Well, it appears to be time for my annual post...<p>One of the joys of being a bookseller (It ain't the money or perks, believe me!) is being able to recommend something wonderful when a customer walks in and asks, "What's new and good?" I've got three terrific reads here...<p>We all think we know all about the "Good War" of the "Greatest Generation,"
WW2. After all, it's a constant on the History Channel and AMC is ever running THE LONGEST DAY and late May always brings Memorial Day.... But, as Lynne Olson expertly details in CITIZENS OF LONDON, there was a queasily long period from 1939 to 1941 when it really looked as if the Nazis would overwhelm the British, and America was doing damned little to help. She focuses on three Americans: pioneering radio journalist Ed Murrow, ambitious but effective rich diplomat Averill Harriman, and, most remarkably, the nearly forgotten (in the US, NOT Britain) Gil Wynant, the US Ambassador to Britain during most of the war. These men, based in London during the worst of the Blitz, did their damnedest to get America off its ass to fight Fascism--and until Pearl Harbor, it seemed indeed a thankless task. Extraordinary book about exceptional men in pivotal times.<p>
Ivan Doig's been writing lovely, humane novels about Big Sky country as long as I've been in bookstores (and that's a looong time, kiddies). His new one, WORK SONG, is a honey, set in Butte, Montana ("The Copper Capital of the World") just after WW1. Doig writes oh-so-human characters, invests them with dialogue true to the ear, and, as a bonus, offers a healthy slice of American history besides. The title refers to a miner's union efforts to unite its work force by dragooning a librarian-on-the-lam to write a spirited song for the strikers to sing. Great stuff.<p> Finally, no one knows more about ants--the most numerous creatures on this earth and strangely similar in their societies to man--than Harvard naturalist Prof. E.O. Wilson. He's written an unlikely but absolutely fascinating novel called ANTHILL--and if you tell me you hate bugs and won't read anything about 'em, I'll have to just tickle you silly until you relent and pick it up and marvel at a thoughtful tale of one young naturalist trying to save a small but precious tract of old growth forest--while the ants therein live as they have since long before we walked upright. A gem, truly.<p>
Hey, I know it's Spring! You wanna get out, try out your iPad while skateboarding in traffic, and scope ticklish cuties. But, carry a good book in case of rain, huh?
WW2. After all, it's a constant on the History Channel and AMC is ever running THE LONGEST DAY and late May always brings Memorial Day.... But, as Lynne Olson expertly details in CITIZENS OF LONDON, there was a queasily long period from 1939 to 1941 when it really looked as if the Nazis would overwhelm the British, and America was doing damned little to help. She focuses on three Americans: pioneering radio journalist Ed Murrow, ambitious but effective rich diplomat Averill Harriman, and, most remarkably, the nearly forgotten (in the US, NOT Britain) Gil Wynant, the US Ambassador to Britain during most of the war. These men, based in London during the worst of the Blitz, did their damnedest to get America off its ass to fight Fascism--and until Pearl Harbor, it seemed indeed a thankless task. Extraordinary book about exceptional men in pivotal times.<p>
Ivan Doig's been writing lovely, humane novels about Big Sky country as long as I've been in bookstores (and that's a looong time, kiddies). His new one, WORK SONG, is a honey, set in Butte, Montana ("The Copper Capital of the World") just after WW1. Doig writes oh-so-human characters, invests them with dialogue true to the ear, and, as a bonus, offers a healthy slice of American history besides. The title refers to a miner's union efforts to unite its work force by dragooning a librarian-on-the-lam to write a spirited song for the strikers to sing. Great stuff.<p> Finally, no one knows more about ants--the most numerous creatures on this earth and strangely similar in their societies to man--than Harvard naturalist Prof. E.O. Wilson. He's written an unlikely but absolutely fascinating novel called ANTHILL--and if you tell me you hate bugs and won't read anything about 'em, I'll have to just tickle you silly until you relent and pick it up and marvel at a thoughtful tale of one young naturalist trying to save a small but precious tract of old growth forest--while the ants therein live as they have since long before we walked upright. A gem, truly.<p>
Hey, I know it's Spring! You wanna get out, try out your iPad while skateboarding in traffic, and scope ticklish cuties. But, carry a good book in case of rain, huh?
