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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
Michael Hockinson has commented on (20) products
Beatles Second Album
by
Dave Marsh
Michael Hockinson
, January 13, 2015
Very much the 33 1/3 for this album, but Marsh devotes way too much ink to demonizing Capitol executive Dave Dexter Jr. for sins, real and imagined, in the label's (mis)handling of the Beatles' catalog in the U.S. with little in the way of interviews or documentation to back it up.
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No Matter the Wreckage
by
Sarah Kay, Sophia Janowitz
Michael Hockinson
, September 14, 2014
At 26, Kay is only in the first act of a long career as a poet. I recommend viewing a few of the many performance videos available on YouTube. My favorite is "An Origin Story," which includes the line I had tattooed on my arm, "But I have seen the best of you and the worst of you, and I choose both." After you've done that, it's time to pick up "Wreckage," a collection of poems from her first decade, showcasing a fresh young voice, honestly earnest and descriptive. "You are my favorite stick of dynamite," she writes in "Brother." She will soon be yours as well...
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Tapping the Source
by
Kem Nunn
Michael Hockinson
, May 06, 2013
I discovered Kem Nunn's fiction through his writing for David Milch's short-lived HBO series, 'John From Cincinnati', about a dysfunctional family of professional surfers set in Imperial Beach, CA. Nunn spent his youth surfing in SoCal, his experiences informing his three "surf noir" novels, of which 'Tapping The Source' was the first, originally published in 1984. Ike Tucker is a motorbike mechanic who leaves his life in the California desert to search for his missing sister, last seen in the company of three men who may have killed her. In course of his investigation, Ike learns to surf, falling into a scene and its seedy underbelly, rife with sex, drugs, violence and pornography. But it's Nunn's descriptions of surfing that really hooked me, crashing like a wave off the page, his characters and situations vivid and well-drawn. If you've never read Kem, this is the book to tap.
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31 Songs
by
Nick Hornby
Michael Hockinson
, January 17, 2012
Nick Hornby and music are like chocolate and peanut butter. Hornby fanatics might know of his collaborations with Ben Folds and the American rock band, Marah, but for the rest of us, Hornby is best known for his brilliant first novel, "High Fidelity." "31 Songs" is very much Fidelity's non-fiction companion, as Nick, as opinionated as Rob Fleming, speaks passionately of music and the integral role it plays in a person's emotional life. Put it by your bedside, right next to your iPod...
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Warm Bodies
by
Isaac Marion
Michael Hockinson
, April 26, 2011
"Warm Bodies" is the next "War War Z" - that's how big I predict this book will become. If you like zombie fiction, this is your next book. If you've never read the genre, I would put this book in your hand and tell you to read the first chapter - it's only ten pages, but I bet you'll be as hooked as I was. The reason is Marion's impressive prose, not simply descriptive, but emotionally resonant. Open this book and you are there. Pre-production for a film version has already begun with Nicholas Hoult ("X-Men: First Class") tapped to play "R," the zombie with a heart - even if it's not beating. Read...
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On Stranger Tides
by
Tim Powers
Michael Hockinson
, November 16, 2009
Nobody does pirates quite like Powers. "Tides" (the basis for the fourth "Pirates of the Caribbean movie) is a heady brew combining the legend of Blackbeard, voodoo magic, bodyswitching, sailing and swordplay. If you've never read this exceptional writer, this makes an excellent introduction.
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Big Star's Radio City
by
Bruce Eaton
Michael Hockinson
, July 16, 2009
The spotlight on Big Star's second LP benefits from exclusive interviews the author conducted with Alex Chilton (a major coup), Jody Stephens and those responsible at Ardent for getting this power pop masterpiece on tape. My only regret is I wish it had been longer! Eaton writes well, succinctly distilling the essence of this group's history and (inevitable) demise in less than 130 pages. With Rhino readying a major Big Star box set this fall, this little volume is a MUST READ for any Big Star fan!
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Snake N Bacons Cartoon Cabaret
by
Michael Kupperman
Michael Hockinson
, June 28, 2009
If you like "The Far Side" and "Bizarro," you're ready for some delicious "Bacon." (Wipe with a paper towel first to remove excess grease.)
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Bootleg The Secret History Of The Other Recording Industry
by
Clinton Heylin
Michael Hockinson
, March 02, 2009
While bootlegging in the 21st century has moved (almost entirely) onto the internet, Heylin's book remains an essential and entertaining history of the boot, as vinyl relic evolving to CD, and the (often inept) attemps by the recording industry to stifle it.
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Joker
by
Brian Azzarello
Michael Hockinson
, January 15, 2009
Nasty good fun! How the Joker mananged to get out of Arkham Asylum is never explained - but who cares? The logical successor to Alan Moore's "The Killing Joke." If you liked Heath Ledger's performance as the Joker, Azzarello and Bermejo have channelled him here.
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B P R D Volume 09 1946
by
Mike Mignola
Michael Hockinson
, November 19, 2008
"1946" is literally a Hellboy story even though the big red guy is only seen in two panels. Exceptionally well-written and drawn, this tale from the early years of Trevor Bruttenholm (Hellboy's "father") and the fledgling B.P.R.D. has all the elements Hellboy fans crave: Nazi occult shenanigans, vampires, demons, and gorillas with bolts in their necks! Sweet!
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Ghost In Love
by
Jonathan Carroll
Michael Hockinson
, November 13, 2008
When Ben Gould slips and hits his head on the ice, he should have died - at least that's what his ghost was expecting. Suddenly, all the rules of life and death have changed, with man taking control away from the grim reaper. This being a Carroll novel, this is not without conquences...
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Wacky Packages [With Stickers]
by
The Topps Company
Michael Hockinson
, June 30, 2008
Return with us now to a time before Garbage Pail Kids, when lockers, Pee-Chees and lunchboxes were festooned with Wacky Packages. If you were a kid in the early 70's, Wackies were very likely your first exposure to Pop Art and (subliminally) anti-consumerism (who'd've guessed people like Art Spiegelmanwere behind it all). Beautifully photographed, with two great essays, this one makes an awesome gift for the big kid inside us all.
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Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (Widescreen)
by
Jay Roach
Michael Hockinson
, May 15, 2008
The best of the Powers trilogy, introducing (but not overusing) Vern Troyer as Mini Me (though the faithful may remember him as mini Napeoleon in Bruce Campbell's "Jack of All Trades" TV series). Heather Graham is delicious as Austin's CIA love interest, Felicity Shagwell, and Mike Meyers outdoes himself as Austin Powers, Dr. Evil and...Fat Bastard. A wonderfully silly homage to Bond films and London in the Swingin' 60's, this is one durable Spy you'll want to watch again and again...yeah, Baby!!!
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Transmetropolitan Volume 01 Back on the Street
by
Warren Ellis
Michael Hockinson
, May 11, 2008
Ellis' masterwork of a violent, bleak and all too plausible postcyberpunk society is as relevant now as it was when Vertigo first published it as a series of 60 comics books between 1997 and 2002. Warren's scathing commentary on politics and consumerism, channeled through his heavily-tattooed alter-ego, journalist Spider Jerusalem, will resonate with the cynic in us all after eight years of "W." Darick Robertson's detailed artwork is the perfect visual match. Funny as hell...in a very dark fashion.
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Drawing Blood
by
Poppy Z Brite
Michael Hockinson
, June 06, 2007
In the early 90's, Brite was a hungry young horror writer whose first two novels were set in the ficticious North Carolina town of Missing Mile. While the protagonists varied, each featured recurring characters, two friends/bandmates, Steve, and the enigmatic Ghost. If you don't have a problem with homo-erotic themes, these are great horror novels, filled with lush imagery and Brite's love of prose. I've always held that in an alternate universe Poppy, rather than eschewing horror, would have continued writing Missing Mile novels and gotten as big as Anne Rice. Poppy and I parted company after her fiction took a more mainstream direction. While her Liquor novels are fine, they just don't have the fire of those first two works.
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The Beatles in Rome 1965: Photographs by Marcello Geppetti
by
Marcello Geppetti
Michael Hockinson
, November 27, 2006
There's a famous line in "A Hard Day's Night" spoken by Paul's grandfather (Wilfred Brambell) that perfectly captures the allure of touring, "I thought I was supposed to be getting a change of scenery. But so far I've been in a train and a room, a car and a room, and a room and a room." Substitute plane for train, and you pretty much have the content of this slim volume, which isn't so much about their four Rome concerts in June 1965 as about the photographer who shot these largely unremarkable photos. In the roughly two dozen photos reproduced, we see the group arriving at the airport, wandering the halls of their hotel, seated at their press conference, and finally onstage at the Teatro Adriano. The text by and large is devoted to lauding Geppetti's candid photographic style, which we are reminded (again and again) gave birth to the paparazzi. This is the kind of niche Beatles book you could actually browse in five minutes and never miss reading again. Marcello's photos would have been much better served illustrating a booklet accompanying a CD of their Rome press conference or (better yet) a Beatleg of their four concerts. Save your money.
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Wave
by
Walter Mosley
Michael Hockinson
, June 11, 2006
Having read nearly *everything* Mosley has done, I can pretty much tell when he's put his heart into a project and when he's just going through the motions. "The Wave" is an example of the latter. Easily the weakest of his three science fiction entries, character development, usually one of the stronger points in a Mosley novel, is neglected in favor of long, drawn-out expositions on The Wave, a life form that has begun replicating dead humans, including our protagonist's father. This one's not a keeper...
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Strange Itineraries
by
Powers, Tim
Michael Hockinson
, May 29, 2006
While this collection is hardly complete (Subterranean Press published "The Bible Repairman" chapbook in 2005), "Strange" does include three short stories not included in the Subterranean hardcover collection "Night Moves" - "Pat Moore," "Fifty Cents" and "Through and Through," the latter two co-written with James P. Blaylock. If you like Powers ala "Last Call"/"Expiration Date"/"Three Days To Never," you're going to love this.
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Three Days To Never Signed Limited
by
Tim Powers
Michael Hockinson
, May 10, 2006
The true first edition of Powers' latest novel, published by Subterranean Press, limited to 474 signed and numbered copies. Set in and around San Bernadino, CA, circa 1987, this one's a heady brew featuring a secret weapon created by Albert Einstein and the trouble it causes for his descendants. Characters include agents of the Israeli Mossad and a blind woman who can see through other people's eyes. The less expensive commercial hardcover is due in August 2006.
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