Address:

3957 24th Street

San Francisco, CA 94114

Map »

Contact:

(415)821-3477

phoenixbookssf@yahoo.com

Phoenix on Facebook!

Hours:

Mon-Sat: 9am - 8pm

Sun: 9am - 7pm

Standouts in Historical Fiction: Hilary Mantel, David Mitchell, and Barry Unsworth

Did Mantel's 'Wolf Hall' -- due in paperback August 31st -- and Mitchell's 'Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet', whet your appetite for great historical fiction? Try Barry Unsworth. Author of 18 books, he ranges from the Booker-Prize-winning epic 'Sacred Hunger', about the slave trade, to 'Morality Play', a page-turner of a medieval murder mystery. He's a regular on year-end 'best book' lists.

Not to give Mantel or Mitchell short shrift... they're also Booker winners or short-listers, with Mitchell favored to win this year. If you haven't read them, by all means do! Unsworth just doesn't get as much press. We have lots of used copies in stock between Phoenix, Red Hill and Dog Eared.

Paula Says Go Down Under this Summer: Focus on Australian Authors

Spotlight: Australian young adult literature. I don't know how it happened, but I ended up reading a string of amazing YA books, then discovered they were all out of Australia. Give it up for the land down under, y'all. Here are my favorites:

Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta, winner the 2009 Printz Award, tenderly folds together the stories of two generations, one reeling from and desperately unraveling the tragic mystery of the other.

Marcuz Zusak's The Book Thief employs Death as an observer of WWII's senselessness and the coming-of-age of one spirited young girl - she steals books from book burnings! Do you love her already?

Something between graphic novel and illustrated text, Tales from Outer Suburbia is a strange and dreamlike collection of short stories that will leave you wondering. Author/artist Shaun Tan creates a new world that is well worth the visit.

Here are some other favorite Australian works outside the YA spectrum: Peter Carey's The True History of . . .

Summer is Murder: Mystery and Thriller Recs from Phoenix!

I love mysteries, I admit it, as long as they're not cute. Noir is best, but as long as my intelligence isn't being insulted, I'm OK. If you've torn through the Steig Larssons, and need some summer escapist reading...

Statistics say that both men and women love Lee Child's Jack Reacher series. Why? Well, as a female, I know why I do. Reacher's got a moral code, deals with the baddies, is respectful of women (the female characters are never just arm candy, and you actually believe they could do the jobs they have), speaks French, keeps his psycho-baggage to himself, and you never have to do his laundry. What's not to love? Rip roaring action that pushes credulity without going over the edge makes for perfect escapist-justice-genre fiction.

The Jack Reacher series starts with Killing Floor, and continues with Die Trying, Tripwire, Running Blind, Echo Burning, Without Fail, The Enemy, One Shot, Persuader, The Hard Way, Back Luck and Trouble, Gone Tomorrow, 61 Hours.

Looking for a strong female protagonist? Consider the Jane Whitefield series from Thomas Perry. Whitefield is a Native American who helps people in trouble disappear, and she doesn't need to hack computers and spend a trillion kroner to do it. Books in the Whitefield series include Vanishing Act, Dance of the Dead, Shadow Woman, The Face Changers, Blood Money, and Runner. Another favorite is Pursuit Perry won the Edgar award for his first book, The Butcher's Boy, and has about 18 books in print.

Steven's Pick

The Bucolic Plague

This is a light-hearted memoir about a couple of gay Manhattanites who buy a mansion in the middle of nowhere and decide to raise goats. Think 'Green Acres'. Only gay. Minus the pig. Plus goats. Hilarity ensues! But it's not all a bed of roses for these "gentleman farmers". One of them is a doctor who works for Martha Stewart. The other is an advertising exec. Giving it all up to pursue the 'simple life' puts a serious strain on their relationship. But their adventures with growing heirloom vegetables, cutting their own Christmas tree, and raising their own Thanksgiving turkey provide plenty of laughs. (For us, anyway). A traditional "fish out of water" tale with enough modern variations to keep it fresh. P.S. If you like this book, be sure to check out Kilmer-Purcell's previous memoir, I Am Not Myself These Days, which details his days as an East Village drag queen. Read them both, then compare and contrast. Mostly contrast.