Word’s pick: “The Sun Is Also A Star” by Nicola Yoon
Nicola Yoon’s breathtaking new novel throws together a girl who believes in science and a hopelessly romantic boy for 24 hours, as they consider the universe and the possible futures before them. Heartbreakingly real, beautiful, and moving, this young adult book will surprise you and probably make you cry, but in a really good way — I promise!
— Crystal Soltren, Word [126 Franklin St. at Milton Street in Greenpoint, (718) 383–0096, www.wordbrooklyn.com].
Greenlight Bookstore’s pick: “Vienna, 1814” by David King
This history uses reports from Austrian spies, letters written by Europe’s wealthiest woman and its most powerful man, and a host of other first-hand accounts to tell the story of how Europe put itself back together after Napoleon tore through it like a wrecking ball. It features the machinations of a love-sick Austrian diplomat, a treacherous French mastermind, an enigmatic Englishman, dueling duchesses, paranoid Prussians, and one rather randy Tsar. And it has the added virtue of all being true.
— Nick Trotta, Greenlight Bookstore [686 Fulton St. between S. Elliott Place and S. Portland Avenue in Fort Greene, (718) 246–0200, www.greenlightbookstore.com].
Community Bookstore’s pick: “Libra” by Don DeLillo
Don DeLillo’s late-century masterpiece is many things: a book about Oswald and the Kennedy assassination told from the assassins’ (plural) viewpoint; a book about capitalism and revolution and the currents that can sweep a person up; and a book about language and miscommunication and words as a motor of history. But most of all, it is DeLillo’s version of a thriller, a page-turner, a book that runs your face along the pavement. What better way to round out this election season’s nightmare than to remember that our nation has been through far worse.
— Hal Hlavinka, Community Bookstore [43 Seventh Ave. between Carroll Street and Garfield Place in Park Slope, (718) 783–3075, www.communitybookstore.net].
