Speaker 1: (00:00)
The holidays are in full swing and Christmas is upon us. And with all the rushing and wrapping going on, it can be hard to get those last few perfect gifts for the people on your list. Luckily, San Diego is home to some great independent bookstores, and we thought we'd check in with a few of them to get their book recommendations for those minute gifts. First up we hear from Seth Marco co-owner of the book catapult in south park. You
Speaker 2: (00:27)
Know, a couple, my favorite books for the year have been, um, Anthony do cloud cuckoo land, which has become a huge bestseller. It's his follow up to his Pulitzer prize winner all the way we cannot see cloud K land has a weird title, but it's, um, , it's just a great story about, you know, it's kind of the preservation of, of story, you know, it's about libraries and their importance in society. He has sort of a, a way of telling a story that connects all these different characters together through over time. I mean, I mean this, as, you know, some of it is said in the siege of constant de noble in the 14 hundreds, and then there's a contemporary storyline, and then there's another story that's, you know, far in the future and they all connect together, um, where he kind of shows the, you know, the, the fin threads that connect people.
Speaker 2: (01:18)
One of my other favorite books this year also fiction is by one Lauren GRA called matrix, which has not gotten quite the attention that I, I thought it would. I mean, she's pretty well known. She's a, I think a two time national book award finalist now for her last couple books. And this is historical eviction set in the 12th century. And it's about this woman who is in Eleanor Acutane court and is, you know, sort of rejected by the court and sent to live in a Nury in the English countryside where she becomes the ACE of this Nury and, and turns it into this sort of feminist utopia. It's really, really well told story, just beautiful language, but such a compelling character really surprised me. It's been one of my favorite favorite books to talk about this year, for sure. That's just a couple that, that I've really liked. There's there's many more
Speaker 1: (02:12)
That was Seth Marco co-owner of the book catapult, which is located at 30 10, B Juniper street in south park. His picks again were cloud cou land by the do and the matrix by Lauren gruff. Next we move to mysterious galaxy where store manager, Kelly Arazi has a few of her picks from the sci-fi fantasy genre.
Speaker 3: (02:36)
So one of my favorite middle grade books to come out this year just was published a couple months ago is the last clean tea step by Donna Barbara, a here it is a beautiful thought provoking science fiction, novel where the main character is one of the lucky few humans who's chosen to embark on humanities last spaceship before the ACOM destroys earth. Um, so she and a select few are put into stasis. They're meant to wake up 400 years in the future on route to a brand new planet and carry on the human race. But when the main character wakes up, uh, she's the only one who has memories of earth at all. Uh, and she longs to share and protect the stories of earth. So this it's a great mystery, um, what's happening and who's really behind all of the missing memories while also a captivating insight to this main character who just wants to share the history of earth through storytelling.
Speaker 3: (03:30)
It's pulse raising science fiction, but it's also a heart wrenching Testament to the power of storytelling. And I just adore this book. The next book that I would and recommend is under the whispering door by TJ CLO. It's one of my favorite books of the year. I love TJ CLO. You wrote the house in this re sea last year, and it was my, one of my favorite favorite books. It got me through the pandemic and under the whispering door is about a man who dies and goes to a sort of in between afterlife. It's not heaven. It's not hell. And the person who's waiting for him is sort of a Fairman who guides souls onto the ultimate afterlife. And it's their story of getting to know one another and actually falling in love, which is quite beautiful. And it's a story that makes you think it's a story that makes you laugh and you just can't help, but root for everybody involved. I adore this book. Another book is called legend born by Traci Dion. Uh, it has magic demons and a century's old secret society found by king Arthur. It has themes of in questions about family and country and trauma and duty, and it of course has plenty of love and plenty of magic. That was
Speaker 1: (04:41)
Kelly Arazi of mysterious galaxy books located at 35 55 rose cran street in San Diego. Kelly's picks again were the last ESA by Donna Barra under the whispering door by TJ CLO and legend born by Traci Deion.
Speaker 4: (05:01)
I have so many books you're gonna tell me to probably stop
Speaker 1: (05:07)
That's book seller, Maryanne Reinder of Laia books. In point Loma. Here are her
Speaker 4: (05:11)
Picks. I have, uh, the sentence by Louis RI and this one is a really great book because it takes place actually in a small indeed bookstore in Minneapolis. And the bookstore is hunted by flora. One of its most annoying customers who died and won't leave the store and TKI, the book seller must solve the mystery of this hunting and the book takes place during the month of November, 2019 and November, 2020. So it's also obviously a really high pressure time in the Minneapolis area. And TKI must also come to terms with the year of grief and isolation and reckoning in her city. Another one I really loved and we have also in the store, it's called oh, beautiful by John WUN. It's the story of Eleanor Henson of former model. Who's about four and she's struggling to reinvent herself as a freelance writer. And that is until she's sent for an assignment to the backend region of North Dakota, where the oil boom is drastically changing the landscape and the people who live there and Eleanor is sent there for, for a lot of reasons, but also because she grew up in that region as, uh, the child of a, a mixed couple, her father was American and her mother was Korean, and this story is bringing her back and she discovers a lot more than the story she has to write for her magazine article.
Speaker 4: (06:57)
I I'm putting it on my list for everyone I know and love last but not least. I have a favorite current picture book for children called dream street. And this is by Trisha Allen Walker, an ICU Holmes. And this is a beautiful story where we're presented with a lot of people who live on that street and there are stories and how they interact with each other and the illustrations are absolutely stunning. I highly encourage everyone to go look for this book because it's one of those books that you wanna keep Laly a
Speaker 1: (07:36)
Books is located at 10 26 rose Kran street in point Loma Maryanne's picks again were the sentence by Louise Eich. Oh, beautiful. By young Yon and the picture book dream street by Tricia Ellen Walker illustrated by Aqua Holmes. If you missed any of these book picks, you can find them on our website@kpbs.org org.
