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Powell's Staff:
Five Book Friday: In Memoriam
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Every year, the booksellers at Powell’s submit their Top Fives: their five favorite books that were released in 2023. It’s a list that, when put together, shows just how varied and interesting the book tastes of Powell’s booksellers are. I highly recommend digging into the recommendations — we would never lead you astray — but today...
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Brontez Purnell:
Powell’s Q&A: Brontez Purnell, author of ‘Ten Bridges I’ve Burnt’
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Rachael P.:
Starter Pack: Where to Begin with Ursula K. Le Guin
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Customer Comments
Nulaanne has commented on (8) products
Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis
by
J.D. Vance
Nulaanne
, April 23, 2017
Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance is the book that my book club decided to read this month. The wait list for this at the library was astronomical; I think I was number 456 for the book, and 594 for the audio version. The subtitle for this is "A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis". That should give you a hint that this is going to be about a life story, with a bit of the culture of that family tossed in. Nope. There was passing mention of his family and life as a child/teen/young adult, but most of this was a socio-economic commentary on the state of what he called working-class whites. His writing primarily focuses on the steel mills, and those who worked there. Statistics abound in this book, there are several reference notes for each chapter. This is not what I think of when I think of a memoir, I think of the stories that people tell when they go home for Christmas. Most of them start with "remember when", or "tell me about the time". There were a few of those in this book but not a lot and for myself I would rather have more of the story than of the basis of the facts. One thing that made me angry about this book was when he partially blamed his grandfather's alcoholism on his grandmother's behavior. Could that have been a factor on why the man drank? Maybe, however, that is not always the case nor it is always a deciding factor. If you are looking for facts on Hillbillies read this book; if you want to know about a young hillbilly's life, look for another one.
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Everything I Need to Know I Learned from Dungeons & Dragons A Dungeons & Dragons Novel
by
Shelly Mazzanoble
Nulaanne
, January 16, 2014
This book has been on my reading list for a while, and while I said that the first book of the year that I was going to read was going to be The Name of the Rose with my recovery I needed to start out with something not so intimidating. OMG where to start with this book, maybe a little background on me. I started playing D&D when I was in my late teens, I still play D&D, I love D&D. That is enough about me. On to the book. I started reading this late a night, then in the morning I took it to the laundry mat with me. NOT a good thing for me to do that day. Why? I had ear buds in, reading the book and I was laughing so hard that I had tears rolling down my face. The other people in the laundry were all looking at me like I was possessed. In the book she starts each chapter with a conversation with her mother, and what self help book that she has sent Shelly that week. She talks about life, going out side the comfort zone, and of course D&D. I no longer have the book in my possession, a friend of mine has borrowed it. Then when I get it back my son wants to read it. Read this book if you like funny, D&D, memoirs, funny but do not eat or drink anything when reading it. Remember ale out the nose is not fun and it hurts.
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Book of Secrets
by
Chris Roberson
Nulaanne
, March 20, 2013
If I had to describe The Book of Secrets by Chris Roberson in one word it would be interesting. I love books that are mystery's that involve religion, books and puzzles. That is what from reading the blurb on the back of the book I thought this one would be. It was not, but it was not a bad book. The back of the book talks about a secret in human history that is found in old pulp sifi stories. No, not really. There is a secret that has been hidden in history, but not in sifi stories. The stories are more along the PI/Crime fighter/pirate/cowboy line. No odd aliens or anything more advanced than a cell phone. Then I am not to sure about that. The pulp stories all tell of a hero called The Black Hand or Hands as sometimes the case may be. But, this book is also about a stolen book, and not for the book itself but for the secret it contains. One that could change the world, or change what world is lived on. That might be where the sifi stuff comes in at, but it really is more a retelling of, well if I put that in here that would be a spoiler and I am not about that. It was a fast paced book and when reading it I kept expecting to hear an old movie mystery sound track that plays dundundunnnn when a clue or a secret was reviled, but only when reading the pulp fiction parts. I read this for my TBR pile challenge. QUOTE Pg. 150 "Royce Crayton, to be charitable, was the oddest duck in the entire lunatic flock I'd collected over the years."
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Onaedo -The Blacksmith's Daughter
by
Ngozi Achebe
Nulaanne
, December 29, 2012
I will have to say that this is not the typical book that I read it was chosen as I love to read local authors and Dr. Achebe is not only local for me but a co-worker as well. That being said on to the book. This is going to be one of the more difficult reviews that I have had to write. Let me start with a question. Do you know how when watching a movie or reading a book you know something bad is going to happen to the main character, and there is that feeling of fear in the gut that just does not go away? That is what this book made me feel. From reading the synopsis that I knew going in that this book would have that feeling to it. I knew that there would be parts that I did not want to read. in fact several times I had to put the book down and walk away. That being said, the story is fascinating, one that I am so glad that I read. I know about our history here in the states dealing with this subject matter, and I know that it also occurred in the rest of the world, but never thought about it. For me the hardest part of the book other than the feeling it gave me was learning the names of the people. Igbo names are not common to me and it took a few chapters to get them set in my head. I am sure that I am still mispronouncing them when I read them. The book has a very slow pace, and for this subject matter that is a wonderful thing. The book also makes me wonder how many other stories out there are waiting to be told. Dr. Achebe has told me that there is another book in the works. Now, I just have to find out when it comes out so I can finnish reading this story of a most fascinating woman. In my reviews I try not to give away anything about the book as I do not want to spoil it for other readers. This is a book I want someone to read so we can talk about it.
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Secret Atlas Book One in the Age of Discovery Trilogy
by
Michael A Stackpole
Nulaanne
, December 10, 2012
I gave this book three stars when I wanted to give it just a little bit more than that. I did "really" like the book at least two thirds of it. Then I would get to the part where the Princes were and my brain would glaze over. Each chapter of the book it about a diffrent character and that makes reading the book very easy. The book follows the story of a family of cartogrophers and as in any fantasy book the start of their adventures. Keles, Nirati, and Jorim Anturasi all set out on diffrent adventures. Keles across the land sent out to find someone something possably death. Nirati is looking for her talent. Jorim is out charting the seas and coasts unexplored. This is the part of the story that I like the adventure. There are Nine Princes who rule this part of the world, and the two that the book is following just bore me. I am not sure if it is all the politics or if it is all the pomp that is written into the chapters. What I mean by the pomp is the holding of bows to the proper length of time, colors of cloths that match rank. I found that all rather annoying. I did like that a few of the what I thought were going to be minor characters look like in the next book are going to have a bigger roll. I am going to be reading the next two books, just because I want to see what happens to Keles, Jorim and a few others. The other thing that set funny with me was that the characters had a most European feel to them but very Asian customs. I would get deep intot the story of what I was reading and then one of the Asian customs would pop up and break me out of my reading "zone".
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Hens Teeth
by
Manda Scott
Nulaanne
, November 14, 2012
I originally picked Hen’s Teeth by Manda Scott for one of the Orange reading challenges. While this book did not win the Orange Prize it was on the long list in 1997. When I did not read it for the the Orange list, I decided to put it on the TBR reading challenge, and to be honest I did not expect to like this book. Not, because of the subject matter but because almost every book I have read for the Orange I have not liked. I did like Ursula Under that I read for Orange but that was another post. This time I want to talk about Hen’s Teeth. I liked Hen’s Teeth for two reasons. One is I could not figure out who did it. This for me was wonderful. Many of the mysteries that I have read are easy to figure out or the author discloses who did it at the beginning of the book, and works back to solve it. I love mysteries that I cannot solve in the first few pages. The second thing that I liked about this book is that the main character was LGTB, but that was not the focus of the story. The story was about the whodunit and why. The LGTB was put in there are this is who I am and there were other characters in there who were either bi or straight. That is so hard to find in a lesbian character driven book. I will look and see if there are more mysteries by this author involving this character
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Dark Wife
by
Sarah Diemer
Nulaanne
, June 04, 2012
I loved this retelling of Persephone and Hades. This YA is a bit more on the romance side and there is a possable trigger in there for some people. One of the things that I most enjoyed about this book is that when there was a bit of sex it was almost a "fade to black" type of writing. Nothing graphic. The story is told from the view point of Persephone, of her first meeting with Hades. Of learning that all tales are not truth. Including the ones told about Hades. There is not a lot of character development in this story, but we are talking about immortal gods and goddess who see no reason to change. Sarah Diemer is now one of my favorte authors.
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Adventures of the Princess & Mr Whiffle The Thing Beneath the Bed
by
Patrick Rothfuss, Nate Taylor
Nulaanne
, September 10, 2011
I loved this book. I loved the art work by Nate Taylor, I think that his pictures were perfect for the story. As the inside cover says this is not a book for children. That is if the child still believes in monsters, and things that go bump in the night. This book will have a place permantly on my shelves.
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