Word’s pick: “Born to Run” by Bruce Springsteen
This is the book I have been waiting for since I was in the womb. It is the definitive story on Bruce Springsteen’s life and career in his own words, from his own mind. The Boss’s narrative voice is so strong that it sounds like he is two feet away reading it to you.
— Tom Rankin, Word [126 Franklin St. at Milton Street in Greenpoint, (718) 383–0096, www.wordbrooklyn.com].
Community Bookstore’s pick: “Loving” by Henry Green
The slyly complex novels of English modernist Henry Green have been largely forgotten, a tragedy set to be corrected this season with a series of re-issues from New York Review Books Classics. “Loving,” perhaps his most famous book, is an upstairs-downstairs comedy about a large country house in which everyone, from the lowliest servant to the headmistress, is misbehaving. Green’s keen ear for dialogue and lightness of touch are absolutely masterful, and it is my sincere hope that we will not lose this hilarious, challenging, delightful little book again.
— Hal Hlavinka, Community Bookstore [43 Seventh Ave. between Carroll Street and Garfield Place in Park Slope, (718) 783–3075, www.communitybookstore.net].
Greenlight Bookstore’s pick: “Lumberjanes” by Noelle Stevenson
Every adventurous, nerdy, smart, goofy, in-love-with-life girl should read this comic book, which follows a cabinful of friends at an all-girls summer camp. There is not a token girl to round out the gang. They are (variously) good at math and kung-fu and leadership and animal husbandry and problem solving; they are dressy or butch or tomboyish or punk or suburban; their dialogue is peppered with inside jokes about feminist icons and clever silliness a la Scott Pilgrim. Oh, and boys will totally be into it too, if they like things that are funny and smart and unexpected, yet totally satisfying..
— Jessica Stockton Bagnulo, Greenlight Bookstore [686 Fulton St. between S. Elliott Place and S. Portland Avenue in Fort Greene, (718) 246–0200, www.greenlightbookstore.com].
