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35th out of 385 books
—
203 voters
Glaciers
by
Alexis M. Smith (Goodreads Author)
Isabel is a single, twentysomething thrift-store shopper and collector of remnants, things cast off or left behind by others. Glaciers follows Isabel through a day in her life in which work with damaged books in the basement of a library, unrequited love for the former soldier who fixes her computer, and dreams of the perfect vintage dress move over a backdrop of deteriora...more
Paperback, 174 pages
Published
January 17th 2012
by Tin House Books
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Feb 15, 2012
Jamie
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Fans of libraries, of Portland, and/or of bearded men
This book has six of my favorite elements of fiction going for it:
1. It is a love story centered on library employees.
2. It is set in a place where I've lived (Portland, OR).
3. It has a bearded man (a decent one).
4. It contains the mention of postcards and love letters.
5. It contains a good party dress. And,
6. It is short.
Ignore the jacket's bad intro and stick it out for at least 30 pages or so, and you'll be rewarded with a well written, understated, and aching little story. You'll also be re...more
1. It is a love story centered on library employees.
2. It is set in a place where I've lived (Portland, OR).
3. It has a bearded man (a decent one).
4. It contains the mention of postcards and love letters.
5. It contains a good party dress. And,
6. It is short.
Ignore the jacket's bad intro and stick it out for at least 30 pages or so, and you'll be rewarded with a well written, understated, and aching little story. You'll also be re...more
Years ago, when I was living in another apartment complex, somebody left a small box of books in the laundry room. Most were Harlequin Romance type things--not my cup of whiskey--but there was a yearbook from Fort McClellan, Alabama. It was from the mid-1950's, and it traced a group of young women through Army basic training. While my clothes washed, I paged through the official portraits, those serious, dress uniform studio shots you see when someone gets killed. I saw more candid photos as wel...more
I made the mistake of reading the author's bio before starting the book. Had I not, I might have been able to give her the benefit of the doubt and overlooked (but only momentarily, because they're really hard to miss) the gratuitous stereotypes strewn throughout the first few pages--the protagonist waking up in a small attic apartment in Portland and loving on her cat as she thinks about what vintage options her closet will spew onto her before going to work at a library.
Isabel, the protagonis...more
Isabel, the protagonis...more
This was quite a lovely portrait of a girl I could see myself being friends with. It made me remember how much I love Portland and also realize I do not frequent vintage shops nearly often enough. I am always so envious of/impressed by people who can tell an engaging and relatable story in a succinct way, and this book did not let me down. I can't decide between 4 and 5 stars!
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I went searching for this book at my local library because it is offered as a selection for the 2013 World Book Night. The review used the word, "lyrical", so I was intrigued. I have to admit, I expected Chic Lit, along the lines of Bridget Jones' Diary.
Glaciers started off slowly -- and broke every editor's rules for how-to-begin-a-novel. Too much checking/describing via the mirror, present tense that switches back and forth, there are laundry lists of items, and a re-telling of several dream s...more
Glaciers started off slowly -- and broke every editor's rules for how-to-begin-a-novel. Too much checking/describing via the mirror, present tense that switches back and forth, there are laundry lists of items, and a re-telling of several dream s...more
This wisp of a book takes place over the course of a day in a woman named Isobel’s life. Raised in Alaska but resettled in Portland after her parents’ divorce, Isobel enjoys finding little treasures in the city: a quiet Chinese restaurant, the perfect vintage dress for an upcoming party, and bright postcards from far-away places to tack up to the walls of her bedroom. Isobel is romantic, and not just in the way she swoons over Spoke, the handsome Army guy who works at the library with her. Her r...more
Isabel lives her life through other people’s stories; old movies, old photographs and clothing she finds in thrift stores, and old books she repairs in the basement of the library. But when she finds an old postcard of Amsterdam in her favorite junk shop, she is surprised to find a message on the back. She imagines it is a message from one lover to another, and she begins to think about the way she lives her life.
She resolves to reveal something of herself to Spoke, a veteran of the war in Iraq...more
She resolves to reveal something of herself to Spoke, a veteran of the war in Iraq...more
This is a short novel of a twenty-something hipster librarian in Portland who likes a coworker, eats vegetarian, shops at secondhand stores, has artsy gay friends, day dreams about Amsterdam (a city where she's never been) and reminisces about Alaska where she lived as a young girl.
If you were to judge this book by its cover, you would see a dress on the front and assume that this was a girly book. If you did, you would be absolutely correct. I picked this book up from the library upon seeing i...more
If you were to judge this book by its cover, you would see a dress on the front and assume that this was a girly book. If you did, you would be absolutely correct. I picked this book up from the library upon seeing i...more
This book has a very dreamy quality about it and as it covers one day (with flashbacked memories interwoven) of Isabel's life, it's pace is like a stroll rather than a race. And it's quiet.
As someone who is reading a lot on kindle of late, I actually bought this in book-form because of its satisfying size (smaller than most novels). The print is elegant, the paper is high quality and deckle-edged, and I adore how the margins on each page are pretty wide. It's just a visually and texturally satis...more
As someone who is reading a lot on kindle of late, I actually bought this in book-form because of its satisfying size (smaller than most novels). The print is elegant, the paper is high quality and deckle-edged, and I adore how the margins on each page are pretty wide. It's just a visually and texturally satis...more
This book is a slow starter. Much of what I marked in the first few pages were passages that felt too contrived and language that tried just a little too hard, but somewhere probably 20 or 30 pages in, I got sucked in, stopped marking passages, and forgot to pick the habit back up until near the end (where the ones I did mark were out of sheer enjoyment).
The less convoluted version of this might be: after a rocky opening, I was surprised to find myself fall under the enchantment of this sweet l...more
The less convoluted version of this might be: after a rocky opening, I was surprised to find myself fall under the enchantment of this sweet l...more
The plot and pacing are well-reviewed here by others, so I will focus on other aspects. My 18 & 20-year old daughters and I chose it as our first mother-daughter book club selection, and it was the perfect choice. We selected it because 1) it's only 174 pages, and we wanted our first book to be one we could all finish easily in 1-2 sittings, 2) it is in paperback so buying 3 copies wasn't too costly, 3) it's about a young woman who frequents thrift stores looking for treasures, like my girls...more
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This was my second time reading Glaciers, the debut book from Alexis M. Smith. It was a finalist for the Oregon Book Awards and it was given out as part of World Book Night.
This novella is short and sweet. Smith's prose is delicate and descriptive. She pays attention to the small details which really makes Isabel's day come to life.
It has all the requirements of a book set in Portland, Oregon: mass transit, bicycles, cats, thrift stores, food carts, vegetarian food, Made in Oregon sign, and more...more
This novella is short and sweet. Smith's prose is delicate and descriptive. She pays attention to the small details which really makes Isabel's day come to life.
It has all the requirements of a book set in Portland, Oregon: mass transit, bicycles, cats, thrift stores, food carts, vegetarian food, Made in Oregon sign, and more...more
A little bit hipster and a little bit pretentious at times, but I think that's almost what I like about it. Isabel is, essentially, living her dream in Portland working at a library and being fascinated with old things that once belonged to other people. She, like me, makes up stories about things she finds. Who were the people that once owned them or touched them, and who are the people whose faces stare back from an old photograph? Contrasting with this however, is the somewhat subtle desire t...more
I've read this brief novel three times and I think about it often in between readings. Few books hold onto me in this way. There are simply too many new books to read to take the time to re-read. What intrigues me is how many worlds we visit within the span of 178 pages without feeling like we've jumped tracks, or even wandered away, from Isabel's story. The novel takes place in a day and in a lifetime, in the past and in the present, and sometimes in her imagined future. The story is both perso...more
The setting is Pacific Northwest and anything set locally almost guarantees I'll at least give it a try. I love being able to say, "I've been there!" or for the text to evoke a similar feeling for the character and myself. The sweet little vignettes of chapters actually grew on me throughout the novel as well as the sparse writing style. There's no quotation marks on the dialogue so that it flowed quite smoothly. Isabel works in a library cataloging damaged books, crushes on her ex-soldier co-wo...more
This was a perfect gem of a book, a story (and an author) to fall in love with! Perfectly encapsulated in one single day, this book nevertheless takes us back into the narrator Isabel’s childhood, launches us into her sweet hopes for the future, and ends in the bittersweet reality of the present. Glaciers is somewhat like Joyce’s Ulysses in its ability to make one day the embodiment of all days, but with a decidedly feminine twist. Smith’s writing is simply beautiful: It is poetic, vulnerable, d...more
174 pages of breathtaking wow. This is a book about discarded photos, maps, and postcards, and how the people in the photos and postcards remind us that old people were once young, and we will one day be old. Its beautiful clarity suggests that relationships have changed, but in important ways, they have stayed the same.
Everyone should read this book, I am ever so glad I did.
Everyone should read this book, I am ever so glad I did.
If Morrissey were to write a book, it might be GLACIERS. A sense of sadness permeates this compact novel. Isabel is a young woman who possesses a perceptive sense of the past--things that have been lost to time, things forgotten, things that never will be.
The novel follows Isabel through one day. She starts the day by buying a thrift-store postcard, which becomes her touchstone throughout the book. She dwells upon the brief, loving message from M. to L., and meditates upon the postcard's pictur...more
The novel follows Isabel through one day. She starts the day by buying a thrift-store postcard, which becomes her touchstone throughout the book. She dwells upon the brief, loving message from M. to L., and meditates upon the postcard's pictur...more
I loved the character Isabel. First of all, she works in the restoration department of a library which would be an amazing job. She loves vintage clothing, old postcards and faded photographs. She lives in Portland so, naturally, she's a hipster. But, not ironically. She reminds me of Zoey Deschanel in 500 Days of Summer, but nerdier. She has a dreamy quality about her that fit the tone of the novel perfectly.
The content was sweet and short. It reminded me of the Ethiopian word tizita - a sense...more
The content was sweet and short. It reminded me of the Ethiopian word tizita - a sense...more
This is a wonderfully well-written, thoughtful, and creative novella. I read it in one sitting and enjoyed every page. This book is transportive - I was caught up in it almost immediately and was sorry when it ended. The prose is clear, descriptive, and effortlessly lyrical. The story is heartfelt and real. The main character's experiences and thoughts ring true and feel almost universal. It's also well-structured, as each chapter is a little vignette, with overarching themes that give the story...more
Delightful. Charming. Delicate. These are the words that first come to mind as I reflect on Glaciers. There's not much substance in these 174 pages, but I was nonetheless happy to have spent the time with them. In many of the novel's short chapters, Alexis M. Smith discusses the small things, the photos and relics Isabelle cherishes; with superb skill, Smith has crafted each chapter with the same vivid detail and want for nostalgia that these photos conjure.
There are some really wonderful senten...more
There are some really wonderful senten...more
A novella. (2012) Isabel is a single, twenty-‐something thrift store shopper and collector of remnants, things castoff or left behind by others. Glaciers follows Isabel through a day in her life in which work with damaged books in the basement of a library, unrequited love for the former soldier who fixes her computer, and dreams of the perfect vintage dress move over a backdrop of deteriorating urban architecture and the imminent loss of the glaciers she knew as a young girl in Alaska. Her mem...more
There's something so delicate and evocative about this lovely book. Lots of people have commented on the plot/characters, so I won't go into details, but just say this is really unlike any other novel I've ever read. In such a small space, only 170-some pages, it creates such a powerfully moving sense of nostalgia, longing, bittersweet-ness, and such a believable and sympathetic main character. I adored Isabel; I wanted to go on and on reading her memories of childhood and her musings, watching...more
Very short novella - reads more like a series of vignettes - about a day in a girl's life. Smith clearly has lots of stories in her -as evidenced by the party scene towards the end where people are assigned a topic for a personal story - and I hope she develops some of them more than she did here.
I'm a little skeptical of Isabel as a character, though, because she seems like some sort of Gen-Y Fantasy Cool Girl Figure: Outdoorsy from Alaska, moves to Portland, lives with her cat in an old house...more
I'm a little skeptical of Isabel as a character, though, because she seems like some sort of Gen-Y Fantasy Cool Girl Figure: Outdoorsy from Alaska, moves to Portland, lives with her cat in an old house...more
On the surface, and in the publisher's brief, Glaciers sounds feeble, even cliché. A twenty-something anachronistic girl living in Portland, OR going through daily life in the basement of a library while pining for a allusive colleague with a cute nickname all sounds so very- well- Hipster. BUT luckly this book cannot be properly surmised, and it cannot be taken at face value.
Smith has an uncommon talent for twisting up the mundane and folding it into a deeply moving and instantaneously piercin...more
Smith has an uncommon talent for twisting up the mundane and folding it into a deeply moving and instantaneously piercin...more
On a sentence level, Alexis Smith is a decent writer. Unfortunately, those sentences are strung together in a completely irritating, self-indulgent, and anger-inducing manner. The biggest problem, for me, is Smith's aversion to any sort of tension or ambiguity. She literally mentions something quasi-mysterious about Isabel (the protagonist) and explains the backstory of that quirk or attribute in the very next section or passage! I found myself wanting to yell, "It's okay to let the reader specu...more
I LOVED this book! (It's really a novella) I loved the physical aspects of the book (printing and page layout); to the story itself. There was plenty of white space on each page which seemed to fit with the introspective nature of the character. I identified with the main character, Isabel who is a collector (rescuer, preserver) of vintage things. The story captures so eloquently what often motivates me to bring home vintage treasures.
The story takes place during one day in Isabel's mid-twenties...more
The story takes place during one day in Isabel's mid-twenties...more
This was a solid novel. Smith is one of those keen observers of the human condition, and she translates her observation into pleasing prose. I liked this story. One where you feel like you're a peeping tom, a fly on the wall, and where you expect no perfect resolution or ride into the sunset because it's just a snapshot of life.
I appreciate the writing style, the combination of short and long sentences to keep a reader on his/her toes. The past-present switch was jarring, though, so I had troub...more
I appreciate the writing style, the combination of short and long sentences to keep a reader on his/her toes. The past-present switch was jarring, though, so I had troub...more
This slim, poetic volume was handed to me, and I as I read I was continually surprised. Not by what happened, but that the person who handed it to me could have know how the book related to my life- from a job working with books, a love and awe of glaciers, no dislike of the cold, and a tendency toward thrift-store dresses. But the most surprising moment came with a dress, a dress of "Creamy cotton with a print of teal and sapphire umbrellas with black handles..full dancing skirt." I have an umb...more
It's a lovely little keepsake of a book. The indie darling of books, if you will. The narrative and character development is not fully fleshed out, and that's all right if you're expecting a light and lyrical read.
It is also terribly cliche in the way that, if you are from Portland or Oregon born-and-raised as I am, you already kind of know this story. It feels familiar, even the main character, Isabel. The story is not even necessarily about Isabel, but the world as interpreted BY Isabel. It i...more
It is also terribly cliche in the way that, if you are from Portland or Oregon born-and-raised as I am, you already kind of know this story. It feels familiar, even the main character, Isabel. The story is not even necessarily about Isabel, but the world as interpreted BY Isabel. It i...more
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Alexis M. Smith grew up in Soldotna, Alaska and Seattle, Washington. She attended Mount Holyoke College, Portland State University, and Goddard College, where she earned an MFA in Creative Writing. Her writing has appeared in Tarpaulin Sky and on Powells.com. She currently lives in Portland, Oregon with her son, two cats, and their beloved view of the St. John’s Bridge.
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“Monotonous and thankless as her job can be sometimes, she cheers at the thought of her coworkers - a dozen of them crammed into their little offices in the basement - all cleverly disguised as harmless geeks, all capable of saving the world if called upon.”
—
8 people liked it
“It's a strange product of infatuation, she thinks. To want to tell someone about mundane things. The awareness of another person suddenly sharpens your senses, so that the little things come into focus and the world seems more beautiful and complicated.”
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7 people liked it
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