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Weekly Words about BooksAugust 31, 2014
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Praised by Booksellers and Now in Paperback
| A slew of books recommended by independent booksellers in hardcover are arriving in paperback on bookstore tables and shelves. Here are four to consider (if your bookstore is out, ask to order) and the reviews that touted the titles when they appeared on Indie Next lists.
The Last Days of California by Mary Miller
"Two s  isters bicker with one another over the space in a car's backseat, gas station snack choices, motel room beds, and boys, of course. Only this isn't another angst-ridden coming-of-age road trip novel. This family is driving from Georgia to California so its members can witness the Rapture as it rolls through the world's time zones and arrives, at blessed last, in Pacific Standard Time. A swift, quirky, earnest read that will resonate with anyone who's ever been to a church sleepover, proselytized, or just been a teenager."
We Are Water by Wally Lamb
"Lamb combines complex characters and an intricate plot with an array of  contemporary topics and timeless issues in this engrossing novel. A wife and mother leaves her family to pursue an artistic career and an unconventional relationship. A husband and father abruptly abandons his longtime profession as a psychologist. Their children wonder at these transformations but hide secrets of their own. As the plot develops and the narrative shifts among characters, secrets are revealed and motives become clear to the reader. Essentially, Lamb addresses the longstanding question of whether anyone can really know the truth of another person. The answer is a resounding 'no.'"
After I'm Gone by Laura Lippman
"In 2012, retired detective Sandy Sanchez opens the cold case file on the  murder of Julie Saxony. Julie was the mistress of the wealthy, unscrupulous businessman Felix Brewer, who ran away to escape a prison sentence in 1976. Julie disappeared 10 years later and her decomposed body was found in 2001. Sandy's investigation reveals suspicious facts about Felix's wife, Bambi, their three daughters, and the family and friends of the murder victim. Chapters alternate between past and present to uncover startling revelations about the power of money, friendship, loyalty, love, trust, and truth in this latest from the award-winning Lippman."
The Lion Seeker by Kenneth Bonert  "This is a perfect book, and given that it is Bonert's debut novel, it's even more astounding. He uses South African apartheid, where blacks are treated like the Jews of Eastern Europe, to convey the drama of a Lithuanian family's emigration to escape the very debasement that they then perpetrate on those who live in their new community. It's a complicated story well told, emotional, fraught with angst, but also with some of the most memorable characters in recent fictional history." - Gayle Shanks, Changing Hands Bookstore, Tempe, AZ
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Two Top-Notch Thrillers Arriving In Stores This Week
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The Secret Place by Tana French. This is a slick mystery set in a girl's boarding school near Dublin. A year after the now-stalled investigation into the murder of a popular boy from the neighboring boys school, a new clue sends unlikely detective partners back to the school. There they match wits with two rival  cliques of teenage girls who are skilled at telling lies and keeping secrets. French intersperses the complex cat-and-mouse interactions with chapters that go back in time to introduce the characters and describe events leading up to the murder. She also captures the drama - real and imagined - of cloistered adolescent females, which adds texture and enjoyment to this nicely crafted murder mystery. Personal: A Jack Reacher Novel by Lee Child. One of the suspense/thriller genre's most interesting and popular characters is back in the 19th installment of Child's phenomenally successful series. Reacher is a nomadic loner, an ex-Army MP with remarkable intelligence who never ba  cks off from a fight - and rarely loses one. Accustomed to working on his own, in Personal, Reacher finds himself in the unusual situation of being recruited by the State Department and the CIA to track down a skilled sniper who has taken a shot at the French president. After 15 years in prison, American marksman gone bad John Kott is out, unaccounted for, and likely drawing a bead on a G-8 summit packed with enough world leaders to tempt any assassin. Sounds like a job for our hero, but as usual there is nothing easy about it, and he faces the added encumbrance of a partner - a rookie analyst named Casey Nice. It's a rough road strewn with treachery, thugs, and double-crosses, but who better to travel it?
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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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COMMENTS? FEEDBACK?
Please email me anytime with thoughts, opinions, or your own book recommendations.
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