NEWS WEEK OF 1 JUNE 2018

As one weatherman said “spring lasted about 30 seconds”. This week has been as hot as the hottest day of summer. My ever loving husband painted our sign in the almost 40 degree sun. A job that needs to be done every 30 years or so.

It has also been a week of delivery after delivery coming in the door. We are stocked for summer!

Blue Q bags, 95% recycled material – fun designs, lots of sizes for all kinds of stuff.

Jigsaw puzzles featuring Group of Seven Artwork.

Eeboo – kids art supplies and games – velvety plush for babies – all beautifully designed.

Found Image greeting cards with a vintage twist for all occasions.

Moleskine engagement calendars – some starting in July 2018, some January 2019 – get your favourite while we’ve got them!

The sale table is full of great books at great prices – including She’s Leaving Home by William Shaw, the first in his murder mystery series that takes place in 1960s London, England – list price $17.00 – now only $5.99. And 2018 wall calendars for only $2.50 because we know you need on for the cottage.

NEWS END OF MAY 2018

Once again, it is hard to believe another month is coming to an end.

Summer residents and cottagers are beginning to return and at Parry Sound Books getting ready for a busy summer!

There are new books and orders of toys and stationery coming in every day – crop in and see our new stock.

Some of the most notable new books that have arrived in the past few weeks are

Warlight by Michael Ondaatje – right out of the box and on to the top of my “to read” pile – and I have not been disappointed. This is another masterful novel, set in London in the years following the Second World War, it is the story of abandoned children, love and loss, resilience and the search for memory and meaning. Brilliant.

Jane Seymour – The Haunted Queen by Alison Weir chronicles the life of the third wife of King Henry VIII, as well as the history of the time. An absolutely fascinating and absorbing novel of a time of great change in the most renowned court in English history.

Love and Ruin by Paula McLain, from the author of the Paris Wife, another novel about Hemingway and another wife. This wife, Martha Gellhorn, is a much more interesting person, perhaps even more interesting than Hemingway, and the novel a better one than the first, as well.

The Dark Angel by Elly Griffiths takes forensic psychologist Ruth Galloway to Italy for an investigation that involves secrets from the Second World War.

NEW IN PAPERBACK

A History of Canada In Ten Maps by Adam Shoalts brings us “epic stories of charting a mysterious land”. These are the stories behind centuries old maps, and the influence of indigenous oral traditions on European explorers.

Original Highways by Roy MacGregor also travels the great rivers of Canada. Macgregor tells of lost histories, the resilience of settlers, and the First Nations efforts to keep the rivers from danger.

Into the Water by Paula Hawkins author of The Girl on the Train is another psychological thriller – sure to be another bestseller.

The Death of Mrs. Westaway by Ruth Ware, in the same ilk as Paula Hawkins, told with spellbinding menace.

A Legacy of Spies by John LeCarre, a new novel about the Cold War weaving past and present in an inventive and thrilling novel in the Smiley tradition.  

NEWS WEEK OF 27 APRIL 2018

FRIDAY AGAIN!! Funny – actually, not funny – how the days fly by.

And always, always more and more books coming in the door –

The Fourth Sacrifice by Peter May is #2 in The China Thriller series. American forensic pathologist, Margaret Campbell, works with the Chinese police to investigate four executions in Beijing.

The Knowledge, a Richard Jury mystery, by Martha Grimes brings London’s cabbies and cops together on a case that involves Kenyan art, rare gems, astrophysics, and a long-fermented act of revenge.

Two Kinds of Truth by Michael Connelly is now in paperback. There may be two kinds of truth, two sides to every story, but only one Harry Bosch.

The Shadow Killer by Arnaldur Indridason is the second in this excellent series of mystery novels set in Reykjavik during the Second World War. Moving to the top of my “to read” pile!

Anne Boleyn – A King’s Obsession by Alison Weir is now in paperback, and is the second in a series about the second wife of Henry VIII. Even if you think you’ve read enough historical fiction about the royal family, you will discover that this author tells the well known story with a fresh voice.

I Was Anastasia by Ariel Lawhon is another novel that takes an old story and makes it new. Was she or was she not the daughter of Tsar Nicolas II? Was she, or was she not, the only one to survive the assassination of the Romanov family? Fascinating history and a really good read.

The Good Pilot Peter Woodhouse by Alexander McCall Smith, is a stand alone novel from this popular and prolific author.  This is a meditative tale of hope and friendship during World War II.

News week of 19 April 2018

As the week of 19 April comes to an end, I look out my window and see that Mitch has canoe paddles on display, and I just received copies of Top 60 Canoe Routes of Ontario by Kevin Callan, but it is still very much winter in Parry Sound!

New in paperback

The Paris Spy by Susan Elia Macneal is now out in paperback. You can read my review on our website. An earlier novel in this series His Majesty’s Hope is now especially interesting with today’s news that Dr. Hans Asperger is alleged to have “assisted in the Third Reich’s ‘euthanasia’ programme”.

Susanna Kearsley is back with Bellewether . “Spellbinding! I’ve loved every one of Susanna’s books”, says Diana Gabaldon. And I am sure all of her many fans agree!

The Last Neanderthal by Claire Cameron is an enthralling story of two women separated by millennia but linked by and epic journey that transforms the evolution of the human race.

The Dying Detective by Leif GW Persson is a book my husband enthused about last summer when he read it. Now out in paperback, I have set a copy aside to read the next time I’m on a plane.

The Shoe on the Roof by Will Ferguson – described as an explosively imaginative tour de force that questions our definitions of sanity and madness.

New in hardcover

Undiscovered Country by Kelly O’Connor McNees is another new novel about the relationship between Eleanor Roosevelt and Lorena Hickok. I recently read Amy Bloom’s book White Houses on the same theme – this one is on the top of my “next to read” pile.

A Higher Loyalty – Truth, Lies, and Leadership – by James Comey. If you’re not too Trumped out here is another perspective on the dangerous soap opera of American politics today.

News Week of April 14, 2018

I returned from a week in Victoria to more snow! This must be a whole month of April’s Fool – us being the fools for hoping for spring.

I also found a whole pile of new books to tell you about – mostly mystery novels and a few other gems – in no particular order

Twenty-One Days by Anne Perry – A Daniel Pitt novel, as Anne Perry enters the Edwardian era – and inaugurates a new series – as Thomas and Charlotte Pitt’s son carries on his family’s distinguished mystery-solving tradition.

Macbeth by Jo Nesbo takes place in the 1970s in a run down town, and a police force struggling to shed an incessant drug problem.

The Mechanical Devil by Kate Ellis is a new Wesley Peterson Murder Mystery. As usual both Wesley and his archaeologist friend Neil Watson attempt to unravel a present day murder and a long-buried mystery.

A Cold Death in Amsterdam by Anja De Jager is the first in the Lotte Meerman Mystery series. Drawing inspiration from the cases her police detective father investigated, this is a series sure to please mystery readers and anyone with a fondness for Amsterdam! The second A Cold Case in Amsterdam Central continues the series, with the third Death on the Canal coming in June.

Another series new to me by Quentin Bates has two new installments, Chilled to the Bone, and Thin Ice, in this Icelandic murder mystery series featuring Officer Gunnhildur Gisladottir.

And, finally, a new book from Claire McGowan, the 4th in her series, A Savage Hunger. I loved the first three with their connections between present day life in Ireland and the troubled past, with forensic psychologist Paula Maguire investigating.

And a few more –

Vi by Kim Thuy is another lovely lyrical book from this fine writer about a young first generation Canadian woman of Vietnamese heritage finding her place in the world.

David Adams Richards brings us Mary Cyr, the tale of a wealthy Canadian woman involved in a tangled web of deceit and power.

Feast by Firelight by Emma Frish features simple recipes for camping, cabin and the great outdoors. For when spring finally comes!