Keaton Recommends
One of today's most insightful critics and music writers turns his attention to a legendary and beloved hiphop group--A Tribe Called Quest--as a way of understanding not only the golden age of '90s rap, but the shifting sands of American culture at a transitional moment and his own life as well. A stunning, brilliant and heartfelt work from a writer quickly becoming a voice of a generation.
Since the 1980s, Powers has quietly established himself as one of America's greatest living writers, with numerous powerful, emotionally complex, ambitious, and expertly crafted novels. The Overstory may be his masterpiece. This dizzying tale draws together several strangers and the natural world that is fading around them in an epic struggle for the future of American forests.Engaging and timely without being didactic, The Overstory is Powers at his best.
MY FAVORITE ESSAY COLLECTION OF 2017! Covering topics as varied as Fall Out Boy, racism and police violence, depression, underground hiphop, and beyond, this book is simply brilliant. These ruminations are full of heart, humble, expertly written, and totally engaged with the cultural and political milieu of today. A book to break your heart and give you strength. Of-the-moment, fun, and deep.
Weaving together the early death of her beloved uncle, a fascination with urban decay, and an existential bildungsroman narrative, the managing editor at Sarabande Books delves into ideas of impermanence and our emotional connections to people and places that will all eventually be severed. With mesmerizing images and a perfectly relatable storyline that is nevertheless idiosyncratic and complex enough to stand out among other graphic novels and/or memoirs, Radtke turns out a bravura performance. A terrific work.
When you grow up rough like I did, when violence and scrapes with the law are common occurrences, this book means only one thing--hope. The bestselling young reader novel of all-time gets the deluxe hardcover treatment for its 50th anniversary. And it is beautiful. THE OUTSIDERS is the quintessential story of troubled youth. For every kid who has ever been picked on, pushed aside (or down) by the authority figures who are supposed to protect you, or if you just never fit in with the suburban norm, this is your book. It is a flare into the night sky for lost boys. A glorious ode to the misfits among us, the importance of staying true to yourself, and a love letter to the friends who become our chosen families. Few books have ever meant as much to me as THE OUTSIDERS, and, if you ever need it, I hope it can help you as much as it has helped me. Stay gold.
A tremendously imaginative historical novel from one of America's best young authors. THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD is an escaped slave narrative that doubles as a true American epic, the continuing origin story of Africans in America. The major conceit, though, that sets this work apart--a surprisingly obvious twist that allows this novel to transcend and become something else entirely--is that the titular network of slave emancipation, is a literal railroad. Sounds simple, but it is in fact a profound literary device. And, interestingly, as a literal railroad, Whitehead is able to use the UGRR as a much more powerful metaphor for the black American odyssey. The story centers around Cora, a resourceful and determined runaway slave and all the people, both righteous and wicked, whom she encounters on her misadventures toward the North. Despite the fantastical UGRR, the rest of Whitehead's portrayal of Southern slavery is unvarnished, graphically violent that works as a critique of contemporary race relations as well as an indictment of the duplicitous "American imperative" that has allowed for slavery, brutality and genocide in the name of freedom, progress and purity throughout our country's history. This is a perfectly paced, cut-gem of a novel. Nothing is out of place. There are echoes of everything from GULLIVER'S TRAVELS, to INCIDENTS IN THE LIFE OF A SLAVE GIRL, to THE LOTTERY, and more that only serve to heighten the near-mythic quality of this work of fiction. It's astounding how good this book is. I can't say enough about it. So far, the best novel of 2016 that I've read.
This collection is the perfect introduction to Japan's own enfant terrible. A larger than life character, Mishima's obsessions with death and sex found a shocking outlet in his fiction. Be sure to check out the erotic death song, "Patriotism."
This debut novel feels like the first true 21st century ghost story. A demonic presence invades a young couple's new smart speaker, and the ensuing nightmare tears their lives apart.
Part divine comedy, part exorcism of the national soul. Recounted in a chorus of voices from beyond the grave, this is an unforgettable American ghost story by one of our most imaginative and daring authors.
MY FAVORITE NOVEL OF ALL TIME! The origin point for all modern horror and science fiction, dreamed up by a teenage goth girl hellbent on scaring her hipster boyfriend and his buds--aka the Romantics. Still terrifying and relevant more than 200 years later.
In an alternate 1980s, as the world teeters on the brink of nuclear war, very human masked heroes take to the streets. A gritty, philosophical re-imagining of superhero comics that is arguably the GOAT of all graphic novels. Essential reading.
There is no overstating the importance of this watershed work of American history. Told from the perspectives of the marginalized and unheard, Zinn's masterwork provides a much more democratic portrait of our nation.
Page for page, this is one of the most astounding books you will ever read. In clear, direct yet poetic language, Rovelli lays bare our most complete understandings of the workings of reality--from the subatomic to the cosmic scale. Simply fascinating.
An absurd quest into the volcanic wastes of Iceland brings together toponymy, natural history, Viking sagas, insane veterinarians, and death metal for one of the strangest and funniest stories ever written down.
After the death of his beloved, a 15th century Russian mystic undertakes an epic pilgrimage across plague-ravaged Europe. A profound spiritual quest story steeped in Russian folklore.
Garage rockers, doo-woppers, and even Beyoncé (as Etta James) take the spotlight in this free-flowing nonlinear take on pop music history. But it's the imagined lives of Robert Johnson and Buddy Holly that steal the show. A music writing masterpiece from our greatest living rock critic.
In what may be the Great Soviet Novel, the devil arrives in Moscow (where noone believes in either him or God) and sets off a chain of events involving theater, literature, bureaucracy, religion, and love that will leave the city in flames.
The reigning king of Japanese noir returns with a convoluted, pitch dark psychological thriller. An unscrupulous psychiatrist sets out for revenge, delving into a nexus of trauma, sexual violence, and obsession that may consume his very humanity.
When the KKK arrives to help drive out the Vietnamese immigrants fishing in the Gulf of Mexico, an armed conflict begins that will be the beginning of the end of a community and a true test of American ideals.
A bold, refreshing take on the haunted house trope that follows a father with something to hide who moves into a strange residence in rural Texas with his daughters. But it isn't long before the house's own hidden past begins to manifest.
The Martian meets Captain Ahab’s worst nightmare. A gripping thriller of a diver off the Pacific coast suddenly stuck in the belly of the whale. One giant squid, one 60-ton sperm whale, one hour before his oxygen runs out. A suspense juggernaut.