Park Hill Community Bookstore suggests titles both whimsical and serious
The Park Hill Community Bookstore in Denver recommends a tale of still life that won't hold still, a Sinclair Lewis classic and a humorous take on lonely hearts.
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Each week as part of SunLit — The Sun’s literature section — we feature staff recommendations from book stores across Colorado. This week, the staff from Park Hill Community Bookstore in Denver recommends a fun book about still life that won’t hold still, a Sinclair Lewis classic and a humorous take on lonely hearts.
Still Life
By Alex London (Author), Paul O. Zelinsky (Illustrator)
Greenwillow Books
List price depends on seller; PHCB Price: $3 PB/$5 HC if available
September 2024
Purchase: In store only
From the publisher: Every young artist has drawn or painted a still life scene. Perhaps it is a bowl of fruit, or a toy, or a vase of flowers, or a chair. The only rule is that a still life painting must stay still. But staying still is hard! Especially for a curious mouse and a hungry dragon and a no-nonsense princess. Will the artist notice that his still life painting is breaking all the rules?
From award-winning author Alex London and Caldecott Medal–winning artist Paul O. Zelinsky, “Still Life” is a funny, subversive, and clever picture book that brings a painting to wildly imaginative life. Readers will pore over all the silly and surprising details in the illustrations — which tell a story of daring rescues, dashing heroes, and found friends.
From Linda Baie, volunteer coordinator: With the driest of humor and the most intriguing and inventive illustrations, Alex London and Paul O. Zelinsky have created a book for quiet viewing while smiling a lot and then laughing out loud. Most of us readers know what a still life is, however, discovering also what it is not, what it does not do, lies in the hilarity of their new book. Remember, when a candle is placed into a still life, “The candle does not flicker, glow, or drip.” There is more, and I would love to read this aloud! Be sure to find this book!
It Can’t Happen Here
By Sinclair Lewis
Doubleday, Doran and Company
List price depends on seller; PHCB Price: $3 PB/$5 HC if available
October 1935
Purchase: In store only
From the publisher: “It Can’t Happen Here” is the only one of Sinclair Lewis’s later novels to match the power of “Main Street,” “Babbitt” and “Arrowsmith.” A cautionary tale about the fragility of democracy, it is an alarming, eerily timeless look at how fascism could take hold in America.
Written during the Great Depression, when the country was largely oblivious to Hitler’s aggression, it juxtaposes sharp political satire with the chillingly realistic rise of a president who becomes a dictator to save the nation from welfare cheats, sex, crime, and a liberal press. Called “a message to thinking Americans” by the Springfield Republican when it was published in 1935, “It Can’t Happen Here” is a shockingly prescient novel that remains as fresh and contemporary as today’s news.
From Sheryl Hartmann, membership coordinator: This book was written in 1935 when Hitler was coming to power in Germany and people like Louisiana senator Huey Long and radio priest Charles Coughlin were spreading facist ideas in the U.S. The presidential candidate in the book is Berzelius “Buzz” Windrip and his campaign platform echoes much of what Long and Coughlin were advocating at the time — redistributing the national wealth and stirring up hatred for immigrants, Black Americans, and Jews. Some say this book echoes our current political era so I guess you’ll have to read it and decide for yourself.
The Slaves of Solitude
By Patrick Hamilton
Constable (UK)
Prices vary by seller; PHCB Price: $3 PB/$5 HC if available
1947
Purchase: In store only
From the publisher: England in the middle of World War II, a war that seems fated to go on forever, a war that has become a way of life. Heroic resistance is old hat. Everything is in short supply, and tempers are even shorter. Overwhelmed by the terrors and rigors of the Blitz, middle-aged Miss Roach has retreated to the relative safety and stupefying boredom of the suburban town of Thames Lockdon, where she rents a room in a boarding house run by Mrs. Payne.
There the savvy, sensible, decent, but all-too-meek Miss Roach endures the dinner-table interrogations of Mr. Thwaites and seeks to relieve her solitude by going out drinking and necking with a wayward American lieutenant. Life is almost bearable until Vicki Kugelmann, a seeming friend, moves into the adjacent room. That’s when Miss Roach’s troubles really begin. Recounting an epic battle of wills in the claustrophobic confines of the boarding house, this book, with a delightfully improbable heroine, is one of the finest and funniest ever written about the trials of a lonely heart.
From Sheryl Hartmann, membership coordinator: If you like characters who are polite (but in a prickly, combative, nasty way), this book is for you. These characters are also very funny. The author, Patrick Hamilton, wrote the plays “Rope” and “Gaslight” which were made into movies by Alfred Hitchcock. The book was reissued in 2007 by NYRB Classics, which is a “. . . series is dedicated to publishing an eclectic mix of fiction and nonfiction from different eras and times and of various sorts. Many of these titles are works in translation and almost all feature an introduction by an outstanding writer, scholar, or critic of our day.” I recommend not only this book but suggest taking a look at other books in the series which can be found at: https://www.nyrb.com/collections/classics.
THIS WEEK’S BOOK RECS COME FROM:
Park Hill Community Bookstore
4620 E 23rd Ave, Denver
(303) 355-8508
As part of The Colorado Sun’s literature section — SunLit — we’re featuring staff picks from book stores across the state. Read more.
