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Weekly Words about BooksSEPTEMBER 29, 2013
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New Good Reads from
Three Acclaimed Women
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THE SIGNATURE OF All THINGS by Elizabeth Gilbert. With the astounding success of Eat, Pray, Love in 2006 and 2007, Gilbert went from unknown writer to literary star. Her follow-up biography, Committed, chronicled her journey into a second marriage and was not nearly as well received - although I suspect it had more to do with reader fatigue about her life than with her writing ability. Now, with The Signature of All Things, Gilbert has penne d her first novel; for independent bookstores, it's been one of the eagerly awaited books of the Fall. Here's a review from one indie bookseller fan on the October Indie Next list:
"This novel spans two centuries and offers the reader details of travel, adventure, love, family dysfunction, and science. Alma Whitaker is born in 1800 to a self-made man who becomes the richest man in Philadelphia. Alma is brilliant but homely, and during her long, loveless life she pursues the study of botany, ultimately proposing one of the first theories of evolution. Gilbert expertly tracks Alma's travels around the world, her struggles with her family and the man with whom she falls in love, and her desperate need to understand the mechanisms behind all life." - Kate Mai, Blue Willow Bookshop, Houston, TX
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THE LOWLAND by Jhumpa Lahiri. An author with an impressive pedigree, Lahiri hit the jackpot right out of the gate when her debut book, a collection of stories titled Interpreter of Maladies, won the 2000 Pulitizer Prize for Fiction. Her first novel, The Namesake, also received accolades and was made into a 2006 film starring Kai Penn, who managed to fit a serious film in between his "Harold and Kumar" offerings. Now with The Lowland, Lahiri  finds her second novel shortlisted for this year's prestigious Booker Prize. Here's the current Indie Nextreview to tempt you:
"In this epic tale, two brothers close in age but of very different temperaments are inseparable in their younger years in Calcutta. They become more distant as they mature, however, due to the political passions and ideology of the older, more outgoing brother. An ensuing tragedy forces the younger brother to evaluate his strong bond to his brother and to take on responsibilities he never expected. This is a story of decisions and consequences, family ties and separation, deceit and honesty, as well as cultural differences and similarities. Lahiri's exquisite prose is like quicksilver, sometimes shocking and sometimes warm and comforting."
- Janice Shannon, BookTowne, Manasquan, NJ
THE ROUND HOUSE by Louise Erdrich. Another prize winner, this one claiming the National Book Award for Fiction last year, has arrived in paperback on independen t bookstore shelves. Erdrich has made her mark with books like Love Medicine, The Beet Queen, and The Plague of Doves, and she doesn't disappoint here.
Building on her reputation as a brilliant chronicler of Native-American life, she transports readers to the Ojibwe reservation in North Dakota with an exquisitely told story of a boy on the cusp of manhood who seeks justice and understanding in the wake of a terrible crime that upends and forever transforms his family.
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Not Just Another Talking Head
| | HOW MUSIC WORKS by David Byrne. This is a very cool book, and not just for music lovers or fans of the Talking Heads front man. Byrne showed that he's more than just a music icon with his pre vious book, Bicycle Diaries, a tour of the world behind handle bars that is part travelogue, part journal, and part photo album. Now, with How Music Works, just out in paperback, he writes about how music emerges from cultural circumstance as much as individual creativity.
Byrne certainly brings his own musical experiences to bear, but this is not a memoir. As he wryly notes in the acknowledgments, "the 'aging rocker bio' is a crowded shelf," and that's not his focus or interest here. Instead, he delivers an argument, both thoughtful and entertaining, about music's liberating, life-affirming power.
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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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WHERE TO
FIND AN INDEPENDENT BOOKSTORE
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
by simply entering your postal code.
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