book review: Glaciers by Alexis M. Smith
The basics: Alexis M. Smith's slim debut novel, Glaciers , focuses on Isabel, a young archivist who grew up in Alaska and now lives in Portland, Oregon. She adores vintage stores and the abandoned objects she finds and collects from those stores. My thoughts: Glaciers is a quiet, introspective little novel, and Isabel is a quirky delight. She has a charming sense of wonder coupled with disappointment: "Her sister read that spiders have book lungs, which fold in and out over themselves like pages. This pleased Isabel immensely. When she learned later that humans do not also have book lungs, she was disappointed. Book lungs. It made complete sense to her. This way breath, this way life: through here." This combination feeds into her sadness for the objects she treasures, both personally and professionally. Her work fixing damaged books in the library's basement emphasizes the hope: these things are broke, but they can be fixed and shared once again. Similarly...