The Book of Polly by Kathy Hepinstall
Kathy Hepinstall is one of my favorite authors. Her first book, The House of Gentle Men has a permanent place on my favorites shelf. She is an amazing writer and I can't wait to dive into this one.
Willow Havens is ten years old and obsessed with the fear that her mother will die. Her mother, Polly, is a cantankerous, take-no-prisoners Southern woman who lives to chase varmints, drink margaritas, and antagonize the neighbors-- and she sticks out like a sore thumb along the modern others of their small conventional Texas town. She was in her late fifties when Willow was born, so Willow know's she's here by accident, a late-in-life afterthought. Willow's father died young, and her much older brother and sister are long grown and gone and failing elsewhere. It's just her and bigger-than-life Polly.
Willow is desperately hungry for clues to the family life that preceded her, and especially Polly's life, pre-Willow. Why did she leave her hometown of Bethel, Louisiana, fifty years ago and vow never to return? Who is Garland Jones, her long-ago suitor who possibly killed a man? And will Polly be able to outrun the Bear, the illness that finally puts her on a collision course with her past?
The Book of Polly has a kick like the best hot sauce, and a great blend of humor and sadness, pathos and hilarity. This is a bittersweet novel about the grip of love in a truly quirky family, and you'll come to know one of the most unforgettable mother-daughter duos you've ever met.
George Washington's Secret Six: The Spy Ring that Saved America by Brian Kilmead and Don Yaeger
When General George Washington beat a hasty retreat from New York City in August 1776, many thought the American Revolution might soon be over, Instead, Washington rallied -- thanks in large part to a little-known, top-secret group called the Culper Spy Ring.
Washington realized that he couldn't beat the British with military might, so he recruited a sophisticated and deeply secretive intelligence network to infiltrate New York. So carefully guarded were the members' identities that one spay's name was not uncovered until the twentieth century, and one remains unknown today. But by now, historians have discovered enough information about the ring's activities to piece together evidence that these six individuals turned the tide of the war.
Drawing on extensive research, Brian Kilmead and Don Yaeger have pained compelling portraits of George Washington's secret six: Robert Townsend, the reserved Quaker merchant and reporter who headed the Culper ring, keeping his identity secret even from Washington; Austin Roe, the tavern keeper who risked his employment and his life in order to protect the mission; Caleb Brewster, the brash young longshoreman who lived baiting the British and agreed to ferry messages between Connecticut and New York; Abraham Woodhull, the curmudgeonly (and surprisingly nervous) Long Island bachelor with business and family excuses for traveling to Manhattan; James Rivington, the owner of a posh coffeehouse and print shop where high-ranking British officers gossiped about secret operations; Agent 355, a woman whose identity remains unknown, but who seems to have used her wit and charm to coax officers to share vital secrets.
In George Washington's Secret Six, Townsend and his fellow spies finally receive their due, taking their place among the pantheon of heroes of the American Revolution.
Turtles All the Way Down by John Green

Sixteen-year-old Aza never intended to pursue the mystery of fugitive billionaire Russel Pickett, but there's a hundred-thousand-dollar reward at stake and her Best and Most Fearless Friend, Daisy, is eager to investigate. So together, they navigate the short distance and broad divides that separate them from Russell Pickett's son, Davis. Aza is trying. She's trying to be a good daughter, a good friend, a good student, and maybe even a good detective, while also living within the ever-tightening spiral of her own thoughts.
In his long-awaited return, John green, the acclaimed, award-winning author of Looking for Alaska and The Fault in Our Stars, shares Aza's story with shattering, unflinching clarity in this brilliant novel of love, resilience, and the power of life long friendship.
Gang Leader for a Day: A Rogue Sociologist Takes to the Streets by Sudhir Venkatesh
When first-year graduate student Sudhir Venkatesh walked into an abandoned building in one of Chicago's most notorious housing projects he hoped to find a few people willing to take a multiple choice survey on urban poverty--and impress his professors with his boldness. He never imaged that as a result of this assignment he would befriend a gang leader named JT and spend the better part of a decade embedded inside the projects under JT's protection. From a privileged position of unprecedented access, Venkatesh observed JT and the rest of his gang as they operated their crack-selling business, made peach with their neighbors, evaded the law, and rose up or fell within the ranks of the gang's complex hierarchical structure. Examining the morally ambiguous highly intricate, and often corrupt struggle to survive in an urban war zone, Gang Leader for a Day also tells the story of the complicated friendship that develops between Venkatesh and JT - two young and ambitious men a universe apart.
My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry - Fredrik Backman

Elsa is seven years old and different. Her grandmother is seventy-seven years old and crazy -- as in standing -on-the-balcony-firing-paintball-guns-at-strangers crazy. She is also Elsa's best, and only, friend. At night Elsa takes refuge in her grandmother's stories, in the Land-of-Almost-Awake and the Kingdom of Miamas, where everybody is different and nobody needs to be normal.
When Elsa's grandmother dies and leaves behind a series of letters apologizing to people she has wronged. Elsa's greatest adventure begins. Her grandmother's instructions leader her to an apartment building full of misfits, monsters, attack dogs, and old crones, but also to the truth about fairy tales and kingdoms and a grandmother like no other.
My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry is told with the same comic accuracy and beating heart as Fredrik Backman's bestselling debut novel, A Man Called Ove. It is a story about life and death and one of the most important human rights: the right to be different.
Shark's Fin and Sichuan Pepper: A Sweet-Sour Memoir of Eating in China by Fuschia Dunlop

Food writer Fuschia Dunlop (okay, that name is awesome) went to live in China as a student in 1994, and form the very beginning vowed to eat everything she was offered, no matter how alien and bizarre it seemed. In this memoir, Fuschia recalls her evolving relationship with China and its food, from her first rapturous encounter with the delicious cuisine of the Sichuan Province to brushes with corruption, environmental degradation, and greed. From the vibrant markets of Sichuan to the bleached landscape of northern Gansu Province, from the desert oases of Xinjiang to the enchanting old city of Yangzhou, this unique and evocative account of Chinese culinary culture is set to become the most talked-about travel narrative of the year.
The Circle by Dave Eggers

When Mae Holland is hired to work for the Circle, the world's most powerful internet company, she feels she's been given the opportunity of a lifetime-- even as life beyond the campus grows distant, even as a strange encounter with a colleague leaves her shaken, even as her role at the Circle becomes increasingly public. What beings as the captivating story of one woman's ambition and idealism soon becomes a heart-racing novel of suspense, raising questions about memory, history, privacy, democracy, and the limits of human knowledge.
Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow

Ron Chernow, whom The New York Times has called " as elegant an architect of monumental histories as we've seen in decades," vividly re-creates the whole sweep of Alexander Hamilton's turbulent life--his exotic, brutal upbringing; his titanic feuds with celebrated rivals; his pivotal role in defining the shape of the federal government; his shocking illicit romances; his enlightened abolitionism; and his famous death in a duel with Aaron Burr in July 1804. Drawing upon extensive, unparalleled research--including nearly fifty previously undiscovered essays highlighting Hamilton's fiery journalism as well as his revealing missives to colleagues and friends -- this biography of the extraordinarily gifted founding father who galvanized, inspired, and scandalized the newborn nation is the work by which all others will be measured.
So that's what's in my stack. Hopefully, you found one or two books you can add to your stack!
1 comment:
Wow, what a great list of books! The only one I've read is The Circle, but these all sound so interesting. The George Washington One and Gang Leader for a Day sound particularly intriguing. Hope you enjoy these!
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