Fiction
One more thing : stories and other stories
B. J. Novak
FICTION Novak B. J.
Fiction
"B.J. Novak's One More Thing: Stories and Other Stories is an endlessly entertaining, surprisingly sensitive, and startlingly original debut that signals the arrival of a brilliant new voice in American fiction. A boy wins a $100,000 prize in a box of Frosted Flakes--only to discover how claiming the winnings might unravel his family. A woman sets out to seduce motivational speaker Tony Robbins--turning for help to the famed motivator himself. A new arrival in Heaven, overwhelmed with options, procrastinates over a long-ago promise to visit his grandmother. We also meet Sophia, the first artificially intelligent being capable of love, who falls for a man who might not be ready for it himself; a vengeance-minded hare, obsessed with scoring a rematch against the tortoise who ruined his life; and post-college friends who try to figure out how to host an intervention in the era of Facebook. Along the way, we learn why wearing a red T-shirt every day is the key to finding love, how February got its name, and why the stock market is sometimes just. down. Finding inspiration in questions from the nature of perfection to the icing on carrot cake, One More Thing has at its heart the most human of phenomena: love, fear, hope, ambition, and the inner stirring for the one elusive element that might just make a person complete. Across a dazzling range of subjects, themes, tones, and narrative voices, the many pieces in this collection are like nothing else, but they have one thing in common: they share the playful humor, deep heart, sharp eye, inquisitive mind, and altogether electrifying spirit of a writer with a fierce devotion to the entertainment of the reader"--
A constellation of vital phenomena : a novel
Anthony Marra
FICTION Marra Anthony
Fiction
Stegner Fellow, Iowa MFA, and winner of The Atlantic's Student Writing Contest, Anthony Marra has written a brilliant debut novel that brings to life an abandoned hospital where a tough-minded doctor decides to harbor a hunted young girl, with powerful consequences. In the final days of December 2004, in a small rural village in Chechnya, eight-year-old Havaa hides in the woods when her father is abducted by Russian forces. Fearing for her life, she flees with their neighbor Akhmed - a failed physician - to the bombed-out hospital, where Sonja, the one remaining doctor, treats a steady stream of wounded rebels and refugees and mourns her missing sister. Over the course of five dramatic days, Akhmed and Sonja reach back into their pasts to unravel the intricate mystery of coincidence, betrayal, and forgiveness that unexpectedly binds them and decides their fate. With The English Patient's dramatic sweep and The Tiger's Wife's expert sense of place, Marra gives us a searing debut about the transcendent power of love in wartime, and how it can cause us to become greater than we ever thought possible.
Such an affecting story set in a war zone. Marra writes in the author’s note, “The axis on which this novel rests is formed from two narratives shared by Islamic and Christian traditions—that of a parent asked to sacrifice a child and that of an orphan delivered into the family responsible for her orphanhood…” This theme drives the book so smoothly you’d think the book was on autopilot. Marra beautifully weaves the stories of his three primary characters, and it works. There’s very little that’s superfluous in this book. Marra’s commitment to this theme delivers these relationships and storylines from being otherwise contrived. -Melody
Billy Lynn's long halftime walk
Ben Fountain
FICTION Fountain Ben
Fiction
Billy Lynn's Long Half-Time Walk is a razor-sharp satire set in Texas during America's war in Iraq. It explores the gaping national disconnect between the war at home and the war abroad. Ben Fountain’s remarkable debut novel follows the surviving members of the heroic Bravo Squad through one exhausting stop in their media-intensive "Victory Tour" at Texas Stadium, football mecca of the Dallas Cowboys, their fans, promoters, and cheerleaders.
A coming of age story like none I've ever read. This young man comes of age as an Iraq war soldier, surviving a firefight and coming home a hero. What I loved most was how zen the character seemed as all these political forces pushed him around, when all he was was this 19yo kid with a complicated family life and raging hormones. -Melody
The bookshop on the corner : a novel
Jenny Colgan
FICTION Colgan, Jenny
Fiction
Nina Redmond is a literary matchmaker. Pairing a reader with that perfect book is her passion... and also her job. Or at least it was. Until yesterday, she was a librarian in the hectic city. But now the job she loved is no more. Determined to make a new life for herself, Nina moves to a sleepy village many miles away. There she buys a van and transforms it into a bookmobile--a mobile bookshop that she drives from neighborhood to neighborhood, changing one life after another with the power of storytelling. From helping her grumpy landlord deliver a lamb, to sharing picnics with a charming train conductor who serenades her with poetry, Nina discovers there's plenty of adventure, magic, and soul in a place that's beginning to feel like home... a place where she just might be able to write her own happy ending.
One of my favorite parts of this book was when Nina was handing out reading recommendations left and right, and people came back for more! Definitely a librarian's fantasyland. This is a great book to read during the winter, when you want to delight in staying warm indoors. Cozy up with Scottish countrysides and strapping young poets and farmers. Also available as an audiobook in Libby. -Melody
The devils of Cardona
Matthew Carr
FICTION Carr Matthew
Fiction, Historical Fiction, Mystery
"In this gripping historical thriller set in sixteenth-century Spain, a Catholic priest is murdered by a mysterious Muslim avenger as the Inquisition continues to force Moriscos to live and worship as Christians. In March 1584, the priest of Belamar de la Sierra, a small town in Aragon near the French border, is murdered in his own church. Most of the town's inhabitants are Moriscos, former Muslims who converted to Catholicism. Anxious to avert a violent backlash on the eve of a royal visit, an adviser to King Philip II appoints local magistrate Bernardo de Mendoza to investigate. A soldier and humanist, Mendoza doesn't always live up to the moral standards expected of court officials, but he has a reputation for incorruptibility. From the beginning, Mendoza finds almost universal hatred for the priest. And it isn't long before he's drawn into a complex and dangerous world in which greed, fanaticism, and state policy overlap. And as the killings continue, Mendoza's investigation is overshadowed by the real prospect of an ethnic and religious civil war. By turns an involving historical thriller and a novel with parallels to our own time, The Devils of Cardona is an unexpected and compelling read"--
If you want history with a dose of mystery than Matthew Carr’s The Devils of Cardona is your book. Judge Licenciado Bernardo Mendoza is sent to the Aragon region of Spain to investigate the murder of a Catholic priest. However, this is 1584, the Inquisition is in full swing, and the suspect, known only as the Redeemer, is a supposed Moor calling for the end of Catholic rule. This is a delicate situation for the King of Spain as he doesn’t want a revolt. When Mendoza arrives at the scene, he soon learns that this murder is much more personal than the historical and religious conflicts being exploited. So who is this Redeemer, is he the murderer, and what does he really want? -Anne M
Madonna in a fur coat
1906-1948 Sabahattin Ali
FICTION Sabahatt
Fiction
"A shy young man leaves his home in rural Turkey to learn a trade and discover life in 1920s Berlin. There, amid the city's bustling streets, elegant museums, passionate politics and seedy cabarets, a change meeting transforms his life forever. Caught between his desire for freedom and his yearning to belong, he struggles to hold on to the new life he has found"--
This short 200-page novel packs a punch. There is a lot of self-exploration--deciding who you are when you of one world, but living in another. It is also an interestingly framed in terms of the narrative. Originally published in the 1940's, this novel has gained some recent momentum in Turkey. For the first time, it is has been translated in English. -Anne M
The remains of the day
Kazuo Ishiguro
FICTION Ishiguro, Kazuo
Fiction
The novel's narrator, Stevens, is a perfect English butler who tries to give his narrow existence form and meaning through the self-effacing, almost mystical practice of his profession. In a career that spans the second World War, Stevens is oblivious of the real life that goes on around him -- oblivious, for instance, of the fact that his aristocrat employer is a Nazi sympathizer. Still, there are even larger matters at stake in this heartbreaking, pitch-perfect novel -- namely, Stevens' own ability to allow some bit of life-affirming love into his tightly repressed existence.
This is a surprising book. A book about an English butler lamenting how his work is change and his world disappearing should be such a quiet book, but that isn't the tragedy at the heart of this story. -Anne M
North and south
Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell
FICTION Gaskell, Elizabeth Cleghorn
Fiction, Classics
Oh, you must read Elizabeth Gaskell and you must start with this one. Margaret Hale, a daughter of a clergyman meets a stern, yet handsome mill owner, who is below her station as a tradesman. I would say it is Pride and Prejudice meets the industrial revolution--but I think this may be unfair to Gaskell, who is a fantastic writer in her own right. -Anne M
All the stars in the heavens : a novel
Adriana Trigiani
FICTION Trigiani Adriana
Fiction, Historical Fiction
The novel focuses on what happens between Loretta Young and Clark Gable as they film The Call of the Wild on location, as well as the fallout of their relationship. Trigiani individualizes each character and relationships are not portrayed as tawdry or depraved as the rumor mill at the time would make them out to be. It is also a well-written, solid read and it left me wanting more. -Anne M
So big
Edna Ferber
FICTION Ferber Edna
Fiction, Classics
So Big explores conflicting values, generational clashes, and living during an era of phenomenal social change. Ferber’s writing is clear and fresh, transcending many of the novels of the early twentieth century. If you enjoy Willa Cather, put So Big on your reading list. -Anne M
I both read the book and listened to the audiobook, which features a cast of fantastic actors. Novak, known for his work on The Office, tested these stories as one-acts on the stage. There was very little I didn't find entertaining in these stories. -Melody