Saturday 8 August 2009

LIT LOVER: Barnes&Noble Discoveries

I'm a reader, through and through. I'm curious about anything and everything, and have a great love of bookshops-- I can browse for hours and not get bored, flipping through any books that catch my eye.

I happened upon the Discover Great New Writers pamphlet from Barnes&Noble last weekend, and while I'm sure many people are aware of this quarterly publication, I thought I'd highlight a few novels that looked intriguing and worth splurging on (books are usually my 'treat' item).

  • I'll definitely be reading The Unit: A Novel, by Ninni Holmqvist. I have a great deal of respect for authors like Ray Bradbury and Margaret Atwood; both authors illustrate such a potentially frightening future and manage to perfectly outcome the effects of humanity in future 'progressive' and 'utopian' states. Holmqvist is reviewed as potentially being one of the next generation of authors to alert us to the potential directions of our society, and this tale of a society that determines personal value by age and success in personal and professional life promises to be chilling à la 1984.
  • John the Revelator: A Novel, by Peter Murphy seems to be an interesting character study of a boy's introduction to something other than his strict Catholic upbringing as he comes of age. I like that there seems to be a huge emphasis on differentiation between morality and faith, and it could be an interesting read whether you are devout or irreligious (ideally, it will be a mind-opening read with views from either side of the fence). Plus, it seems to be an interesting illustration of an impoverished Irish lifestyle.
  • I like story collections-- they offer me a chance to get a complete an entire tale in whatever length of time I have available. This is ideal for days that I have entirely too much work to do or am utterly and completely exhausted; reading is relaxing, but some days, I just can't finish whatever I'm perusing, and I hate going for lengths of time between story segments. Lydia Peelle's Reasons for and Advantages of Breathing: Stories looks like the ideal bedside or bathtub read for the start of the busy fall. Perhaps she's one of the few authors who can pack worlds of emotion into very little space; Kafkaesque in ability, but placed in the real-world with scenarios to empathise with.
If you want to check out the Discover author and book profiles, click here, or you can just go pick up a pamphlet the next time you're in one of the bookstores. All of the selections for this entry were found in the Fall '09 Seasonal Picks.

I'll tell you how I felt about these if you tell me as well.

1 comment:

  1. A good post Rachel,


    Keep us updated with reviews once you finish!


    TJ

    ReplyDelete