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12 Books to Read to Start the New Year

2016 is on the horizon and full of possibilities. You might fall in love or land a few flings. Perhaps you will start exercising regularly or perfect the art of surviving from your couch. You could write a book (or at least finish reading the whopper of a text that has been sitting on your bedside table for months and keeps getting passed over in favor of lighter reads). Whatever your goals and aspirations, we want to help. We have carefully collected a list of 12 books to read to start the new year that provide a healthy mixture of inspiration when you are setting your resolutions and comfort when you don’t meet them.

12 Books to Read to Start the New Year

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1) Better than Before

Gretchen Rubin

Release Date: March 17, 2015

If patience is the virtue you don’t possess, this is the book for you. If you need to see progress right away and want all the tiny changes to count, Gretchen Rubin explains how to change everyday habits to solve all your problems and get everything you want. Ok maybe she doesn’t do that, but she at least explains how to build healthier and stronger habits – perfect for those who are intimidated by huge changes but want to improve their lives.

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2) Everything I Never Told You

Celeste Ng

Release Date: May 12, 2015

Award-winner? Check. Tragedy? Check. Inspirational? Check. A family is torn apart and must put itself back together again in this tale of literary fiction. For our readers who have resolved to work on their family life, this book will inspire you when the going gets tough.

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3) The Achievement Habit

Bernard Roth

Release Date: July 7, 2015

If you’ve ever wanted to learn about what goes on inside your brain, the co-founder of the Stanford d.school is here to explain. Bernard Roth commands you to stop wishing and start doing by using design thinking as a means to reach your potential. If one of your resolutions is to start achieving greatness, this is a great place to start.

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4) Rising Strong

Brené Brown

Release Date: August 25, 2015

If the word “vulnerability” makes you want to run and hide under a pillow, pick up the newest release from Brené Brown. Expanding on her previous work, Brown discusses the power of stories (particularly stories of failure) in Rising Strong. She doesn’t promise anything, but she sure as heck will give you her best shot as she convinces you to open up your deepest hurts and walk through them (mostly) unscathed.

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5) Big Magic

Elizabeth Gilbert

Release Date: September 22, 2015

If one of your new year’s resolutions is to rediscover your inner child with finger painting and popsicle sticks (or at least to unleash your creative potential), Big Magic is worth your time. Elizabeth Gilbert inspires and challenges her readers to live with courage and rediscover their creativity in this story of her own motivational processes.

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6) After You

Jojo Moyes

Release Date: September 29, 2015

When you need a splash of romance to remind you why you set all those New Year’s Resolutions in the first place, grab a copy of After You by Jojo Moyes. After losing one love, Lou Clark must find the strength to open up again and move forward with all the risk that invites. Dealing with heavy issues while keeping a comedic thread, After You will reward all your hard work and motivate you to keep it up.

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7) Life and Other Near-Death Experiences

Camille Pagan

Release Date: November 1, 2015

Fans of tragic stories that turn hopeful but still use up a box of tissues: this one’s for you. An optimist-turned-realist must figure out how to deal with her new perspective on life in a story that is equal parts funny and inspiring. Yes, it’s a cancer narrative, but it is a cancer narrative that will make you laugh, cry, and add Camille Pagan’s other book to your ever-growing list of books to read.

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8) The Japanese Lover

Isabel Allende

Release Date: November 3, 2015

Be still my heart: a couple in love that continue to get ripped apart and yet find each other again and again while keeping their love a secret the whole time? Without giving too much away, that is exactly what this book is about. Her first novel was an international bestseller, and fans of The House of Spirits will not want to miss this new release by Isabel Allende. Treat yourself with a seriously good novel.

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9) Dear Mr. You

Mary-Louise Parker

Release Date: November 10, 2015

If you like stalking famous people and want to hear about one woman's relationships with the men in her life, this is the book for you. Actress Mary-Louise Parker pens a series of letters to the men in her life (real or not) who have made her the woman she is today. Poignant and revealing, Parker is honest and hilarious while maintaining her sassy side.

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10) Spark Joy

Marie Kondo

Release Date: January 5, 2016

If you watched the Tiny Homes documentary and decided to throw away everything you own, move to the mountains, and live off the land, you cannot neglect the newest from Marie Kondo. If you’ve never heard of Tiny Homes but find that you struggle to stay organized, you also cannot miss this new release. Kondo takes decluttering to a new level as she provides detailed advice (complete with illustrations) about how to get back to the basics in your life.

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11) The Road to Little Dribbling

Bill Bryson

Release Date: January 19, 2016

For anyone who likes to laugh and travel vicariously through other people, Bill Bryson has provided the perfect book to help. Bryson traipses through England on a route that he planned based on the longest distance one could travel in a straight line. You will learn a few things, but don’t read this book while drinking milk or it may just come out your nose as you laugh at Bryson’s witty banter.

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12) NYPD Red 4

James Patterson & Marshall Karp

Release Date: January 25, 2016

By the time this book is released in late January, you will need something to reward yourself for all of your hard work keeping all (most) of your resolutions for a whole month. James Patterson offers up his latest book to devour in this sequel to NYPD Red 1, 2, and 3. All the best of Patterson is present with an outrageously difficult crime, high-profile characters, and the crème-de-la-crème of detectives. Treat yourself – you’ve earned it.

Interview with Mary Rakow, Author of This is Why I Came

Tell us a little bit about your new release, This is Why I Came.

You know I am horrible at summarizing my own work. So perhaps could we give your readers the catalogue copy from Counterpoint Press? I'm very happy with it.

Sure!

A woman sits in prayerful meditation, waiting to offer her first confession in more than thirty years. She holds a small book on her lap, one that she’s made, and tells herself again the Bible stories it contains, the ones she has written anew, for herself, each story told aslant, from Jonah to Jesus, Moses to Mary Magdalen. Woven together and stitched by hand, they provide a new version, virtually a new translation, of the heart of this ancient and sacred text. Bernadette traces, through each brief and familiar story, a line where belief and disbelief touch, the line that has been her home, ragged and neglected, that hidden seam.

Say you now host a literary-themed talk show. Who would be your first guest ?

Jonathan Ive, Apple’s Chief Design Officer.

Apple products are everywhere and loved because the technology is astonishing and the object you hold in your hand is perfectly designed. The design is so perfect that the design itself disappears. I would ask Ive, who was hired early on by Steve Jobs, about the 10 Design Principles of Dieter Rams to whom he is deeply indebted. Those Design Principles, like the Ten Commandments in the world of industrial design, are perfect for writing fiction so I’d like us to talk about that and this is why:

If we assume that each person on the planet is infinitely complex and unique, which I do assume, then what we want is that complex subjectivity to be what lies behind the novel in the same way we want extraordinary technology to lie behind the Apple product. Without that power, you’d just have pretty, useless objects. We want, from the novel, something radically personal and radically unforeseen. We want the writer to have made something he or she alone could have made. We want it to make our world larger. But at the same time we want the novel as an object to have been perfectly designed by the time it reaches us, so that all the design decisions have disappeared. So the words on the page or on the screen, so link us to the vast subjectivity of the author that the words disappear. When this happens, the reader and the author meet each other on a bridge. The reader moves across that perfectly designed bridge with all his or her own complex subjectivity and then, only then, the object is finally complete.

What's your favorite quote or scene from This is Why I Came?

I love very much the story of Legion although I’ll likely never read it in a public reading because my fondness is too personal and I’d likely cry. I actually love all the stories. That’s when we know the book is finished, right? We’ve put something outside ourselves that is truthful. And the truth of it is what we love.

Jonah is the last of the stories from the Hebrew part of the Bible, the “Old Testament.” And I like it because it honors the ethical intention that I feel beneath today’s “New Atheism.” It’s an ethical position which Jonah finally takes and in which he refuses to be a prophet any longer. It is after the conversion of the large city of Nineveh. His wife asks him, “Then what will you be?” And he replies “I will be God’s atheist.” I like the contradiction in that sentence. He wants to not worship or serve any God who requires him to separate himself from his own intergrity. I think that is a very beautiful thing.

And I like that I let him see into the future and when he does, he sees that he will be misunderstood. And that people will know him for the sort of sensational story of being 3 days in the belly of the whale. Small children will love the story and adults will ignore it or argue about whether or not it’s feasible, all this business. Jonah sees how he will not be really known except by his wife. Of course I made all this up, but it pleases me. The way we are not known deeply. The way we have our version of ourselves and other people have their versions of us and how rare it is when that gap is crossed. As Barbara says in The Memory Room, my first novel, “Most people underestimate how erotic it is to be understood.”

Do you have a motto, quote or philosophy you live by?

Above my kitchen sink lately I have the quote: “3 billion people around the world live on $2.50 a day or less.” It’s just a fact, you know. But it gives rise to a lot of thinking. The implications of this fact. And I have things like this around me as reminders. And they change.

But I’ve never found one that is sufficient. No single line. Like the incomparable Donna Vreeland was famous for saying of fashion, “The Eye has to travel.” Or like St. Augustine, “The heart is restless until it finds its rest in You,” meaning God, in his case. So these single lines are like windows, openings, entry-points to use Jorie Graham’s gorgeous phrase but never completely satisfying in themselves. I think we want something more existential. We want a relationship to something or some one or some other within which everything else finds it’s place. What I want, and I think everyone wants, is to honor these mottos but also to get behind all of them. To get behind all ephemera, all sights and sounds and tastes and injunctions and to get to whatever it is that is its background. To get at what is behind all of this. Behind thought. Behind sensation. Behind imagery. Behind good design. We want to take the bridge all these things are and walk across to the other side. To get to silence, for example.

Like this wonderful new fashion designer who is fabricating very 21st century clothing that is taking technology seriously. Others are making fabrics that have nanotechnology that will translate the body’s own energy so that it charges the smart phone you have in your pocket. People at Google and Stanford and UC Berkeley. But this other designer is doing the opposite. He’s making fashion that involves a shielding of notification from the mobile devices we carry. This is fascinating to me. We all want stimulation and language and the time to digest it. And some people, like myself, need tons of time to digest small amounts of information. I am very, very contemplative in that way. But it doesn’t matter. We all need both of these things. So he’s looking on this other side. Fashion that moves you, or allows you to stay connected but to also move toward silence.

I like this very much. His work reminds me that we want language and we want it to take us to silence. It the string quartet plays the last note on stage and if it is great music and if their performance has been superb, what follows, always, is great silence. This is what I think we all hunger for.

Screen Shot 2015-12-10 at 12.18.40 PM — Courtesy of the Author

Mary Rakow is the author of the new book This is Why I Came

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26 Best New Books to Read from 2015

In a time where we celebrate the past year and prepare to welcome the new, it is worthwhile to take a moment to pause and reflect on the best books that appeared on the scene in 2015. They span every genre and come from authors of all backgrounds, but they do have one thing in common: they are worth reading. We organized them by genre in an effort to help you out, but while you are still setting New Year’s resolutions (and experiencing 100% success in those resolutions), take a minute to look through this list and catch any books you may have missed.

Fiction

Literature

1) The Story of the Lost Child by Elena Ferrante

Release Date: September 1, 2015
The final installment in the Neapolitan Novels, two women weather life’s storms together as they seek to escape their past in a tumultuous neighborhood. Honest and refreshing, immerse yourself into the fabric of a friendship across the course of the years.

2) Where the Bird Sings Best by Alejandro Jodorowsky

Release Date: March 31, 2015
Compared by many to Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude, this translation follows the immigration of Jodorowsky’s family from Ukraine to Chile. Full of outrageous stories from incestuous families to false deaths, this story from film director Alejandro Jodorowsky will appeal to those who want to be transported to a world of prose with mythic qualities.

3) A Manual for Cleaning Women by Lucia Berlin

Release Date: August 18, 2015
This collection of short stories presents tales of working-class women across America compiled by Lucia Berlin across the course of her life. A blend of light humor with heavy themes, Berlin crafts a series of stories that will capture you until you have turned the last page.

4) Did You Ever Have a Family by Bill Clegg

Release Date: September 1, 2015
Included on the longlist for the Man Booker Prize and the National Book Award, Bill Chegg weaves a tale of tragedy and survival in his debut novel. When a woman loses her entire family in a fire the night before her daughter’s wedding, she embarks on a journey of learning how to survive without them – and brings us along with her.

5) Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff

Release Date: September 15, 2015
This finalist for the National Book Award was named as a best book of the year by almost every major publication. Fates and Furies explores the things that make a marriage work (or not work) in this riveting tale of two people. Complex and sensual, Groff keeps you hooked from cover to cover.

6) Fortune Smiles by Adam Johnson

Release Date: August 18, 2015
Winner of the National Book Award, Fortune Smiles contains six stories that span major themes from natural disasters and politics to love and loss. Dark and comedic, Johnson makes you laugh while breaking your heart as he offers a new perspective on the world.

7) A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

Release Date: March 10, 2015
What could be stronger than the cords of brotherhood? Four friends gravitate together in New York, and a tale of the dark side of love and friendship unfolds. As decades pass, they are bound together more deeply and with darker threads as waves of success, brokenness, addiction, and heartbreak crash over their relationships. A National Book Award Finalist and short-listed for the Man Booker Prize, A Little Life will immerse you in its rich prose.

Science Fiction & Fantasy

8) Golden Son by Pierce Brown

Release Date: July 7, 2015
The sequel to bestseller Red Rising, Pierce Brown continues the story of the rebel Darrow. Creating a world that is reminiscent of Hunger Games, Ender’s Game, and Game of Thrones, this dystopian novel is packed with action without neglecting its compelling characters.

9) Seveneves by Neal Stephenson

Release Date: May 19, 2015
A particular favorite of two of our staff members, this tale of the end of the world delves into human nature and space encounters while pushing the boundaries of complexity. Any fan of science fiction will not want to miss Stephenson’s novel, but readers outside the genre will also appreciate and enjoy his work.

10) The Country of Ice Cream Star by Sandra Newman

Release Date: February 10, 2015
The world has been devastated by a plague, but one woman is determined to find the cure and save the world. This post-apocalyptic novel features a young protagonist whose tenacity through danger and tragedy makes it impossible not to be drawn into her world.

11) The Shepherd’s Crown by Terry Pratchett

Release Date: September 1, 2015
Fans of Discworld rejoiced and mourned when the final Discworld novel was released this year. When death forces Tiffany into a leadership position, she finds herself in the middle of a whole new set of problems and adventures. Simultaneously funny and serious, you won’t want to miss the final novel by Terry Pratchett.

Young Adult

12) Carry On by Rainbow Rowell

Release Date: October 6,2015
With the best of all things love, magic, and adventure, Rainbow Rowell continues in the tradition of Harry Potter to present a world of teenagers discovering themselves. Jump into the Watford School of Magicks and follow Simon Snow as he adventures through his final school year.

13) The Thing About Jellyfish by Ali Benjamin

Release Date: September 22, 2015
A finalist for the National Book Award, Ali Benjamin weaves a breathtaking story about dealing with tragedy and exploring imagination. In this debut novel, Suzy struggles to understand her best friend’s accidental death by drowning and latches onto the theory of a jellyfish sting. Beautiful and painful, you can’t help but be captivated by Suzy as Benjamin weaves her story together.

14) All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven

Release Date: January 6, 2015
Two people meet on the edge of a ledge – literally. Jennifer Niven crafts a tale of two teenagers who find one another at the end of hope and walk forward together. Compared to The Fault in Our Stars, Niven’s novel paints a beautiful picture of a fragile love in the midst of difficult times.

Mystery & Thriller

15) Girl Waits with Gun by Amy Stewart

Release Date: September 1, 2015
If you want a feisty woman in an unexpected setting, Girl Waits with Gun is exactly what you’ve been waiting for. Chosen by multiple sources as a best book to read in 2015, this powerhouse of a novel is based on a true story about a female deputy sheriff who will go to great lengths to defend her family. Constance Kopp is a force to be reckoned with, and we are just along for the ride in this entertaining new crime novel.

16) The Crossing by Michael Connelly

Release Date: November 3, 2015
Start on the edge of your seat and don’t move because this mystery thriller by Michael Connelly will keep you there from beginning to end. Starring Harry Bosch, Connelly pulls him out of retirement…and onto the opposing team. Fans of Connelly will not be disappointed with this latest offering, and neither will fans of the mystery and suspense genre.

17) A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay

Release Date: June 2, 2015
Devilishly clever, don’t pick up this latest from Paul Tremblay unless you are ready for a full dose of horror. Psychological, religious, and just plain terrifying, A Head Full of Ghosts follows the story of a family whose skeletons are about to fill up the closet when they agree to feature the exorcism of their schizophrenic daughter on a reality television series. The show might not tell all, but when a writer starts asking questions fifteen years later, you can be sure that the truth will emerge.

18) In a Dark, Dark Wood by Ruth Ware

Release Date: August 4, 2015
Debut author Ruth Ware burst onto the literary scene with a big splash with her psychological thriller this fall. In a Dark, Dark Wood is a story about a crime writer who tends to hide away from experiencing the things she writes about…until she agrees to go to the countryside for the weekend. When she wakes up in a hospital bed knowing someone is dead, her journey into the past begins in a gripping plot that has been compared to Agatha Christie.

19) The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

Release Date: January 13, 2015
2015 was the year of new thriller authors, and Paula Hawkins is no exception. In The Girl on the Train, Rachel takes the same train every day until she witnesses something that pulls her into a story she never wanted. Twisted and chilling, trying to predict what is coming at the turn of the page will prove difficult with Hawkins’ masterful craft.

Nonfiction

Historical

20) Dead Wake by Erik Larson

Release Date: March 10, 2015
Erik Larson has a knack for building suspense about historical events where we already know the ending. Larson masterfully unfolds the characters of Captain Turner with the Lusitania and Captain Schwieger with the German U-boat as they make their way towards a deadly encounter, while a British intelligence unit keeps its lifesaving information to itself. The master of narrative nonfiction has delivered a masterpiece in this story about the sinking of the Lusitania.

Biography & Memoir

21) The Wright Brothers by David McCullough

Release Date: May 5, 2015
David McCullough has won the Pulitzer Prize twice for his depictions of history, and this year he presents the story of the Wright brothers and their journey to the skies. Beginning with their childhood where amenities were few and books were abundant, these two self-educated boys grew up to make history. McCullough chronicles the successes, failures, and determination of this remarkable pair in this bestselling book about the men who learned to fly.

22) The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt’s New World by Andrea Wulf

Release Date: September 15, 2015
A finalist for the Carnegie Medal for Excellence and the Kirkus Reviews Prize for Nonfiction, Andrea Wulf uncovers the often forgotten story of Alexander von Humbolt. Tracing his influence on the environmentalism movement, Wulf crafts the connection between Humbolt’s work and that of figures like Darwin, Wordsworth, Goethe, and possibly even Thoreau. Well-written and well-researched, The Invention of Nature does a masterful job recovering the story of this scientist.

23) M Train by Patti Smith

Release Date: October 6, 2015
Patti Smith offers an invitation to wander through life with her in the poetic and meditative reflections of M Train. A memoir of her life through the lens of cafes and other places where she worked around the world, Smith walks through stages of great joy and great sorrow with stunning prose. Follow the meandering trail that she described as “a roadmap to my life” as you settle in as a passenger alongside her.

24) Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

Release Date: July 14, 2015
This year’s National Book Award winner is a letter from father to son. Ta-Nehisi Coates attempts to share with his son lessons and advice for navigating the racial landscape of America as a young black man. Coates traces his own history as well as that of the broader black community and uses that as a framework for moving forward into the future. You will want to devour every page of this intellectual and emotionally gripping memoir as fast as possible while simultaneously trying to slowly absorb every word.

25) Hold Still: A Memoir with Photographs by Sally Mann

Release Date: May 12, 2015
Sally Mann’s National Book Award finalist chronicles the story of her family history in the broader American South using words and pictures together. Detailing the drama of scandal, abuse, land disputes, and possible murder, Mann’s words paint as vivid a picture as her photographs. The memoir grips with equally with its plot and its beautiful prose, and Mann crafts a new form of artistry with the interplay of photography and lyrical prose.

26) H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald

Release Date: March 3, 2015
A mixture of mythology, memoir, literary genius, and nature writing, this winner of the Samuel Johnson Prize is a story about obsession and grief with a humorous tint. Helen MacDonald grieves her father’s unexpected death through training a goshawk, chronicling her journey in this beautifully written and compelling book.

Books to Read if You Liked The Selection

With new books to read cropping up left and right (and the holidays right around the corner), we would like to help the young adult or young adult gift-buying readers with a few suggestions for books like the Selection series. Dystopian is the name of the game (I mean, who doesn’t want to live in an alternate universe for a week?), so with Kiera Cass books on the top of the chart, what other romance turned dystopian books to read have caught our eye? Check out our top recommendations from 2015 for books to read if you liked The Selection.

Books to Read if You Liked The Selection

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Numbers Game

Rebecca Rode

Release Date: March 10, 2015

Numbers are everything – at least, they are in Numbers Game. Each person receives a number that determines his or her future, and for Treena, her number will cause her to go against the system altogether. Similar to other dystopian books with a strong female lead (who still falls in love with a handsome man), this is the perfect gift for someone who likes Kiera Cass books.

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Servant of the Crown

Melissa McShane

Release Date: July 15, 2015

A world with royals and those who serve them, a shy girl who keeps getting thrown together with a boy who is used to getting what he wants, and a conspiracy against the government…for fans of books like The Selection series, Servant of the Crown offers a new world to dive into and get lost in. The second installment, Rider of the Crown, is also available as of October 22, 2015.

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A Court of Thorns and Roses

Sarah Maas

Release Date: May 5, 2015

While A Court of Thorns and Roses is more fantasy than dystopian, it is packed full of action, adventure, and of course, romance. Feyre’s tale is a newer, edgier version of Beauty and the Beast and is one you don’t want to miss. Get it now to be ready for the sequel (A Court of Mist and Fury) that comes out May 3, 2016.

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Autumn's Kiss

Bella Thorne

Release Date: November 10, 2015

The sequel to the wildly popular Autumn Falls, Autumn’s Kiss adds a wish-granting map to the wish-granting diary from the first novel. A lighter read with teen drama, magic, and (as always) romance, this is a great gift for lovers of Kiera Cass books.

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The Glass Arrow

Kristen Simmons

Release Date: February 10, 2015

If you want a gripping tale complete with total government control, a strong-willed female lead reminiscent of Katniss Everdeen, and a hint of romance on the side, this novel by Kristen Simmons is perfect for you. Dystopian and post-apocalyptic, The Glass Arrow will keep you wrapped up in its world long after you put it down.

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The Rose Society

Marie Lu

Release Date: October 13, 2015

We’ve mentioned this one once before in our New Books like Divergent post, but it’s just that good. The sequel to The Young Elites, readers will continue to fall in love with Adelina even as she continues down her chosen path. Action-packed and thrilling, this dystopian masterpiece will thrill readers looking for books like The Selection.

Interview with Anne Charnock, author of Sleeping Embers of an Ordinary Mind

Tell us a little bit about your new release, Sleeping Embers of an Ordinary Mind.

This is my second novel and it explores themes of family, feminism, and loss in three storylines set in Renaissance Italy, present-day China and a future London. Toniah is a future art historian trying to bring overdue recognition to women artists of the Renaissance. Thirteen-year-old Toni, in the present day, accompanies her artist father to China where he agrees to copy a Renaissance masterpiece for a Chinese businessman. And in Renaissance Florence, Antonia takes art lessons from her father, Paolo Uccello. It’s a work of slipstream fiction, bringing together science fiction, contemporary, and historical biographical fiction.

What is the one movie that you can quote the most?

Pride and Prejudice. There are so many hilarious one-liners. I cannot resist quoting Mr Collins, the sycophantic clergyman. When he dines with the Bennett family, he utters the unforgettable line, “It’s many years since I have had such an exemplary vegetable.”

How did art inspire your writing career?

Difficult question! In general, I’d say that artists and writers have a great deal in common. They have skills and techniques that they deploy in order to tell a story, or convey a message. For me, it was a surprisingly small step from making art to writing fiction. It did help that I already had writing experience—my first career was journalism.

In writing Sleeping Embers of an Ordinary Mind, I took an iconic painting of the early Renaissance, a painting that’s recognised today as a breakthrough in perspective drawing. It’s Paolo Uccello’s Battle of San Romano. His daughter Antonia is described on her death certificate as a painter, but none of her works has yet been discovered. I saw Antonia’s absence from art history as a starting point for a story about success, loss, and the obstacles faced by young women in different eras.

You’re hosting a literary dinner party. Which three writers are invited?

Michael Cunningham, Jennifer Egan, Kate Atkinson, and Kazuo Ishiguro. Oops! That’s four. I can’t unvite anyone—the invites are already in the mail.

Where was the most recent place you've traveled?

Orvieto in Umbria. My husband and I traveled in our campervan from England to Orvieto just north of Rome. Orvieto Cathedral is now my favourite cathedral in Italy. The edifice is adorned in fabulous reliefs—a masterpiece of the late Middle Ages—and inside the cathedral there’s a surprisingly modern-looking fresco: Resurrection of the Flesh by Luca Signorelli. It looks like the zombie apocalypse.

Pretend you qualified for the Olympics this year. What sport would you compete in?

A writer’s life has prepared me for the High Jump. I’m trained for a short run up, getting stuck in, and throwing my world upside down.

What's your favorite quote or scene from Sleeping Embers of an Ordinary Mind

Thirteen-year-old Toni reflects on the unfairness of the world as she examines a painting in the National Gallery—Piero di Cosimo’s The Fight between the Lapiths and the Centaurs.
“She hunts around the painting to see if there are any female centaurs. None. Why is it that women are always the ones being dragged off? Why aren’t they the ones doing the clubbing and biting?”

Do you have a motto, quote or philosophy you live by?

These are two writer quotes that come to mind:
“The book to read is not the one that thinks for you, but the one which makes you think.” Harper Lee.
“There is no real ending. It’s just the place where you stop the story.” Frank Herbert.

Anne Charnock is the author of the new book Sleeping Embers of an Ordinary Mind

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New Books to Read | December 22

As you get into the holiday spirit, check out this week's new books to read in all our genre categories. We wish you the happiest of holidays and endless hours of reading good books.

Mystery & Thriller

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Romance

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Literary Fiction

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Fantasy

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Young Adult

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Biography & Memoir

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New Releases from Promontory Press!

Enemy of Existence by Yuan Jur & Destiny’s Second Chance by Kate Vale

Here at Promontory Press, we like to keep it interesting by releasing very diverse titles to please all types of readers. In October we released two very different, but very good novels: Enemy of Existence by Yuan Jur and Destiny’s Second Chance by Kate Vale.

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Yuan Jur launched Enemy of Existence, the first part of the Earth’s Secret trilogy in his space opera science fiction series Citadel 7, on October 6th. Unique in its storytelling, Enemy of Existence literally pulls the reader right into the story from the very beginning, making the reader into a character. The reader is instantly introduced to two intercosmos wardens of the Superverse, Uniss and Dogg, who are under strict orders from the Evercycle Council (the creators of existence) to locate their newest apprentice. Venturing to Earth, Uniss and Dogg arrive on the Australian outback of 1963. They soon find Ben Blochentackle, a young Australian boy, who is much more complex than he appears. Once Ben comes of age, Uniss and Dogg bring him back to alien world Tora, where the threat of war is pending. It might be that Ben is the only hope for all of existence. Nothing is as it seems in this introduction to Yuan Jur’s grand Citadel 7 series. Any reader who enjoys sci-fi is sure to become immediately immersed in the Superverse. After all, Uniss and Dogg don’t give the reader much of a choice.

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Meanwhile, romance and women’s fiction author Kate Vale has been busy with the October 20th launch of her newest release, Destiny’s Second Chance, a heartwarming and satisfying tale of the intricacies and repercussions surrounding adoption. At the age of sixteen, Bella was pregnant, and her mother forced her to place the baby for adoption. Wanting to form any kind of connection, Bella writes to her daughter, Destiny, but after five years, she stops receiving annual letters from Destiny’s adoptive parents. Now, Bella has entirely lost any connection with the daughter she never got a chance to know. Even with Destiny always in the back of her mind, Bella must continue her life of working as a librarian in Washington with her best friend and navigating a new relationship with Gavin, the nephew of her favourite bookstore’s owner. Once Destiny turns twenty-one, she hears from Bella out of the blue, and she is intrigued yet apprehensive. What kind of woman would be so irresponsible to have a child she didn’t plan for? Why wouldn’t she ever make an effort to see her while she was growing up? Convinced by her adoptive mother that her birth mother wanted nothing to do with her, Destiny isn’t so sure about Bella. But, when they meet, they find that they have more in common than they could have ever imagined.

Whether you’re a fan of science fiction or you prefer your stories to take place entirely on a planet with which you’re more familiar, our October releases each have something to offer with these two exciting and poignant titles. Make sure to pick one (or both!) up for your bookshelf today, or give the gift of reading this holiday season.

Books to Read if You Liked Girl on the Train

Winter is coming, so it's the perfect season to read psychological thriller books like Girl on the Train. Who doesn't want to curl up with a blanket, hot beverage, and the perfect amount of chilling fear and anticipatory excitement? Paula Hawkins books like Girl on the Train are sure to provide an ample amount of both, but Paula Hawkins isn't the only author worth your time (or ours). We've already written about Gone Girl, so this time we grabbed our own blankets and beverages and compiled a list for you of new books to read if you liked Girl on the Train.

Books to Read if You Liked Girl on the Train

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What She Knew

Gilly Macmillan

Release Date: December 1, 2015

Why this is one of our new books to read if you liked Girl on the Train: A child disappears inexplicably, a mother is on center stage in the eye of the public, time is running out, and no one can be trusted completely...we would keep the lights on while reading this thriller.

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Dark Turns

Cate Holahan

Release Date: November 10, 2015

Why this is one of our new books to read if you liked Girl on the Train: A ballerina fallen from grace, a student murdered, and an insatiable killer…who knew boarding school gossip could be this twisted (or terrifying)?

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Pretty Girls

Karin Slaughter

Release Date: September 29, 2015

Why this is one of our books to read if you liked Girl on the Train: One sister disappears and is never found again, two sisters maintain silence, one husband is murdered…twenty years isn’t long enough to keep some mysteries (or murders) hidden.

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The New Neighbor

Leah Stewart

Release Date: July 7, 2015

Why this is one of our books to read if you liked Girl on the Train: Secrets secrets are no fun…unless you are the one uncovering them. Of course some secrets are best left hidden, but the new neighbor might discover this too late for two women with darkly twisted pasts.

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Someone to Save You

Paul Pilkington

Release Date: November 3, 2015

Why this is one of our books to read if you liked Girl on the Train: Did Sam’s best friend really kill Sam’s sister? Did Sam heroically try to save four people by a lucky coincidence, or are the police right to be suspicious? If you like Paula Hawkins books, you’ll want to read this psychological thriller (in broad daylight). Bonus: It’s free on Kindle!

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The Girl With No Past

Kathryn Croft

Release Date: October 15, 2015

Why this is one of our books to read if you liked Girl on the Train: A girl on the run, a hidden past, a twenty year secret, and someone sinister who knows about it all…if you like books like Girl on the Train, look no further than this psychological thriller. And pick it up when you don’t have to put it down again.

Interview with Lisa McGuinness, author of Catarina's Ring

Tell us a little bit about your new release, Catarina's Ring.

Born at the end of the Nineteenth Century and nestled in South Western Italy, Catarina Pensbene’s life in Perdifumo is full of sun-drenched olive orchards, lush grape vines, delicious peasant food, family and love. But with impending war threatening to take all of the local boys to the battlefield, and her unexpected plunge into an untenable situation, Catarina’s prospects for marriage are bleak. When a letter arrives from an old family friend who has settled in San Francisco asking for her hand in marriage, Catarina decides to take a huge risk and becomes a mail order bride and sets out across the ocean. After a few whirlwind days in Manhattan, the couple travels across America by train, and soon thereafter gets married and settles in with Franco’s family in San Francisco.
Interwoven with Catarina’s, is the story is of her witty and self-deprecating granddaughter, Juliette Brice. Born and raised in Northern California, Juliette experiences an unfortunate tragedy that serves as the impetus for her to shake up her life, and travel to her grandmother’s homeland, where she enrolls in a six-month cooking class in Lucca, Italy. While abroad, Julliette becomes romantically involved with a handsome Italian man, yet her own destiny dictates she is to return to California once her class ends.

I would say the underlying theme of the book is that in life there’s never only one route to take to get where you want to go. If you hit the road-blocks of life, there are other ways to achieve the goals you have.

What fictional literary world would you most like to visit?

That’s a great question! And a hard one. I love reading about cultures and times that are different than the one I inhabit. If I could be a background character added to any novel, it would be to Memoires of a Geisha by Arthur Golden. Japan pre and during World War II was a fascinating time and place, and the circumstance of the main character were completely foreign to anything I’ve experienced. Not to mention the author’s incredible writing.

What's rocking your world this month?

Well, of course, like most of the world, I’m focused on the horrifying terrorist attacks in Paris (and the situation in the world in general) and thinking about how/what we can do as a humanity to make the world a happier, safer place to be. I wish I knew the answer, but I do love the response of the Parisians. Live! Go out! Go to the movies, and cafés and, of course…book stores. Love each other and focus on that instead of hate. (Sorry to be so heavy!)

If you had to pick one place to vacation for the rest of your life, where would you choose?

I would have to say Italy, because not only is it gorgeous, filled with sunlight, lovely people, incredible history and scenery (not to mention amazing food) but it also allows easy access by train to France, which is another of my favorite destinations. And from there, of course, London is just a Chunnel away…

Who was your childhood hero?

Jane Goodall was definitely my childhood hero. Jacques Cousteau was a close second. I couldn’t get enough of Wild Kingdom and any stories about animals. But her work with the chimpanzees truly fascinated me. And she was so brave! And had a cool British accent, which added to the mystique! She was a seriously badass woman in her day. She was an inspiration!

If you were a teacher, what book would you assign to your class?

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. Not only is the writing amazing, the subject matter is important and, although difficult, it’s handled with compassion and even humor at times.

What's your favorite quote or scene from Catarina's Ring?

Two stand out to me. The first is a serious moment that was significant to me in the moment and the other was lighter, so I’ll share both.

The first was the scene when Catarina has to say goodbye to her mother—knowing that she may never see her again. My own mom, who was incredibly close to my heart, had died recently and while I was writing the scene the tears were streaming down my face, because the pain Catarina and Celestina were feeling was so real to me. One of the things that’s so horrible about life is that it is relentlessly moving forward whether we want it to or not. Our kids grow up and leave, our parents die, we grow old and all we can do is make sure we are living a loving, full, giving life while we’re here.

Do you have a motto, quote or philosophy you live by?

I do. It sounds very “Pollyanna” but think it’s important to be a positive force not only in one’s personal “world” but in the larger world, as well. In the beginning of Catarina’s Ring, Juliette mentions that Catarina always had “grace and grit” and I try to live my life that way, too. Be loving…be tenacious!