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OtherSep 02, 2015
5 good reads for September
A book by a jeweler-turned-author James Alperin, of James Alperin Jewelers in Pepper Pike, Ohio, topped National Jeweler’s list of literary leads for the month of September.
Jeweler-turned-novelist James Alperin’s “The Moscow Team” and “Big Magic” by best-selling author Elizabeth Gilbert are two of the picks highlighted in this month’s good reads feature.
New York--This month’s list of new releases includes the self-published debut novel of a man that has spent decades in the jewelry industry, James Alperin, who owns a jewelry store in Pepper Pike, Ohio.
Alperin, who also is a columnist for National Jeweler, just published The Moscow Team, a romance/adventure novel that takes place, in part, at one very well-known industry trade show. It is the third novel penned by the very prolific retailer, but the first one he has made available to the general public.
In addition to Alperin’s book, National Jeweler picked three books from GoodReads’ list of new releases for September that could be beneficial to business owners and tacked on a selection from one of its editors.
Here are five new, potentially good reads for the month of September.
1) The Moscow Team
James Alperin
Self-published by Pepper Pike, Ohio jeweler James Alperin (James Alperin Jewelers), The Moscow Team is a story about a love affair between two CIA agents who are separated by distance and their industry, where their love is forbidden. After decades apart, they reunite to help bring down a Russian arms dealer who is laundering money through one of the world’s largest diamond wholesale businesses. The Baselworld show makes a cameo in Alperin’s book, which is available for purchase in the CreateSpace e-store. It is 396 pages.
2) Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear
Elizabeth Gilbert
The Eat, Pray, Love author has a new book out that may be helpful to jewelry designers or anyone else in the industry looking for an artistic spark. In Big Magic, Gilbert draws from her own process of creation to discuss the attitudes, approaches and habits people need to live their most creative lives. This book is 288 pages.
3) The Only Woman in the Room: Why Science is Still a Boys’ Club
Eileen Pollack
Lacking confidence and mentors, Pollack long ago abandoned her dream of becoming a theoretical physicist, even after earning a degree from Yale. Years later, the oft-published novelist and essayist has come back to ask the question: Why are there still so few women employed in science, technology, engineering and mathematics? This book is 288 pages.
4) Fates and Furies
Lauren Groff
Groff’s latest novel details the ups and downs of one union central to society and very familiar to jewelers--marriage. Starting when the two main characters, Lotto
and Mathilde, tie the knot at the tender age of 22, the book traces the course of their relationship over 24 years. It is 400 pages.
5) Editor’s Pick: The Year of Magical Thinking
Joan Didion
Selected by: Editor-in-Chief Michelle Graff
It’s hard to believe I got to be 36 years old (nearly 37, in fact) without ever having picked up a book written by Didion but, somehow, it happened. The Year of Magical Thinking is a beautifully crafted, insightful portrait of one woman’s grief, penned in the year following the death of Didion’s husband and constant companion of four decades, John Gregory Dunne. I dare you to read this and not dive into Blue Nights immediately afterward.
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