|
Day 10 - 28 Authors, 28 Variations on a List |
How is it Day 10 already? Here’s Jane Kirkpatrick, who has a huge fan base in the NW for her historical women’s fiction and a new contemporary novel that shows off her sharp wit. Kirkpatrick shops at Sunriver Books and Music; the Book Stop and Waucoma Booksboth in Hood River; Time Enough Books in Ilwaco; St. Helen’s Bookshop, King’s English(Salt Lake City); and Paulina Springs Books in Sisters and Redmond, OR, which is where we’re linking her books. She chooses Paulina Springs because the store sponsored her first book signing in 1991 and then her first novel signing in 1995. “I know they have hand-sold my books through the years,” she writes. “A huge thank you to them.”
Here’s her list, with five books for five people in her life:
 The Cold Dish by Craig Johnson. Every year it seems I introduce a friend or relative to Craig Johnson. This one is signed and will stay close to home as I discovered that the couple who helped us build our homestead years ago had never heard of Craig! Terrible! They love mysteries, strong characters and a western landscape. This book will get them hooked on Craig.
 Llama Llama Home with Mama by Anna Dewdney. This book will go to a three year old whom I don’t even know. It’s one of the “ornament” gifts the First Presbyterian Church of Bend offers for people to buy a gift and create a child’s Christmas pleasure. Homes where parents are unemployed, have a sick parent or are otherwise strapped rarely have extras for books for kids. As a child growing up, books were everywhere and my mom even saved several childhood books I still treasure. Literacy is greatly improved when kids have access to books at a young age—which is why I love libraries, too. This title is especially heartwarming because when you’re a kid and sick, what’s better than to have a comforting mom there to help you get better? A book isn’t mom . . . but it’s a close second.
 The Hearts of Horses by Molly Gloss. I’ve read this novel three times and given away dozens, yes, even in hardcover but thankfully, now it’s in soft cover! It’s one of the best books I’ve ever read and you don’t need to like horses to find within it warmth, healing, and the beauty of a well-told story. This year it goes to my great niece who is old enough to appreciate all of those things as she makes her way between being a child and a nurturing young woman but it could go to anyone on my list who hasn’t already received it!
 The Armchair Book of Gardens: A Miscellany by Jane Billinghurst. Almost a coffee-table book, this treasure is full of poems, essay selections, quotations short and sweet, all about gardens. It’ll be sent to a woman who has become a friend as she helped me research my spring release that is all about a woman and her garden and how she touched the world with beauty and generosity.
Old World Murder and The Heirloom Murders, both by Kathleen Ernst. These contemporary mysteries are part of the Chloe Ellefson Mystery series written by an award-winning author from Wisconsin, my home state. Wisconsin had the largest mix of immigrants in the 1840s and the state has created a living museum where visitors tour German, Norwegian, Finnish, Irish—you name it—settlements and step back in time. These mysteries blend intrigue, humor and ethnic histories with award-winning writing. A friend in Wisconsin will get both of these books because once you read one, you’ll want to read the next one. You don’t need to live in Wisconsin to enjoy these stories but it’s great fun to send them to someone who does and who I know will go visit the Old World Museum after she’s read them.How is it Day 10 already? Here’s Jane Kirkpatrick, who has a huge fan base in the NW for her historical women’s fiction and a new contemporary novel that shows off her sharp wit. Kirkpatrick shops at Sunriver Books and Music; the Book Stop and Waucoma Booksboth in Hood River; Time Enough Books in Ilwaco; St. Helen’s Bookshop, King’s English(Salt Lake City); and Paulina Springs Books in Sisters and Redmond, OR, which is where we’re linking her books. She chooses Paulina Springs because the store sponsored her first book signing in 1991 and then her first novel signing in 1995. “I know they have hand-sold my books through the years,” she writes. “A huge thank you to them.”
Here’s her list, with five books for five people in her life:
The Cold Dish by Craig Johnson. Every year it seems I introduce a friend or relative to Craig Johnson. This one is signed and will stay close to home as I discovered that the couple who helped us build our homestead years ago had never heard of Craig! Terrible! They love mysteries, strong characters and a western landscape. This book will get them hooked on Craig.
Llama Llama Home with Mama by Anna Dewdney. This book will go to a three year old whom I don’t even know. It’s one of the “ornament” gifts the First Presbyterian Church of Bend offers for people to buy a gift and create a child’s Christmas pleasure. Homes where parents are unemployed, have a sick parent or are otherwise strapped rarely have extras for books for kids. As a child growing up, books were everywhere and my mom even saved several childhood books I still treasure. Literacy is greatly improved when kids have access to books at a young age—which is why I love libraries, too. This title is especially heartwarming because when you’re a kid and sick, what’s better than to have a comforting mom there to help you get better? A book isn’t mom . . . but it’s a close second.
The Hearts of Horses by Molly Gloss. I’ve read this novel three times and given away dozens, yes, even in hardcover but thankfully, now it’s in soft cover! It’s one of the best books I’ve ever read and you don’t need to like horses to find within it warmth, healing, and the beauty of a well-told story. This year it goes to my great niece who is old enough to appreciate all of those things as she makes her way between being a child and a nurturing young woman but it could go to anyone on my list who hasn’t already received it!
The Armchair Book of Gardens: A Miscellany by Jane Billinghurst. Almost a coffee-table book, this treasure is full of poems, essay selections, quotations short and sweet, all about gardens. It’ll be sent to a woman who has become a friend as she helped me research my spring release that is all about a woman and her garden and how she touched the world with beauty and generosity.
Old World Murder and The Heirloom Murders, both by Kathleen Ernst. These contemporary mysteries are part of the Chloe Ellefson Mystery series written by an award-winning author from Wisconsin, my home state. Wisconsin had the largest mix of immigrants in the 1840s and the state has created a living museum where visitors tour German, Norwegian, Finnish, Irish—you name it—settlements and step back in time. These mysteries blend intrigue, humor and ethnic histories with award-winning writing. A friend in Wisconsin will get both of these books because once you read one, you’ll want to read the next one. You don’t need to live in Wisconsin to enjoy these stories but it’s great fun to send them to someone who does and who I know will go visit the Old World Museum after she’s read them.
|
|
|
Day 9 - 28 Authors, 28 Variations on a List |
|
28 Authors, 28 Variations on a List: Day 9. Eowyn Ivey Friday, December 9th, 2011
 We’re all excited that Eowyn Ivey’s debut novel, The Snow Child, will be published Feb. 1 by Reagan Arthur Books/Little, Brown & Co. When Ivey’s not writing books, she’s selling them at Fireside Books (Palmer, Alaska), where she says she loves this time of year especially. “Much of my time is spent greeting old friends and neighbors and helping customers find gifts for loved ones,” she says. “And as I shelve books and straighten the stacks, I start tucking my own gift ideas behind the counter.” Here are a few from her stack:
The emergency, last-minute, gift: Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi. I don’t read a lot of young adult books, but I bought this one for my 12-year-old daughter. She kept quoting passages aloud, and then insisted I read it when she was finished. I’m glad she did. It is phenomenal, no matter your age or gender. This will be my back-up gift, to save me when I find out we’re going to a Christmas party with a family who has a 15-year-old boy, or when I learn at the last minute that my good friend has decided to get me a present when in 20 years we have never exchanged gifts. Ship Breaker is one of those rare finds–a fast, compelling tale spun with fabulous writing and vivid imagery. It’s a postapocalyptic adventure with a heart of dark poetry.
 With love to Grandma Jackie and Yaya: Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand by Helen Simonson. Both of my grandmothers are avid readers with great taste in literature. As soon as I read Major Pettigrew, I knew it would be my Christmas gift to both of them. It’s a quiet, reserved love story that surprised me into laughing out loud many times. Set in the English countryside, it tells the story of retired Major Pettigrew, a proper Englishman with a wry sense of humor. When his friendship with a Pakistani woman blossoms, questions of tradition and culture come to the forefront. It is sweet and funny, without being sappy—a perfect, curl-up-by-the-Christmas-tree kind of read.
 Merry Christmas, Dad: Butcher’s Crossing by John Williams. John Williams’ novelStoner is one of my favorites, and when I recently researched to find out what else he had written, I discovered Butcher’s Crossing. It’s a very different kind of novel, but with the same finely observant qualities as Stoner. It’s set in 1870 and follows a doomed buffalo hunt into the Rocky Mountains. My dad has read everything under the sun, especially in the Western genre. But I’m almost positive he hasn’t read this one, and that it will become one of his favorites when he does. It is a universal theme at Fireside Books that dads are impossible to shop for, but thankfully I’ve found my lifesaver for this Christmas.
 Happy Holidays, for the house: 11,002 Things to Be Miserable About: The Satirical Not-So-Happy Book by Lia and Nick Romeo. Every Christmas gathering needs a silly book to entertain the relatives, friends and neighbors who stop by. This one has been a staff favorite at Fireside Books this holiday season. We keep it at the front counter and read aloud portions to each other. Customers have had to pry it from our hands to purchase it. But I’m going to special order one for myself and keep it at the ready for Christmas Day laughs. Examples of things to be miserable about: “Life. Death. Hitler. Hemorrhoids.” You get the idea.
 A gift for me . . . oops, I mean my little one: Dog Loves Books by Louise Yates. Inevitably when I shop for books for my 4-year-old daughter, I selfishly shop for myself as well. I know that when I buy a new book for her, I will be reading it over, and over, and over, and over again. So I’d better pick something I will enjoy, too. This year, Dog Loves Books is the winner. An adorable white dog with a shy smile loves books so much, he decides to open his own bookstore. When the customers don’t flock to his shelves, he occupies himself by reading all the wonderful books himself. Dinosaurs and space adventures come alive. What more can a bookselling mom, umm, I mean a 4-year-old little girl ask for?
 With love to my mom, the poet: The Penguin Anthology of Twentieth-Century American Poetry, edited by Rita Dove. My mom is pursuing her MFA in poetry, and I suspect she has probably already read–and probably owns—many of these poems. But it is a beautiful collection, with insightful commentary from Dove and an expansive, sometimes surprising, array of poets. I confess, my first thought when it arrived at Fireside Books was “This would look gorgeous on my mom’s bookshelf.” It’s a very sophisticated binding that makes it seem more like a gift than many books. I hope my mom loves it. If not, I’ll volunteer to give the collection a good home on my own shelf.
|
|
It’s Day 11 at 28 Authors, 28 Variations on a List, and we’ve got Jonathan Case, who writes and draws books in Portland, as a member of Periscope Studio, the largest cooperative of comics creators in America. His first book, Dear Creature, came out this fall from Tor/Macmillan to critical acclaim, local and beyond. Case also illustrated the hit graphic novel, Green River Killer: A True Detective Story, for Dark Horse Comics.
Anya’s Ghost
by Vera Brosgol. This is a lovely book about a teenage girl and her
ghostly friend, excellently written and illustrated by Portland author
Vera Brosgol. It’s the sort of smart comics storytelling that young (and
old) readers deserve. Delightful!
The Book of Genesis,
illustrated by Robert Crumb. A uniquely unabridged comics take on a
familiar story, drawn by a comics master. Crumb’s beautifully,
obsessively hatched drawings are a perfect vehicle for presenting Old
Testament stories in their unvarnished glory. No matter your perspective
on the material, it’s a terrific-looking book, a fun conversation piece and undeniably impressive.
