ten thousand saints

We are divided and united by battles: both publically and internally.  Eleanor Henderson’s bold, debut novel, Ten Thousand Saints illustrates just that.  In this empathetic coming of age story, reminiscent of Bank’s Rule of the Bone and Lethem’s The Fortress of Solitude, we’re introduced to Jude.  Adopted as an infant by hippies in the 70s he’s one of the restless youth found marginalized in lush, idyllic Vermont.  Jude’s usual comfort and calm, found in getting high with his best friend, Teddy, is suddenly upended when Teddy dies of an overdose.  Jude’s relationship with family and drugs dramatically shifts.  He’s moved to pre-Giuliani New York City with his pot-dealing dad and stumbles upon hardcore music through Sunday matinees at CB's.  Searching for comfort, forgiveness, and an explanation for Teddy's death, Jude becomes deeply involved in the Straight Edge scene and Krishna's teachings.

Ten Thousand Saints is told through a series of struggles, which fray and bring a handful of  well-developed characters together in the most natural, yet random ways.  Through death and a new, unexpected life, a group of people become family.   The struggles, failings and good intentions that clearly and heartachingly manifest within each character and generation solidifies a foundation that will define Henderson as a master storyteller. 

oh, the humanity...

Admit it, you judge a book by it's cover.  You even judge a book by it's publisher, the font used throughout, the paper.  It's okay... we all do. And really, is there anything wrong with that?  Part of the reading experience is enjoying the aesthetic of what you're holding... the smell of it, the look, the weight.  You curl up with it... you spend time in the most intimate places in your home, in varying degrees of dress with it.  You should love the way it looks and feels as well as what it says.  In my house, between my husband and I, we have four copies of Ulysses.  Four.  Have either of us read it in it's entirety?  No.  But the covers are lovely!  The smell of the foxing in the original Modern Library edition is heavenly.  And the sheer heft, layout and typography of the first facsimile, (we each had a copy before we were a couple) ,well... shows that we may have a problem, but that's another story.

Now, Ulysses has become public domain in America.  What does that mean?  It means anyone can churn out a cheap copy with any hideous cover they like.  And they are.  Below are four of the most horrible book covers i've ever seen... and for Ulysses?  It's confounding.  On the upside, Ulysses may attract a different set of readers now.  Or, let's be real... a new set of people who will buy it keep it on their shelf for the sheer heft of it.

the architect of flowers

there's a saying, those who have spent a lot of time in the dark have the tendency to find great beauty in the smallest hints of light.  the characters in william lychack's latest book, The Architect of Flowers are great examples of this.  lychack's slim collection of stories will introduce you to a cast of delicately developed characters facing heartbreak and disappointment.  You will then get to bear witness as they find beauty in their seemingly mediocre lives.  don't be surprised if you find yourself pausing between stories, lost in dreamscape to recapture the characters' regrets of everyday failings, small victories or memories of past joys.  well-crafted, each story has a depth and detail that defies its brevity.

lychack's skill is clearly infusing the ordinary with special qualities: the softness of summer's yellow morning light in a kitchen, the depth of a mother's longing for her adult son and what she's willing to do to bring him home, the haunting of wanting to make something right years after an event.  it's a rare skill and one to be savored on a quiet weekend afternoon with tea and blankets.

The Architect of Flowers will be released as a paperback original on march 23rd.  william lychack will be reading at the odyssey bookshop on thursday, march 31st at 7pm.  come out and get lost with me.

visual editions

visual editions (VE) is a brilliant publisher out of the uk founded by anna gerber + britt iverson, two women who were driven to start up VE out of their love of books and their sometimes (mischievous) urge to do things differently.  in doing so, they've broadened the niche for books that tell stories not only with words on the page, but with the visual composition of the book itself.

some might make accusations that this is a gimmicky endeavor, but there's an earnest love of where literature and art intersect that shines through in the execution of each book.  i wholeheartedly don't see gimmick in the work no matter how much excitement it stirs up.

VE has two editions out and two in production.  the first book published is a stunning republication of The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by laurence sterne with an introduction by satirical novelist, will self. tristram shandy, a book originally published in seven volumes full of expository and visual diversions is now often found in one volume, text only, mass-market editions.  although i've yet to see the original seven volume edition of tristram shandy, i find VE's venture back to a more graphic retelling of the story both arresting and lively.

detail of tristram shandy

this morning, i opened a package that held a copy of VE's second edition, tree of codes by jonathan safran foer.  tree of codes is a novel written within a novel.  foer took his favorite book (the street of crocodiles by bruno schulz) and cut out words to leave behind another, wholly different story.

detail of tree of codes

i was blown away by the sheer beauty and weight of it, despite the amount of negative space each page holds.  trying to get my hands on a copy wasn't easy.  the u.s. rep for VE didn't have any copies, u.s. distributors didn't really carry it, and the copy ordered from england was lost in the mail.  after months of trying on my own, i emailed anna + britt.  although they were sold out of the first printing, they sent me a copy from their personal library.  how could you not love them?

anna + britt of VE

i can't wait to cuddle up with tree of codes, read and fall into the beauty of not only the words, but of the book itself.  VE has two more books in production slated for release this spring.  i'm sure i'm not the only one waiting in anticipation for what comes next.

the fates will find their way

Back in October, i was lucky to happen upon a galley of The Fates Will Find Their Way by Hannah Pittard.  Although it was just sitting on a shelf in my office, i'm not sure how it made it's way there.   It's cover was lovely and immediately drew me to it.  i felt even more lucky when the story turned out to be better than i hoped... a real score.  If you're looking for a story to draw you in, don't need all your questions answered and like your narrator to be first-person plural, you'll probably dig The Fates Will Find Their Way as much as i did.

The tale of  the missing 16-year-old Nora Lindell, told collectively by the boys who knew and loved her before her disappearance, is heavy with the purity of youth and the deep melancholy of suburban dystopia.  The two make a enticing recipe for the eerie and suspenseful unfolding of Nora Lindell's possible story following the night she disappeared.  

Hannah Pittard has done something quite magical here in using this collective voice and the obsession a town has with this young woman. The obsession absorbs the boys minds as they grow into men, married with children of their own.  The magic is in Pittard's way of drawing us through the multiple possibilities of Nora's fate through this collective voice as if each one is fact; details so rich and often lovingly and tenderly thought up by this collective.  

The boys grow into men who do what they are "supposed" to do.  Most get married, have children, become doctors, and although they expect these things lead to happiness, they end up disillusioned and looking for an escape.  Their obsession with what may have happened to Nora Lindell is such an escape; where they can live vicariously through her and with her, no longer left behind.  The Fates Will Find Their Way, reminiscent of The Virgin Suicides and The Swimmer, is simply a remarkable first novel.   

Here's a fun interview with Pittard with a bookseller at Powell's.

i can't say how excited i am to host an event with her (& Teju Cole, author of Open City) Friday, February 11th, 7pm at the Odyssey Bookshop.  i hope you can make it out.

exley

brock clarke's latest novel is Exley.   
he'll be reading and signing at:

the odyssey bookshop 
south hadley, ma

thursday, december 16th

at 7pm

here's a favorite snippet 
from the book:

"As far as I'd known up until that point, the most important thing about reading a book was to say you'd finished it faster than anyone thought you could.  
But I did not want to finish this book.  

Some of the books I'd read had told me that love is fleeting; 
some of the other books I'd read had told me that love is eternal.  
But they were wrong... Love is not wanting the thing you love to ever end.  
I was in love with A Fan's Notes, just like my dad was.  

And I was in love with my dad, just like I was in love with A Fan's Notes. 

 I wanted both of them to last forever."