tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-336532002024-03-13T10:59:24.986-07:00The Shelf LifeWelcome to the book culture blog from University Book Store, located in Seattle, WA.The Shelver, University Book Storehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15283456838365491325noreply@blogger.comBlogger724125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33653200.post-19192677172226441212013-07-10T12:51:00.003-07:002013-07-10T12:51:30.372-07:00Our Blog has Moved!. . . & we're so sorry we forgot to tell you! It's been a whirlwind for us here at the University Book Store but rest assured that book recommendations, reviews and general bloggy nonsense from our booksellers await you <a href="http://blog1.bookstore.washington.edu/" target="_blank">here</a>!<br />
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So update your bookmarks and favorites pages! Tell your friends! Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077849304478203717noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33653200.post-87010823258979370782013-05-08T15:24:00.003-07:002013-05-08T16:56:52.252-07:00Two Booksellers GChat About Short Stories<style type="text/css">P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { }</style>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/null" name=":3n"></a> <span style="font-style: normal;"><b>Anna:</b></span>
Hi <span style="font-weight: normal;">Seija</span>!</div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/null" name=":3o"></a> <b>Seija:</b>
Happy <a href="http://shortstorymonth.com/" target="_blank">Short Story Month</a>!</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>"Please, allow me to fetch that for you."</i></td></tr>
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<span style="font-style: normal;"><b>Anna:</b></span>
Yay! I'm so excited, I just found out about short story month and
it's a perfect time to celebrate because I've been swimming in my
love of short stories recently.</div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/null" name=":2m"></a> <b>Seija:</b>
Me too! We just finished <a href="http://www.poets.org/page.php/prmID/41" target="_blank">Poetry Month</a>, short stories seem like
the logical next step. By September maybe we'll be in Epic
<a href="http://old.wallcoo.net/paint/Boris_Vallejo/m01/465.jpg" target="_blank">Fantasy</a> Series Month. Not sure if that's a thing...</div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/null" name=":2x"></a> <span style="font-style: normal;"><b>Anna:</b></span>
That does seem like the logical next step. Poetry is language
simmered down so succinctly and short stories have that same quality.</div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/null" name=":2y"></a> <b>Seija:</b>
Totally. Short stories have always had a magical, mysterious
quality for me. Like poetry, sometimes I'm in just the right
mood for the emotional gut-punch that the best ones deliver. I
was trying to think about when I first discovered short stories, and
it was probably middle school or early high school with some classic
like "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson. Do you have
any memories of when you were first affected by a short story?</div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/null" name=":3e"></a>
<span style="font-style: normal;"><b>Anna:</b></span> Ah,
"The Lottery." Definitely a classic. You know, I didn't give much
thought or attention to short stories for awhile. I started picking
up some anthologies--one in particular I loved, <a href="http://www4.bookstore.washington.edu/_trade/ShowTitleUBS.taf?ActionArg=Title&ISBN=9780140296389&SKU=&sdb=ALL" target="_blank">The Art of the Story</a>
edited by Daniel Halpern--and
I would read stories just to familiarize myself with certain authors'
work. It's a great introduction for the non-committal reader. I
thought I could just read a story by <span style="background: transparent;">Margaret
Atwood,</span> finish it, then turn the page and dive into an <span style="background: transparent;">Alice
Munro </span>story. But whenever I finished a story, I had to stop
and just think for a long time. That's when I understood what you are
talking about--the emotional gut-punch power of short story writing.
What about you, do you have some early stories that really impacted
you?</div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/null" name=":3f"></a> <b>Seija:</b>
I loved the short stories of Ray Bradbury, collections like <a href="http://www4.bookstore.washington.edu/_trade/ShowTitleUBS.taf?ActionArg=Title&ISBN=9780380789627&SKU=&sdb=ALL" target="_blank">I Sing the Body Electric</a>, when I was a teenager; they
have this incredible melancholy mixed with a humor I can only
describe as something like Americana Ironic. I was also really
into watching <i>The Twilight Zone</i>, and a lot of Bradbury's
stories were adapted into episodes of that show. Also I looove
Margaret Atwood. Did you ever read that one called "Death
by Landscape"? It's about these two best friends at summer
camp, and one day they go on a canoe trip and one of them disappears,
and her body is never found. That story is so beautiful. I
like the disturbing stuff though, not sure if you knew that about me
;)</div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/null" name=":2o"></a> <b>Seija:</b>
Also in that Atwood story the two girls have a ceremonial burning of
a maxi pad. That made me feel like I should've gone to camp!</div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/null" name=":3i"></a> <span style="font-style: normal;"><b>Anna:</b></span>
That's great! I haven't read that one. It sounds like there is some
eeriness in that story, which is definitely one of the things I like
about the form. There is always so much left unexplained. A lot of
mystery, a lot to interpret, a lot of negative space, if you will.</div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/null" name=":2f"></a> <b>Seija:</b>
Yes! Negative space is right. Isn't it great that we both
know what that means, even though any "space" we're talking
about is purely abstract in our minds?</div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/null" name=":1l"></a> <span style="font-style: normal;"><b>Anna:</b></span>
At least we think we both know what that means. I could be
understanding something completely different than you, but calling it
the same thing...</div>
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<b>Seija:</b>
So I just finished this great new collection called <a href="http://www4.bookstore.washington.edu/_trade/ShowTitleUBS.taf?ActionArg=Title&ISBN=9781616201739&SKU=&sdb=ALL" target="_blank">Bobcat and Other Stories</a> by Rebecca Lee. It was kind of perfect. I
was able to read about one story a day, and I read them in order,
which is unusual for me. But there were so many sentences and
whole paragraphs that hit that literary sweet spot where I just had
to sit back and sigh and go "oh yeeeeeah."
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/null" name=":1i"></a> <span style="font-style: normal;"><b>Anna:</b></span>
WAIT. You read stories out of order? You mean in a collection by one
author? OUT OF ORDER?!</div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/null" name=":1h"></a> <b>Seija:</b>
oh HELL YES! I absolutely judge them by their
titles and length and pick at random.
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/null" name=":1e"></a> <span style="font-style: normal;"><b>Anna:</b></span>
Wow. I have a certain reverence for the collection as a whole. I'm
really into interpreting the flow and order and how all the stories
fit together. It's like an album...there can be an arc to the whole
collection.</div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/null" name=":1d"></a> <span style="font-style: normal;"><b>Anna:</b></span>
That being said, I do know that stories should be able to stand on
their own.</div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/null" name=":1c"></a> <b>Seija:</b>
That's a good point, and there are some collections that have an arc,
and characters that reappear and so on. I think a lot of the
way I read short stories has been colored by the fact that I wrote so
many of them in college, and analyzed them so deeply. I know a
lot of the time, choosing an order is about flow, but it's different
for each author. And who knows, maybe the author and the editor
disagreed on the order.</div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/null" name=":1b"></a> <span style="font-style: normal;"><b>Anna:</b></span>
True true. Maybe you are just inserting your own curatorial touch by
picking the order for yourself. So...tell me more about the Rebecca
Lee stories...I love a story where the language is so good, you want
to underline every other paragraph...were there particular subjects
she focused on?</div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/null" name=":1a"></a> <b>Seija:</b>
Yes! She writes really ambiguously moral characters. There's
one story where a girl in college in the 1980s during the Cold War
plagiarizes an essay from an old book she finds in the library. Her
professor calls her out on it right away, but she denies it, and then
she begins to manipulate him. It's very unsettling. Then
there's another story about these young architects who are at a
retreat at this famous house. Not much happens in that story,
but it's so atmospheric, and it turned out to be my favorite. All
the stories are told from the first person, and I had that weird
experience of not knowing in some cases if the perspective was male
or female. It was as though she remembered my own dreams that I
had forgotten.</div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/null" name=":19"></a> <span style="font-style: normal;"><b>Anna:</b></span>
Woah. I recently read Nathan Englander's <a href="http://www4.bookstore.washington.edu/_trade/ShowTitleUBS.taf?ActionArg=Title&ISBN=9780307949608&SKU=&sdb=ALL" target="_blank">What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank</a>. First of all, what an amazing title!
It's of course a nod to Raymond Carver's “What We Talk About When
We Talk About Love,” but it has such a curious and odd twist
because he replaced 'Love' with 'Anne Frank.' The titular story was
one of my favorites. He loosely followed the form of Carver's
story--2 couples in a house getting drunk together and ranting about
big heavy topics. But what struck me about Englander's story was that
there was a vivid sense of movement—the four characters went to
different parts of the house, sat on the floor, stood in a circle,
danced around in the backyard and their continuous conversation
shifted with these movements. The story is about religion, Jewish
identity, history, marriage, trust...</div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/null" name=":17"></a> <b>Seija:</b>
Sounds like he writes good dialogue, which is incredibly hard to do.
Ok, you have to go! We could keep this going for a while!
Real quick: who are some of your favorite short story maestros?</div>
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<span style="font-style: normal;"><b>Anna:</b></span>
I know, I feel like we just got started!! My favorite short story authors are probably not from any obvious list of great short story
writers, buuutttt I loved Junot Diaz' new book <a href="http://www4.bookstore.washington.edu/_trade/ShowTitleUBS.taf?ActionArg=Title&ISBN=9781594487361&SKU=&sdb=ALL" target="_blank">This is How You Lose Her</a>. Talk about a collection with an arc and a lot of intertwined
themes! Plus, one of the stories Miss Lora recently (and extremely
well deservedly) won a British<span style="background: transparent;">
<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/mar/22/junot-diaz-wins-short-story-prize" target="_blank">short story prize</a>. Did you even know there was a prize for
single short stories? I love the world we live in! </span>Chimamanda
Ngozi Adiche wrote an incredible collection called <a href="http://www4.bookstore.washington.edu/_trade/ShowTitleUBS.taf?ActionArg=Title&ISBN=9780307455918&SKU=&sdb=ALL" target="_blank">The Thing Around Your Neck</a>, where she was able to convey such a deep sense
of emptiness in her characters. I read it a few years ago, but I can
still feel the loneliness and confusion those stories evoked in me. I
also love to listen to the <span style="background: transparent;"><a href="http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/podcast" target="_blank">New Yorker Fiction podcast</a>. There is a Barthelme story read by Salman
Rushdie and the whole story is in questions! Amazing. Okay...I could
go on and on...Your short story maestros??</span>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/null" name=":15"></a> <b>Seija:</b>
Off the top of my head: Algernon Blackwood (the uncanny in nature!)
Jerzy Kosinski (not technically short stories but his collection
"Steps" will give you ALL THE BEST <a href="http://www.patsymoore.com/grafx/nightmare.gif" target="_blank">NIGHTMARES</a>) shout out to
Flannery O'Connor; Clive Barker, Lovecraft, even Stephen King gets a
nod from me. I guess I love short stories in the horror genre.
But some of my favorites by these folks are the least scary, go
figure. Ok, thanks for chatting about stories, Anna! Let's
do this again some time!</div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/null" name=":14"></a><span style="font-style: normal;"><b>Anna:</b></span>
Yes! Thank you! We only just scratched the surface...</div>
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Annahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14267899691726897933noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33653200.post-83676806419383852362013-05-08T11:06:00.002-07:002013-05-08T13:22:08.395-07:00Chaos, Remembered<i>The police in the small town of Los Alamos, New Mexico, worried briefly in 1974 about a man seen prowling in the dark, the red glow of his cigarette floating along the back streets. He would pace for hours, heading nowhere in the starlight that hammers down through the thin air of the mesas. The police were not the only ones to wonder. At the national laboratory some physicists had learned that their newest colleague was experimenting with twenty-six hour days, which meant that his waking schedule would slowly roll in and out of phase with theirs. This bordered on strange, even for the Theoretical Division.</i> <br />
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So begins <i>Chaos</i>, by James Gleick, which in 1987 more or less singlehandedly introduced chaos theory to the lay audience. Although this book is astonishing and needs no particular excuse to bear mention, I mention it now for a few reasons: first, when I recently saw a used hardcover in our Used Book New Arrivals, I was flooded with all those wonderful chemicals you've heard about - oxytocin, endorphins (maybe even a stirring in a cannabinoid receptor or two) - and when you feel that good, you want to share it with the world.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Books are our passion."</td></tr>
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Secondly, we've been awash in popular science these days, and many of the authors would do well to read (or re-read) <i>Chaos </i>and review everything it does right. Like Tracy Kidder's <i>The Soul of a New Machine</i>, <i>Chaos </i>tells a story about science without softening sophisticated concepts to meaningless paste, and finely balances the narrative (the humans, with their behaviors and motivations) with the science (the math, in all its brain-busting glory).<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Your standard chaos theorist: "Boy, do I hate being right all the time!"</td></tr>
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And think about how much <i>fun</i> society has had with chaos! From <i>Jurassic Park</i>'s Dr. Ian Malcom to Homer Simpson's experiments with the Butterfly Effect (nerds will recall in season 6, "Time and Punishment"), chaos theory has given us laughter, tears, and a table overflowing with food for thought.<br />
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Before I close, it bears mentioning that James Gleick's latest book, <i>The Information</i>, shows clearly that this man does not shirk from the most imposing topics, and is still keenly observing, chronicling and educating the world 15 years later. That's it. That's all I've got to say on the matter. And if this post seemed to lack a coherent structure, then I thank you, dear readers, for indulging me this - <i>ahem</i> - chaotic aside.Michael Wallenfelshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12965527346563029932noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33653200.post-54819367132929434362013-04-25T17:56:00.000-07:002013-04-25T18:23:55.668-07:00My Night as a Book GiverThis past Tuesday was the 2nd annual <a href="http://www.us.worldbooknight.org/" target="_blank">World Book Night</a> in America. World Book Night is a fantastic night, an event for which authors, publishers, bookstores and nerds team up to distribute free copies of books to members of their communities. The goal is to put a book in the hands of a "light to non-reader," someone who may not be able to afford the book, or someone who doesn't normally read for pleasure. I participated as a book giver last year in Port Angeles, WA and again this year in Seattle. This year I distributed 20 copies of <a href="http://www4.bookstore.washington.edu/_trade/ShowTitleUBS.taf?ActionArg=Title&ISBN=9781935639206&SKU=&sdb=ALL" target="_blank"><i>Glaciers</i></a> by Alexis M. Smith around Seattle's U-District and Capitol Hill neighborhoods.<br />
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I <i>love</i> World Book Night, and here are the two main reasons why:<br />
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(1) <b>The pressure is off</b>. When cash isn't at stake, it feels great to put a book in the hands of a peer. I get nervous, sometimes, recommending a book I loved to a customer. I've been given a good review, only to be disappointed myself. So it feels good to hand out books with a <i>whaddhya-have-to-lose?</i> attitude. And the soon-to-be reader is so much more likely to step outside of his or her comfort zone. I totally get it, I'm often strapped for cash and hesitant to spend my money on something I'm not sure about. (So many missed concerts! so many movies I didn't see!) WBN takes that financial pressure off, even the pressure of taste and preference. Most of my conversations went like this:<br />
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Me: Hey, are you interested in a free copy of a novel written by a Portland-based author?<br />
Person: It's free?<br />
Me: Yeah!<br />
Person: Sure, why not!<br />
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Everyone loves free stuff.<br />
<br />
(2)<b> People talking about books, in the real world.</b> I spend most of my time talking to people about books. That's who I am. I go out to coffee with someone, suggest we bring books and just get cozy for a quiet morning, then end up repeatedly blurting out how good my book is and reading passages out loud. I go out for drinks with friends and end up talking about <i>Moby-Dick</i> and race on the seas (stay tuned for a series of posts I'm calling "Blogging the Whale"). Seriously, that's what I do. But on World Book Night, I get to be <i>that girl</i>, but also change the course of a stranger's night. <br />
<br />
Wrapping up my night as a book giver, I met a friend at a bar on Capitol Hill. I had three copies of <i>Glaciers </i>left, and spotted a small group of friends having a heated conversation about some band or some new album. They were smart, and you could tell they loved to get together and shout about things. It was a book club without a book.<br />
<br />
I approached them and told them a bit about <i>Glaciers</i>, a little bit of the plot and the author. It's a dreamy nugget of a story about a librarian living in Portland. It's also a story about being a twenty-something today. About our misplaced nostalgia, about our love for thrift shopping and ephemera. And have you heard of Powell's Books? The author works at Powell's. And the book came out from Tin House, have you heard of Tin House? Their books are smart and smartly designed. Look at this gorgeous image of the actual cover!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg95745TmAtGJw1_l_5ro62N4grcByzSBqIUqVUx7WkuEJBCa8Qx2tOmRvYM-TSZTrYsn8XEej0uce7_KChpKvB_uRa-rxrp74_5EA4TMaWrNdU42Yg-Q_IwXv_YCUw8nRaC9v25g/s1600/glaciers.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg95745TmAtGJw1_l_5ro62N4grcByzSBqIUqVUx7WkuEJBCa8Qx2tOmRvYM-TSZTrYsn8XEej0uce7_KChpKvB_uRa-rxrp74_5EA4TMaWrNdU42Yg-Q_IwXv_YCUw8nRaC9v25g/s1600/glaciers.gif" width="136" /> </a></div>
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So this cool group of friends could have blown me off, said no thanks and gone back to their original conversation. They could have taken a copy of the book, tucked it into a backpack and waited for me to creep away. But no!, they got really excited. One guy grew up in Portland, and loved the idea of reading a book set in his hometown. A girl there told me she hasn't read a novel since high school because she hasn't made the time for it. She loved the idea of this small, gorgeous novel and was curious how it packs all those themes into its pages.<br />
<br />
Eventually, after a few minutes of excited chatter, I politely bowed out and headed back to my friend's table. As I walked away I heard them, <i>still</i> talking about books. One friend made the other promise to pass <i>Glaciers </i>on after he finishes it. They started to say how they should start a book club. And eventually they were arguing about books and had completely moved on from their previous conversation.<br />
<br />
-SarinaAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077849304478203717noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33653200.post-54519134000260511412013-04-23T12:17:00.001-07:002013-04-23T12:18:49.043-07:00Presented Without Comment: The New Pantone Journal<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkwa9Pe_xXAIm9j-Hn160hfbAz44GvkMs3FEqRG6anpj7oFTg9RXvOq6ECvkvnTFfi9yMiyzWwkTHi9eMd2XrzYyfL3x4eZOHfu6N7Csb-0hk0hvhnaSAEe0VS8ETEYg-3Aycb/s1600/50pantone.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkwa9Pe_xXAIm9j-Hn160hfbAz44GvkMs3FEqRG6anpj7oFTg9RXvOq6ECvkvnTFfi9yMiyzWwkTHi9eMd2XrzYyfL3x4eZOHfu6N7Csb-0hk0hvhnaSAEe0VS8ETEYg-3Aycb/s320/50pantone.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
<br />Seijahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02566434635517333695noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33653200.post-3282432855100107912013-04-08T15:42:00.000-07:002013-04-08T17:42:11.432-07:00Between BooksIt's a phrase I've heard often enough that when I finally stopped to think about it, I was sort of puzzled why I hadn't fallen in love with it earlier. It's an innocent evasion, fueled maybe by shame, maybe by shy honesty. Sometimes a reader will use it to prompt suggestions from a friend or neighbor. Sometimes a bookseller might use it to dodge the question.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #674ea7;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>I'm sort of between books right now...</i></b></span></span><br />
<br />
Using the same gesture that we use to soften the reality of unemployment, it distracts with its tinge of spiritual journey. But when I first heard it for what it truly was, I was blown away by it. I pictured comically-large, Greek deity-like phantoms --- the books that we are between. The half-finished and abandoned <i>Anna Karenina</i>, a silent specter over the reader. The last biography you finished, its subject --- be it Cleopatra or Coco Chanel --- follows you like a handmaiden. <br />
<br />
As a reader, you are between that book, that last book or that unfinished novel, and every other book you have yet to read. And as both a book lover and bookseller, I notice how <i>physically</i> true it is that I am always between books. I am between books on their way to their shelves, between books on their way to their readers, between books waiting on hold for their readers. I drink my coffee in the stacks between books, and I eat my lunch in the break room, between pages of my book.<br />
<br />
In the evenings when I return home, I sleep between books! The books on my small bookshelf and the ones on my nightstand; the half-started book of poems, the advanced copy of a novella and my half-incorrect, scratched out and written-over book of crossword puzzles under my bed. I truly live between my books.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRfs94mLLQ3Lf1k7OKx3hTlC7kL0TCJpZ7vZjErXh3dK6GrYO0Nm_i-lTufojAKC7kQkvowZTVMMZFB_-HO9lZyDBdoiz7kq_M7avcjUNyjjrI8XGaftqZtX7j9NZ1WU2l5NQvsg/s1600/between+books.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRfs94mLLQ3Lf1k7OKx3hTlC7kL0TCJpZ7vZjErXh3dK6GrYO0Nm_i-lTufojAKC7kQkvowZTVMMZFB_-HO9lZyDBdoiz7kq_M7avcjUNyjjrI8XGaftqZtX7j9NZ1WU2l5NQvsg/s1600/between+books.jpg" height="275" width="400" /></a></div>
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And I wouldn't have it any other way.<br />
<br />
_Sarina, <i><br />Bookseller</i><br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077849304478203717noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33653200.post-82014455780663606722013-04-04T20:09:00.002-07:002013-04-04T22:45:01.758-07:00Book Shelf Mix TapeWhen I visit a book store for the first time and try gauge its potential, there are three sections I check right away: Science Fiction, Comparative Religion, and - most importantly - Used Book New Arrivals.<br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-x3XqABqn2z8/UVD2OGF-6OI/AAAAAAAAAq4/sjwEc9XHe_8/s1600/UsedArrival.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-x3XqABqn2z8/UVD2OGF-6OI/AAAAAAAAAq4/sjwEc9XHe_8/s320/UsedArrival.jpg" /></a><br />
The Used Book New Arrivals speak not only to the character of the store itself, but also the customers who frequent it. The New Arrivals shelf becomes something of a mix tape, curated (subconsciously! How cool!) by both customers and book store employees, and at a glance opens a window to that particular book store's collective spirit - the community of reading tastes; titles that reach back and forth in time, and across genre; a beam of literary light passing through that unique book store prism, a spectrum spread before your very eyes.<br />
<br />
That shelf, it can be chaotic at first glance - but stick with it. Stare at it for a little while and you'll see an image of the store in four dimensions. Stare a little bit longer, and you'll find a treasure worth taking home. Stare at it for years, and find your home filled with treasures.<br />
<br />
And at what a price!<br />
<br />
-Michael Michael Wallenfelshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12965527346563029932noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33653200.post-60683714790210760522013-04-03T16:02:00.000-07:002013-04-21T12:26:17.619-07:00The Last Three Books I ReadSomething embarrassing has happened: I've been reading a ton of new fiction (circa 2013!) and neglecting one of the best parts of my job, which is sharing my recommendations on this blog. Granted, I've written a few Goodreads reviews, but now that The Juggernaut That Shall Not Be Named has acquired the site, many of us in the Indie book world are reconsidering our relationships with Goodreads. (<a href="http://www.theatlanticwire.com/business/2013/03/amazon-acquires-goodreads-social-network-book-lovers/63659/" target="_blank">Here's</a> a summary of what went down. Those of you active on Goodreads: do you plan on remaining a member? How will this development change your activity? Tell us in the comments!)<br />
This blog, right here, is a free and open place to talk about books, and sometimes I get so busy that I forget how much I have to say. So let's break it down!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil7rVXpR24rB0vcmNd-MML-fRsrrdjpAmV1hNgMRhSjUffcLFKJcFF2VFGJt9TfU4C2qC-rxD9OQ7waKnOuaWNk91VlgQsfowbC01X4AM12MQcBOKoQ_PXQXdtz0vLV5tDpdEH/s1600/jonnyv.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil7rVXpR24rB0vcmNd-MML-fRsrrdjpAmV1hNgMRhSjUffcLFKJcFF2VFGJt9TfU4C2qC-rxD9OQ7waKnOuaWNk91VlgQsfowbC01X4AM12MQcBOKoQ_PXQXdtz0vLV5tDpdEH/s1600/jonnyv.jpeg" /></a><b><a href="http://www4.bookstore.washington.edu/_trade/SummaryUBS.taf?ISBN=9781476705859&SKU=&Insert=TitleMore&NewUsed2=NEW&sdb=ALL&ActionArg=IntoBasket" target="_blank">The Love Song of Jonny Valentine</a></b><br />
<b>by Teddy Wayne</b><br />
It's impossible to talk about this book without bringing up Justin Beiber. Ironically, true Beiber fans will probably never read this book, and people who read this book may never attend a J.B. concert or buy one of his albums. But somehow that teenage millionaire makes his presence known even in places like the office
of an independent bookstore, as evidenced today when I overheard a few
of my coworkers discussing a recent news story about Beiber's new pet
monkey. Comparisons were drawn to Michael Jackson and Bubbles (did you
guys know that Bubbles is <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Jackson_and_Bubbles" target="_blank">still alive?!</a>), and there was an implicit, tragi-comic consensus that for a celebrity, owning a primate somehow signals the beginning of the end. After reading Teddy Wayne's novel about a Beiber-esque prepubescent pop star, my reactions to conversations like these are twofold: first, I feel an intense need to put <i>The Love Song of Jonny Valentine</i> into everyone's hands. Second, I realize that many people don't value the deep analysis of pop culture icons like I do. Maybe the discovery of what lies beneath a manufactured façade (corruption, superficiality, greed) doesn't have the same thrill for you as it has for me. But there's more to this novel than the pulling back of a big glittery curtain. It can be read as a parable of choice: what it means to be a parent and choose to put your child in the machinery of fame; what it means to emerge from childhood already a superstar, with a personal identity inextricable from a lucrative brand, and realize that there may be other ways to live. This novel is sensitive and well-written, but it's also brutally honest about the world we live in. It will make you reconsider the inner lives behind those faces on the tabloid covers, and that action is one that requires a worthwhile empathy.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>The Rosie Project</b><br />
<b>by Graeme Simsion</b><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB2KTRY1gtvYgZfNgAABtC4Ob8h6EEOIi4CK2BDivHs6zM6W55puyD124bT4Hw-JD5ocj29-wrDBKP8kjAFEVu1E_zlfmFLMfObQaEzOnm6i-nZZeb5juT_n49c-obwoomFM7N/s1600/rosieuscover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB2KTRY1gtvYgZfNgAABtC4Ob8h6EEOIi4CK2BDivHs6zM6W55puyD124bT4Hw-JD5ocj29-wrDBKP8kjAFEVu1E_zlfmFLMfObQaEzOnm6i-nZZeb5juT_n49c-obwoomFM7N/s320/rosieuscover.jpg" width="199" /></a>This one's not out until October, sadly. It would make the most fantastic vacation read! I loved this as much as <i>Bridget Jones' Diary</i>, and it has a similar tone-- an incredibly awkward protagonist (how refreshing to finally have a romantic comedy from the male point of view!), a non-American locale (Melbourne, Australia) and a kind of slapstick humor that I think is probably very difficult to pull off for most writers. With his debut novel, Graeme Simsion achieved a truly amazing feat: he wrote a book about relationships and gender dynamics without relying on gender stereotypes. In fact, just about everything that happens in this story subtly challenges the old and tedious tropes of heterosexuality, without ever resorting to preachiness. It's just very real-seeming people figuring out what they want. I'm hesitant to reveal any more about the plot; you should really just grab a copy when it comes out and discover these unique and hilarious characters for yourself. I found this novel to be a wonderful, optimistic surprise.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQx3S9Nv4SAXjxY3H6OV_zuOlaOaxOi9CzKVxncPjaiace3KiTYKtLFL3MjQY7-SDTHLGUPws0RQTV_2LIKB1hs8VMas9lBZqSzPKac56FIm4sv0_Sgq3xS6TlcLo-ttv8fRe1/s1600/wool.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQx3S9Nv4SAXjxY3H6OV_zuOlaOaxOi9CzKVxncPjaiace3KiTYKtLFL3MjQY7-SDTHLGUPws0RQTV_2LIKB1hs8VMas9lBZqSzPKac56FIm4sv0_Sgq3xS6TlcLo-ttv8fRe1/s1600/wool.jpeg" /></a><b><a href="http://www4.bookstore.washington.edu/_trade/SummaryUBS.taf?ISBN=9781476733951&SKU=&Insert=TitleMore&NewUsed2=NEW&sdb=ALL&ActionArg=IntoBasket" target="_blank">Wool </a></b><br />
<b>by Hugh Howey</b><br />
Aaaaaand I read some Sci-Fi! How did that happen?!? Ok, this one's really more Post-Apocalyptic (can we shorten that already? Po-Ap? You read it here first, folks!) but it's becoming apparent with the raging success of this new series that no matter what your genre, a page-turner is a page-turner. For me, Wool was one of those reading experiences that made me want to watch the movie adaptation IMMEDIATELY. That reaction can have its pros and cons, but ultimately, Wool is a book I recommend, if mostly on the merits of an extremely original premise and some fascinating worldbuilding. Howey imagines a future where all of humanity has been distilled into a few thousand, all living underground in a massive silo. Their only means of travel inside the silo is a giant spiral staircase connecting hundreds of levels. This image affected me more than anything else in the book, and I liked the idea of many generations living in a confined space, so much time passing that eventually the human perception of the universe becomes limited to a vertical tube. I found the metaphors to be a bit simplistic (when the world is shrunk down into a literal microcosm, sometimes there's equally little to engage with on a more abstract level.) but the characters are well-drawn and sympathetic, and I was constantly skipping ahead to see what would happen next. This is an adult novel, but I think teenagers will love it, too. <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW09R7wqhtD7wFej6DYvqtK3dBxCBOeIHJ7OwARMz-lovvF2VMeRceqxN4gJGBDnD2rADxnOiksbPR0T5TO32tlJICXs_nGWdqBzK07N350OY6Bpcrha7tkUXIhXjb0T6lNMSM/s1600/bobcat.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW09R7wqhtD7wFej6DYvqtK3dBxCBOeIHJ7OwARMz-lovvF2VMeRceqxN4gJGBDnD2rADxnOiksbPR0T5TO32tlJICXs_nGWdqBzK07N350OY6Bpcrha7tkUXIhXjb0T6lNMSM/s320/bobcat.JPG" width="213" /></a><br />
Now I'm reading a book called <b><a href="http://www4.bookstore.washington.edu/_Reserve/ReserveSummary.taf?ISBN=9781616201739&SKU=&Insert=TitleMore&NewUsed2=NEW&ActionArg=IntoBasket" target="_blank">Bobcat and Other Stories</a> by Rebecca Lee</b> (out in June), and I'm revelling in the delicious, familiar realm of literary fiction (PoMo!). I'm nearly finished, and I can't wait to tell you about it. But I'll save that for the next post!<br />
Happy Reading!<br />
<br />
--Seija <br />
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<br />Seijahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02566434635517333695noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33653200.post-5383124401246627322013-04-02T12:44:00.000-07:002013-04-02T12:44:00.557-07:00The Staff Rec's Keep Coming!<br />
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Here are four more books that come with a University Book Store bookseller stamp of approval! </div>
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<i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9zIxIAvCvVWKbgFVpLESM8w0U7uuo6F-R6bfH8TevOFy_VIW1qZMTi3B6wyD35HcOU8YcWdiYjjJJsD-YR_cEfBO2eKs85gQSh1S5V-V6bkgGmgpDm_eMJ-CiH3EECU7vnpMcvw/s1600/expats.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9zIxIAvCvVWKbgFVpLESM8w0U7uuo6F-R6bfH8TevOFy_VIW1qZMTi3B6wyD35HcOU8YcWdiYjjJJsD-YR_cEfBO2eKs85gQSh1S5V-V6bkgGmgpDm_eMJ-CiH3EECU7vnpMcvw/s200/expats.jpeg" width="129" /></a> </i></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<i> </i><a href="http://www4.bookstore.washington.edu/_trade/ShowTitleUBS.taf?ActionArg=Title&ISBN=9780770435721&SKU=&sdb=ALL" target="_blank"><i>The Expats</i></a>
by Chris Pavone is "an intelligent, complicated, yet easy read --- with
a clever plot and a fast pace. I enjoyed it immensely!," writes Mary. </div>
<i> </i><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbzjBjkiL_UR7NzykkMrHy5MghdxZWW3Mu848tsaIICmn1iHP9TWrTij5fvbZ_qPzGhGy0bqRvCURdoCynkyQOV9tnXS9zJJZXQeoZ_ZYYwFndzKRtQEh4RXOnZTffzE5kCzjacg/s1600/griffths.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbzjBjkiL_UR7NzykkMrHy5MghdxZWW3Mu848tsaIICmn1iHP9TWrTij5fvbZ_qPzGhGy0bqRvCURdoCynkyQOV9tnXS9zJJZXQeoZ_ZYYwFndzKRtQEh4RXOnZTffzE5kCzjacg/s200/griffths.JPG" width="132" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i> </i>Mary also recommends <a href="http://www4.bookstore.washington.edu/_trade/ShowTitleUBS.taf?ActionArg=Title&ISBN=9780547386065&SKU=&sdb=ALL" target="_blank"><i>The Crossing Places</i></a>
by Elly Griffiths! She says, "This series is so good. I read the first
four books in a week. Ruth is a forensic archeologist living in a remote
area of the Norfolk coast. Griffiths has created a unique & quite
likeable main character, involved her in cases full of ancient British
mythology and history and surrounded her with an interesting cast."</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg31kzGTmiKDdObtq1P2S0Sqx6jc1XUcQvKYaP-q0l9TK_OOOjjpnkrQWBEg96NUs3YKhqCUWJj_wE7VfhObIRCLXf7a6DAq1VYok8OCQzcsh-grhYgEbYNnlJNhHbwPaCkm9JQVQ/s1600/age+of.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg31kzGTmiKDdObtq1P2S0Sqx6jc1XUcQvKYaP-q0l9TK_OOOjjpnkrQWBEg96NUs3YKhqCUWJj_wE7VfhObIRCLXf7a6DAq1VYok8OCQzcsh-grhYgEbYNnlJNhHbwPaCkm9JQVQ/s1600/age+of.jpeg" /></a></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
Kathy Z. shares her thoughts on <i><a href="http://www4.bookstore.washington.edu/_trade/ShowTitleUBS.taf?ActionArg=Title&ISBN=9780812982947&SKU=&sdb=ALL" target="_blank">The Age of Miracles</a> </i>by
Karen Thompson Walker: "A coming-of-age story in a world coming to an
end, this debut novel is moving and somber. but never despairing. It's
also free of the violence and mayhem of many novels set in the
near-future --- the world is ending not with a bang, but with a whimper.
How would you organize your life if everything around you were
changing, maybe ending? This is a beautifully written book, simple, but
never simplistic, which will leave you with lots to think about.
Appropriate for young teens as well as adults."</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMEJor-mBR2BlUQvVioV_JdLdyUpmZl7WZJ-QgXVMujZ1uV1bU_htYX0ZXCNWw-ThJtJ_hI0yvlgJpn_jV9gplDI0h1-RQ1TDP9-_WjPXhWFogs1J8IlIIk9IWpXS8sEl-x7-fPQ/s1600/leyshon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMEJor-mBR2BlUQvVioV_JdLdyUpmZl7WZJ-QgXVMujZ1uV1bU_htYX0ZXCNWw-ThJtJ_hI0yvlgJpn_jV9gplDI0h1-RQ1TDP9-_WjPXhWFogs1J8IlIIk9IWpXS8sEl-x7-fPQ/s200/leyshon.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<i> </i>And here's a staff review of Nell Leyshon's <a href="http://www4.bookstore.washington.edu/_trade/ShowTitleUBS.taf?ActionArg=Title&ISBN=9780062245823&SKU=&sdb=ALL" target="_blank"><i>The Colour of Milk</i></a>,
written by Seija: "This will be one of your favorite books of 2013! Get
ready to be charmed, sassed and devastated in equal measure by Mary,
the protagonist and 'writer' of this Regency story that is decidedly
anti-Austen. You will not soon forget this tale." </div>
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<b>Want more staff reviews? </b>Keep checking back with us. Also, if there is a book you absolutely can't stop talking about, tell us about it! Believe it or not, we're always looking for more to read... Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077849304478203717noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33653200.post-14406177816798606952013-03-29T14:16:00.001-07:002013-03-29T14:16:59.778-07:00<span class="userContent">This little pup had quite a day at the Book
Store. After escaping from his car, he ran around the store greeting
customers before being promoted, naturally, to the position of Doggy
Concierge. </span><br />
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<span class="userContent"><br /></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077849304478203717noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33653200.post-16268429847134924882013-03-29T10:24:00.001-07:002013-03-29T10:28:40.603-07:00Bo Recommends I Am a Bunny!Bo loves <i>I Am a Bunny</i> and he is kind enough to share it with us! Absolutely adorable, and wonderfully read.<br />
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<a href="http://www4.bookstore.washington.edu/_trade/ShowTitleUBS.taf?ActionArg=Title&ISBN=9780375827785&SKU=&sdb=ALL" target="_blank"><i>I Am a Bunny</i></a> is a classic children's storybook, written by Ole Risom and illustrated by Richard Scarry. Great choice, Bo!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077849304478203717noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33653200.post-21749115353051651112013-03-25T14:01:00.000-07:002013-03-25T14:01:00.190-07:00Like Justin Bieber? Try this book!<br />
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Like Justin Bieber?</div>
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Try <a href="http://www4.bookstore.washington.edu/_trade/ShowTitleUBS.taf?ActionArg=Title&ISBN=9781476705859&SKU=&sdb=ALL" target="_blank"><i>The Love Song of Johnny Valentine</i></a>, a new novel by Teddy Wayne. Seija recommends it: "I loved this novel! If, like me, you find celebrity culture more fascinating than horrifying (if only by a slim margin), this sensitive, yet darkly satirical tale of a Justin Bieber-esque child star will make you feel ALL THE FEELINGS!!"<br />
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Not a <a href="http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Belieber" target="_blank">Belieber</a>? Well, did you like <i>Cloud Atlas</i>? </div>
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Ann G. recommends another novel by the same author, David Mitchell, <a href="http://www4.bookstore.washington.edu/_trade/ShowTitleUBS.taf?ActionArg=Title&ISBN=9780812976366&SKU=&sdb=ALL" target="_blank"><i>The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet</i></a>.
She writes, "I buy only the books that I will re-read. This is the tale
of a young merchant clerk in the east Indian Trading Company who
encounters and embraces Japanese culture." Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077849304478203717noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33653200.post-43043916370538950112013-03-23T12:48:00.000-07:002013-03-23T12:51:14.725-07:00We Love Strong Women!<style type="text/css">P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }</style>
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March is National Women's History Month and we've been featuring books that reflect on important and inspirational female figures. Our booksellers chose books that range from feminist theory to humor essays, novels to historical biographies.<i> </i>Included below are just a few of those selections:<br />
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<a href="http://www4.bookstore.washington.edu/_trade/ShowTitleUBS.taf?ActionArg=Title&ISBN=9780143122128&SKU=&sdb=ALL" target="_blank"><i>Coco Chanel</i>:<i> An Intimate Life</i></a> by Lisa Chaney<br />
"Though much has been written about Chanel as a fashion icon, few books have been able to crack the veil of ambiguity surrounding Coco's personal life. In this detailed biography, Chaney reveals a woman made tough by her circumstances and driven to succeed irregardless of consequence." Recommended by Mechio. <br />
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<i><a href="http://www4.bookstore.washington.edu/_trade/ShowTitleUBS.taf?ActionArg=Title&ISBN=9780872865808&SKU=&sdb=ALL" target="_blank">Meaning of Freedom</a> </i>by Angela Y. Davis<br />
"Angela Davis has been a hero of mine since the early 80's. I was lucky enough to be a student at San Francisco State University while she was a professor in the Ethnic Studies Dept. After taking two classes from her and attending several of her public lectures, I feel she is the most articulate and compassionate speaker, scholar and author and author regarding issues of race, class and prisoner rights." Recommended by Terri. </div>
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<i><span style="font-style: normal;"><i><a href="http://www4.bookstore.washington.edu/_trade/ShowTitleUBS.taf?ActionArg=Title&ISBN=9781400078561&SKU=&sdb=ALL" target="_blank">The Woman Behind the New Deal</a> </i></span></i><span style="font-style: normal;">by Kirstin Downey</span><br />
<span style="font-style: normal;">Kathy Z. writes, "This book may look and sound like a quintessential bore, but it's anything but. Much forgotten today, Frances Perkins was ahead of her time by decades. She was a true progressive hero throughout the first half of the 20th century, advocating health care, labor rights and social security. Her complex and troubled personal life never interfered with her tireless work for the public. A terrific book!"</span><i><span style="font-style: normal;"><i> </i></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-style: normal;"><a href="http://www4.bookstore.washington.edu/_trade/ShowTitleUBS.taf?ActionArg=Title&ISBN=9780060938291&SKU=&sdb=ALL" target="_blank"><i>Communion</i></a> </span></i><span style="font-style: normal;">by bell hooks</span><br />
<span style="font-style: normal;">Anna's recommendation of this book is simply an excerpt from it: "Everything is bearable when there is love. My wish is that you try to give more people more love. The only thing that lives forever is love." </span></div>
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<span style="font-style: normal;"><a href="http://www4.bookstore.washington.edu/_trade/ShowTitleUBS.taf?ActionArg=Title&ISBN=9781586421953&SKU=&sdb=ALL" target="_blank"><i>Miss Fuller</i></a> by April Bernard </span><br />
<span style="font-style: normal;">Recommended by Sarina: "To read a compelling story that gives you a sense of female radical Margaret Fuller's personality, pick up this book. <i>Miss Fuller</i> is historical fiction with an emphasis on fiction. Bernard takes many liberties with the narrative --- inventing a primary character, positioning us within Fuller's fictionalized correspondence --- but these sort of transgressions seem to me the sort that the heroine would not only forgive, but welcome."</span><br />
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<span style="font-style: normal;"><a href="http://www4.bookstore.washington.edu/_trade/ShowTitleUBS.taf?ActionArg=Title&ISBN=9780307594884&SKU=&sdb=ALL" target="_blank"><i>My Beloved World</i></a> by Sonia Sotomayor</span><br />
<span style="font-style: normal;">"Along with many of you, I suspect, I was utterly charmed by her in her NPR interviews. That same voice rings out in her book. Her childhood stories are fascinating and her attitude, inspiring." Recommended by Mary. </span><br />
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<a href="http://www4.bookstore.washington.edu/_trade/ShowTitleUBS.taf?ActionArg=Title&ISBN=9780307907318&SKU=&sdb=ALL" target="_blank"><span style="font-style: normal;"><i>Facing the Wave</i>: <i>A Journey in the Wake of the Tsunami</i></span></a><span style="font-style: normal;"> by Gretel Ehrlich</span><br />
<span style="font-style: normal;">Judith suggests this book: "Gretel Ehrlich --- adventurer, essayist, poet --- creates a compelling glimpse of life and survival of the spirit in Northeastern Japan following the devastation of the Great Wave."<i> </i></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077849304478203717noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33653200.post-9397019613420789362013-03-20T13:48:00.002-07:002013-03-20T13:48:49.979-07:00Staff Reviews!<br />
<b>FICTION</b><br />
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<i><a href="http://www4.bookstore.washington.edu/_trade/ShowTitleUBS.taf?ActionArg=Title&ISBN=9780307588364&SKU=&sdb=ALL" target="_blank">Gone Girl</a> </i>by Gillian Flynn<br />
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"Everyone loves this book. No one can say why. Too easy to give away the secrets!," says Debbie. </div>
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<a href="http://www4.bookstore.washington.edu/_trade/ShowTitleUBS.taf?ActionArg=Title&ISBN=9780307346612&SKU=&sdb=ALL" target="_blank"><i>World War Z</i></a> by Max Brooks<br />
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"A chilling, utterly believable account of what might happen if a truly massive catastrophe overtakes the world." Recommended by Jason & Damon. </div>
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<a href="http://www4.bookstore.washington.edu/_trade/ShowTitleUBS.taf?ActionArg=Title&ISBN=9780307744579&SKU=&sdb=ALL" target="_blank"><i>Aleph</i></a> by Paulo Coehlo</div>
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Michael W. recommends it: "A fascinating travelogue, a beautiful, human, story --- honest, lively, and peaceful. How strange and normal, how quiet and loud, our love is for one another. Not at all saccharine --- just heartfelt."</div>
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<b>NONFICTION</b><br />
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<b> </b><a href="http://www4.bookstore.washington.edu/_trade/ShowTitleUBS.taf?ActionArg=Title&ISBN=9780812979350&SKU=&sdb=ALL" target="_blank"><i>Citizens of London</i></a> by Lynne Olson<b> </b></div>
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"As Britain stood alone against Germany in the early days of World War II, three powerful men worked valiantly to create an Anglo-American alliance. Edward R. Murrow and Averill Harriman are well known, but Ambassador John Gilbert Winant has been almost forgotten. If Olson did nothing but return this gentleman, scholar and diplomat to prominence, her book would be welcome. But she does MUCH more, re-creating the dramas, intrigues, romances and tragedies of Britain during some of the darkest days the world has ever known. I loved this book!" ---reviewed by Kathy Z. </div>
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<b>More staff reviews to come! Look for our bookseller recommendations every week. </b></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077849304478203717noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33653200.post-67668358739859378192013-03-19T13:51:00.001-07:002013-03-20T14:26:54.810-07:00Phases of the Moon<br />
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Okay, so I finally bought myself a copy of <a href="http://www4.bookstore.washington.edu/_trade/ShowTitleUBS.taf?ActionArg=Title&ISBN=9781933517575&SKU=&sdb=ALL" target="_blank"><i><b>Madness, Rack and Honey</b></i></a>, the collected lectures of Mary Ruefle out from Wave Books. Full disclosure: I haven't finished it yet. I'm not adding my voice to the wide praise and acclaim it has received from all over, including the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/13/books/review/madness-rack-and-honey-by-mary-ruefle.html?_r=0" target="_blank">NYT Book Review</a>, and the <a href="http://www.kenyonreview.org/2012/08/mary-ruefles-madness-rack-and-honey/" target="_blank">Kenyon Review</a>. Ruefle is a gift. For now, I just want to talk about the second essay in the collection, a lecture she gave on poetry and the moon.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfkE7ireTUrVhe5Aw0EkU60HhSS7ZXVYGPhWx6gzTeViCNhmXsi5lYHqC4CNziNmXRwrpA-6YhkgH0GzeF_hsFXuV6cF2VuMU41RSuW_az82QNNtFXyjGcy5kpEN5q5wFHwtFS0w/s1600/ruefle.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfkE7ireTUrVhe5Aw0EkU60HhSS7ZXVYGPhWx6gzTeViCNhmXsi5lYHqC4CNziNmXRwrpA-6YhkgH0GzeF_hsFXuV6cF2VuMU41RSuW_az82QNNtFXyjGcy5kpEN5q5wFHwtFS0w/s1600/ruefle.gif" /></a>Let's start with my own story about poems and <b>stones</b>--- "The moon is a stone that floats," writes Mark Strand in a chapbook titled <i>Chicken, shadow, moon & more. </i>I <span style="font-size: small;">want to say that I once stumbled<span style="font-size: small;"> <span style="font-size: small;">upon the book</span></span>, that it's readily available, but, in fact, it's a tough find. I requested it through interlibrary loan for my undergrad senior thesis<span style="font-size: small;">. <span style="font-size: small;">If </span></span>you ever chance upon it, or have time to bug your favorite librarian, I strongly urge you to get it. <span style="font-size: small;">(<span style="font-size: small;">And gi<span style="font-size: small;">ft it to me<span style="font-size: small;">!) </span></span></span></span>So this book, like a philosophical Dr. Seuss, says<span style="font-size: small;">, </span>"The moon is a stone that floats." </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">I'm floored by this. In Charles Simic's notebooks---all the bizarre bits of childhood and dirty bits of politics that you'd imagine in the poet's head---he wrote <span style="font-size: small;">nearly</span> same thing, but he wrote<span style="font-size: small;">, "The poem <span style="font-size: small;">I want to write is impossible. A stone that<span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></span>floats." (Seriously, you should read his notebooks)(and <span style="font-size: small;">his poems! this great <a href="http://www4.bookstore.washington.edu/_trade/ShowTitleUBS.taf?ActionArg=Title&ISBN=9780547928289&SKU=&sdb=ALL" target="_blank">co</a><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www4.bookstore.washington.edu/_trade/ShowTitleUBS.taf?ActionArg=Title&ISBN=9780547928289&SKU=&sdb=ALL" target="_blank">llected works</a> relea<span style="font-size: small;">sed this month<span style="font-size: small;">!)</span></span></span></span>. It's not a secret that Simic and Strand are friends, and pro<span style="font-size: small;">bably shared this image over a beer; o<span style="font-size: small;">r, the romantic <span style="font-size: small;">in me hopes it was <span style="font-size: small;">pen and ink letter, </span></span></span></span>but I got hooked. I keep reading all these essays on poets and the moon and the surrealists and the moon, and Sappho and the moon and I'm just not satisfied. From<i> Luna</i>, lunatics: literally, touched by the moon. </span><br />
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To circle back: <i><b>Madness, Rack and Honey</b></i> is a brilliant champion of the relevance, necessity and place of poetry. Ruefle's chapter on poets and the moon just smacks me over the head (in the best way) with fresh insights about modernity and poetry. After so many reductive critics, claiming that the moon is a simple archetype, a preloaded image, evocative of everything and nothing, Ruefle gives a gracious handling of the subject, ranging from personal anecdote (the foreign cab she was in when astronauts walked on the moon, the unintelligible reports on the radio) to the obvious and necessary research (the front page features after the Lunar Landing, astronaut testimonies). <br />
<br />
And now maybe I can shut the book on poetics of the moon. <br />
<br />
_Sarina, <i>Bookseller</i>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077849304478203717noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33653200.post-8560800050656480242013-03-11T12:00:00.000-07:002013-03-11T12:00:02.354-07:00Ladies of LiteratureThis month saw the publication of the <a href="http://www.vidaweb.org/the-count-2012" target="_blank">2012 VIDA Count</a>, a study of gender representation in literary journals. VIDA's results are, sadly, not that surprising. Male reviewers and male authors hold the staggering majority of feature articles. The VIDA Count surveyed a broad selection of journals, including the <i>New York Times Book Review</i>, <i>the Boston Review</i>, <i>Granta</i>,<i> Harper's</i>, <i>POETRY</i>, <i>The New York Review of Books</i>,<i> Times Literary Supplement</i>, <i>The Paris Review</i>, <i>The Atlantic</i>,<i> New Republic</i>,<i> The Nation</i>, etc...<br />
<br />
The study is revealed in conjunction with National Women's History Month, which began the first day of March. Even more buzz has been generated by the events of the AWP Conference in Boston, including a discussion moderated by VIDA Board Member Cheryl Strayed. (Yes, the Cheryl Strayed of <i>Wild!</i>) And there are some awesome conversations emerging from the most recent numbers, including <a href="http://www.vidaweb.org/counting-amy-king-talks-with-tin-house-editor-rob-spillman" target="_blank">this conversation with Tin House editor Rob Spillman</a>. While the voices of women have come a long way, we certainly have a lot of room to grow, as a culture, towards equality in publishing. But these surveys and talks allow us to reassess our growth, and adjust accordingly.<br />
<br />
_Sarina<br />
Bookseller<br />
<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077849304478203717noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33653200.post-21201238154197981772013-03-07T16:57:00.000-08:002013-03-08T10:35:22.350-08:00Getting Lost<br />
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I just finished reading Rebecca Solnit's <i>A Field Guide to Getting Lost. </i>The book is one-half personal essays that range in topic from relationships to desert walks, from dream narratives about tortoises and the childhood home to the memory of seeing San Francisco from a distance and a height. Solnit parses tales about her ancestors at Ellis Island with observations about light treatments in old photographs. </div>
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It is a beautiful answer to the pressures upon a memoirist: remaining true to experience, relaying something of more than personal import, treating landscape and individuals as precious cargo. The other half is completely fractured, in the best way. Solnit wears a patchwork hat of the cultural historian, art critic, spiritually-bent philosopher, historian of maps and cartography, travel writer and vagabond.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglUpWOvZQOoEyV2sXck5mWWLeulySGje8c2Q3dPqz9J0NOCMPMqCPGbOtkKv3DZAusajCLixsp4BjfLsrxwn4PAeDL9kkrjKWUO-a51l3JUAaLWFfz8srEKnXia2uAGd51YKs5SA/s1600/solnit.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglUpWOvZQOoEyV2sXck5mWWLeulySGje8c2Q3dPqz9J0NOCMPMqCPGbOtkKv3DZAusajCLixsp4BjfLsrxwn4PAeDL9kkrjKWUO-a51l3JUAaLWFfz8srEKnXia2uAGd51YKs5SA/s1600/solnit.gif" width="131" /></a>It's a book about getting lost. It's a book about landscapes---physical, cultural and emotional. Solnit shows so many ways to get positively lost in these landscapes. In our art, in our minds. This book is layered like blankets upon a bed that you just don't want to step out of. </div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">"Airplane flights are usually from city to city, but in between are the untrodden realms to which you can only give approximate labels----somewhere in Newfoundland, somewhere in Nebraska or the Dakotas. From miles up in the sky, the land looks like a map of itself, but without any of the points of reference that make maps make sense. The oxbows and mesas out the window are anonymous, unfathomable, a map without words. I've found out that the wish the plane would do an emergency landing in one of them is widespread among those who go from city to city on their work. Those nameless places awaken a desire to be lost, to be far away, a desire for the melancholy wonder that is the blue of distance." --- excerpted from <a href="http://www4.bookstore.washington.edu/_trade/ShowTitleUBS.taf?ActionArg=Title&ISBN=9780143037248&SKU=&sdb=ALL"><i>A Field Guide to Getting Lost</i>, by Rebecca Solnit</a></span></div>
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<br />
However, like most book lovers, my home library is a point of pride and just about the only home decor I bother with. I have acquired a small wooden bookshelf which I refuse to part with, and the books I own are as much curiosities and trinkets as they are pulp and ink.<br />
<br />
+<br />
<br />
<b>Junk</b>. I wake up every morning to an alarm on my phone. I proceed to refresh my inbox, and immediately receive and delete about twelve messages from various organizations and companies. I get my Poem-a-Day, read my daily Shelf Awareness and, if I'm lucky, read a longer letter from a friend or a colleague. Before I leave my bed, I've discarded over a dozen messages---a dozen thoughtfully crafted, but faceless letters. <br />
<br />
But it takes me hours of rationalizing and a week of material bargaining to attribute worth to my books. I sit with them, remembering the characters, or re-reading the review quotes. Telling myself that I know some of it will stay with me. Telling myself that I might leave this book forever and be okay with it. Telling myself I might never even open this book. I might never read it. I feel I ought to, which is why I bought it, but really, when will I read Goethe's <i>Faust</i> if I haven't yet? <br />
<br />
+<br />
<br />
As hard as it is to wrap the harshness of the word "product" around the sweet reality of a book, I do acknowledge that they are products. That I purchased (mostly). That I believe are a reflection upon myself, my personality. Even the books I haven't read. But I own. Why do books feel so unlike <b>items</b>?<br />
<br />
The books we have read are a part of us.<br />
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The books waiting on our shelves offer us a glimpse of one or several potential selves that we can become. Much like having a carrot and a cheeseburger in your refrigerator. We open the door and see two options for fuel.<br />
<br />
<br />
_Sarina,<br />
Bookseller<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077849304478203717noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33653200.post-19071078187100737782013-02-14T13:31:00.000-08:002013-02-14T14:29:27.257-08:00A Few of My Favorite Things<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglAjkglDVHkizc1TYG4XJzHvrrVnw4jWUQbcGgbl0_jOyvxGN2mdpt6RfLIoYIInAT2cA89Uy5quwpr-ifNghmE2IuSZnDQ-vIVALHZ-1jqy_GAkKFDoidlpTlVSh5f8uoSHOQow/s1600/seabells.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglAjkglDVHkizc1TYG4XJzHvrrVnw4jWUQbcGgbl0_jOyvxGN2mdpt6RfLIoYIInAT2cA89Uy5quwpr-ifNghmE2IuSZnDQ-vIVALHZ-1jqy_GAkKFDoidlpTlVSh5f8uoSHOQow/s200/seabells.gif" width="148" /></a></div>
We all play favorites. My favorite pizza in Seattle is definitely Big Mario's on Capitol Hill. My favorite coffee shop? The lovely Cafe Allegro up the alley from our U-District store. My favorite color is the dark, darkest purple before you lose the hue altogether to black.<br />
<br />
But when I'm asked to select my favorite book... I start tripping over the seeming significance of favorites. I'll say '<i>Well, what kind of book? Favorite book of poems? Favorite novel?</i>' and even then, I'll say, '<i>Favorite book of poems that I've read recently? Or are you talking All-Time Favorite?</i>'<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgIKk_1Ph_fDNyzRe-SgchPKhi0KzTZ0fvygKjA2w1S9uVEG4PZwTHT9aoZhkNVwsWGNr2gF3wNWSHTxLoeFWWe4DJQu-eBsNrYlI0e0OzMjBGfdWYPUskHZmkY_to0ZMe311Jxg/s1600/unbearable.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgIKk_1Ph_fDNyzRe-SgchPKhi0KzTZ0fvygKjA2w1S9uVEG4PZwTHT9aoZhkNVwsWGNr2gF3wNWSHTxLoeFWWe4DJQu-eBsNrYlI0e0OzMjBGfdWYPUskHZmkY_to0ZMe311Jxg/s1600/unbearable.gif" /></a>An All-Time Favorite is basically a Personal Classic. And conferring that small award is not a conscious decision. We don't finish a great book, switch on some epic orchestral theme and ceremoniously apply a seal or ribbon to it. Our Personal Classics earn that title slowly, in the back of our minds.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioXuCBmp_cbnZ2nMIOqa1VShk_LSg6iUjz90YtLCZCUl8qqL3QTXwT1qI9xkLXOS3y5wJZ-idHXIblAm6Ba6WmXf1qoDg8cyLXV48DeH21GRC2S3KfY5zHifEmcdOkvCq51Rkl2g/s1600/mancamel.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioXuCBmp_cbnZ2nMIOqa1VShk_LSg6iUjz90YtLCZCUl8qqL3QTXwT1qI9xkLXOS3y5wJZ-idHXIblAm6Ba6WmXf1qoDg8cyLXV48DeH21GRC2S3KfY5zHifEmcdOkvCq51Rkl2g/s1600/mancamel.jpeg" /></a>One day your friend will be telling you about his relationship problems, and you'll realize how much he is like the character of a book you read a few years ago. You give him advice based on that character. Or a different friend invites you out for drinks, but you tell her you are exhausted, then stay up until 3am reading. Those are your All-Time Favorite books.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgs03EQ38WNt_l1sJHI3s0xiuw0IikS7aSLKIHgMTiUD4B0LFR3rSCAzTE4fte0mmBU97bBos24aGsc7m0iiFeimCJdPY1WEPago7igizmiHvcyZxEcBLlUbSUuyj2rggl9KNl43g/s1600/magicians.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgs03EQ38WNt_l1sJHI3s0xiuw0IikS7aSLKIHgMTiUD4B0LFR3rSCAzTE4fte0mmBU97bBos24aGsc7m0iiFeimCJdPY1WEPago7igizmiHvcyZxEcBLlUbSUuyj2rggl9KNl43g/s1600/magicians.gif" /></a><br />
Here are a few of mine: <i><a href="http://www4.bookstore.washington.edu/_trade/SearchUBS2.taf?_function=list&_searchsrc=external&_start=1">The Sea and the Bells</a></i> by Pablo Neruda, transl. by William O'Daly, a gorgeous bilingual edition; <a href="http://www4.bookstore.washington.edu/_trade/ShowTitleUBS.taf?ActionArg=Title&ISBN=9780060932138&SKU=&sdb=ALL"><i>The Unbearable Lightness of Being</i></a> by Milan Kundera; <a href="http://www4.bookstore.washington.edu/_trade/ShowTitleUBS.taf?ActionArg=Title&ISBN=9780375711268&SKU=&sdb=ALL"><i>Man and Camel</i></a> by Mark Strand; and <a href="http://www4.bookstore.washington.edu/_trade/ShowTitleUBS.taf?ActionArg=Title&ISBN=9780060234973&SKU=&sdb=ALL"><i>The Magician's Nephew</i></a> by C.S. Lewis, because I could re-read the passage about the Woods Between the Worlds every single day and never find it less wonderful.<br />
<br />
_Sarina<br />
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**Share your favorite book with us in the comments!**<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077849304478203717noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33653200.post-36979575587935916352013-01-30T13:04:00.002-08:002013-03-01T15:22:18.035-08:00In a <a href="http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/10/the-longest-nights/">recent blog post</a> for the <i>New York Times</i>' Opinionator, Timothy Egan suggests that the Pacific Northwest gloom and rain is directly linked to its active creative life. Egan argues that our literary community thrives in minimal daylight. That Seattle authors are an odd type of plant.<br />
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And what does the rain do for us as readers? I'll confess that the weather has a tendency to inspire my Netflix queue... but I have been reading a lot, too! My winter has been marked by an appreciation for the lyric essay. Some of the best things I've read lately:<br />
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<a href="http://www4.bookstore.washington.edu/_trade/ShowTitleUBS.taf?ActionArg=Title&ISBN=9780393344356&SKU=&sdb=ALL"><i>The Reenactments</i></a> by Nick Flynn<br />
Essays written by the poet/memoirist whose earlier work, <i>Another Bullsh*t Night in Suck City</i>, was turned into a film starring Robert DeNiro. Flynn writes about the strangeness of watching his life turn into film, and blends anecdote with aesthetic musings on replication, detail and "life-like"-ness.<br />
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<a href="http://www4.bookstore.washington.edu/_trade/ShowTitleUBS.taf?ActionArg=Title&ISBN=9780393339017&SKU=&sdb=ALL"><i>About a Mountain</i></a> by John D'Agata<br />
This particular book emerged from a controversial essay, whose "truthiness" spawned a vigorous debate between author and fact-checker (that debate is now a book, <i>The Lifespan of a Fact</i>). Regardless, <i>About a Mountain</i> is a wonderfully-constructed book about the city of Las Vegas, a young man's suicide there, and the mislaid plans for nuclear waste storage outside of it. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDeSJeh4h_Ne_7WlqgpIJmlDfrjIWFJHgcG0rvj268dhrhXm-Uu5ZQd91mm9n3bg91V_lILy4z916RnWCvkSRhhfie5I4UNQbJtnZVe5Q0-oUUNNdFxf1HA-1NKXsDpiYhk4KDUw/s1600/nelson.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDeSJeh4h_Ne_7WlqgpIJmlDfrjIWFJHgcG0rvj268dhrhXm-Uu5ZQd91mm9n3bg91V_lILy4z916RnWCvkSRhhfie5I4UNQbJtnZVe5Q0-oUUNNdFxf1HA-1NKXsDpiYhk4KDUw/s1600/nelson.jpeg" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://www4.bookstore.washington.edu/_trade/ShowTitleUBS.taf?ActionArg=Title&ISBN=9781933517407&SKU=&sdb=ALL"><i>Bluets</i></a> by Maggie Nelson<br />
Nelson considers this book a work of poetry, and it certainly is. However, this small book built of short, numbered "propositions" leans on the blurred line of the lyric essay. Simply put, this is a meditation on the color blue. In reality, it is a book on loss, inquiry and desire.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;">.<span style="font-size: small;">_S</span>arina<span style="font-size: small;">, Bo<span style="font-size: small;">okseller</span></span></span> </span><br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077849304478203717noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33653200.post-67390872558017500402012-12-20T12:59:00.001-08:002012-12-20T13:19:04.660-08:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">It comes to me that I must say</span> 'adieu' from my blogging days at University Book Store. I have had some great times here, and have been allowed to put my opinions to print which has been one of the more rewarding aspects of my employment. Thanks for taking me in to your homes and making me one of your booksellers.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i>Over the past four years I have read more than 150 books, most of which I liked, some of which I loved. So, I take this final opportunity to give you my top 10 picks for books (from those books read in the past four years.) Is that even possible? Well, I will do what I can.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i>Top books should come to mind effortlessly ... and they should be books that you can easily see yourself reading over and over again, hence an actual physical copy is called for, demanded in fact.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i>The list that follows is not in any order of top to bottom.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span>
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<a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/47/Sunshine_(Robin_McKinley_novel)_cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/47/Sunshine_(Robin_McKinley_novel)_cover.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><i>1. <a href="http://www4.bookstore.washington.edu/_trade/ShowTitleUBS.taf?ActionArg=Title&ISBN=9780142411100&SKU=&sdb=ALL">Sunshine</a>, by Robin McKinley</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i>my all-time favorite vampire novel! ... wish there was a sequel or sequels, but the author hasn't conceded ... not yet ... I do understand about not wanting to be pigeon-holed.</i></span><br />
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<a href="http://www.examiner.com/images/blog/EXID11613/images/The-Road.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.examiner.com/images/blog/EXID11613/images/The-Road.jpg" width="215" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><i>2. <a href="http://www4.bookstore.washington.edu/_trade/ShowTitleUBS.taf?ActionArg=Title&ISBN=9780307387899&SKU=&sdb=ALL">The Road</a>, by Cormac McCarthy</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i>poetic, prophetic (?), dark and dire ...</i></span><br />
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<a href="http://nkjemisin.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/100K2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://nkjemisin.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/100K2.jpg" width="207" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">3. </span><a href="http://www4.bookstore.washington.edu/_trade/ShowTitleUBS.taf?ActionArg=Title&ISBN=9780316043922&SKU=&sdb=ALL" style="font-size: x-large;">Hundred Thousand Kingdoms</a><span style="font-size: large;">, by N.K. Jemisin </span>... a new voice in scifi/fantasy who is already rockin' the house ... I will be reading more of her books ... she seems ready and poised to be a major literary contender.</i></span><br />
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<a href="https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSLYoMSmdtdSfziGXteVtrVPBSn2oa6Y-qXKTWI3QLt1rAsotGZOQ" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSLYoMSmdtdSfziGXteVtrVPBSn2oa6Y-qXKTWI3QLt1rAsotGZOQ" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">4. </span><a href="http://www4.bookstore.washington.edu/_trade/ShowTitleUBS.taf?ActionArg=Title&ISBN=9780805092431&SKU=&sdb=ALL" style="font-size: x-large;">The Reapers are the Angels</a><span style="font-size: large;"> or is it the Angels are the Reapers, by Alden Bell. </span>I always get confused on this title, not because I don't love it, rather because I am thinking too darned much. I love-love-loved the heroine in this somewhat short in length award winner. It spans readership from young adult to adult, with the Alex award.</i></span><br />
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<a href="http://literatehousewife.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/cover-of-bad-monkeys.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://literatehousewife.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/cover-of-bad-monkeys.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">5. </span><a href="http://www4.bookstore.washington.edu/_trade/ShowTitleUBS.taf?ActionArg=Title&ISBN=9780061240423&SKU=&sdb=ALL" style="font-size: x-large;">Bad Monkeys</a><span style="font-size: large;">, by Matt Ruff, a local author. </span>Don't know why it took me soooooooo long to stumble upon this great-funtastic-read?! I won't spoil this for you in any way ... hence end of spiel, except to say that you will be glad to be on the side of those who have read this splendidly unique tale.</i></span><br />
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<a href="http://10thirty.files.wordpress.com/2010/05/the-unit-by-ninni-holmqvist.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://10thirty.files.wordpress.com/2010/05/the-unit-by-ninni-holmqvist.jpg" width="207" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">6. </span><a href="http://www4.bookstore.washington.edu/_trade/ShowTitleUBS.taf?ActionArg=Title&ISBN=9781590513132&SKU=&sdb=ALL" style="font-size: x-large;">The Unit</a><span style="font-size: large;">, by Ninni Holmqvist, translation by Marlaine Delargy. </span>Set in a future where society mandates that those without biological families submit themselves for random medical testing and requisite organ donation. I would be housed here--in the Unit--if this future existed ... to my eventual sad end. Great characters and believable futuristic setting.</i></span><br />
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<a href="https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTy7WZSgkaYX24YypKj42Sn6nbZbC8HOwVG-XC1NWQs3F20MdpOXA" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTy7WZSgkaYX24YypKj42Sn6nbZbC8HOwVG-XC1NWQs3F20MdpOXA" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">7. Engines of the Broken World*, by </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Jason-Vanhee/e/B004Q2AEAE/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1" style="font-size: x-large;">Jason Vanhee</a><span style="font-size: large;"> ... keep on the alert for a-n-y-t-h-i-n-g by this to-date self-published author!</span> A fresh voice in speculative fiction and a dynamite co-worker to boot. May $ucce$$ follow you wherever you go Jason!!! Buy this book!</i></span><br />
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<a href="http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lyp78bjdnr1qa9ux8o1_1280.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lyp78bjdnr1qa9ux8o1_1280.jpg" width="211" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">8. </span><a href="http://www4.bookstore.washington.edu/_trade/ShowTitleUBS.taf?ActionArg=Title&ISBN=9781400095957&SKU=&sdb=ALL" style="font-size: x-large;">Brief History of the Dead</a><span style="font-size: large;">, by Kevin Brockmeier. </span>I loved the cover art on this book of the empty overcoat ... & I am a sucker for good cover art. What happens to us when life ends? This book takes us to the precipice and beyond.</i></span><br />
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<a href="http://www.patrickrothfuss.com/images/page/cover_277.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.patrickrothfuss.com/images/page/cover_277.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">9. The </span><a href="http://www4.bookstore.washington.edu/_trade/ShowTitleUBS.taf?ActionArg=Title&ISBN=9780756404741&SKU=&sdb=ALL" style="font-size: x-large;">Name of the Wind</a><span style="font-size: large;">, by Patrick Rothfuss. </span>Who cannot love this book?!! The author, Patrick Rothfuss, has been to University Book Store on three occasions that I know of and each time he brings such a lovely, welcoming energy to his fans and loyal readers. Thank you Mr. Rothfuss! We love you Patrick! And now all you have to do is to complete your trilogy ... that's all. lol.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><i>And, drum roll, number ten!</i></span><br />
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<a href="https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSrCZ8hx9BZimvniGCdUpglaVHrdz1chHVtktuX-V7knlLzVIYEGw" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSrCZ8hx9BZimvniGCdUpglaVHrdz1chHVtktuX-V7knlLzVIYEGw" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">10. Baking with Julia, by Julia Child. </span>I bought this as a remainder at University Book Store, so it sold for under $20**!!! Remainders or bargain books are a large stock in trade at UBS, and the lovely Miss Nicole can be found on the floor sorting through a plethora of great titles. Come and browse and see what bargains abound!</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i>So, that's it ... were there any surprises? Are you going to buy with the intention to read, any of these titles? I hope so. And I hope you swing by to say goodbye to me. Waaah!</i></span><br />
<i style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: x-large;"><br /></i>
<i style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: x-large;">"<b>Read a book, it's a game changer!</b>"</i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: large;">~Jan O.</span>, </span></i><i style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Book seller for four years at University Book Store.</i><br />
<br />
<br />
<i style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">*For purchase information on this book, call University Book Store and ask for the used book sellers desk.</i><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i>**To see if there are any remainders of this book available, you will need to call UBS and ask for the book information desk.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33653200.post-55144684725927030152012-12-19T11:00:00.000-08:002012-12-19T17:05:40.578-08:00'Tis the season...<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
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This first pick is especially important to me as we consider "shopping local" during the holidays and throughout the year.<i> </i>Independent bookstores appreciate your business, and so do <b>small presses</b>. <i>Bender </i>is out from Washington's own Copper Canyon Press, a nonprofit publisher with offices in Port Townsend and Seattle. Small presses work hard to put out quality literature, so keep an eye out for their books! </div>
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<i> </i><br />
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<i><a href="http://www4.bookstore.washington.edu/_trade/ShowTitleUBS.taf?ActionArg=Title&ISBN=9781556594038&SKU=&sdb=ALL">Bender: New and Selected Poems</a> </i><span style="font-style: normal;"> by Dean
Young</span></div>
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“...Toothpicked samples</div>
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at the farmer's market, every melon,</div>
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plum, I come undone, undone.”</div>
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<span style="font-style: normal;">Unusual,
dense, funny and brilliant—these poems are full of surprises. Try
one. There is beauty on </span><i>every</i><span style="font-style: normal;">
page.---<i>Sarina</i> </span>
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<a href="http://www4.bookstore.washington.edu/_trade/ShowTitleUBS.taf?ActionArg=Title&ISBN=9781594631375&SKU=&sdb=ALL"><i>Lost at Sea</i></a><span style="font-style: normal;"> by Jon Ronson</span></div>
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Fascinating essays by a quirky Brit on subjects ranging from the
oddball guy next door to Stanley Kubrick, from credit card debt to
the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. Offbeat and
entertaining.<i>---Judith</i></div>
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</style><a href="http://www4.bookstore.washington.edu/_trade/ShowTitleUBS.taf?ActionArg=Title&ISBN=9780375866562&SKU=&sdb=ALL"><i>Seraphina</i></a><span style="font-style: normal;">
by Rachel Hartman</span>
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<i>Seraphina </i><span style="font-style: normal;">is
about a young woman caught between two worlds, hiding her true
identity and suppressing her amazing talent for music. Delve into
this world of court intrigue, family secrets and civil unrest.
Seraphina shines!<i>---Morgaine</i></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077849304478203717noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33653200.post-85834578765875008682012-12-18T13:00:00.000-08:002012-12-18T18:18:57.523-08:00Even More Holiday Staff Picks!<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
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Here are some more of our favorite books this holiday season:<i> </i></div>
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<i><img border="0" class="resizeable187w" hspace="10" src="http://www7.bookstore.washington.edu/isbnimage.taf?isbn=0547844166&key=3401e06c9cfb65471da14bcce1bf366f" vspace="0" /> </i></div>
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<a href="http://www4.bookstore.washington.edu/_trade/ShowTitleUBS.taf?ActionArg=Title&ISBN=9780547844169&SKU=&sdb=ALL"><i>Tigress of Forli</i></a><span style="font-style: normal;"> by Elizabeth Lev</span></div>
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Known in her time as the Italian Boudica, Caterina Sforza took on
some of the most powerful men in the Renaissance. In doing so, she
was able to wield power during an era where women had very little.<i>---M. </i></div>
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<a href="http://www4.bookstore.washington.edu/_trade/ShowTitleUBS.taf?ActionArg=Title&ISBN=9781576875926&SKU=&sdb=ALL">Advanced Style</a> <span style="font-style: normal;">by Ari Seth Cohen</span>
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Cohen proves without a doubt that personal style only gets better
with age<i>---M.</i></div>
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--</style><a href="http://www4.bookstore.washington.edu/_trade/ShowTitleUBS.taf?ActionArg=Title&ISBN=9780316200905&SKU=&sdb=ALL"><i>My Ideal Bookshelf</i></a><span style="font-style: normal;"> by Thessaly La Force</span></div>
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How lucky we are to be able to peak inside the minds and onto the
bookshelves of over 100 of today's cultural figures! A gorgeously
illustrated ode to books and reading.---<i>Anna</i></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077849304478203717noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33653200.post-73151859725340283432012-12-16T10:00:00.000-08:002012-12-16T10:00:02.255-08:00More Staff Picks for the Holidays<div align="LEFT" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none;">
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--></style>More staff recommendations to help you with your holiday shopping. This post features an eclectic mix of <b>coffee</b>, <b>comics</b>, and <b>the periodic table. </b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuTgTIC5XNrWgbVjTP864d3_TTGvIjh5YBh4DZPyLLqCUl2FFAmN8L3WNU4khoJlT1OLaU4nf3I_IUlJ37vuhBAA1595XDXlOiXQfdg3TyGUUdGrHRgZPAY32DqpmcOpXcBlnv0w/s1600/coffee.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuTgTIC5XNrWgbVjTP864d3_TTGvIjh5YBh4DZPyLLqCUl2FFAmN8L3WNU4khoJlT1OLaU4nf3I_IUlJ37vuhBAA1595XDXlOiXQfdg3TyGUUdGrHRgZPAY32DqpmcOpXcBlnv0w/s1600/coffee.jpeg" /></a></div>
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<i><a href="http://www4.bookstore.washington.edu/_trade/ShowTitleUBS.taf?ActionArg=Title&ISBN=9781607741183&SKU=&sdb=ALL">Blue Bottle Craft of Coffee</a>: Growing, Roasting and Drinking with Recipes</i> by James Freeman</div>
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Coffee: You might be doing it wrong, but these authors are here to
help, with tips and insights for everyone from coffee novices to
industry professionals. Photos, recipes, and anecdotes complement the
information presented in each section.<i>---Brendan</i></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwfXb_F1mIuLflCjv7o-0G-sR5DYhTOl4QEdfqTxnT4iGARawjUqDt_jMw7V9Ngbv8eRcvp0BGwgp22_Xbwod9LgG_3x4og2F4Z2o2ws2746c_hL7-HD1hyphenhyphen1Sa4ZCKZVySHkZpyg/s1600/comics.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwfXb_F1mIuLflCjv7o-0G-sR5DYhTOl4QEdfqTxnT4iGARawjUqDt_jMw7V9Ngbv8eRcvp0BGwgp22_Xbwod9LgG_3x4og2F4Z2o2ws2746c_hL7-HD1hyphenhyphen1Sa4ZCKZVySHkZpyg/s1600/comics.jpeg" /></a></div>
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--</style><i> <a href="http://www4.bookstore.washington.edu/_trade/ShowTitleUBS.taf?ActionArg=Title&ISBN=9780061992100&SKU=&sdb=ALL">Marvel Comics: the Untold Story</a> </i><span style="font-style: normal;">by
Sean Howe</span> </div>
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The first unauthorized book to tell the behind-the-scenes story of
the greatest comic book company ever—Marvel Comics! 'Nuff said!
IT'S CLOBBERIN' TIME!!!<i>---Ian</i></div>
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'Cute' and 'quirky' are words that usually make me look elsewhere.
But here it's a refreshing and entertaining way to look at chemistry
and the periodic table<i>---Geoff</i>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077849304478203717noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33653200.post-31189950863273107762012-12-14T16:00:00.000-08:002012-12-14T16:23:22.449-08:00Our Staff Picks for the Holidays<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
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<i><a href="http://www4.bookstore.washington.edu/_trade/ShowTitleUBS.taf?ActionArg=Title&ISBN=9781612120287&SKU=&sdb=ALL">Dishing Up: Washington</a> </i><span style="font-style: normal;">by Jess Thomson</span></div>
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<span style="font-style: normal;">There
are many good reasons why Seattle and Washington State have countless
cookbooks paying homage to the local foods—we have such an
abundance of seafood, fruits and vegetables. Jess Thomson is also the
author of </span><i>Pike Place Market Recipes</i><span style="font-style: normal;">.
</span><i>Dishing Up Washington</i><span style="font-style: normal;">
includes the histories of local farmers, cheesemakers,
fishermen...and recipes from our local chefs who benefit from these
producers. The recipes (with enticing photos) are creatively unusual,
while using familiar and exceptional ingredients.</span><i> </i></div>
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<i><span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://www4.bookstore.washington.edu/_trade/ShowTitleUBS.taf?ActionArg=Title&ISBN=9781570617317&SKU=&sdb=ALL">Grow Cook Eat</a></span> </i>by Willi Galloway</div>
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<span style="font-style: normal;">It
would be great to have Willi Galloway as a next-door neighbor. A
Master Gardener and former editor for </span><i>Organic Gardening</i><span style="font-style: normal;">,
Galloway writes in a friendly and encouraging way. She finds joy in
the amazing tastes of thinned sprouts and offers all the information
one needs to grow and sustain herbs, veggies, greens and anything
that can grow in the Pacific Northwest. Exceptional recipes follow in
each chapter to complete one's thrill in growing their own food. If I
had to choose only one book for the kitchen and garden, </span><i>Grow
Cook Eat</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> would be my first
choice.</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077849304478203717noreply@blogger.com0