The Country Bookshop

Calling for a Blanket Dance by Oscar Hokeah

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Calling for a Blanket Danceby Oscar Hokeah
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A compelling book about how our family shapes how we are seen and who we become. Touching on themes of generational trauma, poverty, a feeling of belonging and family conflict, this story focuses on the life of Ever, told through generations of his Cherokee, Kiowa and Mexican family members. Honest and powerful, great storytelling.

Calling for a Blanket Dance by Oscar Hokeah, (List Price: $27.00, Algonquin Books, 9781643751474, July 2022)

Reviewed by Jennifer Privitera, The Country Bookshop in Southern Pines, North Carolina

The Darkening by Sunya Mara

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The Darkening by Sunya Mara
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Vesper Vale, the daughter of failed revolutionaries, is on her quest to save her father from the storm. Vesper must lie about everything, including her feelings, to get inside the prince’s cold and unfeeling heart. However, when armed with her own choice, will she choose trusting the prince, or the storm? Interesting, heartbreaking, and fast paced, with plot twists you’ll never see coming, this one is a perfect choice for fantasy, action, and romance readers.

The Darkening by Sunya Mara, (List Price: $18.99, Clarion Books, 9780358561989, July 2022)

Reviewed by Angie Tally, The Country Bookshop in Southern Pines, North Carolina

I Am a Baby by Bob Shea

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I Am a Baby by Bob Shea
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A June 2022 Read This Next! Title!

If ever a book has gotten new parenthood spot on, its " I am a Baby." This one should be a required gift at every baby shower, because when there’s a new baby around, you’ve got to laugh at all the ways the world changes for everyone!

I Am a Baby by Bob Shea, (List Price: 17.99, Candlewick, 9781536218329, 9781536218329, June 2022)

Angie Tally, The Country Bookshop in Southern Pines, North Carolina

By Her Own Design by Piper Huguley

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By Her Own Design by Piper Huguley
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Ann Cole Lowe was a dress designer to Olivia de Haviland, Jacqueline Bouvier and other high society women. But she was born a black woman in Alabama whose mother and grandmother sewed for high society and learned her trade from them. Finding a white benefactress in Tampa, Ann begins her own design career that eventually takes her to NY. What a great novel of a talented black woman who succeeds through hard work.

By Her Own Design by Piper Huguley, (List Price: $16.99, William Morrow Paperbacks, 9780063059740, June 2022)

Reviewed by Beth Carpenter, The Country Bookshop in Southern Pines, North Carolina

Search by Michelle Huneven

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Search by Michelle Huneven
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A novel written as a memoir of Dana Potowski (who is also a restaurant critic) chosen as one of eight members of her church’s search committee for a new senior minister. This is a wonderful story of diverse ages and personalities striving to reach a decision that adheres to their mission and is best for all, regardless of their personal opinions – and each of the members has an opinion. I loved this book and stayed up way past my bedtime reading it because I couldn’t put it down.

Search by Michelle Huneven, (List Price: $27, Penguin Press, 9780593300053, April 2022)

Reviewed by Beth Carpenter, The Country Bookshop in Southern Pines, North Carolina

Ways to Grow Love by Renée Watson

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Ways to Grow Love by Renée Watson
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Ryan Hart is headed to sleepaway camp where she faces some friendship challenges, but even that may be easier than going home to the new baby that’s on its way. Ramona Quimby for a new generation, Ryan Hart is a young, optimistic black girl navigating a changing world with style. This series really has staying power.

Ways to Grow Love by Renée Watson, (List Price: $7.99, Bloomsbury Children’s Books, 9781547609963, April 2022)

Reviewed by Angie Tally, The Country Bookshop in Southern Pines, North Carolina

Bitter Orange Tree by Jokha Alharthi

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Bitter Orange Tree by Jokha Alharthi
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When Man Booker Prize winner Jokha Alharthi writes, a river of emotions pours from her in the most beautiful way possible. Her latest translated novel features a young Omani student in London attempting to come to terms with the grief and regrets of losing her devoted grandmother by not attending to her when she needed her most. The tale drifts back and forth through time, giving the reader a view into the two strikingly different lives of these women; where both bear the weight of unfulfilled desires. This was an exquisite and haunting read.

Bitter Orange Tree by Jokha Alharthi, (List Price: $26, Catapult, 9781646220038, May 2022)

Reviewed by Damita Nocton, The Country Bookshop in Southern Pines, North Carolina

The National Menagerie of Art by Thaïs Vanderheyden

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The National Menagerie of Art by Thaïs Vanderheyden
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Art museums are wonderful places of discovery and this collection of 20 famous pieces is a great way to bring all the world’s great art museums into one spot. This little gem is the perfect introduction to art for novices of a tender age.

The National Menagerie of Art by Thaïs Vanderheyden, (List Price: $12.95, Prestel Junior, 9783791375090, April 2022)

Reviewed by Angie Tally, The Country Bookshop in Southern Pines, North Carolina

The Ogress and the Orphans by Kelly Barnhill

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The Ogress and the Orphans by Kelly Barnhill
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This beautiful tale is cleverly oozling with allegory–but it boils down to a simple message: knowledge, education, and the written word are power, kindness matters, and together we are stronger. Kelly Barnhill has crafted a masterpiece chock full of mistrusting citizens in a ruined village, an ogress with a big heart, orphans who pay attention, crows with a language of their own, a scarily charismatic mayor who isn’t who he seems, and an unnoticed stone at the heart of it all. This reader was thoroughly bedazzled and charmed by its brilliance.

The Ogress and the Orphans by Kelly Barnhill, (List Price: $28, Algonquin Young Readers, 9781643750743,  February 2022)

Reviewed by Damita Nocton from The Country Bookshop in Southern Pines, NC

Libertie by Kaitlyn Greenidge

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Libertie by Kaitlyn Greenidge
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Readers will be stunned by the force of Kaitlyn Greenidge’s latest novel. Set in Brooklyn during the Civil War era and the turbulent times after, the voice of Libertie Sampson describes her unique childhood as the freeborn daughter of a Black, widowed female doctor. Libertie’s mother has aspirations for her daughter to follow her path and join her in her practice. Two things prevent Libertie from choosing this course: her darker skin tone lessens her level of acceptance in the community and she doesn’t have the aptitude for medicine. Rather than face her mother’s disappointment, she marries a Haitian doctor and leaves the country with him. She finds herself lonelier than ever in this tumultuous island country.This is a highly immersive and unforgettable literary accomplishment.

Libertie by Kaitlyn Greenidge, (List Price: $16.95, Algonquin Books, 9781643752587, February 2022)

Reviewed by Damita Nocton, The Country Bookshop, Southern Pines, North Carolina



Carolina Built by Kianna Alexander

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Carolina Built by Kianna Alexander
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This book is a treat, about a strong woman who embodied the post emancipation strength that coursed through many in the bright years before Jim Crow. Kianna Alexander brought the real Josephine Leary to life in her page-turning book of historical fiction that leapt off the page as Josephine became a new wife, a landowner, a business partner, a working woman creating a family life, a visionary with business dreams and eventually a real estate legend. While she built this life she encountered love, other strong women, racism, heaps of sexism, love and lots of friends. Great book!

Carolina Built by Kianna Alexander, (List Price: $27.99, Gallery Books, 9781982163686, February 2022)

Reviewed by Kimberly Daniels, The Country Bookshop, Southern Pines, North Carolina



The Magnolia Palace by Fiona Davis

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The Magnolia Palace
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The Frick Museum is housed in a building built as the home for the Henry Clay Frick family, full of spectacular art. Two storylines tell the tale of the home and the family who lived there in the early 20th century, and then another storyline set in the 1960’s at the museum. With secrets and betrayals, life was not placid in either era.

The Magnolia Palace by Fiona Davis, (List Price: $27.00, Dutton, 9780593184011, January 2022)

Reviewed by Beth Carpenter, The Country Bookshop in Southern Pines, North Carolina

The Paris Bookseller by Kerri Maher

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The Paris Bookseller
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I enjoyed the novel of Sylvia Beach, who founded Shakespeare and Company book store in 1919 Paris and published James Joyce’s initial edition of Ulysses. It is full of the details of Sylvia’s life with Adrienne Monnier, who owns a French bookstore across the street, and the many trials Beach endures dealing with Joyce until she finally lets her interest in the book go.

The Paris Bookseller by Kerri Maher, (List Price: $26.oo, Berkley, 9780593102183, January 2022)

Reviewed by Beth Carpenter, The Country Bookshop in Southern Pines, North Carolina

The Year We Learned to Fly by Jacqueline Woodson, Rafael López

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The Year We Learned to Fly
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When the world is too boring or too hard or too angry for them, a brother and sister are reminded by their very wise grandmother that somewhere in the world somebody else felt the same way. This stunningly illustrated (by Rafael López) masterpiece from Jacqueline Woodson, former Ambassador for Children’s Literature, highlights the power of the imagination and encourages young readers to believe in something, leave troubles behind, and imagine a better world.

The Year We Learned to Fly by Jacqueline Woodson, Rafael López, (List Price: $18.99, Nancy Paulsen Books, 9780399545535, January 2022)

Reviewed by Angie Tally, The Country Bookshop in Southern Pines, North Carolina

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