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Browsing all staff pick reviews written by 'fatorangecat'
Title: Firmin
By: Sam Savage
Firmin is the story of a rat--a literate, philosophical, and, yes, very melancholy rat. He is born, the runt of the litter, in the basement of a Boston bookstore, and from a very early age begins feeding his physical and intellectual hunger with the books that surround him. He lives ... [Read more]
Posted by fatorangecat on Dec. 23, 2010
Tags: fiction
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Title: Out Stealing Horses
By: Per Petterson
The beautiful, spare prose of this short novel helps create an atmosphere and characters that will be remembered long after the last page has been turned. Set in Norway, the story moves back and forth in time--from the summer of 1948 to the present. The narrator, aging widower Trond Sander, ... [Read more]
Posted by fatorangecat on Nov. 20, 2009
Tags: fiction
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Reflections from the Land of Fire and Ice
Title: The Windows of Brimnes: An American in Iceland
By: Bill Holm
Perhaps because I have never been there, I have always had a strange fascination with Iceland: the medieval sagas, the stark yet beautiful landscape, those small horses.... So when I heard poet and essayist Bill Holm being interviewed on NPR about this book, I immediately added it to my list. ... [Read more]
Posted by fatorangecat on Aug. 17, 2009
Tags: non-fiction, poetry, travel
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Cathedrals, Fog and Gothic Suspense
Title: The Unburied
By: Charles Palliser
If your brain is ready for a workout, you might want to try this intricately plotted atmospheric thriller set in Victorian England. It is a framed story--a mystery within a mystery wrapped in yet another mystery. And it has all of the elements you might expect in this genre: missing ... [Read more]
Posted by fatorangecat on April 29, 2009
Tags: fiction, mystery
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Title: The Great Bridge
By: David McCullough
Part biography, part engineering study, and part political history, The Great Bridge tells the story of the building of the Brooklyn Bridge. Popular historian David McCullough brings history to life in this book, which has all of the interest, characters and plot of a good novel. Even those (like myself) ... [Read more]
Posted by fatorangecat on Nov. 4, 2008
Tags: non-fiction, history
0 Comments
Short Stories in a Northern Setting
Title: Island: The Complete Stories
By: Alistair MacLeod
Modern Library named Canadian author Alistair MacLeod one of the greatest writers in the English language since 1950. After spending some time with this collection of stories, it is clear why. These short stories, set for the most part in the stark but evocative landscape of Cape Breton Island, are ... [Read more]
Posted by fatorangecat on Oct. 31, 2008
Tags: short stories, fiction
3 Comments
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