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Winter Reading Black Sun Books 2467 HILYARD STREET, 541-484-3777, BLACKSUNBOOKS.NET studies in anthropology combined with her fast and furious language make Cooper’s writing darkly brilliant. Caged’s strong female characters, plot twists and insights into the mind of evil sucks you in and makes reading this serial killer fiction both fun and disturbing. — Camilla Mortensen Night of Camp David by Fletcher Knebel. Vintage, $15.95. President Donald Trump may have saved the book industry. So many people are cashing in on his name and tenure as U.S. president that some publishers have even reached back into the 1960s to re-print a fictional story of the president gone mad. The book is set essentially a few years after Lyndon Johnson — at the least, the book recognizes Johnson and past presidents. Jim MacVeagh is a junior senator whom President Mark Hollenbach has begun to take in as a confidant. At first MacVeagh sees this as a way to quickly rise up the political ladder. But these nighttime rants from Hollenbach slowly morph into theories about the president’s enemies, who are attempting to stop him from making America a great world power — again. Fletcher Knebel, the book’s author, worked as a Washington correspondent for many newspapers and magazines. The book was originally published in 1965, so it probably sounded familiar to readers experiencing President Richard Nixon’s crimes. But even William Shakespeare knew about leaders gone mad when he penned King Lear. I guess you can always depend on a few things in life: death, taxes and the occasional insane leader. — Henry Houston Killing Commendatore by Haruki Murakami, Knopf, $30. The Library Book by Susan Orlean, Simon & Schuster, $28. My Feminist ABC: An Alphabet of Female (and Human) Values by Irene Pizzolante, Duo Press, $7.95. Loaded: A Disarming History of the Second Amendment by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, City Lights Books, $16.95. k Love Factually for Single Parents [and Those Dating Them] by Duana Welch, Love Science Media, $15.99. Priest Turned Therapist Treats Fear of God: Poems by Tony Hoagland, Graywolf, $16. k An Object in Motion: Poems by Patrick Newson, Nomadic Press, $12 (local author). Call Them By Their True Names: American Crises (and Essays), Rebecca Solnit, Haymarket Books, $15.95. k Beginner’s Luck: Dispatches from the Klamath Mountains by Malcolm Terence, OSU Press, $19.95, paperback. American Sonnets for My Past & Future Assassin: Poems Terrence Hayes, Penguin, $18. Caged by Ellison Cooper. Minotaur Books, $7.99. I admit, sometimes I read mass-market paperbacks I buy at the airport, grocery store, wherever — anything from romance novels to mysteries. I didn’t actually buy Caged at any of those places. Full disclosure, it was sent to me by the author, who I went to college with. But I would buy it. A teenager is found dead in a cage, a puppy is found with her, and it soon becomes clear this teen is not the only one who has been kidnapped. I do have to tell you that I really don’t remember Ellison Cooper having a creepy, devious mind when we were undergrads. Her time as a murder investigator in Washington D.C., and her doctoral Tsunami Books 2585 WILLAMETTE STREET, 541-345-8986, TSUNAMIBOOKS.ORG The Library Book by Susan Orlean. Simon & Schuster, $25.20. “Orlean’s wholly accessible new book is the commonality of the library experience, and required reading for any book person.” Overstory by Richard Powers. W.W. Norton, $25.15. “Overstory is a tree lover’s paradise of a book.” Thank You, Omu by Oge Mora. Little Brown, $17.10. “This heartwarming children’s picture book about sharing and community will make you want to cook a pot of soup and hug your grandma.” BESTSELLERS: k BirdNote, illustrated by Emily Pool. Sasquatch Books, $20.65. k The Parents’ Guide to Climate Revolution by Mary Democker, New World Library, $11.90. How To Change Your Mind by Michael Pollan. Random House, $24.30. Flame by Leonard Cohen. Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $25.20. short stories Back Talk by Danielle Lazarin. Penguin Books, $16. Danielle Lazarin’s Back Talk is the author’s debut — a collection of slice-of-life short stories about girls and young women navigating life. The book’s 16 stories mostly focus on the intricacies of relationships in the form of the romantic (breakups, divorces and infidelities) and platonic (friendship, siblinghood and the loss of loved ones). Lazarin’s style is incredibly understated, taking a glimpse into her characters’ seemingly everyday lives, while still offering depth, empathy and a peek into unspoken desires. My favorites from this collection are “Floor Plans” and “Appetite.” — Meerah Powell Country Dark by Chris Offutt. Grove Atlantic, $23. Kentucky-born author Chris Offutt is one of the most underrated writers in American fiction, and he’s just published his finest novel, a hard-boiled rural noir driven by a narrative so economical and compelling it almost hurts. In fact, this book does hurt, in the way of all great literature, with the kind of cosmic fatefulness and aggrieved moral clarity that forces us to take a difficult look at ourselves and the choices we make. The story of a returning Korean War vet, Tucker, who becomes a bootlegger in backwoods Kentucky, Country Dark gives us a difficult vision of a good man driven to extremes by poverty, bad luck and the ham-fisted interference of government bureaucracies. As Tucker fights to preserve his family, he is confronted with a series of impossible obstacles, and his choices are as brutal as they are necessary. With language stripped to the bone and an eye-popping knack for evoking atmosphere and character, Offutt lays down a violent, heartbreakingly beautiful tale about overcoming all odds — a parable of survival and transformation that is at once timely and timeless. — Rick Levin The Largesse of the Sea Maiden by Denis Johnson. Random House, $27. By now, Denis Johnson’s seminal short story collection, Jesus’ Son, has been properly recognized not just as a cult classic but a classic, period — a universally adored work of trashed transcendence whose ripples are still being felt a quarter century after its release. It’s a book that is passed lovingly from reader to reader, like something sacred and a bit dangerous, and in a sense this sainted collection not only cemented Johnson’s reputation but froze it: Would he ever top his masterpiece? The answer is yes and no. No — because who could, really? — COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS | SCHOOL OF ARTS AND COMMUNICATION An evening with ANGÉLIQUe KIDJO SAC Presents 18-19 A Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration Special Event Saturday, Jan. 19, 2019 | 7:30pm The LaSells Stewart Center, 875 SW 26th Street, Corvallis TICKETS: $30-$35 in advance | $35-$40 at the door Free tix for OSU students in advance or at the door while tickets are available. GET MORE INFO AND PURCHASE TICKETS AT: liberalarts.oregonstate.edu/SACevents 12 December 13, 2018 • eugeneweekly.com PAN TO N E P R O C E SS BL AC K PA NTONE DS 42- 4U PA NTONE DS 211- 4U PA NTONE DS 281- 6U PA NTONE DS 56- 1U PA NTONE DS 325- 2U PA NTONE DS 233- 4U PA NTONE DS 148- 2U
