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Up & Coming Books of 2020

2/26/2020

By Elly Murray

Hey there! Are you looking for some interesting new reads in the coming year? Look no further; we’ve gone ahead and picked out some of our favorites for you. This list of 10 books coming out this year includes powerful stories of historical fiction, memoirs that challenge the society we live in, a few books for younger readers, and books suited to many other interests.

Read on for descriptions of each book, as well as where you can pre-order them, and when they’ll be available at Foggy Pine Books. In addition, several of these books can be used to check off your 2020 Reading Challenge!

1. Docile by K.M. Szpara

“Docile is a science fiction parable about love and sex, wealth and debt, abuse and power, a challenging tour de force that at turns seduces and startles. To be a Docile is to be kept, body and soul, for the uses of the owner of your contract. To be a Docile is to forget, to disappear, to hide inside your body from the horrors of your service. To be a Docile is to sell yourself to pay your parents’ debts and buy your children’s future.”

Elisha, a young farmer, must become a Docile to provide a better future for his sister. However, he’s going to do it without the aid of Dociline, the drug that makes Dociles blissfully unaware of their pain and surroundings. The same drug that permanently damaged his mother after years of use. What he doesn’t bank on is becoming the Docile of Alexander Bishop III, whose family created Dociline.

K.M. Szpara is a queer and trans author who has already recieved Hugo and Nebula nominations for “Small Changes Over Long Periods of Time,” a novelette about a gay trans man who gets bitten by a vampire. Docile is his debut novel and it promises to be a riveting book. Bonus: Mary loved this book & highly recommends you give it a read!

Pre-order online or purchase in-store on March 3rd.

2020 Reading Challenge:

14. A book with a one word title
or
22. A book by a trans-gender/non-binary author

2. The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich

Pre-order online or purchase in-store on March 3rd.

2020 Reading Challenge

24. A historical fiction

“Thomas Wazhashk is the night watchman at the jewel bearing plant, the first factory located near the Turtle Mountain Reservation in rural North Dakota. He is also a Chippewa Council member who is trying to understand the consequences of a new “emancipation” bill on its way to the floor of the United States Congress.

It is 1953 and he and the other council members know the bill isn’t about freedom; Congress is fed up with Indians. The bill is a ‘termination’ that threatens the rights of Native Americans to their land and their very identity. How can the government abandon treaties made in good faith with Native Americans ‘for as long as the grasses shall grow, and the rivers run’?”

Louise Erdrich is an American author who writes stories featuring Native American characters and settings. She is an enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians. The Night Watchmen is based on the life of Erdrich’s grandfather, as well as a few other characters central to the story.

3. The Lonely Heart of Maybelle Lane by Kate O'Shaughnessy

“Eleven-year-old Maybelle Lane collects sounds. She records the Louisiana crickets chirping, Momma strumming her guitar, their broken trailer door squeaking. But the crown jewel of her collection is a sound she didn't collect herself: an old recording of her daddy's warm-sunshine laugh, saved on an old phone's voicemail. It's the only thing she has of his, and the only thing she knows about him.

Until the day she hears that laugh--his laugh--pouring out of the car radio. Going against Momma's wishes, Maybelle starts listening to her radio DJ daddy's new show, drinking in every word like a plant leaning toward the sun. When he announces he'll be the judge of a singing contest in Nashville, she signs up. What better way to meet than to stand before him and sing with all her heart?”

Kate O’Shaughnessy’s debut novel promises to be a heart-wrenching, spectacular read about the difference between blood relatives and the family you choose for yourself.

Pre-order online or purchase in store on March 3rd.

2020 Reading Challenge

7. A middle-grade novel
or
20. A book with a coming of age story

4. The Story of More by Hope Jahren

Pre-order online or purchase in store on March 3rd.

“Hope Jahren is an award-winning geobiologist, a brilliant writer, and one of the seven billion people with whom we share this earth. The Story of More is her impassioned open letter to humanity as we stand at the crossroads of survival and extinction. Jahren celebrates the long history of our enterprising spirit--which has tamed wild crops, cured diseases, and sent us to the moon--but also shows how that spirit has created excesses that are quickly warming our planet to dangerous levels.

In short, highly readable chapters, she takes us through the science behind the key inventions--from electric power to large-scale farming and automobiles--that, even as they help us, release untenable amounts of carbon dioxide. She explains the current and projected consequences of greenhouse gases--from superstorms to rising sea levels--and the science-based tools that could help us fight back.”

In a time where everyone is throwing out random information about climate change, some true and some false, Jahren provides an uncompromised guide to understanding just what is going on in our world, and what we can do about it.

5. Recollections of My Non-Existence by Rebecca Solnit

“A landmark memoir from the author of Men Explain Things to Me: an electric portrait of the artist as a young woman that asks how a writer finds her voice in a society that prefers women to be silent.

In Recollections of My Nonexistence, Rebecca Solnit describes her formation as a writer and as a feminist in 1980s San Fransisco, in an atmosphere of gender violence on the street and throughout society and the exclusion of women from cultural arenas. She tells of being poor, hopeful, and adrift in the city that became her great teacher; of the small apartment that, when she was nineteen, became the home in which she transformed herself; of how punk rock gave form and voice to her own fury and explosive energy.”

This pivotal memoir examines the voicelessness and abuse that women are forced to struggle through every day, as well as Solnit’s own experiences with that sort of helplessness. She recounts how she was liberated and became a voice for women’s rights.

Pre-order online or purchase in-store March 10th.

6. Untamed by Glennon Doyle

Pre-order online or purchase in-store on March 10th.

2020 Reading Challenge

14. A book with a one-word title

“There is a voice of longing inside every woman. We strive so mightily to be good: good mothers, daughters, partners, employees, citizens, and friends. We believe all this striving will make us feel alive. Instead, it leaves us feeling weary, stuck, overwhelmed, and underwhelmed. We look at our lives, relationships, and world, and wonder: Wasn’t it all supposed to be more beautiful than this? We quickly silence that question, telling ourselves to be grateful. We hide our simmering discontent—even from ourselves. Until we reach our boiling point.

Four years ago, Glennon Doyle—Oprah-endorsed author, renowned activist and humanitarian, wife and mother of three—was speaking at a conference when a woman entered the room. Glennon looked at her and fell instantly in love. Three words flooded her mind: There. She. Is. At first, Glennon assumed these words came to her from on high. Soon she realized that they came to her from within.”

Best-selling author Glennon Doyle has produced yet another impactful book about the power of women to overcome society’s expectations and recognize themselves.

7. So We Can Glow by Leesa Cross-Smith

“From Kentucky to the California desert, these forty-two short stories—some long, some gone in a flash, some told over text and emails—expose the essence of girls and women in moments of obsessive desire and fantasy, wildness and bad behavior, brokenness and fearlessness, and more.

Teenage girls sneak out on a summer night to meet their boyfriends by the train tracks. A woman escapes suffocating grief through a vivid fantasy life. Members of a cult form an unsettling chorus as they extol their passion for the same man. A love story begins over cabbages in a grocery store. A laundress’s life is consumed by obsession for a famous baseball player. Two high school friends kiss all night and binge-watch Winona Ryder movies after the death of a sister.

Leesa Cross-Smith’s sensuous stories will drench readers in nostalgia for summer nights and sultry days, the intense friendships of teenage girls, and the innate bonds felt between mothers, while holding up the wild hearts of women so they can catch the light.”

Pre-order online or purchase in-store on March 10th.

2020 Reading Challenge

20. A book with a coming of age story

8. Mad, Bad, and Dangerous to Know by Samira Ahmed

Pre-order online or purchase in-store on April 7th.

2020 Reading Challenge

24. A historical fiction

“It’s August in Paris and 17-year-old Khayyam Maquet—American, French, Indian, Muslim—is at a crossroads. This holiday with her professor parents should be a dream trip for the budding art historian. But her maybe-ex-boyfriend is probably ghosting her, she might have just blown her chance at getting into her dream college, and now all she really wants is to be back home in Chicago figuring out her messy life instead of brooding in the City of Lights.

Two hundred years before Khayyam’s summer of discontent, Leila is struggling to survive and keep her true love hidden from the Pasha who has “gifted” her with favored status in his harem. In the present day—and with the company of a descendant of Alexandre Dumas—Khayyam begins to connect allusions to an enigmatic 19th-century Muslim woman whose path may have intersected with Alexandre Dumas, Eugene Delacroix, and Lord Byron.

Echoing across centuries, Leila and Khayyam’s lives intertwine, and as one woman’s long-forgotten life is uncovered, another’s is transformed.”

9. Conjure Women by Afia Atakora

“Conjure Women is a sweeping story that brings the world of the South before and after the Civil War vividly to life. Spanning eras and generations, it tells of the lives of three unforgettable women: Miss May Belle, a wise healing woman; her precocious and observant daughter Rue, who is reluctant to follow in her mother's footsteps as a midwife; and their master's daughter Varina. The secrets and bonds among these women and their community come to a head at the beginning of a war and at the birth of an accursed child, who sets the townspeople alight with fear and a spreading superstition that threatens their newly won, tenuous freedom.

Magnificently written, brilliantly researched, richly imagined, Conjure Women moves back and forth in time to tell the haunting story of Rue, Varina, and May Belle, their passions and friendships, and the lengths they will go to save themselves and those they love.”

Afia Atakora’s debut novel is a riveting historical fiction that for once presents the unique point of view of African-American women during the Civil War, while adding just a hint of magic.

Pre-order online or purchase in-store on April 7th.

2020 Reading Challenge

24. A historical fiction

10. Bedtime Bonnet by Nancy Redd

Pre-order online or purchase in-store on April 7th.

2020 Reading Challenge

12. A picture book

“In my family, when the sun goes down, our hair goes up!
My brother slips a durag over his locs.
Sis swirls her hair in a wrap around her head.
Daddy covers his black waves with a cap.
Mama gathers her corkscrew curls in a scarf.
I always wear a bonnet over my braids, but tonight I can't find it anywhere!

Bedtime Bonnet gives readers a heartwarming peek into quintessential Black nighttime hair traditions and celebrates the love between all the members of this close-knit, multi-generational family.”

Nancy Redd is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author. Bedtime Bonnet is her first children’s book, and so far it’s been described as “the best children’s book of 2020” by TheGrio. This book is a cozy story of a family’s bedtime rituals, and is a great read for families who enjoyed Hair Love by Matthew A. Cherry.

All of these exciting new books at Foggy Pine promise for a year of snuggling cozily into your armchairs with some hot chocolate and a good read. If you'd like any recommendations on books for the 2020 Reading Challenge or just for fun, our booksellers are always happy to help. Remember, all pre-orders are 15% off the list price. And as always, read on!

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Neil Gaiman's Sandman

2/10/2020

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By Elly Murray

Novelist and comics writer Neil Gaiman has been on a roll for the past few years.

American Gods, the 2017 television adaptation of his 2001 book, was praised for its visual style and was renewed for a third season to be released sometime in 2020. Good Omens, a hit 2019 interpretation of the book he co-wrote with Terry Pratchett way back in 1990, has also seen incredible success in the months since its debut.

Now, Gaiman is working with Netflix to produce a television show based on The Sandman, one of the most influential comics he’s ever created.

Gaiman released the first issue of The Sandman in 1988, under DC’s Vertigo imprint, and the series was soon a cult classic. The story mainly follows the misadventures of Dream of the Endless a.k.a. The Sandman, a powerful being who controls the Dreaming, the place we visit in our dreams. Dream is, as Gaiman describes him, “a gloomy sort of bugger” and throughout the comic he constantly struggles with the knowledge that everyone must change or die, and he will also have to make that choice.

Written in Gaiman’s singularly unique style, The Sandman was one of the few comics to ever make the New York Times Bestsellers list, with Maus, Watchmen, and The Dark Knight Returns for company. It was also one of five graphic novels to make Entertainment Weekly's "100 Best Reads from 1983 to 2008," ranking at No. 46.

For over two decades, fans of The Sandman have been hoping desperately that it will be reworked for the screen--any screen, really. There have been a few movie attempts, and the inklings of a television show as well, but nothing has really gotten off the ground.

However, the new partnership with Netflix shows some real promise, especially in the wake of Gaiman’s latest successful TV adaptations. Netflix has also already produced Lucifer, a TV show based on a character from the original Sandman run.

Gaiman is set to be executive-producer of the show, with co-writer David Goyer (The Dark Knight) and Allan Heinberg (Wonder Woman) as showrunner. He confirmed in a Twitter post that the first season will be eleven episodes, and will cover The Sandman’s first volume, Preludes and Nocturnes, and possibly part of the second volume, The Doll’s House.

"I hope that it's gonna be about as faithful as Good Omens the TV series was to Good Omens the book,” Gaiman said in a CBC interview. “Which is to say, you do things that people loved in the comic on the TV because they loved that thing and why would you change it? But you also take advantage of what you can do on television and what you can do on the screen. There are a lot of Sandman fans, and they're waiting for the Sandman that they know and love to be on the screen, and that's what we want to give them."

The Sandman TV show is still in the early stages of development, so there’s no release date or cast lined up as of yet. However, fans of Gaiman’s work (myself included!) will eagerly await the news.

And while we’re waiting, if you want to jump into The Sandman or any of Gaiman’s other works, Foggy Pine Books has got you covered!

Come by anytime to get a recommendation from our booksellers or you can get started here:

From this article--
The Sandman: Preludes & Nocturnes (Vol. 1)  Paperback
American Gods  Mass Market Paperback  Audiobook
Good Omens Mass Market Paperback Audiobook
Lucifer   Paperback

More for Adults--
Anansi Boys
Neverwhere
Norse Mythology
The Ocean at the End of the Lane

For young readers--
Blueberry Girl
Coraline
The Graveyard Book
Stardust

Be sure to pop by the store, get your fill of Neil Gaiman’s unique writing style, and give Jane the cat some pets. Happy reading!

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February 2020

2/6/2020

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February is here and no matter how you feel about Valentine's Day (😍/🤮), we know you'll agree that everyone wants to feel loved. You have certainly made that feeling real for us this year as we were honored to receive the Startup Business of the Year award from the Boone Chamber of Commerce. We know this award is directly related to community nominations and we literally could not have done any of this without you so thank you, from the bottom of our hearts! We are grateful to be part of such a generous and open-minded community of book lovers and we look forward to serving you for many years.

If you're a lover of Valentine's Day, be sure to come by the store for our First Friday Art Crawl, Friday, February 7th, and create your own love notes to distribute to your favorite people. We will have a Valentine's craft station, free wine (with valid ID), and a great giveaway! Plus, if you make a shelf-talker for a book in our store, you get a coupon for 20% off ONE BOOK.

Not sure which book to purchase with your 20% off? Why not snag one of our new releases? There are several new titles available this month and you're sure to find something you love. You can choose from the following: A Black Women's History of the United States by Daina Ramey Barry, Belle Révolte by Linsey Miller, How to Live on 24 Hours a Day by Arnold Bennett, When We Were Vikings by Andrew David MacDonald, The Third Rainbow Girl by Emma Copley Eisenberg, and Highfire by Eoin Colfer.

Watching a show or texting with a friend and the name of a great new book comes up? Afraid you won't remember the title when you finally make it to the store? Jump online and order it while you're thinking about it! You can have it shipped directly to your home or order it for in-store pick-up.

When you're ready to recommend your new book to a friend, you can use Libro.fm's new service, Bookstore Link, to be sure those you love are supporting your local bookstore. Bookstore Link connects readers to their local independent bookstore for online book purchases. When you follow a link to a book on Bookstore Link, you'll choose your local independent bookstore and be connected directly to our website to complete your transaction. This ensures that Foggy Pine Books, not Amazon, is making book sales. It's a win for all of us!

Not only does Libro.fm provide thousands of DRM-free audiobooks and independent bookstore support via Bookstore Link, they also offer FREE ALC's (Advanced Listening Copies) for all teachers and librarians. That's right! If you are a teacher or librarian, you can sign-up and download the books everyone else is waiting to read! Get started here!

Wondering what titles you can expect in your ALC's? Chances are, some of our most popular upcoming pre-orders will be available! These include: Heartstopper by Alice Oseman, If It Bleeds by Stephen King, Conjure Women by Afia Atakora, The Prettiest Star by Carter Sickles, Aru Shah and the Tree of Wishes by Roshani Chokshi (Book 3 of the Pandava Series), and Stormsong by C.L. Polk. If you're wanting to get your hands on a hard copy of these titles you'll be happy to know that all pre-orders are marked 15% off the cover price. So browse away and, when you're ready to order, head over to the website to choose your favorite one(s)!

If you've been by lately, maybe for a book club or author event, you may have noticed a new face around the store. We would like to formally introduce y'all to Elly Murray, our newest staff member. Elly is interning with Foggy Pine Books as she pursues her professional writing degree at App State. She is writing content for the blog and newsletter and, closer to the end of the semester, will be doing an intern takeover of all our social media. Keep your eyes peeled for her exciting, literary content and be sure to give her a wave if you see her around the store!

Speaking of book clubs and author events, we are excited to be hosting/co-hosting a ton of amazing events in February. First up is Story Slam at Noble Kava on Saturday, February 8th at 7pm. Come out and tell your true, 5 minute story on the theme "Moral Dilemma". Not ready to share your own story? Come listen and enjoy this welcoming and supportive community storytelling event. Foggy Pine Books also hosts a monthly open mic in partnership with Out of Your Mind, a local, non-profit mental health community. We'll be meeting on Feb. 10 at 5:30pm at the bookstore. This open mic provides a space for our local high school students (& extended community) to creatively express themselves and socialize with other artists. Musicians, poets, comedians, dancers, and magicians are welcome!

We are, once again, hosting a TRIO Live event on February 18th at 7pm. TRIO is a testament to the way words, music and art can come together around the power of a single story. We will be hosting the following authors/songwriters/visual artists this year and we hope you'll join us for this free event brought to you by Working Title Farm and check out some of the books, music, and art promoted by TRIO: PJ Brunson, Mark Bumgarner, Kay and Patrick Crouch, Eric Erdman, Radney Foster, Joanie Gardner, Jim Hamilton (The Last Entry), Caleb Johnson (Treeborne), Liz McKay, Dale Neal (Appalachian Book of the Dead), Bobbie Pyron (Stay), Kimberly J. Simms (Lindy Lee: Songs on Mill Hill), Shari Smith (I Am A Town), and Terry H. Watkins (Darling Girl).

On the 20th we are thrilled to offer a reading/signing/Q&A session with Lees-McRae professor Scott Huffard for his new book, Engines of Redemption. In his book, Huffard examines the rapid growth, systematization, and consolidation of the southern railroad network, demonstrating how economic and political elites used the symbolic power of the railroad to proclaim a New South had risen. The railroad was more than just an economic engine of growth; it was a powerful symbol of capitalism’s advance. Come by the store at 6:30 to learn more!

Our book clubs will meet as usual this month. Silent Book Club will be meeting February 11th @ 1pm and February 15th @ 6pm. Bring any book you're currently enjoying for an hour of quiet reading in the company of other book lovers. If you want to discuss what you're reading afterwards, the conference room is available for discussion. If you want to read and leave, you can do that too! Whatever makes you comfortable.

Our Fantasy/Sci-Fi Book Club will meet on the 27th @ 6:30pm to discuss Monstress, by Marjorie Liu and Foggy Pine Book Club will meet on the 29th @ 7:30pm to talk about My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithewaite. We'll share wine & conversation as we discuss the books. These book clubs are open to anyone & we want to hear what you thought about the book, even if you didn't finish it. Book club is an excellent way to meet fellow book nerds in your community!

For more information on book clubs, author events, and featured events, check our our Facbook page or online calendar.

Staff Picks:

Take a peek at what we're reading behind the scenes this month. As always, if you've read any of these titles, we'd love to chat with you about them!

Katharine:

Lillian:

Mary:

Josh:

Elly:

Raj:

And last, but not least, our labor of love is finally ready to share with you! We have been fine-tuning our local consignment page and we are beyond excited to announce that it is open for submissions! If you are an author who lives in NC full time, who is independently published, and whose book is not published via CreateSpace, which is an Amazon-owned company, we would love to talk with you about stocking your book in-store. Please read our FAQ here and, if you think your book would be a good fit for the store, fill out the application and we will be in touch!

And that's a wrap for February. We can't wait to see you around the store for an event or just to chat about what you're reading. You can find more information about any of our events or readings on our Facebook page. Read on!

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Evergreen News

Up & Coming Books of 2020

1. Docile by K.M. Szpara

2020 Reading Challenge:

2. The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich

2020 Reading Challenge

3. The Lonely Heart of Maybelle Lane by Kate O'Shaughnessy

2020 Reading Challenge

4. The Story of More by Hope Jahren

5. Recollections of My Non-Existence by Rebecca Solnit

6. Untamed by Glennon Doyle

2020 Reading Challenge

7. So We Can Glow by Leesa Cross-Smith

2020 Reading Challenge

8. Mad, Bad, and Dangerous to Know by Samira Ahmed

2020 Reading Challenge

9. Conjure Women by Afia Atakora

2020 Reading Challenge

10. Bedtime Bonnet by Nancy Redd

2020 Reading Challenge

Neil Gaiman's Sandman

February 2020

Staff Picks:

Katharine:

Lillian:

Mary:

Josh:

Elly:

Raj:

Author

Archives

Categories

Foggy Pine Books: Stories to Shake the Fog
#foundinthefog

Hours

Telephone

Social Media Handle

Evergreen News

Up & Coming Books of 2020

1. Docile by K.M. Szpara

2020 Reading Challenge:

2. The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich

2020 Reading Challenge

3. The Lonely Heart of Maybelle Lane by Kate O'Shaughnessy

2020 Reading Challenge

4. The Story of More by Hope Jahren

5. Recollections of My Non-Existence by Rebecca Solnit

6. Untamed by Glennon Doyle

2020 Reading Challenge

7. So We Can Glow by Leesa Cross-Smith

2020 Reading Challenge

8. Mad, Bad, and Dangerous to Know by Samira Ahmed

2020 Reading Challenge

9. Conjure Women by Afia Atakora

2020 Reading Challenge

10. Bedtime Bonnet by Nancy Redd

2020 Reading Challenge

Neil Gaiman's Sandman

February 2020

Staff Picks:

Katharine:

Lillian:

Mary:

Josh:

Elly:

Raj:

Author

Archives

Categories

Foggy Pine Books: Stories to Shake the Fog#foundinthefog

Hours

​Telephone

Social Media Handle

Foggy Pine Books: Stories to Shake the Fog
#foundinthefog

Telephone