The Rabbit Hole USA

We had a good time with C.R. Lindemer, author of Beauly the Donkey-Mooing Beltie, on Saturday. It is a great children’s book from a local author. She left here to head out to Vermont for another signing, and we hope she had success there also. We still have signed copies in stock. You can watch a trailer for the book below:

Metropole: More Kafkaesque than Kafka

Metropole is a 2008 English translation of the Hungarian author’s 1970 novel. The word “Kafkaesque” doesn’t do justice to this novel. It is not “esque,” it is more Kafkaesque than Kafka. What is it about Central Europe?

Metropole depicts a waking nightmare. A Hungarian linguist named Budai boards a plane to travel to a linguistics conference in Helskinki. He falls asleep in flight and wakes up when the passengers are deplaned in a strange city. Not Helsinki. The passengers are taken to a hotel where the protagonist, despite knowing ten languages, cannot make any sense of the spoken or written language. Nor can he find anyone who speaks any of the languages he does. They don’t use Roman letters but luckily they use Arabic numerals. At the registration desk they take his passport, and they can’t understand a word he says when he asks for it back. Budai is given a room and some local currency in exchange for what cash he has and the story begins.

The city is large and crowded with aggravated, unpleasant people. The people are of recognizably mixed racial types and wear recognizable clothing. The food is similar but all has a sickly sweet taste as do their alcoholic beverages. Budai can find no airports or any place that will have people speaking recognizable languages. There are churches but of no recognizable religion.

The hotel room gives Budai a comfortable base from which to explore and try to find a way out. What will happen when his money runs out? Will he ever make it back home? I won’t spoil it for you.

Metropole is a well-written, readable yet highly disturbing allegory. The Cold War Eastern Bloc origins of the novel are obvious. But the fact that it disturbs us today speaks to something about the human condition that hasn’t changed.

For the Buddhists or those interested in Buddhism, there is a new translation of The Lotus Sutra by Gene Reeves. It is not necesserily for scholars, and instead focuses on readability for a modern audience who may not have a technical Buddhist vocabulry.

We still have some signed copies of Ann Brashares’ book in stock - 3 Willows: The Sisterhood Grows. Another title in the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series. This book is geared toward younger readers, but really for fans of the series of all ages. Publishers Weekly said, “Brashares gets her characters’ emotions and interactions just right.”

I had to ask myself why did I like reading the Scott Pilgrim series so much. Is it because it is awesome? Well, yeah. Did I learn anything? Well…Not in the sense of hard science or where Turkmenistan is located geographically.

Scott Pilgrim is a lucky guy, who falls in love, and then must fight off his love’s evil boyfriends as they pop in and out of the story. Much of the story involves Ninjas, subspace doors, Indie rock bands, friends and underemployed roommates. Will these books change your life? If you need some fun, then yes.

Plus, Edgar Wright is directing a movie based on the series. He’s the guy who brought us Sean of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. If you don’t know anything about those movies, then these comics may not be for you.

The AV Club writes:

[T]here’s much more to Scott Pilgrim than simple hipness. Dovetailing romance, comedy, martial arts, and science fiction with a cartoony style that draws from manga and video games, the series began in 2004 after O’Malley’s beautiful, brooding debut Lost At Sea sank without a trace. Scott Pilgrim‘s vivid energy quickly drew attention: Revolving around the titular hero—a hapless twentysomething who must battle his girlfriend’s evil ex-boyfriends while learning to cope with a gay roommate, a struggling band, and the looming responsibilities of adulthood—the book sweetly balances silly fantasy with tangible drama and consequence.

We are currently stocking Daniel L. Everett’s fascinating book Don’t Sleep, There are Snakes: Life and Language in the Amazonian Jungle. We would recommend the book for those who enjoy reading about current, intellectual issues, linguistics and/or anthropology.

Here is the blurb:

A riveting account of the astonishing experiences and discoveries made by linguist Daniel Everett while he lived with the Pirahã, a small tribe of Amazonian Indians in central Brazil.

Everett, then a Christian missionary, arrived among the Pirahã in 1977–with his wife and three young children–intending to convert them. What he found was a language that defies all existing linguistic theories and reflects a way of life that evades contemporary understanding: The Pirahã have no counting system and no fixed terms for color. They have no concept of war or of personal property. They live entirely in the present. Everett became obsessed with their language and its cultural and linguistic implications, and with the remarkable contentment with which they live–so much so that he eventually lost his faith in the God he’d hoped to introduce to them.

Over three decades, Everett spent a total of seven years among the Pirahã, and his account of this lasting sojourn is an engrossing exploration of language that questions modern linguistic theory. It is also an anthropological investigation, an adventure story, and a riveting memoir of a life profoundly affected by exposure to a different culture. Written with extraordinary acuity, sensitivity, and openness, it is fascinating from first to last, rich with unparalleled insight into the nature of language, thought, and life itself.

Everett believes that Pirahã undermines Noam Chomsky’s idea of a universal grammar. The New Yorker has one of the most substantive articles about his work: The Interpreter: Has a remote Amazonian tribe upended our understanding of language?

“Xaói hi gáísai xigíaihiabisaoaxái ti xabiíhai hiatíihi xigío hoíhi,” Everett said in the tongue’s choppy staccato, introducing me as someone who would be “staying for a short time” in the village. The men and women answered in an echoing chorus, “Xaói hi goó kaisigíaihí xapagáiso.”

Everett turned to me. “They want to know what you’re called in ‘crooked head.’ ”

“Crooked head” is the tribe’s term for any language that is not Pirahã, and it is a clear pejorative. The Pirahã consider all forms of human discourse other than their own to be laughably inferior, and they are unique among Amazonian peoples in remaining monolingual…

Already read Dreams from My Father, and you still want more Obama ? Today, the Inaugural Address and the poem for his inauguration by Elizabeth Alexander arrived. Along with Change Has Come: An Artist Celebrates Our American Spirit:

Also The Moon Over Star is back in stock, which is the book the President and First Lady read in their first grade school reading:

We plan on having D.B. Johnson here sometime in April, after his new book is released. We make sure to keep his excellent children’s books in stock: Henry Hikes to Fitchburg and Henry Climbs a Mountain. Here is the trailer for the new book, Henry’s Night:

Just a quick note to say that a few used copies of Stephenie Meyers’ Twilight and Eclipse have arrived. We can’t hold these in reserve for anyone, and they won’t last long. We also have new copies in stock.

If you need last minute Valentine gifts for this Saturday, I just wanted to let you know we stock lots of one of a kind artisan jewelry, ceramic heart shaped boxes, etc.

For the rest of you guys, we have the below book in stock.