This is a lyrical explosion of a book, a challenge to literature, and particularly to narrative non-fiction, as we know it.
Our books no longer reflect the way we understand our lives, Shields argues. They are not fractured enough, not various and stolen, too hemmed in. We are all of us increasingly hungry for the "real", and have created monuments of commodified irreality in a desperate attempt to find it.
This book is indeed a manifesto in the best sense, a call to action for readers and writers. Shields is demanding reader interaction, greater risk, more serendipity and - as difficult, possibly, to acheive as it is easy to say - more reality in our use of the written word. It's a stirring book full of more questions than answers, and one I'm very excited to have as the topic of a conversation here at the store..
News of Note
Staff Picks
Inside the Painter's Studio
Written by Adjua
By Joe Fig (Princeton Architectural Press, $35.00)
It's almost too good, this book. The collection of images of artists' studios might have been enough for its scope and the insight it provides alone, but, then, we also get interviews with each artist where they talk about process and influence and intent and reveal themselves just the way you'd want if you're the kind of person who gets all fired up by just looking at images of someone's workspace. Oh, and those images--not just photos, but actually photos of miniature replicas of the studios made by Joe Fig. What's funny is that that's how this whole thing came about, he was so into process that he scaled down and duplicated the process of creating (and working in) each space and interviewed the artists to support that work. Extraordinary.
Let the Great World Spin
Written by Erin
By Colum McCann (Random House, $15.00)
Let the Great World Spin left me spinning--in a good way. McCann's deft portrayal of his characters' deep inner lives feels so authentic, so powerful, that the entire novel manages to be both emotionally vast and psychologically intimate at the same time. In the end, this novel is as breathtaking as Philip Petit's wire-walk itself.
The Adderall Diaries
Written by Sam
By Stephen Elliott (Graywolf Press, $23.00)
I swallowed this book whole in a single night. Part memoir, part true-crime investigation, The Adderall Diaries plumbs the depths of memory, family, writer's block, study drugs, wounds both emotional and physical, and murders confessed and denied. Gripping, gripping stuff.
It's almost too good, this book. The collection of images of artists' studios might have been enough for its scope and the insight it provides alone, but, then, we also get interviews with each artist where they talk about process and influence and intent and reveal themselves just the way you'd want if you're the kind of person who gets all fired up by just looking at images of someone's workspace. Oh, and those images--not just photos, but actually photos of miniature replicas of the studios made by Joe Fig. What's funny is that that's how this whole thing came about, he was so into process that he scaled down and duplicated the process of creating (and working in) each space and interviewed the artists to support that work. Extraordinary.
Let the Great World Spin left me spinning--in a good way. McCann's deft portrayal of his characters' deep inner lives feels so authentic, so powerful, that the entire novel manages to be both emotionally vast and psychologically intimate at the same time. In the end, this novel is as breathtaking as Philip Petit's wire-walk itself.
I swallowed this book whole in a single night. Part memoir, part true-crime investigation, The Adderall Diaries plumbs the depths of memory, family, writer's block, study drugs, wounds both emotional and physical, and murders confessed and denied. Gripping, gripping stuff.