Bookshelf

March Books

Compiled By Sh annon pur dy JoneS After an entire winter spent

indoors (and especially this COVID winter) spring feels like I’m shedding a winter cocoon and stepping back out into the world.

It’s no surprise that at Scuppernong one of our favorite ways to connect with our communit y is over a good book. We have four book clubs that meet on a monthly basis at Scup, including a brand-new Romance Book Club launching this month. If you’re feeling the urge to shake of f the winter cobwebs and reconnect, then find below our next few month ’s book club picks to see which conversations fit you. Or, head over to our events calendar at scuppernongbooks.com. (Book clubs meet on Zoom, though we hope to move back to in-person this year as COV ID precautions allow. L ogin info for each book club Zoom is available on our events calendar.)

White Shadow by Roy Jacobsen (Biblioasis, $16.95). March Reading the World Book Club pick

No one can be alone on an island . . . but Ingrid is alone on Barrøy, the island that bears her name. T he war of her childhood has been replaced by a new, more terrible present — the Nazi occupation of Nor way. W hen bodies f rom a bombed vessel carr ying Soviet prisoners of war begin to wash up on the shore, Ingrid can’t know that one will not only be alive but could be the answer to a lifetime of loneliness — nor can she imagine what suf fering she will endure in hiding her lover f rom Nazi authorities, or the journey she will face, af ter being wrenched f rom her island as a consequence for protecting him, to return home.

T his highly anticipated follow-up to Roy Jacobsen’s International Booker and Dublin Impac Award-shor tlisted The Unseen, a New York Times New and Notewor thy book, W hite Shadow is a vividly obser ved exploration of conflict, love and human endurance.

Velocity Weapon by Megan E. O’Keefe (Orbit, $17.99) March Sci-Fi Book Club pick

Nominated for the Philip K. Dick Award for Best Novel

Sanda and Biran Greeve were siblings destined for greatness. A high-flying sergeant, Sanda has the sk ills to take down any enemy combatant. Biran is a sav v y politician who aims to use his new political position to prevent conflict f rom escalating to total destr uction.

However, on a routine maneuver, Sanda loses consciousness when her g unship is blown out of the sk y. Instead of finding herself in f riendly hands, she awakens 230 years later on a deser ted enemy warship controlled by an A-I who calls himself Bero.

The Love Hypothesis by A li Hazelwood (Berk ley, $16.00) March Romance Book Club pick

As a third-year Ph.D. candidate, Olive Smith doesn’t believe in lasting romantic relationships. So, like any self-respecting biologist, Olive k isses the first man she sees.

T hat man is none other than Adam Carlsen, a young hotshot pro fessor — and well-known ass. W hich is why Olive is positively floored when Stanford ’s reigning lab t yrant agrees to keep her charade a secret and be her fake boyf riend.

Suddenly their little experiment feels dangerously close to combustion. And Olive discovers that the only thing more complicated than a hypothesis on love is putting her own hear t under the microscope.

Dead on Arrival by Jak i Shelton Green (Blair, $10.95)

March Poetr y Book Club Pick

T h is is a welc ome reissue of Ja k i Shelton G re en’s ac cla ime d prem ier c ol le c t ion of p o et r y. G re en’s e arl ier work s pu lse w it h t he intox ic at ing rhy t hms a nd fierc e clar it y of image t hat made her one of Nor t h Carol ina’s most p opu lar p o et s. Here is a n ar t ist , at t ur ns, a ng r y a nd w icke d ly f unny, dema nd ing just ic e yet p ossesse d of a refi ne d g r ac e. OH

Shannon Purdy Jones is store manager and children’s book buyer for Scuppernong Books.