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Weekly Words about BooksSEPTEMBER 1, 2013
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Two September Indie Next Picks Already Hardcover Bestsellers...
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There are lot of great new books arriving in September as the Fall season commences and, with it, the build-up to holiday gift-giving . Two titles that were released last week have already made their mark, both with reviewers and booksellers, and they debuted on last week's national independent bestseller lists. You'll be hearing more about both, especially Night Film, which publisher Random House is very excited about and therefore publicizing heavily. But here's a first look, courtesy of the Indie Next reviews by two independent booksellers.
Night Film by Marisha Pessl  "When Ashley Cordova, daughter of cult filmmaker Stanislas Cordova, is found dead by an apparent suicide, disgraced journalist Scott McGrath feels that there is more to her death than meets the eye. McGrath, who lost his career and his family while trying to expose the elder Cordova, is driven by a desire for revenge. With her compelling writing and her effective use of web pages, documents, and photos to add context, Pessl has created a tense, gripping, and utterly original novel that kept me up all night!" - Flannery Fitch, Bookshop Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA
by Samantha Shannon
"Shannon has created a world that will set your imagination on fire and lure you in  so absolutely that you will forget your surroundings. London in the year 2059 is the world of Paige Mahoney, a dreamwalker. Scion is the ruling government and it absolutely rejects any type of clairvoyant abilities among its citizens. If Scion finds that you have those skills, you disappear. Paige discovers that this is true, but the 'disappearance' is not what she has been led to believe. Mind-bendingly intense, rife with fascinating characters and an all-encompassing plot, The Bone Season will take you on one wild ride."
- Lynn Riggs, Books & Company, Oconomowoc, WI
... And One New Paperback
Will Hit the List Next Week
September is a good month for readers of quality fiction who have been waiting patiently for paperback editions of some of last Fall's big books. National Book Award winner The Round House by Louise Erdrich and Michael Chabon's Telegraph Avenue are two worth noting, and I'll let you know when they land on bookstore shelves. But first out of the gate is This Is How You Lose Her, Pulitzer Prize-winner Junot Diaz's latest collection of short stories. Diaz made waves with his first book of stories, Drown, and then hit the  jackpot with his first novel, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, which won the Pulitzer and established him as one of our premier literary fiction writers. With This Is How You Lose Her, Diaz returns to the short fiction format in a collection that explores the power of love - be it obsessive, illicit, fading, or maternal - and the inevitable weakness of the human heart. Not surprisingly, the book has received glowing reviews, among them this one from NPR: "The dark ferocity of each of these stories and the types of love it portrays is reason enough to celebrate this book. But the collection is also a major contribution to the short story form... It is an engrossing, ambitious book for readers who demand of their fiction both emotional precision and linguistic daring."
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Egan Again Bringing History to Life
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Egan's newest book, Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher, is a fascinating biography just out in paperbac k. It tells the story behind the most famous photographs in Native American history and the brilliant man who created them, Edward Curtis. A portrait photographer extraordinaire, Curtis became focused on chronicling the lives of native America
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Chief Joseph - one of Curtis's iconic portraits
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ns and, in the course of his lifetime, he amassed more than 40,000 photographs and 10,000 audio recordings. Egan tells the remarkable untold story behind Curtis's extraordinary photographs, following him throughout Indian country from desert to rainforest as he struggled to document the stories and rituals of more than 80 tribes - in the process creating a definitive archive of the American Indian.
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WHERE TO FIND A BOOKSTORE
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Many of you already have a favorite local bookstore, but for those of you without such a relationship, this link will take you to a list of Northern California indie bookstores by region.
If you live or work elsewhere, you can click here to find the nearest indie bookstore by simply entering your postal code.
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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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