She Walks in Beauty: A Woman’s Journey Through Poems by Caroline Kennedy (Harper, April 2011)

I enjoyed Caroline Kennedy’s talk with David Letterman this week. I was even more charmed when I flipped through this collection of poetry. As Kennedy notes in the introduction, poetry “shapes an endless conversation about the most important things in life.” She has collected poems familiar and unfamiliar and arranged them into sections which mark the stages of a woman’s life. Beautiful.

The Paris Wife by Paula McClain (Random House, February 2011)

I have not heard one negative comment about this book. Our staff and many of our customers LOVE this book. Nan had this to say in her blog:

“Told from the point of view of Hadley, the first wife, or the “Paris wife”, this novel gives an “up close and personal” view of  Hemingway, the man, and his newly emerging career. As he and Hadley travel throughout Europe, and particularly Spain, the reader watches as the writer gathers details for his first short story collection In Our Time, and for his first novel The Sun Also Rises”

This is a fantastic read for fans of Hemingway or readers who are just looking for a “good” read. Read more of Nan’s blog here.

A Classical Journey: The Houses of Ken Tate (January 2011)

With A Classical Journey Ken Tate gives us his first book since 2005. Filled with photographs of homes across Mississippi, Louisiana, Kentucky and Tennessee, Journey sets an easy pace into Tate’s world of “intuitive classicism” with beautiful foldout reflections, poetry, quotations and mini-interviews. Read more on Ken Tate here.

Caleb’s Crossing by Geraldine Brooks (Penguin, May 2011)

I couldn’t put this one down. Brooks inspiration for the novel stems from this one historical fact: In 1665, a young man becomes the first native American to graduate from Harvard College. Her story revolves around this young man, Caleb, and a young woman named Bethia who befriends Caleb at a young age. As they both grow up, they must make cultural choices that will affect them for the rest of their lives.

Two Wonderful Cookbooks: A Southerly Course by Martha Hall Foose and Sara Foster’s Southern Kitchen (both new this April)

A Southerly Course has beautiful photography, recipes and stories by Martha. Sara Foster’s Southern Kitchen stays true to the simple southern tradition of cooking. I would have a hard time picking between this two. I’d want both!

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