Kissing In Manhattan - David Schickler
Feature January 2003
   Not every reader enjoys short stories - especially in January. In the beautiful bliss of post-Christmas craziness, we all want to sit down (in the quiet) and enjoy a nice big fat tome that will transport us. So according to January tradition I've chosen a book that ignores all this - a linked collection of short stories that will transport you - to downtown Manhattan - but also charm your socks off, touch you in many different ways and make you laugh out loud at the absurdity of the human condition.

   David Schickler tells the stories of many different characters who inhabit a unique century old apartment building in downtown Manhattan. How these satellite lives intersect and entwine make fascinating reading from story to story. You as the reader have the inside scoop on characters from previous stories as they roll on stage and off-- taking the usual sense of the voyeurism of the reader to new heights. Told with warmth and wit, compassion and eroticism each story provokes a different response that lingers with you after you put it down. And while not all characters are likeable, we get a much more rounded view of them as they move through the scenes. But it is the dialogue that sparkles the most. With a playwrights eye and a playwrights wit, Schickler makes you look at the people in your neighbourhood, your office building, your local with different eyes.

   And since you have probably not got the gift-giving fever out of your system yet this romantic, charming and sexy after Christmas treat is a great early pick up for Valentine's Day.

Faceless Killers - Henning Mankell
Feature February 2003
   There is nothing better in the depths of February to stimulate your cold weather clogged mind than a good mystery. Mankell was described to me as “Sweden’s” answer to Ian Rankin, so how could I not pick it up?

   On a remote farm in the icy grips of a Swedish winter, an elderly man is tortured and beaten to death his wife left to die. Kurt Wallander, acting chief-of-police, begins an investigation into this seemingly random crime. But when the wife dies, her last word “foreign” strikes fear into the already stretched police force. The last thing needed is the public’s anger directed at the already unpopular immigrant intern camps. Soon the randomness of the murder fades away as Wallander and his team discover the victim to be not without his own messy little secrets.

   Written in a clean swift style sprinkled with haunting insight, Mankell illuminates a very human hero. Overburdened with a looming divorce, an estranged daughter and a disintegrating relationship with his aging father, Wallander is the perfect literary detective. The Swedish backdrop also adds a certain fresh intrigue. Faceless Killers is one of the first of five of Mankell’s books to be translated and released in North America. The second one is already on the shelves.

   This is a quick and gripping read, one to put some order and sense back into the midwinter blahs. Our little “Scottish” friend, Mr. Rankin better be putting on his trainers.

London Irish - Zane Radcliffe
Feature March 2003
   Now that we’ve decorated the store for “that Irish Holiday” … (points for effort to Guinness for trying to get March 17th declared a national holiday – but considering the amount of their product consumed on that day, perhaps the day after would have been a better suggestion) … I had to choose a book in the same spirit (pun intended).

  London Irish is the perfect call. Radcliffe is like reading Colin Bateman, Christopher Brookmyre or Christopher Moore all in one go. And although possibly considered to be “lad-lit” (as opposed to “chick-lit”) I found it to have just an all-round appeal. Good storyline, great characters and fine writing to boot.

  Set in London the summer of 1999, Bic is the owner of a small crepe stall in the market. After making a few resolutions to get his life in order and push through on his plans for a small farm back home in Ireland he meets a girl (isn’t that always the way) and next thing he knows he’s in Scotland, on the run and accused of a murderous rampage.

  Fun – both seriously silly and deadly serious – London Irish will put you in the mood to enjoy the mayhem of March and hopefully the beginning of spring. Cheers!

Lamb - Christopher Moore
Feature April 2003
   If you liked the movie “Dogma” (directed by Kevin Smith), are a fan of Monty Python (I mean, who isn’t) or you take your Christianity with a touch of salt and a strong leavening of humour you will absolutely love this book. And as sardonic, pithy and sacrilegious as the book description or it’s secondary title may sound, Lamb is as poignant as it is heart-achingly funny.

   Levi who is called Biff (so named for the sound that is made when his mother smacks him upside his head) first meets Christ (who is called Joshua) when they are six. It is a memorable first meeting (one that I wouldn’t spoil for you for anything in the world) that cements a love and friendship that will take them on incredible journeys over the next twenty five years. Moore has focused on the first thirty years of Christ’s life not covered by the gospels -- that’s a lot of room to play with. And while his journeys to the East include kung fu lessons, abominable snowmen, learning to disappear and fit into a wine jug – Biff is right there alongside him to help him learn the true lesson – how to be the Messiah and a Savior to his people and how to understand his people as a man.

   This is one of the most wildly funny and most tragic books I’ve ever read. And while Easter approaches this might be considered an ill-timed choice for a Feature – I felt this book actually drives home the meaning of the celebration and the humanity of the myth.

Persepolis - Marjane Satrapi
Feature May 2003
   I rarely choose a hardcover for our feature. The point of the feature is to introduce our customers to an author they might overlook. The 20% discount is to encourage them to try, but the discount might not be enough to make the leap to a format they normally overlook because of price (and knowing it will be out in paperback in about a year’s time). But I decided to shoot the moon this month, by not only choosing a hardcover but a Graphic Novel to boot. The justification? One of the best damn books of any kind I’ve ever read. And while set in Iran during the Islamic Revolution – a time of war and horror – it tells a sad, sweet and often darkly comic tale pretty close to our hearts right now.

   Ms. Satrapi is the great grand-daughter of the last Emperor of Iran and her memories of growing up in this war-torn nation have been compared to the Pulitzer Prize-winning Maus by Art Spiegelman. It is often said that children are the best observers – they see everything, but leave the interpretation up to us. The young Marjane shows us a world fraught with conflict both secular and religious, personal and historical – illustrated by her naïve drawings that are more charming for their simplicity and more horrific by their innocent design.

   Everything I can say about this book seems trite and meaningless by comparison. So I’ll finish with this: Buy it! Doesn’t matter where, or from whom. This is a must read for everyone.

   Ms. Satrapi currently resides in Paris (according to the bio on the blurb) and is working on the sequel to Persepolis. It can’t come soon enough.

The Impressionist - Hari Kunzru
Feature June 2003
   Hari Kunzru’s “The Impressionist” is a brilliant book.

   It’s tempting to leave it at that; every now and again it happens that a book’s contents will match the description on its back so annoyingly well as to frustrate reviewers. I’ll cheerfully agree with the New York Times and say that Kunzru writes with “wry certitude” and “cinematic precision,” but this book simply can’t be summed up with clever adjectives. Nevertheless, in an attempt to put it succinctly: Kunzru’s prose is effortless and disciplined, his characters thoroughly real, and his observations on politics, society and the grey area in between are deep, insightful and accurate.

   “The Impressionist” tells the story of a boy named Pran, who at the age of fifteen is cast out by his family into the hostile streets of post WWI British India. The book is the story of his survival, achieved through his eerie ability to utterly reinvent himself.

   Eminently readable, almost episodic in style, “The Impressionist” is witty, inventive and wonderful. Read the back, and buy it. It speaks for itself.


(this month’s Feature review is contributed by Amal, one of our well read, multi-talented staff members)

The Lamp of the Wicked - Phil Rickman
Feature July 2003
   There is a real joy to being in the book business. Secondary only to discovering an author yourself is having a regular customer order every copy by an author in print and impress on you to read them. Well, gang press actually (Catherine is a very determined individual) and you happily discover a new passion.

   To say Rickman’s books are addictive is understating the fact. I swore to one of my staff that I would not do what I always do. Upon discovering a new author I like, I read everything available in print. An unfair test to the author as you become a lot more critical with each book. Well, on closing Wine of Angels” (the first Merrily Watkins mystery) I immediately leapt for the second one and never stopped. If anything reading the Watkins series like that has only made me appreciate the strong character evolvement and sustained themes.

   Merrily Watkins is the first female minister in a small town on the border of Wales. Towing along a whack of personal baggage and her fifteen year old daughter Jane, Merrily discovers that she is sensitive to the occult phenomena in this ancient town. Over the next few books she reluctantly enters the Deliverance ministry (new age parlance) and becomes the spanking new diocesan Exorcist – much to the dismay of her parish and her daughter who is still getting over her mom selling out her soul to the church..

   Lamp of the Wicked is the fifth in the series, but like any good mystery, totally self contained (although why anyone would pass up a chance to read any of the other four would be a mystery to me). Touching upon the Fred and Rose West serial killings discovered in the mid-nineties, Lamp of the Wicked plops Merrily into the middle of the investigation of a new killer -- one she helped discover and who may be a copycat of the original horrifying case or possibly linked to it. Meanwhile, her home village is invaded by a faded former model who claims to have had angelic visions. Now throw into this mix an opportunistic police officer obsessed with the alleged killings possible connection to the West case, a dramatically depressed Jane and the threatened exposure of Merrily’s relationship with a musician. Then top it all off with the discovery of the possible effects that the huge power grid crisscrossing the U.K. is having on the nation’s health – and you have the most gripping, thoughtful and earnest thriller to be published this year.

   Rickman is a master of plot, character development and structure. But the highest compliment I can pay him is that he is the consummate storyteller. And after all, isn’t that what it’s all about?

Nectar - Lily Prior
Feature August 2003
   O.K. For the dog days of August we need some fun. Something light and frothy like a cool beverage in the hot summer sun. Lily Prior’s wickedly funny, sexy romp Nectar is the perfect brew. Somewhat like The Princess Bride (William Goldman) done by the Cohen Brothers (Fargo), Nectar is a fairy tale told with a sublime wit and a quirky off the wall interpretation.

   Ramona Drottoveo is an albino working at a large family estate somewhere close to Naples. But her white hair, pink skin and eyes are not the only thing that set her apart from the other servants. Not particularly lovely to look at, she is possessed of an extraordinary scent. A scent that drives all men wild, not just intoxicating, but the kind of olfactory perfume that drives the poor beggars to suicide. Well aware of her power she acts shamelessly and wantonly until the estate bee keeper catches her eye with his indifference to her perfume. But there is no happily ever after here. What follows is murder, disappearing corpses, a dwarf with a hump, the opera, an exorcism and an astonishing birth. Told with high drama and a sparkling effervescence, once you pick up Ramona’s star-crossed story you can’t put it down.

   The back blurb calls it a “Bawdy Chaucer tale”, and I can’t think of anything more apropos. Like her previous novel La Cucina, Nectar’s Italian setting and sexy style make it a must for the beach or patio. It’s nice to find a literary beach book with style and elegance.

   But unfortunately, it doesn’t come with sunscreen.

Practical Magic & Green Angel - Alice Hoffman
Features September 2003
   Yes, there was a movie loosely based on this book (and “Charmed “ though it was, the wiccafication just didn’t hold a candle (sorry) to the simple folksy allure of Hoffman’s subtle and brilliant prose. Although originally published 1n 1995, the publisher has finally chose to re-release it with a cover I’m proud to sell and recommend.

   The Owen sisters come into their elderly aunts care as young girls. But Owen women have a reputation in this small Maine town. A reputation darkened by superstition and bewitchment. Any blame that could be laid at their door was diligently placed, be it a dead cat or a draught. Still the local women managed to find their way to the back door in the middle of the night, pleading for love charms and fertility spells, cures for broken hearts or half-meant curses. Gillian and Sally, trapped by their upbringing and notoriety choose different fates Sally to marriage and conformity and Gillian to a reckless escape.

   When Gillian accidentally poisons her abusive boyfriend she returns to the sanctuary of the Owen household starting a chain of events that unleashes the true power of the Owen women -- love and hope.

   Alice Hoffman’s real enchantment is beguiling the reader with an unaffected magic realism no other writer can match. If you haven’t discovered her yet, here is the perfect start. It was the first novel I read of hers and I’ve never looked back.

   Although I had chosen Practical Magic for a September Feature as soon as I saw the new cover treatment, another of her books was released in April that I had missed. It was sold as a Juvenile and comes from Scholastic Press ($24.99). Once I read and discovered the facts about the book, I felt it only fitting to offer it up as a second and equally amazing offer for the month.

   Like any writer, Alice Hoffman took her sense of grief and loss over the events of September 11, 2001 and wrote them into a book. Green Angel is the product of that and itself has inspired a grant for the New York Women’s Center for those women and children still suffering from the fallout of that tragic day. For more information on the Green Angel Grant, click here.

   Green is fifteen years old and the eldest daughter in close and loving family living outside a small town on the outskirts of the city. A love for gardening and growing things earned her the nickname. When her parents and younger sister head into the city one day to sell their wares at the urban marketplace, Green stays behind to tender the farm. Midway through the day a fireball is seen over the towers of the city. Almost blinded by the brilliance, Green just manages to witness the decimation of the countryside as it is blackened by the ashy fallout. Green must now not learn only to survive this terrible holocaust but find a way to recover herself and her heart.

   Be prepared to cry. A fable for our times Green Angel is a gentle and hopeful message of recovery. Give it to someone you love. Not only a beautiful story but also a beautiful little book constructed to be worthy of it. And remember Hoffman’s advance and royalties are donated to the fund. What special kind of magic is that?

Moth Diaries - Rachel Klein
Feature October 2003
   October is one of our favourite times of year in this store. We all take a lot of fun in creating our Halloween window display (although we always lose the bet with Video Station next door for best window … hard to compete with special effects and Death by Video). But true to the season I like to choose a book for our feature that’s either a ghost story or something disturbingly psychological.

   The Moth Diaries is the latter. The front cover blurb calls it “a chilling debut, in the best gothic style” and for once I would agree with the blurb writer. Told in the form of a journal by it’s sixteen year old narrator – a young woman that still hasn’t recovered from her father’s suicide a year previously. At an upscale boarding school, she is looking forward to the start of the new school year sharing a suite with her best friend Lucy. But she soon becomes suspicious and then slowly obsessed with the new girl who moves in opposite them and starts to exert a sinister control over her friend. Could Ernessa be a vampire as the narrator begins to suspect or a projection of her own grief and loss of control. Building slowly and steadily to its surprising climax, the Moth Diaries is a restrained yet intense example of the gothic style and a totally absorbing read.

   This is not a sensational or fantastical tale. Viewed through the lens of adolescent self absorption, alienation and confused sexuality it is a claustrophobic yet deeply reflective story. Most of us would not like to revisit those years in our life. This book reminds us why.

A Thousand Days In Venice - Marlena De Blasi
Feature November 2003
   November is a lousy month. All the colour of the fall is gone and the anxiety about Christmas (ohmigod, Christmas, already!) is just beginning. So maybe because of the bleakness of the month … or maybe it’s because I celebrate my nineteenth wedding anniversary this month that I was drawn to this perfect little romantic memoir about finding love unexpectedly, taking spectacular chances and learning to feed both the heart and the body.

   Ms. De Blasi with the true flair of a chef describes her meeting with an uncommon stranger in Venice (these scenes are worth the entire price of the book) and after having just recently moved half way across the U.S. to set up her own restaurant in Saint Louis – plus renovated a beautiful little house – she sells off everything and moves to marry this dark stranger in Venice. An incurable romantic? Considering how we come to know her throughout the course of the book as extremely pragmatic, almost hard headed – it would seem to be uncharacteristic behaviour. But charmingly it seems that once she accepts that Fernando is her future, she throws herself into it with all the practical application that has served her all her life. Like her recipes (also included in the book) her prose is sumptuous. And once again like a good chef when her descriptive narrative comes almost too close to boiling over, she reigns herself in with a sharp seasoning of salty humour and wit..

   A tremendously fun and romantic read – especially for those who love Frances Mayes and Joanna Harris.

Quattrocento - James McKean
Feature December 2003
   Art history, virtual imaging and star-crossed (time-stuck) lovers—Quattrocento, by first time novelist McKean shakes up “Somewhere In Time” and “Girl With The Pearl Earring” and produces a “high-caliber, genre-busting, page-turning romp” (Jenny McPhee).

   Matt O’Brien is a curator and art restorer at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He discovers what he suspects is a long-lost painting of Leonardo da Vinci and while excited by the discovery, it is the image of the woman painted that begins to possess him. After a series of odd memory shifts he finds himself in fifteenth century Italy perfectly attired and somehow in the household of the woman he has come to love. What is significant about McKean’s approach to this storyline is the manner in which his writing smoothly passes from the lean modern style of the present to the richer more colourful fashion of the past with a grace not often found in a first novel.

   Although a brief synopsis makes this sound like science fiction for the Art History major, Quattrocento is a book that makes it worthwhile to break the rules. Literary, astute and well peopled, this is a great Yule gift for the avid reader who would like something different for a change.