Every month, we’re profiling new-ish releases that are getting critical and commercial buzz. For March, we’re looking at a re-release of Shogun, a retelling of the founding of Rome, two different novels set on remote islands, a unique science fiction novel about a science fiction novel, a new historical mystery series set in 1960s Vermont, an audiobook about a race to fly across the Pacific in the 1920s, Western true crime about Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and a chronicle of following the over 10,000-mile annual monarch butterfly migration on a bicycle.
Continue reading “Book Buzz: Reissued Classics, Roman Mythological Fiction, Island Fiction, Science Fiction Metafiction, Vermont Mysteries, Historic Flights, The Hole-in-the-Wall Gang, and Monarch Butterfly Migrations”Category: literary fiction (books)
Book Buzz: Historical Romances, Assyrian Queens, Oklahoma-Based Reservations, Coming-of-Age Audiobooks, Turkish Cookbooks, and Modern Manners
Every month, we’re profiling new-ish releases that are getting critical and commercial buzz. For February, we’re looking at a historical romance set in the Blue Ridge Mountains, a fictional look at the only ruling queen of Assyria, a mystery set on a fictional Oklahoma reservation, a coming-of-age audiobook, a delectable cookbook from a Turkish-American baker, and a guide to teaching children manners in the modern age.
Continue reading “Book Buzz: Historical Romances, Assyrian Queens, Oklahoma-Based Reservations, Coming-of-Age Audiobooks, Turkish Cookbooks, and Modern Manners”Book Buzz: Literary Fiction, Dark Fantasy, Show-Stopping Entertaining, and Series Galore
Every month, we’re profiling new-ish releases that are getting critical and commercial buzz. For December, we’re looking at literary fiction set in North Dakota, Hawaii, and Sarajevo; a delightful cozy women’s fiction series about a librarian set in rural Ireland; dark fantasy; nonfiction about eye-catching charcuterie boards; and a couple of very different series of audiobook historical mysteries.
Continue reading “Book Buzz: Literary Fiction, Dark Fantasy, Show-Stopping Entertaining, and Series Galore”Book Buzz: Acadians, Forgotten Names, Pirates, Irish Westerns, Dystopian Fiction, Alaskan Fishing, and Organ Transplants
Every month, we’re profiling new-ish releases that are getting critical and commercial buzz. For November, we’re looking at historical fiction about the Acadians, World War II, pirates, and the American West; an outdoorsy new science fiction dystopia; a tale of commercial fishing in the Bering Sea; and nonfiction about how a heart transplant changed two families.
Continue reading “Book Buzz: Acadians, Forgotten Names, Pirates, Irish Westerns, Dystopian Fiction, Alaskan Fishing, and Organ Transplants”Waubgeshig Rice’s Moon of the Crusted Snow and Moon of the Turning Leaves


Thanks so much to Julie for ordering Moon of the Crusted Snow when I requested it earlier this year. I’d been curious about it since first hearing about it, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I usually review horror for October to tie in with Halloween, and though the book isn’t overly horror, it is very eerie.
Continue reading “Waubgeshig Rice’s Moon of the Crusted Snow and Moon of the Turning Leaves”Book Buzz: Fictional Kidnappings, New Harington, Generational Curses, Medieval Relic Heists, Soccer, Slashers, Space Disasters, and Cowboy Comfort Food
Every month, we’re profiling new-ish releases that are getting critical and commercial buzz. For October, we’re looking at literary fiction about a summer camping gone wrong, relatively newly released Donald Harington stories, a jaunty tale of medieval relic heists, a story about a Tejano family throughout the decades, a novel about modern soccer, fiction and nonfiction audiobooks, and a cookbook.
Continue reading “Book Buzz: Fictional Kidnappings, New Harington, Generational Curses, Medieval Relic Heists, Soccer, Slashers, Space Disasters, and Cowboy Comfort Food”Book Buzz: Sequels, Historical Thrillers Galore, Love Ice and Fire Style, and Experimentals Kits
Every month, we’re profiling new-ish releases that are getting critical and commercial buzz. For September, we’re looking at a long-awaited follow-up, historical thrillers from a range of time periods, a new-ish contemporary romance series, and our very own Experimentals STEM and STEAM kits.
Continue reading “Book Buzz: Sequels, Historical Thrillers Galore, Love Ice and Fire Style, and Experimentals Kits”Andrey Kurkov’s The Silver Bone

Samson Kolechko is an engineer by training, but in the chaos that is Kyiv, Ukraine, in the spring of 1919, he finds himself a police investigator. Only weeks after losing his ear and his father to a rogue Cossack’s saber, Samson also contends with the uncertainty of everyday life in a world where the government changes every few weeks, depending on which army is in control of the city, and power and supply shortages, forced requisitions, and sudden violence are the only constants. Still, in the middle of all that, he finds himself immersed in an unusual case involving a silver bone.
Continue reading “Andrey Kurkov’s The Silver Bone”Book Buzz: Magical Realism, Summer Romances and Chick Lit, Comedic Mysteries, Sushi, and Audiobook Adventures
Every month, we’re profiling new-ish releases that are getting critical and commercial buzz. For July, we’re looking at magical realistic literary fiction set in the Dominican Republic, YA and adult chick lit and romance reads, comic mysteries that take on corporate America and the cozy genre, a how-to guide for making your own sushi, and a range of both fiction and nonfiction audiobooks.
Continue reading “Book Buzz: Magical Realism, Summer Romances and Chick Lit, Comedic Mysteries, Sushi, and Audiobook Adventures”Book Buzz: Contemporary Gothic Suspense, Historical Fiction, Northwoods Fiction, Nature Reads, Canning, and Audiobook Office Suspense
Every month, we’re profiling new-ish releases that are getting critical and commercial buzz. For May, we’re looking at a gothic tale complete with atmospheric mansion and family secrets, historical fiction with settings that range from the construction of the Panama Canal to WWII, contemporary fiction set in rural Wisconsin, nonfiction about trees and the animal kingdom, a guide to canning, and an audiobook about an office cleaner.
Continue reading “Book Buzz: Contemporary Gothic Suspense, Historical Fiction, Northwoods Fiction, Nature Reads, Canning, and Audiobook Office Suspense”