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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Valley&State Backpage O&E Sports Archives Classifieds Faith&Beliefs Obituaries Revels July 29, 2004 Reader's Choices "Our Choice" book reviews are written by the the staff at local independent book stores. Reviews include older titles as well as new ones. Bloomsbury Booksellers 290 East Main Street Fiction and non-fiction picks o "KITE RUNNER," by Khaled Hosseini A beautifully written book about two boys from different socioeconomic backgrounds growing up in Afghanistan. A story of friendship and betrayal through the changing political climate of that country. After reading this book I could not start another for a couple of weeks--partly because the story stayed with me long after I put it down, and partly because I knew the next book couldn't possibly be as good.- Karen. Paperback, fiction, $14 o "STIFF," by Mary Roach Who knew what active and productive lives the dead can lead? I didn't. And you would think the perverted twelve-year old that I am would be well informed. Thank you Mary Roach! Cadavers have been used in testing car safety and forensic work. They have been harvested for organs, eaten, used for fertilizer and most importantly, have been used by plastic surgeons to practice on! Mary Roach has a great sense of humor. I wish I knew her. We'd have so much to laugh about! Death has so many opportunities for advancement. It never has to be boring again! - Christopher. Paperback, non-fiction $13.95 o "EVENTIDE," by Kent Haruf In "Plainsong," Haruf created a world - a small Colorado town - and we all loved his folk. Here he spares us our loss, going on with some familiar and some new characters in a wonderful sequel (that stands alone). - Sandra. Hardcover, fiction $24.95 o "EYRE AFFAIR," by Jasper Fforde For fans of both literary mysteries and literary science fiction this is truly unique and wonderful. Thursday Next is an outlandishly clever literary detective in search of Jane Eyre, who has been plucked from the pages of Bronte's novel. The characters are great, the writing is witty, and this is just so much fun. - Sheila. Paperback, fiction $14. o "WHY I WAKE EARLY," by Mary Oliver I can think of nothing better than a Mary Oliver "fix" first thing in the morning. Her delightful new poetry collection reiterates the theme all Oliver fans have come to love: "Lingering in happiness" is indeed possible as we pause in our days to reflect on the wonder and grace of the natural world.- Marilyn. Hardcover poetry $22. Shakespeare & Co. Books and Antiques 154 E. Main Street o "Grapes of Wrath," by John Steinbeck As Farm Security Administration photographs have come to define the Great Depression in images, "The Grapes of Wrath" has come to do so in words. Proletarian heroes are all but invisible in our literature today, but this proletarian novel spoke eloquently for the many "forgotten" men and women of the 1930s. It speaks to us still today. Praised and vilified alike, The "Grapes of Wrath" sold over three million copies and won the 1940 Pulitzer Prize for fiction. In 1962, to his apparent discomfort, John Steinbeck was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. o "To the Lighthouse, " by Virginia Woolf In "To the Lighthouse," Virginia Woolf used the multiple consciousness of her characters and passages contrasting interior and exterior time, among other innovative techniques, to create a penetrating novel about the relations between men and women, and about time and death. A growing body of criticism from recent decades has rescued "To the Lighthouse", and the rest of Woolf's work, from dismissal by a long line of baffled commentators who typically found her work overly personal and artificial, rather than, as many would agree today, original and perceptive. o "The Great Gatsby," by F. Scott Fitzgerald Flappers, bootleggers, lawn parties, and "crack-ups" -- the stuff of F. Scott Fitzgerald's life and fiction would define the 1920s as America's "Jazz Age." Early critics called his best-selling work "second rate," and when he died his books were out of print. But time has lifted Fitzgerald's third novel out of its period and into national consciousness."Gatsby believed in the green light," says narrator Nick Carraway, "the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us." Writes Lionel Trilling: Gatsby, divided between power and dream, comes inevitably to stand for America itself." Bookwagon New and Used Books 1652 Ashland St. o "The Story of King Arthur and his Knights," by Howard Pyle In this enchanting version of the story of King Arthur, the renowned American Illustrator and storyteller Howard Pyle displays his unique talent for capturing and stimulating the imaginations of the young. Inventively retold and vividly illustrated, these stories describe the perilous and thrilling adventures of King Arthur and his knights in that glorious age of chivalry and honor. - Carl. Paperback $4. o "Where Inspiration Lives," edited by John Miller and Aaron Kenedi From Larry McMurtry�s Bookstore to Eudora Welty's home in Jackson, Mississippi or the dark streets of New Orleans, which lend Anne Rice's vampire novels their Gothic mood. This book chronicles the workplaces, homes and hangouts of ten great writers. - Kirsten, Paperback $7.95 o "The Achievement Paradox: Test Your Personality & Choose Your Behavior for Success at Work," by Ronald A. Warren, Ph.D. Using the Assessment of Character Traits (ACT) Profile, the author helps you understand which of your personality traits, are assets and which get in your way. The book includes strategies for changing ineffective behaviors and emphasizing success traits. - Carl. Paperback $5.95 DailyTidings.com Home Page Valley&State | Backpage | O&E | Sports | Archives | Weather | Classifieds Columnists | Faith&Beliefs | Obituaries | Revels | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2004 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Click Here Site Search: .:Advertisements:. RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams