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
Heirloom: Note of an American Tomato Farmer
Written by Sohaila
by Tim Stark (Random House, $24.00)
Tim Stark's journey from a struggling writer in Brooklyn growing contraband tomatos on his rooftop to a supplier to the city's top chefs is a most entertaining read. Now all I want to do is go to the Greenmarket and eat and eat, with a new appreciation of what the people there go through to get the goods to us.
Gus Is a Fish
Written by Katie
by Claire Babin (Enchanted Lion Books, $14.95)
Let Gus inspire you as he lets his imagination take him on this exciting water adventure.
Gods of Manhattan
Written by Katie
by Scott Mebus (Dutton, $17.99)
A fantasy adventure that brings together people from New York's past and some contemporary kids with some hidden talents of their own, as they try to save Manhattan from destroying itself!
Tim Stark's journey from a struggling writer in Brooklyn growing contraband tomatos on his rooftop to a supplier to the city's top chefs is a most entertaining read. Now all I want to do is go to the Greenmarket and eat and eat, with a new appreciation of what the people there go through to get the goods to us.
Let Gus inspire you as he lets his imagination take him on this exciting water adventure. 
A fantasy adventure that brings together people from New York's past and some contemporary kids with some hidden talents of their own, as they try to save Manhattan from destroying itself!