Scary Books!

It's my favorite time of year for reading. Not that I don't read at all other times of the year. It's only that reading October through December is THE BEST time for reading. It's like the sports year, sure, hockey is good all season long, but it's THE BEST during Stanley Cup playoffs.

Nothing is cozier than curling under a blanket, drinking a cup of tea, and reading to the sounds of rain falling and wind scattered leaves. I also like to put my Yule Log on, but you should feel free to light a real fire should you have a fireplace. Admit it, me describing it right now has you contemplating just how many sick days you can get away with.

Since Reading Season Playoffs begin in October, I like to start off with scary books. I've put together a table at the Lake Forest Park Store. Here are a few of the titles on display, come on down and check out the rest...if you dare.

Dawn  by Octavia Butler

Lilith lyapo awoke from a centuries-long sleep to find herself aboard the vast spaceship of the Oankali. Creatures covered in writhing tentacles, the Oankali had saved every surviving human from a dying, ruined Earth. They healed the planet, cured cancer, increased strength, and were now ready to help Lilith lead her people back to Earth--but for a price.

The Year of Voting Dangerously by Maureen Dowd

Trapped between two candidates with the highest recorded unfavorables, Americans are plunged into The Year of Voting Dangerously. In this perilous and shocking campaign season, Dowd traces the psychologies and pathologies in one of the nastiest and most significant battles of the sexes ever. If America is on the escalator to hell, then this book is the perfect guide for this surreal, insane ride.

White is for Witching by Helen Oyeyemi

There's something strange about the Silver family house in the closed-off town of Dover, England. Grand and cavernous with hidden passages and buried secrets, it's been home to four generations of Silver women Anna, Jennifer, Lily, and now Miranda, who has lived in the house with her twin brother, Eliot, ever since their father converted it to a bed-and-breakfast. The Silver women have always had a strong connection, a pull over one another that reaches across time and space, and when Lily, Miranda's mother, passes away suddenly while on a trip abroad, Miranda begins suffering strange ailments. An eating disorder starves her. She begins hearing voices. When she brings a friend home, Dover's hostility toward outsiders physically manifests within the four walls of the Silver house, and the lives of everyone inside are irrevocably changed.

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

At seven minutes past midnight, thirteen-year-old Conor wakes to find a monster outside his bedroom window. But it isn't the monster Conor's been expecting-- he's been expecting the one from his nightmare, the nightmare he's had nearly every night since his mother started her treatments. The monster in his backyard is different. It's ancient. And wild. And it wants something from Conor. Something terrible and dangerous. It wants the truth. From the final idea of award-winning author Siobhan Dowd-- whose premature death from cancer prevented her from writing it herself-- Patrick Ness has spun a haunting and darkly funny novel of mischief, loss, and monsters both real and imagined.

All the Single Ladies Unmarried Women and the Rise of an Independent Nation by Rebecca Traister

In 2009, award-winning journalist Rebecca Traister started All the Single Ladies about the twenty-first century phenomenon of the American single woman. It was the year the proportion of American women who were married dropped below fifty percent; and the median age of first marriages, which had remained between twenty and twenty-two years old for nearly a century (1890 1980), had risen dramatically to twenty-seven. 

But over the course of her vast research and more than a hundred interviews with academics and social scientists and prominent single women, Traister discovered a startling truth: the phenomenon of the single woman in America is not a new one. And historically, when women were given options beyond early heterosexual marriage, the results were massive social change temperance, abolition, secondary education, and more. Today, only twenty percent of Americans are married by age twenty-nine, compared to nearly sixty percent in 1960. 

And my favorite literary/author pun...

Richard Scarry's Best Storybook Ever

Boo!

-Erin

Going for Gold

I don't want to perpetuate any stereotypes and I'm not saying that booksellers can't be athletes, or that we aren't interested in sports or the Olympics, what I am saying is that literary prizes are usually more important to us than say who wins bronze in road biking.** So instead of honoring the greatest athletes in the world and all their feats of strength and agility, we are honoring the greatest writers in the world.

This month at Lake Forest Park we are featuring Literature Nobel Prize winners from all different countries. Because the great thing about the Nobel Prize is that it is awarded across all nations. They even get a medal. Just like the Olympics! Imagine an Author Olympics. Speed Editing! Synchronized Plot Development! Water Outlining! 

Check out our beautiful display all month long. We'll be playing various national anthems over the PA system. Actually, we won't.

**Except pentathlon. That's something I care deeply about

And if you are a bigger sports fan that we are, check out this new history of the Olympics:

The Games : A Global History of the Olympics by David Goldblatt

For millions of people around the world, the Summer and Winter Games are a joy and a treasure, but how did they develop into a global colossus? How have they been buffeted by and, in turn, affected by world events? Why do we care about them so much?

From the reinvention of the Games in Athens in 1896 to Rio in 2016, best-selling sportswriter David Goldblatt brilliantly traces their history through national triumphs and tragedies, individual victories and failures. Here is the story of grand Olympic traditions such as winners medals, the torch relay, and the eternal flame. Here is the story of popular Olympic events such as gymnastics, the marathon, and alpine skiing (as well as discontinued ones like tug-of-war). And here in all their glory are Olympic icons from Jesse Owens to Nadia Comaneci, Abebe Bikila to Bob Beamon, the Dream Team to Usain Bolt.

Hailed in the Wall Street Journal for writing about sports with the expansive eye of a social and cultural critic, Goldblatt goes beyond the medal counts to tell how women fought to be included in the Olympics on equal terms, how the wounded of World War II led to the Paralympics, and how the Olympics reflect changing attitudes to race and ethnicity. He explores the tensions between the Games amateur ideals and professionalization and commercialism in sports, the pitched battles between cities for the right to host the Games, and their often disappointing economic legacy. And in covering such seminal moments as Jesse Owens and Hitler at Berlin in 1936, the Black Power salute at Mexico City in 1968, the massacre of Israeli athletes at Munich in 1972, and the Miracle on Ice at Lake Placid in 1980, Goldblatt shows how prominently the modern Olympics have highlighted profound domestic and international conflicts.

Illuminated with dazzling vignettes from over a century of the Olympics, this stunningly researched and engagingly written history captures the excitement, drama, and kaleidoscopic experience of the Games.

And last but not least, by far my favorite thing to come out of the Rio Olympics:

- Erin

Let's Talk About Shakespeare Related Things : Act II

Deceptively Delicious

Are you ready for my second attempt at convincing you that you should read every last word written by Shakespeare? Well, get ready.

Yup, I'm still obsessed with Shakespeare. Even if the other day my Herman Melville obsession flared up, my Shakespeare love remains strong. You might think I've got my literary ailments at cross purposes, but you'd be wrong. Turns out there's a whole lot of Shakespeare in Melville. There are those who argue that without Shakespeare, particularly   King Lear  and Macbeth, there would be no Moby Dick. When I say "those," I mean the people who write and edit Wikipedia articles.

In fact "those" same Wikipedia people claim that when Ahab finally shows up, his first long speech to the crew of the Pequod is virtually blank verse:

But look ye, Starbuck, what is said in heat,
That thing unsays itself. There are men
From whom warm words are small indignity.
I mean not to incense thee. Let it go.
Look! see yonder Turkish cheeks of spotted tawn--
Living, breathing pictures painted by the sun.
The pagan leopards--the unrecking and
Unworshipping things, that live; and seek and give
No reason for the torrid life they feel!

I know, I know, blank verse, Moby Dick, I'm not really selling it for you Shakespeare virgins. Well, what if I told you that Shakespeare influenced a whole heck of a lot more than just some dusty, old book about a whale? What if I told you, that without Shakespeare, there'd be no LION KING ???!!?!?!!

Oh, yeah, now you're interested. From West Side Story (Romeo and Juliet) to Ten Things I Hate About You (Taming of the Shrew); Sons of Anarchy (Hamlet) to Breaking Bad (Macbeth...allegedly) odds are you love something Shakespeare-based and don't even know it.

So, I've put together a list with some suggestions for other things Shakespeare-based-- you won't even be able to tell. It's like that cookbook that Jerry Seinfeld's wife put out to trick kids into eating vegetables. Yup, just like that.

Romeo And/Or Juliet 

by Ryan North

O. M. G. It's a choose your own adventure book for grown ups! This one is based on Othello...kidding. It's based on Titus Andronicus.

A Thousand Acres 

by Jane Smiley

True story, King Lear is my favorite Shakespeare. This novel is based on King Lear. I had no idea. That's how non-Shakespeare-y it is. It has nothing to do with how dumb I am.

The Steep and Thorny Way 

by Cat Winters

Cat Winters is a PNW author and this YA novel takes place in Oregon, explores US history and racism, and is based on Hamlet. And it's a lady cast as our tortured, young Dane. 

Leon Garfield's Shakespeare Stories 

by Leon Garfield, illustrated by Michael Foreman

This one is my favorite of the bunch. A beautifully written collection of Shakespeare plays retold for little ears. It's the perfect introduction to hook them early. And there are pictures!

These titles and several others are on display at out Lake Forest Park store. The display features many of Shakespeare's greatest hits. And there are literally countless other books out there that would not exist if not for the Bard. Come on over to Lake Forest Park and see if any of these titles strike your fancy. The Shakespeare display table will be up through the end of July. My love will live on forever.

-Erin

Summer Reading on Display

Courtney fills you in on both of our theme tables dedicated to summer reading:

If you are prone to sun rashes like me, summer is the best time of the year to stay indoors. There's nothing I enjoy more than a beautiful sunny day spent avoiding the heat and the plethora of bugs, from the comfort of my cave troll like apartment. Better yet, there's nothing better than spending a whole summer reading. And...getting rewarded for it!

For grades k-12 you can pick up one of our Summer Passports to Reading at any Third Place Books location and receive a stamp in your passport for every book you read. And if the excitement and joy of reading isn't enough of a reward, every two stamps earns a new prize. One of which, is a delicious cookie or treat from our restaurant partners. Much like Scooby-Doo, Cookies are my biggest incentive to do anything so I totally understand if this is more rewarding than say...reading about extraordinary places you've never been to or fantastical worlds you can only imagine! No judgement guys.

Completed passports will be entered into a drawing for a $50 Third Place Books gift certificate. You can complete and enter as many passports as you like!

If you don't know where to get started, our amazing children's department booksellers have put together a wonderful arrangement of books. From Roald Dahl's terrifying book about the big friendly giant, to a class hamster who stars in a hamster race, they have you covered. Want a book about a friendship between a girl and her unicorn? Got it. What about a story about two seventh graders venturing into a dangerous and magical forest in the middle of Portland, Oregon? Done and Done. How about a young witch teaming up with a clan of six inch high blue men in order to rescue her baby brother?? Absolutely. Read away young ones.

***

And if you happen to be the type of person who does enjoy the outdoors well then gee whiz do I have some news for you!! This year marks the 100th birthday of the National Parks Service. A program older than Betty White by six years and ten years older than the Queen of England. If the National Park Service was a dog, it would be 413* human years old, that's 280 years older than Maggie, the World's oldest dog who died at 30 (133). 

You don't even have to go outside to celebrate the National Parks. Just check out our display table with all the rad books about National Parks instead! What a fabulous way to avoid sunburn. Read about the history of several pacific northwest parks, memoirs regarding experiences, a guide to backpacking the parks and make sure to check out The National Parks: An Illustrated History, and Terry Tempest Williams latest, The Hour of Land : A Personal Topography of America's National Parks, because they definitely count as visiting the parks.

Check out both of our theme tables at the Lake Forest Park Store for more Summer Reading!

-Courtney

*Super scientific dog years converter

Table Time and Bike Month

 If you're an outdoor enthusiast, bicycling, Pacific Northwest, traveling, road-tripping-reader, you should probably come check out the theme tables at Lake Forest Park.  This month, the tree table is featuring everything you might need for the perfect road trip.  We're talking, maps, audio books, BBQ cookbooks, travel guides, "beach reads," and even flip flops.  We have got it all.

But if a fossil fuel powered road trip isn't your bag, the small table is featuring books dedicated to bike month.  That's right, May is officially the month of the bicylcle (oh how I wish we still called them velocipedes).  We've got histories and memoirs, picture books and repair manuals...all featuring bikes!

The Girl and the Bicycle by Mark Pett

From the creator of The Boy and the Airplane, a touching wordless picture book about a little girl, a shiny bicycle, and the meaning of persistence--with an unexpected payoff.

A little girl sees a shiny new bicycle in the shop window. She hurries home to see if she has enough money in her piggy bank, but when she comes up short, she knocks on the doors of her neighbors, hoping to do their yardwork. They all turn her away except for a kindly old woman.

The woman and the girl work through the seasons, side by side. They form a tender friendship. When the weather warms, the girl finally has enough money for the bicycle. She runs back to the store, but the bicycle is gone What happens next shows the reward of hard work and the true meaning of generosity.

Wordless, timeless, and classic, The Girl and the Bicycle carries a message of selflessness and sweet surprises and makes an ideal gift for graduations and other special occasions.

The Rules: The Way of the Cycling Disciple by The Velominati

The Rules is an essential part of every cyclist's kit whether you're riding to work or training to be the next Bradley Wiggins or Victoria Pendleton. Winning awards and gaining millions of viewers, Velominati.com has become an online cycling mecca. In 92 canonical rules, these masters of the peloton share tips on gear, tell stories from cycling s legendary hardmen, and enforce the etiquette of the road with a healthy, often sinister sense of humor.

Practical and motivating (Rule #12: the correct number of bikes to own is N + 1, where N is the number of bikes currently owned), unflinching and authoritative (Rule #9: If you're out riding in bad weather, it means you are a badass. Period.), The Rules will help readers find their cycling passion, whether it's in high alpine passes or tight velodrome races, in the garage before the ride or in the bar afterward. "Vive la Vie Velominatus."

In honor of bike month, show your bicycle helmet to the cashier and receive 10% off your purchase.  Don't forget your bike saddle bags!  You never know what kind of goodies you'll find!  Also stay tuned for more info on our Bike to Work Stations.

April Theme Tables

If you haven't been to the Lake Forest Park store this month, you haven't seen our beautiful new displays.  On the Tree Table, we're featuring books set in Seattle. You might be surprised at just how many books take place here.  Very fun.  Here are just a few of the books you'll find on the table.  Pick one up today and read about your city!

Black Hole by Charles Burns

The setting: suburban Seattle, the mid-1970s. We learn from the outset that a strange plague has descended upon the area’s teenagers, transmitted by sexual contact. The disease is manifested in any number of ways — from the hideously grotesque to the subtle (and concealable) — but once you’ve got it, that’s it. There’s no turning back.

As we inhabit the heads of several key characters — some kids who have it, some who don’t, some who are about to get it — what unfolds isn’t the expected battle to fight the plague, or bring heightened awareness to it , or even to treat it. What we become witness to instead is a fascinating and eerie portrait of the nature of high school alienation itself — the savagery, the cruelty, the relentless anxiety and ennui, the longing for escape.

And then the murders start.

As hypnotically beautiful as it is horrifying, Black Hole transcends its genre by deftly exploring a specific American cultural moment in flux and the kids who are caught in it- back when it wasn’t exactly cool to be a hippie anymore, but Bowie was still just a little too weird. To say nothing of sprouting horns and molting your skin…


Gemini by Carol Cassella

Dr. Charlotte Reese works in the intensive care unit of
Seattle's Beacon Hospital, tending to patients with the most life-threatening illnesses and injuries. Her job is to battle death--to monitor erratic heartbeats, worry over low oxygen levels, defend against infection and demise. 

One night a Jane Doe is transferred to her care from a rural hospital on the Olympic Peninsula. This unidentified patient remains unconscious, the victim of a hit and run. As Charlotte and her team struggle to stabilize her, the police search for the driver who fled the scene.

As Charlotte finds herself making increasingly complicated medical decisions that will tie her forever to Jane's fate, her usual professional distance evaporates. She's plagued by questions: Who is Jane Doe? Why will no one claim her? Who should decide her fate if she doesn't regain consciousness--and when? Perhaps most troubling, Charlotte wonders if a life locked in a coma is a life worth living.

Enlisting the help of her boyfriend, Eric, a science journalist, Charlotte impulsively sets out to uncover Jane Doe's past. But the closer they get to the truth, the more their relationship is put to the test. It is only when they open their hearts to their own feelings toward each other--and toward life itself--that Charlotte and Eric will unlock Jane Doe's shocking secret, and prepare themselves for a miracle. Filled with intricate medical detail and set in the breathtaking Pacific Northwest, Gemini is a riveting and heartbreaking novel of moral complexity and emotional depth.

Larry Get Lost in Seattle by John Skewes

Larry Gets Lost in Seattle is an interactive, highly visual children’s story about a young boy (Pete) who goes to Seattle with his family and is temporarily separated from his cute little dog, Larry, while sightseeing. In his search for Pete, Larry encounters many Seattle landmarks and cultural attractions before the two are reunited.

This month, the Small Table is dedicated to authors from Africa.  It's a big continent, and there are a lot of great authors, too many to fit on this little table.  Take a look at this gorgeous poster for many more.

All Our Names by Dinaw Mengestu

From acclaimed author Dinaw Mengestu, comes an unforgettable love story about a searing affair between an American woman and an African man in 1970s America and an unflinching novel about the fragmentation of lives that straddle countries and histories. 

All Our Names is the story of two young men who come of age during an African revolution, drawn from the safe confines of the university campus into the intensifying clamor of the streets outside. But as the line between idealism and violence becomes increasingly blurred, the friends are driven apart—one into the deepest peril, as the movement gathers inexorable force, and the other into the safety of exile in the American Midwest. There, pretending to be an exchange student, he falls in love with a social worker and settles into small-town life. Yet this idyll is inescapably darkened by the secrets of his past: the acts he committed and the work he left unfinished. Most of all, he is haunted by the beloved friend he left behind, the charismatic leader who first guided him to revolution and then sacrificed everything to ensure his freedom. 

Elegiac, blazing with insights about the physical and emotional geographies that circumscribe our lives, All Our Names is a marvel of vision and tonal command. Writing within the grand tradition of Naipul, Greene, and Achebe, Mengestu gives us a political novel that is also a transfixing portrait of love and grace, of self-determination and the names we are given and the names we earn. 

Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

One of The New York Times's Ten Best Books of the Year and an NBCC Award Finalist An NPR "Great Reads" Book, a Chicago Tribune Best Book, a Washington Post Notable Book, a Seattle Times Best Book, an Entertainment Weekly Top Fiction Book, a Newsday Top 10 Book, and a Goodreads Best of the Year pick. 

A powerful, tender story of race and identity by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, the award-winning author of Half of a Yellow Sun. 

Ifemelu and Obinze are young and in love when they depart military-ruled Nigeria for the West. Beautiful, self-assured Ifemelu heads for America, where despite her academic success, she is forced to grapple with what it means to be black for the first time. Quiet, thoughtful Obinze had hoped to join her, but with post-9/11 America closed to him, he instead plunges into a dangerous, undocumented life in London. Fifteen years later, they reunite in a newly democratic Nigeria, and reignite their passion—for each other and for their homeland.

Finding Nature

You still have a week left to check out our October theme table.  This month, the tree table is (fittingly) dedicated to nature.  It's got hiking, exploring, foraging, gardening, everything nature-y.  Rory has picked out some great titles to get you out.

Part of the great thing about so many of the titles on this table is their connection to our very own Pacific Northwest.  Garden guides, and foraging guides tailored to our region, but also fantastic local authors.  We are blessed with so many great authors, that sometimes we forget just how many live among us.  Come down and check them out!

Table Time

New theme table for September!

The tree table this month is featuring nominees for the Barry Awards.  The Barrys are an award put on by the magazine Deadly Pleasures, honoring the best in mystery writing. From their website:

In 1997, the editorial staff of Deadly Pleasures decided that since one of the magazine's stated goals was to search out and report on the best works being published in the field of crime fiction each year, it would be a natural fit to present awards for excellence. Then came the dilemma of what to name the award. At the time all associated with the magazine were still reeling from the untimely death of Barry Gardner, who was arguably the best fan reviewer on the planet, so it was decided to name the award after him so as to keep his memory alive.

Not a bad way to honor someone.  Here are some of Deborah's and Joyce's favorites for the Barrys:

The Keeper of Lost Causes, by Jussi Alder-Olsen

Carl Mørck used to be one of Copenhagen’s best homicide detectives. Then a hail of bullets destroyed the lives of two fellow cops, and Carl—who didn’t draw his weapon—blames himself. So a promotion is the last thing he expects. But Department Q is a department of one, and Carl’s got only a stack of Copenhagen’s coldest cases for company. His colleagues snicker, but Carl may have the last laugh, because one file keeps nagging at him: a liberal politician vanished five years earlier and is presumed dead. But she isn’t dead … yet. Darkly humorous, propulsive, and atmospheric, The Keeper of Lost Causes introduces American readers to the mega-bestselling series fast becoming an international sensation.

Turn of Mind, by Alice LaPlante

Dr. Jennifer White, a retired hand surgeon, writes daily in her journal. "My bible of consciousness" she calls it. White is in the throes of dementia and the unlikely narrator of LaPlante's brilliant debut novel. Amanda, Jennifer's long time best friend and neighbor, has been found dead and now the police want to question Jennifer. Someone possessing a surgeon's skill amputated four fingers from one of Amanda's hands. Detectives strongly suspect Jennifer but who can penetrate the thickening fog that paralyzes her brain? Out of this situation LaPlante not only weaves an engrossing mystery, but also explores the dark complexities of friendship and motherhood. "Turn of Mind" is one of the best books I've read this year!  -Joyce

Our smaller theme table is dedicated to the arrival of the 2013 calendars!!!  Yep, it's that time again!  It flies, doesn't it?

Do It Yourself

Another great theme table has been crafted here at Third Place Books.  Two of our Erins (Erin J. and Erin R.), and one of our Jessicas (Jessica B.) have put together this great table featuring books all about doing things yourself.  Forget Pinterest and ideas of virtual crafting, and pick one of these great books and start crafting in real life!  From making books, to brewing your own beer; sewing capes, to building treehouses...these books have it all!

 

How to Make Books, by Esther K. Smith

From zines you can fold in a minute to luxurious leather journals and sumptuous sketchbooks, How to Make Books will walk you through the easy basics of bookmaking. Whether you’re a writer, a scrapbooker, a political activist, or a postcard collector, let book artist Esther K. Smith be your guide as you discover your inner bookbinder. Using foolproof illustrations and step-by-step instructions, Smith reveals her time-tested techniques in a fun, easy-to-understand way.


The Scavengers' Manifesto, by Anneli Rufus and Kristan Lawson

In The Scavengers' Manifesto, Anneli Rufus and Kristan Lawson invite readers to discover one of the most gratifying (and inexpensive) ways there is to go green. Whether it's refurbishing a discarded wooden door into a dining-room table; finding a bicycle on freecycle.org; or giving a neighbor who just had a baby that cute never-used teddy bear your child didn't bond with, in this book Rufus and Lawson chart the history of scavenging and the world-changing environmental and spiritual implications of "Scavenomics," and offer readers a framework for adopting scavenging as a philosophy and a way of life.

A Horse of Course

This month's small theme table has been put together by bookseller Annie, and she has decided to spotlight that ever patient, gentle, and loyal animal...the horse. 

For most readers, favorite characters are as abundant as the books they reside in. They are as varied as the people who read about them. And some of them aren't always human. This month, Third Place Books is featuring a table devoted completely to the horse characters we love in literature. With good reason. So many characters that are loved in stories just happen to be from the animal kingdom. And often they shine the brightest. Where would Alec Ramsey be without The Black after he washed up on the island? And Gandalf wouldn't have been able to cross Middle Earth nearly as fast as he did on the back of Shadowfax. 

 

Of all animals, I find horses to be the most interesting. Not just because I've had a 15 year love affair with horses, but because they have such a capacity for love and friendship with humans. They trust us, and we trust them despite their size and ability to cause a lot of damage if they're scared or angry. They will learn if we give them the chance, and each and every horse I've ever known has been an individual with their own personality. Is it any wonder then that many books have amazing horses as central characters?  

The wise and brave Artax, the star horse in The Neverending Story, protects his warrior friend Atreyu from danger, and guides him when Atreyu is lost. If only we could hear the wisdom of real horses so easily. And yet, Tom Booker teaches us how to listen properly as he helps Pilgrim recovery from a horrific accident in The Horse Whisperer. Eli Sister can't bring himself to get rid of his one-eyed horse Tub - who lost his eye in an altercation with a grizzly bear - during The Sisters Brothers. These are just a few examples of how horses continue to be a prevalent to our humanity. The books on the Horse Is My Co-Pilot table are just a few selections... who is your favorite horse in literature?

Annie has suggested several great books featuring noble and brave steeds.  Among them are:

Don Quixote, by Cervantes

Rocinante gains his name after his master, Alonso Quijano, develops delusions of grandeur and decides to go out into the world on a quest for his "lady love" and to prove his chivalry. Before, a simple farm horse, skinny and expected only to do the occasional bit of work, Rocinante suddenly finds himself carrying the grand Don Quioxte de la Mancha (the delusional Quijano) in full (old, rusty) armor to battle various giants (windmills) and evil knights (muleteers). What's a warhorse (stable nag?) to do? 

The Two Towers, By JRR Tolkien

How could the second book in the Lord of the Rings trilogy not find its way onto a table geared to great horses in literature? It contains the greatest horse of them all! Full of dazzling, beautiful, intelligent horses, Shadowfax stands alone as the mightiest of the mearas. He refuses both saddle and bridle.He can traverse Middle Earth more quickly than any other horse. Theoden "gives" him to Gandalf to ride, but of course Shadowfax is the one who allows Gandalf to sit on his back. Such a horse does not let just anyone ride him. Charging fiercely into battle time and again, carrying Gandalf across Middle Earth on dangerous and urgent missions, Shadowfax stands alone among horses in beauty and intelligence.

Reading in Translation

It's that time of year again!  Time for our Reading the World Table.  As always, Eric has put together a beautiful table filled with thrilling tales from around the world.  Translation gives you the chance to read something you wouldn't normally have access to.  And it's not just the original  language that makes these books so different and remarkable...

It's the different styles of writing, far off settings, and the strange and unique tales, that all weave together to give you the feeling that you are reading something truly out of the ordinary.  Come down and see some of our favorite translations from around the world.  Open a window on the world with a few well-chosen words.

Chris recommends: 
Reticence by Jean-Philippe Toussaint
This book could very easily be subtitled : the fevered imagination of a paranoid mind. It reads a lot like a murder mystery, only without the murder, and the mystery seems only to exist in the main character's head. It's a well-paced, cerebral anti-thriller that you'll want to read in one sitting.

Adam suggests:
Amsterdam Stories by Nescio
Can society and art - or the "artful life" - peacefully coexist, or must the two be forever at each other's throats, tooth and nail? This is the question Nescio asks again and again as he drops us onto the alluring but unforgiving byways of Amsterdam, watching as his characters try, sometimes tragically and sometimes comically, to compress essential pieces of themselves into immortal works - or acts - of art.