| We'll have to wait a little longer for John Bolton's tell-all book
| |
|
|
|
|
| The Thread's Must-Read | 
"Parnassus on Wheels"
by Christopher Morley
Buy this book
I don’t often dip way back into the early 20th century to recommend a book, but Christopher Morley’s “Parnassus on Wheels” is so charming and delightful, it should be discovered anew.
It’s the story of Helen McGill — stuffy, prim, unmarried (in her day she would’ve been known as a spinster) — and her uncharacteristically impulsive decision to buy a bookshop on wheels.
Which means this is also a quest and a road novel; Helen, Roger — the man she bought Parnasssus from — and his horse and dog, hit the highway to bring a love of literature to the unenlightened villages of New England.
Listen to what Helen sees as she gets her first glimpse of the inside of Parnassus:
“I must admit that Mr. Roger Mifflin had fixed up his van mighty comfortably inside. The body of the wagon was built out on each side over the wheels, which gave it an unwieldy appearance but made extra room for the bookshelves. On one side, he had a little oil stove, a flap table and a cozy-looking bunk above which was built a kind of chest of drawers. On the other side, more bookshelves, a small table and a little wicker easy chair.”
Makes you want to ditch it all, slip behind the wheel of an old Airstream and head out for parts unknown, doesn’t it?
My second book about books is a suspenseful YA novel by Rachel Caine called “Ink and Bone.” Here’s the setup: What if the Great Library of Alexandria hadn’t disappeared but had survived to acquire the masterworks of the centuries? And what if the Library itself had an intelligence that allowed it to grow ever more controlling about it’s knowledge? It’s willing to share that knowledge but in this dystopian future, no one else is permitted to own a book.
Enter Jess Brightwell, the son of book smugglers — people who buy and sell books on the black market — and the hero who will challenge the Library’s hold on power.
Listen to this scene as Jess’s father warns him about what will happen if he’s caught concealing a book for a buyer: “Lose that book to the Garda and you’ll hang, if you’re lucky. If I don’t get you first. You know the route. Run it flat and fair and you’d best damn well die before you give it to anyone but the one that’s paid for it.”
Jess knows these aren’t idle words. His 17-year-old brother Liam had been arrested and hanged for book smuggling.
The best part about “Ink and Bone”: if your young readers are captivated by it, there are four more books in the Great Library series!
-Kerri Miller |
|
|
|
|
|
