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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
PT Simpson has commented on (5) products
Gunman
by
Jean Patrick Manchette, James Brook
PT Simpson
, June 29, 2020
I can see why this has been made into a movie. The noir sensibility is very palpable and genuine. The story moves very well from one place to another as the gunman sorts out who he is and what he wants to do with his time. If you want to read a quick story that feels like French noir realism, this is a fair investment of your time. Expect, however, that there will be some clunky physical descriptions that take up unnecessary space in the story. Also expect that the arc of development with the protagonist will be left to your imagination. He's an interesting person, but the story does almost nothing to explain how he got that way.
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American Pastoral
by
Philip Roth
PT Simpson
, June 29, 2020
I read this book because, as an American, I understood the esteem in which the author is held. I read some "best of Roth" lists and this one was always there. The themes are soaringly, universally important and this particular story is heart-rending. But I have to say that the prose is wooden, murky and self-indulgent. I am a rank philistine, so maybe that is why I really struggled to finish the book. I get that the progeny of Hemingway and so much of contemporary fiction can be staccato renderings of the thinnest stories. But even when I compare Roth with Tolstoy or Garcia Marquez, I find the quite dense prose of the latter two to be so much more engaging. It's probably just me.
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Freeze Frame: Enzo Files 4
by
Peter May
PT Simpson
, June 30, 2019
Bought this at an airport on a whim, and quite enjoyed it. The island on which most of the action takes place is a lead character in the story, but it starts in a whole other world decades before. If you like immersing yourself in a place to which virtually none of us will ever venture, a dark, damp places where the mossy granite of stasis never lets anyone forget anything, give this one a try.
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Shinjuku Shark
by
Arimasa Osawa
PT Simpson
, June 22, 2017
This is the first in a series. It features the Shark, a self-doubting guy who is an utter failure at figuring out the arcane system of loyalty that will get him ahead in the police force. But he has his way, and he is brutally loyal to it. The crime he is trying to solve is not cleverly unique or mysterious. If it was not for his own pigheadedness and the utter ineptitude of the "brass," they would solve the crime without much fuss. But that is not a good reason to read this novel. We are constantly given a stereotypical view of Japan, whether it is comatose salarymen, giggling kawaii teenagers, or some sort of scowling patriarch. This is a disservice to us because there is so much more to Tokyo than just that. The Shark takes us along the sidewalks of Shinjuku after dark, where gun-toting Yakuza, oddballs and drunks abound. And where ordinary people are trying to keep together their lives. The author's most powerful gift is how he makes us feel the sweat and grime of the place on our skin. Sure, the author did not include women into the narrative in any meaningful way, and this is not a breakthrough of its genre. But this book will let you live the Shinjuku life for a while in a way that would be difficult for you to find elsewhere.
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Mindful Parenting Simple & Powerful Solutions for Raising Creative Engaged Happy Kids in Todays Hectic World
by
Kristen Race
PT Simpson
, March 12, 2016
Mindfulness is all the vogue; it is at its core a western shortcut for possibly overly rigorous Buddhist practice. (How are you going to squeeze in a five-year apprenticeship washing stone steps with a toothbrush every day?) Nonetheless, there is great information in here about too much overscheduling, too many PARC tests and too much screen time by both parent and child. Indeed, a lot of what the author has to say hits pretty close to home. The effects of these blights on today's American lifestyle are explained through references to research and everyday anecdotes. The syntax is readable and easygoing. So, in that sense, it is worth picking up and reading this book. Yet, that said, be prepared to skim a lot of it. The editor's pen ran out of red ink, so a lot of stuff is repeated and repeated again. It's good stuff, but it's repeated at least four or five times. If you read all of it, it will sound lecturing or even badgering. I don't think that was the author's intent. Once you're done, and if you take the words to heart, you will see your stress differently.
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