Good and Cheap (Books)! Day One

Every day this month, we are going to dedicate ourselves to recommending a quality book that you can purchase for under $20. “What, do we have to pay for this service?” you ask. No, no you don’t. It all comes free with this low quality blog. Every single day when you click on our blog you will know that we’ve thought long and hard about which books we truly believe you can get the most bang from your buck(s) this spring. We promise that for each book we choose we will confer with each other, debate heartily, and weigh the pros and cons of each of our choices. We want what’s best for you. Now, on the off chance we don’t have enough time, energy, or knowledge to put that kind of effort in to our choices, we will probably just swivel around in our desk chair and the first paperback you see is what we’re going to recommend. But wouldn’t it be great if we at least put some effort in? We can all dream, I guess, but for now it’s just a crap shoot.

I am going to kick the month off with a one of our favorite titles from last year that is now available in paperback with a brand new cover. You were waiting for paperback weren’t you? Cheapskate, you must work in the book business!

Me? I would never
creep you out!

Stay Awake by Dan Chaon is a collection of uh-unsettling stories. When was the last time you read a really good story about a parasitic twin for example? A long time, right? Wait no more; the title story is fantastically haunting. One of my favorite stories is “I Wake Up,” about a boy who is sent to live with a foster family after his mother is sent to prison. The family has lost their own teenage son and as he grows up (having slept in the dead son’s bed, by the way) we see he is slowly losing his grip. "Bees" is about a father whose life begins to spiral out of control with the onset of his child’s night terrors; the father can no longer repress the memories of his secret first wife and child that he abandoned so long ago.

Do you like Gillian Flynn or Joyce Carol Oates? Do you like Victor LaValle or Daniel Woodrell? Do you like Liz or Gianna? Well then you must trust me, Dan Chaon is an artist, and for $15 it’s a steal. Oh, yeah, you can just steal it. Thief. 

Best of 2012: Day 2

Gigi:

I am going to reach all the way back to the beginning of 2012 for today’s top 10 selections.

Stay Awake by Dan Chaon

Get this book for anyone who has read Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. Get this book for anyone who has read Justin Cronin’s The Passage or The Twelve. Get this book for anyone for anyone who loves Flannery O’Connor, Amy Hempel, Karen Russell, Stewart O’Nan, or Daniel Woodrell. Get this book for yourself.  

Our pal Dan Chaon

My two favorite selections from Stay Awake:

"Bees," in which a father’s life begins to spiral out of control with the onset of his child’s night terrors, and now his own inability to continue to repress the memories of his secret first wife and child that he abandoned so long ago. This story is riveting.

My favorite selection is the title story, "Stay Awake." A young couple gives birth to a baby who has a parasitic twin.  I have long been fascinated by this incredibly rare medical condition (I believe there have been less than a dozen cases) and I have not been able to get the images of this story out of my head. At once heartbreaking and creepy, you won’t be able to shake this story for days.

Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain

Introvert champion
Susan Cain

 I refer to this book as a classic although it’s not quite a year old. It's groundbreaking, it's smart, and there really is nothing else out there like this. Cain argues that we are undervaluing introverts, and often try to change introvert behavior, as it's seen as a negative. This book is filled with inspiring stories of introverts, examples of major contributions to society by introverts, and probably my favorite part of the book, advice on parenting and empowering an introverted child.

Quiet is a great gift for readers of Oliver Sacks, Nate Silver, Eric Weiner (Geography of Bliss), and Malcolm Gladwell. 

Lizzy Poo:

The News from Spain by Joan Wickersham

How do I describe this book?  I like reading short stories, but I often find myself grappling with ways to present collections.  I think it's the same reason that short story collections typically don't sell as well as novels; how do you relate seven separate narratives on a staff selection card or a 30 second spiel in a presentation?  How do you say "These stories struck a chord, all of them," but then struggle to pinpoint exactly why?  

Let me start with the back story.  I have a rep pal who's great about sharing his reads, and he latched onto The News from Spain early.  I read it, I agreed that it's a marvel, and we talked about it.  And then throughout the year we've continued to mention it.  Isn't that the sign of a great book--one that stays in your head for the right reasons?  I feel connected to these stories, and protective of them.  If you hated this book, I would be hurt (but you won't hate it).

Joan Wickersham

The News from Spain is a collection of seven stories, all dealing with a theme of love.  They are also all titled "The News from Spain," binding them together further (though they aren't set in Spain...but it could be that the character's lover received news from Spain, etc).  These are stories that make you think about the nature of love, and how flawed and utterly human an emotion that is.  

My favorite story in the collection (it's called "The News from Spain," so that doesn't really help) comes in the middle of the collection and involves a gay dancer who works as a caregiver for woman who no longer has the use of legs.  Her husband is a serial cheater, and to cope with her heartache, she and her caregiver imagine the autobiography her cat would write.  Here is love betrayed and a different sort of love binding two people together. 

Booksellers love this book too, and it may be the best kept book secret of the year.  I highly recommend visiting the Boswell Book Company blog, where owner Daniel Goldin wrote this great, obsessive piece and also snagged a terrific interview with the author.  How The News from Spain isn't on every best of the year list is a huge mystery to me.

The Long Walk by Brian Castner

I'm tempted to state that the market for Iraq/Afghanistan War books is saturated--they are EVERYWHERE--but then I read one like The Long Walk and know that there's always space for a great book, regardless of the topic.  Kevin Powers's first novel The Yellow Birds received lots of attention this year, but it fell short of the hype for me, in part, I think, because I had already read The Long Walk.  

Brian Castner was the guy who volunteered to walk up to the explosive devices.  If you saw The Hurt Locker, that was Castner's job.  He dismantled bombs, and he knew what it was to face his own mortality every day even as he thrived on the adrenaline rushes.  And then he came home.  This is the memoir of a man who knew danger first hand, but only felt imperiled after his return and the Crazy that lived in his head.  Alternating chapters describe Castner's war experiences and the post-war attempts to rejoin civilian society, where a trip to take his kid to school could result in a crippling panic attack.

I think what truly distinguishes The Long Walk, though, is the quality of the writing.  Castner writes a memoir reminiscent of The Liar's Club or This Boy's Life, with echoes of Michael Herr's war classic Dispatches.  

Generally Horrible Questions: Dan Chaon

Dan Chaon

One of our favorite authors, Dan Chaon, has a terrific new short story collection called Stay Awake going on sale in a few weeks.  Gianna reviewed it here.  We had the privilege of meeting Dan when he was touring Texas for his last book, Await Your Reply, and yet for some reason even after meeting us, Dan agreed to answer our questions.  Luckily Dan is the type of guy who, you know, appreciates the twisted.  In addition to being one of the best writers working, he's a huge music fan and teaches at Oberlin.  He's far too cool to be contributing to our blog, but we're grateful for his slumming.


Generally Horrible Questions: Dan Chaon


1. What author or book should we all be reading?

Lint by Chris Ware. Most mind-blowing book of 2011, hands down.


2. What book have you re-read more than any other?
Probably The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson, closely followed by Lolita by Vladamir Nabokov and The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien (though I haven’t actually read The Hobbit in about 30 years. Maybe now that the movie is coming out I should revisit it?)


3. Favorite three bands? 

Idaho; Modest Mouse; Arcade Fire. (At least right now.) All time favorite artists: Tom Waits, David Bowie, Rickie Lee Jones.


4. I have never read ________ and I am so ashamed
Remembrance of Things Past, by Marcel Proust. (I’ve read the famous Madeline passage, but nothing else.)


5. What do you tell your writing students to never do, but sometimes do yourself?

The great Borges...
not a spring chicken even
in 1951, when this was taken.

Despair.


6. Gianna or Liz?
There’s no way to answer this question. It’s like “Cake or Ice Cream?” [Our two favorite food groups! We also assume Liz is the ice cream due to her cold nature.  Also, Liz is always the correct answer.]


7. Coolest writer you’ve ever met?
Jorge Luis Borges [We are incredibly impressed.  Of course, we can't call him to verify....]


8. I have read ____ and I am so ashamed

Dude, all things must end, but we're
sorry for blowing it.

“Lostpedia—the Lost Encyclopedia” in its entirety; as well as “Bad Twin” by Gary Troup; as well as Doc Jensen’s “Lost” blog for Entertainment Weekly. I was a huge fan of the TV show “Lost” and I still feel very betrayed and bitter about how they screwed it up. I know it’s been a long time since it mattered, but it still galls me. [We feel as if we opened a huge can of worms here. Apologies.]


9. Your last name is pronounced “Shawn” which made us wonder who your favorite Shawn is. Sean Penn, Sean Combs, Shawn Carter (Jay Z to the unhip), Sean Connery, Shawn Colvin, Shawn who sat next to Liz is high school calculus, or Shaun of the Dead?

Gianna's favorite book
of 2010.

What about Sean Bean? He’s maybe my favorite Sean of the moment. But if I have to choose from your list, Shawn Colvin would be fine. As for the rest of your group…if they changed the spelling to Chaon, we could talk. “Chaon Combs:” that would be awesome. [...Or we could call you Dan Diddy?  No?]


By the way, if you do a Twitter search for “Chaon” you will find that it is an Urban Dictionary type slang word. People say that something is “off the chaon!” And that means that it is cool and funky. Right on! [We think this is going to take off way beyond Twitter, for chaon.]


10. Can you name five things creepier than twins (Liz is a twin, so think creepier)?
a. Rick Perry;
b. vegetable drawer full of forgotten potatoes that have begun to sprout tiny human eyes and fingers;
c. The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, esp. Taylor; [This makes us worry for our Dan that he can name a wife…worry and love that is.]
d. the corpse of your dead grandma, somehow animated, somehow alive, rotting and crouched in your closet, a sick smell that wafts over you when you are sleeping and then you open your eyes in the dark and you can hear her breathing, wetly chewing on something with her toothless mouth, and you try to convince yourself: Grandma loved me. Grandma wouldn’t hurt me. This is not real.
e. That awful thing that is constantly staring at the back of your head but when you turn around it’s not visible.


11. What's the strangest or most awkward thing to happen to you on book tour (bonus points if you admit it was meeting Gianna and Liz)?
I don’t remember anything awkward happening when we met, Gianna and Liz. I thought we had a nice time together. Didn’t we? [Clearly Dan didn’t notice Gianna nearly going in for a kiss.]

Look for Dan's newest story
collection in stores in February.

Usually the most awkward moments on book tour have to do with no one showing up to a reading, and having to face the bookstore employees afterwards. Sitting in silence. Listening as the front door is locked and the “closed” sign is put over the door. Signing stock so they can’t return it to the publisher. That one hipster employee, straight out of Middlebury or Oberlin or Swarthmore, that guy who obviously loathes you and who has been spending his days trying to handsell Henry Miller novels, clears his throat and looks at you reproachfully and judgmentally.


Not that this has happened to me, mind you. There are always crowds upon crowds at my bookstore appearances.


12. Liz and I are starting a band; can you suggest a few names?
Cocoa Ono
Craniopagus Parasiticus!
Mamas Who Let Their Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys
The Uncircumcised Girls [Clear winner…Dan must have a real sense of what our band will be like.]


Thanks Dan!  You're the chaon!

Stay Awake by Dan Chaon

(Gianna)

When I left Random House last year to become sales manager at UT, I failed to give enough thought to one important thing: I wouldn’t be selling Dan Chaon books any longer. [She was mostly focused on getting away from me as fast as possible.  Sigh.] I wouldn’t have an excuse to talk about his story collections Fitting Ends and Among the Missing, or his novels You Remind Me of Me and my favorite book of 2010, Await Your Reply. I mean, I think what I put you poor booksellers through for the past few years, you had to sit there and listen to me again and again talk about Chaon. Frankly I am surprised that no one grabbed me by the shoulders (who am I kidding? the hair) and shook the hell out of me until I shut up. [It's not too late....]

Guess what? It’s not too late. [See? Even she admits it!] Chaon is back with an outstanding collection called Stay Awake (Feb 2012). Fasten your seat belts; I have decided to unofficially sell the hell out of this new book as well. Stay Awake is a reminder of why I was drawn to Chaon in the first place: he is a master of the short story.  You think you don’t like short stories, by the way? This collection can change your mind in the same way Lorrie Moore’s Birds of America brought so many fans to read stores for the first time.

Remember how anxiety-ridden you were with Await Your Reply? Well get that Xanax refill because Stay Awake is haunting. One of my favorite stories is "Bees," in which a father’s life begins to spiral out of control with the onset of his child’s night terrors, and now his own inability to continue to repress the memories of his secret first wife and child that he abandoned so long ago. This story is riveting.

My favorite selection is the title story, "Stay Awake." A young couple gives birth to a baby who has a parasitic twin.  I have long been fascinated by this incredibly rare medical condition (I believe there have been less than a dozen cases) and I have not been able to get the images of this story out of my head. At once heartbreaking and creepy, you won’t be able to shake this story for days. [Twins are creepy!...says the twin.]

If you are a fan of Joyce Carol Oates this book is for you. 

Coming Soon to a Bookstore Near You: 2012

As we're wrapping up 2011, it's not too early to take a look at the books we're excited about that are scheduled to go on sale in 2012.  After all, if the Mayans figured out the end times deadline slightly better than that nutty Christian radio guy last year, we're going to need some good reading to entertain us during the hellfire (and we're not talking about the Left Behind series).  Here's a sneak peak at the books calling to us in the upcoming year.

(A note on format--in this case, we're using "Random House" to denote books published by Random House the company, and not necessarily Random House the publisher, so a book from Doubleday, for example, would be listed as Random House.)

Gianna:

Stay Awake: Stories by Dan Chaon
Random House
Feb 2012

I have actually just started these and think they are tremendous. Chaon quickly became one of my favorite writers after the publication of his collection entitled Among the Missing. [Liz: Agree--I love this guy and can't wait to dig into these stories.]

The Technologists by Matthew Pearl
Random House
Feb 2012

From the critically acclaimed author of The Dante Club, The Last Dickens, and The Poe Shadow comes what may be his best historical novel yet. Take a look at the trailer.

Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity by Katherine Boo
Random House
Feb 2012

Boo is a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer and MacArthur Genius recipient. Beautiful Forevers chronicles the lives of families striving for a better life in Mumbai.

Welcome to Utopia by Karen Valby
University of Texas Press
March 2012

The paperback will include a reader’s guide and a new afterword by the author. This was one of my favorite books of 2010 when I was with Random House and I am incredibly proud to have it in paper with University of Texas Press.

Enchantments by Katherine Harrison 

Random House
March 2012

Harrison is an incredibly talented writer; can not tell you how excited I am to read this.

The Expats by Chris Pavone
Random House
March 2012

This thriller is already generating tons of buzz – great quotes from John Grisham and Christopher Reich. I am
hearing this is impossible to put down.

Deep Zone by James Tabor
Random House
April 2012

A suspense novel from the author of one of my favorite nonfiction books, called Blind Descent, about cave diving, which was absolutely incredible. This book looks great.

Killer on the Road Violence and the American Interstate by Ginger Strand
UT Press
April 2012

Did we become more violent as we became more mobile? [I certainly did.] This is technically historical/cultural history but it reads like excellent true crime. It’s the story of American highways and highway killers. Sold!

Last Launch by Dan Winters
UT Press
May 2012

Dan Winters was one of only a handful of photographers to be invited to photograph the last launches of Discovery, Endeavour, and Atlantis. This book is gorgeous, filled with intimate images the general public has never really had an opportunity to see.

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
Random House
June 2012

Oh man oh man how I am looking forward to this book. From the author of the insanely good Sharp Objects and Dark Places, Flynn totally gets me.

Liz:

The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johnson

Random House

Jan 2012

I can't shut up about how much I love this book.  It's not only one of the best novels of the year, it's one of the best novels I'VE EVER READ.  Luckily for us, it goes on sale in just a couple of weeks, on 1/10/12.  Here's the trailer.

Mr. G by Alan Lightman

Random House

Jan 2012

Mr. G is God, and this is a creation story unlike any you'll ever read, from the author of Einstein's Dreams. 

What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank: Stories by Nathan Englander

Random House

Feb 2012

Nathan Englander is at his absolute best when he's writing short stories, such as his debut collection, For the Relief of Unbearable Urges.  This new collection has garnered advance praise from Michael Chabon, Geraldine Brooks, Tea Obreht, Dave Eggers, Jonathan Franzen, and well, a whole bunch of others.  Read their blurbs here.

Watergate by Thomas Mallon

Random House

Feb 2012

This historical fiction account of the Watergate scandal is outstanding!  Told from the perspectives of seven people involved, from both Pat and Richard Nixon to lesser known participants like Fred LaRue and Nixon's secretary, the book brings to life the circus and tragedy of the scandal.  It's a 20th Century Paradise Lost.

Gods Without Men by Hari Kunzru

Random House 

Mar 2012

An autistic child goes missing in Joshua Tree National Park.  Also, a religious cult awaits the end times/aliens.  Coyote legends.  UFOs. The American West.  They're all blended together in a terrific novel by the great Hari Kunzru.

Angelmaker by Nick Harkaway

Random House

Mar 2012

This novel from the author of The Gone-Away World is bad ass.  Monk ninjas, a doomsday machine, a World War II spy, the mob, a serial killer--Angelmaker is a Mr. Toad's Wild Ride of a novel (in the best of ways).

Wild by Cheryl Strayed

Random House

Mar 2012

Easily the most talked about book among booksellers that's coming in the next few months.  Strayed decided to hike the Pacific Crest Trail, alone, when she was in her 20's.  She was...under-prepared. What follows is the anti-Eat, Pray, Love, a memoir of discovery for the rest of us.

The Newlyweds by Nell Freudenberger

Random House

May 2012

Nell Freudenberger is a great writer, the kind who starts writing and you're immediately sucked into the story. Her newest novel involves a Bangladeshi woman who marries an American she meets online.

Top of the Rock by Warren Littlefield

Random House

May 2012

TV fans rejoice!  Littlefield was the head of NBC programming during the golden era of Must See TV, and here are the behind the scenes stories of shows like Cheers, Seinfeld, Friends, and ER.

Trapeze by Simon Mawer

Other Press

May 2012

I was a huge fan of Mawer's Man Booker Prize finalist novel, The Glass Room.  When I heard he had a new novel, I was giddy, and for good reason.  This new novel is wonderful--the story of a British woman spy dropped into occupied France during World War II.