One of the ways people got through the depths of the pandemic was improving their living spaces, be it their houses, or as is the case with a majority of people in New York City, their apartments. Just as life returns to normal, and along with it, the annual ritual of spring cleaning, two books will give you the spark to keep beautifying your living spaces, 150 Best New Interior Design Ideas, by Macarena Abascal Valdenebro, and 150 Best of the Best Apartment Ideas by Francesc Zamora.
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| Yankee Stadium's famous facade. Photo by Jason Schott. |
With the baseball season underway, it's a great time to read up on the history of America's Pastime, and a trio of new books step up to the plate: 1962: Baseball and America in the Time of JFK, by David Krell on one of the most historic seasons in baseball's history, which included the debut of the New York Mets; The Pride of Minnesota: The Twins in the Turbulent 1960s, by Thom Henninger; and Lights Camera Fastball: How the Hollywood Stars Changed Baseball, by Dan Taylor, on how the Pacific Coast League team transformed the game in the Golden Age of movies.
Clubbie: A Minor League Baseball Memoir
By Greg Larson
Nebraska; hardcover, 264 pages; $27.95
Greg Larson is an author, editor, and stand-up comedian who spent two years as the clubhouse attendant for the Aberdeen IronBirds, an affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles owned by Cal Ripken, Jr. Brooklyn Cyclones fans will know this team from their time playing them in the New York-Penn League.
Tears of Amber: A Novel
By Sofia Segovia; translated by Simon Bruni
Amazon Crossing; 496 pages; paperback, $14.95; Kindle eBook, $4.99; Audiobook, $14.99; available Saturday, May 1st
Sofia Segovia was born in Monterrey, Mexico. She studied communications at Universidad de Monterey, thinking she would be a journalist, when her real love is fiction. A creative writing teacher, she also has been a ghostwriter and communications director for local political campaigns and has written several plays for local theater.
Cheese, Wine, and Bread: Discovering the Magic of Fermentation in England, Italy, and France
By Katie Quinn
William Morrow; hardcover, 384 pages; $29.99; available this Tuesday, April 27th
Katie Quinn is a video creator, podcast host, and cookbook author who thinks there is a story to be found everywhere and that food connects people. Her YouTube channel, QKatie, has 38,600 subscribers and garnered over five million views. Her podcast title, which is also her personal slogan, is Keep It Quirky, because she thinks life, in the kitchen and out of it, is more enjoyable if you don't take yourself too seriously.
There are few new novels out this month that are perfect to lose yourself in on a spring afternoon, hanging out in the park or at a coffee place, or having a lazy day at home: Nan Rossiter's Promises To Keep; The Other Side Of The Door, by Nicci French; All The Children Are Home, by Patry Francis; and A River Called Time, by Courttia Newland.
Agatha Christie is the most widely published author of all-time, as her books sold over a billion copies in English and another billion in a hundred foreign languages. One of her most acclaimed books is The Murder of Roger Ackroyd.
Moon Baseball Road Trips: The Complete Guide to All the Ballparks, with Beer, Bites, and Sights Nearby
By Timothy Malcolm
Avalon Travel; paperback, 712 pages; $27.99, available this Tuesday, April 27th
Timothy Malcolm, the author of Moon Baseball Road Trips: The Complete Guide to All the Ballparks, with Beer, Bites, and Sights Nearby!, is a lifelong Phillies fan who has been featured on Mets Blog and Yahoo! Big League Stew, has written for the Hardball Times and was a senior writer and editor of Phillies Nation. He currently lives in Houston, and is also the author of Moon Drive & Hike Appalachian Trail, and writers for Backpacker, Outdoor, and Hudson Valley Magazine.
A Raid on the Red Sea: The Israeli Capture of the Karine A
By Amos Gilboa; edited and translated by Yonah Jeremy Bob
Potomac Books; hardcover, 320 pages; $34.95
Brig. Gen. Amos Gilboa (Res.) is a former head of the Analysis and Production Division of Israeli Defense Forces Intelligence and military attache in Washington. For over a decade, he was a special advisor for methodology in military intelligence and teacher of various intelligence and technology-related courses at the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya and the Technion University.
The Paris Apartment
By Kelly Bowen
Forever, an imprint of Grand Central Publishing; paperback, $15.99; available Tuesday, April 20th
Kelly Bowen is an award-winning author of ten novels and five novellas that have been published worldwide and translated into five languages, and she has a passion for telling stories about remarkable women doing extraordinary things that are often overlooked in history. The Manitoba, Canada, native, worked as a research scientist before realizing her dream to become an author of historical fiction. Her writing career began with an entry into a Romance Writers of America chapter writing contest, which earned her a literary agent and subsequently a publishing deal.
The Man Who Lived Underground
By Richard Wright
Library of America; hardcover, $22.95 and the audibook from Caedmon Audiobook, an imprint of HarperAudio, narrated by Ethan Herisse; $20.99 - both are available this Tuesday, April 20th
Richard Wright, one of the most influential African-American writers of the last century, made it a point to center his stories on the issue of race in America. Born in 1908 in Mississippi, he won international renown for his powerful and visceral depictions of the black experience. Two of his most influential works, the novel Native Son, released in 1940, and his memoir, Black Boy, from 1945, are required reading in high schools and colleges, and The Man Who Lived Underground was written around the same period 80 years ago.
Little Bandaged Days
By Kyra Wilder
The Overlook Press; hardcover, 256 pages; $25.00; available this Tuesday, April 20th
Kyra Wilder is a debut novelist who received her BA and MA in English literature at San Francisco State University. She then worked under Michael Tusk at the Michelin-starred Quince, where she made pasta, and she continued to work in restaurants in New York before moving to Switzerland with her family, where she is currently.
The Revelations
By Dr. Erik Hoel, Ph.D
At The End Of The Matinee
By Keiichiro Hirano
Amazon Crossing; 316 pages; hardcover, $24.95; paperback, $14.95; Kindle eBook, $4.99; available Thursday, April 15th
At The End Of The Matinee, which was a runaway bestseller in Japan, winner of the Watanabe Junichi Literary Prize and adapted into a recently-released movie, is the second of Keiichiro Hirano's novels to be translated into English. A Man, which was the winner of Japan's Yomiuri Prize for Literature, was the first one to be so honored.
Lincolnomics: How President Lincoln Constructed the Great American Economy
By John F. Wasik
Diversion Books; hardcover, $31.99; available today, Tuesday, April 13th
Abraham Lincoln is always looked to as a guiding light when it comes to uniting the country, but is it possible he can be looked to when it comes to another problem that has vexed the United States, infrastructure?
The Venice Sketchbook
By Rhys Bowen
Lake Union Publishing; hardcover, $24.95; paperback, $14.95; ebook, $5.99; available Tuesday, April 13th
Rhys Bowen is the New York Times bestselling author of over forty novels, including Above the Bay of Angels, The Victory Garden, The Tuscan Child, and the World War II-based In Farleigh Field, which won the Macavity and Left Coast Crime Awards for Best Historical Mystery Novel and the Agatha Award for Best Historical Mystery.
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| Ron Swoboda. Courtest of St. Martin's Press. |
Ron Swoboda was a key part of the 1969 Amazin' Mets championship team, and author of the most famous catch in the franchise's history, as the right fielder caught a liner hit by Brooks Robinson to secure their win in the fourth game of the World Series against Baltimore.
Ron Swoboda was one of the key parts of the 1969 Mets World Championship team and author of the most famous catch in the franchise's history.
Hype: How Scammers, Grifters, and Con Artists are Taking Over the Internet - and Why We're Following
By Gabrielle Bluestone
Hanover Square Press; hardcover, 352 pages; $28.99
Gabreille Bluestone is the Emmy-nominated producer of the Netflix documentary Fyre and the associate producer of Different Flowers, winner of the 2017 Kansas City FilmFest Festival Prize. She is also a journalist and licensed attorney from New York, whose writing has appeared in outlets including the New York Times, Washington Post, and Esquire.
The Portrait
By Ilaria Bernardini
Pegasus Books; hardcover, 432 pages; $25.95
Ilaria Bernardini is a prolific writer in Italy, where she has released eight novels, including Faremo Doresta ("We Will Grow a Forest"), which was longlisted for Italy's prestigious Strega Prize. She also co-wrote the late renowned director Bernardo Bertolucci's last film, The Echo Chamber.
