Explore Booksellers suggests two riveting novels and new economic ideas

Each week as part of SunLit — The Sun’s literature section — we feature staff recommendations from book stores across Colorado. This week, the staff from Explore Booksellers in Aspen recommends a Kingsolver bestseller, a new take on economics and drama behind the Iron Curtain.

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From the publisher: Meet Taylor Greer. Clear-eyed and spirited, she grew up poor in rural Kentucky with two goals: to avoid pregnancy and to get away. She succeeds on both counts and buys a ’55 Volkswagen and heads west. But by the time our heroine pulls up on the outskirts of Tucson, Arizona, at an auto repair shop called Jesus Is Lord Used Tires that also happens to be a sanctuary for Central American refugees, she’s “inherited” a 3-year-old Native American girl named Turtle.

What follows—as Taylor meets the human condition head-on—is at the heart of this memorable novel about love and friendship, abandonment and belonging, and the discovery of surprising resources in apparently empty places.

From Gina Odom, bookseller: I recently read “The Bean Trees” by Barbera Kingsolver and am part way through the sequel, “Pigs in Heaven.” These stories have some scenes that take place in my hometown — Tucson, Arizona — and give a powerful perspective on the topics of undocumented immigrants as well as Native American laws and parental rights. I enjoy recommending these books because it was so easy to get attached to the characters and see them thrive in their new communities.

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From the publisher: In this ground-breaking book, Trebeck and Williams challenge us to make ourselves at home with economic wealth, to ensure that everyone is included. They explore the possibility of “Arrival,” urging us to move from enlarging the economy to improving it, and the benefits this would bring for all.

From Zoe Locke, staff: In an era where we are producing and consuming more than ever, yet social problems persist, is growth always the answer? “The Economics of Arrival” will make you rethink how we define progress in an abundant, post-industrial world. In this timely book, Trebeck and Williams reveal that many developed countries have achieved material prosperity and need to shift their focus toward “making ourselves as home” by building healthy and happy communities, not more things. I recommend to anyone looking for an accessible read that challenges their underlying assumptions and helps them explore how we might create a better future.

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From the publisher: It is 1988 and Saul Adler, a narcissistic young historian, has been invited to Communist East Berlin to do research; in exchange, he must publish a favorable essay about the German Democratic Republic. As a gift for his translator’s sister, a Beatles fanatic who will be his host, Saul’s girlfriend will shoot a photograph of him standing in the crosswalk on Abbey Road, an homage to the famous album cover. As he waits for her to arrive, he is grazed by an oncoming car, which changes the trajectory of his life.

“The Man Who Saw Everything” is about the difficulty of seeing ourselves and others clearly. It greets the specters that come back to haunt old and new love, previous and current incarnations of Europe, conscious and unconscious transgressions, and real and imagined betrayals, while investigating the cyclic nature of history and its reinvention by people in power. Here, Levy traverses the vast reaches of the human imagination while artfully blurring sexual and political binaries—feminine and masculine, East and West, past and present—to reveal the full spectrum of our world.

From Tony Alcantara, bookseller: There is so much more going on here than first appears, so that when I finished, I wanted to immediately start over to try and comprehend how the author worked her magic. Images and entities, both captivating and surreal, appear and reappear throughout the text. After I reread the book, enjoying it as much or more the second time, I read three more of Levy’s books. Fantastic!

Type of Story: Review

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