Savage, Sam, Firmin: Adventures of a Metropolitan Lowlife, Coffee House Press, $14.95.
Firmin is a story of a rat who lives in a bookstore, eats books (words) and understands the text of the stories he reads. When the bookstore is torn down to make way for urban renewal he goes in search of a new home.
Firmin is, at it's core, an outsider story about someone who never really fits into the world in which he finds himself.
I have a theory about helping people find books. I think all of us are ultimately searching for our story recreated and retold in many different ways, so my personal goal when I match people and books is to understand the story they identify with. The longer I know someone the better I get at finding just the right book.
A small novel, it is a bit different and will be something that a lot of people don't get. A few however, will really identify with with this story. It is also a book that a reader who want to challenge himself will really appreciate because it is so different.
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
2006 Reading...
The final count is in. From March 2006 - February 2007 I read 155 books for the Notable Reading Council. This doesn't not count my periodic rebellions into chick lit, romance, vampire chick-lit romance, etc...
This is actually a really low number for me. I think I will have to own up to the fact that there were a couple of slacker months for me. Check back next week when I will start my 2007 Award reading.
This is actually a really low number for me. I think I will have to own up to the fact that there were a couple of slacker months for me. Check back next week when I will start my 2007 Award reading.
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
RUSA Announces 2007 Notable Books
Here are the books we picked for the book award.
The Notable Books Council of the Reference and User Services Association (RUSA), a division of ALA, has compiled its year 2007 list of outstanding books for the general reader. These titles have been selected for their significant contribution to the expansion of knowledge and for the pleasure they can provide to adult readers. This is "The List for America's Readers:"
Fiction
Bigsby, Christopher, Beautiful Dreamer, St. Martin's, $21.95.
Dean, Debra, Madonnas of Leningrad, Morrow, $23.95.
Desai, Kiran, The Inheritance of Loss, Grove, $24.
Doig, Ivan, The Whistling Season, Harcourt, $25.
Grenville, Kate, The Secret River, Canongate, $24.
Khadra, Yasmina, translated from the French by John Cullen, The Attack, Doubleday/Nan Talese, $18.95.
Lansens, Lori, The Girls. Little Brown, $23.95.
McCarthy, Cormac, The Road, Knopf, $24.
Meek, James, The People's Act of Love, Cannongate.
Mitchell, David, Black Swan Green, Random House, $23.95.
Murakami, Haruki, Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman, Knopf, $24.95.
Savage, Sam, Firmin: Adventures of a Metropolitan Lowlife, Coffee House Press, $14.95.
Nonfiction
Bechdel, Alison, Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic, Houghton Mifflin, $19.95.
Egan, Timothy, The Worst Hard Time: The Untold of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl, Houghton Mifflin, $28.
Flannery, Tim, The Weather Makers: How Man Is Changing the Climate and What It Means for Life on Earth, Grove/Atlantic, $24.
Greene, Melissa Fay, There Is No Me Without You: One Woman's Odyssey To Rescue Africa's Children, Bloomsburg, $25.95.
Hessler, Peter, Oracle Bones: A Journey Between China's Past and Present, HarperCollins, $26.95.
Horne, Jed, Breach of Faith: Hurricane Katrina and the Near Death of a Great American City, Random House, $25.95.
King, Ross, The Judgment of Paris: The Revolutionary Decade That Gave the World of Impressionism, Walker, $28.
Kohlberg, Elizabeth, Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Man, Nature, and Climate Change, Bloomsburg, $22.95.
Philbrick, Nathaniel, Mayflower: A Story of Courage Community, and War, Viking, $29.95.
Phillips, Julie, James Tiptree, Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon, St. Martin's, $27.95.
Zoellner, Tom, The Heartless Stone: A Journey Through the World of Diamonds, Deceit, and Desire, St. Martin's, $24.95.
Poetry
Flenniken, Kathleen, Famous, Univ of Nebraska Pr, $17.95.
Satterlee, Thom, Burning Wycliff, Texas Tech Univ Pr.
Slavitt, David R., William Henry Harrison and Other Poems. LSU Pr, $16.95.
This list will be available on the Notable Books Web page on the RUSA/ALA Web site (http://www.ala.org/rusa/notable.html).
Since 1944, the goal of the Notable Books Council has been to make available to the nation's readers a list of 25 very good, very readable, and at times very important fiction, nonfiction, and poetry books for the adult reader. The Council consists of members selected from the membership of RUSA /CODES (Collection Development and Evaluation Section). RUSA is a division of the American Library Association.
The Notable Books Council of the Reference and User Services Association (RUSA), a division of ALA, has compiled its year 2007 list of outstanding books for the general reader. These titles have been selected for their significant contribution to the expansion of knowledge and for the pleasure they can provide to adult readers. This is "The List for America's Readers:"
Fiction
Bigsby, Christopher, Beautiful Dreamer, St. Martin's, $21.95.
Dean, Debra, Madonnas of Leningrad, Morrow, $23.95.
Desai, Kiran, The Inheritance of Loss, Grove, $24.
Doig, Ivan, The Whistling Season, Harcourt, $25.
Grenville, Kate, The Secret River, Canongate, $24.
Khadra, Yasmina, translated from the French by John Cullen, The Attack, Doubleday/Nan Talese, $18.95.
Lansens, Lori, The Girls. Little Brown, $23.95.
McCarthy, Cormac, The Road, Knopf, $24.
Meek, James, The People's Act of Love, Cannongate.
Mitchell, David, Black Swan Green, Random House, $23.95.
Murakami, Haruki, Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman, Knopf, $24.95.
Savage, Sam, Firmin: Adventures of a Metropolitan Lowlife, Coffee House Press, $14.95.
Nonfiction
Bechdel, Alison, Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic, Houghton Mifflin, $19.95.
Egan, Timothy, The Worst Hard Time: The Untold of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl, Houghton Mifflin, $28.
Flannery, Tim, The Weather Makers: How Man Is Changing the Climate and What It Means for Life on Earth, Grove/Atlantic, $24.
Greene, Melissa Fay, There Is No Me Without You: One Woman's Odyssey To Rescue Africa's Children, Bloomsburg, $25.95.
Hessler, Peter, Oracle Bones: A Journey Between China's Past and Present, HarperCollins, $26.95.
Horne, Jed, Breach of Faith: Hurricane Katrina and the Near Death of a Great American City, Random House, $25.95.
King, Ross, The Judgment of Paris: The Revolutionary Decade That Gave the World of Impressionism, Walker, $28.
Kohlberg, Elizabeth, Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Man, Nature, and Climate Change, Bloomsburg, $22.95.
Philbrick, Nathaniel, Mayflower: A Story of Courage Community, and War, Viking, $29.95.
Phillips, Julie, James Tiptree, Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon, St. Martin's, $27.95.
Zoellner, Tom, The Heartless Stone: A Journey Through the World of Diamonds, Deceit, and Desire, St. Martin's, $24.95.
Poetry
Flenniken, Kathleen, Famous, Univ of Nebraska Pr, $17.95.
Satterlee, Thom, Burning Wycliff, Texas Tech Univ Pr.
Slavitt, David R., William Henry Harrison and Other Poems. LSU Pr, $16.95.
This list will be available on the Notable Books Web page on the RUSA/ALA Web site (http://www.ala.org/rusa/notable.html).
Since 1944, the goal of the Notable Books Council has been to make available to the nation's readers a list of 25 very good, very readable, and at times very important fiction, nonfiction, and poetry books for the adult reader. The Council consists of members selected from the membership of RUSA /CODES (Collection Development and Evaluation Section). RUSA is a division of the American Library Association.
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