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Weekly Words about BooksAugust 24, 2014
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New Arrivals are Thrilling, Chilling, and Filling
One Kick by Chelsea Cain. The author of the Archie Sheridan/Gretchen Lowell Heartsick thriller series introduces a new character with a past right out of today's headlines. Abducted at age 6 and found alive at 11, Kick Lannigan, now 21, is a survivor. Part of her therapy during teen years included learning how to defend herself, and now Kick's an expert at  marksmanship, martial arts, boxing, archery, and knife throwing - in other words, a lean, mean fighting machine. She's become obssessed - not surprisingly - with child abductions, and two recent ones in her hometown of Portland, Oregon, have her on edge. That's when an enigmatic man Bishop approaches her with a proposition. Bishop made a fortune as a weapons dealer and now wants to make good by using his resources to rescue abducted children. And he is convinced Kick's experiences and expertise can help rescue the abductees. And so a new and unique crime-fighting team is born.
One Kick has already received some excellent reviews, including one in The New York Times, whose review compares Kick to Stieg Larsson's Lisbeth Salander, though noting that Kick is "a far more human and likable protagonist." Fellow authors like Sue Grafton and Cheryl Strayed have also weighed in, none more vividly than Chuck Palahniuk, who wrote, "If you're not crying by page 188 and terrified by page 290, you're not reading the right book."
In the Kingdom of Ice: The Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of the USS Jeannette by Hampton Sides. A bestselling history writer (Ghost Soldiers, Blood and Thunder) offers up a white-knuckle tale of polar exploration and survival in the Gilded Age, a time when people were obsessed by one of the last unmapped areas of the globe: the North Pole. The story begins with the wealthy owner of the New York Herald newspaper funding an official U.S.  naval expedition to reach the Pole, choosing as its captain a young officer named George Washington De Long, who had gained fame for a rescue operation off the coast of Greenland. De Long led a team of 32 men deep into uncharted Arctic waters, carrying the aspirations of a young country burning to become a world power. On July 8, 1879, amid great fanfare, the USS Jeannette set sail from San Francisco.
Unfortunately, that was the end of the good news. The ship sailed into uncharted seas and became trapped in ice floes for two years before it finally broke apart and sank, leaving the crew marooned 1,000 miles north of Siberia with only the barest supplies. Thus began their long march across the endless ice - a frozen hell in the most lonesome corner of the world. Facing everything from snow blindness and polar bears to ferocious storms and frosty labyrinths, the expedition battled madness and starvation as the men desperately strove for survival. Sides uses a wealth of archival materials and his own writing skills to tell a harrowing true-life story that is both grim and compelling.
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Sweetness #9 by Stephan Eirik Clark. As part of his crusade against Amazon that began a couple of months ago, Stephen Colbert sought to make a debut novel by a little-known author into a bestseller. Colbert's clout and backing did indeed propel California onto bestseller lists and earned grateful author Edan Lepucki a visit to The Colbert Report. California had been recommended by author Sherman Alexie on a Colbert Report appearance, so Colbert asked Lepucki for a pick as well. Her choice was another debut novel - an intelligent, funny satire by Stephan Eirik Clark called Sweetness #9 that has  just arrived on independent bookstore shelves. Here's a brief description:
It's 1973, and David Leveraux has landed his dream job as a Flavorist-in-Training, working in the secretive industry where chemists create the flavors for everything from the cherry in your can of soda to the butter on
your popcorn. While testing a new artificial sweetener--"Sweetness #9"--he notices unusual side-effects in the laboratory rats and monkeys: anxiety, obesity, mutism, and a generalized dissatisfaction with life. David tries to blow the whistle, gets fired for his efforts and ends up in an insane asylum
Fast forward to 1998. David is long out of the looney bin and now a family man, while Sweetness #9 is America's most popular sweetener. But David's world is changing - his wife is gaining weight, his son has stopped using verbs, and his daughter suffers from a generalized dissatisfaction with life. Is Sweetness #9 to blame, along with David's failure to stop it? Or are these just symptoms of the American condition? David sets off on a journey to find out the truth, allowing author Clark to aim some telling and pointed barbs at the artificial world of food additives and chemical enhancements.
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August's #1 Indie Next Pick
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Painted Horses by Malcolm Brooks. This month's most recommended new book by indie booksellers is set in 1950s Montana and captures the still-untamed grandeur of the West as it introduces readers to an appealing young woman trying to balance tradition with progress in a man's world. Here's what one bookseller had to say about yet another impressive debut novel: "Brooks sweeps post-WWII American prosperity,  ancient native traditions, and the rush to tame the still-wild West together in a novel driven by diverse and deeply realized characters that come together in a heart-pounding story. Catherine Lemay is a talented young archeologist defying the traditions of a 'man's world' by accepting the challenge to explore a Montana canyon slated for flooding for hydroelectric power. What she discovers is beauty, history, threats, and John H - a former mustanger, Army veteran, and enigmatic canyon dweller. Far from her comfortable New York home, Catherine embraces Montana's stark conditions and, with John H, uncovers both secrets of the region and truths within herself. A breathtaking debut!"
- Cheryl McKeon, Book Passage,
San Francisco, CA
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COMMENTS? FEEDBACK?
Please email me anytime with thoughts, opinions, or your own book recommendations.
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WHERE TO FIND
AN INDEPENDENT BOOKSTORE
Many of you already have a favorite local bookstore, but for those of you without such a relationship, this link will take you to a list of Northern California indie bookstores by region.
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A LITTLE BIT ABOUT ME
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My name is Hut Landon. I'm a former bookstore owner who now runs the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association (NCIBA) in San Francisco.
My goal with this newsletter is to keep readers up to date about new books hitting the shelves, share what booksellers are recommending in their stores, and pass on occasional news about the book world.
I'm not into long, wordy reviews or literary criticism; I'd like HUT'S PLACE to be a quick, fun read for book buyers. If you have any friends who you think might like receiving this column each week, simply click on "Forward this email" below and enter their email address. There is also a box in which to add a short message.
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