Barbara's Recommendations

Barbara is the owner of Riverstone Books
Barbara is the owner of Riverstone Books

Barbara founded Riverstone Books in 2017 to fill the need for an independent bookstore in the North Hills which would help our neighbors find books that inspire, inform, delight, amuse, comfort and enlighten them. Previously she owned Undercover Books in St. Croix for 6 years. Prior to finding her true vocation as a bookseller, Barbara had a 30+ year career with Alcoa. Her goals for 2021 are to successfully serve book lovers in our new location In Squirrel Hill and and train our puppy so he can someday be a store dog.

Recommendations: 

Olga Dies Dreaming: A Novel By Xochitl Gonzalez Cover Image
$27.99
ISBN: 9781250786173
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Flatiron Books - January 4th, 2022

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK · WINNER OF THE BROOKLYN PUBLIC LIBRARY PRIZE • INTERNATIONAL LATINO BOOK AWARD FINALIST

A blazing talent debuts with the tale of a status-driven wedding planner grappling with her social ambitions, absent mother, and Puerto Rican roots—all in the wake of Hurricane Maria


The Maid: A Novel (Molly the Maid #1) By Nita Prose Cover Image
$29.00
ISBN: 9780593356159
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Ballantine Books - January 4th, 2022

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK • “A heartwarming mystery with a lovable oddball at its center” (Real Simple), this cozy whodunit introduces a one-of-a-kind heroine who will steal your heart.
 


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The Lincoln Highway: A Read with Jenna Pick (A Novel) By Amor Towles Cover Image
$30.00
ISBN: 9780735222359
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Viking - October 5th, 2021

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

More than ONE MILLION copies sold

A TODAY Show Read with Jenna Book Club Pick


A New York Times Notable Book, and Chosen by Oprah Daily, Time, NPR, The Washington Post, Bill Gates and Barack Obama as a Best Book of the Year


Punch Me Up To The Gods: A Memoir By Brian Broome Cover Image
$26.00
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ISBN: 9780358439103
Published: Mariner Books - May 18th, 2021

WINNER OF THE KIRKUS PRIZE • WINNER OF A LAMBDA LITERARY AWARD • NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK • NEW YORK TIMES EDITORS' PICK • STONEWALL HONOR BOOK • NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, KIRKUS REVIEWS, LIBRARY JOURNAL, AMAZON AND APPLE BOOKS • TODAY


Smalltime: A Story of My Family and the Mob By Russell Shorto Cover Image
$26.95
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ISBN: 9780393245585
Published: W. W. Norton & Company - February 2nd, 2021

A Kirkus Reviews Best Nonfiction Book of 2021

Family secrets emerge as a best-selling author dives into the history of the mob in small-town America.


The Man Who Died Twice: A Thursday Murder Club Mystery By Richard Osman Cover Image
$28.00
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ISBN: 9781984880994
Published: Pamela Dorman Books - September 28th, 2021

An instant New York Times bestseller!

The second gripping novel in the New York Times bestselling Thursday Murder Club series, soon to be a major motion picture from Steven Spielberg at Amblin Entertainment


Olive, Mabel & Me: Life and Adventures with Two Very Good Dogs By Andrew Cotter Cover Image
$24.00
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ISBN: 9781682686645
Published: Countryman Press - December 1st, 2020

The story of Olive and Mabel, Labrador retrievers who rose to internet fame as the subjects of Andrew Cotter's BBC sports parodies.


The Witch Elm: A Novel By Tana French Cover Image
$18.00
ISBN: 9780735224643
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Penguin Books - July 30th, 2019

A New York Times bestseller and a Best Book of 2018 by NPR, The New York Times Book Review, Amazon, The Boston Globe, LitHub, Vulture, Slate, Elle, Vox, and Electric Literature

“Tana French’s best and most intricately nuanced novel yet.” —The New York Times


Little Disasters: A Novel By Sarah Vaughan Cover Image
$17.00
ISBN: 9781501172229
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Atria/Emily Bestler Books - August 18th, 2020

“Taut, clever, compelling, and guaranteed to keep you on the edge of your seat.” —Paula Hawkins, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Girl on the Train and Into the Water

From the bestselling author of Anatomy of a Scandal—now a hit Netflix series—a new thought-provoking novel exploring the complexity


The Marriage of Opposites By Alice Hoffman Cover Image
$18.99
ISBN: 9781451693607
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Atria Books - June 7th, 2016

“A luminous, Marquez-esque tale” (O, The Oprah Magazine) from the New York Times bestselling author of The Museum of Extraordinary Things: a forbidden love story set on a tropical island about the extraordinary woman who gave birth to painter Camille Pissarro—the Father of Impressionism.

Growing up on idyllic St.


The Dry: A Novel By Jane Harper Cover Image
$17.99
ISBN: 9781250105622
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Flatiron Books - January 2nd, 2018

"I love Jane Harper's Australia-based mysteries." —Stephen King
NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE FROM IFC FILMS STARRING ERIC BANA
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
“A breathless page-turner, driven by the many revelations Ms. Harper dreams up…You’ll love [her] sleight of hand…A secret on every page.” —The New York Times


Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies By Jared Diamond, Ph.D. Cover Image
$19.95
ISBN: 9780393354324
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: W. W. Norton & Company - March 7th, 2017

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize • New York Times Bestseller • Over Two Million Copies Sold

“One of the most significant projects embarked upon by any intellectual of our generation” (Gregg Easterbrook, New York Times), Guns, Germs, and Steel presents a groundbreaking, unified narrative of human history.


The Road from Coorain: A Woman's Exquisitely Clear-Sighted Memoir of Growing Up Australian (Vintage Departures) By Jill Ker Conway Cover Image
$16.00
ISBN: 9780679724360
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Vintage - August 11th, 1990

In a memoir that pierces and delights us, Jill Ker Conway tells the story of her astonishing journey into adulthood—a journey that would ultimately span immense distances and encompass worlds, ideas, and ways of life that seem a century apart.


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

The beginning of the sweeping Aubrey-Maturin series. "The best sea story I have ever read."—Sir Francis Chichester


Case Histories: A Novel (Jackson Brodie #1) By Kate Atkinson Cover Image
$18.99
ISBN: 9780316010702
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Back Bay Books - October 17th, 2005

The first book in Kate Atkinson's Jackson Brodie Mysteries series, called "The best mystery of the decade" by Stephen King, finds private investigator Jackson Brodie following three seemingly unconnected family mysteries in Edinburg.

Case one: A little girl goes missing in the night.


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

WINNER OF THE 2009 MAN BOOKER PRIZE
WINNER OF THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD FOR FICTION
A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER


A Gentleman in Moscow: A Novel By Amor Towles Cover Image
$18.00
ISBN: 9780143110439
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Penguin Books - March 26th, 2019

The mega-bestseller with more than 2 million readers, soon to be a Showtime/Paramount series starring Ewan McGregor as Count Alexander Rostov


Where'd You Go, Bernadette: A Novel By Maria Semple Cover Image
$16.99
ISBN: 9780316204262
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Back Bay Books - April 2nd, 2013

A misanthropic matriarch leaves her eccentric family in crisis when she mysteriously disappears in this "whip-smart and divinely funny" novel that inspired the movie starring Cate Blanchett (New York Times).


Banker (A Dick Francis Novel) By Dick Francis Cover Image
$8.99
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ISBN: 9780425237755
Published: G.P. Putnam's Sons - November 2nd, 2010

An investment banker arranges the purchase of a champion racehorse and gets caught up in murder in this New York Times bestseller that's “fraught with violence, conspiracy and, of course, horses” (The Boston Globe).


The Rosie Project: A Novel By Graeme Simsion Cover Image
$17.99
ISBN: 9781476729091
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: S&S/ Marysue Rucci Books - June 3rd, 2014

The international bestselling romantic comedy “bursting with warmth, emotional depth, and…humor,” (Entertainment Weekly) featuring the oddly charming, socially challenged genetics professor, Don, as he seeks true love.

The art of love is never a science: Meet Don Tillman, a brilliant yet socially inept professor of genetics, who’s decided itR


Foundation By Isaac Asimov Cover Image
$17.00
ISBN: 9780553382570
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Del Rey - April 29th, 2008

The first novel in Isaac Asimov’s classic science-fiction masterpiece, the Foundation series

THE EPIC SAGA THAT INSPIRED THE APPLE TV+ SERIES FOUNDATION • Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read

 


Dune By Frank Herbert Cover Image
$18.00
ISBN: 9780441013593
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Ace - August 2nd, 2005

• DUNE: PART TWO • THE MAJOR MOTION PICTURE COMING NOVEMBER 3rd, 2023


Resurrection Men (A Rebus Novel #13) By Ian Rankin Cover Image
$24.99
ISBN: 9780316099219
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Back Bay Books - October 13th, 2010

Inspector John Rebus has messed up badly this time, so badly that he's been sent to a kind of reform school for damaged cops. While there among the last-chancers known as "resurrection men," he joins a covert mission to gain evidence of a drug heist orchestrated by three of his classmates. But the group has been assigned an unsolved murder that may have resulted from Rebus's own mistake.


We Begin at the End By Chris Whitaker Cover Image
$27.99
ISBN: 9781250759665
Availability: Backordered
Published: Henry Holt and Co. - March 2nd, 2021

Winner of the Gold Dagger for Best Crime Novel from the Crime Writers’ Association (UK)
Winner for Best International Crime Fiction from Australian Crime Writers Association
An Instant New York Times Bestseller


Old Baggage: A Novel By Lissa Evans Cover Image
$16.99
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ISBN: 9780062895448
Published: Harper Perennial - April 16th, 2019

#1 UK Bestseller

“A thoughtful, funny, companionable novel…executed with verve.”—London Times

The author of the acclaimed Crooked Heart returns with a comic, charming, and surprisingly timely portrait of a once pioneering suffragette trying to find her new passion in post-WWI era London.