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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
catfish has commented on (29) products
All My Puny Sorrows
by
Toews, Miriam
catfish
, March 20, 2015
This is a heartbreakingly beautiful book. Considering that most of the "action" in the book takes place in the psychiatric ward of a hospital , beside the bedside of a suicidal concert pianist, the book is amazingly and compellingly readable. It is warm, life-affirming, tragic and even funny. The central relationship between the two sisters--- one a brilliant woman who has everything to live for but doesn't want to and the other, a woman who is trying to get a messed-up life in order but keeps on going in the face of 2 divorces, bad career moves and uncertain future--- is drawn with so much heart and understanding. The subsidiary characters--- the elderly mother who is a hoot and wants to embrace life in the face of a husband and daughter's suicide, the best-friend cousin, the kids, etc, are as carefully and sympathetically drawn as the sisters themselves. I am amazed that with such a dark theme this book could resonate with me so much and make me laugh and cry at the same time.
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Signature of All Things
by
Elizabeth Gilbert
catfish
, November 20, 2013
I loved this book! And even if you are one of those people who hated Eat, Pray, Love, you should give this a try. It is entirely different. A big, sweeping historical novel that spans much of the 19th century with its spirit of scientific discovery and invention, it is also the story of one family, and one woman in particular, her fascination with scientific endeavors, and the relationships, fulfilling and otherwise, that give shape to her life. The novel explores the big issues like the origins and purpose of life, while also being an intimate portrait of a woman's psyche. The characters are wonderful, rich and so real you wish you could know them and have a conversation.
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After Visiting Friends A Sons Story
by
Michael Hainey
catfish
, March 19, 2013
Michael Hainey never got over his father's untimely and somewhat mysterious death at age 35. Growing up without a father he always felt different. Now as an adult, he goes back to find out what really happened the night his father died, a death that occurred in the early morning hours in a street far from home and with no obvious witnesses. In the process of tracking down people who might remember what happened, he learns a lot about himself, his mother, his family and the father he never really knew. It is a haunting and touching story of self-discovery, and the family secrets that we all live with.
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Fault in Our Stars
by
John Green
catfish
, January 30, 2013
Not just for young adults! Best book of the year.
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Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher The Epic Life & Immortal Photographs of Edward Curtis
by
Timothy Egan
catfish
, January 05, 2013
A fascinating look at the life of photographer Edward Curtis and his quest to capture the vanishing way of life of the American Indian at the turn of the century. The book captures the essence of Curtis's photographs-- his treatment of the American Indian and their disappearing culture with respect,honesty,empathy and great beauty --- and his desire to capture these images for all time.
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Where'd You Go, Bernadette
by
Maria Semple
catfish
, January 01, 2013
Hilariously funny send up of all things Seattle and Microsoft culture .
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The Orchardist
by
Coplin, Amanda
catfish
, December 14, 2012
This is a beautiful, sparely written book about a lonely orchardist in Eastern Washington, who helps two pregnant teenage runaways who appear on his property, with consequences that change all their lives. The rugged landscape of Eastern Washington is a fitting backdrop for this quietly powerful story of family, love, loss and change. Even after finishing it, I was haunted by the bitterweet tale and the deep emotions that bind the characters.
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And the Pursuit of Happiness
by
Maira Kalman
catfish
, November 03, 2012
Reading Maira Kalman's musings on the founding fathers and the basis of our democracy is wonderful, and even more pertinent in an election year. Her charmingly quirky observations on Jefferson, Washington,Franklin and others are offset wonderfully by her simple illustrations. The book was informative, thought-provoking and even funny. It was simply delightful.
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Why Read Moby Dick
by
Nathaniel Philbrick
catfish
, March 02, 2012
If you have not ever read Moby Dick, this small but eloquent book will make you feel you are missing out on greatness, if it doesn't make you run to read it right away. If you have read Moby Dick, you will want to reread it . Philbrick manages to convey the poetry, humanity and brilliant storytelling of Melville's greatest novel, while also shedding light on Melville's life and art, all in 125 persuasive pages.
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Strangers Child
by
Alan Hollinghurst
catfish
, January 16, 2012
In the years before WW I, a young Englishman brings his friend (and lover), an up and coming poet, back to his home.During the weekend that follows, the poet captivates the family, including the man's sister, and leaves a scrawled poem that turns into the start of the myth that follows his death in the Great War.The chapters follow the fortunes and family secrets from that time up to the present,. It brilliantly captures the way perception changes memory and how hidden secrets gather weight over time. Beautifully written and reminiscent a bit of Atonement, the book is haunting and compelling.
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State of Wonder
by
Patchett, Ann
catfish
, January 02, 2012
Couldn't put it down.
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The Snowman: Harry Hole 7
by
Jo Nesbo
catfish
, January 02, 2012
Twisty plot turns, creepy serial murders, lots of atmosphere, great dysfunctional Scandinavian detective! What more could you want in a thriller.
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The Snowman: Harry Hole 7
by
Jo Nesbo
catfish
, August 17, 2011
In Oslo, a serial killer only known as the Snowman is on the loose and his killings may go back decades. The only message he leaves with each brutal killing is a freshly made snowman, with a hideous detail of the murder. This suspenseful, terrifying, intricate mystery is Stieg Larsson on steroids. Harry Hole is my new favorite world weary Scandinavian detective. I can't put the book down!
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One Day
by
David Nicholls
catfish
, July 11, 2011
Read this book before the movie comes out! They are bound to ruin it-- it is a funny, sweet, charming, smart story of 2 friends and their near misses as romantic partners. Part Nick Hornby, part Harry Met Sally, it traces the friendship of two college classmates and the ups and downs of their lives, separately and together. A hard book to put down and hard to forget.
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A Game of Thrones: Song of Ice and Fire 1
by
George R R Martin
catfish
, July 10, 2011
This book has been kicking around the library where I work for several years and apparently has had a fantasy cult following for years as well. Needing a good escape book after recent surgery, I picked this up to read, having heard good things about the HBO adaptatin. Boy was I blown away beyond my expectations. In addition to being instantly gripping, Martin creates a comlex medieval-style world with multitudes of fascinating characters, intrigues, humor, lust, loyalty, ...and not a dull moment. I never thought any fantasy could top Lord of the Rings for me but this might-- the 800 pages flew by and now can't wait to get my hands on book 2. Glad to hear the 5th is coming out soon because I would not be able to wait the five years it took him to write it...
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Lotus Eaters
by
Tatjana Soli
catfish
, May 31, 2011
The Vietnam War as seen through the eyes and lens of a fictional female photjournalist (loosley based on the experiences of the few women photographers who took part in that war)-- this book is a gripping chronicle of war and its devastation on all who are involved: Helen Adams who goes to Vietnam to come to terms with her brother's death in the war, but discovers a passion for the place and for another married combat photographer. Linh, a Vietnamese with a secret past and divided loyalites . And Sam, the veteran war photographer who is addicted to his profession but is torn between his work and Helen. An beautifuly written war novel, a romance, and a story of strong pasions and characters. Hard to put down.
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History of a Suicide My Sisters Unfinished Life
by
Jill Bialosky
catfish
, May 02, 2011
After 20 years, the author tries to come to terms with her baby sister's suicide. In this heart-wrenching account, she looks at suicide from many perspectives-- the emotional, psychological, poetic and the personal-- as she recounts her sister's short life. We really experience her personal pain and come to know her sister, even if we never really understand what led her to kill herself. The book stays with you long after you finish reading.
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Year of the Flood
by
Margaret Atwood
catfish
, January 16, 2011
Along with Atwood's first book in the cycle,Oryx and Crake, this is one of the most terrifying and absorbing dystopian novels I have read in a long time. The vision of the future is not so far away from reality, even though the world has pretty much descended into chaos-- controlled by large scientific corporations and despotic CorpSeCorps men. Gene-spliced creatures are taking over the earth and humans live in a false utopia of artificilly "grown" Chicken Nubbins, HappyCuppa, and ANooYoo rejuvenating products. God's Gardeners, a quasi religious cult, exists in the shadows, trying to bring man back to nature, but just as insidious in its fanaticism. Totally absorbing. I can't wait for the third (and final?) book.
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Skippy Dies
by
Paul Murray
catfish
, January 02, 2011
I couldn't stop reading this book. NOt only did I want to find out the cause of SKippy's untimely death, but I was totally engrossed in the story of this Catholic boys school its misfit students and their ambivalent yet creative young teacher, and a host of other fascinating characters. Sad yet darkly funny, and very real.
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Molto Gusto
by
Mario Batali
catfish
, September 19, 2010
Wonderful and simple yet elegant recipes, accompanied by fabulous mouthwatering photos. Lots of basic Italian recipes using fresh produce and pastas that can transform your everyday eating habits. Makes you want to run out into your garden (or the farmer;'s market) and pick out the freshest produce, cheeses, meats,etc. to use in your cooking.
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Faithful Place
by
Tana French
catfish
, August 08, 2010
Like Tana French's wonderful first two novels,In The Woods and Likeness, this book is more than a suspenseful who-done-it, but a study in character-- most specifically the character of the detective who is out to solve the case. In Faithful Place, the murder hits close to home. Frank MacKey, an undercover cop in Dublin, has to relive a tough past when the body of the girl he planned to run away with years ago turns up 22 years later, along with her suitcase and her ferry ticket, at the abandoned house where they were supposed to meet. Ghosts of the past haunt the book-- the girl, who he thought had stood him up but maybe hadn't, his dysfunctional family , the old neighborhood and all the hidden secrets,grudges, and griefs that still linger. Impossible to put this book down!
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Let The Great World Spin
by
Colum McCann
catfish
, July 10, 2010
My favorite book of this year-- so human and wonderful and heartbreaking and life-affirming. The characters became so real to me that I forgot they were fictional. I cared so much about their lives and their tragedies and joys that I could not forget them once the book was finished. And the New York of the book, both the actual and the imagined, just came to life.McCann is a true genius!
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(7 of 9 readers found this comment helpful)
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Imperfectionists
by
Tom Rachman
catfish
, July 06, 2010
Each of these linked short stories is a small gem of a character study. Poignant, funny, insightful looks at the members of an international newspaper, based in Rome,that is on its last legs. We learn so much about each character's dreams, desires, frailties and failings through writing that is precise and lovely. And each story ends with a twist.Running through the stories is the backstory of the newspaper's origins, which ties them all together and is at the end heartbreaking and bittersweet.
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Brooklyn
by
Colm Toibin
catfish
, March 25, 2010
In Brooklyn, Colm Toibin tells the story of Eilis Lacey, an Irish girl who emigrates to Brooklyn in the 1950's, in beautiful, deceptively simple prose. We see Brooklyn completely through Eilis's eyes-- at first as a lonely and foreign place, very different from her small town in Ireland-- where ethnicities mingle and the Dodgers reign and black Americans are just beginning to be accepted into white society. And where Eilis at first feels homesick but gradually begins to create a life and fall in love. The idea of home and family and responsibility and what those words mean to Eilis's life runs through the book. And the twists of the bittersweet ending, where she has to choose between the two lives, has a deep emotional impact. Great book!
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(2 of 3 readers found this comment helpful)
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The Man in the Wooden Hat
by
Jane Gardam
catfish
, December 03, 2009
What a wonderful companion piece to Gardam's Old Filth. The wife of Sir Edward Feathers, affectionately known as Old Filth (Failed in Hong Kong, try London, ) brings her side of their marriage to light. A touching, human, portrait of a marriage that survived over 50 years with its ups and downs. It is wonderful to see the memories in Old Filth from his wife's point of view-- and have some of the secrets from the first book clarified. The longing for a child that hangs over the marriage, the intermittent affair with a colleague of her husband, her uncertainties about the marriage, -- all things that were only hinted at in the first book, are rounded out here, creating a richer portrait of both people.
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By A Slow River
by
Philippe Claudel
catfish
, April 15, 2009
Beautifully and hauntingly written, By A Slow River is the story of a child's murder. But it is much more-- the story of a small French town a few miles from the fromt in WW I, the ramblings of a policeman who is haunted by the past, characters who try to live a normal life in the shadow of the war, a town haunted by death. The ambiguity and atmosphere of the book remain with you long after it ends.
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English Major
by
Jim Harrison
catfish
, January 11, 2009
Cliff, a randy 60-yr-old codger is one of the most appealing narrators you will meet this year. After his wife leaves him for an old classmate, he sets off on a cross-country road trip, guided only by a puzzle map of the U.S. and a desire to escape his past. Along the way, he muses about (and sometimes indulges in)women, sex, literature, farming, his dead-dog Lola,fly-fishing and life. A wonderfully funny, raunchy, philosophical book that makes you realize that you are never too old to give up living.
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The Elegance of the Hedgehog
by
Muriel Barbery
catfish
, November 14, 2008
If you want to read a charming, sweet, philosophical,wise and sad book about a 54-four-year-old Parisian concierge who lives almost totally inside her head because she doesn't believe she can aspire to friends beyond her social class, but finds kindred spirits in a 12-yr-old girl, a Portuguese housekeeper and a wealthy Japanese widower who shares with her a love of Tolstoy, Vermeer and Mozart, read this. It is an absolutely life-affirming book.
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Ghost Train to the Eastern Star on the Tracks of the Great Railway Bazaar
by
Paul Theroux
catfish
, October 14, 2008
Paul Theroux makes travels through even the most forbidding countries fascinating. It is his insights into the culture, politics, everyday life and people of each place he visits that makes his writing more than mere description of travel but real social commentary. And in this current trip, a revisiting of his journey in The Great Railway Bazaar, he explores views of America held by the people he meets along the way. A lot has changed since his previous trip but a lot has remained the same.
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