Thomas Pynchon / Tarjei Vesaas Release Parties: After-Hours Bookstore Crawl

Third Place Books joins our neighbors at Phinney Books for one unforgettable night: an after-hours bookstore crawl to celebrate the release of three crazy novels.

⭐From 9:30pm-11pm at Phinney Books: celebrate one of Norway's finest authors with the highly-anticipated reissue of two Tarjei Vesaas novels, The Ice Palace and The Birds, both longtime Phinney favorites. Light refreshments and good conversation provided.

⭐From 11pm-12:30am at Third Place Books Ravenna: paper bag decorating, a raffle for tickets to see One Battle After Another (loosely based on Pynchon's Vineland), mingling with like-minded readers, and the midnight unveiling of Thomas Pynchon's Shadow Ticket.

10% off purchases at both stores!

Some fine print:

• Both events are free and open to the public! RSVP is requested, whether you're attending one party or both, but not required. RSVP will help us know how many paper bags to prepare for decorating and if we need to hire a bouncer. The idea is that you attend both events in succession, but also 12am is pretty late for a Monday and we understand you're not a Harry Potter–crazed middle schooler anymore. You can always pre-order your Pynchon and pick it up in the morning. But you will miss out!
• Shadow Ticket will be available to purchase after the big reveal at midnight, October 6/7 at Third Place Books. Tarjei Vesaas' The Birds and The Ice Palace will be available at Phinney Books starting at 9:30pm.
• Why Vesaas and Pynchon? Per Tom Nissley of Phinney Books, who literally wrote a book on literary trivia, The Ice Palace came out in 1963, the same year as Thomas Pynchon’s debut, V. To the extent that a connection exists between these two authors, that's the best we could come up with.
• This unprecedented, dual bookstore collaboration was originally titled "The Literary Freaks Come Out at Night!" per an email from Tom but we toned it down a bit.
• Tarjei Vesaas is deceased and Thomas Pynchon would probably hate that we're doing this.

This event is free to attend. Registration is recommended in advance.

The new novel from Thomas Pynchon

Milwaukee 1932, the Great Depression going full blast, repeal of Prohibition just around the corner, Al Capone in the federal pen, the private investigation business shifting from labor-management relations to the more domestic kind. Hicks McTaggart, a one-time strikebreaker turned private eye, thinks he’s found job security until he gets sent out on what should be a routine case, locating and bringing back the heiress of a Wisconsin cheese fortune who’s taken a mind to go wandering. Before he knows it, he’s been shanghaied onto a transoceanic liner, ending up eventually in Hungary where there’s no shoreline, a language from some other planet, and enough pastry to see any cop well into retirement—and of course no sign of the runaway heiress he’s supposed to be chasing. By the time Hicks catches up with her he will find himself also entangled with Nazis, Soviet agents, British counterspies, swing musicians, practitioners of the paranormal, outlaw motorcyclists, and the troubles that come with each of them, none of which Hicks is qualified, forget about being paid, to deal with. Surrounded by history he has no grasp on and can’t see his way around in or out of, the only bright side for Hicks is it’s the dawn of the Big Band Era and as it happens he’s a pretty good dancer. Whether this will be enough to allow him somehow to Lindy-hop his way back again to Milwaukee and the normal world, which may no longer exist, is another question.

An intense friendship between 2 young girls turns tragic when one gets lost in a frozen waterfall’s ice chambers in this dreamlike Norwegian masterpiece

Features a new introduction by Karl Ove Knausgaard

In rural Norway, 11-year-old Siss, socially at ease and popular among her peers, finds herself drawn to the new girl in class, Unn. Unn is shy and strange, but holds a magnetic power for her more gregarious classmate. Their friendship is cemented after a dreamy afternoon spent gazing into each other’s eyes in the mirror, exchanging hinted secrets and perhaps pieces of their souls.

But the next day, Unn, embarrassed by her new intimacy with Siss, skips school and goes to explore a series of ice caves around a nearby waterfall. Lost in the labyrinthine chambers, she eventually freezes to death, thinking of Siss as she loses feeling and drifts into the dark. When Siss learns Unn is missing and likely dead, she is determined to keep alive the memory of the friend she so briefly knew – sometimes it feels as though she too is locked in the glistening chambers of the ice palace. It is only when spring comes and the ice palace melts that Siss finds herself able to let go of Unn, and reconnect to those around her.

A profound exploration of grief, and an intensely lyrical coming-of-age story, this novel is the masterpiece of one of Norway’s greatest writers.

A paean to the solace and power of nature, and a sensitive exploration of what we now recognize as neurodivergence

“The best Norwegian novel ever. . . absolutely wonderful, and so moving. . . amongst the great classics from the last century” — Karl Ove Knausgaard

Mattis lives on an isolated lake with his sister Hege. He always has, and always will—he’s never been able to function properly in the outside world, and it’s Hege who makes sure that they have enough to eat and protects Mattis from outsiders’ lack of understanding. He’s happy in their small world, communing with the birds and watching the seasons pass.

But he’s worried that Hege—whose hair is going grey, and whose youth has passed taking care of him—isn’t as content. An attempt by Mattis to make them a bit more money by ferrying passengers in his boat opens their home to a stranger, with whom Hege begins an affair. Mattis, perturbed and fearful that his sister’s protection may soon be withdrawn, makes plans to put everything back the way it was—but the tragic consequences fall on his own head.

Written from the perspective of an adult with autism, the book delicately tells us everything that Mattis cannot grasp, without ever betraying the vulnerability and intensity with which he tries to make sense of his world.

Founded in 1998 in Lake Forest Park, Washington, Third Place Books is dedicated to the creation of a community around books and the ideas inside them. With locations in Lake Forest Park and Seattle's Ravenna and Seward Park neighborhoods, Third Place Books is proud to serve the entire Seattle metro area. Learn more about their event series at thirdplacebooks.com/events.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Third Place Books Ravenna, 6504 20th Avenue Northeast, Seattle, United States