Let's start with the pretty books this week.
 

First up is MinaLima's edition of L. Frank Baum's The Wizard of Oz. The classic story is packaged with all sorts of interactive goodies. There's a cyclone map that you can peek inside. A pop-up Yellow Brick Road. Angry trees with branches that move and shiver. Oh look! Oz glasses! See the world as the great wizard does! MinaLima does fantastic work, and this edition is a sure-fire winner for this holiday season. 

Oh, yes, the holiday season. It is coming, though not as quickly as you might think. First, its boat has to clear customs on that end, and then it has to cross a mighty ocean that seems wider than it was a few years ago (or maybe the route is trickier, filled with all sorts of obstacles that might slow a ponderous vessel down). Yes, and once it reaches this end, it must circle endlessly, like that time that Dad insisted on getting a good parking spot at the mall, and you spent an hour in the car looking for an open space. Meanwhile, Timmy's having a meltdown in his car seat. The family dog is losing its mind because it can't see the sky. 

Anyway, once the boat docks, then the holiday season gets on a truck, which may or may not leave in a timely fashion. When it does, well, there's probably road construction because, you know, failing infrastructure and all. At the warehouse, there's no open dock and so it's like Dad in the mall parking lot all over again. 

Eventually—finally!—the holiday season gets unloaded from the big truck and is put on a smaller truck, which must bump its way to our doors, dodging potholes and road construction, until it, too, must, yes, find a place to park. 

Have we mentioned that there are some issues in the supply chain? Okay, good. Let's move on then. 
 

Oh, look, a new book by Brom! This one is called Slewfoot, and it is the harrowing and grim story of what happened that fateful October of 1666 in Sutton, Connecticut. It's a very gothic tale of witches and monsters in the woods, brought to vibrant life by Brom's fabulously dark illustrations. It's been a few years since Brom has put out a book, and we're looking forward to shivering over his macabre tale. 
 

And speaking of macabre tales, here's Heather M. Herrman's The Corpse Queen, which is the story of young Molly Green, who is sent to live with her newly "discovered" aunt. This aunt happens to be the only game in town when it comes to buying and selling bodies. Like, you know, when Doctor Frankenstein needed a femur, who did he call? That's right. He called the Corpse Queen. 

It's the 19th century. What can we tell you. Rules about corpses were a little looser back then. Anyway, Molly discovers that she's got some interest in the medical profession, and as her interest grows in matters anatomical, she stumbles across the Knifeman, Philadelphia's own version of Jack the Ripper. Naturally, bad things happen. 
 

And speaking of murder, here is Your Guide To Not Getting Murdered in a Quaint English Village, as noted by Maureen Johnson and Jay Cooper. Now, if you're a regular reader of cozy murder mysteries, it must appear that the "quaint English village" setting is more dangerous than a starring role in one of the Saw films. The English countryside is covered with murder villages, and sure, Rick Steves might have some tips on pubs with good bangers and mash, but Johnson and Cooper are here to make sure you don't pick a bed and breakfast with a lot of recently turned earth in the backyard. Be careful out there. 
 

And speaking of cautious adventurers, Skunk and Badger are back this week with Egg Marks the Spot. Amy Timberlake's marvelous series about the geologically-minded Badger and the culinary-minded Skunk continues as the lovable duo set out on a rock-finding mission. Naturally, they find more than rocks. Friendships are tested. Bonds are formed. And Important Rock Work is done. Hurray!
 

And speaking of the animal kingdom, Mary Roach is back this week with Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law. Now, Mary Roach is a National Treasure, as far as we're concerned, and a new book of her insightful and delightful observations about the world is reason to rejoice. In Fuzz, Roach explores the quirks and curious moments of human-wildlife conflict. Emus running circles around Australian military! Albatrosses messing with American armed forces! Monkeys doing what monkeys do! It's a delight. 
 

Much closer to home, we have Liane Moriarty with Apples Never Fall, which sits squarely in that new category of "domestic noir," which is to say that life in the suburbs is never as bucolic and blissful as it seems, is it? Oh no. Husbands and wives disappear. Spouses act aggrieved and clueless. Secrets are uncovered, and before it's all over, the entire neighborhood will be reeling. It's deliciously gossipy and unsettling. 
 

And speaking of unspeakable things that happen in the kitchen, here's Joshua Weissman's An Unapologetic Cookbook. Weissman is apparently a big deal on the social medias, and the approach for his book boils down to "Look, food tastes better when you make it yourself, including all the stuff that you would normally buy at the store because you're lazy. Don't be lazy." 

He kind of warned us with that title. 

Anyway, there's something to this approach, because, sure, most steak sandwiches do suck, and the right answer is, clearly, cook your own damn steak and make your own damn bread. 

There are pictures, because he's not a complete jerk. 
 

And Colson Whitehead is back this week with Harlem Shuffle, a book completely unlike his last book, but also exactly like what you'd expect from Colson Whitehead. Which is to say that this tale of grifters, thieves, and scoundrels in 1960s Harlem is precisely the book you needed this fall. Oh, it probably deserves all the accolades that are going to be heaped on it. Dive into this one and relish it. 

And finally, we have something new for you in the shop. 
 

As you know, we've been doing Blind Date of fiction books for awhile, and we've even added Highbrow dates and the hefty Box O Dates. All the while, we've been trying to figure out how to replicate this experience with non-fiction books, and frankly, making you guess what sort of non-fiction book you are buying seems ripe for disaster. 

With the Project Thinky Book Library, you can totally see what book you're buying. In fact, each of the titles on this shelf covers one topic only. That's right. It's a bite-sized knowledge burger. And when you buy one of these, you get a Project Thinky Books punch card. 

The punch card allows you to BUY three, SWAP three, and get one FREE. The shelf will constantly be changing, of course, so you never know what will be on it, but you can expect that there will always be a book about an interesting topic. Right now, we're pulling from Bloomsbury's Object Lessons series and Oxford A Very Short Introduction series. 
 

Come get one. Read it. Bring it back and swap it out for another. Do it a couple of times and you get a free one! It's a reward program that makes you smarter!