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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
Amber Black has commented on (10) products
Storyteller
by
Jodi Picoult
Amber Black
, June 23, 2013
While I thought this was better than a couple of other Jodi Picoult books I've recently read, I'm still having some issues with it. The story is interesting and she definitely moves the plot along at a decent clip (rather than dragging, like some of her books). Minka is a thoroughly likable character with emotional depth and thought-provoking ideas. She uses all her typical Picoult-isms: sections in different character's voices, a legal struggle, the twist ending, unreliable narration, controversial themes, weird romance...you get the picture. I like that when I start a Picoult book I know what I'm going to get: a quick, easy read that provokes some thought. My only real problem with this book is that, like some other Picoult books, everything seems too perfect and suspiciously convenient. Some of the coincidences really pulled me out of the story, being extremely far-fetched. I hope those who read this book don't believe that people who didn't go through this many horrific experiences during the Holocaust aren't as worthy of admiration. This straightforward and fast-moving narrative is definitely worth the quick read.
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Nothing to Envy Ordinary Lives in North Korea
by
Barbara Demick
Amber Black
, June 22, 2013
A great social study of North Korea that introduced me to a lot of the daily details of life that most of us don't know about North Korea. Most of the books on North Korea tend to be history and military related, so it's nice to read one of the (very) few that focuses on the regular people. I particularly like that Demick picked defectors to profile that had diverse backgrounds and attitudes towards North Korea. The stories she picked to tell really showed the different lifestyles and how certain decisions or connections could help or hurt you in the last remaining Communist state. While these stories have their sad points, they were also amazing feats of endurance; these people had to put in a lot of effort to survive, even if they were of higher status. I prefer nonfiction books to give both sides of the story: why would people stay in such a disadvantaged position and why would they want to leave? Demick definitely offers her take on that very question and generated a fair amount of thought after I had finished the book. Unification does not come off as the best solution in this book, nor does defecting. In fact, no realistic solution is proposed, most likely because there is no perfect solution. Overall a marvelous piece of reporting that, despite being several years old now, still has a lot of impact and is important to read for context as North Korea continues to survive and have an impact on international affairs. Highly recommended!
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Thousand Lives The Untold Story of Hope Deception & Survival at Jonestown
by
Julia Scheeres
Amber Black
, June 08, 2013
I'm one of those people who wasn't alive when the Jonestown massacre happened, but I've read some about it before. This book really gave the bits and pieces I already knew a narrative thread by weaving people's disparate stories together into one tale about how a man went crazy and took a lot of people with him. If a reader came away from this book without compassion for the people in Jonestown, I am a little appalled. There was so much evidence of psychological manipulation and physical intimidation by the leaders of Peoples Temple that it seems ridiculous to think of these people as weak-minded cultists. The last hundred pages was just an unending litany of the horrors that played out in that last year and if I can understand how anyone in those circumstances would feel trapped. My problems with this book relate mostly to the style. The narrative jumped back and forth in time, which caused some confusion. Also, certain events were never well-placed within the timeline of the 23 year existence of Peoples Temple, which made it difficult to understand the circumstances. The author definitely conveyed the idea that Jonestown was a "hellhole" and most people wanted out, but never explains why the "100 percenters" still seemed sold on Jim Jones at the end. There are certain occurrences which are barely touched upon and people that were never followed through (the party that was saved by hiking out on November 18th is barely mentioned, no further mention is made of the Simon family after the group leaves for Port Kaituma, etc.). Finally, this is probably a personal preference, but I found some of the events that seemed particularly odious or shocking were not well-cited. I'm sure they were from one of the author's interviews, or maybe mentioned by multiple sources, but for occurrences that could have been sensationalized or hyped in the post-massacre press, I wish there had been explicit documentation (I do, and did for "A Thousand Lives", occasionally check the references for more information). Despite these issues, this is an important and rare book on the topic, being the only comprehensive narrative written about Jonestown since many of the documents were released. Anyone who has an interest in Peoples Temple specifically or the extents of religious (or political) fervor more generally should read this book.
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Under the Banner of Heaven A Story of Violent Faith
by
Jon Krakauer
Amber Black
, June 05, 2013
Despite being a little outdated (mainly due to the massive upheaval in the FLDS in recent years), the history of these groups has not changed since 2003-2004. I found this to be a good primer on the beliefs and history of the LDS and FLDS churches, especially from a non-LDS perspective. In most respects, I found it to be a fairly balanced and well-researched treatise on the topic, despite the scathing review from Elder Turley of the mainline LDS church reproduced in the appendix. Krakauer's response was levelheaded and reflected some of my own views on the Mormon leadership's stance towards willful obfuscation and ignorance. I do not feel like this book reflected a negative view of most mainline Mormons at all, in fact, my enhanced understanding of their beliefs only helps me appreciate their religious point-of-view more fully. I am offended by the accusation of Elder Turley that I am one of those "gullible persons who rise to such bait like trout to a fly hook," just because I do not buy the LDS story hook, line, and sinker. If you read this hoping for true crime, you will be fairly disappointed. Rather it takes an outrageous crime and tries to put it in the perspective of history, social forces, family drama, and religious fanaticism. There is no discussion of crime scene evidence or victim's perspective or any of the other typical trappings of the true crime genre. The narrative does meander a bit and some parts did not flow well (the Elizabeth Smart section in particular seemed to come from nowhere and have little relevance later). Besides that, this is an engrossing study of Mormon Fundamentalism and Mormon history from the perspective of an outsider with a respectful and balanced view. I value outsider perspectives as much as perspectives from the faithful for the well-rounded view they advance, but there seem woeful few modern, non-academic Mormon histories written by someone with no stake in the LDS or FLDS (either as an active or excommunicated member, or some raised in the religion). While the LDS leadership may not like it, I think it's important to remember no one operates in a vacuum, religious groups least of all.
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Across the Universe
by
Beth Revis
Amber Black
, June 02, 2013
As I'm sure it is with most people who read this book, I predicted the ending about 1/4 of the way in. The "secrets" the main characters spend most of the book trying to deduce seemed wholly obvious to me, including the main villain, the reason for the murders, the origin of one of the main characters, and, basically, every major pronouncement. These reveals are not only heavily foreshadowed, but they are extremely clichéd in science fiction and YA. There was only a couple things I predicted that didn't happen, but I'm fairly certain they will in the sequel (or did, since it came out awhile ago). The only ways for a book to rescue itself from disaster when using clichés are either to turn them on their head or to fully embrace them and take them to the extreme. This book does neither and instead just continues on to it's wholly predictable and trite conclusion. Bland, tedious, banal. There were some things I liked, saving this rating from 1 star. I thought Amy was a decent character, although she could have been a lot better. Her inner turmoil seemed relatively believable, albeit a bit dull. I enjoyed Harley's character and wish he had been more prominent, since I thought he had a more interesting point-of-view than Elder. I think some of the elements were well-meshed, even if they were overdone themes. The writing was decent, especially for a YA book. On the other hand, I can't overlook my intense dislike of the other main character, Elder, a wishy-washy creep with no real sense of self. I wanted to hit him about 90% of the time (despite being a non-violent person). He had very few redeeming qualities or moments, but perhaps this changed in the sequel when he's more independent. Some of my dislikes were minor and may not impact other readers' enjoyment. I have a pet peeve for ridiculously short chapters and this had a bunch that were less than a paragraph long. Certain reveals seemed so obvious that it made me question Amy and Elder's intelligence. Things that were presented as important to characters were forgotten and never mentioned again (e.g., Amy evidently forgot about Earth after about a week). Most importantly, several major plot points were either explained via extreme handwave or not at all. As for the audiobook, it was decent, but I started to hate anytime Amy spoke during Elder's chapters because the male imitated a girl's voice. It seemed mocking and really got on my nerves.
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Drood
by
Dan Simmons
Amber Black
, June 02, 2013
I found Drood very intriguing and enjoyed it overall, but this review is not going to make it sound that way. My actual rating is more like a 3.5, but I'm rounding up because my overall impression was more positive than negative. This is one of those books that I know I enjoyed, but I'm having a problem where I keep coming up with more and more things that irked me about it. After giving it a little while to sit in my brain, my impression is that while the overarching story was great, the page-to-page reading was not as smooth. There are a bunch of places where this book really loses momentum, which is why it took me so long to get through it. When you've read 20 pages of the narrator stating that nothing much happened and he's in so much pain and no one likes him, there is no impetus to go on, so I'd read a chapter at a time and feel drained. The factoids on Victorian England were fascinating, but not enough to buoy the melodramatic narrator (Wilkie Collins) and his whinging. On the other hand, the last 200 pages or so were so good that I read them in a single evening. At some point it just became a real pageturner. Unfortunately, at 771 pages overall, that's not much to look forward to. There were scenic gems among the previous 571 pages, but they can be far between. I've read plenty of historical fiction before, but never have I had such difficulty deciding what was real and what was fabricated. It can be disconcerting, but since I'm fairly certain that's what the author was going for, it was extremely well-done. It has a good balance between explicit explanation and open-ended plotting, letting the reader decide for themselves what is true and what was fantasy. Otherwise, I had serious issues with the style. I didn't mind the 1st person, although it's not my favorite, but whenever Wilkie the narrator broke the fourth wall I wanted to roll my eyes. It was trite, ridiculous, and didn't seem to fit the rest of the novel's structure. I'd be enjoying a scene and then to be directly addressed would throw me out of it. A lot of the prose seemed to fit a Victorian writing style, but this really ruined it. Additionally, when he was describing anything untoward, it is not something a Victorian novelist would write and discussing it directly with the reader didn't make it any less ridiculous. That leads directly into my biggest issue, which was the overall feeling of pretentiousness that I got from the book. For awhile I thought it was just the narrator and that wasn't too bad, since it just showed that the author was conveying Wilkie's personality well. Then there was the line where the plot was stated (by the narrator) to be Dickensian. He's complementing himself within his own novel. While it may be that Wilkie despises Dickens and so is actually being derisive, he almost immediately comes to the conclusion that Dickens is the best author he knows. While this is one example, the pretentious overtones became prominent in other places as well. But again, the plot is great with some interesting twists that have plenty of impact, not being too heavily foreshadowed. With some editing this could have been a 5-star, read again, love love love, recommend-to-everyone novel. Instead this is being relegated to the "read and enjoyed somewhat" shelf of my library
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Matched
by
Ally Condie and Kate Simses
Amber Black
, June 02, 2013
This was just a bunch of nothing. Nothing really innovative, no interesting characters, nothing that caught my curiosity. The only saving grace (and what earned this 2 stars rather than 1) was that it was relatively well-written, rather than being full of lurid, purple prose like so many YA novels. That doesn't excuse the lackluster plot though. I don't even care enough about these characters to read/listen to the sequel, which I often do even if I hate the first book in a series. As far as the "romance" which is evidently a necessity in YA books these days, it was completely unbelievable and since that's 3/4 of the book.... I'm tired of these stupid teen-oriented books where people fall in love after three days. I especially hate the trope where they love each other soooooo much after a month that they'll move heaven and earth to be together. I don't know any teenagers like that. Teens who question authority? Sure. Teens who see daydream about finding their one true love? Of course! Teens who fall head over heels on first sight? Yeah. But this is not that scenario and there was nothing in their conversations prior to declarations of love that made me go "Oh yeah, they're made for each other." Overall a big yawn and again happy I didn't waste precious reading time on this and just listened to the audiobook. As far as that goes, they made some very weird editing choices regarding background music, but it's not bad. Definitely not as offensive as some YA audiobooks.
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Under the Dome
by
Stephen King
Amber Black
, June 02, 2013
First of all, this is my first Stephen King book that I can recall. It's totally possible I read some in my teen years and have forgotten, but as an adult, this is the first. The only reason I wanted to read it was because of the mini-series, which I'm glad about, since it seems they've changed a lot (from what I can tell in the commercials). I read this behemoth in four days. It is an engrossing tale that hurtles you along until you can barely catch your breath, let alone stop turning the pages. There were definitely issues with the book, but somehow the story and my fascination as everything came to a head, overshadowed a lot of the problems. Is it a great literary triumph, a book that will change the way I read? No, but it's perfect for a summer read when you want to get lost a new world with a huge cast of characters. That is where Stephen King excels. In many books with this many characters (there are at least 30-40 characters to keep track of) I have trouble remembering who is who after the first 200 pages, but here I got to know who each person and didn't need to rely on the character list. In large part that can be attributed to the exaggerated caricatures King utilizes for some characters, but for a fast-paced novel, it actually works well. After reading several novels with major plot holes, it was nice to once again be treated to an author with a supreme understanding of plot development and fulfillment. King has an almost episodic way of writing. Each section has bits and pieces that slowly swell and developments that intensify until a culmination, before the entire process starts over again, with each section amplifying the next. Reading "Under the Dome" is like sitting down and watching an entire season of a show on Netflix in one sitting. I found some of the characters and occurrences to be too over the top and some truly regrettable lines. I scoffed several times at the idiocy, the cruelty, and the futility of these people. There were some points when confrontations or deaths seemed to have no reason other than to shock and horrify the reader. Also, I could see where this was King's rage against oppressive regimes and a plea for environmentalism, but the denouement really undermined that message, in my opinion. There were other ways he could have played it, which I feel could have had more gravitas, but maybe I'll feel differently once I think about it more. These issues, however, barely detract from the overall novel.
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Kushiels Dart
by
Jacqueline Carey
Amber Black
, September 16, 2012
This is a masterful blend of fantasy, political intrigue, and adventure that could be read over and over again easily. Each time I imagine the reader would find a new aspect to marvel at. I originally found this on NPR’s Top 100 Science Fiction and Fantasy Book List and it was doubly recommended by a friend. I'm now on the third book in the series and it just gets more and more fascinating, although I keep thinking back to the first and thinking it was my favorite. When you first read it, the idea is so fresh that it's hard to stop as every page turned brings more thrills and fascinating interactions. One falls in love with these characters that Carey has created making this long book seem almost too short. Highly, highly recommended!
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Hunger Games 01
by
Suzanne Collins
Amber Black
, January 01, 2011
I bought this on a recommendation from Powell's Daily Dose. I do not usually read YA lit, but I think this transcends such compartmentalization. After reading all three volumes in Collins' trilogy, the first was definitely the most enjoyable read. Her characterizations really build compassion for the characters and the slow build of suspense during the Hunger Games was unexpectedly gripping. Her well-written descriptions of events really lets the readers into her world. Definitely one of the best books I read in 2010! The rest of the trilogy is worth reading as well, but I definitely liked the original best. It could stand-alone if necessary.
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