Completely Booked, a general-interest bookstore with a substantial selection of children's books, will open this Saturday in Murrysville, Pa. In honor of the store's opening, owner Camille Kovach said she'll welcome customers with coffee, tea and pastries, and she hopes to host an official grand opening sometime in October.

"The goal is to build life-long readers," said Kovach, "and to serve readers with books that entertain and inspire."

In addition to books, the 1,200-square-foot store will carry a variety of sidelines, including Out of Print T-shirts, pouches and tote bags, Bunnies by the Bay plush, literary teas and a variety of stationery. Kovach's event plans include book clubs, story hours for children, author signings and holiday gatherings.

Kovachs added that her community has responded "wonderfully" to her bookstore plans. She elaborated: "Almost every day as I work in the store, people stop in and ask when we will be open and express very positive views on a local independent bookstore opening up."

Pat Rudebusch

Maria and Danny Roden have sold Orinda Books in Orinda, Calif., to Pat Rudebusch, a bookseller who has worked at Orinda Books for the past three years. Rudebusch will officially take over on October 1; the Rodens threw a party welcoming Rudebusch and her husband, Glenn, on September 14.

"I'm following in some pretty accomplished footsteps and everybody on staff is excited," Rudebusch told Lamorinda Weekly. "I'm excited, customers are excited."

Rudebusch said she plans to keep all 12 of the store's staff members on board, some of whom are high schoolers working on a part-time basis while others have been with the store for 30 years. She continued, "We want to keep that going. Such a wealth of knowledge. They know what customers like to read."

Prior to joining Orinda Books, Rudebusch worked for PBS and was a "habitual volunteer" for the Orinda Union School District. She was a long-time customer of Orinda Books before Maria Roden asked her to join the staff several years ago. Rudebusch explained that she was on the fence about buying the bookstore, until her eldest daughter pointed out that Orinda Books had been her childhood bookstore. Her primary motivation for becoming the owner, she added, was to ensure that a bookstore stays in Orinda.

Rudebusch plans to build on what Roden established during her roughly six years of owning the store, including frequent author events and a featured artist of the month. She hopes to expand on some things, such as carrying more artwork from local artists.

"I want to keep doing what Maria put in place but also to evolve in response to community values, to keep up with changes. I don't want to be static," she said.

In late October, HarperCollins will launch a year-round Quick Reorder Program with Ingram Content Group focused on 10 Western states. The program will be available on qualifying orders from independent bookstores in Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, Montana, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah and Washington, and will provide expedited shipment on direct orders to HarperCollins that will be filled from Ingram's Roseburg, Ore., warehouse.

All HarperCollins orders placed by independent bookstores in the designated states before noon Pacific time (3 p.m. Eastern) will be expedited and shipped no later than the next business day; in most cases they will be delivered in two to three business days, providing books are in stock.

Kathy Faber, v-p of sales at HarperCollins, said, "Quick replenishment is a key ingredient in successful bookselling today, and we are happy to be working with Ingram to offer this program to stores in the western states."

Ingram v-p of merchandising George Tattersfield added: "We are pleased to partner with HarperCollins on a direct fulfillment program to retailers. By using the Ingram infrastructure and warehouse network, we can help ensure that retailers stay in-stock not only throughout the busy fall holiday season but during the rest of the year as well."

The HarperCollins/Ingram program addresses one of the key concerns of indie booksellers following Baker & Taylor's decision earlier this year to leave the retail wholesale market: B&T had a strong program offering rapid replenishment for many publishers, including some of the largest, on the West Coast, an area where indie booksellers haven't always been able to take advantage of the much faster shipping times available to booksellers on the East Coast and in the center of the country.

In June, Ingram Content Group had said that it was "actively exploring additional service programs for the western U.S. The potential solution would allow publishers to use the Ingram infrastructure and warehouse network for direct fulfillment to retailers."

In related news, HarperCollins will repeat its Holiday Express Shipping program for independent bookstores throughout the U.S. beginning Monday, October 28, and running through Friday, January 10, 2020.

This Friday, publishers Greystone Books and Chelsea Green Publishing will be among the companies taking part in the worldwide Global Climate Strike.

Greystone will close its offices in the U.S., Canada, the U.K. and Germany in solidarity with the Global Climate Strike, and in Vancouver, British Columbia, Greystone will march as a company as part of the strike.

"We are moved by the action of young people from various parts of the world whose voices have become the light leading the way," said Greystone publisher Rob Sanders. "We at Greystone Books support the publication and dissemination of legitimate scientific information about the planet, including the important field of climate change."

At Chelsea Green, meanwhile, the company will not be closing its offices, but any employee who wishes to take part in the strike or any other climate action happening on Friday will be able to take the day off as a paid day, without having to use a sick day or vacation day.

President and publisher Margo Baldwin said that Chelsea Green, an employee-owned company, has joined the Climate Strike "because we feel that it is the defining issue of our time. We have been publishing books about limits to growth and ecological destruction for over 30 years, as well as solutions based on regenerative agriculture, alternative energy and green building, and community resilience. We have been committed to reducing our carbon footprint and minimizing waste with the use of recycled and sustainably harvested papers since our founding in 1984. We stand in solidarity with our authors, practitioners and thinkers, who are working relentlessly to repair the earth."

The Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit against Edward Snowden alleging that his newly released memoir, Permanent Record (Metropolitan Books), violates nondisclosure agreements he signed with the federal government and that the U.S. is entitled to all of Snowden's book profits, NPR reported.

The civil suit, which was filed in Virginia on Tuesday--the book's release date--names the former National Security Agency contractor and his publisher, Macmillan. It argues that Snowden's failure to receive pre-publication approval from the NSA and the Central Intelligence Agency constitutes a breach of contract and that Snowden will be "unjustly enriched" from the unauthorized publication of his book.

In a statement, Macmillan said: "We are proud to publish Snowden's memoir and make his uncensored story in his own words, available worldwide. We are very disappointed that the government has chosen to sue Edward Snowden for telling the deeply personal story about his decision to speak out about our government's unprecedented system of mass surveillance."

Ben Wizner, director of the ACLU's Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project and attorney for Snowden, issued a statement contending that Permanent Record "contains no government secrets that have not been previously published by respected news organizations. Had Mr. Snowden believed that the government would review his book in good faith, he would have submitted it for review. But the government continues to insist that facts that are known and discussed throughout the world are still somehow classified.

"Mr. Snowden wrote this book to continue a global conversation about mass surveillance and free societies that his actions helped inspire. He hopes that today's lawsuit by the United States government will bring the book to the attention of more readers throughout the world."

On Twitter, Snowden commented: "It is hard to think of a greater stamp of authenticity than the U.S. government filing a lawsuit claiming your book is so truthful that it was literally against the law to write."

The Library of Congress and Poisoned Pen Press, an imprint of Sourcebooks, are collaborating on the Library of Congress Crime Classics series, which "will feature a rich and diverse selection of books originally published between the 1860s and the 1960s," according to the Library. Titles are drawn from the LOC's collection of hard-to-find and out-of-print books, with cover designs inspired by images from the library's collections.

"Early American crime fiction is not only entertaining to read, it also sheds light on the culture of its time," said Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden. "It's fascinating to read these books and reflect on the evolution of our society's perceptions of race, gender, ethnicity and social standing."

The series launches next spring with the publication of three books: That Affair Next Door by Anna Katharine Green (1897), The Rat Began to Gnaw the Rope by C.W. Grafton (1943) and Case Pending by Dell Shannon (1960).

Series editor Leslie S. Klinger has selected lesser known titles that represent a range of genres. Along with the original text, each book includes a contextual introduction by Klinger, as well as a brief author biography, notes, recommendations for further reading and discussion questions for book clubs and classrooms.

Poisoned Pen Press president Robert Rosenwald, who publishes the British Library Crime Classics series in the U.S. and whose grandfather, Lessing Rosenwald, donated his collection of more than 2,650 rare books to the Library of Congress, said, "It's an honor to continue the Rosenwald tradition of sharing books from the past with readers of the present."

"We're incredibly excited to be working with the Library of Congress on the reissue of classic American mysteries and helping readers rediscover these great stories," said Sourcebooks CEO Dominique Raccah.

Toronto author Graeme Gibson, who was Margaret Atwood's longtime partner, died September 18, the Star reported. He was 85. Gibson had been accompanying Atwood on her tour for The Testaments.

"We are devastated by the loss of Graeme, our beloved father, grandfather, and spouse, but we are happy that he achieved the kind of swift exit he wanted and avoided the decline into further dementia that he feared," Atwood said in a statement. "He had a lovely last few weeks, and he went out on a high, surrounded by love, friendship and appreciation. We are grateful for his wise, ethical, and committed life."

Gibson's books include The Bedside Book of Birds, Five Legs, Communion, Perpetual Motion and Gentleman Death. He was a co-founder of both the Writers' Trust of Canada and the Writers' Union of Canada and served as the president of PEN Canada. His honors include the Harbourfront Prize and the Toronto Arts Award. He was also a member of the Order of Canada.

Kristin Cochrane, CEO of Penguin Random House Canada, said "his influence on the lives of writers in this country has been profound and far-reaching. We are grateful for that superlative legacy, one that will continue to flourish, and also grateful for our own experiences working with Graeme: a true gentleman, whose gracious, elegant, and witty manner touched all who knew him."

The Writers' Trust tweeted: "Author Graeme Gibson made a huge impact on the work of countless Canadian writers as a co-founder of @writerstrust. A truly fine person with a brilliant legacy. Our hearts go out to his loving circle of family and friends."

Warwick's, La Jolla, Calif., hosted Academy Award-winning actor, producer and director Sean Penn in conversation with author Jim McDermott, discussing Penn's new novel, Bob Honey Sings Jimmy Crack Corn (Rare Bird Books).

Jacqueline Woodson

"If you're like us, you've probably wondered what famous people add to their carts," New York magazine noted in its "What I Can't Live Without" series, which showcased author Jacqueline Woodson, whose latest novel, Red at the Bone, was released Tuesday. 

In addition to her favorite pen, wine and other goodies, Woodson highlighted several bookseller-related items, including a Parnassus Books T-shirt: "Parnassus is one of my favorite bookstores. It's an independent bookstore in Nashville, Tennessee, and when I did an author visit there some years ago, they gave me this shirt. One of the things that makes it so special to me is the fact that Ann Patchett owns that bookstore and we go way back to the '90s. The connection between my writing life and my independent bookstore life is really deep because the independent bookstores were some of the first to really support me when the bigger bookstores were like, We don't know you from a can of paint. I just wear the Parnassus shirt all the time. I wear it when I go running, I wear it when I'm sitting on the stoop. I feel proud to have this huge Parnassus logo on my chest because it represents my love of independent bookstores."

In writing about a newly acquired copy of Betty Smith's A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Woodson observed: "It's also great to be able to walk through neighborhoods that are so filled with literature. We have Community Bookstore in Park Slope, which is about four blocks from where I live, and then we have Greenlight Bookstore in Fort Greene; WORD, which is in Greenpoint; and Stories Bookshop on Bergen, where I stop in whenever I walk by and get something for my son because I want to support the store. And on Fifth Ave in Brooklyn, we actually have a small independent comic book shop, too. I remember a time when independent bookstores were disappearing, and I love living in a time when they're expanding."

Another item she treasures is a broadside sent to her by author Ocean Vuong (On Earth We Are Briefly Gorgeous). After reading a galley, she "wrote his editor a letter and said this book has blown me away, please congratulate Ocean Vuong and tell him I look forward to meeting him someday. Then he was going on book tour, and his publisher asked if I would be in conversation with him at the Strand. I loved him as much in person as I did reading his words. And then as a thank you--like, who does this?--he sent me this broadside and said 'I had brought it to give you at the Strand but I was too shy, so I'm putting it in the mail to you.' And you know... tears. It's so beautiful."

Justin Chanda has been promoted to senior v-p and publisher for the Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, Atheneum Books for Young Readers, Margaret K. McElderry Books, Salaam Reads, Caitlyn Dlouhy Books, and Denene Millner Books imprints. He has been with S&S for 14 years.

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At Tom Doherty Associates:

Theresa DeLucci has been promoted to senior associate director of marketing of Tor Books, Forge, and Nightfire.

Renata Sweeney has been promoted to senior marketing manager, Tor.

Effective January 1, Gibbs Smith will handle worldwide sales and distribution for Angel City Press.

Founded in 1992, Angel City Press, Santa Monica, Calif., focuses on Southern California social and cultural history--its ideas, arts, architecture, food, fantasies, including Hollywood, music and sports.

Paddy Calistro, Angel City Press co-founder and CEO, said: "After years of self-distribution, Angel City Press has found the perfect partner in Gibbs Smith, a company that not only understands Southern California and its international appeal, but also appreciates the design sensibility and attention to detail that has made our brand well-known for decades. Together, we launch an exciting new adventure."

Scott McAuley, Angel City Press co-founder and CFO, added: "Gibbs Smith has been an inspiration to us since Angel City Press began--for its fine books, for championing Western history, and for its integrity. We are honored that our titles will be marketed alongside theirs to a broader audience."

The Curse of the Werepenguin by Allan Woodrow (Viking Books for Young Readers).

Today:
Fresh Air: Edward Snowden, author of Permanent Record (Metropolitan Books, $30, 9781250237231).

Tomorrow:
Today Show: Nefertiti Austin, author of Motherhood So White: A Memoir of Race, Gender, and Parenting in America (Sourcebooks, $25.99, 9781492679011).

The View: Margaret Atwood, author of The Testaments (Nan A. Talese, $28.95, 9780385543781).

HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher: Samantha Power, author of The Education of an Idealist: A Memoir (Dey Street, $29.99, 9780062820693).

Book TV airs on C-Span 2 this weekend from 8 a.m. Saturday to 8 a.m. Monday and focuses on political and historical books as well as the book industry. The following are highlights for this coming weekend. For more information, go to Book TV's website.

Saturday, September 21
6:20 p.m. Susan Ronald, author of Condé Nast: The Man and His Empire--A Biography (St. Martin's Press, $32.50, 9781250180025). (Re-airs Sunday at 10:55 p.m.)

8:50 p.m. June Diane Raphael and Kate Black, authors of Represent: The Woman's Guide to Running for Office and Changing the World (Workman, $19.95, 9781523502974). (Re-airs Sunday at 1 a.m.)

10 p.m. Michelle Malkin, author of Open Borders Inc.: Who's Funding America's Destruction? (Regnery, $28.99, 9781621579717). (Re-airs Sunday at 9 p.m. and Monday at 12 a.m. and 3 a.m.)

11 p.m. Robin Pogrebin and Kate Kelly, authors of The Education of Brett Kavanaugh: An Investigation (Portfolio, $29, 9780593084397). (Re-airs Sunday at 7 p.m.)

Sunday, September 22
10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Coverage of the 2019 Brooklyn Book Festival, with author discussions on criminal justice, LGBT issues, immigration, the 2020 election and more.

8 p.m. Jason Chaffetz, author of Power Grab (Broadside, $27.99, 9780062944429).

10 p.m. Shoba Wadhia, author of Banned: Immigration Enforcement in the Time of Trump (NYU Press, $30, 9781479857463).

Colin Calloway has won the $50,000 2019 George Washington Prize for The Indian World of George Washington: The First President, the First Americans, and the Birth of the Nation (Oxford University Press). The award, which recognizes the "best written works on the nation's founding era, especially those that have the potential to advance broad public understanding of early American history," is co-sponsored by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, George Washington's Mount Vernon, and Washington College. The award will be presented in New York City on October 24.

The organizers said that Calloway tells "the fascinating story of Washington's lifelong engagement with Native America. The book paints a new and, at times, disturbing portrait of the nation's first president--as an untested militia officer on the banks of the Ohio, as a diplomat who gradually learned to work with Indians on their own terms, and, during his final years, as a disappointed Indian land speculator. Unusual for a Washington biography, Shingas, Tanaghrisson, Cornplanter, Red Jacket, and Little Turtle, among many other native leaders, play leading roles in Calloway's account. America's first inhabitants, the book shows, were as central to the founding of the American republic as the nation's first president."

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The longlist for the 2019 National Book Award for Poetry consists of:

Variations on Dawn and Dusk by Dan Beachy-Quick (Omnidawn Publishing)
The Tradition by Jericho Brown (Copper Canyon Press)
"I": New and Selected Poems by Toi Derricotte (University of Pittsburgh Press)
Build Yourself a Boat by Camonghne Felix (Haymarket Books)
Deaf Republic by Ilya Kaminsky (Graywolf Press)
A Sand Book by Ariana Reines (Tin House Books)
Dunce by Mary Ruefle (Wave Books)
Be Recorder by Carmen Giménez Smith (Graywolf Press)
Sight Lines by Arthur Sze (Copper Canyon Press)
Doomstead Days by Brian Teare (Nightboat Books)

Finalists will be unveiled on October 8, and the winners announced at the National Book Awards Ceremony and Benefit Dinner on November 20 in New York City.

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A longlist has been released for the £50,000 (about $62,445) Baillie Gifford Prize, which "rewards excellence in nonfiction writing, bringing the best in intelligent reflection on the world to new readers." The shortlist will be announced October 22, and a winner named November 19 in London. See the longlisted titles here.

Selected new titles appearing next Tuesday, September 24:

The Water Dancer: A Novel by Ta-Nehisi Coates (One World, $28, 9780399590597) follows an escaped slave with a mysterious power.

The World That We Knew: A Novel by Alice Hoffman (Simon & Schuster, $27.99, 9781501137570) follows three women in 1941 Europe.

Lethal Agent by Vince Flynn and Kyle Mills (Atria/Emily Bestler, $28.99, 9781501190629) is the 18th thriller with Mitch Rapp.

Long Walk Home: Reflections on Bruce Springsteen, edited by Jonathan D. Cohen and June Skinner Sawyers (Rutgers University Press, $24.95, 9781978805262) collects remembrances of The Boss in time for his 70th birthday. (September 23)

Year of the Monkey by Patti Smith (Knopf, $24.95, 9780525657682) is the musician's memoir of an itinerant year.

Know My Name: A Memoir by Chanel Miller (Viking, $28, 9780735223707) is a memoir by the formerly anonymous rape victim of Brock Turner.

The United States of Trump: How the President Really Sees America by Bill O'Reilly (Holt, $28, 9781250237224) is by the former host of Fox News.

Dog Is Love: Why and How Your Dog Loves You by Clive D.L. Wynne (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $28, 9781328543967) is a scientific investigation of the human-canine bond.

The Gaijin Cookbook: Japanese Recipes from a Chef, Father, Eater, and Lifelong Outsider by Ivan Orkin and Chris Ying (Rux Martin/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $30, 9781328954350) gives recipes from an American chef who ran ramen shops in Tokyo for decades.

Super Attractor: Methods for Manifesting a Life beyond Your Wildest Dreams by Gabrielle Bernstein (Hay House, $25.99, 9781401957162) gives spiritual advice.

The Liar by Ayelet Gundar-Goshen (Little, Brown, $27, 9780316445399) follows a teenage girl trapped in a big lie.

Beverly, Right Here by Kate DiCamillo (Candlewick, $16.99, 9780763694647) is another return to the world of Raymie Nightingale.

Obviously by Akilah Hughes (Razorbill, $17.99, 9781101998908) is the writer, comedian and YouTuber's memoir for young adults.

From last week's Indie bestseller lists, available at IndieBound.org, here are the recommended titles, which are also Indie Next Great Reads:

Hardcover
Who Are You, Calvin Bledsoe?: A Novel by Brock Clarke (Algonquin, $26.95, 9781616208219). "Brock Clarke is a genius. His writing is consistently brilliant and stylish, which makes the quiet moments of human understanding even more striking. I LOVE this book--it is unexpected (like all his work--how can that be?), surprising, and profoundly moving. Fans of Jim Shepard and George Saunders will love Clarke and his new book about a middle-aged man whose discovery of a secret aunt (is she a spy? a fake? his mom? crazy?) leads him across Europe in pursuit of... well, he isn't quite sure yet. I laughed out loud, I chortled, I snickered quietly, I gasped. I can see putting this book into the hands of fans of Less by Andrew Sean Greer and Where'd You Go Bernadette--readers who like to be surprised." --Mary Cotton, Newtonville Books, Newton Centre, Mass.

Dominicana: A Novel by Angie Cruz (Flatiron, 9781250205933, $26.99) "Angie Cruz is a beautiful writer with a powerful voice, and readers of Julia Alvarez and Sandra Cisneros will greatly enjoy this book! Dominicana is a riveting story about family, womanhood, and what it means to be an immigrant. Ana Cancion, who's only 15, leaves her home behind for a new life in New York City with her soon-to-be husband, Juan Ruiz. Big lights, tall buildings, and a bright future constitute the promise of a new beginning. However, upon Ana's arrival, her fate untangles into something unexpected. It'll be really hard to forget these characters and the realness in their heartache. Throughout these pages, I fell in and out of love, I laughed, I cried, and I was deeply moved." --Cristina Lebron, Books & Books, Coral Gables, Fla.

Paperback
Machine: A Novel by Susan Steinberg (Graywolf Press, $15, 9781555978471). "Machine is like no book I have encountered before. Lyrically written prose slowly uncovers the details of the mysterious death of one of the young local girls in a small vacation town. In snippets, we see this world through the perspective of another girl, who is shocking in her honesty about how she navigates life as a young woman in this community of locals versus summer residents. Haunting and beautifully constructed." --Hillary Smith, Copperfield's Books, Sebastopol, Calif.

For Ages 4 to 8
Once Upon a Goat by Dan Richards, illustrated by Eric Barclay (Knopf, $17.99, 9781524773748). "This is an adorable, funny, and heartwarming story of a king and queen who are wishing for a baby. Their fairy godmother wants specifics, so they tell her, 'Any kid will do!' But when they look on their doorstep on the next full moon, they are surprised to see a different type of 'kid'... a fuzzy baby goat! A clever story with the most charming illustrations, this is a must for any reader's bookshelf!" --Amanda Zirn Hudson, Bethany Beach Books, Bethany Beach, Del.

For Ages 9 to 12
Lalani of the Distant Sea by Erin Entrada Kelly (Greenwillow, $16.99, 9780062747273). "Lalani of the Distant Sea is exquisitely written from many different perspectives, focusing mainly on that of Lalani, a young girl who will do anything to protect her people--her mother and friends most of all. Erin Entrada Kelly speaks through this lovely story, telling us that within sorrow, strength can be found, and in ruin, paradise can be discovered by those willing to search for it." --Cassie Molitor, The Book Shoppe, Boone, Iowa

For Teen Readers: An Indies Introduce Title
Dear Haiti, Love Alaine by Maika and Maritza Moulite (Inkyard Press, $18.99, 9781335777096). "With its charming mixed media epistolary style and compelling story, Dear Haiti, Love Alaine is a novel that demands to be read. Once you've met Alaine, you'll need to see how her tale ends up. At once endearing and poignant, this illuminative book is important and I am so happy it exists. I can't wait to see what the Moulite sisters write next!" --Cristina Russell, Books & Books, Coral Gables, Fla.

[Many thanks to IndieBound and the ABA!]

In her 2011 memoir, The Dirty Life, Kristin Kimball chronicled her completely unexpected transition from an urban to a rural existence. From her high-heel-wearing, frequent-flyer 20s as a freelance writer in New York City, Kimball moved to tiny Essex, N.Y., to build a farm and a life with a tall, exuberant man named Mark. In her second memoir, Good Husbandry, Kimball delves deeper into the narrative of Essex Farm, which is now her home, her livelihood and the center of her universe. With warmth, honesty and vivid anecdotes, Kimball weaves a compelling narrative that gives readers a glimpse into birthing calves, harvesting corn and raising rural kids in the 21st century. At the same time, she muses on the big questions of love, work, parenting and identity, and what happens when those are threatened--sometimes all at once.

Kimball's memoir relates the farm's history alongside her own personal story (and Mark's). The land is their literal and figurative foundation, and Kimball traces the scrappy, cheerful, sometimes rocky first years of making do with salvaged equipment and cooking huge team dinners for their crew of young trainee farmers. Eventually, with a farm and a young child both growing by leaps and bounds, Kristin and Mark had to address questions of boundaries and scale. How could they draw distinctions between work and home life while living at work and working at home? How could they grow enough food to feed their family and satisfy their farm-share customers without running themselves (entirely) ragged or wearing the land completely out? Kimball also continues wrestling with the broader questions of existence: how to be a good parent, a supportive spouse, a responsible citizen of the earth, while finding ways to flourish as a person. Other realities of the farm--sodden fields in a wet year, the constant revolving door of trainee farmers, the push and pull between raising two young girls and tending to the farm--serve as metaphors for Kimball's inner struggle and growth, as well as being the tangible stuff of her day-to-day life.

Alongside the challenges, Kimball writes of the joys: her deep love for the farm dogs, Jet and Mary; the satisfaction of pulling together fresh, healthy meals from in-season food grown on the farm; her delight in watching her girls embrace a rural childhood. She writes movingly about accepting the gifts and the hardships of each season, outer and inner. Good Husbandry is a clear-eyed tribute to a tough but nourishing rural life and the deep, sustainable joy it provides. --Katie Noah Gibson, blogger at Cakes, Tea and Dreams

Shelf Talker: Kristin Kimball's second memoir chronicles the joys, hardships and existential challenges of running a small sustainable farm.