Absalom’s Daughters is out Today!

 Suzanne Feldman’s debut novel, Absalom’s Daughters, is on sale today!  It’s getting rave reviews from critics and readers alike.  In glowing review, Kirkus said:  “Magnificent . . . . reminiscent of both William Faulkner and Toni Morrison, but her voice is entirely her own and utterly original. Feldman’s prose blisters and pops with sparks. . . . [T]here is a tart sweetness to Judith and Cassie’s interactions. In this novel, most things are not as they seem, and Feldman doesn’t hew too close to reality . . . . Searing and magical . . . by a monumental new talent.”―Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Absalom’s Daughters is the story of half sisters, one black and one white, on a 1950s road trip through the American South.

Self-educated and brown-skinned, Cassie works full time in her grandmother’s laundry in rural Mississippi. Illiterate and white, Judith falls for “colored music” and dreams of life as a big city radio star. These teenaged girls are half-sisters. And when they catch wind of their wayward father’s inheritance coming down in Virginia, they hitch their hopes to a road trip together to claim what’s rightly theirs.

In an old junk car, with a frying pan, a ham, and a few dollars hidden in a shoe, they set off through the American Deep South of the 1950s, a bewitchingly beautiful landscape as well as one bedeviled by racial strife and violence. Suzanne Feldman’s Absalom’s Daughters combines the buddy movie, the coming-of-age tale, and a dash of magical realism to enthrall and move us with an unforgettable, illuminating novel.

If you’re in the area, join Suzanne for a reading and talk at Dublin Roasters in Frederick, MD, from 7-8 p.m. on July 8th!

Happy Publication Day to Melody Warnick!

THIS IS WHERE YOU BELONG: The Art and Science of Loving the Place You Live is on sale today. In the spirit of Gretchen Rubin’s megaseller The Happiness Project and Eric Weiner’s The Geography of Bliss, a journalist embarks on a project to discover what it takes to love where you live.

The average restless American will move 11.7 times in a lifetime. For Melody Warnick, it was move #6, from Austin, Texas, to Blacksburg, Virginia, that threatened to unhinge her. In the lonely aftermath of unpacking, she wondered: Aren’t we supposed to put down roots at some point? How does the place we live become the place we want to stay? This time, she had an epiphany. Rather than hold her breath and hope this new town would be her family’s perfect fit, she would figure out how to fall in love with it—no matter what.

 

In THIS IS WHERE YOU BELONG, Melody Warnick dives into the body of research around place attachment—the deep sense of connection that binds some of us to our cities and increases our physical and emotional well-being—then travels to towns across America to see it in action. The best ideas she imports to her adopted hometown of Blacksburg for a series of Love Where You Live experiments designed to make her feel more locally connected. What Warnick learns will inspire you to embrace your own community—and perhaps discover that the place where you live right now . . . is home.

 

Please join Melody for her upcoming events:

6/22 – Reading at Kramerbooks, 1517 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Washington DC – 6:30 p.m.

6/24 – Book launch party and mini “I Love Blacksburg” Fest, Alexander Black House, 204 Draper Road, Blacksburg, VA – 4-6 p.m.

11/5 – Texas Book Festival, on the grounds of the Texas State Capitol, Austin.  Details to come.
Check out melodywarnick.com for more info!

Acclaimed Bosnian writer Saša Stanišić’s BEFORE THE FEAST on sale today

From award-winning Bosnian writer Saša Stanišić (HOW THE SOLDIER REPAIRS THE GRAMOPHONE) comes BEFORE THE FEAST, a novel about a long night, a mosaic of village life, in which the long-established and newcomers, the dead and the living, craftsmen, pensioners, and noble robbers in football shirts bump into each other. They all want to bring something to a close, in this night before the feast.

“Serious subjects are raised throughout this impressive and sweeping portrait, including our relationship to history and the responsibility of remembering the past, but this comic novel never takes itself too seriously. The end result is both redemptive and hilarious.” –Publishers Weekly

See Karen Russell’s shoutout to the book in The New Yorker and check out the rest of Tin House’s excellent summer 2016 lineup!

THINK SIMPLE by Ken Segall is out today!

THINK SIMPLE: HOW SMART LEADERS DEFEAT COMPLEXITY by Ken Segall is out today from Portfolio.

Simplicity is arguably the most potent weapon in business—attracting customers, motivating employees, helping outthink competitors, and creating new efficiencies. Yet rarely is it as simple as it looks.

Ken Segall’s first book, Insanely Simple, was based on observations gained from twelve years working as Steve Jobs’s advertising agency creative director, first with NeXT and then with Apple. He saw firsthand that Jobs looked at everything through the lens of simplicity. His obsession with simplicity was not just visible in Apple’s products. You could see it in the way the company organized, innovated, advertised, sold at retail, and provided customer service.

In practice, simplicity was Jobs’s most powerful business weapon. It helped Apple distinguish its products and create entirely new product categories, and it put distance between Apple and its competitors. But, while Apple is a terrific example of a company that has been propelled by the power of simplicity, it is hardly alone.

Inspired by the ways Apple has benefited from the power of simplicity, Segall set out to find other companies that were traveling this path. He wanted to learn more about the thinking of their leaders. He felt that if he could chronicle the experiences of those who have successfully simplified, it would be an invaluable guide for everyone who would like to do the same.

This book is the result of his journey into simplicity in companies around the world.
Many of the “heroes of simplicity” profiled in this book are probably not on your list of usual suspects. Segall had conversations with over forty men and women from a wide range of industries, in companies big and small, established and up-and-coming, famous and below under the radar.

Each leader has a fascinating point of view about how simplicity has helped improve his or her company and set it apart from competitors. Each is unique, yet, as you’ll find, many display interesting similarities.From Jerry Greenfield, you’ll hear how Ben & Jerry’s grew from local to global without losing its focus and simple values. From the CEO of one of Australia’s biggest banks, you’ll hear how simplicity is attracting new customers. From former Apple Senior Vice President Ron Johnson, you’ll hear how a simple idea aligned the team creating the worldwide network of Apple Stores.

You’ll discover how simplicity influences the CEOs of The Container Store and Whole Foods. You’ll get insights on simplification from the worlds of fashion, automobiles, entertainment, and technology. You’ll even get inside the blue heads of the Blue Man Group, who developed a business strategy to defeat complexity before it could take root.

No principle is more important for businesses today than simplicity. In this insightful and often surprising book, you will learn how to harness the power of simplicity to build lasting, profitable organizations.

Read an excerpt on Business Insider here!

HUNGRY BOYS is now available from Amazon

Complete with a new afterword and some of the author’s delicious recipes, Darlene Barnes’ memoir HUNGRY BOYS: Tales from a Fraternity Kitchen is now available from Amazon. In HUNGRY BOYS, Barnes details her time as the chef for the Alpha Sigma Phi frat house at the University of Washington. What ensues is not just funny and touching, but also surprising and revelatory, as Darlene, surrounded by this heavily male culture, seeks purpose in her work. Ultimately, she connects with these young men through her food, and her time at the frat house is more emotional and rewarding than she’d ever imagined.

HUNGRY BOYS is available for Kindle and in print today!