Wakefield Books Newsletter for February 2017    


Wakefield Books is 6 years old!





We'll be celebrating 6 years as an independent bookstore this month. 

We've worked hard to make this store a favorite place to shop for our customers and we promise to keep working to earn and keep your business. But, we owe it all to you for your strong support, and inspiration.

This month we'll have a big raffle for prizes and some other giveaway goodies are in the works as well.


In the meantime, there's so much else to tell you about so read on...... 

           
February is National Black History Month 
It's an annual celebration of achievements by black Americans and a time for recognizing the central role of African Americans in U.S. history. We invite you to explore this history. Here's just a few of our recommendations:









 

Great Valentine's Day themed titles for Young and Old












2017 Reading Across Rhode Island Title Selection
Rhode Island's One Book, One State community read program kicks off its 15th year in 2017. Reading Across Rhode Island is a program of the Rhode Island Center for the Book made possible through a vibrant collaboration of librarians, teachers, book group leaders and readers from across the state. The 2017 program runs from January through May with readers in Rhode Island classrooms, libraries, community centers, bookstores and book groups invited to join discussions and participate in local community events such as lectures, exhibits and dramatic interpretations centered on this year's selection.

Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson

An unforgettable true story about the redeeming potential of mercy. Bryan Stevenson was a gifted young attorney when he founded Equal Justice Initiative, a legal practice
dedicated to defending the poor, the wrongly condemned, and those trapped in the furthest reaches of our criminal justice system.

"We are so thrilled to learn that Just Mercy has been chosen as the 2017 Reading Across
Rhode Island selection. We truly believe that the more people who read this book, the
better the country will become." - Caitlin Mccaskey, Random House.  
 


Bryan Stevenson is the executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, Alabama and a professor of law at New York University Law School. He has won relief for dozens of condemned prisoners, argued five times before the Supreme Court, and won national acclaim for his work challenging bias against the poor and people of color. He has received numerous awards, including the MacArthur Foundation "Genius" Grant. "We are so thrilled to learn that Just Mercy has been chosen as the 2017 Reading Across Rhode Island selection. We truly believe that the more people who read this book, the
better the country will become." - Caitlin Mccaskey, Random House.



Staff Picks


The Swimmer 
by Joakim Zander


An international thriller mainly set in Sweden, but with action flung all across the world.  Many different security agencies from different countries are involved and all are looking for Klara Walldeen, who has discovered some highly sensitive information that she is not supposed to know.  This is also about the quest of a father to save the daughter who has never known him.  Action packed and quick with good characters, this is his 1st book and I'm hoping for more. 
-Sue



The Magdalen Girls
by V.S. Alexander

Excellent novel about three girls who are sentenced to work in one of Dublin's Magdalen Laundries in the 1960's. Based on true stories this book gives the reader a view into the horrendous living and working conditions the girls and women imprisoned there had to endure. The book was riveting and very hard to put down. A great choice for book clubs!
-Lisa



News Of The World  

by Paulette Jiles

 
Set in the years after the Civil War, News Of The World tells the story of an young girl who has been captured by the Kiowa Indians. A veteran of three wars, aged Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd is tasked with returning the girl to her surviving relatives. Paulette Jiles is a master wordsmith: this book is short but don't let that dissuade you from this story. It is beautifully told & has the power to make you think on it long after you have finished it. Great for anyone who loves stories about the American west. -Kim
 


With great behind-the-scenes stories, this book chronicles the evolution of the Daily Show by those that were there. When Jon Stewart joined it in 1999 it went from being a silly basic cable show that went for the cheap laugh, to a cultural commentary powerhouse that had the attention of millions. It helped launch careers for many such as Steve Carell, Jon Oliver and Steven Colbert and de-legitimized many others that couldn't stand up to its scrutiny. It became a touchstone for world events that politicians and others vied for appearances on. A very interesting and fun read.
-Bob      


This Month's Featured Local Interest Titles

In My Wake
by James A. McCauley

James A. McCauley is a retired commercial fisherman with over 60 years experience on the water. He was the owner/operator of two trawlers and worked throughout his career representing the interests of Point Judith fisherman. Their stories are not unlike his stories and it's important that they be told. The title describes how quickly a wake disappears leaving no evidence of the boat or persons on it unless there was a written description of the event.



All in Good Time
by Jillian E. Vellone

Twelve year old Emma has already escaped from an orphanage and is living a life of shoplifting. This is not a typical life for a kid. When Emma gets swept up in a series of quests and family, she realizes where she stands in the world.
Author Jillian E. Vellone is twelve years old and lives in Wakefield. This is her first novel, but she hopes to write many more. 




3rd Annual Anthology
by South Kingstown Neighborhood Guild Creative Writers

The newest collection which includes short stories, poems, essays and other works by The Neighborhood Guild. A diverse group of writers from our local area share their secrets, feelings, memories and dreams in this collection. Edited by Linda Langlois.  


 
 



 
Ankle Deep and Drowning  
Poems by Anne Magee Dichele 

Anne Magee Dichele's new book, Ankle Deep and Drowning, is full of troubled delight. The early poems in the collection, which express a sense of loss and yearning for a constantly vanishing horizon, are dispelled by a breakthrough of "the goodness of it all." In the end, the poems in this exhilarating volume affirm the power of love and the "glorious abundance" of things.
  
 


 
    
 
New Releases for February

These are just highlights of our upcoming new releases.
A more complete llst is available on our website



Feb. 7th







Feb 14th






Feb 21st
 




Feb 28th








New in Paperback this month











30% off Select Hardcover Bestsellers Everyday  
Here are some of the newest additions:







     





     
 







Wakefield Books 
Wakefield Mall 
160 Old Tower Hill Rd. Wakefield, RI 02879

401-792-0000 


February Newsletter Features:
 
Like us on Facebook
 
Clearance Sale
February is clearance time.

All remaining Calendars are 75% off  
Selected Clearance books are also 75% off



 

2017 Academy Award Nominees
Some of this year's most acclaimed movies are adapted from books.
 Did they do the book justice?  


 






What they are saying on NPR.....















Lara

by Anna Pasternak

  Lara chronicles the horrifically steep costs of love for Olga Ivinskaya, Boris Pasternak's mistress, muse, and model for Yuri Zhivago's lover in Doctor Zhivago. Olga's connection with the persecuted author and her role in ushering his novel into print made her "a pawn in a highly political game" that landed her in the brutal Soviet gulags - twice.













A Really Good Day
by Ayelet Waldman

A Really Good Day is Waldman's first-person account of her month-long adventure microdosing LSD. In her preface, Waldman tells readers that she was diagnosed years ago with a variant of bipolar disorder. She tells a really good story, one that will make readers think about how drugs get classified and how chemistry alters what we think of as essential personality traits. It's a story that only a woman who's lived most of her life being "a handful" would be gutsy enough to tell.

 














No Man's Land  
by Simon Tolkien  
 
Simon Tolkien dedicates No Man's Land to his grandfather J.R.R. Tolkien. It is a novel set during WWI. This is not a war book, but rather David Copperfield Goes to War. His story is one of serial strife - the picket lines, union strikes, mining accidents, grinding want, and Downton Abbey politics of early 20th century Britain.This is a page-turner, an opera, a costume drama to binge watch. Simon Tolkien knows how to keep a story moving, and he does it well.
  
Homesick For Another World
by Ottessa Moshfegh

Longing is a familiar f eeling to the characters in Ottessa Moshfegh's stunning short story collection, Homesick for Another World. The men and women in Moshfegh's stories are desperate, although they're unsure for what. They're lonely and dissatisfied, uneasy riders on the edge of self-awareness. 
There's not a story in Homesick for Another World that's anything less than original and perfectly constructed. Moshfegh's talent is unique.
 
 





 









Eat, Live, Love, Die: Selected Essays   
 by Betty Fussell

Betty Fussell. Now 89,is an essayist and author of some 20 books on food and travel, as well as the acclaimed memoir, My Kitchen Wars, about her marriage to and divorce from the late cultural historian Paul Fussell,The title of this new collection of essays briskly sums up Fussell's tough-girl philosophy: it's called Eat, Live, Love, Die. To paraphrase a line made famous by another Bette: "Fasten your seatbelts; it's going to be a bumpy read."

 














Lotus 
by Lijia Zhang

In Lijia Zhang's compelling debut novel readers will find the entire text rich in Chinese proverbs, as well as folk wisdom of a more prosaic variety. Characters employ sage sayings in spoken form, as a kind of parlor game, and the author scatters aphorisms liberally throughout the narrative, with an effect that is both charming and thought-provoking. Lotus is undeniably earthy but thankfully spare, letting its characters, and its proverbs, do the talking.    



Matunuck Elementary Book Drive 
Parents, Grandparents and all supporters of Matunuck Elementary can help support their
school this month by purchasing a book as a
donation.

T he teachers have given us their wish lists and we will have the books on display for those that would like to help out.


See a bookseller if you are interested in donating a book to the school's book shelf of Vacation Challenge prizes.  Thank you for your support!
 



New Releases For February

Feb 7th 










Feb.14









 
Feb 21st










Feb 28th












Wakefield Books | (401) 792-0000 | info@wakefieldbooks.com | http://www.wakefieldbooks.com
160 Old Tower Hill Rd
Wakefield, RI 02879