Monday, June 4, 2007

Keeping the Com-Lines Open

I'm sleepy, so I'm going to "cheat" tonight. Instead of writing, I'm reading, and it's reading that, in the end, is designed to make me a better bookseller to you.

Join me in reading Salon magazine's summer reading recommendations. I will tell you this - I'm listening to Dick Estell on NPR's Radio Reader while alternately browsing the Web and reading the first recommended book on Salon's list. I'm halfway through The Book of Air and Shadows, by Michael Gruber from HarperCollins. It is very, very good...the book Dan Brown (Da Vinci Code) wishes he could write. I just finished reading The Fabric of America, about the way that government and the mapping of boundaries was an essential part of America's frontier expansion. For a history of the U.S. from 1780 to 1850, you'd be hard-pressed to learn more from between the covers of a single book. It synthesizes nuggets from many of my favorite history books over the past few years and provided new insights into the character of the founders.

Read the Salon piece here.

NOTE: Salon is ostensibly a "premium" site. If you have any problems accessing the link, just type in www.salon.com and sit through 15 seconds of advertising to gain a site pass.

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