November's Reasons to Read
November means elections, Veterans Day and America's favorite holiday, Thanksgiving. But first we here at the bookstore are feeling a little ghoulish as the days shorten, and this being Southern California, the winds howl strong, hot and dry and the neighborhood is festooned with Halloween and harvest decorations. Several new releases in both hard and paperback - for both adults and children - have caught our attention and should help you get in the mood for this month's special days. Read on!
The Keep by Jennifer Egan
Egan's relentlessly gripping page-turner plays with rich forms - ghost story, love story, gothic - and transfixing themes:the undertow of history, the fate of imagination in the cacophony of modern life, the uncanny likeness between communications technolgy and the supernatural. Set in an ancient castle in Eastern Europe and a mximum secruity prison in America, she conjures a world from which escape is impossible and where the keep - the last stand, the final holdout, the place you run to when the walls are breached - is both everything worth protecting and the very thing that must be surrendered in order to survive.
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
A teenaged American girl living in 1972 Amsterdam comes upon an ancient book in the library of her widower father, a former historian and now a diplomat. The book is blank except for an illustration of a dragon and the word 'Drakulya". This begins a search for the truth behind the myth of Dracula that crosses continets as well as generations. Told through narratives, flashbacks and letters the plot unfolds at a rapid pace, and is both literary and scary. This is not Bela Luigosi's dracula - it is the historical person, and creepy in an all too real way if you compare him to other cruel leaders (Stalin, Hitler etc).
The Weekly Standard Reader edited by William Kristol
The Weekly Standard is a weekly political magazine that is widely read and very influential in Washington. It debuted in 1995 and to celebrate 10 years of publication the editors released a collection of some of their favorite articles last year. Now available in paperback, it offers a comprehensive survey on some of the major trends and issues during these recent, dynamic years. The writing on national politics, international affairs and the arts is relevent, succinct, in depth, and often cheeky and intellectual.
Operation Homecoming edited by Andrew Carroll
The first book of its kind, Operation Homecoming is the result of a major initiative launched by the National Endowment for the Arts to bring distingquished writers to military bases and inspire U.S. soldiers sailors, Marines and airmen and their families to record their wartime experiences. Encouraged by such authors as Tom Clancy, Mark Bowden, Tobias Wolff and Jeff Shaara, American military personnel and their loved ones wrote candidly about what they saw, heard and felt while in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as on the home front. Taken together, these eyewitness accounts private journals, short stories, letters, and other personal writings become a dramatic marrative that shows the human side of warfare.
Mayflower by Nathaniel Philbrick
A well researched telling of the traditional Thanksgiving story, Philbrick masterfully recounts the desperate circumstances of the settlers and their hosts the Wampanoag Indians. He notes that indeed there was a first Thanksgiving and for 50 years they lived in peace becoming increasingly interdependent. But in 1675, 65 years after the landing, Massasoits heir, Philip, launched a confusing war on the English that claimed 5000 lives, a huge percentage of the colonies population at the time.
CHILDREN"S BOOKS
Bats at the Beach by Brian Lies
Pack your buckets, banjoes, and blankets - don't forget the moon-tan lotion - and wing with this bunch of fuzzy bats to where foamy sea and soft sand meet. Brian Lies' enchaning art and cheery beachside verse will inspire bedtime imaginations again and again. Come visit a bedazzling world of moonlight, firelight, and...bats!
Vote by Eileen Christelow
This older book is a great way to introduce kids to the election process. Using a town's mayoral election as a model covers every step in the process, from the start of the campaign to Election Day. A timeline of the history of voting in the United States, a glossary of words associated with voting, a discussion of American political parties, and a list of Internet resources are included.
My War by Colby Buzzell
For the older child interested in what our modern warriors are facing, this is the debut of a fresh and remarkable voice, one already being compared to Michael Herr's 'Dispatches' and Joseph Heller's 'Catch -22', classics of youth and combat. But it is much more than a war story - it is the story of a generation caught between the hyperreality of a technological age and an ever more complicated and dangerous world.
We Gather Together by Wendy Pfeffer
With expressive prose and vivid illustrations, this book explains the science of the equinox and how harvests have been celebrated by different cultures throughout history. Activities and ideas for celebrating in school and at home will inspire new ways of giving thanks for a bountiful autumn harvest.