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Weekly Words about BooksJANUARY 5, 2014
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New Year Brings Great Reads To Indie Bookstores
| There hasn't been much new arriving in bookstores recently - December is not the month to publish big new titles. But January is a different story, and this week kicks off a strong month of good reads, including the two below.
The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd. The author of the wildly popular and successful The Secret Life of Bees has written a powerful and moving novel populated with strong female characters - one a slave, the other a white woman of privilege - who are both prisoners in their own way. As with  the women in The Secret Lives of Bees, this duo does not shy away from activism or fighting injustice. It's the number one pick of independent booksellers' Indie Next list for January and is due in stores on Tuesday. Here's one bookseller's review:
"Kidd gives us an outstanding view into the lives of two women whose reaction to slavery is the same - it must not continue. Loosely based on real-life abolitionist and women's rights activist Sarah Grimke, The Invention of Wings reveals how an intelligent woman of privilege was just as much a prisoner of her times as the slave girl, Hetty, who was given to Sarah as a birthday gift when she was 11 years old. Kidd juxtaposes the lives of these two women to show how each became an activist and how they eventually helped each other escape the claws of the South that wanted to destroy them. This is a splendid tale that will reaffirm the injustices of slavery and will open some eyes to how women were treated in the 1800s. As always, Kidd offers rich, well-developed characters that readers think about long after the book is closed."
- Lynn Pellerito Riehl, Nicola's Books, Ann Arbor, MI
Radiance of Tomorrow by Ishmael Beah. In 2007, Beah rocked the literary world with A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier, a harrowing but mesmerizing account of civil war in Sierra Leone and the child soldiers like himself who were forced into battle there. Now, in his first novel, he revisits  his homeland after the fighting is done, as friends Benjamin and Bockarie return to their ruined village, intent on rebuilding the community by taking up their old posts as teachers. They are challenged by widespread hunger, scattered acts of violence, and a foreign mining company's plundering, but the duo manages to stay radiant throughout. Here's what one indie bookseller fan had to say:
"Beah's lush and beautiful prose draws the reader into a story both devastating and uplifting. What happens after true evil destroys a country? In A Long Way Gone Beah wrote a moving memoir about the carnage in his native Sierra Leone. Now, his novel deals with what comes after the battles are over. How do people confront what they have endured and move on? Beah creates many memorable characters, each with tales that will break your heart while they also give you hope for the future."
- Deon Stonehouse, Sunriver Books & Music, Sunriver, OR
P.S. Beah begins a three-month author tour for the book this month. If he happens to be visiting an independent bookstore near you, consider a visit. I saw him at a book trade show and found him to be a very engaging and appealing speaker.
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New in Paperback - More Good Reads
| | For those of you who have been waiting for a new crop of paperback fiction to hit the bookstores, there is good news. Here are a few titles just being added to the shelves and worth checking out.
Tenth of December: Stories by George Saunders. This latest collection by the m aster of the short story was a National book Award finalist, pops up on multiple Best Of 2013 lists, and was an indie bestseller in hardcover. Saunders latest is unsettling, insightful, and hilarious, or, in the words of The New York Times Magazine, "the best book you'll read this year."
A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki.
Ruth, a writer living on a remote island discovers a collection of artifacts washed ashore in a Hello Kitty lunchbox - possibly debris from the devastating 2011 tsunami. Included is a diary  written by a bullied and suicidal Tokyo teen named Nao documenting the life of her great grandmother, a Buddhist nun, and a stash of letters written by Nao's great-uncle. Ozeki skillfully moves between Ruth, Nao's diaries, and the uncle's letters to weave a story of shared humanity and characters bound by fate.
Life After Life by Kate Atkinson.
"Life After Life is both an engaging puzzle and a meticulously detailed historical novel that spansthe two World Wars. With the introduction of Ursula Todd, a woman who lives her life over and over, Atkinson plays with second  chances and both an engaging puzzle and a meticulously detailed historical novel that spans
the two World Wars. With the introduction of Ursula
Todd, a woman who lives her life over and over, Atkinson plays with second chances
and alternate histories, and poses endless, fascinating questions: What would the world be like if we could start over when things went
terribly awry? Could our decisions, big and small, avert wars? Make us happier? Stop death in its tracks? Life After Life is simply a terrific novel, rich with history and possibility."
- Kat Bailey, Bookshop Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz
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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.
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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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