Friday, September 14, 2012

What's New on the Shelf 9/14

I found a few new things to bring home from work this week, and discovered an amazing new-to-me used bookstore in Waltham not too far from home. Of course I thought it would be rude not to buy anything during my visit!

The Have-Nots by Katharina Hacker is a German novel about a couple and their travails. I picked it up at the marvelous More Than Words bookstore, a nonprofit used bookstore run by young people from Boston to teach them business skills. Not only does the store have a good cause, but it is beautiful, beautifully-managed and they even serve great coffee. I really encourage you to check them out if you live in the area. They're on Moody Street a few blocks down from the also-wonderful Back Pages Books.
I finally got David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas so I could at least try to stay ahead of the curve and read it before the movie comes out. All my hippest customers are reading it; I can't fall behind!


 The Girl in the Photograph, by Lygia Fagundes Telles, is set in the dark days of political repression in Brazil. It just appealed to me for some reason. It's published by Dalkey Archive Press, one of my favorite small presses, and it just looked neat.

Seven Houses in France is by Spanish-Basque author Bernardo Atxaga, and it's about colonialism in South America. I read Atxaga's Obabakoak earlier this year, which I enjoyed but it's a strange book and I couldn't figure out how to review it for you. Nonetheless I liked it enough to want to read more by this intriguing and challenging writer. This was a case of "one for the shelf, one for Marie"- I found it while I was stocking books at the store last week. I love when that happens.

What's new on your shelf this week?

3 comments:

bermudaonion said...

I find it interesting that a book about colonialism in South America is titled Seven Houses in France. Enjoy your new books!

Howard Sherman said...

Leaving a bookstore without a book is like leaving a restaurant without a doggie bag! You did the only thing you could do! :)

Sandy Nawrot said...

You don't want to know about my shelf. I just came back from SIBA and have about 60 new books on my shelf. That is a topic for multiple posts! I am just about to head out right now and locate a new used bookstore in my community. I'm so excited, since we basically have only Books-a-Million and Barnes & Noble.