Roxanne's Favorites
Dear Reader,
I have an idealistic belief in the magic of books. We now live in a world where work goes on ceaselessly; we are barraged with messages and face the constant expectation that everything needs to be done in the next five minutes.
Sometimes when I am feeling sorry for myself about the onslaught of things to be done, I sit down to read a book, and as I start to read I realize that my whole rhythm has changed: my breathing slows; I relax; I am immersed. I hope my selections here can help you find the books that will enable you to experience this wonderful sense of release and escape from your busy lives.
Roxanne Coady – Owner
Browse related sections
Listed below are Roxanne's most recent suggestions. Click on "Roxanne's Picks" to see all of her previous selections.
The Girl Who Fell From the Sky
By Heidi W. Durrow
Our Shelf Talker
I was mesmerized! Like Cisneros’s "The House on Mango Street," Durrow’s novel took me by the hand and heart, guiding me into the veiled life of a remarkable girl.- Roxanne
What About Bear?
By Suzanne Bloom
Our Shelf Talker
You know I stress all the time the importance of reading to young children and this is just a great picture book with its fun illustrations. Perfect to read aloud.- Roxanne
Making Toast
By Roger Rosenblatt
Our Shelf Talker
Roger is a funny writer and a wonderful guy. This is the story about his daughter, a wife, mother and pediatrician who died unexpectedly from an asymptomatic heart problem. Roger and his wife leave their home to move in with their son-in-law and help care for their two young grandchildren.The “making toast” of the title refers to what Roger could do best as they all struggled. He teaches us how they moved through tragedy and how renewal came through the relationship between grandparent and grandchild.
- Roxanne
In Fed We Trust: Ben Bernanke's War on the Great Panic
By David Wessel
Our Shelf Talker
This is one of the best books out there for people who are curious about the recent financial melt-down. Wessel addresses the incompetence and the hubris, that was not immediately apparent to the rest of us. Frustrating but important reading.- Roxanne
Linchpin
By Seth Godin
Our Shelf Talker
Are you indispensable at work? Should you do what you are told to do or should you be outrageous and get noticed? The author helps answer those questions in a very entertaining but thoughtful way. He describes how to play that role as being a “linchpin”. Linchpins are successful because they love what they do. Their enthusiasm is matched by hard work and that becomes contagious and they become indispensable! What I took away from this book is the idea that it is important to be joyful, in a real, fundamental way about the work we do. It was a very good reminder, especially in this environment.- Roxanne
Read Me: A Century of Classic American Book Advertisements
By Dwight Garner
Our Shelf Talker
New York Times book critic Dwight Garner brings together original ads for some of the most acclaimed and bestselling books of the twentieth century, including The Great Gatsby, On the Road, Invisible Man, Lolita, Silent Spring, Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72, and dozens of other classics in Read Me. These ads show us famous books when they were simply new volumes jostling for attention on bookstore shelves, not yet icons of our literary culture. This is a fascinating look at our cultural history from many different perspectives - booklover, graphic designer, advertiser, history lover - very intriguing.- Roxanne
The Art of Choosing
By Sheena Iyengar
Every day we make choices. Coke or Pepsi? Save or spend? Stay or go?
Whether mundane or life-altering, these choices define us and shape our lives. Sheena Iyengar asks the difficult questions about how and why we choose: Is the desire for choice innate or bound by culture? Why do we sometimes choose against our best interests? How much control do we really have over what we choose? Sheena Iyengar's award-winning research reveals that the answers are surprising and profound. In our world of shifting political and cultural forces, technological revolution, and interconnected commerce, our decisions have far-reaching consequences. Use THE ART OF CHOOSING as your companion and guide for the many challenges ahead.
Whether mundane or life-altering, these choices define us and shape our lives. Sheena Iyengar asks the difficult questions about how and why we choose: Is the desire for choice innate or bound by culture? Why do we sometimes choose against our best interests? How much control do we really have over what we choose? Sheena Iyengar's award-winning research reveals that the answers are surprising and profound. In our world of shifting political and cultural forces, technological revolution, and interconnected commerce, our decisions have far-reaching consequences. Use THE ART OF CHOOSING as your companion and guide for the many challenges ahead.
Vanity Fair's Presidential Profiles: Defining Portraits, Deeds, and Misdeeds of 43 Notable Americans--And What Each One Really Thought about His Prede
Our Shelf Talker
This book is an example of a "short" book as opposed to a "dumb" book. By that I mean there are books providing information for busy people and they offer small bits of facts, etc. and they can be small and fun or just dumb. This book takes one page for each president and provides some interesting facts, including what each thought of their predecessor. Fun for kids and adults and not dumb.- Roxanne
The Tree That Time Built
By Mary Ann Hobermnan
I was mesmerized by this book. The poems are about science, nature and imagination. It features every big name poet and has a CD which is great for home and the car. It has a gorgeous cover and delightful pencil drawings on the inside pages. This is my new favorite poetry book for kids and even adults.
- Roxanne
- Roxanne
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
By Rebecca Skloot
Our Shelf Talker
In The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, I have met a woman and her family and am confronted with the dilemma of the benefit to science vs. the pain and dismay of her descendants. This is not easy to read - not because of the difficulty of the science but the philosophical questions of "common good." We should all be aware of the consequences of the advancement of science, the benefits to us all set against the financial gain to a few, and the hardship and confusion that falls to those left behind. A wonderful book, well written - there is no finger pointing here, just a huge quantity of food for thought.- Nancy
The Lover
By Marguerite Duras
Our Shelf Talker
This novels is set in foreign land –in Indochina - and has that wonderful quality of magical realism. When I think about this book I can perfectly imagine the lushness of the setting. What I love about it is that the physical atmosphere it conjures and the richness of the writing add to the sensuality of the relationships it describes.- Roxanne
Love in the Time of Cholera
By Gabriel Garcia Márquez
Our Shelf Talker
This novels is set in foreign land – in South America - and has that wonderful quality of magical realism. When I think about this book I can perfectly imagine the lushness of the setting. What I love about it is that the physical atmosphere it conjures and the richness of the writing add to the sensuality of the relationships it describes.- Roxanne
Love Notes
By Amy Maniatis, Elizabeth Weil, and Natasha Bondy
Why is chocolate so seductive? What, exactly, is a teddy? How do you say "I love you" in Swahili? Love Notes, the enchanting sequel to the authors' popular Crib Notes, assembles decadent trivia and alluring facts on love, romance, and the affairs of the heart. Famous Vegas weddings, James Bond come-on lines, country songs of lovin', the meaning of body piercings, the recipe for a champagne cocktail, nicknames for the nether regions, and other trivial pleasures all find their way into the pages of this playful, illustrated collection. Useful, useless, and always fascinating, Love Notes is a delightful, diverting gift and the perfect bedside companion.
The Art of Kissing
By William Cane
A kiss is just a kiss--or is it? Since the initial publication of his comprehensive kissers' manual, The Art of Kissing, William Cane has received thousands of calls and letters from readers with questions and comments about their kissing techniques. In this revised edition of the international classic, he responds with more lip-smacking wisdom--and five new kisses.
Love Poems
By Peter Washington
It has often been said that love, both sacred and profane, is the only true subject of the lyric poem. Nothing better justifies this claim than the splendid poems in this volume, which range from the writings of ancient China to those of modern-day America and represent, at its most piercing, a universal experience of the human soul.
Includes poems by John Donne, Christina Rossetti, W. H. Auden, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Robert Graves, E. E. Cummings, Dorothy Parker, William Shakespeare, Sappho, Bhartrhari, Anna Akhmatova, and W. B. Yeats, among many others.
Includes poems by John Donne, Christina Rossetti, W. H. Auden, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Robert Graves, E. E. Cummings, Dorothy Parker, William Shakespeare, Sappho, Bhartrhari, Anna Akhmatova, and W. B. Yeats, among many others.
My Cart
You have no items in your shopping cart.
Recently Viewed
