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Weekly Words about BooksFEBRUARY 16, 2014
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Parent/Child Relationships Explored in Two New Titles
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Back in 2008, Kelly Corrigan's first book, The Middle Place, made a splash with booksellers and readers. Her account of two cancer battles - hers and her father's - was hailed for its frank honesty and unexpected humor. Now, Corrigan turns to her other parent and examines the mother-daughter bond in the bestseller-bound Glitter and Glue. When she leaves after college for  an adventure in Australia, Corrigan is happy to be freed from a family dynamic described by her strict and stoic mother as: " Your father's the glitter, but I'm the glue." Several months later, a broke Corrigan takes a job as a live-in nanny for a widower with two kids. And suddenly, her mother's voice is everywhere - nudging and advising, cautioning and directing, escorting her through a thoroughly foreign terrain. Not surprisingly, the experience caused Corrigan to re-examine her relationship with Mom, which she shares in another honest, moving, and often funny memoir. This one should come with a "Perfect for Book Groups" sticker right on the cover. If Corrigan wanted to engage in a bit more family study, she might tackle All Joy and No Fun: The Paradox of Modern Parenthood by Jennifer Senior
Thousands of books have examined the effects of parents on their children,  but journalist Senior flips things and analyzes the many ways in which children reshape their parents' lives - their jobs, their habits, their friendships, and their sense of self. She argues that changes in the last half century have radically altered the roles of today's mothers and fathers, making child rearing at once more complex and far less clear. That certainly rings true for me as a parent. I learned a lot from my mom and dad, but life was a lot simpler when there was less access to information and the world was a safer and less competitive place. Senior's enlightening book, which grew out of a New York Magazine cover story, is a must for any modern parent who finds their children's actions joyfully rewarding and maddeningly frustrating - often on the same day.
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Third Wildwood Entry Concludes Kids' Series
| | Good news for fans of the Wildwood Chronicles, the bestselling fantasy adventure series for children ages 9 and up. Book Three, Wildwood Imperium, written by Colin Meloy an d illustrated by his wife, Carson Ellis, brings the trilogy to a satisfying end. Precocious seventh-grader Prue and her friend Curtis are back to take on the evil that lurks in the Impassable Wilderness, also known as Wildwood. They try to reunite two exiled toy makers in order to reanimate a mechanical boy prince, while a band of orphans plan a daring rescue - and the fate of Wildwood hangs in the balance.
Meloy sets the series in his hometown of Portland, Oregon, re-imagining the city's Forest Park as a magical world rife with danger and dysfunction and run by a corrupt government. Meloy and Ellis are regular hikers in Forest Park, and their walks helped them imagine the book's geography. People familiar with Portland will also recognize landmarks that serve as models for other settings.
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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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