Jordan v. Machine

Our first (!) in a series of moving, talking book reviews brings Jordan in a steel cage match vs. Peter Adolphsen's Machine.

Who will win? Watch to find out.
(Hint: I haven't seen Jordan in a week...)
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Machine

Have you ever read a book in 2 hours and felt that it was the greatest thing you'd read in over a month? Machine by Peter Adolphsen did that for me.

Machine is the precise history of - get ready - a single drop of gasoline, from its genesis as the heart of a prehistoric horse, through centuries of pressure and refinement, until it is diffused as exhaust from the engine of a Ford Pinto driven by a one armed immigrant hitchhiker named Jimmy.

In this span of time we not only learn about the scientific processes rampant in the drop's evolution, but also thoroughly meet every being immediately associated with it. From the horse to whom it gave life, to the immigrant who mined it, to the biology student who pumped it into her Pinto - by the last page they are our new neighbors.

At a mere 85 pages, this is a perfect afternoon read that you can tell everyone about without assigning them a project.

Now you're thinking, "precise, centuries, thorough... 85 pages?" But I assure you, this is proof that it can be done, a story can be both thorough and short - furthermore, it can be done beautifully.

To reiterate: I loved it. Read it.

And the book is darn pretty too.

(Hardcover, $15.00. June 2008)

Awesome - Jack Pendarvis

Okay. All right. Good. Nice. Cool. None of these words could adequately describe the latest book from Jack Pendarvis (could have used ‘adequate’ in that first group of words). Luckily, he’s provided us fellow typists with the perfect pull quote in the form of his title, Awesome.

That’s definitely appreciated, because although I spend a good fifty percent of my day marveling at my own writing skills*, I’ve rarely been able to describe what is good about funny books. I can say, “this book is funny”, “hilarious”, “gut-busting”, “urine-extracting (I know, eww)”. Sure, I could say those things, but how do you, the prospective reader, know if I have any sense to judge ‘funny’? You don’t, so let’s just stop thinking that way. I don’t doubt you, and this blogging*² thing is a two-way street.

To this point, Jack Pendarvis has published two short story collections; The Mysterious Secret of the Valuable Treasure and Your Body Is Changing. While both are ridiculously funny (trust me, remember?), I’d wondered what a book-length story would look like. It’s better than I could have hoped, and Sex Devil*³ set the bar astronomically high.

Awesome is the story of Awesome, a giant man in every way. Sure, he’s a big fella, but it’s not all brawn with him. He’s also the world’s foremost expert in robot creation, time travel, whale songs, effortless seduction and Alpine bells. I could list more of his CV*⁴, but we’re limited to the space the internet affords us.

Okay, maybe this is a cow bell, but you get the idea.

Suffice to say, Awesome seems to have it all. But, as is so often the case with our betters, Awesome still has a, to paraphrase Extreme*⁵, “hole in his heart that can only be filled by you”. Actually, not ‘you’, per se, but Glorious Jones. Who’s Glorious Jones? Now I feel like I’m doing your reading for you, but okay, I’ll bite. Glorious Jones is the special lady who sends Awesome on a globe-spanning, time traveling odyssey in search of the rarest objects to prove his devotion and win her hand in marriage (in a religion created by Awesome).

"If you don't like what you see here, get the funk out."

Whether hanging out with hay-stacking California hippies, their deadly empiricist enemies, his faulty robot Jimmy or rival giant Goliath Brigadoon*⁶, Awesome proves to be the most compelling fictional character since The Mighty Thor. Sure, he may not have that cool winged Viking helmet, but a snazzy brown derby will do in a pinch.*⁷

"Verily, my helm is rad!"

The final litmus test for just how funny this book is; it had me laughing out loud on the bus. Anyone who’s taken the bus knows that laughing out loud on the bus is the surest way to being spoken to on the bus, and no sane person wants that. Still, I was willing to suffer the slings and arrows of captive audience conversation just to keep reading more of Awesome.

As I write this, Awesome is still 74 days away from publication (edit: Now it's even less, but I can't be bothered to do the math.). Don’t fret, stay calm. Well, at least stop clawing at your eyes, you’ll need them. You can preorder and keep yourself occupied with Mr. Pendarvis’s other books and his impressively updated blog in the meantime.*⁸

*Not really. I’m entirely accepting of my writing skills. And conceited.

*2 I believe my computer is from the 1990s as it does not recognize the term ‘blogging’. ‘Bogging’ was the suggestion, so perhaps it’s from the 1890s.

*3 The opening story from Mysterious Secret…, and the funniest thing I’ve ever read.

*4 CV: Short for curriculum vitae, a fancy way of saying resume. Wow, this is a condescending footnote. And it’s not helped by the reference to the editorial ‘we’re’ following ‘CV’.

*5 They won a Grammy………probably.

*6 Were I having a boy in ten weeks time, this name would have rocketed to the top of the list. Respect and power await a ‘Goliath Brigadoon’.

*7 Yes, Thor’s enchanted hammer, Mjolnir, is ultra-badass. No, Awesome doesn’t have an enchanted hammer. I believe I’ve made my case.

*8 I’ll be rereading my galley, complete with Mr. Mxyzptlk sketch. Stang!*9

*9’Stang’ is universal slang meant to express happiness or refer to money. Read the blog.

15 Quick Recs from Eklund

John Eklund is a superhero/booklover who has many years experience in the book industry. He's formerly run a bookshop for Harry W. Schwartz and is currently a sales rep for Harvard UP, Yale UP, and MIT UP. To be fair, none of the following titles come from those publishers. Even if they did, if John was recommending them to me, I would pick them up.

In short: John actually reads all the books I want to read.

If any of these strike a chord, leave a comment, start a conversation.

Fifteen books I would love to give, receive, or read again in 2008
- by John Eklund




Le Ton beau de Marot: In Praise of the Music of Language
Douglas R Hofstadter
Basic Books 1997 $29.95

Hofstadter is a charming genius and every word he writes is worth reading. Here he shows how complex and fascinating the art of translation is by rendering Clement Marot’s short poem Ma Mignonne 88 different ways!




One Day a Year
Christa Wolf
Europa Editions 2006 $16.95

East Germany’s best writer kept a unique diary for 40 years- one short essay annually, written on the same day. She’s a great stylist, it’s a quirky take on the diary format- an intimate, insider’s view of a country going through monumental political change.



Robot Dreams
Sara Varon
First Second 2007 $16.95

The heartbreaking impossible friendship between a dog and a robot. I’m a tough customer when it comes to graphic novels but this is irresistible.








The Air-Conditioned Nightmare
Henry Miller
New Directions 1945 $13.95

It may be 63 years later but we’re still living it.






The Communist Manifesto
Karl Marx & Frederick Engels, intro by Eric Hobsbawm
Verso 1998 (orig. 1848) $16.00

In an era when the only books that seem to move millions of people are religious ones, it’s stunning to remember that this book once held sway over one third of the world. You can try reading it as a quaint, historical artifact if you want, but that won’t work for long- Marx’s descriptions of rapacious Capital are straight out of 2007 headlines.




The Indian Clerk
David Leavitt
Bloomsbury 2007 $24.95

My favorite novel of the year. Three towering intellects, an early 20th century British academic milieu, a scientific romance. I wouldn’t normally be drawn to a book about an Indian math wizard, and I’m usually put off by equations in novels, but this is so gripping, so beautifully told, that I immediately sought out the biography of the real life Ramanujan.





Independent People
Halldor Laxness
Vintage International 1997 (orig. 1946) $15.00

If the only thing that comes to mind when you think of Iceland is Bjork, mass inebriation, and bleak desolation, you need Laxness. This strange and wonderful epic is a good intro to his world. Don’t be put off by all the names like “Utirauthsmyri.” Just make up your own mental pronunciation and stick with it.





The Society of the Spectacle
Guy Debord
Zone Books 1967 $16.95

These 221 short theses by the French provocateur were written 40 years ago and describe a culture immobilized by the hypnotic power of the visual image. Sound familiar?




The Emigrants
W.G. Sebald
New Directions 1993 $10.95

The story of four German Jews in exile, told as a mock documentary complete with photographs. If you’ve not read Sebald- who tragically died in a car crash a few years ago- this is a good place to start.





Tomorrow in the Battle Think on Me
Javier Marias
New Directions 1994 $15.95

Ace bookseller Joe Lisberg got me going on this guy. I’ve blown through about a dozen of his excellent novels, and this one might be my favorite. He’s brilliant, and I don’t understand why he’s not better known and read in the US.





Collected Poems
Stevie Smith
New Directions 1976 $19.95

I first got acquainted with the sassy poetry of Stevie Smith after seeing Glenda Jackson portray her in the under-appreciated seventies biopic Stevie (it’s an outrage Netflix doesn’t have it). This is a witty, charming, deceptively light collection, complete with her eccentric drawings.





The Complete Stories
Flannery O’Connor
Farrar Straus & Giroux 1972 $17.00

My friend Doug, who used to work at the Schwartz Grand Avenue store, couldn’t leave a customer alone until he talked them into reading O’Connor. He was right, there’s nobody like her. Choose any story and read the first paragraph. Then just try not to read the second.




Books on Trial: Red Scare in the Heartland
Shirley and Wayne A. Wiegand
University of Oklahoma Press 2007 $24.95

You would not believe what happened to an Oklahoma family in the forties when they had the nerve to open “The Progressive Bookstore” in that charming state. Some of the players in this gripping tale ended up in Milwaukee, and despite the ugly tactics of the thought police, there’s a somewhat hopeful climax: civil liberties actually won out over national security hysteria.





The Story of Art
E.H. Gombrich
Phaidon 2006 (orig 1950) $29.95

I have never taken an art history course so I’ve had a slight inferiority complex about the state of my art knowledge (or lack thereof). After reading Gombrich’s A Little History of the World last year, I thought I’d give this classic a try. It’s wonderful in every way- clear, no jargon, loaded with lovely images, and the sensuous design of this pocket edition really makes it fun to read and carry around.



The Book of Ebenezer LePage
G. B. Edwards
NYRB Books 2007 (orig. 1980) $16.95

If you read one book in 2008 make it this one. It’s a reminder of why books are worth reading. I have so much to say about it that I can’t really say anything. Just, read it.

Presenting Punk: Year-Round Gifts For The Punk At Heart - By Denise Dee

There's so much emphasis in the book industry about selling the 'latest' books. I might be a bit of an aberration in that I am much more excited about selling older books. I am passionate about books I consider 'classics'; and don't worry - I'm not talking about ones that were crammed down your throat in school or by some well-meaning friend. These books are must-haves for your punk library.

From the Velvets to the Voidoids by Clinton Heylin.
Sometimes it is necessary to go backwards to go forwards and Heylin gives us an excellent history of the music leading up to punk. How can you understand Richard Hell without first taking a look at John Cale and Johnny Thunders? Glam gets trashed and later thrashes in this book which moves from New York to London to Cleveland with a few stops in other cities. Cleveland gets long-deserved credit for contributing many seminal members to the punk rock scene. I read this on a Greyhound bus trip and pictured people leaving their hometowns to go find a place where they could 'fit in'. Heylin nails the simultaneous excitement of rebellion and belonging.

Punk: The Definitive Record of a Revolution by Stephen Colegrave.
A must-have if for no other reasons than the price and pictures. This stunning book is only $25 and will have you 'You Tubing' videos of bands that you may have forgotten about (or never heard of in the first place). Of course, it would be impossible to have a 'definitive' book that you could actually lift - but this book does a nice job of mixing bands that stayed around for a while with one or two-hit wonders. This makes a great gift.

Please Kill Me: the Uncensored Oral History of Punk by Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain.

Legs McNeil founded Punk magazine along with John Holstrom. Truly one of the first 'zines in the U.S. A nineteen year-old co-worker who was in no way, shape, or form into punk actually bought this book after hearing me rave on about it to a customer for the thousandth time. He started recommending it. He said the energy of that time was contagious. Often people think of punk as nihilists who sat around complaining. Punk was a whirlwind of energy with many people in more than one band. McNeil and McCain put the 'oral history' format to great use and mix it up so different people give you perspectives on how the New York punk scene came to be and mutated. Buy a copy for anyone who loves the spirit of D.I.Y.

Rip It Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978-1984 by Simon Reynolds.
My heart belongs to punk. But I think it's important to see where punk went and some reasons why. Reynolds covers no wave, new wave and other postpunk movements. Essential reading if for no other reason than the chapter on the No Wave bands. Their influence spread way beyond the sparse number of groups and audience members involved in the scene. If you can find it purchase No New York and listen to it while reading this chapter. Reynolds visits some of the West Coast punk bands and you start to get a sense of how punk changed in California and then again as it spread across the country.

Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung by Lester Bangs. Edited by Greil Marcus.
Detroit is another city that had enormous influence on not only the punk scene but on music in general. Could much of American music exist without Detroit musicians? I don't think so. Lester Bangs was an early rock critic who found a home in Detroit writing for Creem magazine. He knew the Stooges, the MC5, Patti Smith, Destroy All Monsters, as well as jazz, soul, and blues musicians. His writing style is very much no punches pulled. It shows how raw energy that used to be worked out in fist-fights could be turned into a song or an article. Be ready to laugh and to call up friends and read them passages from this book.

I could add at least another ten books to this list. Any one of these books is a great place to start.

Samedi the Deafness - Jesse Ball

Samedi the Deafness, the first novel from poet Jesse Ball, is generating excitement within a range of booksellers and bookshops at Harry W. Schwartz. I've enjoyed about two-thirds of its mystical pondering and abstract maze and will add my thoughts to those of my fellow booksellers when I find ninety minutes to finish this quick-flowing paperback original.

"This book confounds me every time I attempt to summarize or describe it. The story screams and clamors every time I pick it up and try to put it in a box. It's diamond-like in its brilliance and multi-facetedness.

James Sim is a character unlike any other I've encountered. He's also similar to many others in that the harder he tries to solve the situation confronting him, the further he falls into the hole, like Alice in Wonderland.

I've attempted to describe this novel to friends, customers and colleagues in the following ways: real, surreal, Kafkaesque, a spy novel, a love story, a puzzle. It is all and none of these things. It is itself and itself alone.

I could describe the rest of the amazing cast of this gorgeous, reverberant novel, but all I'll say is: please, please do yourself a favor and read it."
--Carl Hoffman, Bayview


"Immediately steeped in this mind-bending novel, I couldn't stop reading even as the world around me felt more surreal with the turn of each page. I felt pulled with the protagonist from everyday life to find myself at wits' end, faced with treachery, deceit, and anxious anticipation. The day I finished reading the book, I ate a fortune cookie which read, "Every half-truth is a lie"; in that same vein, we find in every lie, a half-truth."
--Wil Tietsort, Shorewood

I've heard nothing but praise about his poetry, too, and it should appeal to fans of Josh Bell and David Berman. Or so I hear.

Bad Monkeys - Matt Ruff

Confession time; I loathe high-octane action novels following rogue CIA/FBI/NSA agents as they untangle a web of government corruption while saving the president’s daughter. Luckily, Matt Ruff’s Bad Monkeys is nothing like those. Sure, there’s a national conspiracy, shadowy cabals on both sides of the good and bad seesaw, and a rogue agent shooting her way through the danger; but her weapon of choice is an ‘NC Gun’, ‘NC’ of course, standing for Natural Causes.

Ruff has done the action genre a service by weaving some fantastical elements into what would otherwise seem by-the-book spy fare. In fact, with these additions, Bad Monkeys goes from airport read to a mindbender of a good time from the first chapter on.

The enigmatic Jane Charlotte is questioned about a murder she cops to in the name of The Organization. The Organization is an outfit dedicated to improving the world behind the scenes, and her branch takes care of the titular primates. Bad monkeys; too far gone to save, too diabolical to be allowed to go on living. It’s Jane’s job to hunt them down, using a variety of sci-fi tech and weaponry and the Big Brother-style surveillance provided by every eye they could hide a camera in.

Read on an action thriller level, Bad Monkeys would succeed easily. It’s a good thing that Ruff wasn’t satisfied with action thriller status. Jane’s story is picked apart at every turn by a doctor and fed back to her in a more believable and less heroic form. The reader is left to figure out what’s to be believed and who Jane is. The psychological aspect of Bad Monkeys is at least as important as the derring-do, and delivers on the Pynchon-esque promise of the premise.

Bad Monkeys reminds me of another twist-and-turn action story recently out in paperback; The Zero, by Jess Walter. I loved Walter’s book for many of the same reasons I find Ruff’s to be so engaging. It just goes to show; genre need not scare you away if it’s used as a basis for expansion and experimentation. Both action novels succeed brilliantly by melding some sci-fi in with their grit.

Twenty Grand - Rebecca Curtis

I've been looking for a new female writer to latch onto and tattoo on my body. With Aimee Bender on hiatus, Charlotte Bronte dead and the oppressive heat hindering my efforts in finding one on my own, I put the quest in the hands of the all-knowing Daniel Goldin. Thusly, I have welcomed Rebecca Curtis into my library. The characters are all a fraction away from transformation, mostly all do drugs in basements and seem to attract a myriad of venerable persons. My attraction to them is obvious.


The excitement which follows the discovery of mutual appreciation for a quaint debut paperback is immeasurable. Twenty Grand may be the 'lullabies for little criminals' of 2007.

"...Curtis's command of language, her nuanced and subtle, deceptively offhand gift with the interplay of character and dialogue, give the piece a lush dreaminess wonderfully at odds with its mundane, even dreary setting."
-Elizabeth Hand, Village Voice

"In our culture of self-improvement, we'd like to believe that every problem has a solution, that it's up to the individual to "heal the hungry self." Unfortunately, as this book reveals, for most of us it's not that neat; individualism is the root of unhappiness in Curtis' dystopian America, where everyone puts himself first. Real loneliness can not be relieved by blind dates or self-help books, but a good book -- as that character in "Big Bear, California" knows all too well -- can make a real difference."
-Malena Watrous, San Fransisco Chronicle

"If you're interested in the strangeness and sorrow of life — in the small and large interactions that are sometimes horrifying, sometimes merely cringe-inducing and occasionally lovely — you'll find much to admire in "Twenty Grand."
-Curtis Sittenfeld, The New York Times Book Review

Smonk - Tom Franklin

If we assembled a list of our booksellers' favorite books of 2006, my guess is that Smonk would receive twice the votes of any other title.

Here's what our booksellers are saying about Smonk:

"In the town of Old Texas, Alabama, a series of horrific events is unleashed by the trial of the gruesome killer E. O. Smonk. If you can imagine the absurd but inspired styling of Cormac McCarthy mixed with Kurt Vonnegut, you are ready for an exhilarating ride that explodes from the first page."

- Dan Roubik, Bay View

"Shockingly bad people roaming Hell on Earth, committing unspeakable acts against each other. It isn't 'feel good,' but it is fantastic. At the risk of understatement, I would call Smonk a sense-shattering, soul-jarring, gut-wrenching work of profane excellence."

- Justin Riley, Downer

"Disgusting and despicable murderers and whores that you find yourself caring about - an unthinkable story that you buy into page after page. Like nothing I've ever read."

- Doug James, Downer

"There was a feverish, outlandish quality to the days I spent lost in the pages of Smonk. It's as if Tom Franklin filmed the most amazing Western imaginable and adjusted all of the settings to 'insane.' Reading Smonk forces us to recalibrate the instruments we rely upon for navigating fiction. Epic, horrific, visceral, violent, and yet somehow still aware of itself, Smonk is well crafted and believable for all its mythic monstrosity."

- Joe Lisberg, Downer

"It's dark, it's dirty, it's gritty, it's insane, it's vulgar... basically, it's fantastic."

- Taylor Rich, Bay View

"A page-turner not for the faint of heart. I read it almost in spite of myself. I lay awake after finishing it, the story's revelations not letting my brain rest."

- Colleen White, Shorewood

"Like a cross between Pulp Fiction and High Plains Drifter on an exponential scale. A bone-shattering, brain-fever trip to Hell and back. Smonk is something else."

- Carl Hoffman, Downer

"Some of the story is so violent that I found myself smiling. It's like Jesse James meets 'Bad, Bad, Leroy Brown.' I loved it."

- Jerry Kannel, Brookfield

"Read it. Loved it."

- Conrad Silverberg, Downer

"Sin City in the Old West... or at least West Alabama. Outstanding."

- Eric Gesell, Bay View

"Base, ribald, quixotic. No redeeming value other than a damn fine book!"

- Bishop Hadley, Bargain Book Buyer


Smonk is one of those rare books that gets passed from bookseller to bookseller, ending in a tattered ARC, smudged with the fingerprints and stains of intense and marathon reading sessions. I read it almost a full year ago; it's influence on the subconscious is evidenced by the bizarre dream I had a few weeks ago, in which a squat, knobby man tried to pop my eye into his mouth. Read Smonk - and you'll understand.

Tom Franklin's other works, which are similarly admired, are Hell at the Breech (available for a limited time as a $6.99 Bargain Book) and Poachers.

The Collected Stories Of Amy Hempel

These are stories that devastate you, and leave you in need of a stiff drink. Not exactly a feel-good comment on this collection, but I think it’s entirely appropriate. Amy Hempel’s writing is like a movie you fight tears through, or a song that reminds you of a personal tragedy. The characters within these stories are almost exclusively at their breaking points, or just beyond. It’s in that melancholy space that Hempel operates to the greatest effect, inviting the reader to slip past battered defenses and bear witness to the pain and frustration resulting from disconnection and disillusion.

Engendering complicity with her readers in a way that seems voyeuristic yet compassionate is a magical feat on Hempel's part. You’d be forgiven for thinking that some of these stories are autobiographical; Hempel is that convincing in her first-person portrayals. The closest comparison I could make is Richard Yates’ Revolutionary Road. But, where Yates tempers his story of suburban decay with wry comic tones, Hempel serves up the discord raw and bleeding, any trace of humor distinctly of the gallows variety.

This is a beautiful book with emotion to spare. When you’re finished, I’ll pass you the tissue and the bottle.

Half Life - Shelley Jackson

Shelley Jackson's first novel, Half Life, is a darkly comedic and exceptionally intelligent metaphysical mystery about Nora's awakening of identity--while her conjoined sister, Blanche, sleeps on their shoulder. Jackson creates a parallel world populated with "twofers," a perfect setting to explore the nature of identity, exploit the arbitrariness of classification, and warp the inherent boundaries implicit in the narrative. Half Life exhibits why Shelley Jackson is one of the most dazzling, imaginative, and inventive writers in America.

Half Life was my pick as favorite book of 2006. It is recently out in paperback. It's an adventure, at times hard work, but ultimately rewarding. Jackson confronts many issues in this novel: gender, body, individuality, sexuality, the politics and ugliness of personal and global violence through a retrospective lens on America's atomic legacy and, implicitly, through the specter of a more-recent ground zero. While these are certainly serious topics that are handled earnestly, Jackson is precise in her interjection of dark humor, keeping the reader motivated and entertained from page to page.

Congratulations to Shelley Jackson for winning the 2006 James Tiptree, Jr. Award, given at Wiscon in Madison, WI.

For more Half Life fun, check out the MuTT (Mutant Typology Test from mutatis-mutandis) at Shelley's website. Her other works include the hypertext Patchwork Girl, the short story collection The Melancholy of Anatomy, and the Skin Project, a short story told through 2,000 tatoos.

Reviews:
Washington Post ; Seattle Post-Intelligencer ; Village Voice ; Newsweek ; Baltimore Sun ;
LA Weekly ; NY Times [login required]

Easter Rising - Review by Denise Dee

Quite possibly the best punk rock memoir ever written.

Michael Patrick MacDonald grew up in Southie (South Boston) and has a very delicious black humor in his writing. He is 13 when he first gets into punk- back in the late 70's. MPM comes from a very large family and you can see how punk gave him a place in the world and might very well have saved his life.

Easter Rising is also a road trip book - not just a stroll down punk memory lane. He also goes with his Ma to Ireland as an adult. Some of the roads he travels are in his head and heart, and some of them are literal roads to NYC, London, Ireland, and Paris. I felt like I was at his side listening to his stories- rather than reading words on the page.

Some of the things I laughed the hardest at were when his grandfather comes over with holy water to exorcise him- because he heard MPM has been devil worshipping with the 'punk rocks'. When a friend of his sisters tells him he heard punks like to pee on themselves, MPM writes that he is so tired of trying to explain himself (and punk) by this point that he says- "Yeah that's what we do". I also loved a part where he is exchanging notes in class with a girl who tells him her name is Siouxsie. She writes "PUNK IS DEAD- GET OVER IT ".

And this is all before he's 16.

He realized when he visits in Derry that though many of his friends back in Southie have never been to Ireland, somehow the Irish message of 'Never give up the fight' has been imprinted on their hearts.

It's the kind of book you will be calling/e-mailing friends to quote lines from. My co-worker Justin's wife, who is in her 20's, loved it as much as I did.

By the end of the book when his Ma is carrying her accordion with her on Easter Sunday (he doesn't ask her why) he realizes that you "never know when you might be called on to give it everything you have to give". I was crying.

Read it or at least go to his MySpace page and check him out.

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.

If You Liked School, You'll Love Work (Short Stories Vol. 4)

Irvine Welsh is probably best-known for his novel, Trainspotting. As with that book, the true enjoyment in his latest is the clever characterization and cultural immersion on offer. The strange situations and people encountered in If You Liked School, You'll Love Work are masterfully sketched, right down to the intentional misspelling of words to convey an accent; the Midwesterners say 'nat', instead of 'not'; the English bar owner calls women 'gels'. It's touches like these that help to entrench the reader into the body and geography of the characters. Welsh is intricate but never overwrought; there are no wasted words, no descriptions that feel like padding.

Never one to shy away from sex, drugs, and rock 'n roll, Welsh takes aim at the people obsessed with all three (and other vices). The characters on display in this collection are creatures of habit and environment; a common thread being the myopia of self-interest that leads to misunderstandings both funny and terrible. A tripping trio unprepared for the desert, a 'Sex In The City' wannabe with WASP practically tattooed on her forehead, a bar-owning 'chubby chaser' convinced that his happiness is proportional to his control over the women in his life. There are no morality plays here, just people reaping what they sow.

Stereotype plays a big part in the stories as well. Preconceived notions and knee-jerk 'common knowledge' intrude on the ability of most of the characters to think clearly about the (admittedly strange) situations they find themselves in. Of course, without these limitations, the characters wouldn't be nearly as fun to read about. Happy, well-adjusted people are the province of some other writer not nearly as enjoyable to read.

No One Belongs Here More Than You (Short Stories Vol. 3)

Bookseller love for No One Belongs Here More Than You, the debut collection from Miranda July.

"In No One Belongs Here More Than You, Miranda July holds the world in her hands. She examines it from curious angles. She pokes at it. She rubs it in the most delightful ways. Miranda July is not afraid of writing it like she sees it. In her Miranda-esque, matter of fact but childlike way, these stories unfold languidly, beautifully, naturally. My conclusion: No one must read this book more than you."

--Maryke Berger, Downer Ave.

"Miranda July is insane; a brilliant and fabulous writer, but insane. And I love her."

--Stacie Williams, Downer Ave. & Bay View

"Fans of Miranda July's films will be thrilled to learn that her painfully sweet vision translates beautifully to the page in this new collection of stories. Her characters are misfits found in the most awkward and agonizing situations. Although her characters can be jaw-drop outrageous, they are true to themselves and have an innocence that leaves the door open for their (our) redemption. Ultimately, July shows us a tenderness and beauty in the very traits that could condemn these characters in anyone else's world."

--Joe Lisberg, Downer Avenue

"The interpretation of everyday situations down to the smallest aesthetic details culminate in these grand stories of most appropriate misunderstandings. This acclaimed filmmaker and McSweeney's contributor has perfected the art of romanticizing the ridiculous."

--Sarah Marine, Downer Avenue

Transparency (Short Stories Vol. 2)

Transparency is the debut collection of short stories from Frances Hwang. All of these stories are very well constructed and full of emotional complexity. They are also deceiving and intriguing, in the sense that so much of these characters is held just out of sight of the page, yet she is able to convey the desperation and turbulence to the reader through her beautiful language and careful construction.

This is a remarkable collection that will engage a wide range of discerning readers. Two were in Best New American Voices and, as you can see from the blurbs and back cover copy, the collection is heavily lauded as both well-written and relevant to the "immigrant experience."

Each story is a delicate collision: between family, friends, cultures, generations. Frances Hwang chronicles believable characters in complex situations; her sly prose weaves turbulent emotions underneath a patina of decorum.

While I must admit that Frances is a former mentor at the University of Wisconsin and there isn't a more generous person I've met, that isn't why I love these stories. They are all carefully and meticulously written, yet the characters themselves are thrust into challenging emotional conflicts, often causing pain or confusion they've intentionally ignored or they've been unaware of to seep to the surface through the cracks in their daily lives.

In this manner, these stories are similar to those in The Dead Fish Museum--believable characters placed in complex realities. In Transparency, the results are less surprising, more mundane; the emotional weight is the same, though, and that is the reward of this collection.

Whether you are interested in compelling and complex characters and conflicts, well-written literary stories, polished prose, or social, cultural, and generational chasms, Transparency is a refreshing and memorable read--and likely the first offering from a writer who will be critically notable and widely-read in the very near future.

I Love You, Beth Cooper

I Love You, Beth Cooper is the textbook definition of painfully funny. The story of Denis Cooverman; valedictorian, geek, punching bag; is full of those high school land mines that most awkward teenagers stumble into endlessly. The difference for Denis, is that he uses his graduation speech to take a chance and throw off the anonymity that intelligence and studiousness has brought him thus far. From a pool of sweat rapidly forming in his shoes, Denis has shakily spoken the five words that may change his life and could bring him everything he's ever wanted.

Too bad Denis threw in all that other stuff about his (thinly veiled) classmates' secrets and failings. And, is now really the time to proclaim your acceptance of your best friend's homosexuality? Oh, and did he totally overlook Beth Cooper's commando-trained meathead boyfriend? Looks that way. Probably not smart. So, trashing your classmates, outing your only friend (though they protest to the contrary) and evoking the homicidal rage of a trained killer. You've got to wonder if that speech was such a good idea.

I Love You, Beth Cooper is a book filled with humor and cringing in equal measure. A book for anyone who has tilted at social windmills or gathered their courage in a last-ditch attempt to speak up for themselves. Or, for anyone savagely pummeled by a commando for pledging his love to a cheerleader.

The Terror - Dan Simmons

If you've written a complex, period-accurate adventure set in the arctic, you'd probably have a read for 'hardcore' fans only. Add to that the fact that the book is over seven hundred pages long, spans years in the telling, and follows a half dozen major characters, and you've got an intractable manuscript fit only for the diehards, right? Wrong! I'd read Simmons before, but would hardly call myself a completist. In some cases the sheer volume of his work was enough to make my eyes dart elsewhere on the bookshelf. I am now ready to admit what a mistake avoiding this fantastic author was. If he went on for another seven hundred pages I'd devour those too.

Set among the crews of two ships trying to force a northwest passage through arctic ice, The Terror drags you in with tantalizing whispers of what could go wrong. It's not enough having to navigate through tons of ice in experimental ships loaded with sailors of all stripes. It's not enough that the expedition's leader is jovially unaware at least and criminally incompetent at worst. It's not enough that all of the great arctic explorers back home called it lunacy to make the attempt. No, those warning signs should have been enough, but a combination of greed, ego and desperation have conspired to throw these considerations aside. There is however, one consideration no one thought to explore. This is where the whispers of what could go wrong turn to screams. This place is uncharted for a reason owing less to nature and more to evil. There was no accounting for the possibility that at the top of the world existed a force alien to 'civilization', malevolent in intent, and more than a match for anything human minds and hands could bring to bear against it.

If the only people to pick up this book are the author's sizable (but not nearly big enough) contingent of fans, that would be the real terror. This book is essential to any reader who loves action, adventure, iconic characters pulled from the mythic tradition and the feeling on the back of their neck as the hair raises.

The Dead Fish Museum (Short Stories Vol. 1)

The Dead Fish Museum is Charles D'Ambrosio's second collection, following his acclaimed 1995 debut collection, The Point. He is a master at telling fascinating stories with believable characters forced to make hard choices, which often lead to the most wonderful and unexpected results. His prose is brilliant, yet clean, and matches his exceptional gift for storytelling.

Two of the stories, "Screenwriter" and "The Scheme of Things," appeared in the Best American Short Stories anthologies in consecutive years, and they are certainly two of the most memorable. While most of his stories are comparatively straightforward, realistic, and highly observational, "The Scheme of Things" is refreshing in its subtle bizarreness, a tale of two addicts, drifting through the Heartland, searching for ways to score cash to fuel the habit. The couple's path becomes complicated, of course, when the stay with a generous older couple. While this narrative move isn't exactly unexpected, D'Ambrosio's gift for dazzling language and the believable and unique human reaction surprise the reader, creating a memorable story.

"Screenwriter" is the perfect example of a memorable piece of fiction. I first read this story in the December 8, 2003 New Yorker, and, at a time when I was disillusioned with the homogeneity of the fiction. While I admit to being an initial skeptic of any story with a screenwriter, this masterful choice allows for the convincing observation and flowing and fractured (it is both) path. I was grabbed by the natural storytelling voice, the perfect details, and the appropriately awkward motions of the characters. Set in a psych ward, the combination of abbreviated jargon and the sprawling minds of its patients, the broken narrator allows us to glimpse the insanity of his fellow inhabitants - without allowing us to forget his own fragility and unreliability. As a writer, I find endings to be ultimately challenging; in "Screenwriter," D'Ambrosio approaches the romantic conclusion (in both senses of the term), but expertly inhabits the space between the gratuitous and easy payoff and the deflating, deconstructing failure. I had the good fortune of hearing him read this story two years later and it was like hearing a long-forgotten never-played favorite song on the car radio.

Every story in this collection is deserving of discussion, but that's for another day, perhaps. Both the title story and "Up North" need specific mention at this moment, though. In "The Dead Fish Museum," three very different men work as set carpenters on a porn film location, with the constant tension of language and culture barriers, overwhelming sexuality, and a handgun. The latter is a haunting story about a husband's attempt to negotiate his emotional and psychological turmoil manifested by the adolescent rape of his wife by a family friend. Set at her family's winter hunting cabin, the tension and emotional weight of this story is crushing and unforgettable.

For fans of short fiction that borders on the absurd or fantastic, the review of Charles D'Ambrosio would likely - and unfortunately - scare you away, with allusions like Carver and Hemingway being dropped. D'Ambrosio takes you to the wonderful and unexpected destinations where all good short fiction resides; he does it with the metered language and careful pacing of minimalism, as well as with layered language, contemplative prose, and awing images.

The Dead Fish Museum is an amazing collection. Each story is precious and savory, a product of D'Ambrosio's perfectionism. Check you shelves for a recent O. Henry or Best American Short Stories collection and you'll likely find a one of these stories. Or, pick up The Dead Fish Museum and start reading "Screenwriter," "The Scheme of Things," "The Bone Game," or the title story and get drawn into this collection that you'll read a few times before making a friend do the same.

Robert Olmstead

Critically acclaimed, wildly talented authors sometimes disappear from the publishing world without fanfare or notice: they just, *poof*, are gone. Fans will hunt with obsession to not miss out on the next new piece of writing from their scribal love - left unrequited forever, or perhaps to drift away, forgotten altogether. Then, without warning, they are resurrected with a new work, often resulting in what is praised as their best work ever. They exhilarate old fans and garner new ones, wholly deserved.

Robert Olmstead is one such author. His previous books have been consistently received with highest praise from some of the most respected reviewing bodies in the publishing world: the Washington Post, the Chicago Tribune, the New Yorker, the New York Times and the NY Times Book Review. Lauded by such masterful writers as Raymond Carver, Lorrie Moore, and Tobias Wolff; recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and NEA Grant, Olmstead vanished in a puff of smoke nearly 10 years ago. Since then he has been a professor at an Ohio university, but no new works reappeared.

Then, this Spring, Coal Black Horse (official site) was published. Booksellers across the nation went crazy for this small, violent, beautiful fable of war and one boy's journey into manhood.

A perfect, beautiful child of Cormac McCarthy and Tom Franklin, this haunting story brings to life the bloody, horrific details that make up both people and land of the Civil War while illuminating the journey of a boy and his horse: a powerful, starkly honest path leading him from a boy to becoming a man. The graphic, violent images are both prosaic and poetic, but the lessons are only of hope and promise. One needs to travel through hell and back in order to see the brightest lights and be redeemed.

On June 6th at 7pm in our Downer Avenue store, you can meet Robert Olmstead to hear about this magnificent and memorable read that will have you gasping for more. Maybe, like me, you will be struck with a sudden need to read everything else by this forgotten master writer.