Newtonville Books Community Blog

John Wray’s Lowboy is a delightfully strange read that I just couldn’t put down. Although the novel’s premise — sixteen-year old Will “Lowboy” Heller is a paranoid schizophrenic who’s escaped from a mental hospital and is on a quest to lose his virginity, but not for the reason most sixteen-year old boys try to lose their virginity; he’s convinced that it’s the only way to save the planet from global warming — is fairly absurd, Wray’s ability to evoke the sights and sounds of the New York underground as well as the fractured reality which Will inhabits is electric. While Will and his friend, Emily Wallace, navigate the subway system, Will’s mother and an NYPD detective frantically search Manhattan for the two. Lowboy is compelling start to finish, utterly unique, and immensely tender, and Wray’s characters stick with you long after the novel’s end.

Last week, we were moved when The Heart and the Bottle arrived on our shelves. The quirky illustrations grabbed us immediately, and yet the collages within the pages spoke for something much more than quirkiness. So we started reading, and the story bewitched us. I myself was near tears. I highly recommend this touching children’s book to anyone and everyone!

“There is a wonder and magic to childhood. We don’t realize it at the time, of course . . . yet the adults in our lives do. They encourage us to see things in the stars, to find joy in colors and laughter as we play.

But what happens when that special someone who encourages such wonder and magic is no longer around? We can hide, we can place our heart in a bottle and grow up . . . or we can find another special someone who understands the magic. And we can encourage them to see things in the stars, find joy among colors and laughter as they play.

Oliver Jeffers delivers a remarkable book, a tale of poignancy and resonance reminiscent of The Giving Tree that will speak to the hearts of children and parents alike. ” (Product Description)

The Likeness by Tana French is a psychological thriller of the best sort.  If you read French’s previous Edgar Award winning book, In the Woods,  you will be happy to be reunited with Detective Cassie Maddox. This time, a girl is found dead in an abandoned cottage in the countryside. But this dead girl looks exactly like Cassie. What’s even stranger is that the ID found on the dead girl matches the undercover name Cassie used many years ago.

Now Cassie must go undercover as the dead girl to figure out her back story and who killed her, without riling up suspicion from the lookalike’s 4 roommates. All the secrets Cassie discovers will keep you on your toes until the very end.