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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
Lafcadio has commented on (2) products
Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
by
Michael Chabon
Lafcadio
, January 01, 2013
Frequently during the reading of this book, I would return to a sentence after having sped past it in the midst of the gripping story, to appreciate what a great sentence it was. Some books are known for their descriptions, and usually that means that they'll take pages and pages to describe a particular setting. That style bores me to tears. Chabon can distill the essence of what you need to know into a single sentence. "A fourteen-story office block faced with stone the color of a stained shirt collar, its windows bearded with soot, ornamented with a smattering of moderne zigzags, the Kramler stood out as a lone gesture of commercial hopefulness in a block filled with low brick 'taxpayers' (minimal structures generating just enough in rent to pay property taxes on the land they occupied), boarded-up woolens showrooms, and the moldering headquarters of benevolent societies that ministered to dwindling and scattered populations of immigrants from countries no longer on the map." Granted, that's a really long sentence, but it gives you a very good sense not only of what the building itself looks like, but the entire neighborhood as well as the mood of the surrounding area. Chabon doesn't describe every architectural detail, or every person who walks down the street, or the weather, or the sounds. He doesn't get into specifics about each business on the block, or what lies beyond the block in question. And yet, in one (paragraph-like) sentence, you can picture what it must be like to stand on that street, and look up at the Kramler building. This book is long, but it's not long because of lengthy descriptions. All of the descriptions are as concise as above (many more so). So, a book this long with concise descriptions means you're getting that much more story, that much of a deep sense of the characters and the world in which they live.
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Anatole
by
Eve Titus
Lafcadio
, January 02, 2012
Anatole is a most honorable mouse, with honorable friends, too: "I am your friend, n'est-ce-pas? A friend is never insulted�"a friend has faith. Good luck!" I love the wee mouse village and the wee mouse bicycles.
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