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Weekly Words about Books January 20, 2013
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HOT NEW PAPERBACKS
ARRIVING THIS WEEK
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 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami - Set over the course of a year in 1984 Tokyo, this literary fantasy follows the lives of a young woman and and an aspiring writer whose lives inexorably converge. Murakami, one of Japan's most revered writers, has written a long but engaging novel that is by turns a love story, a mystery, a fantasy, a novel of self-discovery, and a dystopia to rival George Orwell. A bestseller in hardcover, the paperback edition has been eagerly anticipated.
THE AGE OF MIRACLES by Karen Thompson Walker - This debut novel got
 lots of attention when it was published last summer and has all the makings of a hugely popular book club title now that it's in paperback. Set in a California suburb, this is a haunting coming-of-age story for fans of speculative fiction, set against the backdrop of a world where the earth has slowed, and the days grow longer. On top of all that, Julia is coping with the fissures in her parents' marriage, the hopeful anguish of first love, and the bizarre behavior of her grandfather who is convinced of a government conspiracy.
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HEALTHY CHOICES FOR GOOD READING
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Every year around this time, New Year's resolutions are made, and a new diet book seems to catch the fancy of the weight-conscious. Perhaps in keeping with more people's interest in overall health, two books making appearances on independent bookstore bestseller lists are not your standard, recipe-filled diet plans endorsed by Oprah (who's was probably too busy with Lance Armstrong). Instead, we get two serious books that don't sugarcoat and manage to separate the wheat from the chaff (that will seem moderately clever in a minute).
Fat Chance: Beating the Odds Against Sugar, Processed Food, Obesity, and Disease by Robert Lustig, M.D., documents the science and the politic s that has led to the pandemic of chronic disease over the last 30 years.
Lustig has spent much of his career treating childhood obesity and studying the effects of sugar on the central nervous system and metabolism, and his 90-minute YouTube video "Sugar: The Bitter Truth," has been viewed more than two million times (although I'm not sure how many watched whole hour and a half).
Meanwhile, Wheat Belly: Lose the Wheat, Lose the Weight, and Find Your Path Back to  Health by William Davis, M.D., exposes the harmful effects of what is actually a product of genetic tinkering and agribusiness being sold to the American public as "wheat." The book also provides readers with a user-friendly, step-by-step plan to navigate a new, wheat-free lifestyle. So much for the staff of life.
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A LITTLE BIT ABOUT ME
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My name is Hut Landon. I'm a former bookstore owner who now runs the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association (NCIBA) in San Francisco.
My goal with this newsletter is to keep readers up to date about new books hitting the shelves, share what booksellers are recommending in their stores, and pass on occasional news about the book world.
I'm not into long, wordy reviews or literary criticism; I'd like HUT'S PLACE to be a quick, fun read for book buyers.If you have any friends who you think might like receiving this column each week, simply click on "Forward this email" below and enter their email address. There is also a box in which to add a short message.
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