The Concord Bookshop - Established 1940

Charlie, more popularly known as "Fat Charlie" (much to his despair), thinks that his life will get a lot easier now that his embarrassing father has kicked the bucket. He couldn't be more wrong. Little does he know that his father happened to be a god - not in the traditional sense of the word, but instead a pesky, womanizing, lesser god. In addition, if that wasn't bad enough, Charlie also finds out that he has a brother who also possesses god-like qualities, and turns out to be intent on turning Fat Charlie's world upside down and inside out. Charlie's normal, happy life becomes a recipe for disaster in record time. But what's worse, and what Charlie discovers too late, is that trying to make his difficult brother disappear is the most foolish thing he could do.

A wonderfully entertaining, well-written and witty read - step into Neil Gaiman's world and you will find it exceedingly hard to step out.

~Amy

With the accessibility of Malcolm Gladwell, the humor of David Sedaris, and the insight of (dare I say) Freud himself, Gilbert's "Stumbling on Happiness" examines thought and emotion in their most basic forms. Gilbert's take on foresight and disappointment is just as fresh as it is relatable. Through psychological experiments, everyday examples, and the cleverest of dry wit, "Stumbling on Happiness" helps us understand just how our expectations for the future play such a significant role in our general comfort and happiness.

~Brendan

As short as this book is, it was originally shorter still. When first published in 1928 it was as a story in New York's Forum Magazine called "The Escaped Cock." There was no priestess. At the end Christ repudiated the absurd mission that had got him killed, and freed the titular rooster:

"And he left his bird there and went on deeper into the phenomenal world, which is a vast complexity of wonders. And he asked himself a last question: 'From what, and to what, could this infinite whirl be saved?'"

After that Lawrence expanded and illustrated the tale with two of his own watercolors. In Paris the Crosbys' Black Sun Press bought out an elegant, limited paperback of the longer story, still called The Escaped Cock. This little masterpiece, a resigned, unblinking poetic myth, is the last work of extended fiction Lawrence saw published before his own death from tuberculosis in 1930. Posthumously it became The Man Who Died.

~Roger

~Julie

Watch what happens as chaos unfurls amidst the olive groves - a fabulous beach read!

~Julie