Greetings from Three Lives & Company, New York

As the buds on the trees blossom, so too do the number of books on our shelves, or so it seems.  Here at the shop we're excited to welcome in the latest season, and Poetry Month.  We hope you enjoy our most recent recommendations, and look forward to seeing you all soon.

Happy spring, happy reading! 

OUR RECENT STAFF FAVORITES:

Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?

by Jeanette Winterson 

One glowing review after the other drew me to Jeanette Winterson's small treasure of a memoir.  Winterson tells the story of her adoptive mother (an instant classic character--amazing!) and her reflections on being an adoptee in this briskly written, fast paced, and utterly bitter-less memoir.  These two women are both powerful personalities, but different as night and day, and their skirmishes in their tiny working class house are a matter of life and death.  The insights Winterson gains--and shares--from this relationship are a gift.  Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? is by far my favorite of her books, and quite possibly one of my favorites of the year.  (Grove)

At Last 

by Edward St. Aubyn

The final, and fourth, book about the acerbic, darkly witty, and deeply unhappy Patrick Melrose is a delight from the very first sentence.  Make it a point to come in and read just that and you're likely to launch right in.  The previous books with Patrick as our hero (anti-hero?) are now available in one paperback volume, which includes Never Mind, Bad News, Some Hope, and Mother's Milk (Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize), and are well worth reading for the backstory though they are not essential to enjoying At Last.  St. Aubyn is a very, very smart and perceptive man, and a highly gifted writer.  At Last shimmers with wit, insight, and the type of dialogue that can take your breath away.  (Farrar, Straus & Giroux)

What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank

by Nathan Englander
Don't let the title scare you off, because this collection of short stories, by the author of For The Relief of Unbearable Urges, is not to be missed!  With writing that envelops and mesmerizes, Englander presents tales of ordinary human beings whose lives are upended or transformed by small, dark moments.  I found this collection to be unsettling and deeply thought-provoking: these stories deserve to be read over and over again.  (Knopf)

The Untouchable 

by John Banville

Have you ever read a book so good that you've been pulled, despite that pile of books at your bedside, to immediately read others by the same author?  What a pleasure it was to read my first ever John Banville book on the heels of seeing Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy at the movies!   Banville's fictionalized version of the infamous gay spy ring in World War II's Great Britain is a retelling of Anthony Blount's life.  Told from Blount's point of view after his public "outing" as a spy by Maggie Thatcher in 1979, this novel reads like a thriller.   Wonderful!  (Vintage)

Jack Holmes & His Friend

by Edmund White

Edmund White does it again in his new novel Jack Holmes & His Friend.  He introduces us to Jack and Will, one gay, the other straight, who, just arriving in a “Mad Men-esque” New York City, strike up a life long friendship.  The West Village, Midtown, and the office of a small literary magazine are brought vividly to life.  But like the city, these men must change and grow, as they are influenced and inspired by mercurial events and people around them.  White does here what he does best: he explores the change from within, showing us how desire and the world collide, and create the person we become.  (Bloomsbury)

The Orphan Master's Son

by Adam Johnson 

After reading Michiko Kakutani's review in the New York Times, I instantly had to read this book.  And what a read it is!  With great narrative drive, it's fast paced and enormously entertaining despite its dark (often very dark) subject matter.  The four-hundred-plus pages whisked by before I was ready, prompting me to turn to a non-fiction followup (see below) on North Korea.  In Nothing to Envy I learned that much of the horror of modern day North Korea is not a product of the author's imagination alone, alas.   But what an imagination Adam Johnson has!  And what skill he shows in so expertly juggling three separate narratives of his tale!  It's hard to say that a book that's often so dark is also an exceptionally fun book to read, but say it I will.  What a read!!  (Random House)

Nothing to Envy 

by Barbara Demick

This fascinating non-fiction account of current life in North Korea is told in an engaging and deeply humanistic style by Barbara Demick, a reporter for the Los Angeles Times.  Since talking with North Koreans within the country itself is not possible, Ms. Demick interviewed almost two-hundered people who managed to flee to South Korea against all odds, and wove their stories together with an able hand.  From humble laborer to physician, from people who supported the regime wholeheartedly to those who opposed it, these Koreans' stories as recounted by Ms. Demick ring true, and we learn what daily life is like in one of the least understood, and most oppressive, places on earth.  (Spiegel & Grau)

(Sic ): A Memoir

by Joshua Cody

This is a bravura non-fiction account, told in pyrotechnical prose, about the sudden diagnosis of cancer and subsequent treatments, of a young composer living in New York City.  The reviews for the book were all so strong that I got over my initial resistance to it ("will this make me sad?") and began to read.  By the second page it had enraptured me.  I would recommend this to anyone interested in great writing, and to anyone who needs to feel less isolated after receiving a diagnosis.  Wonderful.  (W.W. Norton)

How It All Began

by Penelope Lively

Chaos theory, the consequences that flow from a single event, a butterfly fluttering its wings in the Amazon--these make up the subject of Penelope Lively's newest novel.  When elderly Charlotte is mugged, the dominos begin to topple and a classic comedy begins.  Ms. Lively is one of those English woman writers of a "certain age" who is an acute observer of the human condition.   A completely satisfying novel brimming with charm and wit.  (Viking)

The Last Holiday: A Memoir

by Gil Scott-Heron

By his death at age sixty-two in May 2011, Gil Scott-Heron--the man who informed the world that "the revolution will not be televised"--had been a prime influence in poetry and music for several decades. This posthumously-published autobiography illuminates the life of the artist and civil rights activist with humor and humility, fleshing out the portrait of a man known best for his struggles against the insular systems of mid-century America. True to his poetic roots, Scott-Heron's memoir delivers punchy, terse prose wrapped in wordplay, but it's the author's unguarded moments--his early failures and haphazard relationships--that make his story compelling.  (Grove)

Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking

by Susan Cain

Cain's well-researched manifesto on the benefits (and drawbacks) of introversion subverts a common American ideal--that of the brash, charismatic self-starter. The author interviews psychology experts, attends self-help seminars on how to step into society's limelight, and recounts the stories of remarkable men and women who have shaped history without betraying their true, introverted selves. Most surprisingly, Cain argues that many of our culture's cherished extrovert-friendly business practices--brainstorming, group meetings and projects--may actually repress creativity and waste the talents of a large fraction of society. For anyone who shares Cain's aversion to small talk and her need to recharge after social interactions, Quiet's anecdotes will be immediately familiar and encouraging.  (Crown)

Three Lives & Company, Booksellers
154 W 10 Street
NY  NY  10014
212.741.2069

Hours:
Monday and Tuesday 11am-8pm
Wednesday-Saturday 11am-8:30pm
Sunday Noon-7pm

www.threelives.com

subway:
A/C/E or B/D/F/V - W 4th St
1 - Christopher St/Sheridan Sq