From last week's Indie bestseller lists, available at IndieBound.org, here are the recommended titles, which are also Indie Next Great Reads:
Hardcover
The Age of Light: A Novel by Whitney Scharer (Little, Brown, $28, 9780316524087). "Art lovers will enjoy this sexy, brilliant novel about Man Ray and Lee Miller set in Paris during the Jazz Age. Ray met Miller shortly after she arrived in Paris, young and just learning her craft. He became her mentor and lover, an intense relationship with the older man nurturing the younger woman's talent. But as Miller grew into her art and the relationship shifted, Ray's ego needed to be first. By World War II, Miller is at the height of her powers, and she leaves behind the safety of shooting portraits for the battlefields of Europe, documenting the horrors of concentration camps. Following Miller from her youth to old age, Scharer explores the passions and creativity of two larger-than-life characters." --Deon Stonehouse, Sunriver Books & Music, Sunriver, Ore.
When You Read This: A Novel by Mary Adkins (Harper, $26.99, 9780062834676). "Death is called the final act, but for our loved ones who survive us, the show inevitably goes on. In When You Read This, Mary Adkins gives equal stage time to Iris Massey, a woman recently diagnosed with terminal cancer who begins a blog about her experiences, and those she has left behind. Grief is a unifying theme in this novel, from Iris, who struggles to come to terms with her death, to her sister, Jade, who is left rudderless without her, and even Iris' boss, Smith, who is determined to fulfill Iris' last request of having her blog published as a book. Poignant and bittersweet, When You Read This is a well-rounded blend of romance, comedy, and drama." --Heather Herbaugh, Mitzi's Books, Rapid City, S.D.
Paperback
A Long Way from Home: A Novel by Peter Carey (Vintage, $16.95, 9780525435990). "Carey uses the Australian cross-country Redux auto trials of the 1950s to explore how the need to be accepted directs our motivations and, accordingly, our fates. Titch and Irene Bobs join up with their neighbor Willy Bachhuber, a maps expert, to race the Redux. For Titch, an opportunistic car salesman, the race represents the chance to seize national fame--and the respect of his larger-than-life father. Through the journey, Carey delves into Australia's virulent racism toward its indigenous populations and its embedded intolerance of miscegenation. As the miles accumulate, Irene and Willy's lives change in profound ways, and we, in turn, experience Carey's wit, heart, and intelligence, as well as his skill in bringing these characters and this place and time so vibrantly to life." --Lori Feathers, Interabang Books, Dallas, Tex.
For Ages 4 to 8
Lola Dutch: When I Grow Up by Kenneth Wright, illustrated by Sarah Jane Wright (Bloomsbury, $17.99, 9781681195544). "Lola Dutch is back, and her ideas have gotten no smaller since the last time we saw her! Thinking about what she might want to be when she grows up, Lola and her friends spare no effort in exploring the various options that strike her fancy. As Lola works and grows, she decides what she really wants is to be a kid and to learn about everything--and there's always tomorrow, when she may decide to try something else entirely. Filled with as much curiosity and charm as the first book!" --Kelly O'Sullivan, R.J. Julia Booksellers, Madison, Conn.
For Ages 9 to 12
The Polar Bear Explorers' Club by Alex Bell (Simon & Schuster, $17.99, 9781534406469). "A whimsical, magical tale full of humor, adventure, and some of the oddest dangers in children's literature (flesh-eating cabbages? frostbite fairies that will literally bite you?). Readers will fall in love with the main character and her fellow explorers right away and will no doubt be chomping at the bit for the next book in the series by the end." --Chris Abouzeid, Belmont Books, Belmont, Mass.
For Teen Readers
Our Year of Maybe by Rachel Lynn Solomon (Simon Pulse, $18.99, 9781481497763). "Peter has spent years on the transplant list, studying piano while he waits for a donor kidney. His neighbor, Sophie, is consumed by dance and her secret crush on Peter. They've wrapped themselves so tightly into an exclusive friendship that there's never room for anyone else... until Sophie turns 18 and proves to be a perfect match. When her gift of a kidney frees Peter to follow dreams that don't include his best friend, Sophie is devastated and forced to rethink everything she's expected and planned for. Solomon has a talent for making me fall in love with her complex and somewhat difficult characters and then writing them into heartbreaking situations bound to tear their already challenging lives to pieces. Told through lovely and expressive prose, you'll be thinking about the choices Sophie and Peter make long after you've turned the last page." --Jenny Chou, Boswell Book Company, Milwaukee, Wis.
[Many thanks to IndieBound and the ABA!]
