Max Baucus: 329-3123/DC#: 202 224-2651
Jon Tester: 728-3003*/DC#: 202 224-2644
* Tester’s office in Missoula is closed Tuesday and Wednesday.
Archive for September, 2008
The Best American [*] of 2008
Posted in Books with tags Best American Series on 22 September, 2008 by S&Co.
In stock!
Oh boy.
Posted in News on 22 September, 2008 by S&Co.As reported by Democracy Now today:
Army Unit to Deploy in October for Domestic Operations
Beginning in October, the Army plans to station an active unit inside the United States for the first time to serve as an on-call federal response in times of emergency. The 3rd Infantry Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team has spent thirty-five of the last sixty months in Iraq, but now the unit is training for domestic operations. The unit will soon be under the day-to-day control of US Army North, the Army service component of Northern Command. The Army Times reports this new mission marks the first time an active unit has been given a dedicated assignment to Northern Command. The paper says the Army unit may be called upon to help with civil unrest and crowd control. The soldiers are learning to use so-called nonlethal weapons designed to subdue unruly or dangerous individuals and crowds.
Chuck’s Word = Gospel
Posted in Books, News with tags Chuck Klosterman, Downtown Owl on 21 September, 2008 by Karen!
I often (figuratively) shove the books I love down the throats of those who are willing to be pushed around by my literary preferences. Last summer I lent a friend “Killing Yourself to Live”, Klosterman’s junior effort, and, four months later, it was returned to me along with the complaint that Chuck was just “too witty”.What is the moral of this story, you ask? The moral is that anyone who does not love Chuck Klosterman is the enemy.
But ANYWAY, Klosterman’s fifth book, “Downtown Owl” just hit the shelves, and what differentiates it from all of his other masterpieces is that this one is (supposedly) entirely fiction. The novel chronicles the lives of three residents of Owl, a tiny town “somewhere in North Dakota”, where pop culture is largely nonexistent and alcoholism reigns.
Told in the third person omniscient perspective with each chapter devoted to one of the three main characters (with a few exceptions), Chuck can’t help but let his personal voice bleed into Mitch, Julia, and Horace, making “Downtown Owl” more similar to his other works than Klosterman would probably like to admit. Stylistically, there is very little difference. Acerbic wit, blase tone, excessive parenthetical offshoots. It all smacks of classic Klosterman.
I would also venture to guess that much of “Downtown Owl”, while not hard fact, is probably based on many of Klosterman’s own real experiences. He did, after all, grow up in Fargo, North Dakota.
So, go pick up “Downtown Owl”, and everything else ever penned by Klosterman, if you know what’s good for you. You don’t want to be labeled the enemy, do you?
A Brain-Dead Lame Duck in the White House
Posted in News on 21 September, 2008 by S&Co.William Greider writes.
“If Wall Street gets away with this, it will represent an historic swindle of the American public.”
Crumley in the New York Times
Posted in News on 20 September, 2008 by S&Co.Crumley’s obit.
What a week.
Events out there in the world seem more enfrazzling (?) than ever.
Tomorrow (Sunday), staffer Karen will blog about Chuck Klosterman’s new book — Downtown Owl. It is Chuck’s first novel, and Karen does know her Chuck.
In other news, Oprah Winfrey chose The Story of Edgar Sawtelle as her book club pick, saying: “I think this book is right up there with the greatest American novels ever written, I really do.”
Well, The Story of Edgar Sawtelle is not by any stretch a great American novel. In fact it is a bad American novel. Really bad.
Oprah’s got her head up her ass.
On Sale 9/20 – $15 – CHEAPER – GODDAMMIT – THAN AMAZON
Posted in News with tags Brisingr on 19 September, 2008 by S&Co.
Only $15 — while supplies last.
James Crumley, 1939-2008
Posted in News with tags James Crumley on 18 September, 2008 by S&Co.
“Except for the bread and the coffee, yuppies are ruining the world.”
- Jim Crumley, The Missoula Independent, 3/6/2008
Read news of Crumley’s death here and here.
And a note of remembrance here.
Although we did not know Jim well, he was always a friend of the shop, stopping to sign books whenever he was asked. We saw Jim read at least twice, and of course passed him at the bar many times. He was a legend. His voice, and his presence, are irreplaceable. His books, of course, are admired around the world. From south Texas, Crumley loved the song “El Paso” by Marty Robbins. Whenever he would show up at a Bob Wire & the Fencemenders show, he would ask us to play it for him, and we always obliged.
He will be greatly missed. Our condolences go out to his wife, Martha Elizabeth, and all of those who knew and loved Jim Crumley.
The Most Powerful of Sovereigns
Posted in Books, Excerpts with tags loneliness, solitude on 17 September, 2008 by Jenna
Brand new and IN STOCK:
A reflection on the state-of-being we all at some point experience: loneliness. Thomas Dumm dissects the feeling of loneliness through philosophy, politics, literature, and drama, and in doing so, shows how loneliness permeates modern individuals and shapes our world. I have literally only paged through this for two or three minutes, but I have already found some golden nuggets of philosophy to turn around my brain until I can read the whole thing.
The word “alone” is formed of the compound of two words, “all” and “one.” … Floating through undifferentiated space, and yet pregnant with a sense of self, we fly into a universe both unmarked and yet totally defined. We are motivated; we are lost in space. “I am all one,” we say, triumphant and desperate. The All One condemns us to being no more than a weed in the wall at the same time as it allows us to be the most powerful of sovereigns.
Loneliness as a Way of Life, by Thomas Dumm (Harvard, $23.95)
Where Penguins Live
Posted in Books, News, Opinion on 16 September, 2008 by S&Co.
We got our annual big-ass shipment of Penguins in about a week ago — and I don’t just mean the classics, I mean everything. The store right now is chock full in the way it is only chock full between September and, say, February: as full as it’s usually gonna get. The selection may be overwhelming — if you are susceptible to that sort of thing. That’s what we go for here: overwhelmance. That may not be a word, and if it isn’t, I don’t care.
We’ve gotten some e-mails about David Foster Wallace. Oddly enough I sold a copy of The Girl With Curious Hair the day of the night the news of his Wallace’s death broke. That is, I think the news had not yet broken when I sold that book to that kid. I was–am–a fan of Wallace’s stuff, perhaps most especially his essays. (Usually if a writer is doing any essays at all it will be my favorite thing, because it is the most personal form of address.) I remember well his piece about the Illinois State Fair — perhaps one of the funniest essays published in America in the last twenty years, and worth seeking out all by itself. If you have a recollection of Wallace or his work, we invite you to post a comment. News of his death is being felt worldwide.
Fall releases are coming in, and some in-store events are scheduled: a bird expert (Tim Gallagher), a writer/distance-runner (Rachel Toor), and a local novelist (David Allan Cates)! Away from the store, we will be involved in Bioneers and the Montana Festival of the Book. Great things to look forward to.
