What We’re Reading This Week

CHRIS

Dune by Frank Herbert

I’ve spent this year going back through some old favorites and half-remembered stories looking for… stability? I guess I haven’t claimed a firm reason yet, but this second read through Herbert’s magnum opus feels so alive and terrifying. The tactile reality of Arrakis keeps boring into me. The byzantine melancholy of stagnant royal houses fascinates. The promise of an all consuming war repulses, even contrasted with smaller but ethically trickier territory. In short, I’m floored. You can find copies of Dune on our shelves and via bookpeople.com.

LOJO

Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng

It starts with a fire. I mean… that’s the first few pages. We don’t know how it started, only that it did. Then we flash back in time to where it all started? But we can’t be exactly sure how. I’m even over 200 pages in and I still don’t understand how everything that’s happening turns into a home on fire. But what I do see is a beautiful tale about the “regular” American family compared to something not as in the norm, it involves race and class hierarchy, and regular every day human interactions. I am completely immersed in this novel and what’s even more exciting is Celeste Ng will actually be in our store this upcoming Tuesday the 26th at 7pm! You can find copies of Little Fires Everywhere on our shelves and via bookpeople.com.

RAUL

A Legacy of Spies by John Le Carre

Le Carre is a master of capturing the tension and uncertainty that comes from the world of espionage and this work is one of his best. By including characters from his most well loved books, Spy Who Came In From The Cold and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, he lends a legitimacy to this tale that has its origins in that same time period. Peter Gulliam has had his day in the field, but when the modern day spies want an accounting and reckoning for an operation that went south so long ago, they recruit him again to scour his memory – perhaps there is something not on the record, something untold that led to such a tragic end. There is, but Peter is not about to lose his cool or his secrets, especially not for anyone less than George Smiley himself – if he can find him. Full of twists and turns, Le Carre’s story is compelling read. You can find copies of A Legacy of Spies on our shelves and via bookpeople.com.