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A Country Doctor's Notebook

Submitted by cbottomley@nort... on Wed, 05/01/2013 - 7:05pm
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A Country Doctor's Notebook (Paperback)

By Mikhail Bulgakov, Michael Glenny
$15.00
ISBN-13: 9781612191904
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Melville House, 2/2013
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Each of these autobiographical stories from the author of The Master and Margarita glows like a candle in the Russian wilderness, while "Morphine" is a harrowing insight into addiction. ~ Charles Bottomley

Marble Season

Submitted by cbottomley@nort... on Wed, 05/01/2013 - 7:04pm
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Marble Season (Hardcover)

By Gilbert Hernandez
$21.95
ISBN-13: 9781770460867
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Drawn and Quarterly, 5/2013
The endless summer of childhood is perfectly captured by the co-creator of Love and Rockets. A poetic love letter to youthful imagination and Superman re-runs. ~ Charles Bottomley

Hand-Drying in America

Submitted by cbottomley@nort... on Wed, 05/01/2013 - 7:03pm
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Hand-Drying in America: And Other Stories (Hardcover)

By Ben Katchor
$29.95
ISBN-13: 9780307906908
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Pantheon, 2/2013
The secrets of the city are laid bare in these beautiful strips, populated by slugbearers, chair-breakers and cracked-cup inspectors. Katchor is a true comics genius and this is a must for any fan of the weird and wonderful. ~ Charles Bottomley

The Flamethrowers

Submitted by cbottomley@nort... on Wed, 05/01/2013 - 7:01pm
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The Flamethrowers (Hardcover)

By Rachel Kushner
$26.99
ISBN-13: 9781439142004
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Published: Scribner, 4/2013
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A young artist's adventures in "Drop Dead" New York's underground are the basis for one powerful literary performance. Like an art world Visit from the Goon Squad, but way better. ~ Charles Bottomley

The Legend of Pradeep Mathew

Submitted by cbottomley@nort... on Wed, 05/01/2013 - 6:59pm
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The Legend of Pradeep Mathew (Paperback)

By Shehan Karunatilaka
$16.00
ISBN-13: 9781555976118
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Graywolf Press, 5/2012
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Cross Malamud with Rushdie and you'll get something like this terrific novel about the search for Sri Lanka's greatest athlete. Funny and tender, it's one of the best books about sports fans I've read. ~ Charles Bottomley

Maya's Notebook

Submitted by cmorrow@northsh... on Wed, 05/01/2013 - 6:57pm
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Maya's Notebook (Hardcover)

By Isabel Allende
$22.39
ISBN-13: 9780062105622
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Harper, 4/2013
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The best book I've read in several years. Lyrical, rich, realistic prose; interesting, iconoclastic characters; timeless themes of emotional failings, love, redemption, addiction, family, adolescence, aging, culture. This is a complete book - I put it down feeling nothing was lacking. ~ Chris Morrow

Abdication

Submitted by kfrank@northshi... on Wed, 05/01/2013 - 6:56pm
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Abdication (Paperback)

By Juliet Nicolson
$15.00
ISBN-13: 9781451664799
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Published: Washington Square Press, 3/2013
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Splendid historical fiction written by a great historian. Although the story of Wallis Simpson and King Edward VIII is a familiar one, the reader is treated to a different perspective on the tale and the times. The story is told from the point of view of different characters, while darting into little known alleys of London life during this fascinating period. ~ Reviewed by Karen Frank

A Constellation of Vital Phenomena

Submitted by shynds on Wed, 05/01/2013 - 6:52pm
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A Constellation of Vital Phenomena (Hardcover)

By Anthony Marra
$26.00
ISBN-13: 9780770436407
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Hogarth, 5/2013
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Marra's (astonishingly) first novel defies ordinary adjectives, makes trivial the phrases we commonly use to praise them. His small constellation of Chechen and Russian characters are as vital and phenomenal as any you could ever hope to encounter in a work of literature. ~ Reviewed by Stan Hynds

The Grand Tour comes to an end

Submitted by agraves on Wed, 05/01/2013 - 6:45pm
"If we all could sound like we wanted to, we'd all sound like George Jones." -- Waylon Jennings

Taking a look at George Jones’s life, it is a wonder that he lived to be 81-years-old. His name became synonymous with hard living self-destruction and he seemed to regard the comparison as a compliment, as if ultimately his greatest accomplishment couldn’t be measured by hits on music charts. It would simply be surviving being George Jones.

His life was a constant rollercoaster ride that reached dizzying peaks only to nosedive to the depths. He lived in mansions and asked his friends for money when he was broke. While some people battle with alcoholism, Jones waged a never-ending war with it. He married four times, was committed to an Alabama psychiatric hospital for a period, and eventually acquired the nickname “No-Show Jones” because of the number of concert engagements that he missed. His combative nature was caught on a police video and broadcast all over the world after he was stopped for DUI.

His fans forgave him everything because he had the kind of voice that could wring tears out of a slab of granite.

He was born in Saratoga, Texas on September 12, 1931, one of seven children in a Baptist family that loved singing. His parents bought a radio when George was seven and he got his first guitar when he was nine. By age 16, he had moved to Jasper, Texas and was appearing on a local radio station. He was married at 19 and divorced for the first time before he was 21.

Jones enlisted in the Marine Corp during the Korean War, but never got closer to the front than California. The alcoholism that would plague his adult life had set in with a vengeance during his second marriage. After his wife hid the keys to the couple’s car, Jones climbed aboard a riding lawnmower to get to the nearest liquor store. He would later say that he never understood his behavior, but he never shied away from responsibility for it either.

He married Tammy Wynette in 1969, rescuing her from an abusive marriage and plunging her into another one. Jones acknowledged that their 6-year union was a stormy one, but the storm abated when the two of them sang together. They had three number one hits, but the old demons were always lurking in the wings and Tammy finally had to abandon the resolution preached in her signature song, “Stand By Your Man,” once again. Years later, she confessed in a television interview that she simply didn’t know how to deal with Jones’s drinking, but the dissolution of the marriage took its toll on her. The divorce would inspire one of her most affecting and personal songs, “Till I Can Make It On My Own.”

In spite of it all -- and perhaps because of a lot of it -- George Jones remained one of the most widely admired and imitated singers in the history of the most inherently American of all musical genres. He was to country what Frank Sinatra was to contemporary songs. There was Jones and then there was everyone else. His phrasing was unique and he went places with a song that its writer probably never dreamed of. Jones could effortlessly modulate a single note, making it swoop up like an eagle taking flight and impart a meaning to the lyric that no one had noticed before. He put an indelible stamp on everything he sang, from paeans to elbow bending like “If Drinking Don’t Kill Me (Her Memory Will)” and “White Lightning” to inspiring gospel duets with Vestal Goodman. Anne Murray could croon “He Thinks I Still Care” as if the song was meant as a honey-flavored reminiscence. No amount of sweetness could disguise the sour regret that permeates Jones’s version.

He was a country singer of the old school and Jones, more vocally than any other major artist, recognized that times had changed. He spoke frequently about how much he missed what he called “real” country with a thinly-disguised contempt for what passes for it today. His last CD with his “favorite ex-wife” was released in 1995. “One” was among their best collaboration albums, but it barely got any airplay on country radio stations because, as Jones bitterly said, they were not playing that kind of country music anymore.

If Wynette didn’t know how to tame her husband’s wild ways, Jones’s fourth wife, Nancy Sepulvado, did. He would credit her with saving his life from both alcohol and cocaine addictions and she managed a career which would reach new heights after the release of his biggest hit, “He Stopped Loving Her Today,” in 1980. Jones initially balked at recording the song because he thought it was just too depressing.

George Jones, like Wynette (who died in 1998), Patsy Cline, Hank WIlliams, Kitty Wells, Johnny Cash, and Waylon Jennings, carved a unique and indelible mark in the history of country music. The greatest tribute to their artistry may simply be the fact that, no matter how many pretenders may follow, there will never be anyone quite like any of them. They didn’t need amps, pyrotechnics, and 40 piece orchestras. Those things are only distractions from what real country music should be about. All Jones ever needed was a guitar, that voice, and his uncanny ability to convey all of life’s sadness and its disappointments through a song.

Your House Is on Fire, Your Children All Gone

Submitted by jkrawczyk@north... on Wed, 05/01/2013 - 6:39pm
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Your House Is on Fire, Your Children All Gone (Paperback)

By Stefan Kiesbye
$15.00
ISBN-13: 9780143121466
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Penguin Books, 9/2012
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Nothing is as it seems in this small superstitious village in Germany. I found myself cringing in the face of the Devil, perched on the edge of my seat during the investigation of an abandoned (or is it haunted?) building and seriously creeped out while I followed four strange children grow into even stranger adults. Eerie. Addictive. Did I mention creepy? ~ Reviewed by Jess Krawczyk
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