Olive Kitteridge is an amazing short story cycle that fully deserved it's pulitzer a few years ago. The titular character is a retired school teacher with a raft of issues, but the fascinating thing about the way the story is told is how slowly she unfolds. Olive appears as a peripheral character in the early stories, and bit by bit she becomes more central. The themes of family and loss spun throughout the stories really culminate in the final pieces that take a clear eyed look at a life full of mistakes. Good for a rainy day if you're a fan of wallowing in epiphany, like me. ~Caroline.
Dave
No one was happier than me to see A.M Homes win the recent Women's Prize (formerly the Orange Prize) for fiction last month.
May We Be Forgiven was simply the best novel I read this year, and I've been a fan for a very long time. I owe Chris Alic, an old Words Worth staffer for putting me onto Homes in the first place and Music for Torching is an all time favourite as well.
Homes dabbles in TV writing (L Word) but the new book is a legitimate contender for the elusive Great American Novel turf. The novel is, at it's core, a story of familial competition between George and Harold Silver.
George is smarter, taller, more suave and successful; until a shocking act of violence undoes this conceit. From there, May We Be Forgiven tells of how the Silvers, and by extension all of us, make a family in an era both personal and political of what's left of the family and how they make what's left work, is too detailed to go into, but Homes runs counter to the prevailing novel in which, nice people do interest of diminishing choices and rapid change. The journey, both personal and political of what's left of the family and how they make what's left work, is too detailed to go into, but Homes runs counter to the prevailing novel in which, nice people do interesting things and learn to live and grow together. The Silvers fight, betray, scheme and make the Borgias look like spectators, while never losing sight that they are-for better or worse-a family
Homes has been around for years, and as perfected a stiletto-like delivery and the speed to get to the meat of a narrative quickly. Along with Lydia Millet and Lionel Shriver she's about as blue chip as the modern novel gets. I'll simply drop everything to read new work.
~David
Thich Nhat Hanh
One of the best known and most respected Zen masters in the world today, poet, and peace and human rights activist, Thich Nhat Hanh (called Thây by his students) has led an extraordinary life. Born in central Vietnam in 1926 he joined the monkshood at the age of sixteen. The Vietnam War confronted the monasteries with the question of whether to adhere to the contemplative life and remain meditating in the monasteries, or to help the villagers suffering under bombings and other devastation of the war. Nhat Hanh was one of those who chose to do both, helping to found the "engaged Buddhism" movement. His life has since been dedicated to the work of inner transformation for the benefit of individuals and society.
The store always has at least 5 or 6 of Thich Nhat Hanh's many many books available, and he is a personal favourite of mine. His simple and straight forward explanation of mindful techniques are so accessible and make so much sense, that even those sceptical of the practice of meditation will find themselves becoming more mindful.
Considered his seminal work, Peace is Every Step is just such a book- full of simple, easy techniques to slow yourself down and become more centred. But Thich Nhat Hanh's oeuvre doesn't stop there, his books encompass the importance of social action (Good Citizen), ecumenism (Living Buddha, Living Christ), dealing with negative emotions (Fear; Anger), teaching children about mindfulness techniques (Planting a Seed) and the slow food movement (Savor).
Stop by the store and take a glance at the top shelf of our Buddhism section- chances are it will be populated largely by books by Thich Nhat Hanh. Whether you're going through a hard time and need some solace, or you have always been curious about meditation but weren't sure where to start, we'll have something by this lovely man to suit you needs.
To learn more about Thich Nhat Hanh, visit http://new.plumvillage.org/
~Caroline.
Rainy Day Reads
The summer of 2013 has been a little on the gloomy side thus far- hence, our new regular blog feature: RAINY DAY READS! Our first installment is from the inimitable Josh!
Rainy days are made for coffee and a newspaper, letting the articles and caffeine distract you from the clouds. Even better? Take the most energetic and hilarious parts of the newspaper and put them in fancy book form! Caitlin Moran is a blisteringly amusing music and culture columnist for The Times, England, and Moranthology is a collection of her work with some illuminating reflections tossed into the mix. I mean, she's friends with Dan Stevens from Downtown Abbey AND has partied with Lady Gaga- of course she's got some stories to tell. On the most dreary of days this is a sure-fire mood booster.
~Josh
Three Faves for the Weekend
In the last couple weeks, I've had a run at new books by three favourites of mine; Lionel Shriver, Lauren Davis, and Jonathan Tropper.
And while they're vastly different books, (Tropper is always a hoot, Shriver seldom is and Lauren has written a book unlike anything she's ever done) they are all chiefly populated by resolutely nasty, miserable peevish people. This plays demonstrably against type because the blockbuster driven mechanisms of the current publishing industry are so dominant now that the hunt is on for ever more plucky, likable leads solving their problems by force of will, or with luck, stumbling across a benevolent outside force that does it for them. That was most often the way, as the big revenue producing book at the company often paid the bills so said company could publish the "marquis" title, even if the marquis title only sold around awards time. There's nothing wrong with that, and never was; but there's a good deal more pressure now for a manuscript to have a ready audience before the birth and a certain mindset at the production level can't help but come from that. I often wonder if the overwhelming need for narrative pleasantries is a particularly bookish trait, as network TV in recent years has gone in the other direction entirely. No one would confuse the Bluths, Walter White or most of the cast of the Wire as finishing school grads or debutantes.
The sheer breadth (thankfully) of books on offer still means that one can always find diamonds in the rough as it were. The mercurial folks at Coach House Press were smart enough last year to bring forth Tamara Berger's Maidenhead back when everyone and their mother (grandmother?) was reading Fifty Shades of Grey and they've followed it up with a re-release of her earlier works in one volume, Little Cat.
While Fifty Shades cashed in like nothing before it as entirely sanctified, if very poorly written pornography, Tamara Berger just works, period.
All this is just to suggest that the good stuff is out there, and it's refreshing to hang out with the misanthropes from time to time.
-- Dave
Curiouser and Curiouser...
A curiosity has been observed by several booksellers I've been speaking to of late. It seems regular and occasional customers alike, when asking simply, "how's business?" expect to hear doom and gloom on a more immediate scale relative to years past. There seems to be a more pronounced catch in the question as though it's almost impolite to ask, or that it has to be whispered to lessen the discomfort sure to come.
There are many things that make running any small business a challenge, but the advent of the e-book is now seen to foretell for bookstores, if not the proverbial fat lady singing, at least a generously proportioned person clearing their throat.
Bookstores are going through interesting times, as are music, film, television and anything coming up against a hazily defined new digital age. It seems that all the old ways of delivering entertainment must adapt or die, but once that phrase is haughtily delivered on echo chambers everywhere, there seems little left to be said.
The news from BookNet Canada, the national organization that among other things, crunches industry numbers suggests that ebooks, rather than taking over-have plateaued. Indeed, the numbers seem to be falling back from their highs on January of 2012.
"Digital sales peaked at an estimated 17.6 per cent of the book market in the first quarter of 2012 before sinking to 12.9 per cent in the last quarter of the year," said the Globe and Mail last week.
None of this is to suggest that ebooks are a fad, or that sunnier days are ahead for bookstores, publishers, etc., but it's refreshing to see real numbers suggesting that just maybe, we're not all done for quite yet.
This brings me to the good people of Hard Case Crime who, after years of bringing back the pulp novel, have scored Stephen King's new book Joyland, out today. This is notable insofar as this is King's second book with the upstart press, but it's also only available as a paperback.
Just like the good old days.
-- Dave