Employee Recommends

The brilliant part of loving to read and working in a large used bookstore is that our shelves aren’t limited by current publishing trends and each co-worker appreciates a different genre. When we recommend books to each other and to you, the suggestion isn’t based on a marketing campaign but a true appreciation for the book. We always have Employee Recommends displays because it gives us a chance to talk about what we love to do. Today we share a few of our current Employee Recommends and explain why these books appeal to us.

Let’s start with a novel that crosses over genres but should appeal most to our Steampunk friends, The Glass Book of the Dream Eaters by Gordon Dahlquist. This book begins with the broken engagement of Roger Bascombe to Miss Temple. We don’t learn her first name until later, a detail that mirrors her descent into a world of depravity and degradation. Miss Temple battles a powerful cabal with plans for world domination via an astounding science fiction/fantasy creation. This shocking work keeps readers guessing as plots and counter plots twist and turn. Nothing is what it seems. Lush, decadent and thoroughly evil characters perpetrate dastardly deeds in a re-imagined past full of wicked inventions.

Anne Rice is a sentimental favorite. We recommend The Witching Hour for an alternative to her vampire chronicles. This gothic horror novel places readers among a dynasty of witches. The detailed, dramatic, suspenseful and romantic tale spans generations. Rice’s research is meticulous as she provides a poetic description of her native New Orleans and its ghosts.

Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis is a re-imagining of the Cupid and Psyche myth. In this timeless tale readers meet two princesses and learn of their struggles. We like this book because retelling classic stories makes them more accessible and this particular magical tale fascinates us.

For a laugh we recommend Jenny Lawson’s Let’s Pretend this Never Happened. Billed as a “mostly true memoir”, Lawson writes about her journey from childhood on to adulthood. It covers “terribly human moments” with humor and candor. We love that even when emotional upset looms, Lawson provides relief through laughter. Lawson’s follow-up memoir, Furiously Happy, delves deeper into her experience with depression and anxiety. We recommend it for people who love her first book, though it is weightier in comparison. We also recommend Lawson’s blog The Bloggess.

No Bookmans Employee Recommends list is complete without Douglas Adams’s The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. This timeless work covers all of human (and nonhuman) experience as readers journey with Arthur Dent through the cosmos after the unfortunate destruction of his home planet, Earth. It is difficult to encapsulate this work because it covers everything from God to Gillford based gnats and their knowledge of Peking. Read it, you won’t be sorry.

In Wallace Stegner’s Angle of Repose, readers follow Lyman Ward, a historian whose confinement to a wheelchair inspires him to learn more about his family history. Ward sets out on a journey of the American West as his grandparents carve out a civilization. This little known history of the American West is a look into a family that leads to self discovery.

We also have Employee Recommends for younger readers. The Day My Butt Went Psycho by Andy Girffiths tells the story of  an invasion of earth, butts and volcanoes. This is the perfect book for any 9-year-old who claims to not like reading. This book changes the way reluctant readers feel about books.

We hope you have a chance to check out our Employee Recommends displays. If you’re feeling adventurous, take a look at our Love of Reading Blind Date with a Book displays that are up at most Bookmans locations through the end of February. We disguised books to so they can’t be judged by their covers. Now you can go on your date without any preconceived notions.

Enjoy reading this and every month. If you are looking for something different, ask us for a recommendation. We are always happy to suggest titles. We really do love books!

* Bookmans is your store to explore. If you would like to pick up one of these Bookmans Recommends books or any specific title, please give us a call and we will check our shelves for you. Otherwise, we hope you will come and browse.