Summer 2007 UPCOMING EVENTS AND READINGS A Birthday Party for Mary Shelley Join us Friday August 31st at 7 pm for a birthday celebration honoring Mary Shelley, the mother of modern horror. Local authors Cecelia Holland. Pamela Service, Ellen Davidson and Heidi Lampietti will read their own work and selections from Shelley's classic Frankenstein. Newsletter Reviews Graphic Novels and Memoir Black Hole Charles Burns Night Fisher R. Kikuo Johnson Though I’ve read more than a few graphic novels this year, Burns’ novel (and unlike some comics, it really is a full length novel) stands out among the pack. Burns’ distinctive art is familiar to many through his numerous album covers and magazine illustrations (he’s the cover artist for The Believer magazine, as well as an early contributor to Art Spiegelman's RAW magazine), but here he shows that he’s a great storyteller as well. Set in suburban Seattle in the 70s, Black Hole tells the story of a weird deforming teen plague transmitted by sexual contact. Burns uses the plague as metaphor for high school alienation, the fear of sex, and the everyday horror of being a teenager.       Night Fisher tells a superficially similar story, but while Burns creates a stylized, surreal take on the coming of age novel, R. Kikuo Johnson’s novella of a Hawaii high school student who falls in with a group of low level drug dealers is meticulously realistic and immediate, paying particular attention to the contrasting backdrop of the unique flora of the islands, which are lovingly rendered. Johnson’s brushwork is impressionistic and his storytelling is anecdotal and elliptical, trusting that the attentive reader will fill in the blanks. JH   Rent Girl Michelle Tea illustrated by Laurenn McCubbin The most compelling stories have no clearly defined villains or heroes, and Michelle Tea creates neither in Rent Girl. An illustrated collection of short stories about her experiences as a sex worker, Rent Girl challenges the reader to think about prostitution in a way that’s never simple, convenient, or definitive. With emotional honesty and raunchy humor, Rent Girl communicates the complexities of this profession through stories that are blunt and engaging. Reading Rent Girl is like listening to the gory insider scoop on any job: the awful truths you learn about restaurants from the busboy’s perspective. And while Rent Girl can be read as a typical service industry horror story, Michelle Tea never pretends that prostitution is just another job. Rent Girl is about growing up, relationships, trying to not be quite so broke all the time, moving, drugs, identity, and sex. Laurenn McCubbin’s bold illustrations perfectly suit these subjects and alone would make this book essential. These are stories you can relate to even if you’ve never been paid for faking an orgasm. EN Other Recommended Graphic Novels Epileptic David B. In My Darkest Hour Wilfred Santiago Louis Riel Chester Brown Yossel: April 19, 1943 Joe Kubert       FICTION REVIEWS The Promise of Happiness Justin Cartwright A Booker Prize runner-up, The Promise of Happiness is a big ambitious story about an English family whose eldest daughter, an art expert and the family’s brightest star, is being released after a two year stint in an upstate New York prison for fencing a Tiffany window looted from a cemetery. Her imprisonment has devastated her mother and father, her younger sister and brother, each in different ways. And her reuniting with her family, and her younger brother’s rather rushed marriage, form the big occasion the novel builds toward. But really, it is the author’s interest in the changes in English society over the family members’ lifetimes that give this novel its reach. The parents have moved from London to the Cornish coast, to the village made famous by John Betjeman, the last poet laureate to celebrate the nostalgia of Englishness, before, well, the hash of England today. The themes of the prodigal daughter and the redemptive powers of kindness–the promise of happiness–form the emotional core. I thought it was excellent, but I’m not on the Booker committee. AB Prep Curtis Sittenfeld Lee, a girl from the midwest, gets accepted as a scholarship student to a tony New England boarding school, andthe author guides her through four excruciating years, each semester a long chapter. Lee is so self-conscious she can barely see beyond her own concerns, but the author narrates as the 29 year old Lee looking back, and we experience her student life in immediacy and reflection. Lee’s friendships with her fellow nonentities form beautiful chapters, and one in particular, involving haircutting and a similarly fish-out-of-water teacher is just excellent. You come to know some of these students very well after four years, and the intensity of the academic expectations and cloistered high school life involving the kids of both rich and working class families makes this novel much more ambitious than you would expect. Class, race, sexuality, shame, disgrace–all the big themes are here, plus a prickly ending. B+. AB The Great Stink Clare Clark Ah London. In the 1850s all the sewage of the most populous city in the world ran into the Thames, which in hot, airless weather would cause outbreaks of cholera and typhoid along its course. Joseph Bazalgate is tasked with modernizing the decaying system, and given all the funds he needs, which is bad news for the sewage tunnel denizens, the toshers and flushers who eke a living from the mire, and particularly the rat-trappers, who provide game for the dog contests around town at certain select establishments. The author portrays life in the London slums in all its fecund grimness, but it’s in the life underground where she really shines. This foetid, dank world is actually soothing to a young engineer just back from the Crimean War. We follow his harrowing progress through a filthy field hospital, a PTS cutting compulsion, the subterranean world, gaol, a psychiatric prison, and finally, like all good Victorian heroes, redemption, just barely, and a lot worse for wear. AB My Name Is Legion A. N. Wilson The London tabloids are notorious for being squalid, mean-spirited and voracious affairs, but they are staffed with real newspeople, and the author fears for what the degrading work does to their souls. Seriously. He creates an activist monk, a missionary, a flawed man of conscience, who knew the publisher of The Daily Legion as a boy in Africa, and tries to redeem him while protesting the paper’s ties to a corrupt African dictatorship. This dynamic sets off a convoluted series of events involving a large cast of engaging and appalling characters connected to the tabloid and to modern day London. A robust, ribald and despairing novel seeking justice in a fallen world. AB Kafka on the Shore Haruki Murakami We read this in our book group and were just bowled over by the author’s deceptively simple storytelling style. What begins as a standard coming of age tale is embellished and crafted into a multidimensional and fantastical tale about the nature of existence. It’s about both the end and beginning of life and the choices we make. What are the consequences of dreams? How necessary is your shadow? This is the type of novel you can’t wait to read but that you don’t want to rush through. ME A Thread of Grace Maria Doria Russell Author of The Sparrow, a metaphysical fantasy, Russell, here describes the northwestern coast of Italy as World War II is drawing to a close. Multiple storylines are woven together: Jewish families crossing the Alps to flee Nazi occupied France; a Catholic priest aiding the resistance; a rabbi and his wife struggling to serve an endangered community; a Jewish war veteran working undercover within Nazi occupied Italy; and mothers, widows, refugees and farmers working with the resistance. Like the best historical fiction, this novel combines compelling, moving stories into the fabric of a detailed and illuminating picture of an important moment in history. ME Matches Alan Kaufman If you want a feel for what it was like to patrol the Gaza strip as an Israeli soldier, try Matches. Told from the perspective of an American volunteer in the Israel Defense Forces, we follow his unit as they check on Israeli settlers who would kill them, stand guard as the houses of suicide bombers are bulldozed, draw fire from Egyptians in the desert, and endlessly patrol where they are hated. The Israeli soldiers are completely contemptuous of the Palestinians, and whenever the American meekly tries to defend them his cohorts will have none of it. The refugee camps and impoverished villages, the citizen soldiers on duty playing Risk and back in their lives in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, are all vividly described. The Bedouin, who act as trackers for the Israelis, provide a rare glimpse into a foreign reality. I couldn’t decide if the slightly insufferable hipster narrator was supposed to be likeable or not. It’s a terrible situation and it won’t go away, and the American admits defeat. AB Waterloo Karen Olsson Austin, Texas in the 60s and 70s was a youth mecca of cheap rents and a great music scene in a town that liked to drink. Our middle-aged protagonists yearn for the Austin of their youth as they negotiate the booming Austin that has no time for slackers. The death of an old Texas liberal politician sets this novel in motion, a gentleman from an earlier era, who worked for both poor whites and blacks in the Texas legislature. While doing a profile of the late congressman, a tired reporter from a failing alternative Austin weekly paper is inspired enough to investigate a current development scam. The author handles the multiple affairs of the heart with much practical maturity, but this is primarily a smart political novel, with vivid political characters, and you half-expect Molly Ivins to make an appearance. (Karl Rove does, and his smugness is wonderfully evoked.) AB Brandenburg Gate Henry Porter This is one of the best Cold War thrillers I’ve ever read. It takes place mostly in East Germany in the weeks prior to the fall of the Berlin Wall. A former East German Stasi agent is ensnared by the British and American intelligence services, with the understanding they will aid his imprisoned family’s escape. The former agent, now a double agent, thinks the westerners underestimate the fearsome Stasi, and secretly enlists the aid of the Russians. The playing off of four separate spy agencies is complex, exciting and very well written. The dreadful nature of East German society under the Stasi is particularly well evoked. So are the events leading up to the breaching of the Wall, especially the peace groups meeting at Nikolai Church in Leipzig, the growing nonviolent rallies, and the incredulity and euphoria of the final hours. This is a fine historical refresher, and the author gives full honors to the brave citizens of the East as he moves his characters through “the most important geopolitical event of the last fifty years.” AB The March E. L. Doctorow The novel opens with terrified Southerners packing up and fleeing what sounds like the invading aliens from War of the Worlds; the invader in reality is General Sherman’s army, fresh from burning Atlanta and on the march back north to confront Richmond and defeat the Confederacy. As the implacable caterpillar of 500,000 men trailing support wagons and multitudes of abandoned slaves moves through a dangerous and destroyed Southern landscape keeping itself supplied, the author creates his cast of ancillary characters: a mixed-race slave girl who bewitches all who see her; a field surgeon creating new operating techniques on the fly; a dispossessed Southern belle who becomes his nurse; a photographer and his black assistant recording the conflict for posterity; a comic duo out of Twain who change sides as circumstances warrant; and many historical characters, including Sherman and his generals and Abe Lincoln himself. The Civil War in all its particulars of killing and despair are here, and the author balances all his interweaving stories with great skill. AB NONFICTION REVIEWS Blue Blood Edward Conlon The author is a fourth generation law-enforcer in New York City. He’s also a Harvard English major, and a very confident writer. He’s terrific at giving you a sense of what it’s like to be a rookie cop on housing project patrol, on a street narcotics unit, on the midnight shift on the vice squad, and all the people you come in contact with. He’s also a historian of various things New York and of the NYPD, and has a particular affection for the cops and the case depicted in The French Connection. That the bureaucracy and politics almost break him should surprise no one with experience in a large and complex organization. But the reader gets a keen appreciation for police work, the exhilarations of the job, its codes and strictures and its tragedies. This memoir is already being called the best ever by a policeman, and it is an impressive piece of work. It is also exhausting. AB Killing Yourself to Live: 85 % of a True Story Chuck Klosterman Chuck Klosterman’s memoir of growing up as a hair metal fan in North Dakota in the 80s, Fargo Rock City, was an entertainingly impressive attempt to defend the aesthetically indefensible. The premise of his new book is that he will visit sites all across America involved with the deaths of rock legends–from the swampland where Lynyrd Skynyrd crashed to the Chelsea Hotel where Sid Vicious checked out and all points in between. While the book does explore and puncture the rock myth of immortality through death, this conceit is just a scaffold for Klosterman to hold forth on his failed relationships, his crackpot theory on how Radiohead’s Kid A prophesied 9/11, and the vicissitudes of living in a world where wall to wall pop culture colors your reaction to everything. As always, Klosterman lives to challenge conventional wisdom, and his digressive road trip is engaging and funny. JH Can’t Stop Won’t Stop Jeff Chang Hip-hop has not always been the widely commercialized phenomenon that it is today. It emerged out of the creativity and innovation of a bunch of kids in the Bronx experimenting with new noises and styles. In Can’t Stop Won’t Stop, Jeff Chang documents how the various elements of hip-hop came about through creativity and competition, often in response to poverty and racism. As one of the founding editors of Color Lines magazine, Chang is well equipped to take on a subject as broad as this. If this is your introduction to hip-hop culture, you are getting the ultimate guide; if you already love it, this read is like getting the straight story on all the eras, from the old school legends to the innovators of today. This book captures the soul of the music (the index reads like a mix tape that you could listen to again and again until it wears out and snaps.) EN Consider the Lobster David Foster Wallace David Foster Wallace is a fiction writer whose essays are often superior to his novels, which sometimes get lost in self conscious experimentalism. Here in his second collection of non-fiction he applies his steel trap mind and amazingly sharp observational skills to a wide array of subjects, from the glitzy world of the Adult Video News awards to arcane controversies in the world of English usage. His long piece on John McCain’s presidential run in 2000 is a marvel of political analysis (and an up close view of Karl Rove’s brand of smear politics), and he views the effects of 9/11 on the residents of his midwest hometown of Bloomington, Indiana. The title piece, commissioned by Gourmet magazine, caused problems for him with editor Ruth Reichl when he wanted to ask if lobsters feel pain when boiled alive (answer: yes) and wanted to reference a PETA video. Wallace encompasses a panorama of subjects with a mix of humor, self deprecation and smarts. Yes, there are footnotes, but don’t let that scare you. JH The America’s Test Kitchen Family Cookbook The Editors at America’s Test Kitchen This cookbook, from the people at Cook’s Illustrated, has everything I like in a cookbook: clear instructions, helpful photographs, and the recipes are peppered with cooks’ tips. The format is an old three-ring binder style that lays flat, and the sections are separated by tabbed dividers. It’s a general cookbook with reliable, easy to follow instructions. This is a new favorite, along with their excellent baking book. ME READER PRIVACY Dear Customer, As you know, this bookstore joined in the nationwide drive that collected hundreds of thousands of signatures on petitions demanding the restoration of protections for reader privacy that were eliminated by Section 215 of the USA PATRIOT Act. Congress has now voted to reauthorize the expiring sections of the USA PATRIOT Act, including Section 215, which has been extended for another four years. While we and our colleagues in the Campaign for Reader Privacy are not happy with some of the provisions of the new law, it is a significant improvement over the original PATRIOT Act. It contains a number of new procedural safeguards and oversight requirements that begin to reestablish protections for reader privacy. For the first time, any bookstore or library that receives a Section 215 order has an explicit right to seek legal counsel and to challenge the order in court. In addition, after one year, a recipient of a search order can petition the courts to remove the “gag” order that prohibits disclosure of the search to anyone except a lawyer. We are also pleased with a provision of the new law that requires the Justice Department to publicly reveal the number of bookstore and library searches every year. The fight for reader privacy will continue. In the meantime, we want to thank those who signed our petition. Your signatures helped persuade Congress that the American people care deeply about their civil liberties. Northtown Books Reading Group There is an ongoing Northtown Books reading group for anyone who is interested in reading and discussing our monthly selections. The staff chooses books and they’ll be available behind the counter at a 10% discount. The meetings will take place the first Sunday of each month from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. at the store. Please come prepared to participate in a lively, friendly and respectful debate. We would like all members of the community to feel welcome. Check for the latest selection on the front page. DISCOUNTS (you may not know about) We know the chains offer good discounts, and we try to do our part by offering 20% off of the top 10 fiction and nonfiction hardbacks on the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association’s weekly bestseller list. This is a list we feel reflects our readership more than other bestseller lists, which are frankly pretty embarrassing and largely engineered by publishing conglomerates. If we happen to be out of a title on the current list, we will order it for you at 20% off. This weekly list is posted in the store as well as on this site (click the discount link on the bottom of the page). We also offer discounts to teachers and schools. 10% discount applies to these criteria. •Schools and libraries buying items from stock, or special orders that are standard discount. •Teachers using their own money to buy education or children’s books for use in the classroom. •Anyone ordering 10 or more copies of a standard discount title. Some local book groups have asked us to stock their books behind our counter so everyone is assured of finding a copy when they need one. We offer 10% off on book group selections to the members of these groups. If you belong to an official book group and would like us to stock and hold your selections, simply choose a name, give us a call and we will set you up. Because we are smaller (thus more nimble) than your “local” chain bookstore, we can often have your special order book to you in 2-3 business days. CHILDREN’S BOOKS The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane Kate DiCamillo illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline Edward, a china rabbit, starts his life as a very pampered and expensive toy, taking the devotion of his little girl, Abilene, for granted. Fate, or possibly a curse, separates Edward from Abilene and starts him on the miraculous journey that takes him many miles and many years from where he began. The most important progress he makes is within himself through the people he meets and comes to love. Edward learns to love and must find the courage to keep his heart open when it seems that love has only brought pain. The miraculous nature of love is what prevails. ME Flush Carl Hiaasen Hiassen, whose first kids novel Hoot won the Newberry award, creates another fast moving environmental thriller set in the Florida keys that’s not too different from his acerbic adult novels. When Noah’s dad is jailed for sinking a casino boat that’s illegally dumping raw sewage in the ocean, Noah teams up with his sister Abbey (named for “some weird old bird who’s buried out west in the middle of a desert”) and a disgruntled bartender to vindicate his dad and smartly nail the polluters. Hiassen shows a refreshing lack of condescension toward his young readers, and his book delivers an entertaining adventure story that’s too much fun to ever get preachy. JH Rosie and the Nightmares Philip Waechter Written and illustrated by a graphic artist and illustrator living in Frankfurt, Germany, this is the story of a courageous young rabbit who defeats the monsters that are haunting her dreams. What makes this story special is the interplay between words and images. As Rosie’s story unfolds, the bold and witty illustrations unfurl like a beautiful banner. Rich colors and expressive characters populate this simple but amusing and empowering story. ME Jazz A · B · Z An A to Z Collection of Jazz Portraits Wynton Marsalis illustrated by Paul Rogers Paul Rogers creates each of these portraits in a style that reflects the sound and era of the jazz musician. And Wynton Marsalis, known charmer, has a lot of fun with his poems, relating each one to a jazz artist’s style: blues for Basie, long lines for Coltrane, and a whole bunch of words for Parker. Throw in super production values and voila!–one gone book for the hip of all ages. AB