         Staff Picks Shana's
Picks
Written while struggling to finish the screenplay for her recently released film, this is a kind of memoir made up of interviews with people Miranda July met through the PennySaver classified ads. July is one of those artists that people supposedly either Love or Hate, and haters gonna hate but the thing that draws me to her work is that July's eyes and mind are wide open. While she's bursting with empathy she's not naive and her art, however expressed, always seems to be searching for her own naked truth...and it's funny. How can you not love someone like that? A quick, good read.
"You can have your brains and eat them too." That's the soundbite Andrew came up with for this post-apocalyptic zombie thriller by noted intellect Colson Whitehead. Horror's not my usual bag, but after getting about 50 pages deep I burned through this novel in a couple days. For all the hype doled out upon Cormac McCarthy's The Road, I found this to be a much more enjoyable (humor!) tromp around the post-apoc grayscape-and just as affecting. The moments (and characters) in the Zone are brief (nothing lasts long when everyone's scrambling for survival) but vivid and not easily forgotten.
We all know that old thing about a book and its cover and in this case I would add title and subject matter to the list of elements to set aside before passing judgement on this brilliant novel. Heather O'Neil's language is so beautiful and so perfectly captures the strange workings of a child's mind. It's clear that O'Neil's childhood was similiar to that of her characters because this book is much more complex than the sob story one might expect. The story of poor children hanging out on the streets, horrible things happen to and around these kids but they are far from pityful, and Lullabies is refeshingly funny and real.
I know it's October and my co-workers picked appropriatly creepy titles, but in the interest of full disclosure I must tell you there are no Yetis in this book and probably no monsters at all. Sorry about that. Self-described as a 'general interest magazine for people with marginal interests', Yeti is a bi-annual based in Portland, OR and my new favorite periodical! Yeti's editor Mike McGonigal has seriously good taste (I became familiar with him through his stellar gospel comps) and each issue is an introduction to a heap of fascinating people (many from our neck of the woods) and comes with generous collection of recordings.
If you only ever buy one book from the fashion/style section of the store I suggest you make it this one. The antithesis of a dos and don'ts style fashion rulebook, Stylelikeu celebrates personal style untethered to commercial motives. There's enough sartorial inspiration here for decades of outfits.  You Are FreeDanzy Senna In a recent interview Danzy Senna explained that she wrote half of the stories in You Are Free when single and living in New York City and the others in LA during and after her pregnancy; this time of transistion, conflict and reflection has given her a lot to say about how it is to be a woman in all of her various and changing roles. I adored Senna's novel Caucasia and, once a couple stories deep, it was hard to put this one down. Race is less a central theme here than in Caucasia (relationships taking center stage) but when it does come up (still, gladly, much more often than in most fiction) Senna's insights are always sharp and illuminating. Among other things this book seems to ask: what is freedom and how much do we really want?
This little collection has the most fabulous array of characters. A tiger out selling clothes. A soup spouting whale. Witches, goblins AND a ghost. And I don't even think Pierre could resist these rhymes! Read it once, read it twice, read it over soup with rice.
Ever get that hopeless feeling? Languishing in unfulfillment, unsure how you'll ever get ahead? Douglass' story will BLOW YOUR MIND! Read this short, brutal, GLORIOUS first hand account of the most inspiring of American stories today! Or buy one for a friend!
These personal essays involving prostitutes proudly displayed prosthetic genitals, alchoholism, and a gnarly oedipal complex manage to be sweet and comforting, hilarious and so very charming. Ok, those are the attention grabbers, but this book is really about an open-hearted artist (and yeah, mild pervert) finding his way around the world.
Maybe the cutest book I've ever seen! Keats captures, subtley and wonderfully, what it's like to be a kid with a restless imagination, constantly making up private games. Willie wanders alone--but not lonely.
It's when I describe this book to others that I realize how incredible it is. Covington spent a long time not simply observing snake handling faith healers but befriending them, joining them, and coming to a (sometimes uneasy, sometimes emphatic) understanding with the believers. A mysterious, complex study that it feels no one could have explored with more grace.
This tale of two sisters separated by race and politics in the early '70's is funny and insightful and so truthful in the telling of Birdie's "struggle to become someone when she can look and act like almost anyone". As a mixed race girl who could possibly (in the dead of winter, in low light) "pass", this book had been recommended to me a few times over the years but I put off reading it because of the seriously un-promising title and cover. I'm not too often in the mood for a tragic mulatto story. But wait! It's not what you think; Senna's tale is fresh and really hard to put down.
Unique and wildly inventive; Marcus creates a fascinating, darkly hilarious postmodern world in this, his first novel. The book opens with character Ben Marcus' father (who may be buried in the family's backyard) warning the reader not to believe a word from his son's "rotten, filthy heart", and then launches into Ben's narrative of Jane Dark and her group of women "Silentists" who plot to create perfect stillness in the world using young Ben as a forced mate and performing a vast array of bizarre experiments. But no plot summary could begin to describe what this book is really about. It aint for everyone, but it is pure poetry.
In the telling of Patti Smith's relationship with photographer Robert Mapplethorpe we join the two young artists as they navigate the New York art scene of the late 60's and 70s where artists, musicians, writers, actors and Personalities all tramp around together from Max's Kansas City to the Chelsea Hotel to the Factory, and the city's streets and galleries; many famous or becoming so, many dying young. You couldn't ask for a better guide then is found in Patti's sharp, funny, infinitely curious and loving voice. There is so much beauty in this book, so many amazing moments, I can't begin to tell you.
What to say about a book so close to my heart? Brautigan's first and
best book has been inspiring artists, naturalists, kooks and outsiders
since its first publication in 1967. There's nothing quite like it.
So lovely and strange and so much like a good friend.
Is mass media making us dumber? George Saunders says Yes and makes a seriously (hilariously) compelling case in the title essay of this diverse collection. I want to call this a great beach read because that's where I read it laying on a sheet, eating nuts, totally enthralled by Saunder's casual ability to set the perfect scene. Highly recommended for fans of David Foster Wallace and smart, empathetic, funny important essays.
We are so lucky to have Zadie Smith around getting all excited about things we never gave much thought and unfolding them so gracefully that they become too strange or lovely or human to look away from. These essays vary from critical to personal to celebratory (brilliant tribute to David Foster Wallace and Zora Neale Hurston) but are all full of Smith's generous intellect and humor.
So much sets Daniel Clowes apart from most other comic artists. First off he's hilarious. And while others use the medium to be either goofy or grotesque or sentimental or strange, Clowes covers all of that beautifully and he's also totally dirty (not for the kiddies) and philosophical! I'm just gonna go ahead and say that he's the best.
Not only new, but fresh and exciting stories from a few of the most
interesting new American voices in fiction. Marcus knows how to pick
'em! From lovely and heartbreaking to minimal and mysterious or cold
and hilarious -- something for everyone and a whole lot for the open-minded.
Particularly recommended: Aimee Bender, Ann Cumming, Diane Williams.
A Great American Novel! Everyone should read this book. "Another Country" is Baldwin's novel on life, love, race, class, the Arts, family, interracial relationships, New York City, France, homosexuality... with a large cast of fascinating/heartbreaking/beautiful and nuanced characters.
I have this experience during and after I read a really good essay (like every essay of David Foster Wallace's) where I feel that not only do I know the author, but we are good friends. Although I've told the author nothing they seem to know me, and I them. It's almost like waking up from a greatly entertaining dream and not realizing for a while that I can't fly by jumping in that way and didn't just find all those cool clothes (yeah, I dream about clothes). Wallace is gone now, and it's like waking up again every time I remember that.
Diane Williams would never be accused of telling the reader too much, but I wouldn't call her a minimalist. Williams' stories are chock full of mystery, humanity, sex and comedy. This isn't surrealism, but maybe it's extra- or super-realism. Williams carves out these strange and lovely landscapes, and trusts the reader to wander, and, through their own exploration, say where it is they are.
In this collection of fresh, insightful, tirelessly researched essays, Reed pulls no punches. Constantly surprising-I laughed out loud, it inspired outburst and had me looking around empty rooms and quiet cafes for someone to share these ideas with. You may not agree with all of Reed's assertions, but these essays are always thought provoking and, often, undeniably revealing. You'll watch/read/see differently after reading this.
An illustrated, handwritten meditation on life, death, art, the overwhelming beauty of city life, tea parties, collecting, and cool hats, for starters. Sound silly and sentimental? It totally is! But it's so lovely and genuine I don't mind at all (e.g. (the entirety of) pg. 183: "I look at her sink. And I leave"). And the paintings! You get the sense that Maira's heart will up and explode at any moment. As could any of ours. That's what it's all about.
A few things I love about this lush and inspired collection of poems:
Lovely and insightful essays on race and American life. Highly recommended,
but don't take my word for it...check out all those blurbs on the back!
Not only new, but fresh, exciting tales by some of the most original storytellers
of our time and place. Marcus knows how to pick 'em! For starters, I'd recommend:
Ann Cummins' "Where I work," Amiee Bender's "The Girl with
the Curious Hair," Diane Williams' "All American," and Joe
Wenderoth's "Letters to Wendy's." Also: Anthony Doen, Gary Lutz...so
much here!
A Great American Novel! This is Baldwin's epic novel of life, love, race, class, the Arts, family, interracial relationships, New York City, France, and homosexuality with a large cast of fascinating, heartbreaking, beautiful and nuanced characters. The scale of this book is evident in the number of commas I felt necessary to describe it. One of my all time favorites! Excitability Diane Williams could never be accused of telling the reader too much (a condescending
trap of less confident writers), but I wouldn't call her a minimalist. Williams'
stories are chock full of mystery, humanity, sex and comedy. This isn't
surrealism but maybe it's extra- or super-realism. Williams builds these
strange and beautiful landscapes and trusts the reader to wander and, through
their own exploration, say where it is they are. Angela Davis: An Autobiography It begins with Angela on the run across the country as one of the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives, wanted for a murder she had no part in, and continues with her tense arrest and stay in prison (where women are controlled with racism and prescription drugs), and her never ending battle to make a better life for the oppressed in America. Her story is a shocking and personal portrait of a turbulent era in our nation's history and the violence of its fear driven government and prison system, as well as an inspiring story of a women's bold refusal of fear and ignorance in favor of devoting her life to fighting for those who have been mistreated and ignored. Plus: very entertaining! |
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It Chooses You
Zone One
Lullabies for Little Criminals
Yeti Magazine
Stylelikeu
The Nutshell Library
Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglass: an American Slave 
What's Not to Love
Whistle for Willie
The Autobiography of Malcolm X
Salvation on Sand Mountain
Caucasia 
Notable
American Women 
Just
Kids 
Trout
Fishing in America 
The
Braindead Megaphone 
Changing
My Mind 
Caricature 
Anchor
Book of New American Short Stories 
Another
Country 
Consider
the Lobster 
Excitability 
Mixing
it Up: Taking on the Media Bullies and Other Reflections 
The
Principles of Uncertainty 
Spar
Notes from No Man's Land
The Anchor Book of New American Short Stories