The Staff Shelf: Kramerbooks & Afterwords
What are booksellers reading?
When we walk into a bookstore, the first place we go is the staff recommendation shelves—it’s how you get a quick sense of the personality of the store. The very best bookstores are merely a reflection of the eclectic, deeply felt opinions of the book-lovers who work there. As part of our Interview with a Bookstore, we asked the staff at Kramerbooks & Afterwords what they recommend.
SLIDESHOW: Kramerbooks & Afterwords Staff Shelf
- The book as object: an exquisite thing. These stories float around the room even when the room doesn’t exist.
- Funny and touching, a very British portrait of a widower and his frenemy-turned-neighbor. Sir Edward Feathers, aka “Old Filth,” Retired Solicitor and former “Raj Orphan,” is an utterly original creation. This is the first book in a trilogy. Lucky you.
- A tragic love affair and its aftermath are charted in this emotional but completely unsentimental masterpiece.
- Reminiscent of a 19th century Gothic novel (moors, wolves, mysterious strangers appearing at the door in the middle of the night), Wyld creates an eerie landscape where everyone is suspect. Who knew a sheep farm could be so creepy?
- Any interest in the Great War? Here is a lovely little novel which puts us fully in the trench, but we escape it here too. Echenoz is truly gifted.