Enjoy these picks from Dan, owner of the bookstore.
Far and away, this volume is my favorite collection of poems. For over 10 years, I have always thrown my dog-eared copy into my travel bag whenever I am leaving home for an extended trip. Berry’s Selected Poems always ground me and bring me home no matter where I wander! If you doubt me, please read The Sycamore on p. 27.
One of my favorite non-fiction titles of this past year. In this remarkable and insightful book Alexander dons her scholarly detective cap to dig beneath all the layers of myth built up over the centuries on top of Homer's epic poem. What she reveals is nothing less than Homer's breathtaking struggle to find a meaning within the meaninglessness of war, whether that war is his Trojan War, or the wars that have plagued our species from before the dawn of history right down to our struggle in Afghanistan today.
In the course of this book's 225 pages, Alexander breathes new life into Homer's Iliad for the contemporary reader. I heartily recommend this book for your summer reading list.
I love novels with paintings, and painters, and art world types packed into the narrative. Dominic Smith's book is a well done example of this subgenre. I love the shifting time focus, back and forth between the years 1631, 1957, and 2000. And there is a particularly wonderful description of an abandoned village seaside near Amsterdam. All these elements, and so much more makes this book so satisfying!
