Staff Recommendations - Back Pages Books

Staff Recommendations:
Some of our favorites, and the reasons why.

The Icarus Girl
Helen Oyeyemi
Anchor Books
Paperback, $13.95

Our bestselling book. Ever. The best portrayal of a child I've ever seen in fiction. And the author was 18 when she wrote it!
Recommended by Alex.

Tranquil Star
Primo Levi
W. W. Norton
Hardcover, $21.95

Here is a collection of people and thought that touches the emotion of elegance. Enjoy it and ponder.
Recommended by Daniel.

Ox-Bow Incident
Walter Van Tilburg Clark
Modern Library Classics
Paperback, $10.95

Society is more than the words that can be put into a book. Perhaps it is made up of the people who read and understand these words, and put them into action. Clark writes of thoughts and deeds in conflict, and explores what happens when "the little things in your head" face life.
Recommended by Daniel.

Outer Dark
Cormac McCarthy
Vintage Books
Paperback, $13.95

McCarthy's retelling of the New Testament... in Appalachia... in the late 1800s. If you liked No Country For Old Men, this is your book.
Recommended by Alex.

Dandelion Wine
Ray Bradbury
Bantam Grand Masters
Paperback, $7.99

Nostalgia and insight provide the reader with a healthy sense of the past and the future. Children and the world observe each other and see different things. It's a wonderful book for readers of all ages.
Recommended by Daniel.

Lifted Veil
George Eliot
Oxford World Classics
Paperback, $10.95

The veil of truth is lifted and fiction mixes with reality to express the contemplation of a character.
Recommended by Daniel.

What Is the What
Dave Eggers
Vintage Books
Paperback, $15.95

Sometimes fiction can depict truths that nonfiction can't. This book does that. One man's story of leaving Sudan and eventually resettling in America, as told by Dave Eggers.
Recommended by Kate.

Essays of E. B. White
E. B. White
Harper Perennial Classics
Paperback, $14.95

There is a little bit of everything in this collection of essays by someone who knows how to use words. White's personal wit and wink flow through his descriptions and praises and complaints, and the reader can learn something about a man who observed, and the world that he knew.
Recommended by Daniel.

Cannery Row
John Steinbeck
Penguin Best Books
Paperback, $14.00

Read the voices of real people, enclosed in a realm of wonder.
Recommended by Daniel.

The Mayan and Other Ancient Calendars
Geoff Stray
Walker & Co.
Hardcover, $12.00

My friends assure me it isn't just that I'm an archeology geek... this book is indeed really, really cool. Look inside!.
Recommended by Alex.

Danny the Champion of the World
Roald Dahl
Puffin Books
Paperback, $6.99

A tale of peace and adventure, often read by a parent to a curious, loving child. Herein lies some fantasy, some birds, and the people of a village.
Recommended by Daniel.

Miss Rumphius
Barbara Cooney
Puffin Books
Paperback, $7.99

A beautiful book with lovely illustrations by the author. The reader, curled with the book, can travel the world and the years, grow old, be young, and think of many things.
Recommended by Daniel.