Latest 7 titles
Watchmen by Alan Moore & Dave GibbonsPossibly the best graphic novel ever written. An incredible deconstruction of the superhero genre, and a smart and fascinating murder mystery. Moore accomplishes things impossible in any other form, and does so with intelligence and phenomenal writing. Gibbons' artwork is the perfect complement, and is wonderfully crowded with incredible detail. Powerful and full of symbolism, and a must-read for any comics fan.
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey NiffeneggerAn impossible love story about a man who involuntarily travels in time, and the woman who has known him all her life (even before he knew her). Complex and twisty, with flawed characters sympathetic in their humanness. Henry and Clare, constantly orbiting at different points in each others' lifetimes, are each other's inevitable destinies, despite separation, frustration, and a non-linear existence. Sexy, funny, and tragically sad.
Omega Minor by Paul VerhaeghenFour narrative strands, seemingly unrelated, sometimes told consecutively in the first person (so the reader has to figure out who's speaking), encompassing 50 years of Berlin history, the Nazi regime, the rise of communism, and the Manhattan Project. Somehow, it manages to not fall apart under its great ambition, and reveals moments of great empathy and emotion. And sex, lots of sex. Nothing is what it seems, and no one, and the stylistic prose is absolutely compelling through all 700 pages. Winner of the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize and the Flemish Culture Award for Fiction.
And Now We Are Going to Have a Party by Nicola GriffithA multisensual multimedia memoir experience, told with wit and heart and a fantastic sense of humour. A life of much adventure and exploration, and Griffith relays it in honest (and sometimes heartbreaking) prose. Every bit as strong and lovely as her novels. The five-volume memoir is beautifully packaged along with "a facsimile of Nicola's first book (created age 4), a CD of songs by Nicola and her early-'80s punk band, Janes Plane, as well as three scratch-n-sniff cards, a fold-out poster, a letterpressed preface by Dorothy Allison, and a numbered signing sheet."
The Invention of Everything Else by Samantha HuntAn astonishingly beautiful evocation of 1940s New York City, and the last days of Nikola Tesla, as befriended by Louisa, a chambermaid in the Hotel New Yorker. Poignant and gorgeously told, with an honest enthusiasm for the age of invention, brought to a screeching close by the advent of corporations and the commodification of the natural world. Hunt manages to bring Tesla to life through his interactions with Louisa, his long-term relationship with a pet pigeon, and his letters to Samuel Clemens. Science and imagination become one through Tesla's extraordinary mind, and one can't help but wonder how he has been forgotten in American history, and rejoice that such a novel can bring him back, if only briefly.
Drown by Junot DiazA remarkable collection of stories about hardscrabble life in the Dominican Republic, and DR immigrants in the US. Full of Diaz's singular creole voice, making even the most despicable people identifiable and understandable. Gandhi said that "Poverty is the worst form of violence," and nowhere is that more apparent as in this book. Heartbreaking, yet compelling, these stories illustrate the lives of the unsung, and they do it with the poetry of the streets.
The Open Road by Pico IyerAn incredible look into the life of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, and the current political and religious situation in both Tibet and Dharamsala. Through Iyer's 30-year relationship with the Buddhist monk, and his insightful and considered observations, the reader is provided with both the public and private sides of the Dalai Lama, and of the continuing insistence on using compassion, patience, and nonviolence in dealing with China. Fascinating reading.