It is so nice to read a book that highlights what one person can do to make life better for so many. I felt this way about Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson (about creating schools for girls in Afghanistan), and now William Kamkwamba’s THE BOY WHO HARNESSED THE WIND has made the same difference, on another continent, for the people of his village by building a windmill to pump water to his drought stricken area. Using bicycle parts and scraps of wood, and his intelligence and bits of education, he transforms and saves many lives.

The other thing that was so impressive to me about this book was to see the world from William’s perspective. He grew up without our forms of communication, and hearing stories of lion hunts and creation tales from his grandfather and father. His village got a video player and monitor when he was a youngster and the village watched “Terminator” and thought that was what was really happening in the United States! This was a time before his family was finally able to afford sending him to a school in a nearby town.

A well written read for an uplift about life. (Hardcover, $25.99). Recommended by Julie.

THE BIBLE SALESMAN by Clyde Edgerton is every bit as quirky and hilarious as novels by venerable Southern authors Eudora Welty, Erskine Caldwell, and Walker Percy. Throughout the course of the novel, our naive young hero questions his already tenuous faith and falls in with a car thief who has convinced him they’re both working undercover for the FBI. Don’t read it in a quiet place; you’ll be asked to leave. (Softcover, $13.99). Recommended by Kelly.

OCTOBER 23 Friday 7PM
@ THE RAVEN
Wallace Cochran
Reads from his new book
THE MOON FOR ITS CITIZENS

The Moon For Its Citizens, A History of the Rocket From Hermes Trismegistus to the 23rd Century traces the development of rocket technology from pre-historical Egypt and China to the modern day of the future. It is divided into two sections. Part one: All Our Ways Rooted in Novelty, concerns itself with the psychic effect of intestinal flora and occultism on the development (and developers) of thermodynamic theory, propulsion engines, and historical study. Part two: The 20th Century, is an account of the so-called space race between the Soviet Union and the United States, 1952-1975. It is a work of fiction.

Wallace Cochran performs in the band Drakkar Sauna. He lives and works in Lawrence, KS. This is his first book.

Fourth Thursdays
BIG TENT: Stories & Poems in Three Acts
7PM @ The Raven

BIG TENT in OCTOBER

Thursday, October 22
7PM @ The Raven

Act 1: Adam Desnoyes prose
Act 2: Krista Gammper prose
Act 3: Jennie James poetry

OCTOBER 8 Thursday 7PM
@ THE RAVEN
TALK ABOUT LOVE POETRY!
Denise Low & Robert Day in a Poetic Dual/Duet

To celebrate the publication of Mammoth Press of WE SHOULD HAVE COME BY WATER, a limited letterpress edition of ten poems by Robert Day, The Raven is hosting a nontraditional reading by Robert Day and Denise Low. Denise will read love poems by women and Robert love poems by men. Then they both duck! Should be a splendid evening and we hope you will join us!

Read more in EVENTS.

In Sarajevo in 1992 during the siege led by Serbs in the hills above the city, a bomb kills 22 people waiting in line for food. This actual event inspired Galloway’s haunting novel, THE CELLIST OF SARAJEVO, about the cellist who played everyday in the same square where the people were blown up to commemorate them and about three other average Sarajevo residents, trying to survive the horrors of the siege. One of the figures in the novel is a young woman code named “Arrow” from a middle class home who surprisingly becomes an accomplished sniper. She kills people to defeat the Serbs in the hills and keep them from killing more of her neighbors and family. But taking part in so much violent death seems to be curdling the person she was, until she hears the cellist. A terrific, almost lyrical telling about one aspect of the Balkan Wars, now only a decade or so ago that most of us have forgotten about or never really paid any attention to. I highly recommend this book. (Softcover, $15.00). Recommended by Pat.

Destined to be another classic with a southern setting, SWEEPING UP GLASS Carolyn Wall is a tough and tender novel of love, race, and justice, and a ferocious, unflinching look at the power of family. Olivia, the narrator, echoes the strength of a Flannery O’Connor female character. (Softcover, $14.00). Recommended by Lisa.

NIGHT WORK by Thomas Glavinic is not an easy book–it shifts between scary and tedious pretty often, and you’re never told what exactly happened to cause the main character to be alone. But it’s a haunting book, one that will stay with you long after you read it, even if you read it all the way through and decide that you don’t really like it. All “last man on Earth” stories are fantasies, but this one is more of a nightmare. An occasionally boring nightmare. (Softcover, $15.00). Recommended by John.

The award-winning Rennie Airth has a new British mystery, featuring World War I veteran Inspector John Madden and is set in London in 1944. THE DEAD OF WINTER finds the inspector investigating the death of his housekeeper, and clues lead to a Parisian furrier, stolen diamonds and a Resistance member. Lots of atmosphere and twists and turns–a fascinating mystery. (Harcover, $25.95). Recommended by Rochelle.

Montreal’s wonderful Inspector Gamache returns to the village of Three Pines to investigate a very baffling murder in Louise Penny’s gripping THE BRUTAL TELLING, new in hardback. It’s complex and compelling and I enjoyed it very much. I think it’s her best book in a great series. (Hardcover, $24.99). Recommended by Rochelle.