Bookpost Special Edition #5 -- Great Reads for Everyone -- December 2005

 

Dear Friend of Rakestraw Books,

This week's special edition of "Bookpost" is all about great reading. Novels and short stories, biographies and memoirs -- something wonderful for everyone on your holiday list -- a dozen paperbacks to suit every taste and four absolutely spectacular novels for young people. And, if you are one of the lucky ones who is done shopping for gifts, there is sure to be something here for you to enjoy yourself.

To make your life easier this week (Wednesday, Thursday and Friday only), we are offering free delivery! Call your order in before 2 PM and we will deliver your books, wrapped and ready to give, by 6 PM. This year at least, this service is limited to Danville, Diablo, and Blackhawk. We hope it makes shopping at Rakestraw Books even easier for you. If you have any questions, please telephone us at (925) 837-7337.

 

 



 

 

His Excellency George Washington by Joseph Ellis (Vintage, $15). Washington remains one of the most enigmatic of the founding fathers. In this landmark biography, Pulitzer prize-winner Joseph Ellis introduces the contemporary reader to a man who is far more than simply the face on the dollar bill. Here is the impetuous young officer whose miraculous survival in combat half-convinced him that he could not be killed. Here is the free-spending landowner whose debts to English merchants instilled him with a prickly resentment of imperial power. We see the general who lost more battles than he won and the reluctant president who tried to float above the partisan feuding of his cabinet. His Excellency is a magnificent work, indispensable to an understanding not only of its subject but also of the nation he brought into being.

Author, Author by David Lodge (Penguin, $15). Henry James takes center stage in a brilliant novel of literary ambition, creativity, and rivalry as revealed in James’s public career and private life. Pivoting on the dramatic first night of his play Guy Domville and thronged with vividly drawn characters, some of them with famous names, Author, Author presents a fascinating panorama of literary and theatrical life in late Victorian England. But at its heart is a portrait, rendered with remarkable empathy, of a writer who never achieved popular success in his lifetime or resolved his sexual identity, yet wrote some of the greatest novels about love in the English language. A great choice for book group discussion, Author, Author remains one of the most thought provoking novels I read last year.

The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler (Plume, $14). Nothing ever moves in a straight line in Karen Joy Fowler's fiction, and in her latest, the complex dance of modern love has never been so devious or so much fun. Six Californians join to discuss Jane Austen's novels. Over the six months they meet, marriages are tested, affairs begin, unsuitable arrangements become suitable, and love happens. With her finely sighted eye for the frailties of human behavior and her finely tuned ear for the absurdities of social intercourse, Fowler has never been wittier nor her characters more appealing. The result is a delicious dissection of modern relationships. Dedicated Austenites will delight in unearthing the echoes of Austen that run through the novel, but most readers will simply enjoy the vision and voice that, despite two centuries of separation, unite two great writers of brilliant social comedy.

Outwitting History by Aaron Lansky (Algonquin, $13.95). Twenty-five years ago Aaron Lansky set out to save the Yiddish books that remained in this country. Scholars estimated that there might be 70,000 volumes and it might take him two years. A million-and-a-half volumes and a quarter-century later, he, and his organization, have saved not only a literature, but also a language. I cannot tell you how much this story moved me (tears, laughter) and how important it is that you read it.
 

 



 

 

Gods of Tin: The Flying Years by James Salter (Shoemaker & Hoard, $14). A riveting combination of fiction, journal writing, and memoir, Gods of Tin is Salter’s own story of his days as a fighter pilot in Korea. James Salter is considered one of America’s greatest prose stylists. The Arm of Flesh (later revised and retitled Cassada) and his first novel, The Hunters, are legendary in military circles for their descriptions of flying and aerial combat. A former Air Force pilot who flew F-86 fighters in Korea, Salter writes with matchless insight about the terror and exhilaration of the pilot’s life.

The Queen of the South by Arturo Perez-Reverte (Plume, $$14). It begins in western Mexico, in the state of Sinaloa, in the city of Culiacan, in the bathtub Teresa Mendoza is shaving her legs when the emergency cellphone rings. It is the cellphone that her drug runner boyfriend has given her and told her she never even needs to answer. Because, he says, if it ever rings, she just start running, “as far and as fast as you can, prietita.” Start running and never stop. The novel is the story of her running. Very highly recommended.

Olivia Joules and the Overactive Imagination by Helen Fielding (Penguin, $14). Possibly the perfect summer read, this funny, smart, and entirely delightful confection is practically guaranteed to allow you to laugh away several afternoons. Olivia Joules is a style reporter who wants to be a hardhitting investigative journalist. But her vivid -- not to say overactive -- imagination is holding her back. When she attends a perfume launch in Miami, she comes away certain that perfumier Pierra Ferramo is really a major terrorist. Of course no one believes her. But what if she is right after all . . . .

Runaway: Stories by Alice Munro (Vintage, $14.95). The incomparable Alice Munro’s bestselling and rapturously acclaimed Runaway is a book of extraordinary stories about love and its infinite betrayals and surprises, from the title story about a young woman who, though she thinks she wants to, is incapable of leaving her husband, to three stories about a woman named Juliet and the emotions that complicate the luster of her intimate relationships. In Munro’s hands, the people she writes about–women of all ages and circumstances, and their friends, lovers, parents, and children–become as vivid as our own neighbors. It is her miraculous gift to make these stories as real and unforgettable as our own.
 

 



 

 

Someone Not Really Her Mother by Harriet Scott Chessman (Plume, $13). Harriet Scott Chessman's new novel, Someone Not Really Her Mother, is one of the most perfect to come along in quite some time. Set in the narrow confines of an old age home and one woman's disintegrating mind, the story of Hannah Pearl floats free from these bonds and becomes a lovely and profound meditation on art, family, memory, and what holds us together. As Hannah’s memories of her 1940 escape to England from war-torn France come to the foreground of her consciousness, her memory of her more recent American life, including her relationships with her daughter and granddaughters, is almost erased. Her daughter, Miranda, attempts to bring her mother into the present and the daily activities of family life, yet finds herself instead pulled into Hannah’s unresolved past. Miranda’s daughters confront the shadows of history in their own ways. Fiona, content with her life as a new mother, tries to ignore the ghostly presence of Hannah’s family, who perished in the war, while Ida clings to Hannah’s revelations as if they form a lifeline. Facing the mystery of Hannah’s unspoken memories of grief, each woman must ask how well anyone can know the inner life of another person, even of someone one cherishes.

Toast: The Story of a Boy’s Hunger by Nigel Slater (Gotham Books, $14). Toast is Nigel Slater's truly extraordinary story of a childhood remembered through food. In each chapter, as he takes readers on a tour of the contents of his family’s pantry – rice pudding, tinned ham, cream soda, mince pies, lemon drops, bourbon biscuits – we are transported . . . His mother was a chops-and-peas sort of cook, exasperated by the highs and lows of a temperamental stove, a finicky little son, and the asthma that was to prove fatal. His father is a honey-and-crumpets man with an unpredictable temper. When he is widowed, Nigel’s father takes on a housekeeper with social aspirations and a talent in the kitchen and the following years become a heartbreaking cooking contest for his father's affections. As he slowly loses the battle, Nigel finds a new outlet for his culinary gifts and we witness the birth of what was to become a lifelong passion for food. Nigel’s likes and dislikes, aversions and sweet-toothed weaknesses, form a fascinating backdrop to this exceptionally moving memoir of childhood, adolescence, and sexual awakening. What a wonderful and life-affirming book – very highly recommended.

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon (Penguin, $15.95). "Postwar Barcelona is the setting of this stunning novel about an enigmatic novelist, Julian Carax, and the bookseller's son who discovers his work in the Cemetery of Forgotten Books and subsequently becomes obsessed with uncovering the mystery surrounding the writer. The multilayered plot and exquisitely written characters will keep readers riveted. This is a haunting and beautiful story with a perfect plot for book-lovers." Edith can not recommend this fine, multi-layered novel highly enough.

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke (Bloomsbury, $15.95). What can I add to all the incredibly positive reviews this truly fabulous book has received? The story of Yorkshire magician Mr. Norrell and his pupil Jonathan Strange intrigues and delights. Part Jane Austen, part Harry Potter, and part Mikhail Bulgakov, in the end Clarke creates a fantastical vision of England's magical past that is all her own. Do not be put off by the length; even if you don't like fantasy, this is one of the best to come in around in quite some time.
 

 



 

 

The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan (Miramax, $17.95). This is the multi award-winning novelist's first book for children. Percy Jackson is a good kid, but he can't seem to focus on his schoolwork or control his temper. And lately, being away at boarding school is only getting worse -- Percy could have sworn his pre-algebra teacher turned into a monster and tried to kill him. When Percy's mom finds out, she knows it's time that he knew the truth about where he came from, and that he go to the one place he'll be safe. She sends Percy to Camp Half Blood, a summer camp for demigods (on Long Island), where he learns that the father he never knew is Poseidon, God of the Sea. Soon a mystery unfolds and together with his friends -- one a satyr and the other the demigod daughter of Athena -- Percy sets out on a quest across the United States to reach the gates of the Underworld (located in a recording studio in Hollywood) and prevent a catastrophic war between the gods.
The King in the Window by Adam Gopnik (Miramax, $19.95). When twelve year old-Oliver Parker’s parents move him to Paris, he hates it. It’s dark, it’s cold, he has to speak French, he misses his friends, and it’s all terrible. Then one evening, Oliver finds himself drawn into a battle that has been raging since the time of Louis XIV: a battle between windows and mirrors, between water and ice, between good and evil. Time travel, sword fighting, true friendship, intellectual debate – it’s all here. This is book for young people that I most enjoyed this year. Destined to become classic, The King in the Window will become part of your permanent library.

The Silver Spoon of Soloman Snow by Kaye Umansky (Candlewick Press, $14.99). Solomon Snow's calamitous tale beings with . . . a spoon! In a wretched hovel at the top of a moor lives a boy named Solomon Snow. Each day he slaves for Ma and Pa Scubbins's laundry service, and each night he slurps down a bowl of vegetable slop, wishing only for the luxury of a spoon. Imagine poor Solly's surprise when he learns that he's actually a flounder - er, foundling - dumped ten years ago on the Scubbinses' doorstep in a (laundry) basket, with a silver spoon right in his mouth! The utensil was long ago pawned by Pa, but that doesn't stop Solly from setting out in search of his spoon, his real parents, and his rightful inheritance. Joining him on his quest are a pair of unlikely companions: a bossy, pointy-nosed writer named Prudence and the insufferable Infant Prodigy, a circus performer with some well-practiced tricks up her sleeve. Will Solly finally locate his spoon, and have to wear velvet pantaloons? Prepare for a preposterous ending sure to surprise and delight the Intelligent Reader as much as it does our intrepid hero. Readers will laugh out loud at this daft and clever account of a foundling who sets out in search of his destiny, only to encounter some woeful misadventures along the way. For fans of Lemony Snicket, this is bound to be a hit!

The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy by Jeanne Birdsall (Knopf, $15.95). This summer the Penderwick sisters have a wonderful surprise: a holiday on the grounds of a beautiful estate called Arundel. Soon they are busy discovering the summertime magic of Arundel’s sprawling gardens, treasure-filled attic, tame rabbits, and the cook who makes the best gingerbread in Massachusetts. But the best discovery of all is Jeffrey Tifton, son of Arundel’s owner, who quickly proves to be the perfect companion for their adventures. The icy-hearted Mrs. Tifton is not as pleased with the Penderwicks as Jeffrey is, though, and warns the new friends to stay out of trouble. Which, of course, they will—won’t they? One thing’s for sure: it will be a summer the Penderwicks will never forget. Deliciously nostalgic and quaintly witty, this is a story as breezy and carefree as a summer day. Winner of the 2005 National Book Award.
 

And, that's Bookpost Special Edition #5! We hope you found it interesting, useful, and enjoyable. Of course, if you need more information, please feel free to contact us by telephone at (925) 837-7337. Or, if you are in the lovely San Ramon Valley, stop by the real books-and-mortar shop at 409 Railroad Avenue, Danville, California 94526. Or, if you prefer not to leave your computer, simply email us at rakestraw_books@yahoo.com.

We look forward to seeing you soon. Happy Reading!

Everyone here at Rakestraw Books joins me in wishing you all the joy of the season. May you and yours enjoy peace and love and happiness in the year that is to come.

Sincerely,

Michael Barnard
and the Staff of Rakestraw Books "The Bookstore in Danville"
 

You are receiving this email because you requested to receive our newsletter via email.

To unsubscribe, reply to this email with "unsubscribe" in the subject or simply click on the following link: Unsubscribe