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Noteworthy Literary Works, Selected Monthly
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Each month, Harvard Book Store offers Signed First Edition Club members a signed first printing of a newly published book, selected for both its literary merit and potential collectibility. Books are selected monthly—the length of your membership can be six months, one year, or indefinite—and can be shipped anywhere in the United States.
Each Signed First Edition Club pick is a first edition and first printing, signed by the author, delivered to you in pristine condition with its jacket in a transparent protective wrapping to extend the life of the book. You'll also receive a specially made Harvard Book Store "Signed First Edition Club" bookmark, featuring a few words from a Harvard Book Store staffer on why we loved this book.
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Launched in 2007, the "flagship" Signed First Edition Club has become an extraordinary way for both local Harvard Book Store customers and readers across the country to build a personal library of great books. The club has featured Pulitzer and Booker Prize–winners, National Book Award honorees and finalists, and wide-ranging titles by acclaimed, debut, and emerging authors. All are important, noteworthy books—loved by the readers on our staff. Check out the many prestigious past titles featured over the years here under "Past Selections."
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Our January 2021 Selection
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"Is there anything Jane Smiley cannot do? . . . She turns literary and stylistic cartwheels." —Time
From the Pulitzer Prize-winning and best-selling author, a captivating, brilliantly imaginative story of three extraordinary animals—and a young boy—whose lives intersect in Paris
Paras, short for "Perestroika," is a spirited racehorse at a racetrack west of Paris. One afternoon at dusk, she finds the door of her stall open and—she's a curious filly—wanders all the way to the City of Light. She's dazzled and often mystified by the sights, sounds, and smells around her, but she isn't afraid.
Soon she meets an elegant dog, a German shorthaired pointer named Frida, who knows how to get by without attracting the attention of suspicious Parisians. Paras and Frida coexist for a time in the city's lush green spaces, nourished by Frida's strategic trips to the vegetable market. They keep company with two irrepressible ducks and an opinionated raven. But then Paras meets a human boy, Etienne, and discovers a new, otherworldly part of Paris: the ivy-walled house where the boy and his nearly-one-hundred-year-old great-grandmother live in seclusion.
As the cold weather and Christmas near, the unlikeliest of friendships bloom. But how long can a runaway horse stay undiscovered in Paris? How long can a boy keep her hidden and all to himself? Jane Smiley's beguiling new novel is itself an adventure that celebrates curiosity, ingenuity, and the desire of all creatures for true love and freedom.
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A Look Back at Recent Selections
Signed First Edition Club 2020 Picks
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Memorial
by Bryan Washington
“No other novel this year captures so gracefully the full palette of America.” —The Washington Post • A New York Times Notable Book of the Year • Named a Best Book of the Year by The Washington Post, TIME, Esquire, Harper’s Bazaar, and Real Simple
Kant's Little Prussian Head and Other Reasons Why I Write: An Autobiography in Essays
by Claire Messud
A glimpse into a beloved novelist’s inner world, shaped by family, art, and literature. Crafting a vivid portrait of a life in celebration of the power of literature, Messud proves once again "an absolute master storyteller" (Rebecca Carroll, Los Angeles Times).
The Boy in the Field
by Margot Livesey
The bestselling author of The Flight of Gemma Hardy delivers another “luminous, unforgettable, and perfectly rendered” (Dennis Lehane) novel. A New York Times Notable Book of the Year • An O Magazine Best Book of the Year
The Butterfly Lampshade
by Aimee Bender
The first novel in ten years from the author of the New York Times bestseller The Particular Sadness Of Lemon Cake, a luminous, poignant tale of a mother, a daughter, mental illness, and the fluctuating barrier between the mind and the world.
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Utopia Avenue
by David Mitchell
The long-awaited new novel from the bestselling, prize-winning author of Cloud Atlas and The Bone Clocks—named one of the best books of the year by The Washington Post • NPR • USA Today • The Guardian • Kirkus Reviews.
Actress
by Anne Enright
A brilliant and moving novel about celebrity, sexual power, and a daughter’s search to understand her mother’s hidden truths—named one of the Wall Street Journal's 10 Best Books of 2020 • Time's 100 Must-Read Books of 2020 • A Washington Post Notable Work of Fiction in 2020.
The Resisters
by Gish Jen
"The Resisters is palpably loving, smart, funny, and desperately unsettling. The novel should be required reading for the country both as a cautionary tale and because it is a stone-cold masterpiece. This is Gish Jen's moment. She has pitched a perfect game." —Ann Patchett
Little Gods
by Meng Jin
Combining the emotional resonance of Home Fire with the ambition and innovation of Asymmetry, a lyrical and thought-provoking debut novel that explores the complex web of grief, memory, time, physics, history, and selfhood in the immigrant experience, and the complicated bond between daughters and mothers.
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Four times a year, Harvard Book Store offers Signed New Voices in Fiction Club members a signed first printing of a newly published debut novel. This service is the perfect gift for anyone who wants to read more novels but feels overwhelmed (in a good way) when they walk up to the new fiction table, or an ideal pick for bibliophiles who want the latest in boundary-pushing, cutting-edge work. Our promise is this: our selections will never be obvious, and the novels will never be typical, but you’ll be thrilled by every one of them.
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Thank you for supporting Harvard Book Store! Your purchases support the future of this independent bookstore. Check out our holiday hours and details about curbside pickup and mailout services at harvard.com, where you'll find even more recommendations.
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