Happy #BookBday (2/3/14 Edition)

It’s a big day for #BookBdays!

THE NIGHTINGALE by Kristin Hannah
You’ve heard us buzzing about the February Indie Next pick for a while now, and at last it’s here! “Hannah’s latest is a page-turner that will no doubt have readers reaching for tissues. This moving, emotional tribute to the brave women who fought behind enemy lines during the war is bound to gain the already immensely popular Hannah an even wider audience.” — Booklist, starred review

WE ARE PIRATES by Daniel Handler
“Can a couple of teenagers, a befuddled old man, and a nursing home orderly really steal a boat and wreak havoc in San Francisco harbor? Sure, says Handler, crossing and mixing genres dark and light, YA yarn and midlife doldrum while making readers root for his 20th-century privateers A jaunty and occasionally jolting, and honest take on the discomforts of youth, midlife, and old age, and how ineffective we are at dealing with them.” – Publishers Weekly

HOLY COW by David Duchovny
David Duchovny’s (yes, THAT David Duchovny) debut novel is a “modern day dairy tale” about a conflicted cow, a Jewish pig and a debonair turkey seeking acceptance and enlightenment during a journey across the Middle East. “…a charming fable about dignity and tolerance, complete with anthropomorphized animals and replete with puns, double-entendres and sophisticated humor. Between the book’s sly humor, gently humanist (animalist?) message and wry illustrations by Natalya Balnova, this is a pseudo-children’s book that smart adults should greatly enjoy.” — Kirkus Reviews, starred review
(Watch a video interview with Kirkus! BONUS: Duchovny narrates the audiobook!)

LETTER TO A FUTURE LOVER: Marginalia, Errata, Secrets, Inscriptions, and Other Ephemera Found in Libraries by Ander Monson
Through witty, idiosyncratic essays, Monson reflects on the human need to catalog, preserve, and annotate; the private and public pleasures of reading; the nature of libraries; and the intimate physical relationship between a reader and a book.

A HISTORY OF LONELINESS by John Boyne
“Best known for the YA novel THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PAJAMAS, Boyne here offers his eighth novel for adults and the first set in his native Ireland. In the person of Father Yates, he unsparingly explores a devastating subject: how the negligence and complicity of clergy and parishioners in Ireland have facilitated sex-scandal cover-ups and misinformation overseen from the highest levels of the Catholic Church. The result reads like a modern existential fable, raising questions that will remain with readers long after they put it down.” — Library Journal

THE HUNDRED YEAR MARATHON by Michael Pillsbury
One of the U.S. government’s leading Asia experts reveals the hidden Chinese strategy fueling that country’s rise—and why we continue to misunderstand China. “Pungently written and rich in detail, this book deserves to enter the mainstream of debate over the future of U.S.-Chinese relations.” — Foreign Affairs