Bookfest Mystery Authors

The 2nd Annual Downtown Glen Ellyn Bookfest is thrilled to announce there will be a Featured Group of Mystery Authors at this year's festival on June 18, 2011. They will be appearing in a free program called "Running into Trouble" at Run Today, 476 N. Main Street, from 10am to 1pm on Saturday, June 18, 2011.

The mystery authors confirmed as of this date include Joelle Charbonneau, the Chicago area author of Skating Around the Law, the first in the Rebecca Robbins mystery series by St. Martin's/Minotaur Press. The second book in the series, Skating Over the Line, will be released in September, 2011. Joelle is also working on a new show choir murder mystery called Murder for Choir, to be released in 2012 by Berkley Prime Crime.

Also appearing at the Bookfest Mystery Program is Robert Goldsborough, a Chicago area mystery writer. Goldsborough, a former Chicago Tribune reporter, has created a series about a wisecracking police reporter in Chicago in the 1930's and 40's. Terror at the Fair is his latest installment in his Snap Malek detective series, and is set during the Chicago Railroad Fair in 1949.

Book sales and signings will be available.

Featured Bookfest Author & Illustrator: Tom Lichtenheld

The 2nd Annual Downtown Glen Ellyn Bookfest is thrilled to announce that the Featured Children's Author for this year's festival is Tom Lichtenheld, a New York Times bestselling author and illustrator of books for children. Tom will be appearing from 10-11:30am at The Bookstore, 475 N. Main St. in Glen Ellyn on June 18, 2011.

Tom is the illustrator of two New York Times bestselling children's books, Duck! Rabbit! and Shark vs. Train. He is the author of many other popular books, including the newly released Cloudette and Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site.

Other bookstore favorites include Bridget's Beret, What Are You So Grumpy About and What's Wrong With This Room? The book Duck! Rabbit!, which he created with Amy Krouse Rosenthal, spent nine weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, and was actually read at the 2010 White House Easter Egg Roll.

There are no tickets required for this event; however, please call The Bookstore at (630) 469-2891 or email us to reserve a spot for your child. The purchase of one of Lichtenheld's books is required for each child attending. Books may be purchased in advance or on the day of the Bookfest. When registering your child, be prepared to tell us their age, your phone number and which of Tom Lichtenheld's books you would like to order. (A full list of his books can be found here.) If the event is not sold out in advance, children will be welcome on a first come, first serve basis.

Tom Lichtenheld will give a short, kid-friendly talk with drawings and audience participation. Children will have a chance to see up close how he comes up with his ideas and drawings. A book signing will follow the presentation.

Featured Bookfest Author: Luis Urrea

The Downtown Glen Ellyn Bookfest is proud to announce that Luis Urrea will be one of its Featured Authors at this year's festival on Saturday, June 18th, 2011.

Luis will join Brigid Pasulka, Cristina Henriquez and Sarah McCoy in a Literary Luncheon called "Inspired by Our Ancestry" at the Glen Oak Restaurant from 12:00pm to 1:30pm. Tickets are $15 and are now available at The Bookstore or the Downtown Glen Ellyn Alliance website. It will be a perfect event for your entire book club. Space is limited, so purchase your tickets early.

Friends of The Bookstore may know Luis from one of The Bookstore's most interesting events last year, our Cinco de Mayo party. Luis is one of the best storytellers around, and now he is finished with the sequel to The Hummingbird's Daughter. The sequel is called The Queen of America, and although it won't be released until December, we hope Luis will be sharing bits and pieces of it with us. In both books, Luis explores the history of his Mexican ancestor, Saint Teresita, in a captivating blend of history, magic and miracles.

We are especially thrilled that Luis will be paired with two other Chicago area authors whose books share a similar theme. In A Long, Long Time Ago & Essentially True, Brigid Pasulka writes about her own Polish ancestry, and in Half the World, Cristina Henriquez writes about a girl discovering her roots in Panama, the home of her grandparents. Finally, author Sarah McCoy will be joining the luncheon to discuss her own Puerto Rican ancestry, which is the subject of her first novel, The Time It Snowed In Puerto Rico.

All of these featured books, as well as Luis' many other books, are available at The Bookstore now - pick them up and read it before the luncheon, and enjoy the discussion even more. In the meantime, please follow the Glen Ellyn Bookfest on Facebook and Twitter for updates and information.

Featured Bookfest Author: Brigid Pasulka

The 2nd Annual Downtown Glen Ellyn Bookfest is proud to announce that Brigid Pasulka will be one of its Featured Authors at this year's festival on Saturday, June 18th, 2011.

Brigid will join authors Luis Urrea, Cristina Henriquez and Sarah Mccoy in a Literary Luncheon called "Inspired by Our Ancestry" at the Glen Oak Restaurant from 12:00pm to 1:30pm. Tickets are $15 and are now available at The Bookstore and on the Downtown Glen Ellyn Alliance website. Purchase of the book(s) is separate.

Brigid is a Chicago area author, English teacher and graduate of the Dartmouth College and the University of Illinois at Chicago Program for Writers. Her first book, A Long, Long Time Ago & Essentially True won the PEN/Hemingway Award in 2010, and was a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers selection. It also earned a blue staff pick card at The Bookstore!

We are very excited about Brigid's appearance, particularly since we read and reviewed A Long, Long Time Ago & Essentially True during our Chicago Writers Month project last October. Brigid based the book on her own travels to Poland after college, where she researched and learned more about her own grandparents' story. For more information, our earlier blog post can be found here. Brigid has a wonderful website with more information about the book, including a Reader's Guide, glossary and map.

We will make an announcement as soon as tickets for the Bookfest Literary Luncheon are available. In the meantime, please follow the Glen Ellyn Bookfest on Facebook and Twitter for updates and information. The entire schedule and program will be available soon.

Bookfest Author: Cristina Henriquez

The Downtown Glen Ellyn Bookfest is proud to announce that Cristina Henriquez will be one of its Featured Authors at this year's festival on Saturday, June 18th, 2011.

Cristina will join authors Luis Urrea, Brigid Pasulka and Sarah McCoy in a Literary Luncheon called "Inspired by Our Ancestry" at the Glen Oak Restaurant from 12:00pm to 1:30 pm. Tickets are $15 and are available at The Bookstore, 475 N. Main Street in Glen Ellyn, as well as the Downtown Glen Ellyn Alliance website. Purchase of the book(s) is separate.

Cristina is a Chicago area author and a graduate of Northwestern University and the Iowa Writers' Workshop. She has written two books: her first, a short story collection called Come Together, Fall Apart, and the second, a novel called The World in Half. Her first book was a New York Times Editors' Choice selection, and Virginia Quarterly called her one of literature's "promising new luminaries." For more information about Cristina, check out her website or this Chicago Tribune profile.

The World in Half is based on Cristina's own childhood visits to her grandparents in Panama every summer. Her father grew up near the Panama Canal. In The World in Half, a young woman travels from Chicago to Panama to locate the father she never met, and discovers that it's not just the Panama Canal that cuts the world in half.

We are very excited about Cristina's appearance, particularly since Jen Karsbaek at Devourer Of Books gave The World in Half a glowing review during our Chicago Writers' Month last October.

A perfect event for your book club! Cristina's book is available at The Bookstore now - pick it up and read it before the luncheon, and enjoy the discussion even more.

In the meantime, please follow the Glen Ellyn Bookfest on Facebook and Twitter for updates and information.

The Four Ms. Bradwells by Meg Waite Clayton

I'll admit it: I'm a Ms. Bradwell wannabe.

But first, a little background from Meg Waite Clayton's new book, The Four Ms. Bradwells. In 1869, Myra Bradwell was denied admission to the Illinois Bar because she was a woman. She appealed her case all the way up to the nine white males on the United States Supreme Court - and lost by a vote of 8-1. The Supreme Court said, as quoted in the book's epigraph:

"The natural and proper timidity and delicacy which belongs to the female sex evidently unfits it for many of the occupations of civil life. … The paramount destiny and mission of woman are to fulfill the noble and benign offices of wife and mother. This is the law of the Creator.”

Yes, they really did say that.

Fast forward 110 years to a scene in the novel - a lecture hall at the University of Michigan Law School. It's 1979 and the student body is nearly half women. When a feisty female law student insists on being called "Ms." during a classroom discussion of Bradwell v. Illinois, several other female law students rise up in her defense, and a professor kiddingly names them the "Four Ms. Bradwells."

It's a name and a friendship to which the four young women become deeply devoted. They bond over casebooks, hot tubs and spring break road trips to a beautiful family compound on Chesapeake Bay. They remain friends for nearly 30 years, and are reunited when one of the Ms. Bradwells is nominated to the Supreme Court.

Yes, I'm jealous. I also went to law school during the Ms. Bradwells era, but unfortunately, I didn't know anybody with a hot tub, a fireplace in their dorm room or a "family compound." I spent most of my time in the law library drinking bad instant coffee, playing Pac-Man in the student lounge, and hanging out in dive bars with the Thursday Night Study Club. Makes me really wish I'd gotten into Michigan Law. But it's more than that. It's the four Ms. Bradwells. How many women truly have four lifelong friends who have been with them through nearly everything?

But enough about me and my Ms. Bradwell envy.

The Four Ms. Bradwells is a great read for any woman, no matter what your age or alma mater. There are three generations of women: mothers, daughters, mentors, friends. First, there is a first-wave trailblazing feminist lawyer with a boat named Row v. Wade. Then there are the four Ms. Bradwells, second-wave feminists who graduated from law school in the early 80's, when women first entered the legal profession in sizable numbers (with our floppy silk ties, male lawyer wannabes). Then there are their daughters, young women in college and law school, looking for their own path after so many decades of the women's movement.

There are meaty issues in this book that will keep your book club up late, like sexual harassment, fellow woman-envy, gay ex-husbands, Anita Hill v. Clarence Thomas, women's sexuality, and mothering daughters in the post-feminist era. You'll want to discuss whether you would encourage your own daughter to follow in your footsteps - and why or why not. You could discuss the mixed feelings we have when we abandon a successful career for motherhood or an alternative vocation (writing poetry for instance, like one of the Ms. Bradwells did -- writing novels, like Meg Waite Clayton did -- or bookselling, like I did).

See what I mean? This book is really discussable.

But don't be overwhelmed - this is no dark and depressing book. There's plenty of fun and frivolity too, the kind of skinny-dipping silliness us gals can have on a memorable girls' weekend. There's a mysterious death from the long-ago spring break on Chesapeake Bay that threatens to derail the Supreme Court nomination. There are secrets and suspicions and a surprise letter from the grave. There's a ridiculously nutty scene at the end of the book that might make you spit out your coffee. The Four Ms. Bradwells has got it all.

That's why I am so very pleased to announce that Glen Ellyn area readers will have the chance to meet Meg Waite Clayton at a reception and book signing at The Bookstore on Thursday, June 2, 2011 at 7:00 pm. In the meantime, you can find The Four Ms. Bradwells on our staff pick shelf. If you would like to place it on hold until the next time you pop in, just click here.

March Madness Strikes The Bookstore

Glen Ellyn pedestrians have been stopping dead in their tracks as they pass by on Main Street. They're checking out The Bookstore's new window display.

A giant red rooster, spinning orange basketballs? Of course! It's March Madness at The Bookstore!

The Bookstore's March window display is celebrating the The Morning News Tournament of Books, which starts Tuesday, March 8th and goes through April 1st. If you haven't heard of it before, it's an NCAA-style tournament for books, brackets and all. Every weekday, go to The Morning News for that day's match-up and commentary. It's lots of fun.

The good news for our customers: all books featured in the Tournament will receive a book club discount. Stop in and stock up on some of the best books from the past year.

Then, mark your calendars and join us on Friday, March 25th from 10am to Noon for a "Fourth Friday Coffee Talk" about the Tournament: the brackets, the judges, the upsets, but most of all, . . .

THE ZOMBIES.

Let the games begin!

Book Club Night at The Bookstore

We had a great turnout of dedicated book club reps at our 11th Annual Book Club Night on Tuesday, March 1st. If you couldn't make it, below is a list of each bookseller's recommendations as well as the books that were chosen as the "Best Discussion Book of 2010" by local book clubs.

Here is a photo of Jenny discussing one of her faves, Paul Auster's Sunset Park. This was after the crowd gave her a big round of applause for being the Chicago Tribune's Indie Bookseller Cover Girl on February 26th!

Jane's Picks:

Clara and Mr. Tiffany by Susan Vreeland

Swamplandia! by Karen Russell

The Sherlockian by Graham Moore

The Passage by Justin Cronin

A Novel Bookstore by Laurence Cosse

Global Soccer Mom by Shayne Moore*

*Jane was totally inspired by Shayne's book launch last week, and wants us all to join Shayne's mission to go out and get things done!

Jenny's Picks:

Sunset Park by Paul Aster

The Fates Will Find Their Way by Hannah Pittard*

Caribou Island by David Vann

Father of the Rain by Lily King

Union Atlantic by Adam Haslett

A Friend of the Family by Lauren Grodstein

The Surrendered by Chang Rae Lee

*Jenny freely admits she totally stole this one from Margie, but Jenny gave it such a great blurb ("this could be set in Glen Ellyn") all Margie had to do was give her the thumb's up from the back of the room.

Sue's Picks:

Illumination by Kevin Brockmeier*

All Is Forgotten, Nothing is Lost by Lan Samantha Chang

Let's Take The Long Way Home by Gail Caldwell

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand

Memory Wall: Stories by Anthony Doerr

The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender

Elegies for the Brokenhearted by Christie Hodgen

The Hand That First Held Mine by Maggie O'Farrell

*Sue's already announcing this might be her favorite book of 2011. And it's only March!

Margie's Picks:

Wingshooters by Nina Revoyr

You Know When the Men Are Gone by Siobhan Fallon

The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht

The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown

The Paris Wife by Paula McLain

Madame Tussaud by Michelle Moran

A Long, Long Time Ago and Essentially True by Brigid Pasulka*

*We are very excited to announce that Brigid Pasulka will be appearing at the Second Annual Downtown Glen Ellyn Bookfest on June 18, 2011. We're encouraging our book clubs to read this terrific book in advance and come to our Featured Author Luncheon ready to chat.

Book Clubs' Own Best Discussion Books of 2010:

Still Alice by Lisa Genova (3 book clubs agreed)

Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout

Cutting for Stone by Adam Verghese

Look Me In The Eye by John Robison

Brooklyn by Colm Toibin

Acts of Faith by Philip Caputo

Freedom by Jonathan Franzen

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

My Name is Mary Sutter by Robin Oliveira

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Shafer & Burrows

Beneath the Marble Sky by John Shorts

Tortilla Curtain by T.C. Boyle

This Is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper

Wingshooters by Nina Revoyr

Wingshooters by Nina Revoyr (Akashic Books, $15.95) is one of The Bookstore's Staff Picks for February, but somehow a little blue Staff Pick card doesn't do it justice. This is an intense, powerful book that you just have to read for yourself.

It starts out as a quiet book, set in a small town in Central Wisconsin in the mid-1970's. Customers who know me will know why I was immediately drawn to this book: that's where and when I grew up.

It's the kind of place where blue-collar men gather to drink beer in their garage and talk about their guns, their duck hunting and the upcoming deer season. It was back when men could have an agreeable chat about those "dang draft dodgers and city slickers" at the local barbershop. The kind of time and place where children could grow up without meeting a person of another race unless they left for a bigger city like Madison, Milwaukee or Chicago. When prejudice was a way of life so deeply ingrained that no one thought to cringe at racial epithets.

And yet.

It was also the kind of a time and place where mothers still made homemade pies, grown men played on baseball leagues, and every kid had a loyal hunting dog as a sidekick. Where a kid could hop on a bike and ride safely for miles past cow pastures and cornfields and silos. A place and time of close family connections that -- admit it -- we wish we still had.

It is into this rich, complicated mix of love and prejudice that Nina Revoyr sets her book. The story features a young girl who has been left to be raised by her grandparents in the fictional town of Deerhorn, Wisconsin. Her dad grew up in Deerhorn, but went off to school in Madison (Wisconsin code for "got newfangled ideas") and married a Japanese woman. Years later, the dad drops off his daughter so he can head off to California in hopes of reconciling with his wife.

The girl narrates the story as a grown woman with a wise but painful perspective:

"So I stayed with my American grandparents whom I had met only once before, in the town they'd both lived in or near for all of their lives. . . . While people in other parts of the country were growing their hair long and smoking pot and wearing polka dot ties and bell-bottoms, the people of Deerhorn dressed in overalls and drank cheap Wisconsin beer. And while there were stories on the nightly news about antiwar protests, women's rights, the school busing crisis in Boston, and Watergate, these events seemed so distant and strange that they might have been taking place in a different country."

The narrator recalls, in a brave clear voice: "Let me make this very clear - my grandfather was a bigot. He wasn't shy about using racial epithets, or blaming blacks or Jews or Democrats for all the country's problems. But it enraged him that the town did not embrace me."

At the same time the town is reacting to this young girl's arrival, a black couple from Chicago moves to town for jobs at the local medical clinic. The town's racial anxieties are stoked by some truly hateful characters, and the young biracial girl and her grandfather are caught right in the middle. The tension builds and the suspense is keep-you-awake-at-night frightening. Make no mistake, this is a tragic, violent and stunning story. A story you need to read.

Looking back, it makes me sad to think that I have known this way of life, that we have known this way of life. I'm sad to learn that Revoyr actually lived in a place like Deerhorn for two years as a child. However, as Revoyr captures so beautifully, the air we breathed back then wasn't all hateful, and in fact most of it was just the opposite. My town wasn't nearly that small and backward, but still, I have stories. And I'm pretty sure you have stories too, even if you didn't grow up there and then.

So what do you do with that history, those stories, that complicated mix of love and anger and ignorance? Is it enough to say that you move forward and teach your own children differently, or must we do more? Fortunately for her readers, Revoyr took her own stories, and with her remarkable imagination and talent, produced this novel.

Wingshooters would make for an incredibly interesting book club night. I highly recommend it.

Fourth Friday Coffee Talk: Clara and Mr. Tiffany February 25th

The Bookstore is pleased to announced that it has selected the book for the Fourth Friday Coffee Talk on February 25th: Clara and Mr. Tiffany by Susan Vreeland.

Pick up the book (at a 10% discount), enjoy the read, and then join Margie and Sue for a drop-in discussion at The Bookstore between 10am and Noon on February 25th. We'll be serving complimentary coffee.

Margie and Jane have already finished it, and really enjoyed it. Historical fiction fans, and especially Susan Vreeland fans will love it. It's based on the true life of the woman who designed Tiffany lamps in turn of the century New York City. You'll learn a lot about the artistry of stained glass, and the obstacles that working women had to overcome in order to pursue a career in those times. You'll never look at stained glass the same again.

We happen to think Clara and Mr. Tiffany would be a great choice for your own next book club. You could plan a trip to the Smith Museum of Stained Glass at Navy Pier in Chicago to see some spectacular Tiffany stained glass windows from the New York studios in the book. Check out this Navy Pier website for some beautiful photos.

Hope you can join us for our Coffee Talk! No RSVP necessary, just stop by.

Global Soccer Mom Book Launch Party

Meet Shayne Moore

Thurs. Feb. 24th

Book Launch Party

7-9pm

The Bookstore

475 N. Main St.

Glen Ellyn, IL 60137

RSVP: click here

The Bookstore is pleased to announce a Book Launch Party for Shayne Moore, Wheaton mom and global activist, on Thursday, February 24th from 7 to 9pm. Shayne is the author of Global Soccer Mom: Changing the World Is Easier Than You Think.

Shayne will discuss her book and her work with World Bicycle Relief, the advocacy group ONE, and Growers First.

Shayne was determined to make a difference with her book launch party, and has put together a terrific partnership of local retailers to do just that. The Bookstore will donate 10% of the proceeds from the sale of the book to the children of the Glen Ellyn Children's Resource Center. In addition, anyone who purchases the book will receive a coupon for 10% off one purchase at Fushcia and The Bike Shop. For each coupon received, Fuschia will in turn donate 10% of the purchase to the GECRC and The Bike Shop will donate 10% of the purchase to World Bicycle Relief.

Come meet this dynamic neighbor who can teach us how to change the world one step at a time. Buy her book and make a difference, both locally and globally. Complimentary wine and appetizers. Please call (630) 469-2891 or email us at justbook475@yahoo.com to RSVP.

Fourth Friday Coffee Talks: January Wrap-Up

January's Coffee Talk was really fun. If you missed it, not to worry, Sue and Margie will be announcing their February Coffee Talk pick in the February newsletter. Mark your calendars for the Fourth Friday of each month, and join us for a casual discussion about a new book.

Our January pick was actually two books: Foreign Bodies by Cynthia Ozick and The Ambassadors by Henry James. We were inspired to pick both because of the book flap for Foreign Bodies, which says that Ozick wanted to "retrace the story of Henry James's The Ambassadors - the work he considered his best - but as a photographic negative, in which the plot is the same but the meaning is reversed." That really made us curious to check out both books at once.

It probably helps to read The Ambassadors first. In both books, an "ambassador" is sent from the States to Paris to retrieve a young expatriate and convince him to return to the the States. In The Ambassadors, Henry James describes a cultured, refined Paris of the 1890's (and a cultured, refined older lover) that has worked its magic on the expatriate, seeming to make him a better person than he'd been before. Soon the magic starts to work on the ambassador as well, and no one wants to return to the States. Unfortunately, by the time Ozick's characters make it to Paris in the 1950's, the magic of Paris has been destroyed by war and despair. The "photographic negative" that Ozick creates is tragic and sad. However, after reading The Ambassadors, it is still a pleasure to follow the plot and to spot all of the instances in which the meaning and effect has been flip-flopped.

Both books are a recommended read for those who enjoy reading about Americans in Paris, and for any traveler who's ever had the thought: "hey, let's not go home, let's just stay here." I don't know about you, but I swear I have that thought at least once every trip.

January Coffee Talk: Friday, January 28th

The Bookstore thought it would introduce something new this year: a monthly Coffee Talk Readalong! At the beginning of each month we will select a book and announce our selection in the monthly newsletter. You'll have nearly a month to buy, borrow or download the book. Then, on last Friday of the month we will offer bagels and coffee at The Bookstore from 10am until Noon, and customers can stop in to chat any time that morning at their leisure. Kind of like a book club, but way more chill. Come as you are, come when you can! No purchase required.

Sue and I will start in January with a pair of books that go well together. One is new, Foreign Bodies by Cynthia Ozick. It is based on one of that author's favorite classics of all time, The Ambassadors by Henry James. Read one or both of these novels in January, and come to our coffee chat on Friday, January 28th! Or if you don't have time to read, just pop in to see if it sounds like a book you'd be interested in.

Sue has just finished Foreign Bodies, and I have just finished The Ambassadors, and we're ready to switch books. I loved The Ambassadors, set in turn-of-the-century France, featuring a cast of tightly wound Americans and more cultured and open-minded Parisians. I especially liked it because it was the story of a man in his 50's in the midst of rediscovery, proving you're never too old to grow and discover new things. I kept thinking of Joni Mitchell's tune, Free Man in Paris. Now I can't wait to compare The Ambassadors to a more modern and supposedly flip-flopped story of Americans abroad in Foreign Bodies.

All Coffee Talk book purchases are entitled to our usual book club discounts, so stop in and pick yours up today. Hope to see you the last Friday morning of the month!

Staff Picks: Best of 2010

I don't know how we did it, but the booksellers at The Bookstore managed to sort through all of their hundreds of reads in 2010 to come up with a list of our Best of 2010 Staff Picks. We made a valiant effort to keep our lists to the top ten, but when you're surrounded by fantastic books everyday, sometimes that is just impossible. It's like they're all our babies.

And because we're booksellers, it's not enough to love a book, we have to spread the love with our customers. So here's a little bonus: any of "our babies" on these lists will be on sale for 10% off through the month of January. The secret code at check-out will be: "BABIES10." (If you're not too ashamed to say that in public, we figure you've earned the discount, along with a high-five.)

Sue's 2010 Favorites (in no particular order, or so she says.)

1. Freedom by Jonathan Franzen

2. The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender

3. Elegies for the Brokenhearted by Christie Hodgen

4. Memory Wall by Anthony Doerr

5. A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan

6. Skippy Dies by Paul Murray

7. Great House by Nicole Krauss

8. Half a Life by Darin Strauss

9. Shadow Tag by Louise Erdich

10. Unfinished Score by Elise Blackwell

Jenny's 2010 Favorites

1. The Passage by Justin Cronin

2. The Curable Romantic by Joseph Skibell

3. The Lonely Polygamist by Brady Udall

4. How to Read the Air by Dinaw Mengestu

5. Exley by Brock Clarke

6. Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand

7. Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes

8. Crooked Letter Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin

9. Father of the Rain by Lily King

10.This is Where I Leave You by Jonathon Tropper ('09 release but enjoyed in 2010)

Margie's 2010 Favorites (in some kind of order, but it changes daily)

1. Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes

2. Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand

3. Freedom by Jonathan Franzen

4. Great House by Nicole Krauss

5. The Lonely Polygamist by Brady Udall

6. Alice I Have Been by Melanie Benjamin

7. The Nobodies Album by Carolyn Parkhurst

8. The Girl Who Fell From the Sky by Heidi Durrow

9. Safe from the Sea by Peter Geye

10. If I Loved You I Would Tell You This by Robin Black

Jane's 2010 Favorites

1. The Passage by Justin Cronin

2. Divine Appointments by Charlene Baumbich

3. Alice I Have Been by Melanie Benjamin

4. The Last Time I Saw You by Elizabeth Berg

5. Saving CeeCee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman

6. 68 Rooms by Marianne Malone

7. Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

8. It's A Book by Lane Smith

9. Dog Loves Books by Louise Yates

10. Christmas Kitten, Home at Last by Robin Pulver

Author Appearances in 2010

We are also so grateful for the numerous authors who came to The Bookstore and the First Annual Downtown Glen Elyn Bookfest in 2010 for book signings, author appearances and theme parties. After a particularly memorable night on Cinco de Mayo with the amazing Luis Urrea, we now call our rocking chair the "magical storytelling chair." It has been an an honor to welcome the following authors to our store and our village, and we thank them for sharing their time, their stories and their books:

Melanie Benjamin - Alice I Have Been

Elizabeth Berg - The Last Time I Saw You

Charlene Baumbich - Divine Appointments

Joelle Charbonneau - Skating Around the Law

Stephanie Cowell - Claude and Camille

Marsha Engle - 100 Sounds to See

Pamela Ferdinand - Three Wishes

J. Gordon - Kritterkreep

Shilipi Gowda - Secret Daughter

Kevin Guilfoille - The Thousand

Debbie Kearns - A Garden! A Garden!

J.A. Konrath - Jack Daniels detective series

Valerie Laken - Dream House

Maureen Lipinski - Not Ready for Mom Jeans

Marianne Malone - 68 Rooms

Kelly O'Connor McNees - The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott

John McNally - After the Workshop, Ghosts of Chicago

Dick Nogaj - Don't Retire, Get Inspired

Bob Raczka - Numerous children's books

Mark Reinecke - Little Ways to Keep Calm and Carry On

Janis Simms - Grandma's Basket

Glenette Tiley Turner - Fort Moses

Luis Urrea - Into the Beautiful North

As much fun as it is to make a Top Ten list, it just doesn't seem fair to our other favorite Staff Picks, including:

And the Pursuit of Happiness by Maira Kalman, Diamond Ruby by Joseph Wallace, Let's Take the Long Way Home by Gail Caldwell, American Music by Jane Mendelsohn, The Hand That First Held Mine by Maggie O'Farrell,

The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman, All Is Forgotten, Nothing Is Lost by Lan Samantha Chang, Lake Shore Limited by Sue Miller, The Cookbook Collector by Allegra Goodman, Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson, The Report by Jessica Frances Kane, Pearl of China by Anchee Min, The Lotus Eaters by Tatjana Soli, The Irresistible Henry House by Lisa Grunwald, Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier, The Singer's Gun by Emily Mandel, Finny by Justin Kramon,Innocent by Scott Turow, Faithful Place by Tana French, The Long Way Home by Laura Caldwell . . . we could go on & on. You really should stop in and check out our Staff Pick Shelf for yourself!

And don't forget, we will be inviting YOU to come and share your favorites of 2010 at our Annual Book Club Night on Tuesday, March 1st. Have your book club vote on your favorite book of 2010, and then come and share it with the rest of us over wine and cheese. We will send you home with a list of every book club's favorites.

In the meantime, we'd love to hear your comments below!

Happy New Year from The Bookstore Team