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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
A R Pickett has commented on (13) products
The Covenant of Water
by
Abraham Verghese
A R Pickett
, June 11, 2023
Characters abound in Verghese's hands, and often in books with such a huge cast, it's easy to get lost. That's not the case here, it was easy to follow the interwoven threads of the stories of all the lives portrayed. We first meet a young girl, still a teenager, on her way to her wedding ceremony. Her husband to be is a much older man, widowed, with a young son. From that first couple, generations unfold filled with happiness and joy, grief and despair, ambitions and failures. Through it all, the family ponders the meaning of what they call "the condition." Several tragic deaths seem to be related to an inability to recover from relatively innocuous falls into a body of water. It will eventually be understood and the long repeated prayer of the that first young woman we meet will be answered by one of her descendants. I really enjoyed the rich descriptions of the area of India where the events take place. I was grateful for the small map at the start of the book, but often wished for a glossary.
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Stress Fractures
by
J. E. Seymour
A R Pickett
, November 29, 2014
In this second book in the series, Seymour continues with her protagonist Kevin Markinson, although it might be more accurate to say that she backs up a step to relate the circumstances which brought him to where we met him in the first book in the series, LEAD POISONING, published in 2010. The action in Seymour’s story focuses on three characters: Markinson himself: twelve year old Danny Rutledge who stumbles on Markinson’s hiding place; and the federal marshal called to the scene of Markinson’s prison escape. Not much of the action in the book involves the various law enforcement agencies, Seymour uses them primarily to provide insight into Markinson’s past and expand the reader’s understanding of him, why he tried a prison break; why he attempts to keep Danny safe; and why he lives his life torn between his criminal associations and the family life he still treasures and yearns to get back to. As this book opens, Markinson is on the run, injured, losing blood, cold, alone, and trying hard to keep his panic and fear at bay. Danny finds him seeking some shelter from the elements in a culvert near a stretch of railroad track. Danny has been the constant target of a group of school yard bullies. Dreaming of the day when he will be a cop or a spy, and an automatic recipient of respect and cooperation from his peers, Danny has often sought solitude in the culvert and furnished it with blankets and water. Forming a tentative partnership, the two take advantage of Danny's mother's absence and return to Danny's home, with rudimentary plans to evade law enforcement already seeking Kevin. Their plans are upended when a small gang of hoodlums breaks in, looking for who knows what, and quickly escalate the tension by threatening both Markinson and Danny. Eventually a large law enforcement contingent surrounds the house and the threatening situation explodes into violence. Officers on the scene are able to secure Danny’s safety; and Markinson manages to elude capture and contacts one of his criminal associates for a change of clothing, medical attention, a brief reunion with his family, and temporary safety. But the federal marshal in charge of the situation has more plans which will threaten Danny’s freedom and Markinson must think through a set of alternatives �" none of which are completely fool proof. Kevin Markinson is an appealing character, in spite of his connections to criminal elements. It’s clear he cares for his wife and sons. Readers who were intrigued by the events in the first book of this series will enjoy learning about what came before. The publisher notes that a third book in the series is under way, and a collection of short stories in eBook form featuring Kevin Markinson �" Blackbird and Other Stories is also available.
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Shards
by
Prcic, Ismet
A R Pickett
, January 01, 2013
A remarkable achievement of both voice and tone. The shifting and blending perspectives of the narrator and the "shadow character" of Mustafa kept this reader slightly off her comfort zone and deeply engrossed. Author Prcic's first language is not English, which makes his accomplishment even more remarkable. Not only the best book I read in 2012, but it joined the short list of best overall books I have assembled since 1998.
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Searching For Tamsen Donner
by
Gabrielle Burton
A R Pickett
, January 02, 2011
One of the best books I've read in a very long time. A very engrossing combination of personal memoir, travelogue, adventure story, and history. Author Burton has a life long fascination with Donner, who was the wife of the leader of the Donner party, stranded in the High Sierras on their way to California. She combines the story of her own personal goal to maintain a life for herself as a writer, while raising five children.
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Lead Poisoning
by
J. E. Seymour
A R Pickett
, December 02, 2010
Enjoyable debut novel follows the life of a career criminal, working in the lower levels of a Manhattan crime organization. When he intervenes in a tense situation, and discovers he has made a misstep, he leaves New York to find his estranged wife living with their two sons in New Hampshire. The family tentatively begins to build a unified life, but the reader remains aware of developments which will threaten their collective futures.
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Searching For Tamsen Donner
by
Gabrielle Burton
A R Pickett
, November 30, 2010
I heard about the author Gabrielle Burton in a discussion on National Public Radio, and something about the tone of the comments sent me in search of this book. It took a little doing - eventually I got a copy through Inter Library Loan. It is a real shame that the book was hard to find, because it's one of the most enjoyable reading experiences I've had in a very long time. She skillfully combines a biography of Tamsen Donner with a memoir of her own experience raising a family and her determination to keep a place in her life for her own identity as a writer. Along the way she throws in an entertaining "road story" of her family's retracing the path of the Donner party, and for good measure adds a dollop of a classic American adventure tale of the expansion of the West. Not many authors can combine themes so skillfully.
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Falling Man
by
Delillo, Don
A R Pickett
, June 28, 2007
The somewhat jerky pace of the book comes to abrupt and chilling coherence in the last ten pages, when DeLillo finally turns to portraying what the moment of impact must have been like. At that point the experience of reading the first two hundred pages comes close to seeming worthwhile. I find I am a little exasperated that other equally worthy treatments of 9/11 have been ignored in the hoopla surrounding FALLING MAN. I refer other readers to Jess Walter's THE ZERO, S J Rozan's ABSENT FRIENDS, and Laila Halaby's ONCE IN A PROMISED LAND. As writers of every stripe respond to that day, we will reap a rich heritage of worthwhile reading. Other authors have paved the way, let's not ignore them!
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(12 of 22 readers found this comment helpful)
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Fourth Bear Nursery Crime 02
by
Jasper Fforde
A R Pickett
, December 22, 2006
Let's see - anthropomorphic bears; atomic cold fusion involving a strain of cucumbers; a theme park recreating the WW One Battle of the Somme; a psychopathic gingerbread man; outsourcing the tooth fairy; porridge and honey regulated as controlled substances; a car which has uncanny things in common with the portrait of Dorian Gray; planning a wedding and trying to decide which Greek god properly belongs on the guest list; Mrs. Danvers (the characterization enacted by Anna Massey) lately of Manderley working as a government investigator; and characters who know perfectly well they are in a book and discuss which plot device to use next. As with other books preceding this one, Fforde manages to present a decent police procedural in spite of it all. A lot of fun!
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(8 of 13 readers found this comment helpful)
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Silence Of The Grave
by
Arnaldur Indridason
A R Pickett
, December 01, 2006
Indridason has been publishing his series set in Reykavik Iceland, and (duh!) written in Icelandic, for several years. Recently English translations have become available and readers who delight in noir have a huge treat waiting.
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(6 of 11 readers found this comment helpful)
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Lost A Search For Six Of Six Million
by
Daniel Mendelsohn
A R Pickett
, December 01, 2006
Very engrossing, and chilling at times. By seeking the answer to the fate of six members of his extended family, Mendelsohn presents an intriguing commentary on family tensions and the twists of history. Not easy going by any means, but still very readable. One of the best books of 2006.
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(10 of 18 readers found this comment helpful)
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Lifeless
by
Mark Billingham
A R Pickett
, October 16, 2006
At once an engrossing crime story with truths drawn from front pages worldwide, and a deeply satisfying character study of a man at the crossroads, LIFELESS will hold you captive until the last page.
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Life, Death & Bialys
by
Dylan Schaffer
A R Pickett
, October 16, 2006
Memoirs can be tricky. Eccentric pastry chefs; the crowded, hot and humid streets of New York; a less than glamorous hotel; memories of a mentally unstable mother and an absent father; a tenuous rebuilding of the ties between father and son, all interspersed with recipies for bread doesn't seem like a combination which would add up to an enjoyable read. But this is a small jewel of a book. Filled with passages which are laugh out loud funny and switching to passages which are poignant, all without missing a beat, LIFE, DEATH AND BIALYS is a warm human story of the two men and how they found their way back to a mutually supportive relationship.
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(4 of 8 readers found this comment helpful)
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Greywalker Greywalker 01
by
Kat Richardson
A R Pickett
, October 16, 2006
This is a quick, riveting read for fans of the "woo-woo" factor. The real strength here is the character of Harper Blaine, a woman with new skills she did not seek out but must now learn to manage. Richardson does a fine job in portraying the tension between Harper's new life and her nostalgia for the simpler more clear cut world she inhabited before her injury. Several subsidiary characters are also nicely portrayed - the young college student who has gone missing, a computer "geek" who matter of factly helps Harper even as he perceives the truth of her situation, and an attractive antiques dealer who hopes to be a permanent romantic person in Harper's life.
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(5 of 17 readers found this comment helpful)
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