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 Weekly Words about New Books in
Independent Bookstores

October 22, 2017

New Work of Two Acclaimed Artists Show Why They're Among the Best in Their Fields
 
Annie Leibovitz: Portraits 2005-2016 by Annie Leibovitz. As the holiday season approaches, publishers are releasing a slew of what are familiarly known as coffee table books - oversized volumes that usually feature lots of glossy artwork a nd not a lot of text. This extraordinary new title is one of the best - the follow-up to Liebovitz's two previous collections,  Annie Leibovitz: Photographs, 1970-1990 and  A Photographer's Life, 1990-2005 . In this new collection, the famed photographer has captured the most influential and compelling figures of the last decade in portraits that underscore her creative brilliance. Leibovitz has also written an essay explaining how her work has evolved since 2005, which includes anecdotes about specific shoots. To watch a brief video about the book, click here   
 
 
Going Into Town: A Love Letter to New York by Roz Chast. The wonderful author and New Yorker cartoonist won a  National Book Critics Circle Award for her previous graphic memoir, Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant? , which chronicled her efforts to ca re for her elderly parents. In her new creation, she offers up a hilarious (naturally) thank-you note to Manhattan.  
 
 The idea for the book came from Chast's children, for whom life in the suburbs made a trip to the big city something special. On trips into town, they would marvel at the strange world of Manhattan: its gumwad-dotted sidewalks, honey-combed streets, and "those  West Side Story-things" (fire escapes). Their wonder inspired   Going into Town, part playful guide, part New York stories, and part love letter to the city, told through Chast's laugh-out-loud, touching, and true cartoons. Great fun, even if you've never been to New York. 
The Importance of Family, However Unconventional, Explored in Sweet, Compassionate Novel  
 
Perfect Little World by Kevin Wilson. In his first  novel, The Family Fang, Wilson wrote about an oddball family of performance artists. With his second - now in paperback - he continues to remind us that convention and predictability are not necessarily the elements of strong family ties. This warm-hearted story of a young soon-to-be mother seeking love and connections through an imperfect social experiment would be a light but satisfying read for many. Here's a description: 
 
When Isabelle Poole meets Dr. Preston Grind, she's fresh out of high school, pregnant with her art teacher's baby, and totally on her own. Izzy knows she can be a good mother but without any money or relatives to help, she's left searching.

Dr. Grind, an awkwardly charming child psychologist, has spent his life studying family, even after tragedy struck his own. Now, with the help of an eccentric billionaire, he has the chance to create a "perfect little world" -- to study what happens when 10 children are raised collectively, without knowing who their biological parents are. He calls it The Infinite Family Project and he wants Izzy and her son to join.

This attempt at a utopian ideal starts off promisingly, but soon the gentle equilibrium among the families disintegrates: unspoken resentments between the couples begin to fester; the project's funding becomes tenuous; and Izzy's growing feelings for Dr. Grind make her question her participation in this strange experiment in the first place.
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WHY THE COLUMN?
Hi, I'm Hut Landon, and I work as a bookseller in an independent bookstore in BerkeIey, California.

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