Logos Bookstore’s Recommendations
By H. Harris Healy, III,
President, LOGOS BOOKSTORE
1575 York Avenue
(Between 83rd and 84th Sts.)
New York, NY 10028
(212) 517-7292 Fax (212) 517-7197
www.logosbookstorenyc.com
Freddy The Politician, by Walter R. Brooks (Overlook Press, $9.99)
Freddy The Detective by Walter R..Brooks (Overlook Press, $9.99)
The Intruders by Olive Peart (Demarche Publishing, $7.99)
Lost Lustre by Josh Karlen (Tantra Press, $16)
The Life And Opinions Of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence Sterne (Oxford University Press, $11.95)
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel (Picador, $16)
Wintertime is here and it is a great time to catch up on one’s reading. For children, the Freddy the Pig series of books by Walter R. Brooks are starting to become available in paperback. The two titles currently available at Logos are Freddy The Politician, originally published as Wiggins For President, and Freddy The Detective. In the first book, Freddy, as officer of the newly organized First Animal Bank, is campaigning to get Mrs. Wiggins, the cow, elected president of the First Animal Republic. In Freddy The Detective, Freddy, inspired by the stories of Sherlock Holmes, sets up his own detective agency and solves several mysteries. After you have read one of these books you will want to read more tales of Freddy the pig. I certainly did as a child.
The Intruders by Olive Peart engages the older child and teenager right from its dense-forest-and-building-ruin setting of the front cover in an adventure of six Bronx teens who explore a cave and time travel three centuries into the future. The New York of the future has reverted to a forest. As the Bronx teens meet tribes who live there and get involved in the conflict going on, their knowledge of present-day Bronx and Manhattan becomes quite helpful.
For adults is Lost Lustre by Josh Karlen, a New York memoir about the 1970s and the early 1980s, the punk rock scene and a particular band called the Lustres. The band’s lead singer, Tim Jordan, mirrored the times in his musical creativity and personal destructiveness. This poignant memoir brings that era back to life.
Other books to while away the winter evenings are The Life And Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence Sterne and Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel, both selections of the Kill Your TV Reading Group (KYTV) for January and February. Sterne’s quirky novel, whose narrator does not even get the central protagonist born within the first two volumes of a nine volume opus, has much to be digested especially in terms of opinions and the workings of the narrator’s mind. The outrageousness and the comic elements of the novel come to the forefront as the narrative becomes visual to the reader.
For those who prefer a more straightforward narrative, Wolf Hall, winner of the 2009 Man Booker award, achieves this as Mantel brings the times of the court of Henry VIII, Thomas CromwellAnne Boleyn to life.
The Poetry Dogs: Elizabeth Haukaas (Leap), Laurence Loeb (newly published Asylum), Susana Case (The Cost Of Heat), and Myra Malkin, (No Lifeguard On Duty) will read selections from their works, Wednesday, January 19, 2011 at 7 P.M.
Meanwhile Logos will have books commemorating Martin Luther King, African American History, the Presidents for Martin Luther King day, African American History Month (February), and President’s Day (February) as well as books, cards and gift items for Valentine’s Day (February). Come on out this winter to Logos Bookstore!
Upcoming Events At Logos Bookstore:
The Poetry Dogs: Elizabeth Haukaas, Laurence Loeb, Susana Case and Myra Malkin will read selections from their works, Wednesday, January 19, 2011 at 7 p.m.
The Sacred Texts Group led by literary agent, Richard Curtis, will discuss the Book of Acts and The Talmud., Monday, January 31, 2011 at 7 p.m.
KYTV Reading Group will discuss Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel, Wednesday, February 3, 2011 at 7 p.m.
Transit: 4,5,6, Subways to Lexington Ave. and 86th St., M86 Bus (86th St.), M79 Bus (79th St.), M31 Bus (York Ave.), M15 Bus (1st and 2nd Aves.)