Blogs

Here are the first two entries in our Reading in Translation Giveaway!

One of the persistent, nagging facts about American reading habits is how we read very few books in translation.

The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly by Stephane Oakes is the 2015 Young Readers Porter Square Book of the Year. (Which means it’s 20% off for the rest of the year.) Bookseller Rebecca who originally nominated The Sacred Lies for the award (and clearly has excellent taste, because she also nominated our adult winner) interviewed Stephanie Oakes.

Uprooted by Naomi Novik (just out in paperback!) is the 2015 Adult Porter Square Book of the Year. (Which means it’s 20% for the rest of 2016.) Bookseller Rebecca, who originally nominated Uprooted for the award, spoke with Naomi Novik over the phone.

Readers of the World! We have counted the votes on Twitter, Facebook, and in the store, and we have our 2015 Porter Square Books of the Year. Both books will be 20% off for the rest of 2016.

The adult Porter Square Book of the Year for 2015 is Uprooted by Naomi Novik!

SPQR by Mary Beard is a quite different kind of history writing. While her subject covers a millennium of ancient Roman history, Beard is not attempting a grand conception of the civilization such as Burkhardt did for the Renaissance or as Jared Diamond has written in more recent years.

Here are some samples from the many great reviews A Year in the Life of a Complete and Total Genius by Stacey Matson has garnered.

The great lie of detective fiction is that the world makes sense: there are no coincidences; criminal motives are simple and decipherable; every clue is a step along the path to resolution. In the real world, Sherlock Holmes would be useless. Human motivations are messy and contradictory, changeable, and frequently self-destructive.

When I found out that my second pick of 2015, The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly (Stephanie Oakes), had also won its bracket to become a kids finalist in the #PSBookoftheYear15 contest, I did a little fist pump and then an Amy Cuddy power pose.

After Uprooted by Naomi Novik won its bracket to become the first adult finalist in the #PSBookof2015 contest, Josh asked me if I wouldn’t mind writing a blog post in support of the book’s candidacy. The answer was a huge no-brainer of a YES.