Hey folks this is Justin, and this is my first blog here at Lemuria.  I can’t say that I’m up on a lot of current mystery novels, but I still love the old harboiled detective stories of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler. It probably comes from growing up watching lots of 40’s and 50’s noir films on the public tv station.

I am currently reading The High Window by Raymond Chandler. While Hammet had the iconic Sam Spade as his sleuth, Chandler had the equally iconic Phillip Marlowe. Chandler was a true student of the pulp detective genre, but these books step beyond the stereotypes of noir.  The characters are well built and diverse. Mr. Marlowe is a character with callous and sensitivity, realism that was not typical of the masses of pulp novels produced at the time. His quick wit is as much a form of self defense as his colt 45. Chandler’s attention to detail builds a believable world of dingy offices, peeling paint, hot streets, and smoke filled rooms. His writing style is very lyrical, and figurative, but to the point-as much a character as those in the books. It was pulp for thinking readers.

One thing I appreciate about Chandler’s brand of mystery is that he doesn’t reveal the culprit secretly, early in the story, letting the reader play detective. You are forced to question the motives of every character-no one can be trusted. You can, in a strange way, count on Marlowe’s self determined moral compass.  So if you’re in the mood, put on your fedora, light a cigarette, and enjoy one of the great masters of crime fiction.

-Justin

From PenguinGroupUSA: This video was prepared by the UK branch of Dorling Kindersley Books. Originally meant solely for a DK sales conference, the video was such a hit internally that it is now being shared externally. We hope you enjoy it (and make sure you watch it up to at least the halfway point, there’s a surprise!).

Well, the kiddos (and their mama) are out of town for spring break and for me that means one thing – all the time in the world to read. I get up in the morning and read before work – then after work it’s straight home to read until I can’t stay awake. I figure I’ll spend more time reading this week than I will sleeping or working – I’m shooting for more than 8 hours a day – more on Saturday. Below is a partial list of what I’m reading – some of it I’ll finish, but there are other books that I’ll read that didn’t make the list, and still others that I have no idea right now that I’ll be reading, but I’ll get there. I’ll miss the family, but I’m going to enjoy the reading time as much as I possibly can. Anyway, here’s what I’m reading:

Matterhorn: A Novel of the Vietnam War by Karl Marlantes.

This is the big literary buzz book right now. It’s getting great reviews everywhere. I’ve already blogged about it here. It comes out next week and Karl will be here on May 12th. It’s also our May First Editions Club pick. It’s already into a second printing so by May it ought to be a much sought after First Edition. Matterhorn is a great big war novel, but it doesn’t read long – it also doesn’t read like just another war novel. Don’t get me wrong, it is about war, the characters are at war, but it’s really a novel like any other great novel – it’s a novel about people in different situations and how they handle tough situations. I’ve been reading for a couple of weeks and really enjoying it – I started it so that we could be sure that we want to pick it for the club, but I’m glad that I have this week to finish it because I need to start reading a book that I should have read months ago – the author is going to be here next week…

The Surrendered by Chang-rae Lee.

As soon as I finish Matterhorn, I’m going to start reading Chang-rae Lee. The Surrendered is our April First Editions Club pick. Maggie has already written a blog about it here and Lisa read it a few weeks ago and loved it – she’s planning on writing a blog on it soon. I’ve personally never read Chang-rae Lee, but heard about him from my friends Matt and Zack – they are big fans of Lee’s second novel The Gesture Life. John has said to me–and I believe it to be true–that the bookstore is built book by book–one book leads to another–we suggest a book to you and you suggest a book to us. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve bought books on customer suggestions and that makes our store a better store. I can’t wait to get into this book. Chang-rae Lee will be signing at the bookstore on March 22nd.

Caught by Harlan Coben.

Harlan Coben is coming to the store on Monday, March 29. When they called me about setting this up I was familiar with his writing, but had never read him – now I’m an addict. I’ve been reading them back to back to back – I think I’ve read 6 or 7 of them and I’m not stopping. Caught is great, but so is The Woods and Hold Tight. I think Harlan Coben is the master of the cliff hanger or the twist. It seems like every book twists and turns so much and each chapter leaves you hanging on for more. Another added bonus with Coben is that in his author photo he has a completely shaven head – whenever my two year old son sees it he exclaims da da.

The Male Brain by Louann Brizendine.

I can honestly say that Dr. Brizendine’s earlier book on The Female Brain has affected my parenting more than any other book. Not because it gives any parenting rules or advice, but because I’m able to understand the basic difference between girls and boys enough to not be too worried. I promise that I would have thought that my son had something wrong with him if I had not read The Female Brain. After having a little girl who is so relational and connective – and she learned to talk so fast – I honestly would have been concerned when my second child was a boy who still can’t really communicate his needs. Reading The Female Brain made me immediately aware that these developmental differences have nothing to do with the intelligence of the particular child, but are physical differences due to brain chemistry. My little boy will catch up eventually.  The Male Brain is along the same lines from the opposite point of view. And yes, the male brain is exactly where you think it is. John blogged on The Female Brain here when it was a new book in 2007.

A Prayer for the Dying by Stewart O’nan.

This is the book that my book club is reading and we’re meeting on Friday night so I’d better get home and start reading.

Hello, my name is John–Phillips for those who might be confused. This being my first mark on the blog I wanted to introduce myself.  If you have been in the store the last month or so, I am the new beard on the block trying to learn the ropes. I have greatly enjoyed working here so far and can say that my short time here has been better than most any job I have had in the past. I only anticipate it getting better as I continue to learn about the store, the people that work here and all of the pages that fill the walls.

A week or so ago I finished reading The Genius in All of Us by David Shenk.  Because of the title, I was a bit suspect of the contents; but I was pleasantly surprised by the work once I got into it.  David Shenk is a journalist has published five other books before this one concerning everything from chess in The Imortal Game, to Alzheimer’s disease in The Forgetting, and information technology in Data Smog and The End of Patience. In this particular book he did a wonderful job of compiling the work of experts and articulating this work for our benefit, especially for a subject that involves a vast amount of opinions and beliefs. In just over a hundred pages, and a hundred more or so in evidence and citations, he is able to speak clearly concerning this highly complex subject of “genius.”

It has long been the belief of many since the days of Gregor Mendel and his peas that genius or “giftedness” in any area is a direct product of the genes of their parents DNA. After all that is the reason a six year-old can play Chopin or professional athletes can run fast and jump high, right? It is this very presumption that Shenk takes by the horns arguing that genes are a leaping pad not a ceiling. He discusses the myths and sidetracks that caused the majority of the public to believe that they can’t only because they do not have the “gift.” For every sidetrack and presumption he has solid research and experiments to prove otherwise. He does a decent enough job of not telling everybody they are going to be the next Einstein or Lance Armstrong. You may not personally agree with all of his conclusions in the book, I didn’t, but as far as the primary point that genes do not completely determine one’s ability, he is solid; and it is an argument worth reading.

Coming from a background in music and art, I can say that there is a group of people that never bought into “giftedness” as success in the arts. That would be the masters themselves because they know that they are good at what they do not because they were given graceful hands or fast fingers or some magic force that allows them to draw, but it is because they practice. Practice, Practice, Practice. This is the main conclusion that the author points towards with fine research and pleasant narrative, all except for a misuse of Leonardo Da Vinci’s  name every now and then; but hey, Dan Brown got away with it. This book is not an exhaustive study of genius or a complete explanation of why certain people do what they do; and Shenk does not say that everyone can be a master at everything, only that the majority of us are not living at the edge of our capabilities. Something I know is true in myself and something I wish to change. This book is a great spur to work hard at what you do, and not feel limited by what you believe are your “natural” limitations.

-John P.

It can be a little frustrating to find out that you’ve read a book out of sequence.  You pick up an attractive-looking book or a book you’ve heard good things about, not realizing that it has characters that were introduced in an earlier book.  While other readers are coming back to a world they’ve already explored, indulging themselves in the nostalgia and familiarity, you are playing catch-up for the first fifty pages or so.  Veteran readers tend to avoid this at all costs, I think.  I know I do.  I even go so far as to read earlier, unrelated books by an author that I’m newly interested in.  My interest has been piqued by their newest book, and it’s hard for me to resist going back to check out what I missed.

That said, I recently read Jim Harrison for the first time.  Instead of going back to somewhere near the beginning, though, I just plunged right in to his newest book, The Farmer’s Daughter.  These are three novellas that are linked by a Patsy Cline song, “The Last Word in Lonesome Is Me.”  The second novella, “Brown Dog Redux,” features a recurring Harrison character, the half-Indian libido-driven Brown Dog.  Instead of feeling lost as to who this person was, I was delighted to discover that Brown Dog could make me laugh and blush just as well without having met him before.  BD is hiding in Canada after various bouts with the law (some of which I assume are hilariously recounted in earlier stories) with his stepdaughter, Berry, who suffers from fetal alcohol syndrome.  In this novella BD has to deal with the pain of losing Berry to a bureaucracy that thinks they can take care of her better than he can.  For the first half of the novella, that uneasiness combined with the disorienting feeling of being away from his beloved woods put BD in a flux.  Once he returned to the natural glory of the Michigan upper peninsula, though, fishing in his familiar creeks and eagerly anticipating a visit from a special lady, both BD and I could breathe easy.  I feel after reading “Brown Dog Redux” as though I’ve known BD for years.

And now I’ve done it again!  I’m several chapters along in Bone Fire by Mark Spragg.  At the opening of the novel, Griff takes her favorite horse to explore her grandfather Einar’s land to make sure it’s fit for grazing.  When she notices the fence is broken down at one place, she calls on three men to help her mend it.  As I read about McEban, Kenneth, and Paul pulling up to the ranch in an old pickup, I experienced a feeling of reunion; it was almost as though they walked up to Griff and Einar in movie slow-mo.   I felt as though I were meeting old friends for the first time, and rightly so, for Spragg’s first novel, The Fruit of Stone, centers around McEban and a then nine-year-old Paul.  Bone Fire takes place a decade or so after the events in this novel and his second, An Unfinished Life.  In that novel, Griff is a precocious ten-year-old; now she’s nineteen and struggling with the decision to leave her grandfather to go off to college.  She and Paul are dating, but at the end of the summer he will be leaving for an internship for his masters in Uganda.  Spragg is a master at portraying the atmosphere of the West, and his sparse prose subtly and beautifully takes the reader to a place both foreign and familiar.  I am excited to get to know these people at this, the next stage of their lives.