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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
MizLoo has commented on (4) products
The Paper Garden: An Artist Begins Her Life's Work at 72
by
Molly Peacock
MizLoo
, January 01, 2012
Author Molly Peacock is a poet; her language is varied, sensuous and rich with meaning. Her understanding of the artistic process informs her biography of Mary Delaney, a woman whose early life, uncertain and tenuous as it was, still displayed artistic leanings and sensibility. Delaney was married off at 16 to an alcoholic of 60 something, leading to years of Dickensian unpleasantness. During her lengthy time as a (relieved) widow, she sewed fabulous fabrics into dresses decorated with floral motifs, hoping to obtain a place at the court of George III. The modest inheritance that sustained her widowhood offered her an independence rare to women of her background and she maintained that independence despite despite the courtship of several prominent men. In late middle age, she married intemperately, but happily, only to be widowed again. In retirement, at 72, she noticed that a piece of art paper was the exact color of a flower in the garden, and set about reproducing that flower in layers of paper. The ultimate result was the "Flora Delanica," a collection, still preserved in the British Museum, of nearly 1000 different flowers, accurately and precisely reproduced in layers of colored paper. Peacock describes Delaney's life and work elegantly, with precision and care, interspersing moments in her own life as an artist in words in ways that illuminate the triumphs and sorrows of both women. I have never read a biography anything like this one. It was an engrossing page-turner, a sensitive exploration of artistic effort, an insightful evocation of women's choices and the limits of those choices in two vastly different eras. It was the best work of non-fiction in the more than 150 books I read in 2011.
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Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
by
Rebecca Skloot
MizLoo
, January 01, 2011
Race, class, science, social utility, fairness, love, God, illness, family, health and everything interesting, except warfare, touches on the fascinating true case of feisty, fearless, lovable Henrietta Lacks. Riveting. This book has scientific and historical rigor, wonderful writing, clear exposition of complex cell biology and fabulous, well-drawn characters. How eawsy it is to misunderstand one another; how hard to do the right thing. A wonderful book!
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The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
by
Mary Ann Shaffer
MizLoo
, January 01, 2011
The "Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society" came in the mail early on 2 January 2010 & I finished reading it that evening. What a wonderful way to start the new year. It may turn out to be the best book I will read all year - great characters, a full range of human goodness and badness, humor, warmth, writing so splendid, you don't notice while reading how good it is. I may read it again tomorrow. Written entirely in letters and diary entries, the story of the Nazi occupation of an island off the coast of England, is discovered by a young writer who has spent the war years in London. As she uncovers the story, we discover her. Both are delightful experiences. It's a somewhat better read if you know who Dickens, Austen, the Brontes are, but I think you could enjoy it if you knew nothing about them - one thread is how adult non-readers become enthusiastic, if eccentric, readers due to circumstance. Entirely without preaching, other threads address kindness, wickedness, parental choices, hunger, courage, wit, narrow-mindedness, courtship, loyalty, self-certeredness and self-containment, What is wonderful, to my mind, about this book, is how expansively it embraces a wide definition of what it means to be human. At the end of May, 5 months having passed, I was drawn to re-read this book. It was even better the second time around. A definite keeper.
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Pompeii Uk Edition
by
Robert Harris
MizLoo
, January 02, 2010
This slim novel had a plot of perfect predictability, but the writing was spare and clean, the details of the water system of ancient Rome was clear and fascinating, and the suspense as I waited for the coming eruption was thrilling. I found this book is a free library, read it in an evening, returned it, then after months, went searching for a copy to keep. It's not great literature, I guess, but it held my attention, stayed in my memory and was fresh on re-reading. Loved it!
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