Home » Staff Picks

Tom's Picks

Tom - Resident Artistic Genius

Bio 

I’m most attracted to well crafted, courageous prose; the subject matter is less important.

 

Reading History (lots of gaps):

Ages 1-13: Winnie the Pooh, The Boy Who Got Mailed, The Little Engine That Could, the Hardy Boys series.

Ages 13-18: Ian Fleming (James Bond), Hermann Hesse, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Ayn Rand, Richard Brautigan

Ages 18-present: Paul Theroux, Bernard Malamud, John Steinbeck, James Herriott, Ken Kesey

Lady Sings the Blues the 50th Anniversary Edition (Paperback)

By Billie Holiday, William Dufty, David Ritz
$15.95
ISBN-13: 9780767923866
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Three Rivers Press, 6/2006
Other Editions of this Title
Written with William Dufty, this is the story of Billie Holiday from her point of view. It presents an eye opening take on big eastern city America in the 1920's and beyond (from someone who had it pretty tough) and how her voice helped her out of a tight spot. The prose moves rapidly along; easy reading, great story.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Mass Market Paperback)

By Mark Twain
$5.95
ISBN-13: 9780553210798
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Bantam Classics, 2/1981
Considered by some to be a top contender for the "Great American Novel', it covers a lot of ground: friendship; slavery; racial relations; child neglect and abuse; class distinction; early manhood; and life on the Mississippi, 19th century.

West with the Night (Paperback)

By Beryl Markham
$16.00
ISBN-13: 9780865471184
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: North Point Press, 1/1982
Other Editions of this Title
Out of print after first printing. Praised much later by Hemingway and therefore reprinted. Shelved as a memoir. Also works as short stories set in Africa. Magnificent prose.


Hard Times (Mass Market Paperback)

By Charles Dickens
$4.95
ISBN-13: 9781416523734
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Simon & Schuster, 1/2007
Set in industrial Britain the author portrays the affects of "progress" through descriptions of the city and a handful of its characters.The prose is delightful and entertaining; the dynamic between characters intriguing; the controversy involving "heart" and "mind" thought provoking. One also gains insight into the moral feeling of the author.

The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (Paperback)

By Carson McCullers
$13.95
ISBN-13: 9780618526413
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Mariner Books, 4/2004
Other Editions of this Title
I had the feeling I was a spirit. Floating through a Southern town, getting the gist of some of its occupants. Beautifully pyschological.

Kidnapped (TV tie-in) (Paperback)

By Robert Louis Stevenson, Donald McFarlan, Donald McFarlan
$8.00
ISBN-13: 9780143039402
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Penguin Classics, 9/2005

Settle into your reading and smell sea salt; feel the cold grip of a dark scottish castle; experience life in the highlands during the Jacobite Rebellion.

  • del.icio.us
  • Digg
  • Facebook
  • Furl
  • Google
  • Icerocket
  • Magnoliacom
  • Newsvine
  • Propeller
  • Reddit
  • StumbleUpon
  • Technorati
  • Yahoo