Just because it’s already Labor Day doesn’t mean you have to give up on your Summer Reading! All kinds of great books and series have been quite popular this summer, and there is still plenty of time to read!

Great series for young readers:

• “The Last Dogs” by Christopher Holt. Book #4, “Journey’s End,” was just released June 1.
• “Imaginary Veterinary” by Suzanne Selfors. Book # 4, “The Order of the Unicorn,” was published July 22. And book #5 is coming in 2015.
• “How to Train Your Dragon” by Cressida Cowell. Book #11, “How to Betray a Dragon’s Hero” is coming in paperback Sept. 16.
• “Maze Runner” by James Dashner. This series is a trilogy, with a bonus prequel, “The Kill Order.” The Maze Runner movie is coming Sept. 19.

For teen readers:

• “Everything” by John Green. The movie version of “Fault in our Stars” was released this summer. “Paper Towns” will be in theaters next summer.
• “Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children” by Ransom Rigg. Is going to be a movie by Tim Burton! Tentative release date March 2016. Book #2 in the series, “Hollow City,” was published this January.
• “If I Stay” by Gayle Forman. The movie was out this summer. And there is a sequel now in paperback: “Where She Went.”
• “The Giver” by Lois Lowry. Classic dystopian novel. Movie released this summer. All reports indicate the book is much much better!
• “The Mortal Instruments” by Cassandra Clare. Book #6, “City of Heavenly Fire,” was published May 27.

Great reads for adults [both now in paperback!]:

• “The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics” by Daniel James Brown.
• “Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption” by Laura Hillenbrand. Coming to theaters Christmas Day 2014.

First Novel Report for August: “Bird Box: A Novel” by Josh Malerman (published May 13, 2014). Malerman is a musician [The High Strung] so, technically, he has been writing for years. His first novel shows his skills. This is such a well done horror novel, I am in awe. I read & watch [and enjoy!] all kinds of horror: psychological drama; cute children in peril; full-on bloody serial-killer tales… for the first time in years [years!], I had trouble closing my eyes to sleep while I was in the middle of this book. Crazy good! Verdict: Holy mammal-of-your-choice! Be prepared to leave the light on!!

September Events at The Edmonds Bookshop.

Sept. 4 and 17. Our September Book Club title is “The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics” by Daniel James Brown. Out of the depths of the Depression comes an irresistible story about beating the odds and finding hope in the most desperate of times—the improbable, intimate account of how nine working-class boys from Seattle showed the world at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin what true grit really meant. Find more details about this title and the list of our book choices for the rest of the year, on our Book Club page. [https://www.edmondsbookshop.com/bookclub.htm]
Sept. 18. Third Thursday Art Walk, 5 – 8 p.m. We will welcome multimedia artist Dolly Haakenson with her lovely, decorative birdhouses and bird boxes! They have been so popular the last couple of years, she is back again for a command performance!! View the beauty in our Puget Sound Bird Fest-related window, and meet the lovely artist live and in person during the ArtWalk! Light snacks and beverages will be served.

Recent book releases of note:
“Sweet Thunder” by Ivan Doig. A beloved character brings the power of the press to 1920s Butte, Montana, in this latest from the best storyteller of the West. In paperback!
“The Long Way Home: A Chief Inspector Gamache Novel” by Louise Penny. Happily retired in the village of Three Pines, Armand Gamache, former Chief Inspector of Homicide with the Sûreté du Québec, has found a peace he’d only imagined possible.
“Painted Horses” by Malcolm Brooks. This evocative debut novel, set in 1950s Montana, tells the story of an archaeologist whose discoveries may delay construction of a large dam. New [8/10/14] review in The Seattle Times. And chosen for lead review in the August IndieBound.
“Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and his Years of Pilgrimage: A Novel” by Haruki Murakami. The new novel—a book that sold more than a million copies the first week it went on sale in Japan—from the internationally acclaimed author, his first since “IQ84.”
“We Are Not Ourselves: A Novel” by Matthew Thomas. This “powerfully moving” multigenerational debut novel of an Irish-American family is nothing short of a “masterwork”. Epic in scope, heroic in character, masterful in prose, it heralds the arrival of a major new talent in contemporary fiction. Chosen for September IndieBound.
“Adultery: A Novel” by Paulo Coelho. In the latest novel from the best-selling author, a woman attempts to overcome midlife ennui by rediscovering herself in a passionate relationship with a man who had been a friend in her youth.
“Against Football: One Fan’s Reluctant Manifesto” by Steve Almond. Early on in this powerful polemic, before expanding on the numerous reasons spectators should more seriously consider the ramifications of the football, the author declares that he’s been an avid, lifelong fan. New book from a staff favorite author.
“Kill My Mother” by Jules Feiffer. With hidden secrets, dual identities, mystery, and murder, Feiffer creates a fusion of genres that reads like a film noir written by a dramatist or a cartoonist’s version of a pulp detective story done as a stage play—all mediums that the author has triumphed in. The result is an achievement of tremendous breadth and scope.

Books of note coming soon:
“Personal: A Jack Reacher Novel” by Lee Child. Sept. 2
“The Secret Place” by Tana French. A powerful, haunting exploration of friendship and loyalty, and a gripping addition to the Dublin Murder Squad series. Chosen for September IndieBound [https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780670026326]. Sept. 2
“The Bone Clocks” by David Mitchell. Channeling multiple lives and chance encounters Mitchell’s ambitious new novel is called “a thing of beauty” by Publisher’s Weekly. Chosen for September IndieBound [https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781400065677]. Sept. 2
“Somewhere Safe with Somebody Good: The New Mitford Novel” by Jan Karon. Father Tim Kavanagh returns from Ireland to tiny Mitford, N.C., where everyone has gotten older, but not automatically wiser. Sept. 2
“Edge of Eternity: Book Three of The Century Trilogy” by Ken Follett. This finale covers one of the most tumultuous eras of all: the 1960s through the 1980s, encompassing civil rights, assassinations, Vietnam, the Berlin Wall, the Cuban Missile Crisis, presidential impeachment, revolution—and rock and roll. Coming Sept. 16
“The Golem of Hollywood” by Jonathan Kellerman and Jesse Kellerman. “An extraordinary work of detection, suspense, and supernatural mystery. I spent three days totally lost in the world Jonathan and Jesse Kellerman have created.”—Stephen King. Sept. 16
“Men We Reaped: A Memoir” by Jesmyn Ward. In paperback. Chosen for September IndieBound.

As always, check our website for all the latest in book news!

Happy reading!

– By Elaine Mattson

Edmonds native Elaine Mattson has worked at The Edmonds Bookshop off and on since she was 12 years old, and has also worked at a book wholesaler, a book publisher, and for the book publishing division of a large local software company (yes, that one). “I was raised a book lover [thanks, Mom!],” Mattson says. “We got book lights by our beds as soon as we were old enough to read. And then I probably got in trouble for reading too late the very next night. And I still read too late!”