September/October Book Sense 76 Display Suggestions

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Autumn has arrived, and with it, the September/October Book Sense 76. Given the wealth of wonderful, unique titles on the list, it can be challenging to select titles for in-store displays. Here are some suggestions for creating interesting title arrangements, from pairings to groupings to, well, piles.

Top 10
Yes, it's simple, and also attention-getting. Shoppers' eyes are naturally drawn to the phrase "Top 10," and since many people shop according to bestseller or other lists, simply placing the Top 10 titles in their own area with a sign noting their status (plus a stack of Book Sense 76 flyers) is sure to entice customers to take a look at these books.

Biography/Memoir
Other people's lives are often fascinating, and what better way to get a legal peek at their doings than by reading a biography or memoir? These six titles would work nicely in a biography-bunch:

Mountains Beyond Mountains (#8 on the list)
Not Fade Away: A Short Life Well Lived (#9)
Strapless: John Singer Sargent and the Fall of Madame X (#10)
An Execution in the Family: One Son's Journey
The Oath: The Remarkable Story of a Surgeon's Life Under Fire
Sickened: The Memoir of a Munchausen by Proxy Childhood
Off to the Side: A Memoir
(paperback)

Need something wackier? Add this book:

In Me Own Words: The Autobiography of Bigfoot

Feeling commemorative? Put these on the display table, too, to acknowledge the 100th anniversary of the Wright Brothers' flight:

Dawn Over Kitty Hawk: The Novel of the Wright Brothers
Wings of Madness: Alberto Santos-Dumont and the Invention of Flight

Mystery and Suspense
People are always looking for a new source of excitement, so why not steer them to this group of Book Sense 76 page-turners?

Dead Famous
Every Secret Thing
Last Car to Elysian Fields
The Last Nazi
Uniform Justice: A Commissario Guido Brunetti Mystery (#1 on the list)

Artsy Reading
Point out this pair of books, as sources of artistic intrigue and inspiration:

Orchard: A Novel (#2 on the list)
Strapless: John Singer Sargent and the Fall of Madame X (#2 on the list)
The Book of Illusions (paperback)

Debut Fiction
It's always exciting to discover a new writer! Put these books together, so that customers can say "I read them when…" (If you're so inspired, you might want to also display debut works by authors that are now well known.)

Stone Garden: A Novel
Brick Lane
Coiled in the Heart
How to Breathe Underwater: Stories
Lucky Girls: Stories
My Cold War

Issues in America
Shoppers who wish to learn more about contemporary issues and current events should be made aware of these titles:

Big Lies: The Right-Wing Propaganda Machine and How It Distorts the Truth
An Execution in the Family: One Son's Journey
The Middle Mind: Why Americans Don't Think for Themselves
True Notebooks: A Writer's Year at Juvenile Hall
Triangle: The Fire That Changed America
They Marched Into Sunlight: War and Peace Vietnam and America, October 1967
The Bitch in the House
Ticket to Ride: Inside the Beatles' 1964 World Tour That Changed the World
Present Value
Second Sunday

A Closer Look at History
Historical fiction is a good way for some readers to learn more about the past … without feeling as if they’ve returned to the anxiety of the third row of social studies class. Showcase these books -- both fiction and nonfiction -- and let history come alive! Again!

The Known World: A Novel (#3 on the list)
American Woman: A Novel (#5 on the list)
Triangle: The Fire That Changed America
The Oath: The Remarkable Story of a Surgeon's Life Under Fire in Chechnya
The Distance From Normandy
Prairie Nocturne
Secret Father
Blue Latitudes: Boldly Going Where Captain Cook Has Gone Before (paperback)
Dawn Over Kitty Hawk: The Novel of the Wright Brothers
Wings of Madness: Alberto Santos-Dumont and the Invention of Flight
The Crimson Petal and the White
Moon's Crossing
The True Story of Hansel and Gretel: A Novel of War and Survival

Reading and Writing
To bibliophiles, reading about reading -- and reading writing about writing and writers -- is always interesting. These books will not disappoint:

Raising a Reader: A Mother's Tale of Desperation and Delight
True Notebooks: A Writer's Year at Juvenile Hall
Daughter
The Plot Thickens: 8 Ways to Bring Fiction to Life

Words on War
Many an author has chosen to write of war in an effort to shift the focus from guns and battle to the people who lived (or are living) in a time of fear and strife. These titles offer analysis, illumination, and good reading:

Deafening: A Novel (#5 on the list)
They Marched Into Sunlight: War and Peace Vietnam and America, October 1967
The Oath: The Remarkable Story of a Surgeon's Life Under Fire
The Distance From Normandy
The Lord of Castle Black: Book Two of the Viscount of Adrilankha
Secret Father
The 6th Lamentation
Theater of the Stars
The Last Nazi
The True Story of Hansel and Gretel: A Novel (paperback)

And don't forget, within the pages (or screens, if you're online) of the 76, these categories are already delineated:

New Nonfiction
New Fiction in Hardcover
New Nonfiction in Paperback
New Fiction in Paperback
Suspense and Mystery

-- Linda M. Castellitto

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