Job Title: Book Buyer
On your nightstand now: The Distant Hours by Kate Morton, The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate, My Korean Deli, Blood, Bones & Butter.
Favorite book when you were a child: The Ogre Downstairs by Diana Wynne Jones
Your top five authors: These authors I always read when a new book theirs comes out. Not sure if I have "favorite authors": Lois McMaster Bujold, Lindsey Davis, Diana Wynne Jones, Terry Pratchett, Connie Willis
Book You've Faked Reading: Generally if I can't get through the first chapter I'm done - no need to fake it.
Book you are an evangelist for: Noah's Garden by Sara Stein.
Book you've bought for the cover: Gardening books.
Book that changed your life: All of them.
Book you most want to read again for the first time: King Lear.
Book you'd take with you to a desert island: SAS Survival Handbook.
Best way to spend a weekend: Reading
Your go-to pick for movie night: Any Korean movie I can find subbed.
Favorite vacation destination: Maine
Window or Aisle: Window
What is the first giveaway that a book is going to be good: First sentence.

In Spinning Silver, Naomi Novik, Nebula Award-winning author of Uprooted, has crafted a fantastical reworking of the classic fairy tale Rumpelstiltskin. The author takes us on a tale with strong Eastern European roots which is both dark and compelling. Our heroine Miryem starts as her small village moneylender’s daughter, but at a young age quickly has to assume her father’s role or her small family will starve. Her proficiency at moneylending and pride in her abilities soon attracts the attention of the king of the Staryk, a race of icy fey, who offers her a challenge she cannot refuse. Not is all as it seems however in the human and Staryk kingdoms. I highly recommend a comfortable chair, beverage of choice and time to savor this book until the end, and then start it all over again.

If you enjoy imaginative re-tellings of classic mythology, then Circe needs to be added to your reading list immediately. Award-winning author Madeline Miller crafts a fast-paced, absorbing, and ultimately life-affirming story. We are immersed in Circe’s fraught birth and childhood in the vicious court of Helios, the god of sun and her father. When she is banished to a desert island by Zeus for the crime of witchcraft, her long exile provides a rich environment for her practice. A veritable who's who of Greek mythology crosses the pages, and Madeline Miller breathes much-appreciated life into the old stories.