Jan

Staff

3 books cured my flu

Well, I've been home with the flu a few days and I managed to finish three books I thought I'd tell you about.

Anna Franklin: Om mitt möte med Carolyn Cassady – den sista länken till beatgenerationen

Jan: Recently Carolyn Cassady left us. I wrote a short text about us missing her on Facebook. Here's a text in Swedish, from my friend Anna Franklin, about her meeting and memory of Carolyn.

What Jan read the summer of 2013

Howard Cunnell - Marine Boy
Well, it started really good - bleak, dark, southern England. Then I forgot the book on a ferry in Greece... In my defense the boat *was* rocking quite heavily.

Daniel O'Malley - The Rook
This was super entertaining. Starts with a woman without memory waking up in a body she doesn't recognize in a private park in London with a dozen dead people on the ground around her all wearing rubber gloves ... And it only gets better.

Max Barry - Lexicon
Very exciting, made me think of The Magicians and The Secret History, but with more of an action feel to it. Good idea, good read.

Howard Cunnell - Marine Boy Daniel O'Malley - The Rook Max Barry - Lexicon

Anton DiSclafani - The Yonahlossee Riding Camp For Girls
I really enjoyed this; the tale of a girl in 1930 messing up and

News for October!

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Just back from the Gothenburg bookfair which was terrific, we got to meet many lovely customers and also were priviliged to spend time with a lot of authors such as Ingrid Betancourt, Jenny Valentine, Paul Muldoon, Colm Toibin... The list goes on - pictures at our Facebook page! We then came home to Swecon 2012 and did signings with Joe Abercrombie, Kelly Link, Peter Watts and Caitlin Sweet! Again - pictures on our facebook page.

This Friday we’re doing a signing with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie! It’s not in the shop but at the Nordic Africa Institute in town. It’s been an amazing author period for us!

El Gavilan

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I love small publishers; you can find some true gems on their lists; a voice you would never have heard otherwise. El Gavilan is a bleak crime novel set in Ohio with the topic being latino immigration and racism  - both personal and institutional. It is gripping and well written and makes you think. What more can you ask? I'm not entirely certain I like how the book pans out but at the same time I'm not sure I was supposed to! Recommended!

Black Light

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I've had this book lying around for quite a while and just picked it up to brush up on Liz Hand's work before her visit in the shop on September 8. This is vintage Hand; dark, gothic, filled with historical and literary references and allusions as well as youth angst, drugs, sex and well darkness. It is VERY well written and quite captivating. The film tangent reminded me of Flicker for some reason. I liked it! (Oh and it's not in print at the moment, but drop us a line and we'll get you a nice second-hand copy if you're interested. You should be...)

Charlie Hood

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Over the last 2 weeks I've reacquainted myself with one of my favourite writers; T. Jefferson Parker. He's been writing excellent Southern California crime writing for almost 30 years since his debut in 1985 with Laguna Heat. Lately his writing has been very much about a young police officer named Charlie Hood. I have just broken one of my long standing rules, which is do NOT read several books by the same author in a row. I have found in the past that this will almost always effectively make you disenchanted with that author. But nevertheless I just finished reading four Charlie Hood novels back to back, and they were all excellent! I read LA Outlaw a few years back and so this time I read The Renegades, Iron River, Border Lords and The Jaguar.

The Seven Wonders

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I love the historical crime novels of Steven Saylor. Gordianus the Finder is a wonderfully wraught character, Saylor spins expert webs of mystery in his stories and the history of the pieces is nothing short of excellent. As far as I can tell. They're wonderfully snug vibrant, lusty, curious, alive novels and I always look forward to a new one appearing. The Seven Wonders is a prequel to the other novels; it takes place when Gordianus is a mere 18 years old and travels around the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World with his tutor Antipater of Sidon. As we get to know the wonders as they stood at that time Gordianus also solves a new mystery at each one. But perhaps there's a great one tying them all together....?

Gold

in
The most eagerly awaited UK novel of 2012. I liked it, Mr Cleave's characters come off as very believable and though I've never followed athletic cycling (which is the setting of the novel although it's not what it's about...) I really enjoyed this. There are bits when I feel ever-so-slightly emotionally manipulated, but the topics touched upon ARE heart-wrenching so perhaps it's not so suprising. The writing is often pitch-perfect and the roller-coasters of feeling we're subjected to are fascinating and, yes , gripping. 

Age of Miracles

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This much-lauded debut novel is a breath of Ray Bradbury. It's the coming-of-age story of Julia who happens to grow up at an extra-ordinary time in the earth's history: the planet has for some reason started slowing down, spinning more slowly thus lengthening days and nights. There's an eerie feel to the whole novel, of living on the brink of change so vast it's uncomprehensible. Julia is a great protagonist and her personal story against the weird backdrop makes the novel quite beguiling.