A ugust/Se ptemb er 2 008 National Character OCTAVIA BOOKS and deadly business: 513 Octavia Street Made in the U.S.A. Lutie McFee’s history Kharkov is an arms New Orleans, LA 70115 has taught her to avoid dealer and he is about 504-899-READ (7323) attachments ... to people, to deliver Russia’s octaviabooks.com to places, and to almost most sophisticated [email protected] everything. With her weapons to al- Qaeda mother long dead and her … and the clock is STORE HOURS father long gone to fi nd ticking fast. Open 10 am - 6 pm his fortune in Las Vegas, Monday - Saturday 15-year-old Lutie lives in America, America Sunday 12 Noon - 5 pm the god-forsaken town of From bestselling author Spearfi sh, South Dakota with her twelve-year-old brother, Ethan Canin comes America, America ($27, Random Mag Fate, and Floy Satterfi eld, the 300-pound ex-girlfriend of azine House, 978-0-679-45680-3), a stunning novel set in a S t. her father. As if their life is not dismal enough, one day, small town during the Nixon era about America and Const ance S while shopping, Floy keels over and the two motherless t. family, politics and tragedy, and the impact of fate on kids are suddenly faced with becoming wards of the state. t. a young man’s life. In the early 1970s, Corey Sifter, the ve. S t. Choosing instead to hightail it out of town, they head to n A ia son of working-class parents, becomes a yard boy on the h S so av sep Las Vegas in search of a father who has no known address, ct grand estate of the powerful Metarey family. Through Jo O Jeffer no phone number and, clearly, no interest in the kids he the family’s generosity, he becomes a student at a private Laurel St. left behind. Made in the U.S.A. ($24.99, Grand Central, boarding school and an aide to the great New York senator 978-0-446-52901-3) by Billie Letts is an unforgettable story of who is running for president. Before long, Corey fi nds Annunciation St. the search for people to call family and a place to call home. himself involved with one of the Metarey daughters and begins to leave behind the world of his upbringing. As the Tchoupitoulas S t. Moscow Rules campaign gains momentum, Corey fi nds himself caught up Daniel Silva, the bestselling novelist of international in a complex web of events in which loyalty, politics, sex, intrigue and espionage, delivers yet again in Moscow Rules and gratitude confl ict with morality, love, and the truth. Located in uptown New Orleans ($26.95, Putnam, 978-0-399-15501-7). at the corner of Octavia When the death of a journalist leads and Laurel Streets between Allon to Russia, he fi nds that, in terms Magazine and Tchoupitoulas. of spycraft, even he has something to learn. He’s playing by Moscow rules now. This is a new Moscow – awash in oil wealth and where a new generation of Stalinists is plotting to reclaim an Celebrating the empire lost and to challenge the global spirit of inde- dominance of its old enemy, the U.S. pendents and 513 Octavia Street, New Orleans, Louisiana 70115 Louisiana Orleans, New Street, Octavia 513 One such man is Ivan Kharkov, a 357 NO. PERMIT PERMIT NO. 357 NO. PERMIT FRANKLIN, TN FRANKLIN, the vitality of former KGB colonel who built a global TN FRANKLIN, PAID PAID our community. POSTAGE U.S. investment empire on the rubble of POSTAGE U.S. PRSRT STD PRSRT the Soviet Union. Hidden within that STD PRSRT empire, however, is a more lucrative MAY WE RECOMMEND… DOING OUR PART TO KEEP At Octavia Books we love talking about great books with AMERICA INTERESTING customers. Here are a few recent staff favorites: ALDEN EAGLE RECOMMENDS... Share your inspiration at indiebound.org e Great Derangement: A Terrifying True Story of War, Politics, and Religion at the Twilight of the American Empire by Ma Taibbi Autumn is just around the ($24, Spiegel & Grau, 978-0-3855-2034-8) corner and it’s the season Rolling Stone’s Matt Taibbi goes undercover to for going back to school and document the hilarious and disturbing excesses of gathering the harvest. It is the movements at the fringes of U.S. politics. Taibbi time of year that offers new splits his time between speaking in tongues at a Texas mega-church and learning and awareness, new concocting elaborate explanations with 9/11 conspiracy theorists. Great chapters in life and a time to Derangement mixes these gonzo journalism conceits with a serious look refl ect on what’s important. at an increasingly out of control Congress that fi lls the day voting on new names for post offi ces and hides all important decisions in small rooms Our circle of kindred spirits in in the middle of the night. Taibbi weaves these elements into a portrait of the book business — independent U.S. politics at the end of the Bush administration comically reminiscent booksellers across the country — are refl ecting a change this season of the waning years of Rome. as well. You’ll notice that we’re sporting a new graphic that celebrates everything independent. Across the country, there’s a quiet revolution happening — people are reconsidering where they shop and do CHAEL STODARD RECOMMENDS... business. Choosing Main Street America and independently-owned e 19th Wife businesses is once again on our minds. People from east to west want to by David Ebersho reclaim the uniqueness of their communities, renew ties to friends and ($26, Random House, 978-1-4000-6397-0) neighbors and build healthy local economies. This novel takes the history of the Mormons and intertwines it with a fi ctitious story about a present- IndieBound, a new campaign created by the American Booksellers day murder which takes place on the compound of a Association, allows us to celebrate what we “indie” businesses have renegade cult not recognized by the Church. It gave in common … independence, passion and community. Since you’re me a solid understanding of what might be going on reading this newsletter, you’re likely one of us. You appreciate an in the deserts of Utah. The narrator is a man who independent spirit, enjoy a creative and personal touch, and believe life was “removed” from the compound years ago. His mother, the 19th wife is a lot more interesting when everything doesn’t look or feel the same. of his father, has been imprisoned for murdering her husband. As this In this issue of The Octavian, you’ll discover a cornucopia of story unfolds, we go back into the early days of the church through diaries wonderful books we’ve discovered that have just arrived or will be and papers left behind by Mormons to learn dark and dirty secrets. I available within the next few weeks. From books that will help young loved the historical backdrop, all based on facts and on the actual diary adults make decisions about college and careers to cookbooks that of Brigham Young’s 19th wife, Anne Eliza Young. If you liked Big Love, celebrate the season, from intelligent books on current issues to well- you’ll love this book. written novels by some of today’s greatest authors, we promise you’ll fi nd more than a few enticing reads. DOUGLAS WESTGATE RECOMMENDS... As we say good-bye to summer and welcome the autumn season, we The Red Scarf hope you’ll stop by Octavia Books — proud to be an indie bookseller in by Kate Furnivall New Orleans — where there’s a whole store of books we’ve selected just ($15, Berkley, 978-0-4252-2164-8) for you and our community. By the author of The Russian Concubine, here is another wonderful story set in the labor camps and collective farms of Russia in the 1930s with its roots reaching back to the onset of the Russian Revolution. Sofi a escapes from Davinsky Labor Camp in Siberia with the hopes of saving the life of her friend Anna. The people she meets along her journey are complex and vividly described as is life in Russia during the time. There are many twists and turns, but the resilience of the human spirit shines throughout this very well-written story. Fabulous Fiction Page 3 O Season e Condition Acclaimed novelist Anne Rivers Siddons’s Off Unaware of the long-standing grievances harbored Season ($24.99, Grand Central, 978-0-446-52787-3) by their divorced parents, three adult siblings is a stunning tale of love, loss, and re-evaluating embark on a tumultuous summer when the oldest, everything you know. For as long as she can a successful Manhattan doctor, investigates his remember, Lilly and Cam were happily married and sister’s chromosomal disorder against his mother’s partners in life. Then, after decades of marriage wishes. Written with compassion, honesty and and after Cam’s death, Lilly takes a lone road trip wit, Jennifer Haigh’s The Condition ($25.95, to one of their favorite spots on the remote coast HarperCollins, 978-0-0607-5578-2) explores the of Maine. It’s the place where they fell in love and power of family mythologies – the self-delusions, where their ghosts still dance – and where she denials, and inescapable truths that forever bind returns to begin imagining her future. fathers and mothers and siblings. e Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel e Bible Salesman Pie Society When career criminal Preston Clearwater picks In 1946, as England emerges from the shadow of up hitchhiking Henry Dampier, an innocent World War II, writer Juliet Ashton fi nds inspiration 19-year-old Bible salesman, he immediately for her next book in her correspondence with a recognizes him as just the associate he needs.