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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
Barbara Gordon has commented on (14) products
Cluttered Corpse
by
Mary Jane Maffini
Barbara Gordon
, October 19, 2009
Better to buy two books: one nonfiction on simplifying your life, and one decent mystery by another author. In exchange for one blindingly common-sense tip per chapter, this mystery expects the reader to follow a most unlikeable heroine as she pesters grieving mothers, throws her friends into danger, and mismanages her own life while claiming to sort out other people's. I won't give away the solution to the mystery, but let's say it's probably in the top five Trite and Overdone Reveals. Possibly in the top three.
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How to Murder a Millionaire A Blackbird Sisters Mystery
by
Nancy Martin
Barbara Gordon
, October 19, 2009
A pleasant time-passer, with agreeable characters. This first volume is a little thin on characterization, with more time spent on set-up, but could develop well.
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Better Class Of Murder
by
Joyce Christmas
Barbara Gordon
, September 15, 2008
This was my first Joyce Christmas mystery, and my last. The blurb suggests that it's Old Home Week for fans, with two favourite sleuths together, and the author might have done better to write just for the fans, and omit the background material on each character and her relationships, material which was repeated and expanded in every chapter. The style was leaden and clunky, and all the characters spoke in the same stilted, formal way, except the outrageously southern one, who spoke the same way but with an accent. The identity of the murderer was held back in a contrived and hand-waving way, while every other bit of motive and plot-twist was painstakingly explained by author voice-over, leaving next to nothing for an alert reader to figure out--perhaps just as well, since after a few chapters I was more drowsy than alert.
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Blood Engines
by
T A Pratt
Barbara Gordon
, December 03, 2007
Pratt takes an admirable chance in beginning with an unlikeable character. Heroine Marla Mason is flawed, but able (eventually) to learn from her mistakes. The secondary characters like the witty and equivocal Rondeau, and holy fool B kept me going through the opening chapters, and with the introduction of chained god Chang Hao, I realised I was in a different sort of urban fantasy, one with a strong hint of Tim Powers weirdness, and settled down for the ride. I did find the narrative somewhat clunky, with infodumps and repetition of info, which might have gone better in a first-person narrative. For instance, the injury Marla did to Rondeau was dumped on the reader without much need, then, much later in the book - and far more effectively - admitted by Marla to an ally. While I liked the thought that went into providing a backstory to the first novel, I'm now dreading that each new entry in the series will fill it in once more, plus whatever happened in each book since.
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Aramaya
by
Jane Routley
Barbara Gordon
, April 24, 2007
Uneasy blend of high fantasy and kitchen sink drama. The background, very obviously drawn from Czarist Russia, makes this intriguing, but the main character drags the story down with her self-absorption and pettiness. Much potential tension is lost because there is never any doubt that Dion, 'the most powerful demonslayer in the world' will meet any magical challenge she comes up against, while being unable to manage her personal life even half-competently. The story clicks along at a good pace, but I kept wishing that Routley had chosen Kitten or Dally as her viewpoint character, and left Dion at home sulking.
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Vampires Burial & Death Folklore & Reality
by
Paul Barber
Barbara Gordon
, March 21, 2007
Absolutely the best book on vampires. With an engaging, conversational style, Barber takes the reader through the first reports of vampires in the 1700s, examining the folkloric vampire, and how the vampire of literature grew from those unpromising roots. His close comparison of the natural processes of decomposition to the 'clues' to a vampire's grave make for fascinating reading, though I don't recommend eating while doing so. Any serious research on vampires should begin here.
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God Stalk Signed Edition
by
P C Hodgell
Barbara Gordon
, February 28, 2007
Hodgell takes some familiar fantasy elements: a mysterious girl training as a thief, a labyrinthine city of many gods, cursed artifacts, and uses them to build a lively, unpredictable story that bumps breathlessly along, twisting and turning without ever losing control. Would appeal to fans of Fritz Leiber or Barry Hughart.
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Cecelia & Kate 01 Sorcery & Cecelia or the Enchanted Chocolate Pot
by
Patricia C. Wrede
Barbara Gordon
, February 27, 2007
A romp, just pure fun. This is a book I keep to cheer myself up, and one I buy extra copies of to share with friends. The magic is well-integrated into Regency society, and the characters (although sometimes caricatures) are tremendous fun to watch. If you like Austen or Heyer and are tired of cod-medieval fantasy, you'll enjoy the wit and sparkle here.
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(2 of 4 readers found this comment helpful)
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Tough Guide To Fantasyland
by
Diana Wynne Jones
Barbara Gordon
, February 27, 2007
Whether you're a reader of fantasy or a hopeful writer of fantasy, this book is invaluable. Presented in the format of a standard travel guide, it's a hilarious guided tour through the cliches and assumptions of 'extruded fantasy product', portrayed with affectionate mockery. If you've ever wondered why everyone eats stew and gruel, or why nobody in fantasy novels ever goes to the bathroom (and whether those two questions are connected) this book will explain all. You'll never look at a trilogy the same way again.
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(4 of 4 readers found this comment helpful)
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Fledgling Hall Family 04
by
Jane Langton
Barbara Gordon
, February 23, 2007
As a child I loved Langton's books, and re-read them in adulthood with pleasure. Although I enjoyed renewing acquaintance with the Hall family, I found the storyline of The Fledgling unresolved and unsatisfactory. The villains, Preek and Prawn, bumble around like Keystone Kops, and Miss Prawn seems to have become completely delusional--crazier than Uncle Freddy, but nobody notices. Preek's obsession with the goose that befriends Georgie seems to come from nowhere, and departs again when the plot is finished with it. In other books, Langton used those characters skilfully to satirise blinkered conventionality, but in The Fledgling they are puppets manipulated so the writer and reader can feel superior.
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Renfield Slave Of Dracula
by
Barbara Hambly
Barbara Gordon
, January 10, 2007
Darker than most of Hambly's other work, and written with her trademark strong research and lucid, vivid style.
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The Interior Life
by
Katherine Blake
Barbara Gordon
, January 10, 2007
A long-time favourite and 'comfort book' for me. Bored housewife Susan discovers her fantasy life is epic fantasy, and the characters and story in her head illuminate and expand her understanding of her 'real life'. Susan's tribulations with the PTA, her husband's promotion and her kids intertwine with the struggle against the Dark in a fantasy land. Blake makes both stories gripping.
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The Silver Metal Lover
by
Tanith Lee
Barbara Gordon
, January 10, 2007
Lee's usual beautiful writing in a tale of doomed love. The protagonist is engaging as she grows from rather annoying passivity to strength. Worth reading even if (like me) you dislike robots who have emotions.
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Penitentiary Pacific
by
J Buchanan
Barbara Gordon
, January 10, 2007
Lots of action but dreadfully clunky unedited prose. Best read out loud for comic effect.
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