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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
Janey Skinner has commented on (2) products
Master Plan for Rescue
by
Janis Cooke Newman
Janey Skinner
, July 31, 2015
You would think that by this time, there isn't an "angle" on the story of World War II that would be fresh, new, unexpected. Yet Janis Cooke Newman finds one. Europe had no monopoly on antisemitism; antisemitism in the United States led to official acts of unspeakable cruelty, as well as individual proclivities that make you think the distance from the ordinary German and the ordinary American in 1938 might not have been so great. This is not to draw equivalencies among evils - that's impossible and unwarranted - but there is still value in examining our assumptions about the good guys in the good war. While this book is historical, but not a history lesson - it is an engaging tale driven forward by characters. It is the story of the traumas and choices of Jack in Manhattan and Jakob in Berlin (and others) whose lives unfold, as lives do, in the daily-ness of minor struggles and major relationships, interrupted by the fallout of world events. Cooke Newman's prose is vivid, and even when she borrows on the tradition of magical realism, we go with her, because she has earned our trust each step of the way. It is a love story, and the poignant choices that Jakob and Rebecca face, the impossible choices, linger persistently in my mind.
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All This Life A Novel
by
Joshua Mohr
Janey Skinner
, July 17, 2015
With prose that pops off the page, Joshua Mohr takes us into the hearts of people facing some of the worst days of their lives - and through some mix of kindness, love and kismet, making it better. The larger-than-life neon images of humor and pathos will stick with you - whether that of a band playing a raucous tune as they jump off the Golden Gate Bridge (it's the first chapter, folks, I'm not spoiling anything) or of the unfortunate origins of the name Balloon Boy. The experiences of loss, cowardice, misplaced faith and the vortex of addiction are ones that most of us can relate to - even if we don't admit it - but so are the experiences of grace that make all this life so sweet, no matter the evidence to the contrary. The writing carries you forward at a fast clip, with several different point-of-view characters, whose lives all intersect and find some resolution on the Golden Gate Bridge. The book also makes good use of social media and our interaction with it, for connection and delusion both. This book has some of the qualities of Damascus, Mohr's third novel, and in fact the bar featured in Damascus makes an appearance in this story, but with perhaps a greater degree of emotional vulnerability.
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