Galley Talk: Interred with Their Bones

I'm not much of a mystery reader, but I'm mad for smart Shakespeare books, especially if they explore the modern play-going scene. I picked up Jennifer Lee Carrell's Interred with Their Bones (Dutton, Sept. 20) expecting to drop it in disgust at barmy scholarship, but I didn't. Quite the opposite: I was impressed and enthralled.

Galley Talk

In his masterful YA debut, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, Sept. 11), acclaimed author Sherman Alexie reaches into his own past to craft the captivating story of Junior, a 14-year-old boy growing up on the Spokane Indian Reservation. With Alexie’s light touch and keen eye, readers share in Junior’s struggle to resolve two dispa...

Galley Talk: The Reincarnationist

Sarah Knight, Northshire Bookstore, Manchester Center, Vt. I was up till 2 a.m. reading M.J. Rose's The Reincarnationist [Mira, Sept. 1]. The story is entertaining, believable, absorbing and well-written. The characters are also well drawn and the juxtaposition of time periods is well done and fun. I think Rose handles the “woo woo-ness” about reincarnation in a straightforward styl...

Galley Talk: Matthew Kelly's Dream Manager

Matthew Kelly's Dream Manager [Hyperion, Aug. 24] is an enlightening business parable about a company struggling with such real problems as high turnover and low morale. The managers of the fictional company discover that not everyone is motivated by the promise of a bigger paycheck and a title. They realize that their employees have personal dreams, and that they need help and encouragement in...

Galley Talk

The End of the Alphabet (Doubleday, Aug. 7) is a stunning accomplishment. To say so much in so few words is breathtaking. Although it's a novel about a man who discovers he has less than a month to live, I'm buying multiple copies and shelving most of them on my inspiration shelf.

Galley Talk

Ian Kern, the Mysterious Bookshop, New York City We've been recommending Michael Marshall's novels since his debut thriller, The Straw Men, in 2002. Even those apprehensive of reading something creepy usually found they couldn't put them down. Well, the time for celebration is at hand: Marshall's new novel, The Intruders [Morrow, Aug.

Galley Talk

Rachel Ray, Joseph-Beth Booksellers, Lexington, Ky.

Galley Talk

Galley Talk

Kizmin Reeves, co-owner, Partners & Crime, New York City The other day, I was standing at the cash register laughing out loud. When a customer who'd just bought several seriously dark crime novels looked at me curiously, I handed her the galley of Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next: First Among Sequels (Viking, July 24) and told her to read the first two pages.

Galley Talk

Natasha Fleischman, Valley Booksellers, Stillwater, Minn.

Galley Talk

Pepper Parker, Vintage Books, Vancouver, Wash. At long last, Annie Dillard is at it again. Known for her gift of braiding ribbons of darkness to frame great light, using tragedy and death to reveal the marvel of life, now she's turned her scope on love, marriage, betrayal and forgiveness in The Maytrees [Broadway, June].

Galley Talk

Maryelizabeth Hart, co-owner, Mysterious Galaxy Books, San Diego, Calif.

Galley Talk

Joanne R. Fritz, Chester County Book & Music, West Chester, Pa.

Galley Talk

Jake Reiss, Alabama Booksmith, Homewood, Ala.

Galley Talk

Irma Wolfson, buyer, Reading Room, Las Vegas.

Galley Talk

Luisa Smith, buyer, Book Passage, Corte Madera, Calif.

Galley Talk

Sarah Bagby, Watermark Books, Wichita, Kans.

Galley Talk

Happiness isn't a myth, but Jennifer Michael Hecht's The Happiness Myth: Why What We Think Is Right Is Wrong (Harper San Francisco, Apr.) makes a convincing case that in light of what has made people happy throughout history, we buy into some strange myths about how to get happy.

Galley Talk

I picked up Masha Hamilton's The Camel Bookmobile(HarperCollins, Apr.), because she always shows how people in other cultures live out their daily lives.

Galley Talk

When I first heard that The Golden Girls' Rue McClanahan had a new memoir, My First Five Husbands... and the Ones Who Got Away (Broadway, Apr.), I was anxious to read about one of America's favorite actresses.