Free Lists!

TCD has a nice summer list piece by Amy Elliott up currently on the front page, featuring former Schwartzies of all stripes (Dave Mallman, buyer = awesome!), including yet to open former Schwartzies. Plus, NPR is pimping there list.

One of the regular drawbacks of lists from booksellers is what I call the "we're really trying to sell this book now (maybe because we;re getting co-op $$) and while we're not all that excited about this book, we can certainly pretend to be" factor. In reality, I've found indie booksellers do a good job of avoiding selling their souls via the short rec or newsletter review - but I'd be lying if I said it didn't happen, even in MKE.

So, I thought I'd follow suit with a similar list, plus variation, my version, hopefully free of swag-related influence*. I hope other Flappers will chime in, maybe even by editing this post to add their hand picks. (Can ex-booksellers still hand "sell"? Well, some current booksellers would be encouraged to participate, too)

Books Recommended

(* If you have swag to offer, please email me or leave a comment; I can produce a review of a book I've never read in about two days, if provided marketing materials.)
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"Short" List - books you can kill in a matter of days, if not hours...

One of my perpetual favorites, The Invention of Morel, by Adolpho Bioy Casares. This is short (a few more than 100 pages) and will be read very quickly. It's a genre-bender that mostly lives in a fantastical dream world of an un/inhabited island. The main character, fleeing some law ins some country (murder!?!) takes refuge on the island, discovers a mysterious and luxurious hotel with enigmatic contraptions (kind of like a bizarre mechanical heart for the building/island) and is then joined by visitors, led by the bizarre Dr. Morel, that may or may not see him, that may or may not be real, or that may or may not be existing at the same time that the main character is existing.

Sure, it sounds like a *lot* to cover in 100 pages - and it is. However, Borges is right in calling this novella a work of masterful plotting. because, well, it is able to connect all of these narrative "contraptions" and "inventions" into a slippery adventure-mystery-fantasy. And, really, who are we to argue with Borges?

Another all-time fave short work is the equally masterful Crying of Lot 49, by Thomas Pynchon. It's funny, absurd, mysterious and euphoric - and ultimately intriguing and mind-bending enough to keep you thinking about it

longer than you'll think about The Invention of Morel - which, in estimate, is a very, very, very, very, very long time. The story of Oedipa Maas' execution of a will (her will? - oh Tom, stop it now!), this novel/ella (ella, ella, eh, eh, eh) moves quickly and hilariously from bizarro psychedelic rock bands and child actors watching discontinuous orderings of old films, to cigarette filter conspiracies, to philatelia, Jacobian revenge plays, and the exposure of a world-wide secret society/postal system - all while looki ng for Pierce Inverarity's inverse rarity. Hilarity - and a completely enjoyable, mesmerizing variety of vertigo - ensues.

Plus, you get the added benefit of saying you read a Pynchon novel! And without fighting the joys and traps of Gravity's Rainbow - which you should do, too.

City of Glass is another shortie novella, a semiotic sleuth story, by Paul Auster,

who our kids will likely be reading in college, since he's a white American male. As an added bonus, he's also a great storyteller and this, City of Glass, and the rest of the New York Trilogy are very good: entertaining, fast-paced, bending the typical genre trappings of both gumshoe and intellectual puzzle. A large part mystery, this meta-work explores authorship, identity and the descent into madness that is usually glossed over in the PI's search for intimate and complete knowledge.

Bonus: if you like this, which you will, obviously, you'll also read The Book of Illusions, a longer work by Auster that is more novel-ly in a "literary" fiction way, but just as experimental and contemplative - and meta, of course.

"Short-ish" - books that look long, but really are short on closer inspection...

When I read Annie Dillard's For the Time Being, it was a squat square of a hardcover, almost a board book of short, insightful natural (as in "nature") travelogue and sometimes-converging observations. The great part about this series of meditations is that they can be consumed as just that: short little bits of beautiful writing. Yet, if you'd like, you can also explore a more connected reading, mapping convergences - or, better, using Dillard's prompts, you can make your own meaning. Kind of a DIY-aesthetic, if you will.

I read Black Swan Green while on my honeymoon, which was great (in both ways). And, in honor of Bayard and Sarah's wedding on Sunday, I'm going to recommend it as summer reading. Plus, Bayard loves this book, too, as do many other former Schwartzies. This is David Mitchell's follow-up to the (as-yet-unread-but-I-hear-it's-[and-is-on-my-short-list-of-long-books-]) fabulous Cloud Atlas, a coming-of-age story of a boy in England, discovering all is not what it seems, making unlikely friendships and navigating the trials of family life and strife. This is one of those books you really, truly won't want to put down and might not. It's well-paced and populated with, what seems while reading, all the "right" people, places and problems.




Coming soon: the "Long" books... and more lists!

Broad Vocabulary

This week brought the announcement of the closing of Milwaukee's only feminist bookstore, Broad Vocabulary. The Bayview neighborhood, south of downtown, was home to this lovely little establishment and the entire Milwaukee community, not to mention knitting groups, book clubs and others who regularly gathered on its bright couches, have lost a great bookstore.

This is just another reminder to all that nothing can replace the bookstore experience, the interaction with other readers and booksellers, the thrill of browsing and value of a good book, turning a page and building your own precious library.

here are some relatively recent titles related to feminist topics, that I love and think you should too:


Beyond Barbie and Mortal Kombat: New Perspectives on Gender and Gaming
I am by no means a 'gamer', never have been, but when I was in college, as a partial media studies kid, I picked up this book, which was very interesting with its theories on pretending from a first person gaming perspective.

from MIT Press: 'Beyond Barbie and Mortal Kombat' brings together new media theorists, game designers, educators, psychologists, and industry professionals, including some of the contributors to the earlier volume, to look at how gender intersects with the broader contexts of digital games today: gaming, game industry and design, and serious games.



On Their Own: Women Journalist and the American Experience in Vietnam by Joyce Hoffman

I was just discussing with Dr. Godsave the difficulty Americans have to this day with negotiating a place in history for the Vietnam War. Although, I disagreed with John McCain's proposed policies and voted for Obama, I can't help but wonder if a sliver of his failure to be elected to president (twice) had something to do with the people's perception of our involvement in Vietnam as some kind of stain on our history- which I gauge entirely on the recorded popularity/approval ratings of that conflict. Well, in any case, this collection, like Journalistas, hopes to educate readers on the unique experience of females in the field and the newsroom.


Righting Feminism: Conservative Women and American Politics by Ronnee Schreiber

With Sarah Palin running all over the country at first calling herself a feminist and then saying she's not actually a feminist, I was really wondering what was up with all the flip-floppin' and ballyhoo. I heard this author on Fresh Air and was fascinated by the underground conservative women's movements and their open rejection of "mainstream feminism" or basically just feminism as we know it. Oxford University Press has their own great overview of the text here. This book is the first of its kind and really a must read for feminists of all waves and persuasions.

and a couple more:
One of the Guys: Women as Aggressors and Torturers, ed. by McElvey, Tara and Ehrenreich, Barbara
Her Best Shot: Women and Guns in America by Browder, Laura
Female Chauvinist Pigs: Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture by Levy, Ariel

Proust Was a Neuroscientist

Good friend Rebecca over at our sibling company, the hippest and most-knowledgeable business booksellers in the entire world, 800 - CEO - READ (or 8CR for those in the know), passed me this fine link to an  interview with Jonah Lehrer, author of Proust Was a Neuroscientist, from kottke.org.

NPR's Morning Edition did a fantastic piece on one of the stories from this great work of nonfiction about one of the more fascinating aspects of food science (and one my very  most favorite words), umani - roughly, "savory" in Japanese, and the most recently discovered fifth taste (in addition to sweet, salty, sour, and bitter), long thought to be nonexistent.  

(And, as a much-deserved shout out, check out their amazing blog, fresh with original manifestos from brilliant authors, their business book awards - with vid below - and "the book", which is a mystery you'll just have to uncover yourself...)

Take A Little Trip

by Denise Dee

I love to read about people's journeys- both physical and interior travels. When you get right down to it a lot of books seem to be about quests. Books that cover spiritual terrain can be hard sells because people think the writing might be boring or pious. These books are anything but.

The Year of Living Bibically- One Man's Humble Quest to follow the Bible as Literally as Possible by A.J. Jacobs. Jacobs is an agnostic. So we know going into the book that it's going to be funny. I had no idea how profound it would be as he examines lying, polygamy, faith, and gratitude among other 'laws' or 'rules' of the bible. He takes us to visit the Amish, Lubavitchers, Creationists and a few other groups that take the bible literally. Jacobs wife Julie is not real thrilled with the project. And as he takes to the streets of Manhattan in a white robe, sandals, payot and a long beard you have to wonder if their marriage will last.

Longing for Darkness - Tara and The Black Madonna by China Galland. Galland journeys from the Catholicism of her childhood, through alcoholism, meditation and eventually to Tibetan Buddhism. Galland makes pilgrimages to Tibet and Czestochowa to see Tara and The Black Madonna. Along the way we make stops in Galland's childhood. This is deeply moving story about the longing deep within for both the feminine face of the divine and an understanding of mothers.

My Life in Orange by Tim Guest. Guest was raised in a series of Rajneesh houses and communes. Imagine the confusion of a small boy who is only allowed to wear clothes in the color of the sun and who is not allowed to live in the same room as his mother. Guest shows us his mothers journey as a seeker and the daily life of the Rajneeshee. Photographs taken by Guest's father are scattered throughout the book adding a layer of poignance as we see the 'family' on film versus the collection of individuals that are trying to come together but do not quite know how to do it.

The Red Book by Sera Beak. This would be a great book to give to a young spiritual seeker as Beak is both irreverant and serious about her path though different religions and beliefs. She includes rituals, meditations, sex, laughter and other 'tools' you can use on your journey to go discover the divine within. She celebrates your inner goddess and goddesses from many paths. She is eclectic and I think of this a cookbook for the soul.

Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. My favorite book of 2006. Gilbert has a breakdown (or breakthrough depending on your p.o.v.) and leaves a rather comfortable life to spend a year- you guessed it- eating, praying and loving. She travels to Italy, India, and Indonesia. I was calling and e-mailing people with quotes from this book and laughing quite loudly. I know it's a best seller, don't let that turn you off, it's well worth reading. She says at one point in the book- I know an unexamined life is not worth living, but can I just have an unexamined lunch? Anyone that spends time questioning their motives and interior lives should find something to relate to in this book

The Spiritual Life of Children by Robert Coles. Coles is a psychologist who is a self admitted skeptic about anything non-rational. He decides to travel to different countries and have children draw pictures about their ideas of God and their beliefs. The words and drawings of the children are mind-blowing and just as interesting is that Coles includes his own doubts about what the children are telling him. This is a fascinating book that covers everything from dreams about Elvis to a furry hand of God reaching down from the sky to 'fix' things.

Rock On - Dan Kennedy

I was wrong again (it happens…let’s just say ‘occasionally’). I saw the title and cover of this book and thought ‘Please, not another ironic hipster penning a love letter to his childhood wrapped tightly in a faux enthusiasm blanket while burnishing his indie rock cred.’ (Okay, maybe my initial thought wasn’t quite that coherent and profanity-free, but we’re all great wits in retrospect. Also, ‘Faux Enthusiasm Blanket’ – possible post-emo/screamo band name.)

Turns out, Rock On is sans hipster irony, and less of a love letter than a debriefing from one of the smoking craters caused by the music wars. Dan Kennedy is (or should be) well-known for his frequent and varied contributions to numerous McSweeney’s publications. For those of you who don’t know McSweeney’s, rectify that posthaste.

As for Rock On; it’s a smart and funny look at the author’s disillusionment with an industry that poses as creative while seemingly ready to wring the necks of baby bunnies if it will get them another airplay for their ‘product’. It’s not a newsflash that when you have an industry controlling artistic expression the results seem less than genuine. It is, however, revelatory just how many decisions made in those ivory towers are driven by a combination of fear, laziness, and stupidity; and here I thought greed was the only boogeyman to aim for.

For eighteen soul-crushing months Kennedy fought the good fight in the marketing department of one of the biggest music companies in the world. His experiences would prove harrowing if they weren’t hilarious, and by all rights his observations should be dripping venom. As a former employee of the world’s largest purveyor of books (They Who Shall Not Be Named), I identified with Kennedy’s day-to-day dread and deer-in-the-headlights inability/unwillingness to play the game with his superiors.

Tales of conference room status wars waged by embittered ladder climbers, near-fisticuffs over baked goods, the mad dash of prospective personal assistants, the inanity of making a point about selling out by selling out, and a parade of yes men who never got music in the first place make Rock On the perfect encapsulation of the wrongheadedness of ‘big music’. Maybe Dan Kennedy’s book is the first fragment of an asteroid coming to usher the corporate dinosaurs into their ice age. It comes not a moment too soon.

My Gateway Book by Denise Dee

You've heard of gateway drugs? Marijuana leading to heroin? Well, let me introduce you to one of my most dangerous gateway books…

Dreamland by Kevin Baker - This was my first experience with 'historical fiction'; the very term used to make me cringe. Cracking this book open, I walked into a time machine and found myself washed up on the shores of early 1900's Coney Island; host to Dreamland and Luna Park. Baker mixes in gangsters, Triangle Factory workers, midgets, Freud and Jung, Tammany Hall bosses, opium dens and Bowery bars with a glossary to the colorful terms used by the Irish, Jewish and other characters populating the book. I became obsessed with turn of the century New York while reading this book, and it led me to:

Triangle: The Fire that Changed America by David Von Drehle - If you only read one book about the Triangle Factory fire, make it this one.

Low Life: Lures and Snares of Old New York by Luc Sante - Sante's pace and tone is perfection in conveying, yep, the lures and snares of Five Points and other 'unsavory' neighborhoods.

Gangs of New York by Herbert Asbury - You've seen the movie? Even more reason to read the book. The movie glosses over the reality that is described in these pages.

Five Points by Tyler Anbinder - I believe this to be the definitive book on the neighborhood. Ponder how many people were crammed into each square foot. Relive the stench and the sounds and the sights. That might sound depressing; it's anything but. A classic in urban studies.

When you think about how one of the roughest neighborhoods ever produced so much culture (music, dancing, writing), it's truly astounding. This is where the freed slaves met the freed Irish, which disgusted Charles Dickens enough to write home to London about it.

Hopefully this has inspired you to think about the dangerous path books can lead you down.

Try Not To Leave Your Fingerprints On The Cover - By Denise Dee

I know it's considered low-brow for a bookseller to confess to a love of true crime books but I've always been interested in the 'anti-hero'. People who were apparently so spellbinding they could get people to join gangs/cults, commit murder, or drink cyanide-laced Kool-Aid. Or at least that's how the story goes. There's an attention to detail and to pacing in true crime books that any writer can learn something from.

Helter Skelter by Vincent Bugliosi - This is a hefty book but it reads as if it's 50 pages long. Bugliosi zips us through the summer of love, hippies, the political climate in America, and the 'cast of characters', then puts us into the courtroom and smack in the locations where the crimes took place. I don't know that I will ever forget the image of the Manson girls and Charlie with Xs carved into their foreheads. The most haunting part of the book is when Manson says "I am only what you made me. I am a reflection of you". Someone is always going to act out our 'dark side'.

The Executioner's Song by Norman Mailer - Norman Mailer to my mind is usually way too heady. In The Executioner's Song Mailer brings us into the world of feelings. Mailer (who seemed to want to portray himself as an 'outlaw') meets up with a man who shows how deep 'outlaw' runs. Mailer stays put and listens and does a great job conveying Gary Gilmore's upbringing and the paths that led him to fighting to be killed for his crimes.

Shot in the Heart by Mikal Gilmore - Mikal, a long time staff writer for Rolling Stone is, yes, Gary Gilmore's brother. Mikal takes an unflinching look at the Gilmores, Utah, and some of the doctrines and myths of both the Mormons (blood atonement, for one) and what it is to be a 'man' in the West.

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote - I read this after seeing the film in high school. Even though Robert Blake is hard to get out of your head, Capote's writing had me forgetting there ever was a movie. Capote, simultaneously an 'outsider' and 'insider' in his own life, really seems to understand what it could take to get these men to the point of killing.

The Westies: Inside New York's Irish Mob by T.J. English - Hell's Kitchen Irish mobsters following in the footsteps of the Kerryonians, the Dead Rabbits and the rest of the Five Points gangs. This book is more brutal than the rest. It's fascinating to walk the streets of Hell's Kitchen with the writer as he reveals where the bodies are buried while showing the circuits in these men's brains that made them long to be 'important' and 'known'- even if it was for crime and murders. Not for the squeamish.

When Corruption Was King: How I Helped the Mob Rule Chicago, Then Brought the Outfit Down by Robert Cooley and Hillel Levin - And so I end my true crime list with 'crime' inside the Chicago justice system. I worked in a bookstore in Chicago blocks from where most of the action in this book takes place. Love Cooley or hate him (and I heard plenty on both sides) he's a compelling narrator to the goings-on of the system in Chicago. Mixes in a bit of history and a lot of colorful characters.

Who needs to invent characters when real life is chock full of them?

Deer Hunting with Jesus

This book has gotten two great reads from our booksellers:

"There is a war going on that is wreaking havoc on the lives of nearly one-third of all Americans. The victims of this war are the 35 million working poor. They work the hardest, get paid the least, and cannot get ahead no matter how much personal responsibility they take in their lives. They drink canned beer, praise the Lord on Sundays, and hail the fast cars speeding around an oval track—all the while being manipulated by conservatives and mocked by liberals. Deer Hunting with Jesus takes us into the lives of these folks with humor and respect, leaving you raging and passionate to fix the deepening canyon divide between the rich and poor."

-Stacie

"I can hardly describe how much I enjoyed Deer Hunting with Jesus, but it’s so good that I’m willing to try. Bageant’s writing style is lively an entertaining, sort of a mix between Molly Ivins and Southern story writer George Singleton. The book didn't preach to the choir like a lot of liberal examinations of society's ills, mainly because Bageant didn't just dismiss the mostly white lower class subjects in his book as ignorant fools, but really made an effort to understand why people barely getting by would vote into power politicians interested in giving tax cuts to the super rich. Again, great book!"

-John

With praise from our booksellers, and authors ranging from Studs Terkel to Sherman Alexie and Howard Zinn, this book warrants at least a thumb through at your local (independent) bookstore.

Check out this review; it's entertaining and insightful.

There are also some audio archive interviews at Joe Bageant's website.