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The Complete
Works of Isaac Babel by Isaac Babel
This months' official book
selection is one from Keith, who is currently reading "The
Complete Works of Isaac Babel," who is considered to be one
of the greatest writers of the 20th Century. Harper's Magazine
quotes him as "the Russian Hemingway." Babel was a man of
acute contradictions and his characters often had a comic
portrayal, all the while living through the terrifying swings
of Alexander II and the Russian Revolution, defining the
Soviet Union and the Russian landscape between the two World
Wars. Babel's style is vivid, lacerating, and utterly hypnotic,
and Keith has been thoroughly enjoying this book and highly
recommends it.
Top
Death in
the Canyon by Michael Ghiglieri and Thomas Myers
This months' official book
selection is one from Sue, who picked this book out at the
Kolb Studio bookstore, which overlooks the south Grand Canyon
rim. After hiking 6.5 hours down to the Colorado River and
then the next day hiking 8 hours up, "Death in the Canyon" by
Michael Ghiglieri and Thomas Myers seemed an appropriate
selection. Ghiglieri, a biologist who leads river trips in
the Grand Canyon and abroad, and Myers, a medical doctor
who has treated hundreds of Canyon injuries, have compiled
a fascinating chronicle of deaths and dangers in Grand Canyon
National Park. The book is arranged by category falls, dehydration,
floods, the Colorado River, air crashes, freak accidents,
suicides, and murder, and at the end of each chapter is a
chronological list with names, descriptions, and causes of
accidents. The authors show that most of the deaths, whether
of tourists, prospectors, or experienced adventurers, occurred
when people failed to pay attention to warning signs or did
not use common sense; others are attributed to high testosterone
levels.
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In Babylon
by Marcel Moring and translated by Stacy Knecht
This month's official book
selection is one from Bill Galligan, whose pick is called "In
Babylon" by Marcel Moring and translated by Stacy Knecht.
This is a review by Brian Kenney: "The setting of this novel
is absolutely beguiling. Sixty-year-old Nathan Hollander,
accompanied by his niece Nina, sets out to visit the family's
deserted country house, only to get caught in one of the
Netherlands' worst snowstorms. They barely reach the house,
and when they do, they are immediately snowbound. Over the
next few days, they live off the mysteriously well-stocked
larder and wine cellar, take an axe to the antiques for firewood,
and tell tales by candlelight. Nathan, an expert storyteller,
recounts scenes comic, ribald, and poignant from the history
of their family, itinerant Jewish clockmakers who migrated
over generations from Eastern to Western Europe, then on
to America. But for Nathan, history is not remote. He is
soon joined by his chums Chiam and Magnus, two family ghosts
from the seventeenth century who help puzzle out their collective
past. As much fun as the magical and mythical can be, Moring
wisely keeps returning us to the tense reality of uncle and
niece and the questions their situation poses: Who prepared
the house for their arrival? Will they survive? Will their
growing sexual tension find resolution? Miraculously, as
the past and the present begin to converge, Moring succeeds
in keeping this unwieldy fictional package tied together.
And if it does at times becomes a bit undone, that's all
right. It's worth it to be reminded that fiction can be both
emotionally moving and artistically inventive.
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Kushiel's
Chosen by Jacqueline Carey
Local author and friend
Jacqueline Carey's long awaited second novel is out, "Kushiel's
Chosen" (Tor Books, April 2002) and has been released in
hardcover. A starred Booklist review says, "Carey's second
extravagantly sensuous novel fulfills every promise made
by 'Kushiel's Dart.'" There is seemingly something for everyone
here: a great love story, intense spirituality, high eroticism,
and lots of adventure, intrigue, and swordplay. It is a fasinating
continuation to her first book "Kushiel's Dart" which made
the Amazon.com Fantasy Editor's and Barnes & Noble's Fantasy & Science
Fiction - Best of 2001 Top 10 lists, and was recently #3
in a list of recommended recent titles in fantasy and science
fiction in a poll of independent booksellers.
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The Magician's
Assistant by Ann Patchett
Sue's pick of the month is "The
Magician's Assistant" by Ann Patchett, who has a proven penchant
for crafting colorful characters and marrying the ordinary
with the fantastic. Per the book's jacket: "Welcome to the
magic show, where love defies magic, family are the people
you never met, and commitments last more than a lifetime." It's
a definite page turner and Sue absolutly loves this book.
Top
The Last
Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse by Louise Erdrich
Sue's pick of the month is
The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse by Louise
Erdrich. For more than a half century, Father Damien Modeste
has served his beloved people, the Ojibwa, on the remote
reservation of Little No Horse. Nearing the end of his life,
the Father dreads the discovery of his physical identity,
for he is a woman who has lived as a man. This book is a
moving meditation infused with mystery and wonder.
Top
The Road
Within edited by Sean O'Reilly
Keith's pick for September
is a spiritual guide for one's soul. While taking a brief
respite last month at a friend's cottage (thanks for the
wonderful hospitality S & P), he picked up a book on the
nightstand titled "The Road Within" edited by Sean O'Reilly,
and it's from the "Travelers' Tales Guides" series. This
book is an invaluable read for the thoughtful traveler, with
short true stories of transformation, and anthologies that
venture into the hidden territory of the human spirit, of
lessons learned, maps drawn and burned, and blessings bestowed
by that great and hard teacher: Travel. This book is a different
kind of travel guide, and it will give you an insatiable
wanderlust of which you won't be able to get enough.
Top
The Complete
Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway
Keith's pick of the month
is "The Complete Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway." It's
a great summer book for those who want to read a short story
by a master and contemplate a style of English prose that
defined 20th-century writing. It's enjoyable to engross yourself
in short declarative sentences, with such classics as "The
Snows of Kilimajaro," "Up in Michigan," and "Indian Camp." For
Hemingway fans, it's an invaluable treasure.
Top
Backpack
by Emily Barr
Sue's pick of the month is
Backpack by Emily Barr. The book jacket pretty much sums
it up: "Can a twentysomething modern woman find true love,
inner peace, and clean linen on a journey through Asia?" It's
a sparkling comedy that follows the trial and tribulations
of Tansy, a Londoner who leaves boyfriend, coffee clutch
friends, and hotshot job to search for herself a world away.
It's brimming with romance and humor and is a great new voice
in women's contemporary fiction.
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The Immortal
Class: Bike Messengers and the Cult of Human Power by Travis
Hugh Culley
Bill's pick of the month
is "The Immortal Class: Bike Messengers and the Cult of Human
Power," by Travis Hugh Culley. When unpublished playwright
and director Culley found it difficult to earn a living in
the creative arts, he took a job as a bike messenger. This
is the story of his adventures on the streets of Chicago.
The author's descriptions are so vivid and apt that it is
easy for the reader to imagine himself pedaling at breakneck
speeds through crowded intersections and along sidewalks.
Travis has a wonderful way of taking his experiences--physical,
mental, spiritual, etc... and transferring them from page
to reader. His power of observation into human behavior/spirit
is outstanding. This book is a great start into the winter
season.
Top
Confessions
of an Ugly Stepsister by Gregory Maguire
Sue's pick of the month is "Confessions
of an Ugly Stepsister" by Gregory Maguire. This book beautifully
plays on the beloved tale of Cinderella, a story of universal
appeal. In this remarkable version, the always inventive
Maguire sweeps readers to Amsterdam, where he weaves the
poignant portrait of two impoverished sisters and their widowed
mother taken in by a Flemish painter, and the startling events
that follow. Exquisitely written with evocative language
and artistic metaphors, this novel offers an enchanting,
thoughtful meditation on the true meaning of beauty. What
makes this fairy-tale based myth so readable and absorbing
is its' ease of prose, its' absolutely believable characters,
its' wonderful historical content, and its' very clever pitting
of good against evil, beauty against ugliness, strength against
weakness, desire against duty, true art for arts' sake against
survival, and love against hate.
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