What is Sarah Bagby Reading?
As managing partner of
Watermark, Sarah can run a bookstore, run a footrace, run an author
signing, or run up a mountain, but she never runs out of suggestions for books
to read or gifts to give. Just ask her. (There's even a story that she once ran
a law man out of town on a rail, but that may have been her description of some
novel that got distorted with the re-telling. Oh, and those "running down chickens
in her car" rumors are total fiction.)
Sarah casts her reading net wide and deep in search of strong stories and good
action. Dipping into literary fiction, mysteries and thrillers, biographies, and
more, she's a font of knowledge on who's who and what's what in the book world.
Bring her your gift-giving quandaries for the holidays or other special
occasions and watch the magic in action. And remember, those chickens had it
coming.
Currently reading (or on the pile):
War and Peace by
Leo Tolstoy.
I love War
and Peace. I love Tolstoy, and this translation just flows:
Read review
The
Widow Clicquot: The Story of a Champagne Empire and the Woman Who Ruled It
by Tilar J. Mazzeo.
American Wife
by Curtis Sittenfeld.
This imagined life of Laura Bush is an engrossing
story of an American woman from the Midwest whose marriage into an
upper-class political family pulls her into a life of compromise.
A page-turner, to be sure.
The Story of a
Marriage by Andrew Sean Greer.
The Boat by Nam
Le.
Eat, Pray,
Love by Elizabeth Gilbert.
I'm
listening to it again.
Goldengrove by
Francine Prose.
Lush Life by Richard Price.
Exiles by Ron Hansen.
August 2008
White Mary by Kira Salak.
Wonder what it's like to travel through the jungles of Papua New Guinea?
Award-winning travel writer Kira Salak allows her readers to vicariously
experience the sights, the sounds, the isolation, and the tropical diseases
of the remote island in her first novel. It's an impressive debut.
What I Talk About When I Talk about Running: A
Memoir by Haruki Murakami.
A contemplative book on running and being a
distance runner and how that informs Murakami's life as a fiction writer:
Read review
The Turnaround by George Pelecanos.
A teenage racial skirmish in 1970s Washington
D.C. between three white and three black teens influences the lives of all
involved. Thirtysome years later, each has a chance for redemption. What do
the sins of the past look like in the modern day, and is it possible to get
along? Not his best, but entertaining none the less.
July 2008
June 2008
Short Stories by Leo Tolstoy.
The Running Novelist by Haruki
Murakami.
From The New
Yorker, June 9 & 16, 2008.
The Wrecking Crew by Thomas Frank.
Frank will
broaden his readership with this thoughtful analysis of the rise of
conservative power in the United States.
Dawn, Dusk or
Night: A Year with Nicholas Sarkozy by Yashima Reza, translated by Carol
Janeway.
Our Story Begins: New & Selected Stories by
Tobias Wolff: Read
or hear review
May 2008
A
Voyage Long and Strange
by Tony Horwitz.
Sarah Bagby's book reviews can be heard on alternate Mondays on KMUW 89.1.
Here's a
transcript of her most recent review. To listen:
Go here.
Anna Karenina
by Leo Tolstoy.
Songs for the
Missing by Stewart O’Nan.
New novel
due in November by one of my favorite authors, known as the bard
of the working class, that explores what happens when an
18-year-old woman disappears from a small Midwestern town. Fans
of O’Nan’s attention to detail and nuance will be pleased with
this latest book.
Palace Thief
by Ethan Canin.
Another good
collection of four longer stories. The title story was made into the
movie The Emperor’s Club.
Emperor of the Air
by Ethan Canin.
Love every single
word—even through the second reading of this first short story
collection by the talented writer.
Carry Me
Across the Water by Ethan Canin.
The voice is my
companion on solo runs, or as I walk Prince. I’ll miss August
Kleinman when I finish. So well written by Ethan Canin and well read
by Ron Rifkin.
April 2008
The Pizza Hut
Story by Robert Spector.
Dancing at Lughnasa
by Brian Friel.
Award winning
“memory play.”
From the final
scene:
Dancing as if the
very heart of life and all its hopes might be found in those assuaging
notes and those hushed rhythms and in those silent and hypnotic
movements. Dancing as if language no longer existed because words were
no longer necessary (Slowly bring up the music. Slowly bring down the
lights.)
At Blackwater
Pond: Mary Oliver reads Mary Oliver.
The first
ever recordings by the poet.
Our Only Hope by
Keith Pickus: Read
review
Made in the USA by Billie Letts.
I liked this... it is a good summer read.
Made in the USA received a starred review in Publisher's Weekly. Billie
is the mother of Tracy Letts, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for his play,
August: Osage County.
(And Billie will be at Watermark on July
10th!)
March 2008
Can I Keep My Jersey? 11 Teams, 5
Countries, and 4 Years in My Life as a Basketball Vagabond by Paul Shirley.
Great book that started as a blog!
Capote in Kansas: A Love Story by Kim Powers.
A ghost story and
was, in the end, unimpressed. While Kim Powers opens the book with a
provocative and promising twist on an old story, this "ghost story"
focuses on why Harper Lee wrote nothing after To Kill a Mockingbird, and
on why Capote suffered from Writer's Block at the end of his life (could
it be all the drugs?). Powers surmises that Lee was crushed by a casual
comment that Truman made at his famous black and white ball--one in
which HE claimed to have written To Kill a Mockingbird. Lee, in
Powers view, then begins to doubt her own authorship and does not come
to terms with that doubt until the final pages of the novel when Capote
is dead and has written a note admitting he did not write Mockingbird.
The filler is episodic scenes in which Truman is visited by the ghosts
of the Clutters and in which Lee visits cemeteries and receives gifts
from Truman with hand carved coffins and other confusing yet symbolic
trinkets and writes letters to her dead brother.
The Undiscovered Country by Lin Enger.
At a recent gathering of authors and bookstore
owners, Lin Enger (and I am paraphrasing) stated that one of the reasons we
are so drawn to stories with unique intimacy is that the author is able to
get to the deepest chambers of the heart in a way the reader cannot get to
their own heart.
Well stated. So, Lin's book moved up to the top of
my stack. A re-telling of Hamlet that doesn't require a reading of said play
to enjoy, The Undiscovered Country is set in Northern Minnesota, and
after 50 pages I can say that this is a book our customers will enjoy and
recommend.
Hold Tight by Harlan Coben.
Wow. A great set up: Concerned parents of a moody
seventeen year old arrange to spy on his computer use. With limited tech
knowledge, they discover something disturbing and struggle with how to
proceed--maintain the trust of their son or save him from seemingly
dangerous liaisons.
Naturally tensions arise as the truth is unveiled as
Coben also exposes the generational technology use disparity existing
between boomer parents and their children. A page turner with a fantastic
and unique set up.
My first venture into Coben's world. This book is
his 15th.
Flower Net by Lisa See.
The first of three mysteries by the author of Peony
in Love. Nominated for an Edgar for first novel, The Flower Net is set in LA
and Beijing. A detective from each city partner to solve some murders that
are tied to a human trafficking organization. See's examination of cultural
differences adds to the psychological games detectives use to gather
information and solve crimes.
Clay by David Almond.
An interesting and rather creepy book about the
nature of the imagination and creativity as it is manifest in good and evil.
A great selection for any book club:
Read or hear review
The Day I Ate What Ever I Wanted (and Other Small
Acts of Liberation) by Elizabeth Berg.
A wonderful collection of short stories, many
dealing with the experiences dieting and weight loss. With Berg's acute
vision and insightful prose, the character's humanity and humility will
resonate with many readers:
Read or hear
review
February 2008
A Voyage Long and Strange by Tony Horwitz:
Read or hear review
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy.
My first reading of this book. Can't wait to get
back to it every day--after 200 pages, the worlds of Levin and Kitty and
Anna and Vronsky are embedded in my psyche. I love this book.
Charlatan by Pope Brock:
Read or hear review
Peony in Love by Lisa See:
Read or hear review
Sunflower Sinner by Cynthia Dennis.
Code Black by Philip Donley.
January 2008
America, America by Ethan Canin.
I LOVE this book.
An important epic novel set in the 1970s; this is the best political
book to read this year. Profound and poetic, this novel by the talented
Canin satiates the soul.
Don’t miss this
book: Read
review
The Commoner by John Burnham Schwartz:
Read review
The Gods of War by
Maria Silver.
A young man on the verge of adulthood cares for his
mentally handicapped brother as he struggles to find his way in a dismal
town near the Salton Sea. Poetic.
The Senator's Wife by Sue Miller:
Read Sarah's review.
Another solid book by an insightful novelist
exploring the nature of love and marriage and family life--both public and
private.
Life Class by Pat
Barker.
So Young, Brave and
Handsome by Lief Enger.
Sun Going Down by
Jack Todd.
December 2007
Christmas Memory, One Christmas, Thanksgiving Visitor
by Truman Capote.
Three moving holiday stories to read and re-read.
Masterful writing, humor and the experience of home and loss.
Blue Heaven by C.J. Box.
After Tess Gerritsen recommended this book, I took
it home to try. The Idaho setting and riveting plot are keeping me
entertained. I understand why Tess was so enthusiastic. While Blue Heaven
does not feature Box's usual protagonist, this book will appeal to his
faithful readers and likely gain him more. Very Good Thriller. Recommended.
Read or hear review
The Cure for Modern Life
by Lisa Tucker.
A perfect book to come home to. Especially during
the busy holiday season. I love Lisa Tucker.
November 2007
A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway.
Two road trips have given me the chance to listen to
audio books. John Slattery is an excellent actor and reads each voice of
this novel without grating on ones nerves. This love story represented the
new romanticism for Hemingway. Highly Recommended--unabridged; 9 hours.
The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway.
Skillfully read by Donald Sutherland, this novella,
written in 1952, confirmed Hemingway's power and presence in the literary
world and was instrumental in his winning the Nobel Prize. The story of an
old Cuban Fisherman and the young boy he teaches is fine. This is a good
audio, three hours.
Someday This Pain Will Be Useful to You by Peter Cameron.
Excellent title fitting
to any age or pain, excellent book about a young man overwhelmed by life
after high school in twenty-first century New York City:
Read review
Training Plans for Multisport Athletes by Gale
Bernhardt.
Great book for the novice or experienced athlete
trying to improve performance. A Godsend for me since the departure of my
running partner.
Darkness Visible: A Memoir of Madness
by William Styron.
Just re-released in a Modern Library edition, this
memoir of Styrons's descent into severe depression is compelling in it's
attempt to articulate the symptoms of the disease, as well as a reflection
on why it is so misunderstood. Finally, he concludes that depression is
rooted in loss (of a loved one, a cherished friend or other source of
support followed by a loss of self, then purpose, then hope and on down) but
that it can be cured with treatment that for him included hospitalization,
allowing him time and a secure, though sterile, environment in which to
heal.
Bleeding Kansas by
Sara Paretsky.
Though not a VI Warshawski, Bleeding Kansas
features a plucky 15-year-old heroine. As she manages school and parents
with their own set of challenges, Lara also has to maneuver through the
dynamics when a "stranger moves to town." Paretsky finesses this third
person narrative with aplomb, creating memorable and believable characters
including: a Wiccan; religious fanatics such as a Sect of Hasidic Jews and
some angry evangelical Christians; a homeless ex-hippie alcoholic with
demons to settle and secrets to reveal; and a teacher trying to do right by
everybody: Read
or listen to the review
The Reserve by
Russell Banks.
Another good book by the author of so many great novels. Over the course of
one summer month, lives unravel and secrets are revealed in unexpected ways
by this esteemed storyteller.
Under Hope's Roof by Myrne Roe:
Read review
October 2007
Hot L Baltimore by John Lanford.
Two Lives: Gertrude and Alice by Janet Malcolm.
Heidi Chronicles
by Wendy Wasserstein.
This play stands the test
of time. Now after the playwright's own life has been written, a re-reading
is interesting in that it foretells real incidents in Wasserstein's life.
Charlatan:
America's Most Dangerous Huckster, the
Man Who Pursued Him, and the Age of Flimflam by Pope Brock.
A romp of a book about
John Brinkley, a medical quack who did much harm in our fine state, ran for
governor twice (and nearly won) and was a pioneer in the early days of
radio. This is also the story of the man who took Brinkley down.
Born Standing Up by Steve Martin.
Wonderful Tonight by Pattie Boyd.
A guilty pleasure.
Tree of Smoke by Denis Johnson.
Jonathan Galassi, the
esteemed editor, makes the bold claim that this novel is perhaps the best
novel published by FSG. He could be right. I’m 70 pages in and
concur that Johnson is the real thing. At 700 pages, this will take me
awhile, but so be it:
Read review
September 2007
Dead Connection by
Alafair Burke.
I enjoyed Alafair’s new
book AND character, a New Yorker, and would have liked it even without the
Wichita-hometown-girl connection. The internet dating info is interesting
and the plot twists are well thought out and unpredictable.
The Monsters of Templeton
by Lauren Groff.
Monsters of all sorts
reside in this inventive novel set in a town modeled on Groff’s childhood
hometown of Cooperstown, New York. She pays homage to James Fenimore
Cooper, Glimmerglass Lake and the value of Running Groups in a small
community—some things you just need to be able to depend on. A young woman
is searching for her father and discovers the many complicated connections
and family secrets of the Templeton. The book will be out in January of 2008
and has already gathered accolades from Stephen King and booksellers across
the country.
The Curious Case of
Benjamin Buttons by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
This inventive story is
a delight and will soon be a motion picture starring Brad Pitt and Cate
Blanchett.
August 2007
Red Rover by Deirdre
McNamer.
Last Night at the Lobster
by Stewart O'Nan.
An Ode to managers everywhere.
Read or
Listen to the review
The Maytrees by Annie
Dillard.
An examination of how we live
through whatever love is, infused with clever wordplay, poetic language
(some paragraphs are, quite simply, poems), humor and appreciation of the
natural world:
Read reviews
The Farther Shore by
Matthew Eck.
A first person account of
living with the "rules of
engagement" of the US Army in modern day Somalia.
July 2007
Away by Amy Bloom.
Very good woman adventure
novel. Love story a bonus!
Read or
Listen to the review
Here if You Need Me by Kate Braestrup.
It's Anne Lamott meets Survivor in this
wonderful memoir of
Braestrup's journey to becoming a chaplain to the search and rescue teams at
work in the Maine woods:
Read a review
The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme
Court by Jeffrey Toobin.
A must read for anyone who votes! Kudos to Jeffrey
Toobin
for giving context to the way the third branch of the government works. A
bonus is that Toobin's talent for "story" is so great that you won't be able
to put this book down:
Read or
Listen to the review
The Comedy of Errors (Pelican Shakespeare edition)
by William Shakespeare.
June 2007
After Dark by Haruki Murakami:
Read or
Listen to the review
Falling Man by Don DeLillo:
Read or
Listen to the review.
The Yiddish Policeman's
Union by Michael Chabon.
A delight.
On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan.
A short novel to be savored:
Read or
Listen to the review.
Richard III by William Shakespeare.
May 2007
The Pirate's Daughter by Margaret Cezair-Thompson.
The cultural melting pot of Jamaica against the
celluloid backdrop of Errol Flynn and his Hollywood friends, young women and
local workers on Navy Island provides the author with so much rich material.
The Pirate's Daughter brings to life a cast of remarkable characters
who maneuver their way through cultures, real and imagined, families and
classes looking for security and love. Margaret Cezair-Thompson's novel
charms even the most
hard hearted with her simple prose, authentic dialects, and heartbreaking
look at dreams, both broken and realized in an era of stardom and glamour.
(Due in September from Unbridled Books.)
The Absolutely True Diary
of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie.
Alexie’s first novel for
young adults features illustrations by Ellen Forney. This is a book is full
of pathos and humor and one you won't want to miss:
Read review
Bind, Torture, Kill: The Inside Story of the Serial
Killer Next Door by Roy Wenzl.
The Two Gentlemen of Verona by William Shakespeare.
April 2007
Hick by Andrea Portes.
Mrs. Warren's Profession by George Bernard Shaw.
The Secret of Lost Things by Sheridan Hay.
Rise and Shine by Anna Quindlen:
Read review
or
Listen to the review
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini.
Only three chapters in and hooked; can we close the
store because of the threat of rain so I can go home and read!
Read or
Listen to the review.
The Feminine
Mistake: Are We Giving Up Too Much? by Leslie
Bennetts:
March 2007
The Science of Success by Charles Koch.
Loving Frank by Nancy Horan.
Due in August, this fictional tale of the life of Mamah
Cheney and her adulterous relationship with Frank Lloyd Wright is
fascinating. Meeting Wright as the architect of her Oak Park, Illinois
home, Cheney pursues the life of the mind and an affair of the heart,
leaving her husband and two children to live in Europe with the charismatic
intellectual and artist.
Over the course of the following years, she
subsequently receives a divorce and lives among Wright’s family in the woods
of Wisconsin. Wright is in and out of the picture, working on big projects
in Chicago and other places while also building the legendary Taliesin.
Mamah Cheney tested the social mores of her time to
become the most that she could be, and Horan tells her story with empathy
and a distance that is unsentimental. This is a fascinating look at two
people who lived against convention to achieve a personal happiness that is
as tragic as it is fulfilling.
An Arsonist’s Guide to Writers’ Homes in New England
by Brock Clarke.
A delayed coming-of-age novel set in New England, this
curious novel is quirky and charming. From the publisher of Water for
Elephants, it's book is likely to find a good audience. Algonquin
Press’s editors sure do have a gift for finding typical stories told in
atypical ways.
Winter’s Bone by Daniel Woodrell.
This book has cold and cruel prose, minimal dialog that
is more telling than expansive details, and a feel for how desperate people
act and see the world. Woodrell tells the store of Ree, age sixteen, the
daughter of a meth addict/producer father and an addled brain-dead mother.
She is trying to hold together a household for her two younger brothers.
Winter’s Bone will more than satisfy any yen for voyeurism into a life
at the edge of reason, driven by twisted logic and legacies of violence and
trouble. Woodrell, with pathos and empathy, shows how the worst situation
can be overwritten by hope, love and money, though not necessarily in that
order.
Writing in an Age of Silence by Sara Paretsky.
Examining the forces that kept her silent—and how she
overcame them—is the subject of this writer’s coming-of-a-age essay
collection. I loved this book and am completely in awe of Paretsky’s
intelligence. I eagerly await her forthcoming novel Bleeding Kansas,
which is scheduled for January 2008:
Read review
or listen to an
Audio review at KMUW
Devils in the Sugar Shop by
Timothy Schaffert.
Shaffert infuses Midwestern detail
into the lives of myriad characters searching for love and security during a
few months of winter discontent: A romance writer finds her book on the
dollar table at a neighborhood bookstore; a divorcee “falling back into
love” with her ex finds a nude portrait he drew of her best friend; a single
woman, straight laced and efficient, has built a lucrative business selling
sex toys; a sixteen-year-old meets her skinnier, more popular friends at a
D.A.V. to try on clothes the same day she receives an email meant for her
father’s adulterous lover. Readers and book people will delight in the
bookstore banter of Peaches, Plum, and their eclectic collection of
customers, lovers and writers. Devils in the Sugar Shop delights and
affirms the nature of the human heart.
The Blood of
Flowers by Alice Amirrezvani.
Excellent
historical novel of class and love and commerce in Iran. An unnamed young
woman loses her dowry when her father dies and must live with her uncle who
is the rug-maker to the Shah. A skilled and inspired rug-maker herself, our
heroine pursues the craft of rug-making even as she has an arranged, but
temporary marriage contract. Modern themes of financial independence
resonate through this sensuous novel and Amirrezvani weaves traditional
Iranian storytelling through each chapter to allow for deeper meaning. I
read this book on an airplane trip and we landed before I even knew we took
off. Due in June, this is one to keep a look out for.
Listen to the review.
February
2007
Returning To
Earth by Jim Harrison:
Audio review at KMUW
The Girl with
the Gallery: Edith Gregor Halpert And the Making
of the Modern Art Market by Lindsay Pollock:
Audio review at KMUW
The Rest of
Her Life by Laura Moriarty.
I am reading
this for the second time and am so excited to be able to share this book
with readers of the Center of Everything, Laura's previous novel. Infused
with humor and pathos regarding our cultural values, Moriarty tells of a
tragic event that provides a vehicle for all members of a typical family to
find their power to help and love each other, despite the painful path to
realization of that power. The second reading is providing me the time to
truly appreciate the richness and complexity of the telling of a family in
crisis.
Read or
Listen to the review.
What the Dead
Know by Laura Lippman.
Laura
Lippman belongs right next to Sara Paretsky and George Pelacanos for her
bravado in the mystery "genre": her characters are interesting and deep; the
plot twists and turns, building layer upon layer until the final pages when
it is revealed with perfect timing--a pace unhurried that makes the truth
soak in and stay there. Two daughters go to a suburban Baltimore mall in the
70s and never return home. Some decades later the victim of a hit and run
accident claims to be one of the sisters:
Audio review at KMUW
January 2007
The Sweet
Potato Queens' First Big-Ass Novel by
Jill Conner Browne with Karin Gillespie:
Read review
Money, A Memoir: Women, Emotions, and Cash by Liz
Perle.
A perfect companion to You're Wearing That?! Perle's book will make you think about how money has influenced many of our
experiences and choices, and she deconstructs our ideas about independence,
which have often left us more dependent than we would have ever thought.
Provocative and empowering, this is an interesting book for all women.
December 2006
Grace Eventually: Thoughts on Faith by Annie
Lamott.
Anne Lamott gets me every time--as a mother, as a
curious and humble woman, and as the mother of a teenage child. There are no
pat answers here, only moments of grace after hours of struggle. Despite the
overwhelming evidence toward hopelessness, she believes that with an open
heart and by giving into faith, we can become. But what the heck
is becoming anyway and where do we want to "be"? That's the darnedest
thing, and we don't know until we get there. Not only that, in case you
think that you've arrived and become, think again, because there is
only somewhere else for you to be. Put this on your bedside table or keep it
in a spot where you can enjoy a moment of reflection; you'll want to read
these essays again and again:
Read review
or listen to an
Audio review at KMUW
You're Wearing That? : Understanding Mothers and
Daughters in Conversations by Deborah Tannen.
This book is easy to read and validates our roles as
a mothers and daughters. By listening to real conversations from many
demographics, Tannen shows how universal and typical we are in our quest for
connection and control.
A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by
Ishmael Beah.
This powerful memoir gets to the meat of what
happens when a life is interrupted by war. Receiving
his first AK-47 the same year he enters his teens, Beah tells of the
traumatic plight of boy soldiers. His descriptions of the misguided
emotional toil of war and incomprehensible violence are as powerful as they
are heartbreaking: he was recruited into a civil war in Sierra Leone when he
was thirteen and wandered for years with a band of boys, just killing and
surviving. They smoked dope and snorted brown-brown, a concoction of cocaine
and gun powder, and finally, amazingly, he fought his way through
rehabilitation. Now he's twenty-six and lives in the U.S., where he has
graduated from Oberlin College and become a speaker for human rights
organizations. This memoir is immediate and gives a voice to an experience
that many young boys do not survive:
Audio review at KMUW
November 2006
Echo Park by Michael
Connelly: Read
review
What the Thunder Said
by Janet Peery.
This new novel by the
author of The River Beyond the World is mesmerizing. Haunting,
lyrical prose alternating between a sort of local, Okie old-fashioned
vernacular and language steeped in biblical references, Perry’s novel
transports the reader much like a powerful dream, where we have to think
twice about what we just experienced. Family secrets and human frailties and
failings are woven together to tell of two sisters, estranged leave the
family home in search of a future away from their “roots.” There is so much
in the early pages; I want to take my time with every word, sentence,
paragraph, page and chapter. Due in March, What the Thunder Said is
the third book by former Wichitan and graduate of the MFA Creative Writing
program at Wichita State University.
The Good Home
Cookbook: More Than 1000 Classic Recipes by Richard J. Perry
I have been cooking
in the café and have found much inspiration in this cookbook. Home tested
recipes, collected by a Portland runner, collector of cool kitchen gadgets
and tools, and good cook, this was sure to appeal to me. The cover is even
evocative of my “tickled pink” retro dinnerware. I have the tiniest kitchen
with one of the coolest vintage Red Chambers Ranges ever made. Modern
conveniences such as a dishwasher or trash compactor come second to my need
for something aesthetically pleasing. I have tried about a half dozen
recipes (Lentil Soup, Spiced-Peach muffins, Amish Sugar Cookies and
Chocolate Snacking Cake to name a few) and all have turned out very well.
All of these items are available at Watermark Café—check the web page for
days.
October 2006
Nature Girl by
Carl Hiaasen
Snappy dialog, genius
comic timing, and crazy but lovable characters make for a pleasure read
during a busy time of the year. Honey Santana is determined to turn a
hapless telemarketer, into a decent human being. Fun book for sure, set in
the insanely branded Florida typical of Hiaasen.
The Rest of Her Life
by Laura Moriarty
I was lucky enough to
get a very early copy of a book due in the summer of 2007. The first chapter
of this new novel by the author of the beloved Center of Everything
lured me right in. A provocative novel examining the defining, though often
confusing roles of mothers, daughters and sisters, The Rest of Her Life
will appeal to all women.
Amadeus by Peter Schaeffer and
Private Lives by Noel Coward.
I listened to my
Shakespeare Club read two plays this fall. The first, Amadeus by
Peter Schaeffer, is a play about how we average types are ego driven when
confronted with genius (Mozart) and how we grapple with our own bad behavior
(Salieri), trying to reconcile with a God that allows us to behave in such
despicable ways. And second, Private Lives by Noel Coward, a comedy
of manners revealing the limits and frustrations of love, while showing how
we find comfort in both.
September 2006
All Aunt Hager's Children by Edward P.
Jones.
These stories-spanning 100 years in Washington,
D.C.-are a pleasure to read. I've finished four and will read the rest
before the next Literary Feast (this is the October selection). "Bad
Neighbors" and "Blindsided" are my favorites so far.
Ten Days in the Hills by Jane Smiley.
Jane Smiley takes on Hollywood in a breezy novel
full of whip-smart dialog and rambling, yet entertaining, tales of life in
the hills. A half-dozen friends have a house party for ten days beginning
the day after the Oscars and shortly after our country invaded Iraq. Smiley
is so smart, and reading this book makes me think she has entered the room
and is telling me the best story. I'll listen to each word.
Sharp Images by Gillian Flynn.
This first novel by Entertainment Weekly's TV
critic is creepy and full of horrible characters. The protagonist is a hack
journalist for a Chicago paper and is sent back to a small Missouri town
where there have been two gruesome child murders. Our heroine resumes the
self-destructive behavior she thought she had let go and discovers that
family and small town secrets create the deepest of wounds. A gothic writer
to watch.
The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda's Journey to America
by Lawrence Wright.
Very good book.
Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky.
Excellent! Sometimes the story behind the book is
more interesting that the actual work. Not so here. BOTH stories are
fascinating. We'll be discussing this book on Friday, September 1 at the
KMUW/Watermark Books Literary Feast! French Food, a great book, and good
conversation. Can life get much better than that?
August 2006
The Late Bloomer's Revolution by Amy Cohen.
Scheduled to be released in the spring of 2007, this
memoir of
living solo, though not by choice, is funny and thoughtful. After many
dates, when all friends and family seem to have given up hope, Amy meets and
falls in love with someone. The book is charming.
The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11
by Lawrence Wright.
After a glowing review in the New York Times
Review of Books, I was intrigued. Now, I'm engrossed in the
history of Al-Qaeda and the events that led to the dreadful events on
September 11, 2001. In lucid prose, Wright explains the history of modern
terrorism and the psychology of the Islamist terrorists, the nature of U.S.
intelligence, after the Cold War, and how politics and religion can be a
deadly mix.
A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon.
The new novel by the author of The Curious
Incident of the Dog in the Night explores a family in flux: George, the
father, is losing
his mind after recently retiring; his wife is having an affair; their
daughter is going to marry a man with "strangler hands;" and their gay son
is trying to stay in touch but not impose his partner. The British slang and
dialog are so good, as is the mental state of George. It's a great contrast
to The Looming Tower.
The Extra
Mile: One Woman's Personal Journey to Ultrarunning Greatness
by Pam Reed:
Read review
July 2006
The Touching that Lasts by Kent Nelson.
A collection of stories by the author of The Land
that Moves, the
Land that Stands Still. Fans of that novel should take note and read
these stories as well.
When Madeline Was Young by Jane Hamilton.
As usual, a pure pleasure to read. Her humor and
insight and plot
makes for a novel you want to get back to, setting all previous committments
aside. Due in September. Look for details of Jane Hamilton's visit to
Watermark Books & Cafe soon.
Forgetfulness by Ward Just.
From the first word, Just has me in awe.
If you have not read Ward Just, please let me call
you when this book is available. He is among the best novelists working
today (despite his omission from The New York Times' recent list).
Forgetfulness examines the often challenging dilemma of the personal vs.
political when a man comes face to face with the terrorists who killed his
wife. In lyrical prose a command of global political issues, Just has
written a novel that should broaden his readership and have new fans
scouring the shelves for his previous novels.
It's a good book that advances the power of art in
getting at the truth, both in terms of drawing out secret histories and as a
carthartic practice providing clarity in a chaotic society. Due out in
September.
June 2006
Driftless Area by Tom Drury.
Due this fall, this existential novel set in the
northern Midwest is as spare as it is accomplished. Drury is a genius at
knowing exactly what is needed to develop a story with depth and humor and
insight into the human condition:
Read review
Challenger Park by Stephen Harrington.
Mercy, you cannot judge a book by its cover. This is
one fine novel. Lucy Kincheloe is an astronaut and a mother of two. She's
finally going to space, and Harrington deftly portrays her difficult - and
unbalancing - choice to let go of family and follow ambition.
May 2006
The New Yorker Book of Cartoon Puzzles and Games
by Puzzability, with a
forward by Will Shortz & Robert Mankoff:
Read review
Girls in Peril by
Karen Lee Boren: Read review
Gardenias by Faith
Sullivan.
Set
in San Diego during World War II, this coming-of-age novel is quite
good. Lark, age 10, lives with her mother and aunt. We enter their lives
when they arrive in San Diego after abandoning Minnesota, Lark’s father, and
a few broken dreams. The three women build new lives and community a little
at a time, caring for servicemen off to war and others in less fortunate
situations. Lark learns to negotiate her own life as she shares her mother
and aunt. Sullivan uses terms and language of the period in a way that gets
the reader's attention.
Water for Elephants
by Sara Gruen.
Due in May, this love
story within a circus is set during the Depression and vividly depicts the
sights, smells, and sludge in the train and under the big top. But don’t let
that stop you from enjoying one of the most anticipated novels of the
year. Sara Gruen goes straight from the sideshows to the high wire in her
remarkable debut.
The Dairy Queen by
Catherine Gilbert Murdock.
A fun and feisty book
for young readers, this first novel is the coming-of-age story of a young
man and woman. It's set in Wisconsin on a dairy farm. The heroine is a true
athlete in addition to farm hand whereas our more citified hero must learn
to live up to her standards. These opposite numbers become friends and learn
more from each other than they ever imagined:
Read review
April 2006
Red Weather by
Pauls Toutonghi.
A Wisconsin novel
featuring Latvian immigrants. Endearing and timely.
An amusing and
entertaining story, it came highly recommended by Beth, so I had to give it
a try: Read
Beth's review
Think Again: A Response to
Fundamentalism's Claim on Christianity by Dr. Gary Cox of Wichita's
University Congregational Church:
Read review
Mockingbird: A
Portrait of Harper Lee by Charles J. Shields.
This fascinating,
first biography of the elusive Harper Lee is destined to be on everyone’s
reading list. Shields evokes not only the small Alabama town, characters,
and events that became the backdrop of To Kill a Mockingbird as well
as Lee’s years in New York City putting words on the page and the success of
the novel that delighted and overwhelmed her. Harper Lee’s oft-tested
friendship with Truman Capote is a recurring theme, and Shield’s reading of
the pages and pages of notes on In Cold Blood give us new details on
the years Lee and Capote spent together in the small towns of western
Kansas. Finally, Shields answers the questions often asked about Harper Lee:
whatever happened to her, and why didn’t she ever write another novel?
Read review
Intuition by
Allegra Goodman
I like the egos,
ambitions and suspense of life in a medical research lab:
Read Todd's review
March 2006
Fire Sale by Sara
Paretsky.
V.I. Warshawski is
the best female P.I.
Read review
Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert.
I love Elizabeth Gilbert. I read this
in November, and now I'm listening to the audio book:
Read review
The
Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo, illustrated by Bagram
Ibatoulline.
Sure
to become a family and classroom favorite, this lovely volume portrays the
miracle of hoping and opening your heart to love in the face of tremendous
loss. It's by the award-winning author of Because of Winn Dixie and
The Tale of Despeareaux. For ages 7 and up.
Who Moved
My Blackberry? by Lucy Kellaway with “Martin Lukes”
If
you're not reading Lucy Kellaway’s columns in the Financial Times,
you’re missing one of the most amusing business columnists writing today. On
Mondays, she reviews business books or just opines on corporate life, and
her expertise is sarcasm. Additionally, she has invented a character named
Martin Lukes, whose column also appears with her help on a regular basis. Who
Moved My Blackberry? is Lucy’s first novel, a satire of corporate life
that will make you cringe and laugh. Organized as a year in the life, we
follow the ambitious and
not-as-smart-as-he-thinks-he-is-but-will-take-all-the-credit Martin through
a rebranding, restructuring at AB Global. Also in this challenging year, his
wife comes to work for the company, he gets a new young and beautiful
personal assistant, his son goes off to boarding school and he hires a life
coach. This clever tour-de-force - told through Martin’s e-mail sent message
box - has a voyeuristic quality that allows reader access to way too much
information. Getting so close to a fool was never so much fun.
February 2006
The Sweet Potato Queens' Wedding Planner/Divorce Guide by Jill Connor
Browne.
Funny and Wise. Out of all her advice, there
are two things that I can't help repeating over and over: 1. Do NOT confuse
a wedding with a marriage. 2. There's nothing wrong with being too choosy
about choosing a groom.
Unholy Messenger: The Life and Crimes of the BTK Serial Killer
by Stephen
Singular: Read
review
On Beauty by Zadie Smith.
I love it. You want to go to sleep and
wake up with this book! (February Literary Feast pick.)
Read Bruce's
review
Proof
by David Auburn.
Noises
Off by Michael Frayn.
January 2006
The Great Stink by Clare Clark.
This novel was our pick for our January
Literary Feast, and it smelled sweet as a rose. This first novel is a
historical page-turner in the tradition of The Dress Lodger or The
Alienist.
Read review
Check our
Events page for info
on upcoming Literary Feasts: it's dinner-and-a-book club at Watermark!
Sex Wars
by Marge Piercy.
Atmospheric, social history of the period
leading up to passage of the 19th amendment, suffrage for American women.
Weaving together real and fictional characters, Piercy brings to life a
fascinating time in our country's history.
Once Upon a Day by Lisa Tucker.
I couldn't put this book down: in an unfair
world of risk and violence, how can we reconcile protecting the ones we love
with the risk of losing them? What is safety worth if insanity results?
This inventive novel of family secrets, wrenching hurt, and unnecessary loss
has an intricate, deftly woven plot and keen observations. And whether the
setting is the home of a power mogul in Hollywood, a cab in St. Louis, or a
dusty hole in the
wall in New Mexico, Lisa Tucker is right there. And did I mentions that I
love the title?
Read review
December 2005
Flush
by Carl Hiaasen.
This is a good
book for middle readers with a fast pace and a “green” message; it's good
companion to Hoot.
Fallen by David Maine.
Every day, I find something in my life that
resonates with this great retelling of the story of Cain & Abel and Adam &
Eve. It's that good and that universal. (December Literary Feast pick.)
Read Bruce's
review
Saving the World by Julia Alvarez.
Present meets past in this provocative novel:
in the Dominican Republic of the present a humanitarian organization
oversees testing of an anti-HIV drug, and in the past, Dr. Francisco Xavier
Balmis' Royal Expedition in 1804 carries the smallpox virus from Europe to
the New World using 22 orphan boys and their caregiver, the only woman on
the ship. In the two narratives - and through two fascinating heroines -
Alvarez explores the challenges of public health epidemics, the dynamics of
free markets and emerging economies, and how the world is often at odds with
itself. This one should be next on your stack!
This book is due in April. Call us, and we'll
save you one.
November 2005
The All-American Dessert Book
by Nancy Baggett (November Cookbook of
the Month!): Read
review
Cookies, cobblers, and pies. Oh my!
October 2005
The Lost Painting by Jonathan Harr, a non-fiction delve into the high stakes
art world by the author of A Civil Action:
Read review
The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly:
Read review
September 2005
Salad People and More Real Recipes: A New Cookbook for Preschoolers & Up by
Mollie Katzen:
Read review
City of Falling Angels by John Berendt,
author of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil:
Read review
The Rustic Table: Simple Fare from the World's Kitchens
by Constance Snow
(Cookbook of the Month!):
Read review
August 2005
King of Kings County by Whitney Terrell;
it's a gripping story of growth and growing crime that's set in Kansas City.
Read the opening pages about the Christmas lighting of the Plaza, and you'll be
hooked:
Read review
A Necessary Spectacle: Billie Jean King, Bobby
Riggs, and the Tennis Match that Leveled the Game by Selena Roberts:
Read review
July 2005
Interruption
of Everything by Terry MacMillan:
Read review
The
Secret Man: The Story of Watergate's Deep Throat by Bob Woodward.
The
Other Shulman by Alan Zweibel:
Read review
I Remember Running: The Year I Got Everything I Ever Wanted - and ALS
by
Darcy Wakefield: Read review
June
2005
The
Good Wife by Stewart O'Nan:
Read review
Zorro
by Isabel Allende.
Ultramarathon
Man by Dean Karnazes:
Read
review
The
Trader Joe's Adventure: Turning a Unique Approach to Business Into a Retail and
Cultural Phenomenon by Len Lewis.
Making
It Up as I Go Along by Maria Lennon.
Caravaggio:
Painter of Miracles by Francine Prose.
May 2005
Lipstick Jungle by Candace Bushnell.
April 2005
The Missing Person by Alix Ohlin.
One Soldier's Story by
Bob Dole: Read
review
Blood of Angels by
Reed Arvin.
Nightmare in Wichita: The
Hunt for the BTK Strangler by Robert Beattie.
A must for anyone who has
lived in Wichita for the past 30 years, this is a book about the people
involved in the investigation and others affected by the unfathomable
murders. Read
full review
Someplace Like This by
Renee Ashley.
Known for her poetry,
Ashley is teaching at WSU in creative writing for one month. This novel about
a woman wanting more (but not knowing what) is beautifully written and gets at
the heart of the confusion that living our lives often causes.
Plan B: Further Thoughts
on Faith by Anne Lamott.
Anne Lamott gives us a Traveling Mercies "part two," and the best part (besides the whole book!)
is that her son Sam is the age as my daughter, many of Lamott’s most traumatic
human exchanges feature the two of them, and she seems to be speaking directly
to me. Read
full review
How to Lose Your Ass and
Regain Your Life by Kirstie Alley.
A guilty pleasure. What
this book is exactly is beyond me. (And maybe it's not sure itself.) Alley
accompanies her year-long diary with stories of growing up and "out," many of
which take place right here in Wichita.
March 2005
Closers by Michael
Connelly.
After a two-year
retirement, Harry Bosch goes back to the LAPD to work some cold
cases. As good as ever, Connelly brings to life one of fictions most popular
and likable characters.
Saturday by Ian McEwan.
A great novel occurring
over twenty-four hours and featuring a neurosurgeon in London. There's too
much going on in this book to describe in a few sentences; suffice it to say,
it is very, very good.
Read Bruce's
review
Lost in the Forest by
Sue Miller.
Miller imagines divorce’s
effects on the life of a middle child on the verge of becoming a woman. I like
Sue Miller very much, and this book reminds me why.
Read full review
Embroideries by
Marjane Satrapi.
Beth reviewed this book,
and I was intrigued. It's a sort of "Ya Ya’s" sisterhood set in the Middle
East. It's short, so I got to read it (and laugh) while I guarded the
gym door during a middle school dance. Good thing that gym door was locked!
Read Beth's review
February
2005
Plain Brown Wrapper: An
Alex Powell Novel by Karen Grigsby Bates.
A new
sleuth: African-American Journalist Alex Powell is drawn in when a
high-powered editor is murdered in the hotel where a national conference is
taking place. Read
full review
Case Histories by Kate
Atkinson.
One of this year's
favorites: A sad and bitterly funny book disguised as a mystery, it involves
three sisters from a disconnected family, disconnected from much of the world
and from each other. Read
full review
Bloody Mary by J.A.
Konrath.
The second in a breezy
mystery series featuring Chicagoan Jacqueline “Jack” Daniels. Whereas Sara
Paretsky captures the heart and soul of her Chicago, Konrath is all dialogue
and action. The two complement each other well.
Read full review
The Changed Man by
Francine Prose.
An intriguing novel about
what happens when human nature interferes with saving humanity. A young
neo-Nazi wants to reform and to help other like him not be like him. After he
links up with the World Brotherhood Watch led by a concentration camp
survivor, Vincent Nolan's good intentions prove both a blessing and a curse:
Read full review
January
2005
The Mermaid Chair by
Sue Monk Kidd.
A mid-life crisis book for
women, from the author of The Secret Life of Bees.
Read full review
Cut and Run by Ridley
Pearson.
Now I know why everyone
else likes Pearson’s book so much: three excellent narratives collide and
explode in this fast paced thriller.
Read full review
The Ice Queen by Alice
Hoffman.
A modern fairy tale
jam-packed with wonderful characters, imaginative imagery, lightning strikes,
and wishes that — for better or worse — come true.
Read full review
The Jane Austen Bookclub
by Karen Jay Fowler.
Beth's been talking it up,
and it was a smash hit... and I didn’t want to miss out! Delightfully
witty. A tribute to the staying power of a good story from the pen of a good
writer. Read
Beth's review
Shadow of the Wind by
Carlos Ruiz Zafon.
Beth has been plugging this
one, too, and Joyce Suellentrop would read something and say, “It was good,
but not as good as Shadow of the Wind.” It's a gothic story set in
Barcelona that will be as good on the beach as it was by the fire.
