Sara Hatton's favorite books

Here's a wonderful way to start the week: come by City Lights Bookstore on a Monday morning to visit with Sara and get her recommendation for a great read. Sara was a founding partner of City Lights here in Sylva in 1985; she returned to the bookselling fold in 2015. Sara has been a writer and editor for much of her career. Her book Teaching by Heart: The Foxfire Interviews was published in 2005.

These are some of Sara's recent and all-time favorite books

Faithful: A Novel By Alice Hoffman Cover Image
$26.00
Email or call for price.
ISBN: 9781476799209
Published: Simon & Schuster - November 1st, 2016

The moving story of Shelby, broken emotionally by a life-changing accident as a teen, who gains newfound direction through relationships with the people she meets and from mysterious postcard messages she receives. Stays with you.


Staff Pick Badge
The Poet's Dog By Patricia MacLachlan Cover Image
$14.99
ISBN: 9780062292629
Availability: No new copies on our shelves but maybe in used, now or arriving soon. Ask us.
Published: Katherine Tegen Books - September 13th, 2016

A grieving dog with an unusual talent finds two children lost in a snowstorm and takes them to his cabin where they bond in trust, understanding, and friendship. Another winner for MacLachlan, the author of Sarah, Plain and Tall and many others.


Staff Pick Badge
The Intelligent Heart: A Guide to the Compassionate Life By Dzigar Kongtrul, Joseph Waxman, Pema Chodron (Foreword by) Cover Image
$21.95
ISBN: 9781611801781
Availability: We can probably get this title but the price is subject to change.
Published: Shambhala - May 10th, 2016

The Intelligent Heart is essential reading for anyone interested in learning lojong and tonglen practices. With deep understanding, Dzigar Kongtrul provides clear instruction on how to awaken your heart to compassion for others while freeing you from self-importance.


Staff Pick Badge
America's Snake: The Rise and Fall of the Timber Rattlesnake By Ted Levin Cover Image
$35.00
ISBN: 9780226040646
Availability: We can probably get this title but the price is subject to change.
Published: University of Chicago Press - May 12th, 2016

Nature writing at its very best, this book is fascinating and absorbing with unanticipated depths focusing on a wonderful endangered species, human nature, and the need for an appreciation of all of nature's creatures.


Staff Pick Badge
Under the Harrow: A Novel By Flynn Berry Cover Image
$17.00
ISBN: 9780143108573
Availability: We can probably get this title but the price is subject to change.
Published: Penguin Books - June 14th, 2016

A can't-put-it-down dark psychological thriller. Nora travels to see her sister only to discover her brutally murdered body. She stays on, not able to return to her life back in London, and becomes obsessed with the case and what she begins to unravel about her sister's life. 


Staff Pick Badge
Twain & Stanley Enter Paradise By Oscar Hijuelos Cover Image
$28.00
Email or call for price.
ISBN: 9781455561490
Published: Grand Central Publishing - November 3rd, 2015

Twain and Stanley Enter Paradise by the late Oscar Hijuelos, Pulitzer Prize-winning author ofThe Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love, is based on the almost lifelong friendship between Mark Twain and the explorer Sir Henry Morton Stanley. The book combines in-depth research and fiction and offers fascinating insight into both men, the relationship between the two, and the times in which they lived.  -  Sara Day Hatton


Staff Pick Badge
All the Light We Cannot See: A Novel By Anthony Doerr Cover Image
$32.50
ISBN: 9781476746586
Availability: No new copies on our shelves but maybe in used, now or arriving soon. Ask us.
Published: Scribner - May 6th, 2014

Staff Pick Badge
A Man Called Ove: A Novel By Fredrik Backman Cover Image
$17.99
ISBN: 9781476738024
Availability: No new copies on our shelves but maybe in used, now or arriving soon. Ask us.
Published: Atria Books - May 5th, 2015

What a funny and poignant book from Swedish writer Fredrik Backman. Prickly, difficult, aggravating - all legitimate descriptions of a lovable curmudgeon who will win your heart as he connects with a cat, neighbors, and strangers while dealing with grief and life's unexpected changes. 


Staff Pick Badge
Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth By Reza Aslan Cover Image
$20.00
ISBN: 9780812981483
Availability: We can probably get this title but the price is subject to change.
Published: Random House Trade Paperbacks - September 9th, 2014

Zealot, based on extensive research by author Reze Aslan, brings a vivid and fascinating look at the historical Jesus, revealing him as a revolutionary, fascinating man. I couldn’t put it down when it first came out and I’m enjoying a second read. It’s that kind of book. - Sara


Staff Pick Badge
Tao Te Ching: An Illustrated Journey By Lao Tzu, Stephen Mitchell (Translated by) Cover Image
By Lao Tzu, Stephen Mitchell (Translated by)
Email or call for price
ISBN: 9780711229648
Availability: Out of Print: used copies probably available. Ask us.
Published: Frances Lincoln - March 1st, 2009

Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu, an Illustrated Journey. This translation by Stephen Mitchell is my favorite. It’s accessible and beautiful and is illustrated with Chinese paintings.


Staff Pick Badge
Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights: A Novel By Salman Rushdie Cover Image
$17.00
ISBN: 9780812988208
Availability: Backordered at our warehouse
Published: Random House Trade Paperbacks - July 12th, 2016

Rushdie takes us into a satirical fantasy world spun from the tales of Scheherazade into the present where a war between light and dark battle it out for survival over a thousand and one nights. A fascinating read displaying Rushdie's amazing imagination, range and voice.


Staff Pick Badge
The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry: A Novel By Gabrielle Zevin Cover Image
$18.99
ISBN: 9781616204518
Availability: No new copies on our shelves but maybe in used, now or arriving soon. Ask us.
Published: Algonquin Books - December 2nd, 2014

Zevin gives us a moving story of transformation with characters immersed in a love of books, bookstores, and each other. The story and people will stay with you well past the final page.


The Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness in a Changing World By Dalai Lama, Desmond Tutu, Douglas Carlton Abrams Cover Image
$27.00
ISBN: 9780399185045
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Avery - September 20th, 2016

Seafurrers: The Ships' Cats Who Lapped and Mapped the World By Philippa Sandall, Ad Long (Illustrator) Cover Image
By Philippa Sandall, Ad Long (Illustrator)
$14.95
ISBN: 9781615194377
Availability: We can probably get this title but the price is subject to change.
Published: The Experiment - April 3rd, 2018

Literary Dogs By John Lane, Betsy Wakefield Teter Cover Image
$19.95
ISBN: 9781891885983
Availability: No new copies on our shelves but maybe in used, now or arriving soon. Ask us.
Published: Hub City Press - November 1st, 2012

Staff Pick Badge
Over the Plain Houses By Julia Franks Cover Image
Email or call for price
ISBN: 9781938235214
Availability: Out of Print: used copies probably available. Ask us.
Published: Hub City Press - May 1st, 2016

Glass Houses: A Novel (Chief Inspector Gamache Novel #13) By Louise Penny Cover Image
$33.34
Email or call for price.
ISBN: 9781250066190
Published: Minotaur Books - August 29th, 2017

Download Audiobooks

Libro.fmWe've partnered with Libro.fm to bring you a top-notch option for digital audiobooks. Take a look at our large catalog of recorded books at https://libro.fm/citylightsnc 

Dig Sylva LogoOur Neighbors: City Lights Cafe