The Book of the Month Archives

December 2011

There are as many interpretations of Moby-Dick as there are splintered harpoons in the white whale's scarred skin, all of which tell a different story, none of which tell quite the whole story. Matt Kish's interpretation takes the form of an illustration for every page (all 552 of 'em) and is both a singular reading of Melville's epic and a piece of monumental art in itself. Like all imaginative readers, Kish creates from his voyages in search of the whale his own vision, referring back to the original, but full of its own  mythology and the cultural influences of the 150 years since the publication of the original. As such, Moby-Dick in Pictures provides us with a fresh way of viewing a classic (and is likely to become a classic in its own right), reminding us that great literature both acts upon the present and is reimagined by it. 

-Sparks

October 2011

August 2011

As you may expect, the ruffians from Grossman's earlier novel--The Magicians--are back, and they are dead set on setting down their drinks, putting aside their petty squabbles, and keeping their magical wonderland safe from a brand-new cast of nemeses: villains like Dryads, clock-trees, and even a speaking Seeing Hare that foretells a future brimming of "Death and destruction...disappointment and despair."  Oof.  Sounds to me like our band of mystical explorers needs to find those seven keys, pronto, and save magic once and for all.

 

Follow Quentin and the gang on another epic adventure between this world and the shadow-lands.  Meet Julia, a tough as nails magician from the underground, resplendent with her 500 tattoos (take that, girl with dragon).  Revisit the land, lore, and locals that you fell in love with in The Magicians--you're a couple of years older now, and so are they.

 

-Kevin H.

June 2011

In Ann Patchett's cinematic page-turner, we accompany 42-year old Marina Singh as she leaves the predictable life of a Minnesotan pharmaceutical researcher to delve--at the behest of her boss and lover--into the daunting Brazilian jungle to learn how a colleague died when he himself ventured on a recognizance mission for their company. Both their quests involve locating and questioning the elusive, esteemed Annick Swenson, a simultaneously compelling and repulsive doctor secretly developing drugs aimed to benefit millions of suffering people. While Marina experiences extreme physical and psychological discomfort in the jarringly wondrous rabbit hole that is the Amazon, her unexpected inner journey leads her to a life regained through confrontations with moral and social issues, skewed self-perceptions, cannibals, and anacondas.

 April 2011

Francisco Goldman's Say Her Name is an astonishingly beautiful kaleidoscope of love and loss, set in Brooklyn and Mexico City, before and after the sudden death of his wife. With unabashed clarity, Goldman strips bare his four year relationship with Aura, his picture-perfect bride, granting readers a voyeuristic inventory of their time together. When her life is unexpectedly cut short on an idyllic beach holiday, Goldman's suffering becomes our own. When Aura's family places the blame squarely on Francisco, the shock of her death slams headlong into indignation. And when Francisco himself wishes to die, we also die a bit inside. As a reader, I have never encountered a book with such insight into what it is to love, and to how we can survive when those we care for do not. As an aspiring writer, I am in awe at the lightness, humor and grace of his prose. As a bookseller, this book is a grand gift - I am confident that anyone who enjoys reading will also sense the rare magic in Say Her Name, and will be moved, the same as I was. As a husband, this book chills me to the bone. Say Her Name is a book that cries to be read, screams to be shared, and whispers to be remembered.

-Kevin H. 

February 2011

There are books for which the words "gem-like" and "compact" and "precise" apply, but West of Here isn't one of those. West of Here is: Epic. Sprawling. Visceral. Lusty. Big in every way -- it spans years and generations. Filled with characters who will stay with you long after the book is done, including the rugged wilderness of the Olympic penninsula itself, from Klallam Indian to modern-day Sasquatch hunter. Along the way there is love and blood and birth and death and human vs. nature. The story takes us from the settlers -- who first dammed a wild river -- to their descendents -- who want to tear the dam down to preserve the salmon run. The settlers' impulse to conquer the wild is set against the modern notion that it is nature that needs protection from humans. I know it's a cliche, but this is that rare almost-500 page tome that, when you get to the last page, odds are you will quietly mourn the departure of these characters from your life, and then quietly turn the book over and begin the adventure all over again.

-KPR