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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
Zulaikha has commented on (15) products
Slaughterhouse-Five: Or the Children's Crusade, a Duty-Dance With Death
by
Kurt Vonnegut
Zulaikha
, January 31, 2013
This was my first, and to date, only Vonnegut experience. I read this in my junior year of high school, tacked onto the end of the year. Mostly as an indulgence to my english teacher who was obsessed with Vonnegut and squeezing it in at the end of the year to have people to fanboy and geek out with after they'd read it. Then I read it and figured out why he was so obsessed. I have to say, this book yanked me firmly into modern literature. (At the time I was deep into my love for 18th and 19th century prose style. Didn't really get over that. Just paused it for a time.) After Vonnegut, I read a slew of men from around his time period. I really credit this book with making me branch out a whole lot more.
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From the Dust Returned
by
Ray Bradbury
Zulaikha
, January 03, 2013
This is the first Ray Bradbury book i've read. *cringes* But it was the most beautiful story i've heard in a long time. Mr. Bradbury knows how to paint the most vivid pictures in ones mind with his words. The dream-like atmosphere is enough to lull one into a mind-set where truly, a family such as this, can exist. It is a quick read, but so worth revisiting. Overflowing with imagery and poetry, this book is just amazing....It's like Shakespeare meets Poe & are married by Tim Burton. i reread it often.
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Grunge
by
Thurston Moore, Michael Lavine
Zulaikha
, January 03, 2013
Grunge is a great collectors item for anyone entranced by the Pacific north-west American music scene of the 1980s and 1990s. Text introducing the book, written by Thurtson Moore, a veteran of the scene and photographs by Michael Lavine, the most notorious photographer of the grunge period make this book a great pleasure to look through.
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Burn
by
Suzanne Phillips
Zulaikha
, January 03, 2013
This book had me holding my breath through major chunks of it. What a powerful story of the result of bullying. A freshman boy, abused by his father when he was younger, is singled out by the football guys who start with some simple name calling but move to more blatant bullying and then escalate to something horrible. As the reader, I kept confronting myself with the question, "What would I have done in his situation? What was there to do???" And to think it all started with the simple mistake by a coach of seeing a new student with rather long hair from behind and mistaking him for a girl. Now I must read this author's first book too! She's a special education teacher in San Diego and obviously is in touch with the feelings of teens.
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Particle at the End of the Universe How the Hunt for the Higgs Boson Leads Us to the Edge of a New World
by
Sean Carroll
Zulaikha
, January 03, 2013
I love this book. There doesn't seem to be a quick easy way to describe what the Higgs boson is, what it does and why we should care. Carroll carefully and methodically takes the reader through each of these and I, a person with no physics background, am actually learning and understanding about particle physics (at a layperson level, obviously). I think I need to read it a second time to really solidify my understanding, but I've learned tons on just this first reading. Not finished yet, but even if the few remaining pages and appendices completely suck (which i can't imagine really) this book is still a must-read for anyone curious about the Higgs hoopla and what the heck the LHC does.
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An American Spy
by
Olen Steinhauer
Zulaikha
, January 03, 2013
All in all, the trilogy is a wonderful work, and this novel caps the previous two by being even better-plotted and -written. The characterizations are marvelous and the unexpected twists in the plots sometimes ingenious. The insights into the way the Chinese Republic is governed, and the minds and machinations of its officials, is worth every struggle the reader has with the myriad number of names and the devious plotting of the principals. By all means go out and get a copy and read this fine work. Highly recommended.
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Twelve Tribes of Hattie
by
Ayana Mathis
Zulaikha
, December 21, 2012
Really enjoyed this book! The author is a vivid writer and does a wonderful job transporting readers to Philadelphia, Georgia, Baltimore and Virgina across multiple decades in The Twelve Tribes of Hattie. As an only child I enjoyed reading about all of the Shepherd children and their lives. Several life lessons can be learned from reading about Hattie and her clan. The journey of life was not a crystal staircase for this family, but everyone tried to make the best of their lot which is all anyone of us can do.
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Snow Child
by
Eowyn Ivey
Zulaikha
, December 21, 2012
Amazing talent, beautifully delivered. This is a five sense book, and maybe a sixth and seventh as well. I could hear a bull moose snorting, swan screaming, snow crunching, river ice cracking. I could taste moose meat for the thirtieth and 100th time; smell wet wool and blood, birch fire and moonshine. I could touch the two-man saw, feel the weight of an ax, and the tiny threads of intricate embroidery. And always, always the snow and the earth beneath. I could see rows and rows of crops growing in the heat of the short Alaska season - in fact I dreamed about it last night. Sense of place is superbly developed, as expertly crafted as a prize winning pie, or a winter coat made reverently by hand. Ivey grew up in Alaska and clearly loves where she still lives. The characters in this debut novel are cradled, grown, tried and triumphed in the rugged, unforgiving wilderness. And out of the night in an Alaska blizzard, when grief and solitude are crusted around homesteader hearts, a little girl with pale eyelashes and a fur hat appears in the frost on the window.
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White Horse
by
Alex Adams
Zulaikha
, December 21, 2012
White Horse is a gripping tale of the end of the world and those who are left behind to survive it. This is the story of one ordinary woman who makes a heroic journey across a wasted and broken earth in search of hope, love and life on the other side of the world. As the story unfolds the truth about the jar, the war and her love is uncovered. This is a survival story that tells of strength and humanity in a world that is no longer what it was. An intelligent, passionate and keenly written story that will hold you captive.
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Oryx and Crake (Maddaddam Trilogy #1)
by
Margaret Atwood
Zulaikha
, December 21, 2012
One of the (many) things that has always struck me as ridiculous about the concept of creationism - sorry, sorry, "intelligent design" - is the idea that an infinitely kind and intelligent god designed human beings, and yet this is the best he could do. Give me some ultimate power, and I could design a better species. One not so prone to runny noses and cancer, for starters. One where the trachea and esophagus don't share an opening - that might cut down on that pesky "choking" thing. And, you know, maybe weed out those genes for sickle-cell anemia, autism, SIDS, and myopia. That's just off the top of my head, and I'm far from being infinitely kind or intelligent.
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Blue Asylum
by
Kathy Hepinstall
Zulaikha
, December 21, 2012
I needed to be anywhere but in my own mind on the day I found this book at the library and the cover promised an entertaining diversion. The drawing even conveyed a wry amusement at how women once stood before the sea. The figure seemed to be engaged in a lively confrontation with somebody and I wanted to listen in. This book turned out to be a great read. The plot was suspenseful, twisty, and well paced. The main character, Iris, was a plantation owner's wife who was judged to be insane for having defied and humiliated her husband. She was sent to this top-of-the-line insane asylum on Sanibel Island to be restored to her prior sane behavior as a good, obedient wife. But Iris was had been raised with integrity by a generous mother and a father who was a minister, and she was unusually stubborn and willful for the times. She learned how to manage as an inmate while plotting an escape. And then she fell in love with the broken soldier. The doctor heading the asylum seems at first to be not a very good bet for character development. Stubborn? Willful? And so on. But what I most enjoyed about Blue Asylum was the intelligence behind the whole thing, moving both plot and characters into unexpected positions and attitudes. I laughed, then felt sad, and cared about all of these people. Thank you, Kathy Hepinstall.
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Listeners
by
Leni Zumas
Zulaikha
, December 21, 2012
Wow. I found this book absolutely stunning. I was disturbed, felt Quinn's pain, wanted to escape at times but couldn't. A lot of the imagery was grotesque but never just for shock value. I loved the way the story was told in a nonlinear, cryptic way. If you need to know exactly what is happening at all times in a novel, run away from this one. If you're willing to allow characters and story to unfold and let you figure out what you want to make of it, grab this book and expect to finish it in less than two days. This is a book I will not soon forget. Poetic, enticing, much more than any summary you can read.
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Towers of Midnight Wheel of Time 13
by
Robert Jordan, Brandon Sanderson
Zulaikha
, December 20, 2012
No matter how long I've been reading these books (now over 20 years) they hold my attention. I can't wait until the last book comes out and I can read the whole series again and completely. This book combines all the storylines into one. There isn't the usual seperation of storylines. Some of the books just would focus on certain characters, now they are all coming together for the Last Battle. There isn't much on the Seachan but I expect that they will be tied up in the last book as well. I'm still happy that Brian Sanderson is finishing the story and while I sense a little difference in the voice telling the story it doesn't distract me. Overall the book adds to the story and I'm happy to have read it.
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If There Is Something to Desire
by
Vera Pavlova
Zulaikha
, December 20, 2012
Wonderful. Just wonderful. It is almost as if she dug these out of the dirt, cut them in half, pressed them onto the page like a potato print. They are so real, so fresh, so natural. Just the right mix of humor and whimsy and silliness with the harsh cold counterpoint, as the French might say stereotypically, "how like life." Had me smiling the whole read through, and I'll do it again and surely discover something new. Simple but complex all at once. Perfect!
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Almost Invisible
by
Mark Strand
Zulaikha
, December 20, 2012
What can I say about Mark Strand that hasn't already been said? I admire his poetry for being simple and precise, with a dash of the unexpected, and the poems in his newest collection are no exception. When a poem leaves you simultaneously moved and unsettled, you know you are reading the work of a master, a master of language and imagery and voice, and even humor. As I made my way through "Almost Invisible," I stuck a post-it by my favorite poems, and by the end realized that I had stuck around 8 or 10 post-its.
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