Bookshop Santa Cruz recommends:
1. “Wolf Hall”
2. “Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk”
3. “Grace of Silence”
4. “The Food Matters Cookbook”
5. “Howl
Capitola Book Café recommends:
1. “Drood”
2. “What Is Left the Daughter”
3. “Kook:
4. “Getting Green Done”
Bookshop Santa Cruz recommends:
1. “Wolf Hall”
by Hilary Mantel
We really loved this book even before it won the well-deserved Booker Prize. A historical novel that’s a true page-turner, “Wolf Hall,” set in England during the reign of King Henry the VIII, is filled with individuals who fight or embrace their fate with such passion and courage that we dare you to try putting this book down mid-chapter.
2. “Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk”
by David Sedaris
David Sedaris has a new book! Need we say more?
3. “Grace of Silence”
by Michele Norris
On Michelle Obama’s current reading list, this memoir by NPR’s Michele Norris (All Things Considered) is a beautiful read. With candor and grace, Norris challenges ‘the things left unsaid’ about race in her family and gives us a poignant snapshot of race in America.
4. “The Food Matters Cookbook”
by Mark Bittman
Bookshop staff favorite and New York Times columnist Mark Bittman (“How to Cook Everything”) is back with another fantastic cookbook. Perfect for Michael Pollan fans, this book is packed with easy, delicious, recipes that are good for you and the planet.
5. “Howl:
A Graphic Novel”
by Allen Ginsburg
Allen Ginsberg’s “Howl” is a prophetic masterpiece that had to battle its way through censorship when it was first published in 1956. Now, not only is it one of the most widely read poems of our times, it’s also a major motion picture (seen it yet?), based on this beautifully illustrated graphic novel.
Capitola Book Café recommends:
1. “Drood”
by Dan Simmons
“Drood” closely examines the last years of Charles Dickens’ life as seen through the eyes of his real-life close friend and colleague Wilkie Collins who, it should be mentioned, was an opium addict suffering from extreme paranoia and terrifying hallucinations. Part character study, part supernatural murder mystery, “Drood” has something for everyone.
2. “What Is Left the Daughter”
by Howard Norman
In this erotically charged and morally complex novel, actual historical incidents—including a German U-boat’s sinking of the Nova Scotia-Newfoundland ferry—create an intense narrative within Norman’s uncannily layered story. It speaks to the mysteries of human character in wartime and is directed to an audience of one, the narrator’s 21-year-old daughter.
3. “Kook: What Surfing Taught Me about Love, Life, and Catching the Perfect Wave”
by Peter Heller
Having resolved to go from kook to shredder in a single year, travel writer and environmentalist Peter Heller explores the technique and science of surfing, the secrets of its culture, and the environmental ravages to the stunning coastline he visits as he travels the coast from California down to Mexico.
4.“Getting Green Done”
by Auden Schendler
Providing an insider’s look at the green revolution, Schendler may poke a few holes in the movement, but not without offering real hope and a more sustainable way to progress.
