of Dusty's death changes their lives.

In a larger context, LaRose is the story of a Native American community, its culture, history, and people. While struggle and tragedy are part of that reality, humor and ultimately hope are also part of the story. Fans of Louise Erdrich and those interested in Native American culture will definitely want to read LaRose.

My Name Is Lucy Barton
Elizabeth Strout

As the story begins, Lucy Barton is in the hospital recovering from what should have been a simple operation. She is visited by her mother, whom she has not seen for a long time. Their limited conversation is about the people and places of their shared past. Throughout the story, we get a sense of Lucy's childhood as being one of physical, social, and emotional deprivation. As she experiences being a wife and young mother in New York City, far from her roots in the rural Midwest, we clearly see life through the lens of Lucy's past and present experiences. Strout tells Lucy's story in a way that is sparse, but succinct. Through the loves and losses that are part of her life, Lucy strives to make sense of it all and to be true to herself. My Name Is Lucy Barton is a thought provoking story that will stick with me for a long time.

Callander Square
Anne Perry

OK, OK, I know this is not the kind of stuff I normally do book reviews on, but there’s sort of a reason that goes along with this, or maybe two. Those of you who come to Beagle and Wolf Books & Bindery know that you won’t find me in the cash/wrap area (unless I’m doing something with the computer and then you might miss me because I’ll be on the floor.) There are times, however, when Sally and I are at the store together at the end of the day, having driven one car. And for some reason we are not finishing at the same time. Sooooo I have learned to sit and wait. Now I have found a particularly comfortable chair in the Fiction section and there was this one book, Callander Square, that stuck out a little further than the others. No matter how I pushed on it, it still managed to stick out. So, while turning it over in my engineering hands, wondering why the publisher built this book this size, I started to leaf through it. Well, it’s a murder mystery. I don’t read murder mysteries. But still, it’s set in the early part of the 1900’s just like Upstairs, Downstairs and Downton Abbey and I loved those shows! Still, it’s a mystery! Back on the shelf. Then a week later, in the chair again and there it was still sticking out. All right, just a couple pages until Sally finishes. OK, so I took it home. Hey, we own the store and it was a used book. Well, I liked it. It took me back to those favorite shows with the two-class system and the crude analytical techniques they employed to figure things out. Needless to say, it was a lot of fun and I enjoyed it a lot. Will I pick out another book by Anne Perry? We’ll just have to see what sticks out when I plunk down into that comfy chair again.

North Woods Girl
Aimee Bissonette

Grandma says she's not pretty, but her granddaughter thinks she looks pretty good when she visits her Grandma's north woods home. The story follows them walking through the seasons. This was one of the children's books featured in the Beagle and Wolf Christmas catalog. It’s a perfect gift for granddaughters from their northern Minnesota grandparents anytime of the year.

Old Age: A beginner's Guide
Michael Kinsley

The author is a columnist for Vanity Fair and contributes to other magazines, such as The New Yorker. In this series of essays, Kinsley uses his battle with Parkinson's Disease to answer questions we all at some time are forced to confront. Some of the questions are: Is life about having a good reputation, acquiring things, changing the world or keeping all your marbles? Be sure to read chapter seven where he challenges Baby Boomers to eliminate the national debt. A humorous and thought-provoking book.

Vinegar Girl
Anne Tyler

I have always had mixed feelings about The Taming of the Shrew. Parts of the play are delightful, but then that speech Kate gives at the end: yuck. But Cole Porter! Burton and Taylor! Now Tyler has fixed it. This is the Kate that Shakespeare failed to understand and celebrate.

The History of Great Things
Elizabeth Crane

Crane sits at a kitchen table with her mother. Well, her mother is deceased, so this is a novel, not a memoir. The two make up stories about each other: events that never actually happened. Again, it's fiction. But the book is true to both of their characters and, while the stories didn't happen, they could have. It's a clever and readable book that mothers and daughters will find insightful.

The Book of Ruth
Jane Hamilton

After reading this book, I will be less likely to look at a dispossessed person without wondering if she or he is thinking beautiful and/or passionate thoughts. These characters are complex and believable, and their life together is sometimes joyful but often maddening. We're told at the beginning that something awful is coming, and the book builds and builds to that event. But it doesn't stop there. We get to see how Ruth's life unfolds after the tragedy. And we rejoice at her survival.

Iron Lake, Boundary Waters, Manitou Canyon
William Kent Krueger

I recently was introduced to the Cork O’Connor mystery series by William Kent Krueger. How had I missed these books? I read Iron Lake and am now reading Boundary Waters. I LOVE these gripping mysteries. I can't wait to read the whole series this summer! Manitou Canyon is his most recent and book, number 15 in the series.

Note: William Kent Krueger will be in the store September 2 to sign copies of Sulfur Springs. That book will be released August 22, and may be pre-ordered.

Horace Walpole: a Biography
R.W. Ketton-Cremer

I'm not usually a fan of biographies, but I came across a few of Walpole's letters (excellent), and being a letter writer myself, I decided to find out more about who this Horace Walpole (1717–1797) was. Author of Castle of Otranto, collector of paintings, antiquities, and formative English Landscape Gardener, a dilettante extraordinaire. I've come away having learned it's OK to indulge your interests to the best on your ability, even if they seem obscure, and to judge other's efforts kindly. Not a bad lesson for today's world, don't you think?

The Alice Network
Kate Quinn

This book combines two of my favorite time periods: World War I and post World War II. The story flips back and forth between a young woman searching for her cousin in the aftermath of WW II, and the heady days of another older woman's work as a spy in France, during WW I. Quinn's skill in the switchback, between the stories of these two women, seamlessly continues the progress of discovery, revealed to the characters themselves, as well as the reader. This is no mean trick, keeping so many threads in the air, interweaving them all into a fabric that contains, ultimately everyone's experience as they're involved in events. Yes, you the reader too!