November 1 at 7pm at Market Block Books Jack Casey signs and discusses Kateri: Lily of the Mohawks.

November 3 at 2pm at Market Block Books Stanley Hadsell and Susan Taylor will lead a discussion of Troy’s Big Read:  Moby Dick by Herman Melville.

November 3 at 11am at Market Block Books Stanley Woods-Frankel signs and discusses False Impressions.

November 3 at 3pm at The Little Book House Hudson Talbott signs and discusses It’s All About Me-Ow.

November 10 at 3pm The Book House Brett Hartman signs Cadillac Chronicles.

November 13 at 6pm at the Book House Janeel Hobson signs and discusses Body as Evidence: Mediating Race, Globalizing Gender.

November 14 at 7pm at The Book House The Book House Book Group will be discussing Albany’s Big Read:  The Things They Carried by Tom O’Brien.

November 17 at 11am at Market Block Books Emily Rossier and Liz Pohlmann will be signing and discussing their books.

November 17 at 1pm at The Book House Judith Barnes and Erick James sign and discuss their  book Kindness.

November 17 at 3pm at Market Block Books Judith Barnes and Erick James sign and discuss their new book Kindness.

November 18 at 1pm at Market Block Books I Love My Library Shopping day, supporting the Troy Public Library.

November 22 from 8am to 12pm Market Block Books will be open for Thanksgiving during the Troy Turkey Trot.

November 24 at 3pm at The Book House Edward Smathers signs the Waterfalls of New York State 3pm.

November 24 at 11am at Market Block Books John Bachman signs and discusses Why Can’t We Talk.

November 24 at 2pm at Market Block Books Maribeth Clemente signs and discusses Tour of the Heart.

November 30 at 7pm at Market Block Books Coleen Paratore signs and reads her newest book Big.

Every Monday at 11:00 am at The Little Book House: Candace Deisley leads Story Time

 Sweet Tooth by Ian McEwan  Cambridge student Serena Frome’s beauty and intelligence make her the ideal recruit for MI5. England’s legendary intelligence agency is determined to manipulate the cultural conversation by funding writers whose politics align with those of the government. The operation is code named “Sweet Tooth.” Once again, Ian McEwan’s mastery dazzles us in this superbly deft and witty story of betrayal and intrigue, love and the invented self.

A Parlaiment of Fowls by Jack Casey  A hilarious send-up of the bloodless 2009 “coup” in the New York State Senate written by an insider, Parliamentarian Jack Casey, who names his fictional senators after the birds they resemble. When the ’08 Obama landslide puts Democrats in control of the senate, racial discord erupts between the African-Americans and the Hispanics. In desperation, two Hispanic senators flip to the Republican side to seize control, then one goes back, bringing the body to a 31-31 impasse. With everyone screaming into television cameras, the issues are taken to court where the judges prove as zany as the senators. Narrator Chris Sparrow, Parliamentarian and attorney extraordinaire, finally despairs of anyone following the rules, and thereby learns the true nature of power. Caught in a whirlwind of ego, betrayal and political cant, Sparrow and Journal Clerk Robin Kennedy find true love, but they must keep it hidden because of their political affiliations. Will the crushing political intrigue destroy their love, or will they escape from the cackling birds and live happily ever after?

Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver  Flight Behavior transfixes from its opening scene, when a young woman’s narrow experience of life is thrown wide with the force of a raging fire. In the lyrical language of her native Appalachia, Barbara Kingsolver bares the rich, tarnished humanity of her novel’s inhabitants and unearths the modern complexities of rural existence. Characters and reader alike are quickly carried beyond familiar territory here, into the unsettled ground of science, faith, and everyday truces between reason and conviction.

Chango’s Beads and and Two-Tone Shoes by William Kennedy  Kennedy masterfully gathers together an unlikely cast of vivid characters in a breathtaking adventure full of music, mysticism, and murder—a homeless black alcoholic, a radical Catholic priest, a senile parent, a terminally ill jazz legend, the imperious mayor of Albany, Bing Crosby, Hemingway, Castro, and a ragtag ensemble of radicals, prostitutes, provocateurs, and underworld heavies. This is an unforgettably riotous story of revolution, romance, and redemption, set against the landscape of the civil rights movement as it challenges the legendary and vengeful Albany political machine.

Elsewhere: A Memoir by Richard Russo  After eight commanding works of fiction, the Pulitzer Prize winner now turns to memoir in a hilarious, moving, and always surprising account of his life, his parents, and the upstate New York town they all struggled variously to escape.

Anyone familiar with Richard Russo’s acclaimed novels will recognize Gloversville once famous for producing that eponymous product and anything else made of leather. This is where the author grew up, the only son of an aspirant mother and a charming, feckless father who were born into this close-knit community. But by the time of his childhood in the 1950s, prosperity was inexorably being replaced by poverty and illness (often tannery-related), with everyone barely scraping by under a very low horizon.

A world elsewhere was the dream his mother instilled in Rick, and strived for herself, and their subsequent adventures and tribulations in achieving that goal—beautifully recounted here—were to prove lifelong, as would Gloversville’s fearsome grasp on them both. Fraught with the timeless dynamic of going home again, encompassing hopes and fears and the relentless tides of familial and individual complications, this story is arresting, comic, heartbreaking, and truly beautiful, an immediate classic.

My Life in Politics by Jacques Chirac Along with Mikhail Gorbachev, Helmut Kohl, and Francois Mitterand, Jacques Chirac is one of the most iconic statesmen of the twentieth century. Two-time president of France, mayor of Paris, and international politician, a recent poll voted him the most admired political figure in France, with current president Nicolas Sarkozy ranking in 32nd place. This memoir covers the full scope of Chirac’s political career of more than 50 years and includes the last century’s most significant events.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Third Wheel (Book 7) Love is in the air—but what does that mean for Greg Heffley? A Valentine’s Day dance at Greg’s middle school has turned his world upside down. As Greg scrambles to find a date, he’s worried he’ll be left out in the cold on the big night. His best friend, Rowley, doesn’t have any prospects either, but that’s a small consolation.  An unexpected twist gives Greg a partner for the dance and leaves Rowley the odd man out. But a lot can happen in one night, and in the end, you never know who’s going to be lucky in love.

Events:

Where’s Waldo? Why in Troy of course! Throughout the month of July visit twenty Downtown Troy businesses to find Waldo, exciting prizes and fun await! We celebrate Waldo’s 25th anniversary in style! Pick up your Search Sheet at Market Block Books. You can follow the hints and clues on Facebook.

July 18th at 7pm at The Book House The Book Club will be discussing Zeitoun by David Eggers. The Book House Book Club meets every third Wednesday of the month.

July 21 at 3:30 PM at The Little Book House. The Strange Case of Origami Yoda and Darth Paper Strikes Back: An Origami Yoda Bookby Tom Angleberger. As this newsletter gets sent out we have not had confirmation of this event.

July 27 at 7:00 PM at Market Block Books: We have a very special guest for Troy Night Out. Andrea Chesman signs Pickled Pantry. Join us for a mouth-watering signing and a night filled with fun and pickles! As always Troy Night Out is the last Friday of the month.

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New Fiction

Two of our favorite reads are in paperback. Come in and grab a copy of The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern and Rules of Civility by Amor Towles!

Gold by Christopher Cleave

What would you sacrifice for the people you love? Kate and Zoe met at nineteen when they both made the cut for the national training program in track cycling—a sport that demands intense focus, blinding exertion and unwavering commitment. Now at thirty-two, the women are facing their last and biggest race: the 2012 Olympics. Each wants desperately to win gold, and each has more than a medal to lose.

Prisoner of Heaven by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

This internationally acclaimed, New York Times bestselling author Ruiz Zafon creates a rich, labyrinthine tale of love, literature, passion, and revenge set in a dark, gothic Barcelona in which the heroes must contend with a nemesis that threatens to destroy them.

Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness (7/10/12)

Picking up from A Discovery of Witches cliffhanger ending, Shadow of Night plunges Diana and Matthew into Elizabethan London, a world of spies, subterfuge, and a coterie of Matthew’s old friends, the mysterious School of Night that includes Christopher Marlowe and Walter Raleigh. Here, Diana must locate a witch to tutor her in magic, Matthew is forced to confront a past he thought he had put to rest, and the mystery of Ashmole 782 deepens.

Get Jiro by Anthony Bourdain, Joel Rose and Langdon Foss

In a not-too-distant future L.A. where master chefs rule the town like crime lords and people literally kill for a seat at the best restaurants, a bloody culinary war is raging. On one side, the Internationalists, who blend foods from all over the world into exotic delights. On the other, the “Vertical Farm,” who prepare nothing but organic, vegetarian, macrobiotic dishes. Into this maelstrom steps Jiro, a renegade and ruthless sushi chef, known to decapitate patrons who dare request a California Roll, or who stir wasabi into their soy sauce. Both sides want Jiro to join their factions. Jiro, however has bigger ideas, and in the end, no chef may be left alive!

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Children’s Picture Books

Local Author Matthew McElligott’s The Lion’s Share and Monster’s Need Haircuts are now in Paperback!

Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson

Fifteen-year-old Tiger Lily receives special protections from the spiritual forces of Neverland, but then she meets her tribe’s most dangerous enemy–Peter Pan–and falls in love with him.

The Second Spy: The Books of Elsewhere: Volume 3 by Jacqueline West

In Olive’s third adventure, what lurks below the house could be as dangerous as what’s hidden inside.

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Keep reading–we’ll be back with part two soon!