Unreliable Narrators

Used with permission of Powell's Books, Inc.

If you follow Powell's Books, a Portland, OR independent bookseller since 1971 (their flagship store is called Powell's City of Books), on Facebook, you will often find them posting pictures of in-house displays and asking you what you're reading this weekend. We were particularly intrigued by their "Unreliable Narrator" display.

We're not going to tell you in what way each of these narrators are unreliable, but don't read this post if you don't like spoilers, because all of these narrators are misleading you in one way or another - they may be the guilty party; they may be insane; they may just have personal bias. But none of these books will end up exactly where you thought they might.

Why are we writing about them, you might add, if it's  a possible spoiler situation? Well, as the web site TV Tropes attests, "As an author, this is a difficult trick to pull off. It is a lot easier to tell a straight story than it is to deliberately mislead the audience." They also list a couple of techniques - "Framing Device, ""Literary Agent Hypothesis," and "Rashomon-style," to give you specific examples. Let's give the authors credit for coming up with such inventive plots that turned their stories upside-down!

We don't really think about it normally, but when you pick up a book, "there's an element of trust that the person telling you the story is telling the truth, at least as far as they know it." That's why Agatha Christie's The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, one of our favorite unreliable narrator titles, was so startling and mystery-convention-breaking back in 1926. The reader expects to have to figure out whodunnit, but also expects to be given the facts, the truth, to work with.

So, here's our list of some unreliable narrators you might not have heard of (we're going to assume you all know about Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train) or may have forgotten about (we hope you haven't forgotten Rebecca, another of our favorites). But, if you're interested in twisting your brain around more titles like these, Goodreads has a pretty comprehensive list. Just know, someone in the book is probably lying to you... 😲

The Three by Sarah Lotz

The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson

The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks

What Was She Thinking?: Notes on a Scandal by Zoë Heller

Fall by Colin McAdam

Atonement by Ian McEwan

How To Be a Good Wife by Emma Chapman

John Dies at the End by David Wong

Where the Moon Isn't by Nathan Filer

New & Novel: Collectors & Collecting

There are a lot of things out there that people collect - some a bit more standard or well-known, like coins or stamps; some a bit more specific, like antique marbles, carnival glass, Fiesta ware, rugs, teddy bears, pottery, fishing lures, railroad timetables, paperweights, perfume bottles, classic cameras, toothpick holders, watches, swords, peanut butter glasses. Our library catalog has many price (or value) and identifying guides, buying guides, encyclopedias, and even "for dummies" books for all sorts of collectibles and limited editions and the like. Do you have a favorite book about collecting or are you looking for items about your collecting passion? Let us know in the comments!

Here are some mostly recent books about interesting collections:

The Great Beanie Baby Bubble: Mass Delusion and the Dark Side of Cute by Zac Bissonnette

The Strat In the Attic: Thrilling Stories of Guitar Archaeology by Deke Dickerson

Do Not Sell At Any Price: The Wild, Obsessive Hunt For the World's Rarest 78 RPM Records by Amanda Petrusich

It Could Have Been Yours: The Enlightened Person's Guide to the Year's Most Desirable Things by Jolyon Fenwick [eBook]

The Plant Hunters: True Stories of Their Daring Adventures to the Far Corners of the Earth by Anita Silvey

Old Records Never Die: One Man's Quest For His Vinyl and His Past by Eric Spitznagel

Guitar Aficionado: The Collections - The Most Famous, Rare, and Valuable Guitars In the World edited by Tom Beaujour and Christopher Scapelliti

  

Mint Condition: How Baseball Cards Became an American Obsession by Dave Jamieson

The Art of the Russian Matryoshka by Rett Ertl and Rick Hibberd


Some are more private about their collections, some take it to the Antiques Roadshow, some decorate with their collections. Here are some decorating ideas:

Never Stop To Think...Do I Have A Place For This?: How to Make Room For All the Stuff That Makes Your Home Warm, Happy, Fun and One-of-a Kind by Mary Randolph Carter

The Stuff of Life: How to Style and Display Your Most Treasured Possessions by Hilary Robertson.

The Life of a Bowerbird: Creating Beautiful Interiors With the Things You Collect by Sibella Court  

Collected: Living With the Things You Love by Fritz Karch and Rebecca Robertson


Who are these collectors, you ask? We'll end with some interesting collecting stories: 

Herb & Dorothy [DVD]

Peggy Guggenheim: The Shock of the Modern by Francine Prose

Empty Mansions: The Mysterious Life of Huguette Clark and the Spending of a Great American Fortune by Bill Dedman and Paul Clark Newell, Jr. 

Wagstaff: Before and After Mapplethorpe - A Biography by Philip Gefter 

Possession: The Curious History of Private Collectors From Antiquity to the Present by Erin L. Thompson


For more titles, try a subject search of collectibles (guides) or collectors & collecting (includes fiction, children's books, much more general). Also, take a look at some odd collections online!

Popular Philosophy & Spirituality

And remember, the unexamined life is not worth living and the unexamined sitcom is not worth watching.
~William Irwin, Ph.D.

Can entertainment be dangerous?
Do ordinary moral rules apply in the arena?
Can philosophy help Katniss decide between Gale and Peeta?
Could mutations someday become a reality?
~from the inside cover of The Hunger Games and Philosophy: A Critique of Pure Treason

Wikipedia defines philosophy as "the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with reality, existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language... In more casual speech, by extension, 'philosophy' can refer to 'the most basic beliefs, concepts, and attitudes of an individual or group'." Philosophy is a one of those fields of study that might cause some people to ask: "Why do I need to know about that?  How do I use that in my everyday life anyway?"   But the folks behind the Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture Series think differently.  They say: "Philosophy is everywhere. You can find it at work behind the scenes in Hollywood TV shows and movies, between the pages of the latest graphic novel, and within the characters of your favorite book. It's not just about the ancient Greeks and Philosophy 101. Philosophy is all around you and that includes pop culture." ABC Library owns several titles in this series, as well as a couple other books that will entertain and enlighten.


Evermore: Edgar Allan Poe and the Mystery of the Universe by Harry Lee Poe

Harry Potter and Philosophy: If Aristotle Ran Hogwarts edited by David Baggett and Shawn E. Klein

Game of Thrones and Philosophy: Logic Cuts Deeper than Swords edited by Henry Jacoby

Star Trek and Philosophy: The Wrath of Kant edited by Jason T. Eberl and Kevin S. Decker [eBook]

Star Wars and Philosophy: More Powerful than You Can Possibly Imagine edited by Kevin S. Decker and Jason T. Eberl [eBook]

The Lord of the Rings and Philosophy: One Book to Rule Them All edited by Gregory Bassham and Eric Bronson

Quentin Tarantino and Philosophy: How to Philosophize with a Pair of Pliers and a Blowtorch edited by Richard Greene and K. Silem Mohammad [eBook]

South Park and Philosophy: Bigger, Longer, and More Penetrating Cobbled Together by Richard Hanley [eBook]

Hitchcock and Philosophy: Dial M for Metaphysics edited by David Baggett and William A. Drumin [eBook]

The Grateful Dead and Philosophy: Getting High Minded about Love and Haight edited by Steven Gimbel [eBook]

Johnny Cash and Philosophy: The Burning Ring of Truth edited by John Huss and David Werther [eBook]

Halo and Philosophy: Intellect Evolved edited by Luke Cuddy [eBook]

Monty Python and Philosophy: Nudge Nudge, Think Think! edited by Gary L. Hardcastle and George A. Reisch [eBook]

A Little History of Philosophy by Nigel Warburton


For more popular philosophy titles, try a keyword search using the term "Popular culture and philosophy".


Several pop culture touchstones also have books written about their spiritual side!  To uncover the religious aspects of pop culture, try:


The Gospel According to the Simpsons: the Simpsons: The Spiritual Life of the World's Most Animated Family by Mark I. Pinsky

The Gospel According to Tony Soprano: An Unauthorized Look into the Soul of TV's Top Mob Boss and His Family by Chris Seay

The Gospel According to the Beatles by Steve Turner

The Gospel According to Peanuts by Robert L. Short

The Dude and the Zen Master by Jeff Bridges and Bernie Glassman


Perhaps you're feeling Machiavellian?  Check out the BBC's list of "10 of pop culture's best Machiavellian characters"! Also, we've got we've got a book for you!


What Would Machiavelli Do? : The Ends Justify the Meanness by Stanley Bing

Pop Culture Reads

Popular culture is the entirety of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, memes, images, and other phenomena that are within the mainstream of a given culture, especially Western culture of the early to mid 20th century and the emerging global mainstream of the late 20th and early 21st century.
~Wikipedia

We've got a bit of the culture vulture bent here at abcreads, and we like to stay abreast of the latest trends, to read the backstory of the most ubiquitous memes, and generally to find out what makes our culture tick. To this end we've assembled a list of books to entertain, enlighten, and, for good measure, show you one man's quest to be the ultimate hipster.


The End: 50 Apocalyptic Visions from Pop Culture that You Should Know About-- Before It's Too Late by Laura Barcella

In Praise of Messy Lives: Essays by Katie Roiphe

Distrust that Particular Flavor by William Gibson

Moby-Duck: The True Story of 28,800 Bath Toys Lost at Sea, and of the Beachcombers, Oceanographers, Environmentalists, and Fools-- Including the Author-- Who Went in Search of Them by Donovan Hohn

Comic-Con and the Business of Pop Culture: What the World's Wildest Trade Show Can Tell Us about the Future of Entertainment by Rob Salkowitz

Waiting for the Barbarians: Essays on the Classics and Pop Culture by Daniel Mendelsohn [eBook]

The Ruby Slippers, Madonna's Bra, and Einstein's Brain: The Locations of America's Pop Culture Artifacts by Chris Epting [eBook]

James Dean Died Here: The Locations of America's Pop Culture Landmarks by Chris Epting

Bowling, Beatniks, and Bell-Bottoms: Pop Culture of 20th-Century America by Sara Pendergast and Tom Pendergast, editors

Pop When the World Falls Apart: Music in the Shadow of Doubt edited by Eric Weisbard

Back to Our Future: How the 1980s Explain the World We Live in Now--Our Culture, Our Politics, Our Everything by David Sirota

HipsterMattic: One Man's Quest to Become the Ultimate Hipster by Matt Granfield [eBook]

Why? How? What?: Books That Try to Provide Answers about Everyday Culture

We are curious people.  Curiosity killed the cat and we want to know what the cat wanted to know!  It's not just learning about big issues or trading gossip, either - sometimes here at abcreads we find ourselves asking, "Why did I use that turn of phrase? How did people start doing that? What do my habits say about me?"  In that vein, we've compiled this list of books that ask why, how, what about commonplace activities and ideas, such as driving, shopping, what we say, what we own, and getting annoyed.

The Secret Life of Pronouns: What Our Words Say About Us by James W. Pennebaker

Snoop: What Your Stuff Says About You by Sam Gosling

Incognito: The Secret Lives of Brains by David M. Eagleman

The Storytelling Animal: How Stories Make Us Human by Jonathan Gottschall

The Things that Matter: What Seven Classic Novels Have to Say About the Stages of Life by Edward Mendelson

The Wonderbox: Curious Histories of How to Live by Roman Krznaric [eBook only in our catalog]

Annoying: The Science of What Bugs Us by Joe Palca and Flora Lichtman

Your Call Is (Not That) Important to Us: Customer Service and What It Reveals About Our World and Our Lives by Emily Yellin

Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (And What It Says About Us) by Tom Vanderbilt

That's Disgusting: Unraveling the Mysteries of Repulsion by Rachel Herz

The Science of Sin: The Psychology of the Seven Deadlies (And Why They Are So Good For You) by Simon Laham

Culturematic: How Reality TV, John Cheever, a Pie Lab, Julia Child, Fantasy Football, Burning Man, the Ford Fiesta Movement, Rube Goldberg, NFL Films, Wordle, Two and a Half Men, a 10,000 Year Symphony, and ROFLcon Memes Will Help You Create and Execute Breakthrough Ideas by Grant McCracken

Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping by Paco Underhill

Visit Sunny Chernobyl: And Other Adventures in the World's Most Polluted Places by Andrew Blackwell