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Biography
Nora says: Bill Buford's book is a raucous, fun read, furthering Buford's reputation for shrewd observations and incisive writing. The book tells the story of Buford moving to France, family in tow, to talk his way into a Michelin-starred kitchen in order to learn the secret of French cuisine. Funny and sharp, and. at times, terrifying!
--LOS ANGELES TIMES "These pages have a midnight sort of impact many novelists would kill to smuggle into their fiction."
--NEW YORK TIMES "With Molly, Butler has created a towering tribute to Brodak, in all her complexities, and a harrowing document of unanswerable grief."
--VANITY FAIR "[5 stars] ... Extraordinary and raw ... the triumph of his book lies in its compassion."
--THE TELEGRAPH "Molly is a dark, gorgeously crafted read. It contains a tremendous amount of pain, and the loss of life, loss of potential, loss of what could have been weighs heavy. That Butler makes it out the other side whole enough to tell this story is the glimmer of hope that sustains the reader in the end."
--ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION "Molly is so vital, so full of force ... [it] guts the cliché description of someone with mental illness ... [a] gorgeous, sad memoir."
--SLATE "A powerfully sad book ... Writers are often praised as 'fearless, ' but Butler is not. In Molly, he makes fear his companion. That is the only way to write, and to live."
--THE NEW YORKER "Shattering ... The result is a brutal yet beautiful look at the ravages of mental illness and the complexities of grief."
--PUBLISHER'S WEEKLY "I'm not sure I've ever been so totally consumed by any book--the way I was by Molly."
--INTERVIEW "As the story of a marriage, Molly sees that desire, like love, can be both ignited and fractured by the unknowability of the other."
--BOOKFORUM "The most immediate feeling of life I've ever had reading a book--a life lived at the desk and out in the world, a life of openness and secrets. "Make art for me," Molly wrote to Blake. "I will read it all." I breathed along with every word."
--PATRICIA LOCKWOOD "How to praise a book of such wounded beauty as Blake Butler's phenomenal Molly? The same way one would a life lost early: with love and sincerity and anger and wonder and lithely elegant and observant insights that remind us and inspire us, as Butler precisely does, to live and to love ourselves."
--JOHN D'AGATA "Molly is a brilliant and brutal book. Blake Butler fearlessly takes on love and grief and the mysteries of this world and the next."
--EMMA CLINE "A dark miracle--actual evidence that what we can never know, what we could never imagine about the one we love, is what binds us to them, beyond death."
--MICHAEL W. CLUNE "I was gripped from the start by this memoir's urgent honesty. Blake Butler turned a story that was almost unspeakable into a narrative at once brutal and loving, broken and solid."
--CATHERINE LACEY Blake Butler and Molly Brodak instantly connected, fell in love, married and built a life together. Both writers with deep roots in contemporary American literature, their union was an iconic joining of forces between two major and beloved talents. Nearly three years into their marriage, grappling with mental illness and a lifetime of trauma, Molly took her own life. In the days and weeks after Molly's death, Blake discovered shocking secrets she had held back from the world, fundamentally altering his view of their relationship and who she was. A masterpiece of autobiography, Molly is a riveting journey into the darkest and most unthinkable parts of the human heart, emerging with a hard-won, unsurpassedly beautiful understanding that expands the possibilities of language to comprehend and express true love. Unrelentingly clear, honest and concise, Molly approaches the impossible directly, with a total empathy that has no parallel or precedent. A supremely important work that will be taught, loved, relied on and passed around for years to come, Blake Butler affirms now beyond question his position at the very top rank of writers.
Ben says: Written in the wake of his wife's suicide, Butler's memoir perfectly captures the truly infinite depth of love, despite the fact that one mind can never truly touch another. The most beautiful book I have ever read.
New from the author of Confessions of a Bookseller and Seven Kinds of People You Find in Bookshops, another hilariously grumpy year behind the counter at The Bookshop. Though diaries of daily life, Shaun Bythell has created an endearing and cozy world for booklovers, a warm and welcome memoir of a life in books.
The Bookshop in Wigtown, Scotland is a book lover's paradise, with thousands of books across nearly a mile of shelves, a real log fire, and Captain, the portly bookshop cat. You'd think that after twenty years, owner Shaun Bythell would be used to his quirky customers by now. Don't get him wrong, there are some good ones among the antiquarian porn-hunters, die-hard train book lovers, people who confuse bookshops for libraries, and the toddlers just looking for a nice cozy corner in which to wee. He's sure there are some good ones. There must be . . .
Filled with the pernickety warmth and humor that has touched readers around the world, stuffed with literary treasures, hidden gems, and incunabula, Remainders of the Day is a warm and welcome memoir of a life in books. If you're new to Shaun Bythell's bestselling series, this is a great place to start. If you're one of Bythell's legion of fans, welcome back to The Bookshop.
A staggering memoir from New York Times-bestselling author Ada Calhoun tracing her fraught relationship with her father and their shared obsession with a great poet
When Ada Calhoun stumbled upon old cassette tapes of interviews her father, celebrated art critic Peter Schjeldahl, had conducted for his never-completed biography of poet Frank O'Hara, she set out to finish the book her father had started forty years earlier.
As a lifelong O'Hara fan who grew up amid his bohemian cohort in the East Village, Calhoun thought the project would be easy, even fun, but the deeper she dove, the more she had to face not just O'Hara's past, but also her father's, and her own.
The result is a groundbreaking and kaleidoscopic memoir that weaves compelling literary history with a moving, honest, and tender story of a complicated father-daughter bond. Also a Poet explores what happens when we want to do better than our parents, yet fear what that might cost us; when we seek their approval, yet mistrust it.
In reckoning with her unique heritage, as well as providing new insights into the life of one of our most important poets, Calhoun offers a brave and hopeful meditation on parents and children, artistic ambition, and the complexities of what we leave behind.
Nora says: A fascinating exploration of the bohemian world Calhoun grew up in as the only child of the poet and art critic Peter Schjeldahl. Schjeldahl’s circle included many famous names: Frank O’Hara, William deKooning, John Ashbery, Helen Frankenthaler, among them. This intelligent and sensitive memoir examines artistic ambition, the accompanying rivalries, and the personal and professional currents and tensions between herself and her father.
AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
"The most brilliant feline portrait in literary history." -People Magazine (Book of the Week)The #1 bestselling author of The Alienist tells the extraordinary story of Masha, a half-wild rescue cat who fought off a bear, tackled Caleb like a linebacker--and bonded with him as tightly as any cat and human possibly can.
"Dares us to take a journey into love and pain . . . My Beloved Monster is a love story and a requiem." -Wall Street Journal
"Excellent...Worth the emotional investment, and the tissues you will need by the end, to spend time with a writer and cat duo as extraordinary as Masha and Carr." --Washington Post Book World
Caleb Carr has had special relationships with cats since he was a young boy in a turbulent household, famously peopled by the founding members of the Beat Generation, where his steadiest companions were the adopted cats that lived with him both in the city and the country. As an adult, he has had many close feline companions, with relationships that have outlasted most of his human ones. But only after building a three-story home in rural, upstate New York did he enter into the most extraordinary of all of his cat pairings: Masha, a Siberian Forest cat who had been abandoned as a kitten, and was languishing in a shelter when Caleb met her. She had hissed and fought off all previous carers and potential adopters, but somehow, she chose Caleb as her savior. For the seventeen years that followed, Caleb and Masha were inseparable. Masha ruled the house and the extensive, dangerous surrounding fields and forests. When she was hurt, only Caleb could help her. When he suffered long-standing physical ailments, Masha knew what to do. Caleb's life-long study of the literature of cat behavior, and his years of experience with previous cats, helped him decode much of Masha's inner life. But their bond went far beyond academic studies and experience. The story of Caleb and Masha is an inspiring and life-affirming relationship for readers of all backgrounds and interests--a love story like no other.Andrea says: An interesting man with an extraordinary love for cats, especially his Siberian Forest Cat, Masha. When Caleb Carr adopts Masha, an amazing cat who was abandoned in an apartment, his love of felines truly takes on magical proportions. Masha is a smart, beautiful, adventurous cat...Caleb is an erudite, solitary, good story teller. If you are a cat lover, give it a whirl.
From a beloved Grammy-nominated musician, a "heartbreaking and funny" memoir of a poverty-stricken childhood, obsessive desires, and indispensable friendships that reflects on the way art and music and a deep connection to nature guided her journey towards stardom (Maggie Smith, NYT bestselling author of You Could Make This Place Beautiful).
Neko Case has long been revered as one of music's most influential artists, whose authenticity, lyrical storytelling, and sly wit have endeared her to a legion of critics, musicians, and lifelong fans. In THE HARDER I FIGHT THE MORE I LOVE YOU, Case brings her trademark candor and precision to a memoir that traces her evolution from an invisible girl "raised by two dogs and a space heater" in rural Washington state to her improbable emergence as an internationally-acclaimed talent.In luminous, sharp-edged prose, Case shows readers what it's like to be left alone for hours and hours as a child, to take refuge in the woods around her home, and to channel the monotony and loneliness and joy that comes from music, camaraderie, and shared experience into art.
THE HARDER I FIGHT THE MORE I LOVE YOU is a rebellious meditation on identity and corruption, and a manifesto on how to make space for ourselves in this world, despite the obstacles we face.
Professional Edition: Soft cover, Glossary, Tables, Index, Color Photos.
Ambushes, snake-bitten, nearly drowning in a river, stuck in quicksand, left to die on an uninhabited island were all in a day's work for me, a young man who grew up dreaming of adventure. My roots and 1950s upbringing are in rural Davie, in tropical South Florida. My father's stories of the South Pacific islands during WWII, and books with the exploits of explorers and animal collectors, fed my imagination and fueled my desire to travel. Following my dreams, I enter the animal business, and set out to explore the beautiful, disappearing worlds of the Caribbean, Mexico, Central and South America, and capture deadly pit vipers, giant poisonous frogs, land iguanas and boas. Without a college degree, I get my advanced education the hard way: in the wilderness. I learn about life, happiness, grit, survival, success, and new directions along the way. Experience the thrill of discovery and danger on countless amazing, adrenaline-fueled adventures, as I travel-often alone-to deserts, uninhabited islands, and steamy jungles. Action packed, with travels to exotic lands, interesting characters, danger, beauty, history, and incredible animals. Koulèv - Book One includes 140 photos, clippings, tables, maps, and references. 440 pages, with annotated table of contents, glossary, scientific name tables, and detailed index. Book Two has 472 pages, 229 phots and maps, and continues with more adventures in new lands with new people. Lovers of travel to Florida, the Caribbean, Mexico, Central and South America will appreciate the stories of the land, people, history, and wildlife in a recently past era. For fans of true-life adventure, the trials, tribulations, and dangers of seat-of-my-pants, solo travel, dealing with the unexpected with only grit and determination, being saved by angels too often to be just chance, will keep you hooked. Lovers of wildlife, especially reptiles, and the wild places where they live, will find hundreds of species mentioned in the text. Herpetologists, especially, will enjoy a nostalgic, factual look back at "how it was" in the wild world of herping in the 1960s and early '70s.
Professional Edition: Glossary, Tables, Index, Color Photos.
A young man who grew up during the 1950s in South Florida, fed his imagination by reading books about the exploits of explorers and animal collectors that fueled his dreams of adventure, becomes an explorer of the wild American tropics. Danger and excitement are all in a day's work as he seeks to capture deadly pit vipers, giant poisonous frogs, land iguanas and boas, in deserts, on uninhabited islands, and steamy jungles. Those fond of travel to Florida, the Caribbean, Mexico, Central America, and South America will appreciate his stories of the land, people, history, and wildlife in a recent past era. For fans of true-life adventure, the trials, and tribulations of seat-of-the-pants, solo travel, of dealing with unexpected dangers with only grit and determination, of being saved by angels too often to be just chance, will keep you hooked. Lovers of wildlife, especially reptiles, and the wild places where they live, will find hundreds of species mentioned in the text. Herpetologists, especially, will enjoy a nostalgic, factual look back at "how it was" in the wild world of herping in the 1960s and early '70s. Koulèv - Book One includes over 150 photos, clippings, tables, maps, suggested reading and cross-references. Approximately 110,000 words, with annotated table of contents, glossary, and detailed index.
ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: NPR, Fortune, Parade, The New York Public Library, Garden & Gun In 2004, Momofuku Noodle Bar opened in a tiny, stark space in Manhattan's East Village. Its young chef-owner, David Chang, worked the line, serving ramen and pork buns to a mix of fellow restaurant cooks and confused diners whose idea of ramen was instant noodles in Styrofoam cups. It would have been impossible to know it at the time--and certainly Chang would have bet against himself--but he, who had failed at almost every endeavor in his life, was about to become one of the most influential chefs of his generation, driven by the question, "What if the underground could become the mainstream?" Chang grew up the youngest son of a deeply religious Korean American family in Virginia. Graduating college aimless and depressed, he fled the States for Japan, hoping to find some sense of belonging. While teaching English in a backwater town, he experienced the highs of his first full-blown manic episode, and began to think that the cooking and sharing of food could give him both purpose and agency in his life. Full of grace, candor, grit, and humor, Eat a Peach chronicles Chang's switchback path. He lays bare his mistakes and wonders about his extraordinary luck as he recounts the improbable series of events that led him to the top of his profession. He wrestles with his lifelong feelings of otherness and inadequacy, explores the mental illness that almost killed him, and finds hope in the shared value of deliciousness. Along the way, Chang gives us a penetrating look at restaurant life, in which he balances his deep love for the kitchen with unflinching honesty about the industry's history of brutishness and its uncertain future.