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The Testament of Mary

The Testament Of Mary

by Colm Toibin

Hardcover, 81 pages, Scribner, $19.99, published November 13 2012 | purchase
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  • The Testament Of Mary
  • Colm Toibin

A provocative imagining of the later years of the mother of Jesus finds her living a solitary existence in Ephesus years after her son's crucifixion and struggling with guilt, anger and feelings that her son is not the son of God and that His sacrifice was not for a worthy cause.

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The Heat of the Sun

The Heat of the Sun

by David Rain

Hardcover, 288 pages, Henry Holt & Co, $26, published November 13 2012 | purchase
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  • The Heat of the Sun
  • David Rain

From Greenwich Village in the Roaring Twenties to a revelation on a Nagasaki hillside, the story of Ben "Trouble" Pinkerton, the son of Lieutenant Benjamin Pinkerton and the geisha Madame Butterfly, finds him at the center of some of the biggest events of the twentieth century.

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Fairy Tales From The Brothers Grimm

Fairy Tales From The Brothers Grimm

A New English Version

by Philip Pullman

Hardcover, 405 pages, Viking Adult, $27.95, published November 8 2012 | purchase
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  • Fairy Tales From The Brothers Grimm
  • A New English Version
  • Philip Pullman

The acclaimed author of the His Dark Materials trilogy presents mature and scholarly retellings of 50 favorite and lesser-known fairy tales on the 200th anniversary of the Grimm brothers' Children's and Household Tales, in a volume that includes such stories as "Cinderella," "Rapunzel" and "Briar-Rose." 30,000 first printing.

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Jepp, Who Defied the Stars

Jepp, Who Defied The Stars

by Katherine Marsh

Hardcover, 385 pages, Hyperion, $16.99, published October 9 2012 | purchase
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  • Jepp, Who Defied The Stars
  • Katherine Marsh

Jepp, a teenage dwarf living in 16th century Europe, leaves home to seek his destiny.

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Sweet Tooth

Sweet Tooth

by Ian McEwan

Hardcover, 352 pages, Random House Inc, $26.95, published November 13 2012 | purchase
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  • Sweet Tooth
  • Ian McEwan

Recruited into MI5 against a backdrop of the Cold War in 1972, Cambridge student Serena Frome, a compulsive reader, is assigned to infiltrate the literary circle of a promising young writer whose politics align with those of the government.NPR Bestseller

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The Annotated Brothers Grimm

The Annotated Brothers Grimm

by Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm

Hardcover, 496 pages, W W Norton & Co Inc, $35, published October 15 2012 | purchase
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  • The Annotated Brothers Grimm
  • Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm

Celebrating the 200th anniversary of the publication of Children's Stories and Household Tales, this new edition includes classic stories such as "Cinderella," "Rapunzel" and "Snow White" as well as six new entries, each with annotations exploring the tales' historical and cultural context. Edited and translated by Maria Tatar, with an introduction by A. S. Byatt.

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Cloud Atlas

Cloud Atlas

by David Mitchell

Paperback, 514 pages, Random House, $15, published October 2 2012 | purchase
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  • Cloud Atlas
  • David Mitchell

David Mitchell, author of Number9Dream, recounts the connected stories of people from the past and the distant future, from a 19th century notary and an investigative journalist in the 1970s to a young man who searches for meaning in a post-apocalyptic world.NPR Bestseller

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The Perks of Being a Wallflower

The Perks Of Being A Wallflower

by Stephen Chbosky

Paperback, 213 pages, MTV Books, $14, published August 14 2012 | purchase
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  • The Perks Of Being A Wallflower
  • Stephen Chbosky

In a thought-provoking, coming-of-age novel, teenager Charlie struggles to cope with the complex world of high school. He deals with the confusions of sex and love, the temptations of drugs and the pain of losing a close friend and favorite aunt.NPR Bestseller

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fifty shades of grey

Fifty Shades Of Grey

by E.L. James

Paperback, 528 pages, Vintage, $15.95, published April 3 2012 | purchase
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  • Fifty Shades Of Grey
  • E.L. James

Growing out of a piece of fan fiction that recast Twilight's Bella and Edward in sexier scenarios, Fifty Shades of Grey tells the steamy affair of a student journalist and an intriguing young entrepreneur.NPR Bestseller

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The Sense of an Ending

The Sense Of An Ending

by Julian Barnes

Paperback, 163 pages, Random House Inc, $14.95, published May 29 2012 | purchase
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  • The Sense Of An Ending
  • Julian Barnes

Tony Webster is a retired divorced man in his mid-60s who, after receiving notice of an unexpected bequest, is pulled back into a "powerful recollection of strong emotions" from his past. This leads to a reassessment of the accuracy of his memories, a rueful realization of how much he'd gotten wrong, and a harsh re-evaluation of his passive approach to life.NPR Bestseller, Literary Award Winner

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The Marriage Plot

The Marriage Plot

by Jeffrey Eugenides

Paperback, 406 pages, Picador, $16, published September 4 2012 | purchase
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  • The Marriage Plot
  • Jeffrey Eugenides

Madeleine Hanna breaks out of her straight-and-narrow mold when she falls in love with charismatic loner Leonard Bankhead, while an old friend resurfaces, obsessed with the idea that Madeleine is his destiny.NPR Bestseller

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State of Wonder

State Of Wonder

by Ann Patchett

Paperback, 353 pages, HarperCollins, $15.99, published May 8 2012 | purchase
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  • State Of Wonder
  • Ann Patchett

A researcher at a pharmaceutical company, Marina Singh must step out of her comfort zone when she is sent into the heart of the Amazonian delta to check on a field team that has been silent for two years — a dangerous assignment that forces Marina to confront the ghosts of her past.NPR Bestseller

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Life of Pi

Life Of Pi

by Yann Martel

Paperback, 319 pages, Mariner Books, $15.95, published October 2 2012 | purchase
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  • Life Of Pi
  • Yann Martel

After the tragic sinking of a cargo ship, one solitary lifeboat remains bobbing on the wild blue Pacific. The crew of the surviving vessel consists of a hyena, a zebra (with a broken leg), a female orangutan, a 450-pound Bengal tiger and Pi, a 16-year-old Indian boy. The scene is set for one of the most extraordinary pieces of literary fiction of recent years.NPR Bestseller, Literary Award Winner

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The Night Circus

The Night Circus

by Erin Morgenstern

Paperback, 516 pages, Anchor, $15, published July 3 2012 | purchase
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  • The Night Circus
  • Erin Morgenstern

Waging a fierce competition for which they have trained since childhood, circus magicians Celia and Marco unexpectedly fall in love and share a fantastical romance that manifests in fateful ways.NPR Bestseller

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Wolf Hall

Wolf Hall

by Hilary Mantel

Paperback, 604 pages, St Martins Pr, $16, published August 31 2010 | purchase
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  • Wolf Hall
  • Hilary Mantel

Assuming the power recently lost by the disgraced Cardinal Wolsey, Thomas Cromwell counsels a mercurial Henry VIII on the latter's efforts to marry Anne Boleyn against the wishes of Rome, a successful endeavor that comes with a dangerous price.NPR Bestseller, Literary Award Winner

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The Language of Flowers

The Language Of Flowers

A Novel

by Vanessa Diffenbaugh

Paperback, 334 pages, Random House Inc, $15, published April 3 2012 | purchase
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  • The Language Of Flowers
  • A Novel
  • Vanessa Diffenbaugh

Victoria, the orphaned heroine of Vanessa Diffenbaugh's debut novel, is privy to a secret language of flowers that dates to Victorian England.NPR Bestseller

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The Best American Short Stories 2012

The Best American Short Stories 2012

by Heidi Pitlor and Tom Perrotta

Paperback, 356 pages, Mariner Books, $14.95, published October 2 2012 | purchase
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  • The Best American Short Stories 2012
  • Heidi Pitlor and Tom Perrotta

Tom Perrotta, author of Election and The Leftovers, curates a collection of 2012's best short fiction.NPR Bestseller

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Rules of Civility

Rules Of Civility

by Amor Towles

Paperback, 335 pages, Penguin Group USA, $16, published June 26 2012 | purchase
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  • Rules Of Civility
  • Amor Towles

A chance encounter with a handsome banker in a jazz bar on New Year's Eve 1938 catapults Wall Street secretary Katey Kontent into the upper echelons of New York society, where she befriends a shy multimillionaire, an Upper East Side ne'er-do-well and a single-minded widow. NPR Bestseller

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The Casual Vacancy

The Casual Vacancy

by J.K. Rowling

Hardcover, 503 pages, Little, Brown & Company, $35, published September 27 2012 | purchase
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  • The Casual Vacancy
  • J.K. Rowling

The early death of a small-town councilman reveals deep-rooted conflicts in the seemingly idyllic community of Pagford, which rapidly deteriorates in the face of cultural disputes, generation clashes and a volatile election.NPR Bestseller

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Gone Girl

Gone Girl

by Gillian Flynn

Hardcover, 416 pages, Crown Publishing, $25, published June 5 2012 | purchase
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  • Gone Girl
  • Gillian Flynn

After a woman disappears on her fifth wedding anniversary, her diary reveals hidden turmoil in her marriage. Her husband, desperate to clear himself of suspicion, realizes that something more disturbing than murder may have occurred.NPR Bestseller

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Back To Blood

Back To Blood

by Tom Wolfe

Hardcover, 704 pages, Little, Brown and Company, $30, published October 23 2012 | purchase
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  • Back To Blood
  • Tom Wolfe

A colorful cast of residents and visitors to Miami go about their daily activities, both legal and illegal. NPR Bestseller

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cover image from The Round House

The Round House

by Louise Erdrich

Hardcover, 321 pages, Harper, $27.99, published October 2 2012 | purchase
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  • The Round House
  • Louise Erdrich

When his mother, a tribal enrollment specialist on a reservation in North Dakota, slips into an abyss of depression after being brutally attacked, 13-year-old Joe Coutts sets out with his three friends to find the person who destroyed his family.NPR Bestseller

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This Is How You Lose Her

This Is How You Lose Her

by Junot Diaz

Hardcover, 213 pages, Riverhead Hardcover, $26.95, published September 11 2012 | purchase
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  • This Is How You Lose Her
  • Junot Diaz

The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao presents a lyrical collection of stories that explore the heartbreak and radiance of love as it is shaped by passion, betrayal and the echoes of intimacy.NPR Bestseller

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Telegraph Avenue

Telegraph Avenue

by Michael Chabon

Hardcover, 480 pages, Harper, $27.99, published September 11 2012 | purchase
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  • Telegraph Avenue
  • Michael Chabon

Two longtime friends and bandmates are co-regents of Brokeland Records, a kingdom of used vinyl. Their wives are the Berkeley Birth Partners, two semi-legendary midwives. When an ex–NFL quarterback announces plans to build his latest megastore nearby, Nat and Archy fear it means certain doom for their little enterprise. Meanwhile, their wives also find themselves caught up in a battle for their professional existence.NPR Bestseller

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Bring Up the Bodies

Bring Up The Bodies

by Hilary Mantel

Paperback, 432 pages, Picador, $16, published May 7 2013 | purchase
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  • Bring Up The Bodies
  • Hilary Mantel

The spark has gone out of Henry VIII's second marriage. When his roving eye leaves Anne Boleyn and begins to settle on Jane Seymour, another woman at court, the monarch turns to his chief adviser, Thomas Cromwell, for help. Hilary Mantel's Bring Up the Bodies is the second book in a planned trilogy about Cromwell.NPR Bestseller

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Live By Night

Live By Night

by Dennis Lehane

Paperback, 401 pages, HarperCollins, $16.99, published May 14 2013 | purchase
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  • Live By Night
  • Dennis Lehane

During Prohibition, Joe Coughlin defies his strict, law-and-order upbringing by climbing a ladder of organized crime. Starting as a petty thief in Boston, he travels south and eventually becomes the Gulf Coast's most successful rumrunner. In Tampa, Fla., and in Cuba, he encounters a dangerous cast of characters who are all fighting for their piece of the American dream.NPR Bestseller, Literary Award Winner

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Flight Behavior

Flight Behavior

by Barbara Kingsolver

Paperback, 436 pages, HarperCollins, $28.99, published November 6 2012 | purchase
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  • Flight Behavior
  • Barbara Kingsolver

Tired of living on a failing farm and suffering oppressive poverty, bored housewife Dellarobia Turnbow, on the way to meet a potential lover, is detoured by a miraculous event on the Appalachian mountainside. It ignites a media and religious firestorm that changes her life forever.NPR Bestseller

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Dune/Special 25th Anniversary Edition

Dune

by Frank Herbert

Paperback, 535 pages, Ace, $6.50, published August 1 1992 | purchase
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  • Dune
  • Frank Herbert

Paul Atreides, the son of a betrayed duke, is given up for dead on a treacherous desert planet and adopted by its fierce, nomadic people, who help him unravel his most unexpected destiny.

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Birds of a Lesser Paradise

Birds of a Lesser Paradise

Stories

by Megan Mayhew Bergman

Paperback, 224 pages, Scribner, $15, published November 6 2012 | purchase
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  • Birds of a Lesser Paradise
  • Stories
  • Megan Mayhew Bergman

A debut collection by a prize-winning writer whose stories have been anthologized in The Best American Short Stories evaluates the surprising moments when bonds with nature become evident and includes the story of a single mom and her son's effort to reclaim an African Gray Parrot and a population control activist who longs to have a baby.

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Return of the Thin Man

Return Of The Thin Man

The Original Screen Stories, After The Thin Man, Another Thin Man, "Sequel To The Thin Man"

by Dashiell Hammett

Hardcover, 320 pages, Mysterious Press, $25, published November 6 2012 | purchase
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  • Return Of The Thin Man
  • The Original Screen Stories, After The Thin Man, Another Thin Man, "Sequel To The Thin Man"
  • Dashiell Hammett

Return Of The Thin Man presents two previously unpublished novellas featuring Nick and Nora Charles that became the basis for the 1930s films After the Thin Man and Another Thin Man. Edited by Richard Layman and Julie M. Rivett.

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Black Beauty

Black Beauty

by Anna Sewell

Paperback, 203 pages, Penguin Group USA, $16, published October 25 2011 | purchase
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  • Black Beauty
  • Anna Sewell

Anna Sewell's 1877 classic is an animal autobiography narrated by a handsome horse who experiences hardship and kindness at the hands of many owners over the course of his life.

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The Red Pyramid

The Red Pyramid

by Rick Riordan

Paperback, 516 pages, Disney Press, $9.99, published August 16 2011 | purchase
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  • The Red Pyramid
  • Rick Riordan

Egyptologist Dr. Julius Kane accidentally unleashes the Egyptian god Set, who banishes the doctor to oblivion and forces his two children to embark on a dangerous journey to save him.

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