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Staff Recommendations > Matt

sort list by title | author Debt The First 5,000 Years David Graeber An history of debt written by an anarchist-sympathizing anthropologist (and a respected one, mind you)—who better to dig beneath the assumptions taken for granted by the Western science of Economics? From blood debts in moneyless societies... NW A Novel Zadie Smith Zadie Smith's new book is playful, psychogeographically rich, sometimes messy, dark, and has a wicked stiletto of an ending. Most of all, its subtleties hold up under the mulling over after you've finished reading it. A smart look at the complexities... House of Prayer No. 2 A Writer's Journey Home Mark Richard Based on its subject matter and jacket copy, this might have been an inspirational memoir. But in Mark Richard's hands, the story of his own life is weird and unsettling and haunting and very much like an ocean hiding outlandish fauna somewhere beneath... Debt The First 5,000 Years David Graeber An history of debt written by an anarchist-sympathizing anthropologist (and a respected one, mind you)—who better to dig beneath the assumptions taken for granted by the Western science of Economics? From blood debts in moneyless societies to the... West of the West Dreamers, Believers, Builders, and Killers in the Golden State Mark Arax With his reportage and essays, Arax is mining territory somewhere between Rebecca Solnit and James Ellroy—here you'll find both thoughtful musings on geography and intense crime investigations. Written with real vitality and engagement, this book makes... Conquered City Victor Serge Politically radical author Victor Serge lived through some of the 20th century's most crucial dramas—in this novel he reports directly from St. Petersburg during the Russian Revolution. But beyond its historical interest, this is an accomplished... The Tanners Robert Walser Loosely based on his own life and his large family, The Tanners follows Simon Tanner as he wanders from job to job, in search of a calling. Along his journey of self-definition, we meet his other siblings: the painter brother whose romantic brooding... Three Novels Molloy, Malone Dies, The Unnamable Samuel Beckett Beckett's trilogy has to be one of the greatest feats of voice and language ever written. This is the book that turns woe into exhilaration. —Recommended by Matt, City Lights Books Troia Mexican Memoirs Bonnie Bremser For those who are interested in the Beats and want to dig a bit deeper beyond the usual suspects, this long-neglected memoir of hard life in Mexico is raw, naked, honest, full of feeling, and sometimes barely in control. While avoiding statements about... Between the Woods and the Water On Foot to Constantinople: From The Middle Danube to the Iron Gates Patrick Leigh Fermor In 1933, while Europe was drawing closer to WWII, the nineteen-year-old Fermor walked from Holland to Constantinople, and this is what he's written so far of the travelogue. The curious, adventuresome young man he was infuses this story with... The Sheltering Sky Paul Bowles This book is brave, imaginative, and brutal; and just when you think it's gone far enough, it goes farther. Bowles spent most of his life in North Africa, but his genius is not in his familiarity with the culture; rather, it's in brilliantly recreating... Red Dust A Path Through China Ma Jian Red Dust is a rich, strange, searching travelogue through the outposts of communist China by an adventurous, dissident poet. Author Ma is often compared to the Beats--but imagine if Kerouac had to escape from a Kafka novel in order to go "on the road"... Suttree Cormac McCarthy McCarthy's last book set in the South before he moved his focus to the West, this is an emotionally opaque but terribly powerful portrait of a damaged man. This book teaches by a sort of unrelenting immersion; plunging you into a world of vivid squalor...