Must-Read Monday: New in paperback!

This week we are spoiled for choice when it comes to great new fiction releases.  Tomorrow (Tuesday) marks the paperback debut of 2010's National Book Award Winner, Lord of Misrule. This literary dark horse (pun intended)  from a small publisher surprised most booksellers when it took top honors, but after we got a chance to read it.  Come pick up a copy of this to see for yourself why the New York Times called it "assured, exotic and uncategorizable...an incontrovertible winner, a bona fide bolt from the blue."

Next up we have David Mitchell's newest masterpiece in paperback, The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet.  This novel earned more praise for its debut in 2010 than almost any other, including four starred reviews.  From Dave Eggers, who praised this novel on the cover of the New York Times Book Review: "If any readers have doubted that David Mitchell is phenomenally talented and capable of vaulting wonders on the page, they have been heretofore silent. Mitchell is almost universally acknowledged as the real deal. [This book] confirms Mitchell as one of the more fascinating and fearless writers alive."


Come stop by the Odyssey or give us a call and we'll reserve one of these fine books for you. 

~Emily

Must Read Monday: Beatrice & Virgil by Yann Martel

 This week's post for Must-Read Monday belongs to Yann Martel's novel, Beatrice and Virgil, which is now out in paperback.  As with his previous book, Life of Pi, Martel puts animal allegory to good use again, layered over a very postmodern meta-fiction structure. Ostensibly about a writer who has lost his creativity, this book is actually an exploration of how inadequate words are to describe the Holocaust. This book is so haunting and provocative that I could not stop thinking about for days.

If you'd like to learn a little more about this book, check out this post about my chance to meet Yann Martel in person at the New England Independent Booksellers Association office -- it was a great day!

~Emily