Beyond the Book Club
Look for these books at the library or your local independent bookstore. (May we emphasize Independent bookstore?)
2009 Releases
The Halfway House by Guillermo Rosales, translated by Anna Kushner with a preface by Jose Manuel Prieto (New Directions). This haunting novel is about a man who flees Cuba when he becomes disillusioned with Castro’s Revolution. The anguish and guilt about his complicity in the Revolution causes a mental breakdown that lands him in a privately owned home for the mentally ill. A tragic story. The preface is superb.
Water Ghosts (originally titled and mentioned in our last
e-mail as Locke, 1928, Penguin Group) by Shawna Yang Ryan (The Penguin Press). Selected as our second hard cover book club this year until we realized it was released in 2008 by a small California publisher. Penguin picked it up after this first edition. Alas, our book clubs are first editions only! But don’t let this deter you from getting your hands on a copy of this fascinating story of Chinese immigrants in northern California in 1928.
The Signal by Ron Carlson (Viking Press) or any books by Ron Carlson are certain to give you great pleasure. Carlson understands and accepts our foibles. He describes them with a warmth and humor that few writers are able to do.
Released in Paperback
Sebastian Barry The Whereabouts of Eneas McNulty(1999), Annie Dunne (2003), A Long, Long Way (2005), & The Secret Scripture (2008, Penguin). All are available in paperback; The Secret Scripture is also available in hardcover. McNulty is an Irish writer whose books portray life in a complex and turbulent Ireland. Sebastian Barry’s novels have been hugely admired by readers and critics, and in 2005 his novel A Long Long Way was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize.
One of our 2008 book club selections, The Painter from Shanghai by Jennifer Cody Epstein, is now available in paperback (W. W. Norton). In this lovely novel, Epstein writes of a Chinese woman in the early 20th century, Yuliang, a former child prostitute is liberated from her enslavement by an enlightened Chinese man, Pan Zanhua, who later marries her. His encouragement allows her to pursue an artistic career that ends in her old age in France. A wonderful read that will send you to Google to research this extraordinary woman and her equally amazing husband.
Not Brand New but Definitely Worth Reading
The Marriage of True Minds by Stephen Evans, (Unbridled Books, 2008) was a 2008 paperback original book club selection and a first novel. It’s wacky and funny. You’ll laugh out loud with this one. The many customers who bought it at our shop came back to let us know what a delight it is. A nice departure from our usual darker recommendations.
Mafeking Road and Other Stories by South African author Herman Charles Bosman (archipelago books, 2008 — take place in the Transvaal. The stories are warm, sometimes funny, sometimes sad and always rewarding. A great gift for those who like literary fiction but a little lighter book. Must read! Just read it! (Copies Available).
Senselessness by Horacio Castellanos Moya (New Directions, 2008) In this novella, a man in exile from an unnamed Central American country, is hired by the Catholic Church to edit a 1,100 report chronicling the thousands of brutal tortures and murders of indigenous peoples by the military regime of yet another unnamed Central American country. This is dark, really dark but, oh so wonderfully written and haunting! Some satiric humor too. (Copies Available)
Disquiet by Julia Leigh (Penguin Group)
Disquiet by Julia Leigh is the author’s second novella is set at a chateaux in France. The story is gothic with cell phones and is true to its title — very disquieting. (Copies Available)
A to X — A Story in Letters by John Berger (Verso, 
2008) available in hardcover and paperback. A book to be savored. I grabbed it on my way to the airport, thinking that it was short and I could read it quickly. No, it is a book to be savored — read and re-read. But that is true of all of John Berger’s novels. So if you don’t read this one, make sure you read one of Berger’s novels.
So many books…
If we don’t recommend it, it ain’t cause it ain’t good. We just didn’t read it. Here is a short list of publishers that consistently publish fine literary fiction. We suggest you browse their web sites. You may find a jewel we didn’t. Then you can let us know about it. (In some cases you can buy directly from the publisher or you can scurry off to your local library or independent bookstore and get a copy.)
Unbridled Books www.unbridledbooks.com
New Directions www.ndpublishing.com
Coffee House Press www.coffeehousepress.org
Chin Music Press www.chinmusicpress.com
Archipelago Books www.archipelagobooks.org
W. W. Norton www.wwnorton.com
Verso www.versobooks.com
Penguin Group http://us.penguingroup.com
