A Few Staff Recommendations

Hear are a few recommended book titles for the previous posts.

3/11/08

The Writer’s Chapbook by George Plimpton (ed.) A real gem for readers and writers, and fans of The Paris Review.

The Best of Plimpton by George Plimpton Many of Plimpton's classic pieces, including Sidd Finch.

George Plimpton—The Man in the Flying Lawn Chair and Other Excursions and Observations by Sarah Dudley Plimpton (ed.) A posthumous tribute to the creator of participatory journalism.

The Snakebite Survivors’Club—Travels Among Serpents by Jeremy Seal If you love snakes, or would like to, this book might be for you.

3/12/08

The New Complete Joy of Home Brewing by Charlie Papazian As I understand it, this is the classic for homebrewers, but I've found that beer people are nearly--nearly--as opinionated as book people.

3/17/08

The New Georgia Encyclopedia Companion to Georgia Literature by Hugh Ruppersburg and John C. Inscoe (eds.) A travelougue, history and adventure story through Georgia's literary, um, canon.

Broken April by Ismail Kadare Perhaps the best known work of Albania's (that's right, Albania's) major contemporary literary figure. The novel is set in nineteenth century Albania and revolves around the tradition of the blood feud (a tradition back on the rise since communism fell in that country in the early 1990s). Part Deliverance, part One Hundred Years of Solitude. The last book that I purchased at Oxford Bookstore.

Balkan Ghosts by Robert D. Kaplan A good Balkan primer. A modern contribution to the Balkan travelouge tradition (Farewell to Salonika, High Albania, The Balkan Trilogy). We'll be hearing more about this area of the world, in case you have already forgotten the Balkan wars of the 1990s.

3/18/08

The Haunted Bookshop by Christopher Morley A wonderful period New York novel.

A Man in Full by Tom Wolfe Moving to Atlanta? Read this.

Down on Ponce by Fred Willard Great Southern Crime Noir. Set in Atlanta.

Real Men Read.