Meg Richardson is the manager at The Book Rack. Look for her monthly book “pick” on Newburyport Today the second Friday of every month.
The Accidental Billionaires
by Ben Mezrich
(Doubleday $25.00)
Finding FluffyThe high-energy tale of how two socially awkward Ivy Leaguers, trying to increase their chances with the opposite sex, ended up creating Facebook.
Eduardo Saverin and Mark Zuckerberg were Harvard undergraduates and best friends-outsiders at a school filled with polished prep-school grads and long-time legacies. They shared both academic brilliance in math and a geeky awkwardness with women.
What followed-a real-life adventure filled with slick venture capitalists, stunning women, and six-foot-five-inch identical-twin Olympic rowers-makes for one of the most entertaining and compelling books of the year. Before long, Eduardo’s and Mark’s different ideas about Facebook created in their relationship faint cracks, which soon spiraled into out-and-out warfare. The collegiate exuberance that marked their collaboration fell prey to the adult world of lawyers and money. The great irony is that while Facebook succeeded by bringing people together, its very success tore two best friends apart.
“The Accidental Billionaires” is a compulsively readable story of innocence lost-and of the unusual creation of a company that has revolutionized the way.
Shiver
by Maggie Stiefvater
(Scholastic $17.99)
For years, Grace has watched the wolves in the woods behind her house. One yellow-eyed wolf – her wolf – is a haunting presence she can’t seem to live without.
Meanwhile, Sam has lived two lives: In winter, the frozen woods, the protection of the pack, and the silent company of a fearless girl. In summer, a few precious months of being human…until the cold makes him shift back again.
Now, Grace meets a yellow-eyed boy whose familiarity takes her breath away. It’s her wolf. It has to be. But as winter nears and the temperature drops, Sam must fight to stay human – or risk losing himself, and Grace, forever.
