Please join us in our support of MacMillan book distributors, as they fight to protect their authors and publishers from losing control to major online retailers.

Red Tent

Anita Diamant

The Old Testament told from the female perspective. Amazing characters!! A great gift for any feminist! --Shannon

Notes from No Man's Land

Eula Bliss

One of Jon's all-time favorite books of essays.

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee

Dee Brown

This book changed the view of the pioneers' westward advancement. Dee Brown details how white settlers forced Native American tribes off the Plains, often by simply killing them. Read this and learn who the true savages were. --Robin

Snow Angels

Stewart O'Nan

This is one of those cases where the book and the movie differ greatly, but both are great in their own world. The sparse book is a quick read but not quickly forgotten. O'Nan writes tragedy/ suspense with working class characters with the best of 'em. --Brandon

The World Without Us

Alan Weisman

How soon would the oil refineries' safety mechanisms fail if we suddenly disappeared? Read and find out about it and other truly interesting facts in this book. I loved it. -MEGAN W.

Sarah's Key

Tatiana De Rosnay

State By State

Matt Weiland and Sean Wilsey

This beautiful and ambitious collection brings together fifty of our most exciting writers to reveal what they love most about America, one state at a time. Many of these essays are funny, many are sad, but all of them speak to a deeper truth that binds us all together: each of us has a story to tell, and our country is much bigger and more interesting than many of us are aware. -JON

someday this pain will be useful to you

Peter Cameron

James Sveck has much in common with Holden Caufield: on that brink of awareness that's been dawning for eighteen years - and he resents the heck out of it. Awkward, he doesn't feel connected to people his age. Or he's afraid to. Whatever. He's stubborn, childish, makes some selfish mistakes...in other words, it's a damn good read. Now, he isn't like Holden in a derivitive b.s. way, like Weasel was to Screech. He's just another guy in a similiar situation - which so many of us are. Great for young adults, too, but has a bit of language. Brandon

The Lost City of Z

David Grann

I was astonished that I had no previous knowledge of this magnificent event. Grann's account of the true story of one Englishman's obsessive quest to locate a lost city located in the vast, dangerous Amazonian jungle is a wonderful journey through history and mankind's own adventurous need to explore (and find) the unknown. -ARIEL

Lucky Man

Ben Tanzer

It's great! Too much to say about it for a small blurb. Go to my goodreads for the long-skinny of it. -BRANDON

The Second City Unscripted

Mike Thomas

Validate that Chicago pride by delving into the very local, very illustrious history of one of the most famous comedy troupes in the world. Thomas's clear, friendly writing makes this an easy cruise of a read and, of course, all the good dirt is dished, too! -STEPHEN

Her Fearful Symmetry

Audrey Niffenegger

This is a beautiful and enchanting book. It tells the story of Elspeth (a ghost), her twin nieces, and her ex-lover-- all haunted by Elspeth's living memories. Set in and around the Highgate Cemetery in London, the characters all deal with issues of loss and rebirth as they walk through their new lives fascinated and terrified of what lies lurking in the shadows unseen. -SHANNON

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

Jonathan Safran Foer

This is both a beautiful and a poignant depiction of loss - communal and personal - set in the wake of 9/11 and narrated by a young boy whose eccentricities serve only to better articulate the process of grief and recovery. Beautiful! And true. - MOLLY

Little Kingdoms

Steven Millhauser

Three short stories in one book that masterfully bridge the worlds of reality and imagination. First story is about a cartoonist struggling between his imagination, ambition, and his family. The second story is a fairy tale which weaves throughout the narrative's various characters' points of view. And the third (my personal fav) is about a painter's oeuvre describing his life and work from the outside perspective of a museum exhibition catalogue. -ARIEL

The Power of One

Bryce Courtenay

A historical fiction book that all will enjoy! "The Power of One" tells the story of Peekay -- a British boy growing up in South Africa -- and his trials of coming of age during Apartheid. Peekay wants to be a boxer, and the welterweight champion of the world, yet the decks are stacked against him. This is a story about strength and what it means to truly be strong. -SHANNON

City of Thieves

David Benioff

It's WWII and two young men meet in a jail cell in Russia where they are certain to meet their death. In exchange for their freedom the boys are given the challenge to find a dozen eggs to make the wedding cake of the daughter of the colonel. Friendship, sense of humor, and luck accompany the boys across German lines on a mission to save their lives. I loved it! -SUZY T.

The Way the Crow Flies

Ann-Marie MacDonald

This was a book I couldn't put down. It gives a detailed depiction of military life during the uncertain times of the space race and the Cold War in the 1960s. This historical novel weaves multiple plot lines together seamlessly while ultimately revealing a little-known fact about the ugly side of the U.S. involvement in the space race. It opened my eyes to things I never knew and sent me to the internet in search of more information. -MEGAN M.

If on a Winter's Night a Traveler

Italo Calvino

Brilliantly constructed. Compelling. A friend of mine once called this "the math rock of novels." And he was right. -LAURA