• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Kazoo Books

Excite your Mind

Quality Used & New Books
Kazoo Books · 2413 Parkview Ave. · (269) 553-6506
Hours: Monday thru Saturday 9 AM-6 PM
Closed Sunday
  • Home
  • About
    • Our Staff
    • Parking
    • Marketing & Publicity
  • Trade In Books
  • Shop
    • My Cart
  • Audiobooks
  • Meeting Here
    • Book & Writer’s Groups
    • Reserving Space
  • Distribution
  • Contact Us

KB Staff

Scary Close: Dropping the Act and Finding True Intimacy by Donald Miller

February 12, 2015 by KB Staff

41NQG0-cVPL._SY344_BO1,204,203,200_Reviewed by Nick, 2/12/15

Reading Miller’s Blue Like Jazz years ago made me a loyal Donald Miller fan who looks forward to his next book with joyful anticipation. It has been a long wait—five years—but finally he has a new book out: Scary Close: Dropping the Act and Finding True Intimacy. This book has been a fun and enlightening read for me because I have a “history” with Miller, but I am not sure if a first-time reader of Miller would like it as much as I did. Miller is 43 years old and this book tells the story of his engagement and marriage after an abundance of failures in the relationship game. His brutal honesty about his shortcomings and the well-earned wisdom he gains is inspiring. I think this book would make a great gift for a man struggling with relationship issues who is serious about changing for the better.

Filed Under: Nick, Reviews

Let’s Pretend This Never Happened (A Mostly True Memoir) by Jenny Lawson

February 3, 2015 by KB Staff

letpretendthisneverhappened11Reviewed by Sarah, 2/3/15

Well-known blogger, Jenny Lawson, creates a memoir that will have her readers laughing on every page. Lawson documents her childhood growing up in poverty-stricken rural Texas where her father, a taxidermist, fashions stuffed animals for his children out of the local road kill. Jenny captures her family with humor, but also tenderness. She brings this same blend to discussing her marriage and all of the changes that her husband ushers into her life. This is a quick and satisfying read!

Filed Under: Reviews, Sarah

Mildred Pierce by James M. Cain

February 2, 2015 by KB Staff

Fiction / Hard-boiled / Noir
Originally pub. 1941 by Alfred A. Knopf

This edition, pub. 1989 by Vintage

Reviewed by Sarah, 6/2/2015

Mildred PierceThings have gotten a little rough for Mildred Pierce. Her hubby decides that the braless Mrs. Biederhof is more interesting than his current family and leaves Mildred to figure out her life. Thus, Mildred and her two little girls are suddenly alone. Did I mention that this is the 1930’s? Not a great time to be a single mom. With Bert gone, Mildred faces finding a job for the first time.   After taking a turn as a waitress, she realizes that maybe she could establish her own restaurant.

If this sounds like a novel about how to overcome obstacles, I have some unfortunate news. Mildred might be a surprisingly good entrepreneur, but she is also the mother to an elitist, unfeeling daughter who judges her mother even as her mother scrimps and sacrifices to make a good life for her child. In addition, she takes up with a man who values her money and her figure more than he values her selfhood. By working and achieving independence, she also achieves scorn for not being an upper class lady of leisure.

Cain, who’s known for his own brand of noir fiction, achieves something special with this novel. He creates a human woman having a human experience, something much more authentic then the “dame done wrong” or the “femme fatale”. He likes Mildred and so will you.

Filed Under: Reviews, Sarah

Afterwords: 5th Annual Author Hop

December 11, 2014 by KB Staff

What a weekend! Our 5th Annual Author Hop not only brought in authors from all over, but attracted readers and writers from all over, too. Here are just a few pictures from our bustling Saturday. Thanks to everyone who came out, and especially the wonderful people who created these wonderful books. Ask us about our newly signed stock! (All pictures courtesy of Andrea Johnson.)

Tom Small with Using Native Plants to Restore Community
Tom Chmielewski with Lunar Dust, Martian Sands
Sandy Carlson with Logging Winter
Sally Stap with Smiling Again
Glenn Wolff and Jerry Dennis signing away.
Jerry and Glenn
Joe Heywood with his latest book, Mountains of the Misbegotten
Lois Richmond with The Missing Gargoyle
Mara Mae with Hunter’s Quest
The Mifi Writers with their latest release of Division by Zero
The Fantastic Wayne State Trio: Jack Ridl, Andy Mozina, and Lisa Lenzo
Busy authors, busy readers!
Jerry and Mara
Ellen Knuth with her book, co-written with Jane Knuth, Love Will Steer Me True
Sally Stap and E.H. VanDenBerg
Bud McDonnell and Brian C. Wilson
Mel Starr and Albert Bell, Jr.

Filed Under: Past Events

Featured: Timothy Bartik’s From Preschool to Prosperity

December 5, 2014 by KB Staff

BartikFrom W.E. Upjohn Institute, here in Kalamazoo, comes local economist Timothy J. Bartik’s second book, From Preschool to Prosperity: The Economic Payoff to Early Childhood Education. Bartik shows that investment in high-quality early childhood education has several long-term benefits, including higher adult earnings for program participants.

Listen to WMUK’s November 10th interview with Bartik here.

Filed Under: Specials

  • « Go to Previous Page
  • Page 1
  • Interim pages omitted …
  • Page 4
  • Page 5
  • Page 6
  • Page 7
  • Page 8
  • Go to Next Page »

Primary Sidebar

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Parking and Entrance

We're now using our back entrance and parking lot exclusively!

Turn onto Barnard Ave at Parkview, and then left at Book Alley, which runs behind the building and is marked with a street sign.

Looking for a particular title?

We have over 40,000 new and used books. Call or email today. On a mobile phone? Call here.

Upcoming Events

Notice
There are no upcoming events.

Gift Cards Available

Gift Card!

Parts Work Products

Popular Links

Kazoo Books on Bookshop.org

Ordering online via Bookshop.org supports Kazoo Books! Titles ship directly from our distributor. Most in-print titles are available via Bookshop, but their stock doesn't reflect our own inventory.

Search our online inventory of rare & antiquarian books.

Sign Up for Our Newsletter

Kazoo Books is a UPS Access Point

Footer

About us

Kazoo Books is Kalamazoo’s independent, locally-owned bookstore offering a wide selection of new and quality used books and book ordering services. We have been serving the greater Kalamazoo area since 1988.

Affiliations

indielogo buylocal logo GLIBA logo aba logo

Copyright © 2025 · Kazoo Books on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in