Trudy Mills, Co-Owner Antigone Books. On Into The Forest,
by Jean Heggland: It takes place in Northern California, post-trauma.
You don't really know what has happened, but the electricity doesn't
work anymore and people are dying of various diseases. The book
is about these two sisters that are living together and how they're
surviving. The sisters are in their 20s--they were living with
their father, but he's died. One wants to be a writer and one
wants to be a dancer and they're adjusting to how they can do
what they love without any technology, which is interesting because
the writer was a computer-age writer and the dancer of course
doesn't have any music. They don't have much contact with the
outside world. It sounds very depressing, but the writing is incredible
and it doesn't bog you down the way the topic sounds like it would.
I picked this up because I read about this one bookstore owner
in Oregon who'd loved this book so much she had single-handedly
sold hundreds of copies, so I was very curious about it. We sold
one in about six months.
Karen Greaber, Librarian, Tucson Main Library. On Behind
The Scenes At The Museum,by Kate Atkinson. It's narrated
by this woman at the start of her birth. The first line is "I
exist. I was conceived." And then it goes back and forth
between the different generations in her family. She was born
above a pet shop in Yorkshire, covering the '50s. It's very funny,
with very true characters that would appeal to anyone who reads
modern fiction. It's definitely humorous, satirical in some ways.
Her life reflects the life of the middle class in that time frame.
It goes back and forth to when her great grandfather was killed
in World War I and how that affected her family. It tracks her
adulthood into old age. It won the Whitbread Prize in 1995, which
is why I picked it up. I read mostly British authors, usually
mystery and crime fiction. Anything English attracts me. This
novel is classified as historical fiction. The subject headings
are Family, Women, Historical Fiction and Domestic Fiction.
Kathie Takach, hair stylist and mountain biker. On The
Beastly Beatitudes of Balthazar B.,by J.P. Donleavy:
It's about a young, wealthy student in Ireland and England, and
his misadventures and misfortunes. It's written in a really strange
style of prose--kind of poetic and flowery but all mixed together.
It's a little goofy, but it's about serious events that could
or did happen. They're titillating. The book is a mixture of all
points of view all in one paragraph. It's not divided up in any
kind of normal way. Dialogue, point-of-view and the situations
all collide in one paragraph, and sentences stop in the middle
of sentences and just go on to something else. It's the same situation
but within that, what one person says, what the other answers
and what's going on all kind of run together. Ultimately, though,
he gives a really strong picture. You just have to get used to
the book's style. It's funny and strange. Could be considered
off-color by some people.
Trudy Mills, Co-Owner Antigone Books. On Into The Forest,
by Jean Heggland: It takes place in Northern California, post-trauma.
You don't really know what has happened, but the electricity doesn't
work anymore and people are dying of various diseases. The book
is about these two sisters that are living together and how they're
surviving. The sisters are in their 20s--they were living with
their father, but he's died. One wants to be a writer and one
wants to be a dancer and they're adjusting to how they can do
what they love without any technology, which is interesting because
the writer was a computer-age writer and the dancer of course
doesn't have any music. They don't have much contact with the
outside world. It sounds very depressing, but the writing is incredible
and it doesn't bog you down the way the topic sounds like it would.
I picked this up because I read about this one bookstore owner
in 
Karen Greaber, Librarian, Tucson Main Library. On Behind
The Scenes At The Museum, by Kate Atkinson. It's narrated
by this woman at the start of her birth. The first line is "I
exist. I was conceived." And then it goes back and forth
between the different generations in her family. She was born
above a pet shop in Yorkshire, covering the '50s. It's very funny,
with very true characters that would appeal to anyone who reads
modern fiction. It's definitely humorous, satirical in some ways.
Her life reflects the life of the middle class in that time frame.
It goes back and forth to when her great grandfather was killed
in World War I and how that affected her family. It tracks her
adulthood into old age. It won the Whitbread Prize in 1995, which
is why I picked it up. I read mostly British authors, usually
mystery and crime fiction. Anything English attracts me. This
novel is classified as historical fiction. The subject headings
are Family, Women, Historical Fiction and Domestic Fiction.
Kathie Takach, hair stylist and mountain biker. On The
Beastly Beatitudes of Balthazar B., by J.P. Donleavy:
It's about a young, wealthy student in 