It’s award season! The Pacific Northwest Booksellers Award winners have been announced, the National Book Critics Circle Finalists for publishing year 2014 were announced, and The Newbery & Caldecott Medal and Honor winners should be announced any day now. [Visit the Edmonds Bookshop website for the lists!]

It’s also movie award season! And this year, so many of the movies that are/were nominated for awards [and some that have already won!], are based completely, or partially, on a book. I know!

A few of the frontrunners are: “Imitation Game,” “Still Alice,” “American Sniper,” “Wild,” “The Theory of Everything,” “Unbroken,” “The Hobbit,” “Gone Girl,” and “Inherent Vice.’ Fingers crossed that the Oscar goes to an author for “Adapted Screenplay!” Although – we don’t want to encourage them too much, since we don’t want them distracted by shiny things in Hollywood — we want them to keep writing actual books – *ahem*—George R. R. Martin are you listening?

And there are more movies based on books coming sometime this year, too:

• “Fifty Shades of Grey” by E. L. James
• “The Martian” by Andy Wier [one of my favorite books of last year!]
• “Dark Places” by Gillian Flynn [a book she wrote before “Gone Girl” – I liked it much better!]
• “Paper Towns” by John Green [author of “The Fault in Our Stars” –ask any teen you know]
• “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay part 2” – finally!

You have a little time to get caught up before the Oscars, and plenty of time before the movies the rest of this year. Just keep adding to your list!

First novel report: “Frostborn: Thrones & Bones #1” by Lou Anders. [Published 8/5/2014] All kinds of fun: Viking-inspired, humans, a half-frost giantess, trolls, dragons, wyverns, evil uncles, an undead warrior & his undead minions! Smart thinking plays as much a part in getting out of sticky situations as physical toughness does. Great for both boys and girls; and all future fans of Tolkien and George R.R. Martin. First in a series. Officially for ages 8-12, but all ages will totally enjoy it! Yes, read it!

Events

Feb. 19, 7 p.m. Third Thursday Art Walk Edmonds. We will welcome Natasha Kochicheril Moni and her first full-length poetry collection, “The Cardiologist’s Daughter,” just released by Two Sylvias Press in September 2014. She will read selections beginning at 7 p.m.; come by earlier to mix and mingle!

Natasha Kochicheril Moni is a naturopathic medical student and a writer. Born in the North to native Dutch and East Indian parents and raised in the South, she finds home in the Pacific Northwest. Her poetry, fiction, essays, and reviews have been published in multiple journals.

Visit her website for all kinds of additional information.

February 2015 Book Club Book:

Feb. 5 & 18 “Treasure Island” by Robert Louis Stevenson.
One of the most enduringly popular adventure tales, “Treasure Island” began in 1881 as a serialized adventure entitled “The Sea-Cook” in the periodical Young Folks. Completed during a stay at Davos, Switzerland, where Stevenson had gone for his health, it was published in 1883 in the form we know today.
Set in the 18th century, and seen through the eyes of the cabin boy of the Hispaniola, the action-packed adventure tells of a perilous sea journey across the Spanish Main, a mutiny led by the infamous Long John Silver, and a lethal scramble for buried treasure on an exotic isle.
Rich in atmosphere and character, it continues to mesmerize readers with its perceptive views of the changing nature of human motives.

We have chosen the books for the first half of 2015! They are listed on our Book Club page.

Recent book releases of note:
“Insurgent : Divergent Series #2” by Veronica Roth. Now in paperback!
“Descent” by Tim Johnston. A riveting literary thriller of the can’t-stop-turning-the-page, stay-up-all-night variety.
“The Girl on the Train” by Paula Hawkins. A debut psychological thriller that will forever change the way you look at other people’s lives. Already a staff favorite.
For ages: 4-8 “Mr. Squirrel and the Moon” by Sebastian Meschenmoser. When Mr. Squirrel awakens to find that the moon has landed on his tree, he frantically tries to get rid of it before someone suspects him of stealing it and puts him in jail. But when he rolls the moon off of his tree, it gets stuck on Mrs. Hedgehog’s bristles and when the billy-goat arrives and butts it with his horns . . . Already a staff favorite!
“Golden Son: Book II of the Red Rising Trilogy” by Pierce Brown. The debut author’s genre-defying epic “Red Rising” hit the ground running and wasted no time becoming a sensation. “Golden Son” continues the saga of Darrow, a rebel forged by tragedy, battling to lead his oppressed people to freedom.
For ages: 3-7 “The Bear Ate Your Sandwich” by Julia Sarcone-Roach. Bear meets sandwich, adventure ensues. . . . A sly classic-in-the-making for fans of Jon Klassen and Mo Willems.
“The Accident” by Chris Pavone. Gripping, sophisticated, layered, and impossible to put down, this proves once again that Chris Pavone is a true master of suspense. Staff favorite. Now in paperback.

Books of note coming soon:
“The Nightingale” by Kristin Hannah. France, 1939: the stories of two sisters, separated by years and experience, each embarking on her own dangerous path in German-occupied, war-torn France–a heartbreakingly beautiful novel that celebrates the resilience of the human spirit and the durability of women. Feb. 3, 2015.
“Shotgun Lovesongs” by Nickolas Butler. The staff favorite in paperback! Feb. 3, 2015.
“In Paradise” by Peter Matthiessen. Now in paperback! Feb. 3, 2015.
“Bird Box” by Josh Malerman. The staff favorite first novel in paperback! Feb. 10, 2015.
“A Spool of Blue Thread: A novel” by Anne Tyler. Feb. 10, 2015.
“Hollow City: The Second Novel of Miss Peregrine’s Peculiar Children” by Ransom Riggs. In paperback, this book includes bonus material: an exclusive Q & A with the author, never-before-seen photos, and an excerpt from the upcoming third novel. Feb. 24, 2015.
“Redeployment” by Phil Klay. Winner of the 2014 National Book Award and the John Leonard Prize for the best debut release of 2014! In paperback. Feb. 24, 2015.

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!”