Sam has been selling books for over 30 years, working at local indies Pages & Pages and Hawley-Cooke before coming to Carmichael's in 2014, where she is the Trainer and Floor Manager of the Frankfort Avenue location. Often an unoffical spokesperson for the store, she is a frequent guest on the literary podcast The Perks of Being a Book Lover, she appeared in the documentary "Bookstour" and interviewed author Leesa Cross-Smith for A Mighty Blaze's "Authors Love Bookstores".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7ZnnD43LYQ
https://soundcloud.com/wfmp-forward-radio/perks-ep-67-sam-miller-buy-books-before-the-bedlam-11-4-20
https://www.thebookstourfilm.com/
Sam is also one of the featured booksellers in Reading is Magic: A Book Log for Families (9781419741401) published by Abrams Image.
When a camper disappears from an Adirondack summer camp on the estate her parents own chaos ensues, not the least because she's not the first of their children to vanish. What happened to both children, the 'Upstairs/Downstairs' flavored fallout afterwards and the burgeoning skills of the young female investigator determined to make her name by unlocking it all makes for a meaty, satisfying mystery. If you praise the plotting in a book it sounds like you aren't emotionally engaged, that's certainly not the case here, but it was a pleasure to read one so deftly written, that moves so confidently between braided timelines. Also, this might be the most perfect cover of 2024. (IFKYK)
For her sophomore novel Newman again embeds the reader in another delightful yet maddening family, this time a multi generational one on vacation. It's all wonderful tradition until it isn't and the mother, Rocky (sandwiched between generations and flashing her way through menopause) is forced by unfolding events and proximity to confront things she'd rather stay hidden. I read this in one big gulp and I think you should too!
This collection of micro essays about food, from risotto to halo-halo, which could have been called World of Wonder__ful Things to Taste, is (wait for it) good enough to eat. The author continues her potent blend of poetry, science and memoir to engage all the reader's senses. And make them really, really hungry.
As a longtime admirer of Ailish, the heroine of Toibin's novel and the movie Brooklyn, I was delighted to renew our acquaintance in this follow up. Now long married and living in Long Island she finds herself adrift with a terrible choice that is compounded, in a "The Age of Innocence" like twist, when she goes home to Ireland for her mother's 80th birthday. Toibin is a master, period, but especially of capturing the turning points in a life that feels both real and earned.
No one writes like Ken Bruen. The idiosyncratic patter of Jack Taylor, his Irish, bitter, alcoholic, seen-too-much detective puts the reader at his elbow and makes this series go down so, so easy.
Shall I tell you how much I enjoyed this follow up to The Searcher? With all the world building done French is free to craft a small town (village) crime story with bite. Retired American cop Cal Hooper is still just wanting to enjoy a bucolic Irish retirement but when the feckless father of his young apprentice/daughter of his heart returns with a too-good-to-be-true scheme to make everyone rich he is pulled in once again, and deeper.
What James Ellroy's "My Dark Places" did for motherless sons, Kristine Ervin's "Rabbit Heart" does for motherless daughters. And then some.This memoir is a disturbing, poetic, heartrending examination of how her mother's murder hit her life like an earthquake, with tremors lingering until the present day. A longtime true crime fan, I would place this one up with Mikal Gilmore's "Shot in the Heart", a champion of illuminating the damage done.
I have loved Hanff's 84, Charing Cross Road for years but only discovered last month that there's a companion book! In this volume, with the help of many fans of the original, Helene finally takes her long deferred trip to England and, through her vivid description and relatable concerns (what to wear, what to say, how long will the money hold out?) takes the reader with her. I loved this surprise delight and encourage you to treat yourself and read both books together.
In this "Moby Dick" adjacent debut Ishmael has an affair with a Nantucket widow before he and Queequeg sail off with Ahab on the Pequod and fathers a daughter. The resulting journey she and the next three generations of strong gifted women take to find him, from New England to Brazil to Florence to Idaho and back again, takes the reader along as well. A terrific adventure of a read!
Great for readers who appreciate hidden history, even when it shows our rotten roots, this book is an expansion on the front page NYT article that laid out how the Jesuits who formed the mission school that became Georgetown University did so by selling enslaved people. Swarns tracks one matriarch, Ann Joice, and her descendants and by doing so is able to give a fuller history how what has been named 'America's greatest sin' grew and embedded itself into every institution, including American Christianity. A hard but necessary reckoning of a read.
When I was in eighth grade I discovered Watership Down and spent the school year repeatedly checking it out from the school library (two weeks out, one week in) until my dad took pity on me and bought me my own copy. It's one of the classic British quest stories originally told aloud to children and, like others of that genre, uses archetypes to establish characters with more gravitas than your everyday children's tale. As a lifelong fan I am delighted by this new graphic novel, its abridgement and soft pastoral imagery is a faithful tribute to the beloved original.
As a child of divorce in the 70's Chinese food was my first 'ethic' cuisine. (RIP Golden Dragon!) Not only did I love the taste I was fascinated by the decor and all the small accompanying ceremonies. This beautiful book not only takes me back to declaring "I hope heaven has a Chinese restaurant" (family legend!) it makes me HUNGRY. Ostensibly a kids book, it tells the myths and stories behind all the food we enjoy today. Did you know that wonton soup tells the story of creation? Or that rice is the foundation of the human spirit? Feast on this delicious book and find out.
Perfect for readers of any age who struggle with anxious worrying-what the Buddhists call 'monkey mind'-this picture book tells the story of two roommates, Fish and Crab, who need to address their worries before sleep. Older readers will appreciate the twin bed conversation of polar opposite besties that harkens back to other famous duos (Bert & Ernie anyone?) and younger readers will appreciate the artwork that reveals more with each reading.
An Antarctic book like no other, this mesmerizing account of a writer contemplating motherhood tagging along on a scientific voyage to the literal bottom of the world is the best writing I have read about climate change yet. The poetically personal account, mixed with the chorus of the scientists' statements of purpose, catches the reader's attention in a way no dry facts could.
In the 1984 movie,"The River", a frightened deer makes its way into a steel mill and some farmers, tricked into being strikebreakers, surround it and usher it out to safety. Well read viewers at at the time pointed out how similar that plot point was to Kurt Vonnegut's 1968 short story "A Deer in the Works", from his masterpiece collection Welcome to the Monkey House. Reporters, perhaps hoping for an angry hot take, were met with shrugs by the author who said, "It's good propaganda for humanity". I felt similarly about the latest novel from National Book Award winner James McBride. With graceful sentences that encourage lingering and a circular writing style that Venn diagrams its way to the point, this novel is both a good yarn about hardscrabble folks doing the right thing even when it's hard and a reminder of what we as humans owe one another. I predict major awards in this novel's future and, as I add my voice to the deafening chorus of praise, I encourage all readers of heart to share this book, we need it, and others like it, now more than ever.
If you missed this debut novel back in 2021 don't feel bad, so did I, but I am grateful to find it now as it's a great example of one of my favorite (and rare) genres-the feel good literary novel. Leonard and Hungry Paul are bachelor best friends who still live at home and have quiet lives full of board games and small work dramas. Hession's an Irish musician by trade and it shows in his musical and lovely prose. Seemingly simple but profound like my other favorites, Jim the Boy and A Fortnight in September, it's a calm treat in a busy world.
In her American adult debut, YA author Caroline O'Donoghue weaves a story of young love (all kinds!) and twentysomething mistakes that perfectly captures both the universality of that experience and the specifics of Cork, Ireland in the recession 2010s. A perfect book for readers waiting for the next Sally Rooney or Naoise Dolan.
As an educator Willie Carver fought for protections for LGTBQ+ folks like himself, even testifying before the House of Representatives, but a year after being named Kentucky Teacher of the Year he left the public school system. This, his first poetry collection, tells of the wonder and the pain of his Appalachian childhood and, as the perfectly chosen epigraph reads, "The truth will stand when the world is on fire."
Memoirs by poets are one of my favorite genres-all of the candor but told poetically. Jane Wong's journey from Jersey Shore Chinese 'restaurant baby' to poet/educator is a fantastic example-the food descriptions will make your mouth water and the music in the language will wear out your highlighter (or have you dogearing like a fool, if that's your thing). It's an immigrant story, it's a love letter to the parent who stayed, it's an examination of how we become ourselves-in short, it's a triumph.
Brave and clear eyed, the latest addition to the terrific Music Matters series re examines O'Connor's career, mines it for her many contributions and points out how a racist, sexist industry framed it so problematically (she's crazy, she's a bitch) a book like this was necessary to try and set the record straight. But McCabe aims higher than mere due giving-she also delves into the personal for a larger indictment about celebrity culture, how we (mis)treat the mentally ill and how music gets knotted into our lives in ways it's sometimes hard to articulate. A heartfelt bravo for an artist who has never gotten enough.
To create this startling collection poet and Princeton professor Patricia Smith used her personal collection of 19th century photographs of African Americans as prompts for poems ranging from erotic to mundane. The pairing of the two mediums explodes the remove people sometimes feel when looking at black and white portraits so the subjects feel wholly real and timeless. A great read for National Poetry Month!
To crib the author's own words, "this is the writing, thinking, feeling I'd been looking for." I am personally vexed by the modern fan's dilemma-with biography everywhere what do you (or should you) do when your favorite artist is revealed to be terrible, or worse, an actual predator? An expansion of her viral Paris Review essay, "What Do We Do with the Art Of Monstrous Men?", Dederer's book reads like a good thorny discussion with a smart friend, the kind where someone ends up shouting and pounding the table. If you have been soul searching about this too, I can't recommend this book enough.
Managing by delegation? Performance rewards? Extracurricular activities to promote employee satisfaction? Encouraging managers self development? These aren't ideas pioneered by the Harvard Business School, no, these are bedrock ideas of the Nazi Party that were synthesized by Reinhard Hohn, former general and SS Intelligence officer, and taught for years at the business school he founded after the war. In this slim volume, one of the first in Compass, a new nonfiction series by Europa, a leading French historian lays out the whole horrifying/fascinating evolution.
I loved, loved, loved this debut novel by one of my favorite magazine writers (Newman is the advice columnist for Real Simple). A life affirming story about being present at the end for a beloved friend, this book will make you laugh as often as cry and you'll beg to be adopted by this big, messy found family. It also has my favorite cover of the year- great before you read, and perfect after.
A smart, funny crash course in 25 iconic horror movies, from Psycho to Hereditary, for people who love getting the reference but hate being scared.