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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
h2oetry has commented on (10) products
Freedom
by
Jonathan Franzen
h2oetry
, January 02, 2011
This book does not need anymore attention than it has received already, but it has deserved the praise. I think there were 4 or 5 sentences that were cringe worthy, which reminded me that he is human, and that the rest of the book is that spectacular. This is a must read, and a must re-read. You already know about it, so I won't blurb the plot. http://bit.ly/dLOqej
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Lost in the Funhouse
by
John Barth
h2oetry
, January 02, 2011
John Barth is hit and miss for me, although he is mostly a hit. Sort of like juggling with bowling balls -- it's like, okay, I see what you are doing -- I'm impressed -- and I might be able to do that if I tried for awhile, but I'm not going to, thank you. Once you figure out essentially what Barth is doing, his writing is incredibly enjoyable. Lost in the Funhouse is Barth at his best. His humor is on point and the fact that he makes the reader work a bit means more appreciation, and much payoff upon completion. This is a series of connected short stories with echoed, developed themes that eventually (continually?) circles back upon itself. once upon a time there was a story that began http://bit.ly/dLOqej
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Europe Central
by
Vollmann, William T.
h2oetry
, January 02, 2011
How many dense 800+ page novels can I get through without hitting my head against a wall? Not sure, but here's another. Vollmann reigns supreme among living writers. I can't think of another American literature writer more prolific than Vollmann, and I'm going all the way back to the country's founding. A historic novel set in early 20th century central Europe, EC depicts the mindset of many people (most are historically famous) put in moralistic binds during warfare. A modern War and Peace, essentially. His treatment of composer Dmitri Shostakovich is standout. I've never read such beautiful prose describing music anywhere. If it were any more beautiful, it would actually be the music he is describing. Shostakovich was easily my favorite "character" in the novel. The book makes use of plenty of source material, so it is essentially true history, only Vollmann employs artistic characterization to put a compelling narrative at work. A book of this magnitude seems like it would take decades upon decades upon decades to put together. Vollmann must have access to some of the best stimulants around. At times it's difficult connecting the characters - some are brief and have seemingly no connection to others - but that's the thing. Each portion is meant to stand on its own, offering the worldview of that particular German/Russian person. I preferred the Russian parts of the book more than the German (which surprised me). Europe Central succeeds in showing what it was like to live in a tumultuous time, and the difficulties humans have in trying to connect or disconnect with one another. I'd like to read this book again at some point, and think you'd be well to do the same. http://bit.ly/dLOqej
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Soul of Baseball A Road Trip Through Buck ONeils America
by
Joe Posnanski
h2oetry
, January 02, 2011
Posnanski writes passionately about a subject in which he's immersed himself in for years now: baseball in general, and Buck O'Neil specifically. Buck O'Neil is one of the most optimistic individuals I've ever read about in non-fiction works. A former Negro Leagues player and manager, O'Neill carried the stories and legends of those years around the country to fans and the curious. He'd constantly correct those who misunderstood what the Negro Leagues were like and tried to offer the wonders of the game, which reflects his true love for the national pastime. The book offers a great glimpse into a sport loved and loathed by Americans. I great read for fans and 'meh's alike. http://bit.ly/dLOqej
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Point Omega
by
Don Delillo
h2oetry
, January 02, 2011
In short? It's about a secret war advisor and a young filmmaker. Well before the book graced shelves, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin coined the term Omega Point, described as a maximum level of complexity and consciousness towards which the universe appears to be evolving. The novel records the exchanges between a retired academic, Elster, and a documentarian, Jim. Elster, at the end of his storied career as a scholar and wartime philosophizer for the U.S. government, retreats to the desert to enter his final stage of personal consciousness and introversion – his own Omega Point. Finley’s goal is to persuade Elster to make a one-take film with Elster as its single character – “Just a man and a wall.” The novel’s framed by scenes of an art installation by Douglas Gordon, shown at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 2006, entitled “24 Hour Psycho.” In it, Hitchcock's movie is slowed down to complete a single showing over 24 hours. This stands as a reference point for the novel’s many meditations on time. “Point Omega” is small yet intense novel that emphasizes that the important things in life are not the big sweeping events, but the small moments and micro-moments that we live. The type of things that make time stand still. Perhaps he presents his ideas in such a condensed format because he wants us to slow down and read them again. You can read this in a day, but when you do, slow down and really pay attention to DeLillo, I think you will be rewarded. He's easily one of my favorite living authors. http://bit.ly/dLOqej
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2666
by
Roberto Bolaño
h2oetry
, January 02, 2011
2666 is a great read, though you should know that it is exhausting on many accounts. During the fourth section(of five), entitled 'The Part About the Crimes,' I had to put it down for nearly a month. The fourth section details hundreds of murders - mainly women. So, if you're squeamish to myriad details of death, be warned. A constant theme, to me, throughout the novel is concealment, whether it is the history of main characters, a beautiful part (my favorite in the novel) comparing written works to a forest, or the crimes, etc. I could go on and on with more, but you should read the book yourself. It was worth the pain and suffering of getting through the novel. Read it! http://bit.ly/dLOqej
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Underworld
by
Don Delillo
h2oetry
, January 02, 2011
Underworld (You might think it that vampire movie - it is absolutely NOT that movie) is such an evocative title for a novel, especially when coupled with its cover's depiction of the Twin Towers covered with clouds and a flying bird angled in an eerily airplane looking way(this book came out in 1997). Not to mention several passages regarding the Twin Towers that read with new resonance after 9/11. But that isn't really what the novel is about; it's an opportune accidental feeling carried throughout the book. I digress. DeLillo begins Underworld with pages describing Bobby Thomson's walk-off homerun (afterward called The Shot Heard 'Round the World). DeLillo places the reader at this game in the crowd at the legendary Polo Grounds in New York; you needn't enjoy baseball to like this setting. Thomson's homerun, which clinched the 1951 National League pennant for the New York Giants, erupts an emotional fanbase into pandemonium. A young fan, Cotter Martin, sneaks in to watch the game, eventually snagging the incredibly historic homerun away from another fan he'd just befriended. DeLillo (and history) describes this game as the same day the Russians tested a nuclear bomb. The Cold War has commenced, and the baseball takes the reader through time (the years between 1951 and 1997), as it passes through the hands of various owners. The narrative explains the American experience of Russia vs. America while mingling fictional characters with various heroes of cultural history (Frank Sinatra, J. Edgar Hoover, Lenny Bruce among others). Underworld covers the conflict in close detail and from a street level perspective. It's definitely a novel for anyone fascinated in global politics, media and culture. Klara and Nick, the main characters, meet up in an Arizona desert in the 1990s and meander back in time as the story jumps chronologically through them and others until the early 1950s. Big events play out on the national stage, and each character's motivations and circumstances are shown, hinting that each life story shares synchronicity; the snapshots of the characters slowly intertwine into each others' lives. The baseball is viewed by many of the characters as an object with a history; by simply owning the ball they feel they'll also get the history that comes along with it. A preacher in the book discusses how history's found in the most common of places -- only that it's hidden where few think to look. By learning the history of objects the characters become more in focus with themselves and society. Some characters deal in various types of waste: human waste, nuclear waste, garbage, etc. Every product, package, wrapper or explosion has a consequence. This is the core of Underworld -- it is the waste that humankind feverishly tries to hide away like a secret. But it's always there, and eventually we're forced to confront the waste we create and the fears that we hide behind, holding us back from true desires. Sure, the chronology is a bit jumbled, but it all ties together in the end. The rewards of persevering through this dizzying novel are endless. The dialogue driven narrative means that good listeners will enjoy this book. Reading another DeLillo novel before Underworld will help an intimidated reader, but is not a necessity. In brevity, Underworld finds roots of today in the small moments of the past. Postscript: DeLillo has said that the inspiration for Underworld was the October 4, 1951 front page of The New York Times. Essential reading: the Lenny Bruce comedy routines about the Cuban Missile Crisis in the novel. If, AND ONLY IF you can't make it through the entire book, read the first section about the baseball game, and then the Lenny Bruce routines which are found on pages 504-9, 544-8, 580-6, 590-5, and 623-33. They are remarkable in context of the novel, but are able to be read independently of the story with great results. Upon finishing the novel, these were the areas that I shuffled back to immediately. http://bit.ly/dLOqej
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All Is Forgotten Nothing Is Lost
by
Lan Samantha Chang
h2oetry
, January 02, 2011
Anyone who has thought about being an artist of any sort, this short novel concerning a small group of poets at an MFA program is just what the doctor ordered. Love, loss, creation, destruction -- it's all in there, packaged up in tidy prose that moves the story along effortlessly. Plus, this was the first selection I received in my book club, so there is nostalgia connected to it. http://bit.ly/dLOqej
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Idiot
by
Fyodor Dostoevsky, Richard Pevear, Larissa Volokhonsky
h2oetry
, January 02, 2011
Crazy ole Dostoevsky creates one of the most dynamic endings in literature here in The Idiot. He also depicts one of the most pure (though naive) characters in Prince Myshkin. A definite read-it-again book. Read it, people! Get on it! The 500+ pages of suspense are worth it. http://bit.ly/dLOqej
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Tractatus Logico Philosophicus
by
Ludwig Wittgenstein
h2oetry
, January 02, 2011
The world is everything that is the case. I understood maybe 1/5th of this short treatise on language, logic, solipsism and philosophy. But even that was enough to make it on this top ten list. The 1/5th understanding is after reading it three times, by the way. He's a poetic philosopher, so what he is saying is either 100 percent or zero percent clear. I wanted to read this a few times before starting his other works, so I will begin those in 2011. http://bit.ly/dLOqej
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