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The National Book Award Foundation announced their Fiction Longlist last night. It's an exciting list! We were happy to see many staff favorites recognized. Thunderstruck by Elizabeth McCracken We have signed First Editions Available! Elizabeth McCracken is one of our own! An Austinite, she holds the James A. Michener Chair in Fiction at the University of Texas and the … Continue reading National Book Award Fiction Longlist Announced
Wolf in White Van by John Darnielle ~reviewed by Steve(n) The labyrinth of human consciousness can lead to any number of epiphanies or disasters, miracles or cataclysms. Some writers work within a comfortable, logical framework to produce their masterpieces. John Darnielle, in defiance of convention, follows the infinite regress of the imagination through every conceivable … Continue reading WOLF IN WHITE VAN: A Story of Drastic Measures and Desperation
Love Me Back by Merritt Tierce ~post by Katie P. There are few novels more aptly titled than Love Me Back, the unflinching debut novel from Dallas writer Merritt Tierce. It's a critical statement for Tierce's protagonist, Marie, but it just as easily summarizes the fundamental plea of this novel itself. Love Me Back is … Continue reading LOVE ME BACK: Brutal, Piercing, and Poetic
We are very excited to announce the inaugural pick of our brand new Trust Fall book club is the fabulous new novel Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel! “I wanted to write a love letter to the modern world, and a way to write about all these things we take for granted was to write about … Continue reading Trust Fall #1 Pick Revealed!
Acceptance, The final book in Jeff VanderMeer's Southern Reach trilogy is on shelves for the first time today. We lined 'em all up in our Science Fiction section. Joe and Raul have been highly anticipating the conclusion to this story. Joe: Jeff VanderMeer is a towering figure in contemporary speculative fiction. Whether it's editing … Continue reading Jeff VanderMeer’s Southern Reach Trilogy Concludes
Diary of the Fall by Michel Laub translated by Margaret Jull Costa ~post by Ben Auschwitz. It’s a word that has come to mean so much more than the place it was meant to represent. Michel Laub’s The Diary of the Fall, approaches the complexity of living as a Jew in the twenty-first century with … Continue reading DIARY OF THE FALL: Symphonic, Beautifully Rendered
Wonderland by Stacey D'ErasmoReviewed by Katie P.Stacey D’Erasmo’s latest novel, Wonderland, is about a rock star, but it’s not about rock and roll. Or, it is about rock and roll, in that it’s actually about family, and memory, and love, and sex, and death. This is a novel about what motivates a musician to walk … Continue reading WONDERLAND: A Novel About a Rock Star, But Not About Rock ‘n Roll
Each month, Jan, one of our intrepid booksellers, picks a different topic and tells us about her must-read books in that genre. This month she’s vloggin’ about two profound and influential books from Japanese authors! Books Discussed In This Blog: Something Like an Autobiography by Akira Kurosawa "SOMETHING LIKE AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY in Kurosawa’s own words, … Continue reading Book Vloggin’ With Jan: Two Profoundly Influential Japanese Authors
Bad Feminist, the new collection of essays by our hero, Roxane Gay, is officially on shelves today and we're here to share some serious bookseller love: Julie: "From Scrabble tournaments to Sweet Valley High to the power of privilege, Roxane Gay's essays tear open our modern world and demand we dig deeper into our cultural experience. She lays … Continue reading Bookseller Love for BAD FEMINIST
The Glass Sentence by S.E. Grove ~ review by Sarah H. First and foremost, The Glass Sentence is a novel of astounding imagination. The world of the protagonist, Sophia Tims, is, at first glance, the real Boston, Massachusetts of the late 1800s. But nearly a century before Sophia was born, the Great Disruption caused a … Continue reading THE GLASS SENTENCE: A Treasure of Imagination
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