Author: peterwesley

Judith Rock, The Rhetoric Of Death, Mon. December 13th

It's fitting our new mystery store within a store, MysteryPeople, gets to introduce debut author Judith Rock, who's starting a new series. Rock's book, The Rhetoric Of Death, takes place in seventeenth century France, when the Catholic church was entwined with the monarchy and there was a hunt for heretics (aka Protestants). Rock gives us an intriguing series character in Charles du Luc, an ex-soldier and fledgling Jesuit, who's need for justice and order are tested by the rules and politics of his religion and society. Finding himself at odds with both, he is forced to teach ballet at the Jesuit school. When one of his dancers is run over by a horse cart and another murdered, he investigates, finding himself in the middle of royal intrigue and the dark shadow of history. Judith Rock is both a former police officer and dancer. She has lectured on and written for various publications on dance, art, and theology. Her knowledge is apparent in her attention to detail of the period. The staging of the ballet holds as much suspense as the mystery. She should be a fascinating guest, so please come out Monday, December 13th, at 7PM and support a new author.

For the ‘Book Snobs’ on your list…

I’ve written here before about my love of book snobs. I love em’, and you should too. They do all that bookish research, helping their friends find those obscure gems of literature that are, sometimes, less likely to make the ever present ‘top 10 of 2010’ lists. Even though they act like you’re a waste of space if you’ve never heard of the newest Nobel Prize recipient, they’re still glad to point you to that new novel by the 8 year old prodigy who wrote an 8oo page novel without vowels. That’s a service I appreciate, but the one time of year they get a little less lovable is during the holiday season. Snobs are incredibly hard people to buy books for.

Voyage Out

I love my book group. It’s a diverse bunch of incredible readers. We laugh, we think, and we argue! It’s a lot of fun. We’re BookPeople’s very own Voyage Out Book Group, and we read regional fiction, picking three titles from similar locales, then discussing those as a way to expand our literary chops, meanwhile creating a mini, imaginary vacation. Literary tourism without leaving Austin, this is why having a local bookstore is such an asset to our city.

Barry’s Top 40

An impressive list from BookPeople's elder statesman, Barry Baker: I have spent the better part of the last 20 years as a professional book buyer (including used, rare, new and remainder titles). 10 of those years here at BookPeople. I was also a frequent visitor in the 70s to Grok Books on San Antonio Street (and Oat Willies at the front of the building). So I have a pretty fair idea of what constitutes a good read and what doesn't. Here are my personal picks of 40 "good reads" from the last 40 years (and all of them are still in print).