Local Bestsellers

	1. My Life by Clinton, Bill Format:  Hardcover (Cloth) Price:  $35.00 Published: Knopf, 2004 Inventory Status: Usually Ships in 1-5 days   See all editions of this title. Click here for a chapter excerpt. Click here for an audio excerpt. From the book's jacket: President Bill Clinton's My Life. is the strikingly candid portrait of a global leader who decided early in life to devote his intellectual and political gifts, and his extraordinary capacity for hard work, to serving the public. It shows us the progress of a remarkable American, who, through his own enormous energies and efforts, made the unlikely journey from Hope, Arkansas, to the White House--a journey fueled by an impassioned interest in the political process which manifested itself at every stage of his life: in college, working as an intern for Senator William Fulbright; at Oxford, becoming part of the Vietnam War protest movement; at Yale Law School, campaigning on the grassroots level for Democratic candidates; back in Arkansas, running for Congress, attorney general, and governor. We see his career shaped by his resolute determination to improve the life of his fellow citizens, an unfaltering commitment to civil rights, and an exceptional understanding of the practicalities of political life. We come to understand the emotional pressures of his youth-born after his father's death; caught in the dysfunctional relationship between his feisty, nurturing mother and his abusive stepfather, whom he never ceased to love and whose name he took; drawn to the brilliant, compelling Hillary Rodham, whom he was determined to marry; passionately devoted, from her infancy, to their daughter, Chelsea, and to the entire experience of fatherhood; slowly and painfully beginning to comprehend how his early denial of pain led him at times into damaging patterns of behavior. President Clinton's book is also the fullest, most concretely detailed, most nuanced account of a presidency ever written--encompassing not only the high points and crises but the way the presidency actually works: the day-to-day bombardment of problems, personalities, conflicts, setbacks, achievements. It is a testament to the positive impact on America and on the world of his work and his ideals. It is the gripping account of a president under concerted and unrelenting assault orchestrated by his enemies on the Far Right, and how he survived and prevailed. It is a treasury of moments caught alive, among them: The ten-year-old boy watching the national political conventions on his family's new (and first) television set. The young candidate looking for votes in the Arkansas hills and the local seer who tells him, "Anybody who would campaign at a beer joint in Joiner at midnight on Saturday night deserves to carry one box. . . . You?ll win here. But it'll be the only damn place you win in this county." (He was right on both counts.) The roller-coaster ride of the 1992 campaign. The extraordinarily frank exchanges with Newt Gingrich and Bob Dole. The delicate manipulation needed to convince Rabin and Arafat to shake hands for the camera while keeping Arafat from kissing Rabin. The cost, both public and private, of the scandal that threatened the presidency. Here is the life of a great national and international figure, revealed with all his talents and contradictions, told openly, directly, in his own completely recognizable voice. A unique book by a unique American.
	2. The Secret Life of Bees by Kidd, Sue Monk Format:  Trade Paperback Price:  $15.00 Published: Penguin Books, 2003 Inventory Status: Usually Ships in 1-5 days   See all editions of this title. Sue Monk Kidd's ravishing debut novel has stolen the hearts of reviewers and readers alike with its strong, assured voice. Set in South Carolina in 1964, "The Secret Life of Bees" tells the story of Lily Owens, whose life has been shaped around the blurred memory of the afternoon her mother was killed. When Lily's fierce-hearted "stand-in mother," Rosaleen, insults three of the town's fiercest racists, Lily decides they should both escape to Tiburon, South Carolina--a town that holds the secret to her mother's past. There they are taken in by an eccentric trio of black beekeeping sisters who introduce Lily to a mesmerizing world of bees, honey, and the Black Madonna who presides over their household. This is a remarkable story about divine female power and the transforming power of love--a story that women will share and pass on to their daughters for years to come.
Browse Sample Pages	3. The Da Vinci Code by Brown, Dan Format:  Hardcover (Cloth) Price:  $24.95 Published: Doubleday Books, 2003 Inventory Status: Usually Ships in 1-5 days   See all editions of this title. While in Paris on business, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon receives an urgent late-night phone call: the elderly curator of the Louvre has been murdered inside the museum. Near the body, police have found a baffling cipher. While working to solve the enigmatic riddle, Langdon is stunned to discover it leads to a trail of clues hidden in the works of Da Vinci -- clues visible for all to see -- yet ingeniously disguised by the painter. Langdon joins forces with a gifted French cryptologist, Sophie Neveu, and learns the late curator was involved in the Priory of Sion -- an actual secret society whose members included Sir Isaac Newton, Botticelli, Victor Hugo, and Da Vinci, among others. In a breathless race through Paris, London, and beyond, Langdon and Neveu match wits with a faceless powerbroker who seems to anticipate their every move. Unless Langdon and Neveu can decipher the labyrinthine puzzle in time, the Priory's ancient secret -- and an explosive historical truth -- will be lost forever. THE DA VINCI CODE heralds the arrival of a new breed of lightning-paced, intelligent thriller... utterly unpredictable right up to its stunning conclusion.
	4. Angels & Demons by Brown, Dan Format:  Mass Market Paperback Price:  $7.99 Published: Pocket Star Books, 2001 Inventory Status: Special Order - Subject to Availability   See all editions of this title. An ancient secret brotherhood. A devastating new weapon of destruction. An unthinkable target. World-renowned Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is summoned to a Swiss research facility to analyze a cryptic symbol seared into the chest of a murdered physicist. What he discovers is unimaginable: a deadly vendetta against the Catholic Church by a centuries-old underground organization -- the Illuminati. Desperate to save the Vatican from a powerful time bomb, Langdon joins forces in Rome with the beautiful and mysterious scientist Vittoria Vetra. Together they embark on a frantic hunt through sealed crypts, dangerous catacombs, deserted cathedrals, and the most secretive vault on earth...the long-forgotten Illuminati lair.
Browse Sample Pages	5. Three Junes by Glass, Julia Format:  Trade Paperback Price:  $14.95 Published: Anchor Books, 2003 Inventory Status: Usually Ships in 1-5 days   See all editions of this title. An astonishing first novel that traces the lives of a Scottish family over a decade as they confront the joys and longings, fulfillments and betrayals of love in all its guises. In June of 1989 Paul McLeod, a newspaper publisher and recent widower, travels to Greece, where he falls for a young American artist and reflects on the complicated truth about his marriage. . ..Six years later, again in June, Paul's death draws his three grown sons and their families back to their ancestral home. Fenno, the eldest, a wry, introspective gay man, narrates the events of this unforeseen reunion. Far from his straitlaced expatriate life as a bookseller in Greenwich Village, Fenno is stunned by a series of revelations that threaten his carefully crafted defenses. . .. Four years farther on, in yet another June, a chance meeting on the Long Island shore brings Fenno together with Fern Olitsky, the artist who once captivated his father. Now pregnant, Fern must weigh her guilt about the past against her wishes for the future and decide what family means to her. In prose rich with compassion and wit, " "Three Junes paints a haunting portrait of love's redemptive powers.
	6. The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Albom, Mitch Format:  Hardcover (Cloth) Price:  $19.95 Published: Hyperion Books, 2003 Inventory Status: Usually Ships in 1-5 days   See all editions of this title. Eddie is a wounded war veteran, an old man who has lived, in his mind, an uninspired life. His job is fixing rides at a seaside amusement park. On his 83rd birthday, a tragic accident kills him, as he tries to save a little girl from a falling cart. He awakes in the afterlife, where he learns that heaven is not a destination. It's a place where your life is explained to you by five people, some of whom you knew, others who may have been strangers. One by one, from childhood to soldier to old age, Eddie's five people revisit their connections to him on earth, illuminating the mysteries of his "meaningless" life, and revealing the haunting secret behind the eternal question: "Why was I here?"
	7. The Notebook by Sparks, Nicholas Format:  Mass Market Paperback Price:  $7.99 Published: Warner Books, 1998 Inventory Status: Usually Ships in 1-5 days   See all editions of this title. Taylor McAden is a volunteer fireman who is always the first to plunge into danger. But there is one risk he can't bring himself to take: falling in love. Then he meets Denise Holden, a single mother who has moved to the small town of Edenton, North Carolina, to build a new life. A near fatal car crash will bring these two together, but before that can happen, Taylor must look into his past and see if it's not too late to take a chance on the future.
	8. Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation by Truss, Lynne Format:  Hardcover (Cloth) Price:  $19.95 Published: Gotham Books, 2004 Inventory Status: Usually Ships in 1-5 days   See all editions of this title. We all know the basics of punctuation--or do we? In "Eats, Shoots &Leaves," Truss dares to say, in her delightfully witty way, that it is time to institute a zero tolerance approach to punctuation.
	9. Life of Pi by Martel, Yann, Kaiser, Jacqueline Format:  Trade Paperback Price:  $15.00 Published: Mariner Books, 2003 Inventory Status: Usually Ships in 1-5 days   See all editions of this title. The son of a zookeeper, Pi Patel has an encyclopedic knowledge of animal behavior and a fervent love of stories. When Pi is sixteen, his family emigrates from India to North America aboard a Japanese cargo ship, along with their zoo animals bound for new homes. The ship sinks. Pi finds himself alone in a lifeboat, his only companions a hyena, an orangutan, a wounded zebra, and Richard Parker, a 450-pound Bengal tiger. Soon the tiger has dispatched all but Pi, whose fear, knowledge, and cunning allow him to coexist with Richard Parker for 227 days while lost at sea. When they finally reach the coast of Mexico, Richard Parker flees to the jungle, never to be seen again. The Japanese authorities who interrogate Pi refuse to believe his story and press him to tell them "the truth." After hours of coercion, Pi tells a second story, a story much less fantastical, much more conventional--but is it more true?
Browse Sample Pages	10. Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books by Nafisi, Azar Format:  Trade Paperback Price:  $15.00 Published: Random House Trade, 2003 Inventory Status: Usually Ships in 1-5 days   See all editions of this title. Every Thursday morning for two years in the Islamic Republic of Iran, a bold and inspired teacher named Azar Nafisi secretly gathered seven of her most committed female students to read forbidden Western classics. As Islamic morality squads staged arbitrary raids in Tehran, fundamentalists seized hold of the universities, and a blind censor stifled artistic expression, the girls in Azar Nafisi's living room risked removing their veils and immersed themselves in the worlds of Jane Austen, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Henry James, and Vladimir Nabokov. In this extraordinary memoir, their stories become intertwined with the ones they are reading. "Reading Lolita in Tehran" is a remarkable exploration of resilience in the face of tyranny and a celebration of the liberating power of literature.