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
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