Curl Up with a Great Read this Winter

Winter is my favorite time of the year, not least because all that rainy cold weather provides the perfect excuse to curl up under the covers all evening long, reading and listening to the rain -- and at times like that, nothing is better than a book with lots of pages or lots to digest, so you feel like it will never end (in a good way). Here’s a selection of seven great books for the winter: some are new releases, and others are on sale at unbeatable prices. 1. The Instructions by Adam Levin ($29.00) Before its release, Adam Levin’s first book was touted by McSweeney’s editor Eli Horowitz as “possibly the best novel we’ve ever published.” Which is saying a lot, given how much great fiction McSweeney's has put out. It’s just about a thousand pages and I’ll admit I haven’t gotten through the whole thing yet, but I can’t stop reading it. The story concerns 10-year old Gurion Maccabee and his ragtag army of Torah scholars and assorted misfits, who attempt to take down the unfair school system -- which is run by a sadistic Australian. Gurion views himself as the hero of the as-yet-uncreated Jewish holiday to celebrate the “birth of perfect justice,” which will observe the occasion and outcome of the Gurionic War. On this screwball plot Levin hangs digressions on dozens of subjects. Some critics say it falls a little short of its billing as David-Foster-Wallace-meets-Philip-Roth, but it has a lot of -- well, chutzpah is the word. It’s certainly the most ambitiously crazy riot of a debut novel I’ve ever gotten deep into. My feeling is that this is one book of 2010 that people will still be reading in 2060. 2. Infinite City, ed. Rebecca Solnit ($24.95) Rebecca Solnit assembled a group of writers to create maps that hint at the inexhaustible complexity of San Francisco’s built and cultural environments, and by extension those of any city. These maps sometimes chart one aspect of the city as we know it (for example, the map of coffee houses) to the city as we half-know it (like Solnit’s own map of cinemas in San Francisco, most of which are only a memory now), to a completely lost world that once existed on this peninsula (such as the map of the original coastline with present-day Third Street overlaid upon it). Each map is accompanied by an essay explaining the map’s rationale and method. It’s not a book you can devour quickly -- for the richest experience, you should really savor the book and spend several days poring over each map, as I have been doing since the day it came out. 3. The Big Red Book - Rumi, adapted by Coleman Barks ($29.99) These verses were written to the mystic Shams Tabriz, with whom the poet had an intense and fateful friendship, from their meeting in 1244 -- Shams was his mentor, his muse, even his spiritual soul mate -- and they concern spiritual awakening, friendship, and love. Coleman Barks is not a translator himself, but an English-language poet who has devoted a large portion of his career to adapting Rumi into a rich contemporary language. Although Barks does consult with actual Rumi experts about every line, purists feel that his versions of Rumi are not the “real” Rumi. However, I’ve been reading bits of the Big Red Book on breaks here for a couple months now, for inspiration and sustenance, and I think in the face of such poetic beauty, questions of linguistic purity are beside the point. 4. Listen to This by Alex Ross ($27.00) Alex Ross is the classical music critic for the New Yorker, and this book presents revised versions of 17 of his essays for the magazine along with an early essay from the New Republic. The essays concern subjects such as his late discovery of the pleasures of pop music, and how recording technology changed music in the twentieth century. Although most of the essays have appeared in some form before, I’m an avid follower of his writing and can attest that the pieces are different enough to merit a second reading -- plus, the collection also includes a charming, previously unpublished essay that traces the history of Western music from the Renaissance to Led Zeppelin, through a few characteristic bass lines. In addition to our selection of new releases, we've also got some fantastic books on sale -- the following three choices are just a teaser! Drop on by to see what else we have! 1. If on a winter’s night a traveler by Italo Calvino ($5.98) One of my favorite books is a novel that never gets going in the usual sense, because each chapter would appear to be the first chapter of a different novel; however, there emerges a character in the course of these chapters, a reader who is reading these books, known as “you,” whose keeps returning to the bookstore for more satisfactory books, eventually meets a fellow-reader, and falls in love. A completely charming modern classic, and perhaps the most accomplished expression of Calvino’s sensibility. As it happens, with these we also received a lot of other Calvino at similar prices -- come in or call to see what we have! 2. Anthology of Graphic Novels, volumes 1 and 2, ed. Ivan Brunetti ($10.98 each) Earlier this week we received twenty copies of Ivan Brunetti’s massive, quirky two-volume anthology of graphic novels at the lowest price you’re ever likely to see them going for -- if you’ve always wanted copies of these but balked at the $30 price tag for each one, now is your chance to get them both for a cool $25, including tax. 3. Cloud Atlas -- David Mitchell ($6.98) I resisted the idea of reading David Mitchell’s masterpiece for a long time, but last month I finally caved under the combination of the repeated insistence of a friend and Sierra’s unstinting praise of it. Was I glad I read it? I was very, very glad. Conceived as a series of six interlocking, nested novellas which begin in the 18th century and reach far, far forward into the future, it was a compelling and challenging read with characters you’ll never forget and language that will move you. The moment I finished reading it, I sent my friend the following note: “Thanks for making me read Cloud Atlas. I don’t ever want to read anything else.” It’s that kind of book.