"A novel is just a short story that hasn't yet discovered a way to be brief . . ."
--George Saunders
YOUR CHECKLIST FOR NEW MICHIGAN SUMMER TITLES:
A 1000 Mile Great Lakes Walk (9781933987217) 16.95 Niewenhuis
Canoeing Michigan Rivers 3rd (9781933272337) 16.95 Dennis
Haunted Michigan 3 (9781933272375) 15.95 Hunter
What I Saw on Mackinac (9781933272368) 10.95 Powell
Invaders of the Great Lakes (9781591932925) 6.95 Wildlife Forever
Belle Isle to 8 Mile (9781467557528) 22.00 Linn
Know Your Ships 2013 (9781891849169) 18.95 Lelievre
Great Lakes Cold Case Files (9781892384652) 17.95 Kadar
Shipwrecks!! (9781892384683) 17.95 Oleszewski
The Way North (9780814338650) 18.95 Reikki
Hard Ground (9780762781263) 16.95 Heywood
The Skeleton Box (9781451650303) 16.00 Gruley
Views of Michigan (9781933272351) 19.95 Thunder Bay
Cruelest Month (9781478358145) 15.95 Stander
The Gales of November (9780989284608) 14.99 Benson
1) JUNGLE LOVE . . . For me, nothing says summer in Michigan like an excursion to Pine Knob to see one of my favourite bands. Back in the day, you could pick up a cheap $10 ticket for 'The Hill', bring your own six-pack of Detroit's own Strohs, and dig the groovy sounds of Lynyrd Skynyrd or Crosby, Stills, and Nash. Good times. In Steve Miller's Detroit Rock City: The Uncensored History of Rock 'N' Roll in America's Loudest City (9780306820656) 16.99, you can now surreptitiously relive those days. I remember the warm up act Iggy Pop getting booed offstage by Rolling Stones' fans at the Silverdome on the Tattoo You Tour. And who can forget the stench of stale cigarrettes and even staler beer at Harpos, which was a mecca for many local up and coming bands? I can assure you that Dad would love to get this book for Father's Day . . .
2) TAKE THE MONEY AND RUN . . . I caught the tail end of Transformers last Sunday (in anticipation of seeing the season premiere of Falling Skies), and there's a wonderful little snippet during the credits where two of the parents are being interviewed. The husband says something about how the American government would never lie to us. His wife concurrs and says we're protected from duplicity by 'the powers that be' since we have our freedoms. With the NSA squabble going on right now, it felt a bit ironic. Consequently, George Orwell's 1984 (9780451524935) 9.99, one of my favourite books, has hit the bestseller lists again. I don't think I have to connect the dots for you . . .
Odds & Sods
As a science fiction geek, I was saddened to learn that Iain Banks passed away this past week. He was always one of those authors that I've meant to read, but it never seemed to happen. Fellow geeks swear by his Culture series and they use words like smart, clever, and brilliant to describe it. He will be missed . . .
William Gass' Middle C (9780307701633) 28.95 was recently reviewed in The New York Times and it piqued my curiosity. Again, another one of those authors I should have read by now. So no time like the present, eh? He is definitely a writer's writer. His sentence structure is impeccable. His word choices are wonderful. I think I'm in love . . .
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