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Browse: Home / oldies but goodies

oldies but goodies

May

25

2022

Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont
by Elizabeth Taylor

Within a few paragraphs, I knew I was in good hands. The hands of a writer at the top of her game, exhibiting perfect control without apparent effort. The story is set in late-1960’s London and follows the still estimable Laura Palfrey (we assume she was once estimable from her handful of memories of married …

Dec

1

2021

I Capture the Castle hardcover version with yellow illustrated cover

I Capture the Castle: Deluxe Edition by Dodie Smith with a foreword by Jenny Han

This is a really wonderful coming-of-age novel set mostly in the English countryside. The writing style and narrative choice lends to a very immersive experience while reading. You follow the main character growing up through many family struggles and her first love while being transported around England. It’s heartwarming, very witty, and an overall great read. –Rachael, …

Mar

2

2021

Passing Strange by Ellen Klages

Passing Strange by Ellen Klages is a remarkably restful piece of quiet fantasy that I can’t recommend enough. Set in the queer quarters of 1940 San Francisco, we follow the budding romance between two women: an artist for the pulps and a singer newly arrived trying to find a place to belong. That’s it. And …

Dec

24

2020

The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey

The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey

Set in Alaska in the 1920s, a husband and wife are drifting apart. Unable to have their own child, they create one out of snow one night, and it changes their whole lives. This novel is full of rich imagery and wonderful characters. Eowyn Ivey has written a beautiful fairy tale that really reaches out …

Dec

15

2020

The Queen’s Gambit by Walter Tevis

We don’t consider it often, but writing about the past, even in the most straightforward way, makes time elastic. Take The Queen’s Gambit by Walter Tevis, for example. It’s a 1983 novel that’s having a renaissance due to Netflix’s acclaimed screen adaptation. (Side notes: I’ve seen one episode so far and agree with the accolades. I …

Oct

5

2020

Wild Animals I Have Known by Ernest Thompson Seton

Gibbs Smith continues their charming wilderness writing series with Ernest Thompson Seton’s Wild Animals I Have Known. Look, we’re suckers for pretty books, and Gibbs Smith is doing a marvelous job with the design and layout of this series (we’ve thrown a couple more of them on this Newsletter List on bookshop.org). Seton’s Wild Animals I Have …

Sep

9

2020

Last Go Round: A Real Western
by Ken Kesey and Ken Babbs

Ken Kesey and fellow Merry Prankster Ken Babbs bring us a “real American Western” based upon events from the 1911 Pendleton Round Up, which he first heard around campfires as a child in eastern Oregon. Filled with real life colorful characters and great, snappy dialogue, the Kens craft a wonderful American Tall Tale, exaggerated and …

Aug

27

2020

A Shilling for Candles by Josephine Tey

Elizabeth MacKintosh, a writer, had a major impact on my life. She is also known as authors Gordon Daviot and Josephine Tey. Unfortunately, she died in 1952 at the peak of her career. I first “met” her through a tour of the Tower of London in August 1962 just before entering my junior year of …

Aug

17

2020

Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed

Before she was known for her memoir Wild, Cheryl Strayed was writing advice columns under the pseudonym Dear Sugar. The essays collected in this book are unlike any other advice pieces I’ve ever read; they’re filled with empathy and gut-wrenching honesty and are the perfect thing for someone who might be feeling a little (or a …

Jul

30

2020

The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America by Erik Larson

Two true stories are told side by side here– that of the lead architect of the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago, and that of a serial killer who uses the fair to lure victims to his hotel. Elevating, yet creepy. Yet elevating. Oooh, but creepy. –Diana, Village Books, Bellingham and Lynden, WA It’s not quite …

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