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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
Kelly L has commented on (11) products
Sharps
by
K J Parker
Kelly L
, January 01, 2013
I read 188 books in 2012, and I'm voting for K. J. Parker's "Sharps" as my favorite one.
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The Princess Bride
by
William Goldman
Kelly L
, August 07, 2012
True Love and High Adventure, sure, but my favorite characters have always been Fezzik and Inigo. This is the best book in the world to read aloud on road trips, especially if your spouse does all the voices.
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Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life
by
Anne Lamott
Kelly L
, August 05, 2012
Instead of paying for an MFA or a writing degree, read Anne Lamott's priceless book. She gives some of the best and liveliest advice on how to write and how to live. It's a book worth reading every year.
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Long Earth Book 1
by
Terry Pratchett, Stephen Baxter
Kelly L
, August 02, 2012
This is the book you've been waiting for: that perfect blend of science, humanity, and fun. Pratchett and Baxter deliver an imaginative and action-packed story about Stepping past the bounds of this earth into another one, and another one, and another. But where will the earths end? And are humans the only ones who are Stepping? Read to find out.
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Wits End
by
Karen Joy Fowler
Kelly L
, March 17, 2012
Mystery lovers and loyal fans of Fowler will enjoy the main character Rima's search for her identity and family history. After the recent death of her father, she moves to Santa Cruz to visit her godmother, the mystery writer A. B. Early, in order to connect with her past and recover from her grief. Quirky characters, a vivid setting, and light, clever writing made this the perfect reading on a plane trip for me. If the mystery itself had been more prominent, I might have liked this book as much as "Sarah Canary" or even "Jane Austen Book Club;" but even as my least favorite Fowler, "Wit's End" is still a fun, fast read.
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Riddle Master The Complete Trilogy
by
Patricia A Mckillip
Kelly L
, February 24, 2012
Patricia A. McKillip’s trilogy, collected here in one volume and with a new introduction, is quite a voyage. The hero, Morgon, is destined to solve the riddle of the three stars on his forehead. Obviously set apart for a grand destiny, he longs only for a peaceful existence on the simple island where he, as prince, possesses a unique communion with his land. Unfortunately, peace is not in his future. The first book, The Riddle Master of Hed, tells of how Morgon journeys from Hed in the company of the High One’s harpist, intending to make the long trek to ask the High One himself the meaning of his birthmark. In Heir of Sea and Fire, Raederle, Morgon’s intended, goes searching for him. She learns that she is heir to a different kind of magic, which might be the destructive force that Morgon has been struggling against. In the conclusion to the trilogy, Harpist in the Wind, the great reveal occurs: Morgon finally unravels the riddle of his birthright. Admirers of Patricia A. McKillip, Patricia C. Wrede, Robin McKinley, Sherwood Smith, and other authors of high fantasy will like this trilogy. Some, like me, might find they prefer McKillip’s more recent work.
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Stars My Destination
by
Alfred Bester
Kelly L
, February 24, 2012
Gully Foyle is the Count of Monte Cristo in space. An ignorant brute of a man, he vows revenge when the S.S. Vesta ignores his plea for rescue from the derelict ship on which he is the only survivor. When he returns to Terra, at war with the Outer Satellites, he undertakes a scheme to figure out who is to blame, a plan that takes him to prison, to space, and to high society. Along the way, he runs into some of the richest men of the twenty-fifth century, men who have secrets they want kept, secrets that Gully Foyle doesn’t realize he knows. This book, serialized in 1956, and sometimes called the greatest SF novel ever written, is a pulp classic. It’s got it all: sex, violence, tattoos, poverty and riches, radioactive hit men, telepathy and teleportation, circuses and freaks, femme fatales, and a tragic hero. (And an introduction by Neil Gaiman.) Though certainly a product of its time in its portrayal of some characters, it definitely merits inclusion on any true SF fan’s shelf. Because, frankly, while Gully Foyle isn’t always a hero to emulate, he does some fantastically cool stuff.
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State of Wonder
by
Patchett, Ann
Kelly L
, January 19, 2012
I will read anything written by Ann Patchett because of her beautiful, lucid use of language, her highly realized characters and setting, and the way that the stories she tells lodge so firmly in my mind and memory. In State of Wonder, her most recent novel, Patchett returns us to South America and the opera, but in a wholly different way than in Bel Canto. Marina travels to the Amazon to check up on the progress of a new developmental drug after her colleague disappears and is presumed dead. In doing so, she confronts her former med school teacher and discovers a hidden truth about the strange fertility of the native people. Again Patchett has delivered a novel whose character undergoes a journey of truth and tragedy. State of Wonder is a brilliant story that will reward multiple readings and rightly deserves its nominations and awards.
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Dark Is Rising Complete Sequence
by
Susan Cooper
Kelly L
, January 14, 2012
I read the five books of The Dark Is Rising sequence by Susan Cooper when I was about ten years old (and a paperback sold new for $3.95). It’s about an epic struggle between the Dark and the Light: the Dark is trying to win the earth and the Light is trying to keep the earth for mankind. The protagonists are children and each book stands alone (except the last one). I was surprised by how exactly I remembered them, a sign that they were written well enough to have quite an impression on me at the time. 1. Over Sea, Under Stone is about the Drew siblings, Simon, Jane, and Barney, and their holiday at the Grey House with their mysterious Great Uncle Merry, who turns out to be an Old One for the light. They find a treasure map that leads them to a Thing of Power that they must keep away from the Dark. 2. The Dark Is Rising is about Will Stanton, the seventh son of a seventh son and the last Old One to be born. On his eleventh birthday he comes into his powers and with the help of Merriman will find the six Signs and unite them before Midwinter. 3. The Greenwitch sees the Drews and Will together, back at the vacation home, tying up loose ends from the first adventure. Jane is the main character of this one, which might be why I remember liking it best. 4. The Grey King sees Will traveling in Wales, alone on a quest to wake the Sleepers with the help of Bran Davies, a boy with an unusual heritage. Winner of the Newbery Award and the one I like best as an adult. 5. And in Silver on the Tree, the Drews, Will, Bran Davies, and Merriman (or Merriman Lyon, or Merry Lyon, or Merlion, or Merlin) unite to fight the last battle, in Wales and throughout history, to keep the Dark from rising at last. These books were a delight, and I’m glad some subconscious spontaneity spurred me to pick up the first one again.
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Hammer
by
K J Parker
Kelly L
, December 31, 2011
The Hammer is my new favorite Parker stand-alone. Gignomai is the youngest son of a noble family exiled to isolation amidst a town of indentured farmers. When Gignomai decides to leave his family to go into business for himself, his best friend Furio, son of the local merchant, gradually realizes that Gignomai has a long-buried family secret that he is set on revenging, even if he involves the whole town in his plan. Parker novels never finish very happily, but this one was powerfully satisfying. It appeals to me for the same reason that I liked Parker’s Engineer Trilogy so much�"most of the characters are trying to con the others for one reason or another. Some of them even succeed. It should be noted that I have a dark sense of humor and thoroughly enjoy a good tragedy. Be warned.
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Writers Notebook Craft Essays from Tin House
by
Anna Keesey
Kelly L
, December 29, 2011
The Writer’s Notebook is a collection of craft essays from well-known writers and writing teachers associated with the Tin House Summer Writer’s Workshop or with Tin House Books. While the topics of the essays may differ greatly, ranging from historical fiction to fairy tales, from sex scenes to Shakespeare, the essays themselves share a uniform level of authority, polish, wit, and humor that makes them at once entertaining and enlightening. Each essayist speaks to an audience of aspiring writers with all the best empathy and goodwill of one who also has begun the great undertaking of practicing an art but who has gained some knowledge on effective practices and techniques. This collection, then, is for the serious student of the language of fiction who relishes the challenge of viewing her work in different ways. The bottom line is that a writer of any genre, attitude, or experience will find in these varied yet beautifully written essays something familiar, something interesting, something new.
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