Looking for some reading recommendations? Check out the newest favorites from a staff so dedicated to books they've made a career out of it. Click on the side icons to jump to your favorite staff member. Check back often as new staff favorites are added.
Check out the new reviews by Philip and Ed
 Christine supports cello playing and makes pots and pots of tomato sauce while reading many books, listening to music, and spending time paddling and hiking in our beautiful state. In her free time she trains dogs and employees.
Check out Christine's X Picks here and listen to 100.1 KTHK FM Wednesday mornings at 7:45 for Christine's Picks of the week with Dead Air Dave. She also very much recommends The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz, I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith, and any of the three Dexter novels by Jeff Lindsay. And anything by Patty Griffin. And for anyone in the mood to spend some time with Joni Mitchell check out Joni Mitchell's latest disc Shine and Herbie Hancock's River: the Joni Letters.
 Dan can be found near large bodies of water investigating string theory when not selling books.
Omnivore's Dilemma by
Michael Pollan
This is one of the best books about our life and business in the US that I have ever read. If you enjoyed Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser, this book is the perfect addition to what you need to know about our food industry. While Fast Food Nation deals more with the social aspects at the consumer end of fast food, The Omnivore's Dilemma deals more with big agriculture.
The first third of the book details the massive problems generated by "Big Corn", how it is destroying our farming industry, not only by its effects on the land (runoff, monoculture, high energy use, etc.) but also on the farmer and on government with its huge subsidies. The second portion of the books deals with "sustainable" agriculture and its softer effects on land and people. The author exposes how big agriculture has begun taking over the small organic farm business and transformed it into yet another corporate machine. However, he does spend a lot of time with a small sustainable farm which has become a model for how we can use our best practices to obtain a better result. The last portion of the book digs into how we have probably lost our individual ability to become entirely self sufficient. Foraging really just won't work in today's world.
All of this sounds pessimistic, but it really doesn't have to be. The author argues that if we make just a little effort, we can actually do much to improve the state of our agricultural system and actually improve our own health at the same time. It may involve a little sacrifice (do we really need to have fresh ripe tomatoes in January?), but we can truly improve the condition of Mother Earth with just a little thought and care.
The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins
This book truly is not for everybody. If you have any lingering bits of faith (in any sort of God or Supreme Being) or any form of spirituality that involves any sort of afterlife, Creator or higher consciousness, or even if you respect anyone who does, Richard Dawkins tries to blast any such thinking out of the water. He attacks any position of any faith with supreme relish, almost with an evangelical fervor.
Dawkins argues that all such thought is not only wasted and useless, but is actually harmful in the extreme. He lays almost all of today's troubles at the feet of religion and that it has caused far more harm and suffering in the world than it claims to have helped. He holds a special place in his heart for the indoctrination of our children into a continuing circle of religious madness. He is a true atheist and is happy, ready and willing to take on and debate anyone with a different point of view.
Once again, this is not for everybody. Many people will be offended by Dawkins' arguments, but if you would like to read an atheist's point of view, strongly argued, you would do well to check out this book.
Previous Dan Picks
 Ed is a longtime bookstore worker and expert in all things Alice in Wonderland, Wizard of Oz, Tarzan, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Andre Norton, and much of the rest of any Science Fiction/Fantasy section. Don't ask him to spell, however - we have reports that his spelling tests made his fifth grade teacher cry.
His Dark Material by Philip Pullman, comprising of three books: Golden Compass, Subtle Knife, and Amber Spyglass. Excellent series that must be read in order about main character Lyra. Complex story line is well done and makes you think on many different levels. Appeals to readers both young and old.
Dream Song 1 by George R. R. Martin. Collection of short stories & novellas covering his fanzine beginning to more recent work. Great to see how his work developed in to the award winner he's become. For all fantasy and sci-fi fans.
Children of Hurin by J.R.R. Tolkien, illustrated by Allen Lee. Complete material, some never before published. Edited by Tolkien's son, Christopher from the file Tokien left meaning to one day expand & polish as a separate tale of middle earth. Set in the first age. Story of Hurin and his cursed offspring. A must for all Tokien fans.
Batman the Dailies 1943-1946 created by Bob Kane. Excellent hardback collection of the daily Batman newspaper strips complete for the years 1943 to 1946. This formerly out of print book has been wonderfully reprinted by Sterling press and is well priced for the budget of every collector.
Last Templar by Raymond Khoury. A time shifting thriller that goes between present day and the 1290s to the early 1340s, the Last Templar follows the fall of Jerusalem from Templar control and the destruction of their order by the king of France and Pope, and moves right on to modern day where four horsemen dressed and Knights Templar rob the Met. One main story line tests the faith of both the characters and the readers in the order of the Da Vinci Code.
Previous Ed Picks
 KC grows six foot tall tomato plants, eggplants and zucchini. Her most prized vegetable is a gigantic pumpkin which she plans to use to build a low-impact garden shed.
A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains
By Isabella Bird Bishop
Women were scarce enough in the West of the late nineteenth century, and a middle-aged English lady traveling alone, by horseback, was a real phenomenon. It was during the autumn and early winter of 1873 that Isabella Bird made this extended tour of the Rocky Mountain area of Colorado, when she was on her way back to England from the Sandwich Islands.
The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey
By Candice Millard
After his humiliating election defeat in 1912, Roosevelt set his sights on the most punishing physical challenge he could find, the first descent of an unmapped, rapids-choked tributary of the Amazon. Together with his son Kermit and Brazil's most famous explorer, Cândido Mariano da Silva Rondon, Roosevelt accomplished a feat so great that many at the time refused to believe it. In the process, he changed the map of the western hemisphere forever.
Along the way, Roosevelt and his men faced an unbelievable series of hardships, losing their canoes and supplies to punishing whitewater rapids, and enduring starvation, Indian attack, disease, drowning, and a murder within their own ranks. Three men died, and Roosevelt was brought to the brink of suicide. The River of Doubt brings alive these extraordinary events in a powerful nonfiction narrative.
The Man Who Created Sherlock Holmes: The Life and Times of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
By Andrew Lycett
Based on thousands of previously unavailable documents, Andrew Lycett, author of the critically acclaimed biography Dylan Thomas, offers the first definitive biography of the baffling Conan Doyle, finally making sense of a long-standing mystery: how the scientifically minded creator of the world's most rational detective himself succumbed to an avid belief in spiritualism, including communication with the dead.
Conan Doyle was a man of many contradictions. Always romantic, energetic, idealistic and upstanding, he could also be selfish and fool-hardy. Lycett assembles the many threads of Conan Doyle's life, including the lasting impact of his domineering mother and his wayward, alcoholic father; his affair with a younger woman while his wife lay dying; and his nearly fanatical pursuit of scientific data to prove and explain various supernatural phenomena. Lycett reveals the evolution of Conan Doyle's nature and ideas against the backdrop of his intense personal life, wider society and the intellectual ferment of his age. In response to the dramatic scientific and social transformations at the turn of the century, he rejected traditional religious faith in favor of psychics and séances — and in this way he embodied all of his late-Victorian, early-Edwardian era's ambivalence about the advance of science and the decline of religion.
Lycett is the first biographer to gain access to Conan Doyle's newly released personal archive — which includes correspondence, diaries, original manuscripts and more.
Arthur Conan Doyle: A Life in Letters
by Jon Lellenberg
This annotated collection of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's previously unpublished private correspondence offers unique insight into one of the world's most popular authors. For the first time, Conan Doyle emerges from the shadow of Sherlock Holmes, revealing a man whose character and exploits rival that of his famous creation. In particular, Conan Doyle's correspondence with his mother exposes his endless search for fulfillment and success outside the Holmes stories. At age sixteen Conan Doyle began studying medicine at Edinburgh University. Just months shy of graduating, he made the adventurous decision to accept a position as a surgeon on a whaling ship heading to the Arctic. He returned to Edinburgh, graduated, and struggled to establish his own medical practice while simultaneously writing and promoting his stories. He suffered years of disappointment as both doctor and author; yet, to his amazement, just two months after the first Sherlock Holmes short stories, he had garnered such a following that he completely abandoned medicine for literature. As the public clamored endlessly for Sherlock Holmes, Conan Doyle explored other pursuits: He was a doctor during the Boer War, a World War I correspondent, and the foremost spokesman for Spiritualism. As his life changed, Doyle's correspondence with his mother remained constant. In his letters to the Mam, Doyle shares the dismay he felt over the critical reception of his other writing, and as his irritation with the Holmes adventures mounts he announces his desire to kill off the character. She is his confidante and trusted counsel throughout her long life. The editors are known for their expertise and scholarship on the works of Arthur Conan Doyle and Sherlock Holmes. Daniel Stashower is an award-winning mystery novelist and author of Teller of Tales, a widely praised biography of Conan Doyle. Jon Lellenberg is the U.S. agent for the Conan Doyle estate and author of The Quest for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Charles Foley is the writer's great-nephew and executor of the estate. Arthur Conan Doyle: A Life in Letters will be a must-have collection for readers interested in the author, Sherlock Holmes, and the Victorian era.
Previous KC Picks
 Linsay: Unicycle champion, web designer, and former farmer, Linsay loves sushi, hammocks, and a two year old named Emily. When she is not at Sundance, she is busy perfecting her sangria recipe and grading college essays.
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak has earned its place on my list of favorites. From its circular and layering plot, to its vividly detailed descriptions, The Book Thief will keep you reading until the very end, when, after you've wiped away the tears, you may want to start all over again.
Using an unlikely narrator, The Book Thief chronicles the life of Liesel Meminger, a child of Nazi Germany raised by caring foster parents on Himmel Street. Her story is surrounded by death, discovery and defiance, though she never realizes the impact of her generosity. Liesel learns the value and power of words and it is those words that ultimately save her life. Zusak has earned his rank as a New York Times best selling author as his characters are complex and haunting and his descriptions are original and captivating - “How those clouds stumbled in and assembled stupidly in the sky. Bumping into each other. Apologizing. Moving on and finding room.” He has created a devastatingly historic world that lasts well beyond the turning of the last page.
The Highest Tide by Jim Lynch is one of the better environmentally toned novels I've read, mainly because it is first a novel about 13 year old Miles O'Malley, an observant, Rachel Carson loving, marine life collector, and only secondly a book about the changes of environment. It is easy to get lost in the majesty of the creatures that Lynch brings to life, but the character of Miles keeps the reader focused and ultimately wondering, "what is the world trying to tell us?"
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie, translated eloquently by Ina Rilke follows the violin playing narrator and his best friend Lou, two city youths, through their re-education during China's Cultural Revolution. It is not through physical labor on Phoenix Mountain, but through the illegal discovery of books, that the city youths learn about life. This short novel jumps through time and perspective but never wanders from the lyric language and honest storytelling that, no doubt, made Sijie a best selling author.
Previous Linsay Picks
 Lynn lives in the desert with bunnies, large tailed rats, deer and any number of other friendly creatures. She is an expert on children's books, building sustainable homes, tea, coffee, social niceties, and walks in the moonlight.
The Arrival by Shaun Tan is a wordless graphic novel - not ordinarily my cup of tea - but the beautiful, mystical artwork and tender story completely won me over. It's my pick for any person who loves lovely and unusual books.
Skippyjon Jones and the Big Bones by Judy Schachner. Once again, Judy Schachner has written my favorite Skippyjon Jones book - simply because each of her four Skippyjon titles is absolutely wonderful! They are so much fun to read aloud, and the incredible artwork, so full of expression and detail, makes each book a treasure.
Toot and Puddle by Holly Hobbie
Previous Lynn Picks
 Mike has lived in Reno from the beginning of time.
The Money and the Power by Sally Denton and Roger Morris is a powerful portrayal of Las Vegas, possibly the most unique city in America. A poignant look at the gangsters, politicians, and civic leaders who helped shape the destiny of this famous gaming Mecca and how its tentacles spread throughout the world from the White House to Cuba to gunrunners in the Middle East.
Previous Mike Picks
Philip has either owned or worked in a bookstore for nearly 28,000 years while expanding his knowledge of Buddha, Erle Stanley Gardner and the perfectly timed pun. While he feels that the world is his bulletin board, he's not much for writing blurbs, but he is more than willing to discuss his latest picks, The Road by Cormac McCarthy and The World Without Us by Alan Weisman, The Story of Tibet by Thomas Laird, in person. OK, maybe just one blurb...
The Angels Knocking on the Tavern Door
30 poems of Hafez,
Translated by Robert Bly & Leonard Lewisohn
Fifteen years in the making. A rich presentation of 14th century Sufi mystic poet Hafez.It is said that Hafez cannot be translated, but with Robert Bly's considerable poetic skills & highly regarded Persian & Sufi scholar/practitioner Leonard Lewisohn as his collaborator, we may at last have a real taste of the Wine that Hafez is dispensing.
Previous Philip Picks
 Stephanie is a Buckeye native who reads mysteries obsessively and shares a house with her husband and two big dogs.
Deadwood by Pete Dexter is a tale of the Dakota Territories and Wild Bill Hickok told by this National Book Award winning novelist. Any fans of HBO's Deadwood who are out of episodes to watch - try this Wild West tale.
Previous Stephanie Picks
 Troy is a 40ish dude who was born in rural Wisconsin but has lived in Reno/Sparks since 1977. His 14 years in music retail experience attest to his passion and belief that the best music can help one re-experience one's innocence. His many neuroses are soothed and comforted by his loving and patient wife Tammy, and his sons Logan and Devon, and daughter Bailey. He is very good with the family cats, but is currently working on inadvertently wiping out every last fish in the family tank,
As the official Sundance music dude, Troy's picks can be found on the Music page. |
