First, thank you for doing enough to keep BookTree in business. July, August and most of September are very slow and difficult months for most independent booksellers and BookTree is no exception but there has been enough business thanks to YOU to pay most of the bills almost on time and not get too far behind on anything. Bravo to Kirkland book-lovers for sending people to the store, for purchasing gift cards, for patronizing BookTree .
Most first Saturdays of the month there is a free writing workshop and a reading and open mic. That won’t happen September 3rd. In fact BookTree will be closed on Saturday September 3rd for a very good reason. My middle daughter is getting married!!! I’ll be busy that day. Thanks for sending good thoughts out into the universe (and prayers too).
Our book club book for September is Bitter Fruit by Peggy Barnett. She was here in July for her official Book party celebration. And… and…. she will be joining our in-store book club when we meet on the second Tuesday in September (13th) at 6:30 pm. Bitter Fruit is a meticulously researched historical novel set in the 1100s! It’s also a good read! So pick up a copy, read it and join us on our Bookclub night to tell Peggy what you thought about the book (good or even bad) and ask her questions, have her sign your copy of the book too.
Did you see the wonderful write-up we got recently? Here’s a link to an article about BookTree! Thank you Lindsey Anderson and SGN!!!
I finally found the time to make a list you might like to see. Thanks again. See YOU soon!!!
Chris Jarmick’s (owner of BookTree bookstore in Kirkland, WA) Favorite Books that he has read or re-read in the last 12 years.
1. The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson
2. Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (yes I read it again in 2019, SUPERB writing, memorable characters etc.)
3. All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doer
4. Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
5. Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry
6. The Alchemist by Paul Coelho
7. Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates AND The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin *
8. Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
9. The Overstory by Richard Powers
10. Wonder Boys by Michael Chabon - *A
11. Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders
12. Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
13. She Said by Jodi Kantor; Megan Twohey
14. Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
15. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
16. Slaughter House Five by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
17. Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
18. Beloved by Toni Morrison
19. The Secret History by Donna Tartt
20. Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace
Oh and make a special place for: The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and the Horse written and illustrated by Charlie Mackesy
(Given a little time these honorable mentions might move up (at least on the top 50 I've read in the last 12 years): Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doer, Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles, Hamilton by Ron Chernow , The Sell Out by Paul Beatty, The Sentence by Louise Erdich, Gilead by Marilyn Robinson
Caste by Isabel Wilkerson, So, You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo, A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James, The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen, Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams, Circe by Madeline Miller, The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari ...
Also please note there are many great books that I have read and are among my favorites but I have not re-read them in the last 12 years like I have Gatsby, Cradle, Crow and others. And I have not included dozens of superb poetry books and anthologies or short story collections that I have read in the last 12 years. I have also too quickly revisited some old faves that would be in a top 50 list. I also truly enjoyed just-for-fun books... books like Robert Dugoni's Tracy Crosswhite Series that begins with My Sister's Grave. Books by Louise Penny, Donna Leon, Martin Walker and others that are mystery or mystery-thrillers are better than most. Many Agatha Christie books are STILL worth reading too (not all but many).
* (read them (Coates and Baldwin) one right after the other since both are examples of the epistolary style (written in a series of letters) and both are gut wrenching, raw, angry and honest (and pretty short books too). Excellent.
*A - -Note: The movie Wonder Boys is very good and I do recommend watching it, but there is even more good things in the book--read the book first if you can, but do read the book.)