Margot Wilcox

 

  Keeping the financial books for an active independent bookstore is a pretty daunting task to which Margot has applied her considerable skill and attention to detail. As a voracious reader with a lively and curious mind she is also helping to further broaden the collective reading experience of City Lights' booksellers.

 


Life After Life: A Novel By Jill McCorkle Cover Image
$15.95
ISBN: 9781616203221
Availability: No new copies on our shelves but maybe in used, now or arriving soon. Ask us.
Published: Algonquin Books - November 5th, 2013

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This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage: A Reese's Book Club Pick By Ann Patchett Cover Image
$32.19
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ISBN: 9780062236678
Published: Harper - November 5th, 2013

And the Mountains Echoed: A Novel By Khaled Hosseini Cover Image
$28.95
ISBN: 9781594631764
Availability: Backordered at our warehouse
Published: Riverhead Books - May 21st, 2013

Strength in What Remains By Tracy Kidder Cover Image
$18.00
ISBN: 9780812977615
Availability: No new copies on our shelves but maybe in used, now or arriving soon. Ask us.
Published: Random House Trade Paperbacks - May 4th, 2010

How great – a new book this summer from one of my favorite writers – Tracy Kidder! Kidder writes with such clarity, such detail, and such intimacy that I feel as if his protagonists are well-known friends by the time I finish one of his books. His subjects are often not easy ones to face – AIDS, third world poverty, old age, and now in this latest book, Strength in What Remains, genocidal war in Africa. Deogratias, the main character, managed to survive to tell his story – and a very moving and haunting story it is, one told in Kidder’s usual insightful and thoughtful manner. Not an easy story to read, but I am grateful to have read it. -- Margot


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The Death of Bees: A Novel By Lisa O'Donnell Cover Image
$16.99
ISBN: 9780062209856
Availability: No new copies on our shelves but maybe in used, now or arriving soon. Ask us.
Published: Harper Perennial - October 22nd, 2013

Remarkable Creatures: A Novel By Tracy Chevalier Cover Image
$18.00
ISBN: 9780452296725
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Penguin Books - October 26th, 2010

I just finished reading Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier (to be published January 2010). I really think this is her best book yet. Maybe the subject matter just appealed more strongly to me, but for whatever reason, it's a book I highly recommend. It is a novel but is based largely on the lives of two women who were fossil hunters in Lyme Regis, England, in the early 19th century. Tho' I think the title is meant to refer to the fossils they found, these two women were remarkable creatures themselves. The younger woman, Mary Anning, was 'of the lower classes' & basically was uneducated (tho' very bright & ultimately very knowledgeable about fossils). Originally, she just hunted fossils to sell to tourists to supplement her family's income. For the older woman, Elizabeth Philpot, who was gentry, fossil hunting was a hobby that grew into an avocation. Their lives coincided with the early days of modern geologic studies, and their work greatly contributed to its foundations. However, because they were living in the era before women were accorded any status, they had to struggle for recognition of their accomplishments. Joyce, Jessica and I have all been hooked by this book -- read the first paragraph or two and see if you can put it down! Margot Wilcox, City Lights Bookstore, Sylva, NC


Moon Women By Pamela Duncan Cover Image
$17.00
ISBN: 9780385335218
Availability: We can probably get this title but the price is subject to change.
Published: Dial Press Trade Paperback - April 30th, 2002

Just as Ruth Ann (Moon) Payne has finally got her life all neat and tidy, she is confronted with family needs she cannot deny. Her teenage daughter, Ashley, who had run away from home, returns pregnant and needs a place to live. Her aging mother, Marvelle Moon, is increasingly forgetful and can no longer live alone. Although Ruth Ann takes them in, it's an uneasy situation. This delightful story of how they settle in is a really wonderful read, full of humor and sadness, memories and dreams!

Taking place in western North Carolina, Moon Women has strong regional appeal, but Duncan's portraits of these three strong women ring true wherever you're from. Although time, place and circumstances were very different, I lived several of my teenage years in a three-generation, all-female household. As I read, the dynamics of these relationships seemed real.


If You Lived Here, I'd Know Your Name: News from Small-Town Alaska By Heather Lende Cover Image
$15.99
ISBN: 9781565125247
Availability: No new copies on our shelves but maybe in used, now or arriving soon. Ask us.
Published: Algonquin Books - March 29th, 2006

A delightful book I read a few years ago is If You Lived Here, I'd Know Your Name. The author, Heather Lende, moved to Alaska with her husband right after they graduated from college; some 25 years later, they're still there. Those of us who appreciate the intimacy of living in a small town and accept its inconveniences will relate to Lende's stories about life in Haines, Alaska, where she writes a social column and obituaries for the weekly paper. The book is a celebration of life; Lende's vivid descriptions of the beautiful natural setting of her town and of the colorful people who live there make it wonderful reading!
- Margot Wilcox


Flower Confidential: The Good, the Bad, and the Beautiful By Amy Stewart Cover Image
$16.95
ISBN: 9781565126039
Availability: No new copies on our shelves but maybe in used, now or arriving soon. Ask us.
Published: Algonquin Books - March 18th, 2008

Whose heart doesn't glow at the mere thought of a lovely bouquet of flowers? Certainly, mine isn't immune! So I really enjoyed reading Flower Confidential, a fascinating book about the commercial flower industry, from plant breeding to raising flowers to marketing them worldwide. Stewart takes her reader with her as she visits the fields where lilies are bred, to greenhouses of tulips, roses and gerbera daisies, and on to the world-famous Dutch flower auction where the seemingly delicate crop of cut flowers is brought from all over the world to be sold to wholesalers. She discusses the growing trend of producing organic flowers and shows us the headaches and heartaches of retail florists. A really good read!
-- Margot Wilcox


The Tale of Hill Top Farm (The Cottage Tales of Beatrix P #1) By Susan Wittig Albert Cover Image
$9.99
ISBN: 9780425201015
Availability: No new copies on our shelves but maybe in used, now or arriving soon. Ask us.
Published: Berkley - October 4th, 2005

Susan Wittig Albert, author of the popular China Bayles series, is off on a delightful new tack. Her book, The Tale of Hill Top Farm, is a gentle mystery featuring Miss Beatrix Potter, best known perhaps as the author-illustrator of The Tale of Peter Rabbit. The story is just good fun! And if you value a well-told story with a strong sense of place, this book is a must-read. Having recently returned from a trip to the English Lake Country that included a visit to Hill Top Farm, I reveled in Ms. Albert's depiction of the farm, the village and the surrounding countryside, as well as the details of Miss Potter's amazing life.

-- Margot Wilcox


Prodigal Summer: A Novel By Barbara Kingsolver Cover Image
$18.00
ISBN: 9780060959036
Availability: No new copies on our shelves but maybe in used, now or arriving soon. Ask us.
Published: Harper Perennial - October 16th, 2001


Wildlife biologist Deanna is caught off guard by an intrusive young hunter, while bookish city wife Lusa finds herself facing a difficult identity choice, and elderly neighbors find attraction at the height of a long-standing feud.


Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World By Tracy Kidder Cover Image
$18.00
ISBN: 9780812973013
Availability: No new copies on our shelves but maybe in used, now or arriving soon. Ask us.
Published: Random House Trade Paperbacks - August 31st, 2004

Tracy Kidder's Mountains Beyond Mountains is a compelling read. Through Kidder we meet and get to know Dr. Paul Farmer, a most engaging person, caring physician, a husband and father, medical anthropologist, infectious disease specialist, and tireless warrior for the poor. His life is formed by his belief that 'the only real nation is humanity.' The hospital he has built in Haiti would be an amazing lifetime accomplishment for anyone, but Farmer's boundless energy and passion for serving the underserved have lead him also to Peru, Cuba, and Russia, where he has worked to improve the treatment of drug-resistant TB and AIDS in slums and prisons.


The Amateur Marriage: A Novel By Anne Tyler Cover Image
$16.00
ISBN: 9780345470614
Availability: No new copies on our shelves but maybe in used, now or arriving soon. Ask us.
Published: Vintage - October 26th, 2004

Michael and Pauline met and fell in love during the hectic days following Pearl Harbor. But when he reflects on their marriage some thirty years later, Michael thinks that all of the young marrieds of their day "started off in equal ignorance marching down the street of life, but during the years the others peeled off, having matured and become comfortable in their roles, until now only he and Pauline are left, the last of the amateurs in the marriage parade." The book is full of her richly drawn characters and won't disappoint you if you're a longtime Tyler fan. -- Margot Wilcox


Love in the Driest Season: A Family Memoir By Neely Tucker Cover Image
$16.00
ISBN: 9781400081608
Availability: No new copies on our shelves but maybe in used, now or arriving soon. Ask us.
Published: Crown - April 5th, 2005

Love in the Driest Season is reporter Neely Tucker's memoir of the years in which he was a foreign correspondent posted to the "Dark Continent". He and his wife began volunteering in a Zimbabwean orphanage that was desperately under-funded and short staffed. The needs of each child were overwhelming, but one day their hearts were lost to a tiny baby girl who had been left in a field to die. They nursed the baby through life-threatening ailments and soon decided that she was meant to be their daughter. The problem: it is unspoken social norm that foreigners are not permitted to adopt Zimbabwean children. Interwoven with this moving story of their determination to adopt Chipo (her name means 'Gift') is an overview of both the political and social history of Africa in the last few years of the 20th century, told through the eyes of the reporter who covered the events. -- Margot Wilcox


Desire of the Everlasting Hills: The World Before and After Jesus (The Hinges of History) By Thomas Cahill Cover Image
$20.00
ISBN: 9780385483728
Availability: No new copies on our shelves but maybe in used, now or arriving soon. Ask us.
Published: Anchor - February 13th, 2001

A lucid rendering of the social and political world of Jesus explores the pervasive Greek cultural influences and the oppressive Roman presence that shaped first-century Palestine


A Tree Grows in Brooklyn [75th Anniversary Ed] By Betty Smith Cover Image
$18.99
ISBN: 9780060736262
Availability: No new copies on our shelves but maybe in used, now or arriving soon. Ask us.
Published: Harper Perennial Modern Classics - November 6th, 2018

Miss Julia Speaks Her Mind: A Novel By Ann B. Ross Cover Image
$14.99
ISBN: 9780688177751
Availability: No new copies on our shelves but maybe in used, now or arriving soon. Ask us.
Published: William Morrow Paperbacks - August 22nd, 2000

Amazing Grace: A Vocabulary of Faith By Kathleen Norris Cover Image
$16.00
ISBN: 9781573227216
Availability: Backordered at our warehouse
Published: Riverhead Books - April 1st, 1999

Wait Till Next Year: A Memoir By Doris Kearns Goodwin Cover Image
$17.99
ISBN: 9780684847955
Availability: No new copies on our shelves but maybe in used, now or arriving soon. Ask us.
Published: Simon & Schuster - June 2nd, 1998

Jane Eyre By Charlotte Bronte, Stevie Davies (Editor), Stevie Davies (Introduction by), Stevie Davies (Notes by) Cover Image
By Charlotte Bronte, Stevie Davies (Editor), Stevie Davies (Introduction by), Stevie Davies (Notes by)
$9.00
ISBN: 9780141441146
Availability: No new copies on our shelves but maybe in used, now or arriving soon. Ask us.
Published: Penguin Classics - August 15th, 2006

Tender at the Bone: Growing Up at the Table By Ruth Reichl Cover Image
$22.00
ISBN: 9780812981117
Availability: No new copies on our shelves but maybe in used, now or arriving soon. Ask us.
Published: Random House Trade Paperbacks - May 25th, 2010

My Own Country: A Doctor's Story By Abraham Verghese Cover Image
$19.00
ISBN: 9780679752929
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Vintage - April 25th, 1995

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The Hare with Amber Eyes: A Hidden Inheritance By Edmund de Waal Cover Image
Email or call for price
ISBN: 9780312569372
Availability: Out of Print: used copies probably available. Ask us.
Published: Picador - August 2nd, 2011

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Nightwoods: A Novel By Charles Frazier Cover Image
$17.00
ISBN: 9780812978803
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Random House Trade Paperbacks - June 12th, 2012

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Cutting for Stone By Abraham Verghese Cover Image
$19.00
ISBN: 9780375714368
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Vintage - January 26th, 2010

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Letter to Emily: A Memoir By Marilyn Jody Cover Image
$12.95
ISBN: 9781432754907
Availability: No new copies on our shelves but maybe in used, now or arriving soon. Ask us.
Published: Outskirts Press - September 14th, 2010

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Master and Commander (Aubrey/Maturin Novels #1) By Patrick O'Brian Cover Image
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ISBN: 9780393307054
Availability: Out of Print: used copies probably available. Ask us.
Published: W. W. Norton & Company - August 17th, 1990

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Wolf Hall: A Novel (Wolf Hall Trilogy #1) By Hilary Mantel Cover Image
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ISBN: 9780312429980
Availability: Out of Print: used copies probably available. Ask us.
Published: Picador - August 31st, 2010

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