For this month’s Top Picks Books feature, we are focusing on the newly redesigned and reopened Nantucket Bookworks. From young adult and children to music and film, health and spirituality to games and greeting cards, Nantucket Bookworks hits the mark across all genres. We checked in with their talented and well-read staff to see what they recommend this November.
NEW FICTION
Because, after all, November is National Novel Writing Month! Looking for the latest bestselling novels? They’ll be right at the front of the store and ready to be devoured this fall.
Top Pick for November: The Muralist
by B.A. Shapiro
Alizée Benoit, an American painter working for the Works Progress Administration (WPA), vanishes in New York City in 1940 amid personal and political turmoil. No one knows what happened to her. Not her Jewish family living in German-occupied France. Not her artistic patron and political compatriot, Eleanor Roosevelt. Not her close-knit group of friends, including Mark Rothko, Jackson Pollock, and Lee Krasner. And, some seventy years later, not her great-niece, Danielle Abrams, who while working at Christie’s auction house uncovers enigmatic paintings hidden behind recently found works by those now famous Abstract Expressionist artists. Do they hold answers to the questions surrounding her missing aunt?
YOUNG ADULT
With a YA section that is bigger and better than ever before, you’re sure to find all the newest teen reads in this comfy, cozy nook.
Top Pick for November: Carry On
by Rainbow Rowell
Simon Snow is the worst Chosen One who’s ever been chosen. That’s what his roommate, Baz, says. And Baz might be evil and a vampire and a complete git, but he’s probably right. Half the time, Simon can’t even make his wand work, and the other half, he sets something on fire. His mentor’s avoiding him, his girlfriend broke up with him, and there’s a magic-eating monster running around wearing Simon’s face. Baz would be having a field day with all this, if he were here — it’s their last year at the Watford School of Magicks, and Simon’s infuriating nemesis didn’t even bother to show up.
CHILDREN
Perhaps most exciting is the new and improved Children’s Room, complete with book tree, Barnaby Bear Section, toys, games & MORE! We’re sure that everyone will want to be a kid again when they lay eyes on this space.
Top Pick for November: The Day the Crayons Came Home
by Drew Daywalt and Oliver Jeffers
I’m not sure what it is about this kid Duncan, but his crayons sure are a colorful bunch of characters! Having soothed the hurt feelings of one group who threatened to quit, Duncan now faces a whole new group of crayons asking to be rescued. From Maroon Crayon, who was lost beneath the sofa cushions and then broken in two after Dad sat on him; to poor Turquoise, whose head is now stuck to one of Duncan’s stinky socks after they both ended up in the dryer together; to Pea Green, who knows darn well that no kid likes peas and who ran away—each and every crayon has a woeful tale to tell and a plea to be brought home to the crayon box.
HEALTH & LIVING
With a wide variety of psychology, parenting, and spirituality titles, Bookworks is dedicated to keeping our island happy and healthy. The new rage for relieving stress? Coloring books. For adults!
Top Pick for November: Color by Happy
by Lucy Mucklow and Angela Porter
With each development in technology, our lives become more complicated. We move through our days in a blur of emails, text messages, and social networking. This non-stop stimulation has left us stressed-out and distanced from the joys of the present moment. Art therapist Lacy Mucklow and artist Angela Porter offer a simple and satisfying solution to this disconnect from reality. Featuring over 100 joyful coloring templates, Color Me Happy is a guided coloring book designed for busy adults. Organized into therapeutically-themed chapters, this book examines the benefits of putting pencil to paper and offers adults an opportunity to channel their anxiety into joyful creative accomplishment.
COOKING
What’s cookin’? Well, if you live on Nantucket, probably scallops! Off island? Cook up one of these delicious recipes and you’ll feel the spray from Cisco Beach on your face as if you were right here.
Top Pick for November: Scallops, A New England Coastal Cookbook
by Elaine Tammi and Karin A. Tammi
Scallops: A New England Coastal Cookbook is a one-of-a-kind cookbook weaving together some of the best scallop recipes in New England with interviews from Nantucket bay scallop fishermen, marine scientists, world-renowned chefs, shuckers, and sea scallopers to provide an insider’s view into these fisheries. From the Maine coast to Cape Cod, highlighting New Bedford, an old whaling city, now the primary scallop port in the U.S., this cookbook provides delectable recipes. The recipes from award winning chefs, discuss the sustainability of the sea scallop fishery with NOAA scientists, feature Consumer-Supported Agriculture, and provide species information. This cookbook showcases scallops with vibrant color photographs (even underwater scallop photography from the Wood’s Hole Oceanographic Institute).
BONUS
Bookworks is back and so is vinyl! Stop in and browse their record player collection from Crosley, as well as their selection of vintage records.
Top Pick for November: Dust & Grooves, Adventures in Record Collecting
by Eilon Paz
Eilon Paz’s 436-page coffee-table book illuminates over 130 vinyl collectors and their collections in the most intimate of environments — their record rooms. With a foreword by the RZA, compelling photographic essays are paired with in-depth interviews to illustrate what motivates record collectors to keep digging for more records. Readers get an up close and personal look at a variety of well-known vinyl champions as well as a glimpse into the collections of known and unknown DJs, producers, record dealers, and everyday enthusiasts.
Shop local and place your book orders here.
