LemuriaBooks

City of Refuge: A Novel

Tom Piazza

Harper: August 19, 2008

Three years ago, so many lives in Deep Dixie were affected by Katrina. Many nonfiction books of essay, memoir, photo-essay, history and commentary have been published about this life-changing hurricane. Refuge, I believe, is the first piece of serious fiction to come out about this time. Ambitious and successful, I celebrate this novel’s publication by choosing it for our September, 08 First Edition Club Selection.

Refuge deals with two families (one 9^th ward and one uptown) as we see windows into their lives and their souls. We live with these folks, as if they are real, which is a magical quality of very good fiction. Their story is told in this familiar plot as if they are breathing and somehow Tom maintains his vision of truth in fiction. Refuge is writing without too much sentimentality, neurosis and without contriteness that plagues many factual situational novels. His characters live and speak and you feel alive as a reader in knowing them. Their joys, their problems and plainly just their human ways of living and surviving.

I’m excited to be involved with promoting this novel, Tom’s my pal and I thought this book might be too much for him, I was so wrong. He excels.

Refuge is fresh, real and a serious page-turner. Oddly enough, I’m reminded of my first reading of John Grisham’s The Firm, many years ago. Good people make mistakes and you identify with their shortcomings. Troubled folks can learn how to enhance their lives and all the time, you the reader, are part of the feelings of pain, joy and truth. To the last page, Tom is successful and special with the ending, no sentimental sap here. Just the guts of survival.

In reading Refuge, I feel the heart of New Orleans vibrate with humanity and the livable party spirit which those of us who visit value and enjoy.

Anyone touched by the pain of association with this great storm, should enjoy the wisdom of this novel. And be motivated to get off your ass and go to New Orleans and party, and may haps find Chief Bo and his band of Indians chanting joy over the drums and rhythm relishing in the spirit of rebirth.

Pelican Road: Novel
By Howard Bahr
Macadam Cage: May 9, 2008


Howard Bahr is a train man.  Pelican Road, Howard’s first non-Civil War
fiction, is a literary train novel.  This is the only serious railroad
fiction that I know of.

Pelican Road is the train route from Meridian, MS to New Orleans.  Set
around 1940, Howard captures the personalities; the way folks lived; their
meanness and their cares; their moments of good fortune and their
unfortunate times.

Through the eyes of the people in this era, we learn about the ways of the
railroad:  the trains themselves and their workings; train jobs and their
responsibilities; the real-life characteristics of railroad men; and
insight into the joys and hardships of the railroad life.

I especially like the way Howard worked the WWI (“Doughboy War“) into this
novel.  Dealing with flashbacks gives Howard’s Civil War fiction fans just
enough.  Pelican Road extends Howard’s fiction into a new, broader era
offering insight into the 2nd generation, post-Civil War life.

My favorite aspect of this fine novel laid in Howard’s ability to relate
the sheer power and force of the train itself and the way the machine is
revered in language.

There is no doubt, in his heart, Howard is truly a railroad man.

The God of War by Marisa Silver, 2008, Simon & Schuster, $23.00.


My new friend at Simon & Schuster, Wendy, emailed me about this book and told me it was a "Must Read". Well folks, she did not steer me wrong - it was a great story that will stay with me for a long while. It is a coming of age book about a 12 year boy, Ares, and his flighty mother and half brother, Malcolm, who is mentally challenged and cannot speak. Ares is exactly six years older than Malcolm and holds a secret close to him at all times. Ares thinks he is the cause of Malcolm's mental disability because when Malcolm was a baby, Ares accidentally dropped Malcolm on the concrete at a gas station. Laurel, the mother, and Malcolm were rushed to the hospital, while leaving Ares behind. As he tells the story, the convenience store clerk was the one to take Ares to the emergency room to find his family. Laurel does not know that Ares blames himself for his brother's condition and why Ares feels like he always has to protect his younger brother. Laurel is a free spirit whose maternal instincts border on incompetent because while she does have a job and does the basics of raising her sons, Ares is the one left in complete charge of Malcolm and his daily activities. This responsibility for a 12 year is daunting and Ares struggles with his guilty feelings and resentment that he does not have a normal kid brother who does not have to be watched 24 hours a day. The three live in a trailer on the edge of Southern California's Salton Sea.

This is a fast and great read...I bonded with the characters, especially Ares (whose name means God of War). I was not sure as I read the story that he would have a happy life, but after I finished I reflected and decided his life, especially his adolescent life, while troubled was almost larger than life. I can totally see a production company scooping this story up and making a wonderful movie!

Ok Folks, Here are some more books that I think that you will enjoy on your summer vacations or if on a "staycation" these books will transport you to another time and place!!

Murder of a Medici Princess by Caroline P. Murphy
"Like the Kennedys or Windsors, the Medicis are a dynasty brimming with biographical
gold, and this supple, smart account of a lesser-known daughter will engage modern
readers as it vivifies both Renaissance Florence and an extraordianary women who paid
ultimate price for flouting her era's traditional gender roles." --Publisher's Weekly

The Commoner by John Burnham Schwartz
" A unique literary adventure, intimate, exotic; wonderfully imagined and achieved.
The narrative impels the reader from first to last, immersing us in its flow of ancient
acceptances and new demands. Splendid."--Shirley Hazard, author of The Transit
of Venus and The Great Fire


The Monster of Florence by Douglas Preston with Mario Spezi
"Douglas Preston fulfilled a lifelong dream when he moved with his family to a villa in
Florence. Upon meeting celebrated journalist Mario Spezi, Preston was stunned to
learn that the olive grove next to his home had been the scene of a horrific double
murder committed by one of the most infamous figures in Italian history. A serial
killer who ritually murdered fourteen young lovers, he has never been caught. He is
known as the Monster of Florence."
FYI: Thomas Harris based his character Hannibal Lector on
The Monster of Florence and the surrounding circumstances.

The Dummy Line by Bobby Cole
"Jake Crosby, a troubled stockbroker, has planned a weekend escape at his hunting
camp with his nine-year-old daughter, Katy. In the middle of the night, a gang of
redneck drug dealers attempts to break into the remote camp. The gang's display of
heinous intentions toward Jake and Katy causes Jake to make gut-wrenching
decisions."

The House at Riverton by Kate Morton
"The House of Riverton is a sweeping debut novel set in England between the
wars. It is the story of an aristocratic family, a house, a mysterious death and a
vanishing way of life, told by a woman who witnessed it all and kept a secret for a
lifetime."

Master of the Delta by Thomas Cook
"Cook writes powerful layered novels, with original heroes who choose to walk down
paths that quietly, inexorably, lead them to even darker places in the human heart,
and ultimately to breathtaking and revelatory surprises at their journey's end."
--Minneapolis Star Tribune

The Red Leather Diary--Lily Koppel
Lilly Koppel 'rescued' a red leather diary from the garbage dumpster in front of her
apartment building in New York. She took it home and after reading it realized she
must find this girl who wrote it. She hired an investigator and the rest is history!
"The young woman who emerged from the diary's pages had huge ambitions, even if
chasing them proved daunting. February 21, 1931. Went to the Museum of
Modern Art and almost passed out from sheer jealousy-I can't even paint an
apple yet-it's heartbreaking! January 16, 1932. I couldn't study today & went to
museum to pass a morning of agonizing beauty-Blown glass, jade and exquisite
embroideries. April 10, 1932. Wrote all day-and my story is still incomplete.
September 2, 1934. Planning a play on Wordsworth-possibilities are infinite.
October 12, 1934. How I love to inflict pain on my characters!
What she craved most was to be enveloped in a grand passion that would
transform her life. July 3, 1932. Five hours of tennis and glorious happiness-all I
want is someone to love-I feel incomplete."

Leif Enger reminded me of a great quote from Huck Finn when he was here signing So Brave, Young and Handsome, 

This summer I am going to compile a list of the books that I am reading and suggest that you read for “Summer Reading”. I think that all books are “Beach Books” so there will something on the list for everyone. These are the books that I read in May…I will update the list at least twice a month from now on.

Oh, these books are in no particular order….

A Dangerous Age--Ellen Gilchrist
“The winner of the National Book Award returns with a moving story of a family of women drawn together by the terrors and trials of the times.”

American Eve: Evelyn Nesbit, Stanford White The Birth of the “It” Girl and the Crime of the Century--Paula Uruburu
“Paula Uruburu serves up an intriguing and meticulously researched slice of American history. Evelyn Nesbit typifies the glorious excesses of the Gilded Age, and this story has everything: sex, deception, drama, and a lurid love triangle, all culminating in the crime of the century.”
--Karen Abbott, author of Sin in the Second City

The Resurrectionist--Jack O’Connell
“The Resurrectionist-a brilliantly turned, mesmerizing labyrinth of a quasi-real world as only as master artist could draw it--will jazz you, floor you, grab you, shake you, and leave you hung out to dry. A brilliant breakthrough novel.”
---James Ellroy

The Billionaire’s Vinegar: The Mystery of the World’s Most Expensive Bottle of Wine--Benjamin Wallace
“It is the fine details--the bouquet, the body, the notes, the finish--that make this book such a lasting pleasure, to be savored and remembered long after the last page is turned. Ben Wallace has told a splendid story just wonderfully, his touch light and deft, his instinct pitch perfect. Of all the marvelous legends of the wine trade, this curiously unforgettable saga most amply deserves the appellation: a classic.”--Simon Winchester

The Somnambulist--Jonathan Barnes
“A comic extravaganza, deftly plotted, fiendishly clever, and wonderfully funny. Jonathan Barnes combines a love of Victorian absurdity worth of Edward Gorey with the surrealistic invention of a London-obsessed Garcia Marquez. This parody penny dreadful is one of the classiest entertainments I’ve read in a long, long time.”--Christopher Bram, author of Exiles in America

Child 44--Tom Rob Smith
“This is a truly remarkable debut novel. Child 44 is a rare blend of great insight, excellent writing, and a refreshingly original story. Favorable comparisons to Gorky Park are inevitable, but Child 44 is in a class of its own.” --Nelson DeMille

Ok, as I was compiling my list I realized that I might have read one or two of these in April but I want you all to know about them anyway!! So come on in and see me because we have a long hot summer ahead and there are lots of good books coming out.

I’m reading as fast as I can!!!!

The Outlander by Gil Adamson, 2008, Ecco, a division of HarperCollins, $25.95. (First Edition Club pick for May)

I have struggled coming up with a review of Gil Adamson's debut novel, The Outlander for over two months now, and this morning I read the latest edition of BookPage, and lucky me, my new favorite book reviewer, Kristy Kiernan, has a fantastic review...so let me give her the honors...

No country for young widows

REVIEW BY KRISTY KIERNAN

In 1903, the wilds of Montana and Alberta, Canada, and the frozen peaks of the Rockies challenged the most adventurous and experienced explorers. Only someone desperate, perhaps even mad, would dare consider them a viable escape route, but then Mary Boulton, most often referred to in Gil Adamson's suspenseful debut, The Outlander, as "the widow," is surely both.

After the death of her infant, Mary slowly begins to work her way out of a crippling depression, only to be confronted with evidence of her husband's infidelity. Alone in a desolate and friendless landscape, Mary loses her last shred of sanity and kills him, living with his body while sewing her mourning gown. Her reckless act is discovered soon enough, sending the widow fleeing across the harsh land with her twin brothers-in-law, seeking revenge, hot on her trail.

Throughout her travels the widow suffers from frightening delusions, as well as the ever-present threats of starvation and frostbite, but she presses onward and upward, making her way through treacherous mountain passes, dodging wolves, deadly arrows and capture. A host of interesting characters cross her erratic path, providing shelter, company or simply an opportunity to steal provisions, and her encounters with a notorious mountain man known as the Ridgerunner are especially compelling.

As the widow's wilderness knowledge and competence improves, so does her mental condition, and by the time she arrives in Frank, a mining town in southwest Alberta, she's nearly got a grip on her sanity. But nothing will stop her husband's brothers, and soon after the famous Frank Slide, when 74 million tons of mountain crashed to the valley below, they manage to catch up to her.

Readers will feel as breathless as Mary as they follow her frantic dash across the snow-bound mountains. Combining the best escape-over-hazardous-terrain action from novels like Cold Mountain with moody, literary prose, The Outlander is an utterly gripping debut.

Kristy Kiernan writes from South Florida and determinedly avoids all snowy mountains.

Today is May 10th, the day everyone has been waiting for, National Train Day! Are you looking for a way to "get your choo choo on?" If so, come by the store and get a copy of Howard Bahr's new novel, hot off the presses, Pelican Road. Howard's fourth novel chronicles the lives of characters working on the rail road in the early forties and has been a hit with all those who have read it so far. I haven't had a chance to read it myself yet, but truly enjoyed the segments he read on Thursday night at the kick off signing on his tour.

Vintage International (2006)

“A father and his son walk alone through burned America. Nothing moves in the ravaged landscape save the ash on the wind. It is cold enough to crack stones, and when the snow falls it is gray. The sky is dark. Their destination is the coast, although they don't know what, if anything, awaits them there. They have nothing; just a pistol to defend themselves against the lawless bands that stalk the road, the clothes they are wearing, a cart of scavenged food—and each other.”

[The Road, excerpt from rear cover sleeve]

************************************************************************************

The Road is Cormac McCarthy’s tenth, and most recently published novel (2006). It is, without any doubt, my favorite piece of literature I’ve discovered this year. It is also the most thought-provoking work I’ve become entranced with in some time. Once you have entered into McCarthy’s frightening masterpiece here, you will never forget it.

The story follows a father and son, through a crude, life and death struggle in a bleak, and terrifying, post-apocalyptic world. The situations they encounter along this road reveal what man is truly capable of when stripped of his moral boundaries.

There is a stark, yet unexpected, sense of realism that the author portrays for the reader in this achromatic world. The author masterfully strips away the names of the primary characters the reader becomes immediately entrenched with. The vivid imagery we see of our present world--nature and man’s presence in it--is reduced to an ashen, almost hopeless non-existence. When the father and son encounter what few humans are left in this shrouded world, they see how man will go to almost any lengths for survival--no matter how depraved. Once civilization is reduced to almost nothing, the line of distinction between man and beast becomes nightmarishly blurry.

Though many of the author’s images will brand themselves into your memory, one glimpse of hope I encountered in this book has yet to leave my mind:

“There is no prophet in the earth’s long chronicle who’s not honored here today. Whatever form you spoke of you were right.”

This story will haunt you, and it will burn itself into your consciousness. It won the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for Literature, and Cormac McCarthy truly merits this accomplishment from his creation here.

We had an enjoyable evening with Patrick McGrath a few weeks ago when he came to the store to sign his latest mystery, Trauma. Mr. McGrath charmed us all. He shared some of his favorite writers with us, including: F. Scott Fitzgerald, Philip Roth, Joseph Conrad, Patrick White, Anne Ehnreit, and Philip Johnson. 

Just a heads-up to anyone who might be interested: there's a good chance that this summer we will be offering the novel The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski as part of our First Editions Club. I managed to get my hands on an Advanced Reader Copy, so I thought I would share some thoughts on the novel.

First of all, this novel was a very well written story based on Shakespeare's Hamlet. That may ruin the ending for some of you, but in the coming months you're not going to be able to avoid hearing that about this book. What you may not hear is how much the opening half of the book reminded me of William Faulkner's novels, not so much in style, but in depth, setting and character.

Set in rural Wisconsin, The Story of Edgar Sawtelle is about a mute young boy who grows up with his parents breeding and training their own custom breed of dogs. The perfect rural setting filled with seemingly ideal, yet tragically flawed characters - one cannot help but draw parallels to some of Faulkner's works. As the story progresses, the reader begins to notice the Hamlet storyline more and more. Some of these elements are portrayed memorably, most notably the ghost of Hamlet's (or Edgar's) father, and the characters of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern (played in this novel by three intelligent dogs). However, the plot quickly bogs down on Edgar's flight from his home after he accidentally murders a family friend. The author, much like his character Edgar, seems to lose his way a bit for about 150 pages or so, with a rambling jaunt through back-country Wisconsin that doesn't serve to advance the plot very far.


However, Mr. Wroblewski really pulls it together for the final act, a gripping sequence of events resulting, as in Hamlet, in a sad yet satisfactory conclusion. This is a great debut novel from a talented writer, and while parts of the book seem drawn out, it is the combination of Faulkner's, Shakespeare's, and Mr. Wroblewski's voices that will stick with you; after you finish reading it, you'll realize there's nothing quite like this out on the market today.

These two books almost made me want to go back to school to finish my art degree (which is saying something). If you opt to take my recommendation, you must read them in order; The Cheese Monkeys followed closely by The Learners. Chip Kidd, the author, is a dust jacket designer turned author...thank heavens. Not only are they damn fine books, they are a couple of beauts.

I don't know a single person from around my generation who did not read Roald Dahl as a child...or even as an adult. Because seriously, do you really ever grow out of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory or the BFG? Well Roald's writing gene has thankfully passed through the generations to his very beautiful granddaughter named Sophie. Sophie Dahl is famous for many reasons, first being that she is the granddaughter of a great author, her own writing, and for being discovered as a model while walking down the side walk in London. Sophie has written a previous book called The Man with Dancing Eyes. Her new book is entitled Playing with the Grown-Ups. In interviews she has said that the book is semi-autobiographical. The book is the coming of age tale about a girl named Kitty. The beginning of the book opens at Kitty's grandparent's house in the country. Kitty and her mother live with the grandparent's until Kitty's mother has one of her spiritual episodes and she decides they must move to New York City. The mother in the story is extremely flighty and prone to migraines which put her in the bed for days. Kitty grows up with very little supervision and therefore tends to be quite wild at times. She dabbles in drug-use and getting involved with older men. Ms. Dahl writes in a way that is very easy to identify with. At times during the story I felt like I was reading about my own adolescence. I absolutely adored Kitty and I wanted to give her guidance through all of her trails as a young woman. Although the artist mother, Marina, is not a great parent or role-model I felt for her. Marina allowed herself to be manipulated by many men and she would fall into a deep bouts of depression every time she was cast to the side by them. I loved this book because it was an easy read but still very literary and interesting. I hope there are many more books in Sophie Dahl's future because she has certainly made a fan out of me.