October Book of the Month
Our Evenings
By Alan Hollinghurst
It’s England in the mid-1960s and 13-year-old David Win, the mixed-race son of a struggling single mother, is awarded a scholarship to an elite boy’s school. He will be welcomed into the country home of his wealthy sponsors and thrown into the path of their own 13-year-old son Giles. Over the next 50 years David (who will go on to be a gifted actor) will rift in and out of their orbits. His struggles with society, racism, class, love and sexuality are in stark and distressing opposition to Giles sense of privilege and aggressive political aspirations. Very few get into the English mind-set; whether walking beside the struggling artist or sitting, brandy in hand in a lavish London townhouse, quite like Hollinghurst. He has taken Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited and infuses it with Christopher Isherwood. Poignant, thoughtful, provocative and thoroughly enjoyable
-Robert-
If Andrew O'Hagan's Caledonian Road is 2024's big tragicomic compound fracture of a British state of the nation novel replete with bits of bone erupting through skin, then Alan Hollinghurst's Our Evenings is more of a hairline fracture – far more subtle though equally impactful for the reader over 450+ immaculately crafted pages. Stretching half a century to end into the hotly divided present, the entire thing unfolds through the eyes of David Win, a man seeking selfhood and happiness in a culture antithetical to his mixed ethnicity, lower class and homosexuality. The fissure begins deep in the bone of this book, where fourteen-year-old Dave has a life-changing encounter with Giles, son of his boarding school scholarship benefactors and carries on all the way to late in both men's careers – David a gifted actor and Giles a Tory MP turned hardline brexiteer. Hollinghurst captures the queer male experience with the nuance and compassion of Christos Tsiolkas's best writing while exchanging its grit for an elegance that invites reader to slow down and savour his many gems of observation.
-Ben-
$34.99
October Book of the Month
Kitten Ninja
By Colleen AF Venable, Marcie Colleen, Ellen Stubbings
Kitten Ninja takes on some very very dangerous foe in this graphic novel for young readers - the first in an adorable new series!
In three action-packed chapters (although lets be honest, Kitten Ninja spends more time napping than anything else), he takes on a spot of light. a ball of yarn and the dreaded snow.
Perfect for newly independent young readers or for reading together, you can enjoy this series then advance to Cat Ninja when you're a little bit older.
With bright, bold images, simple text and the cutest protagonist ever, Kitten Ninja has captured our hearts!
- STEPH-
$17.99
