Category Archives: Fiction

Eligible: A Modern Retelling of Pride and Prejudice by Curtis Sittenfeld

16 Friday Mar 2018

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Curtis Sittenfeld is one of my favorite authors, and this book is one of her lighter and funnier ones. Eligible is a retelling of Pride and Prejudice, set in contemporary Cincinnati. The updates for the Bennets, Darcys, and Bingleys are modern and clever, but still maintain the spirit of Jane Austen’s original classic.

“If there exists a more perfect pairing than Curtis Sittenfeld and Jane Austen, we dare you to find it. . . . Sittenfeld makes an already irresistible story even more beguiling and charming.”—Elle

 “[Sittenfeld] is the ideal modern-day reinterpreter. Her special skill lies not just in her clear, clean writing, but in her general amusement about the world, her arch, pithy, dropped-mike observations about behavior, character and motivation. She can spot hypocrisy, cant, self-contradiction and absurdity ten miles away. She’s the one you want to leave the party with, so she can explain what really happened. . . . Not since Clueless, which transported Emma to Beverly Hills, has Austen been so delightedly interpreted. . . . Sittenfeld writes so well—her sentences are so good and her story so satisfying. . . . As a reader, let me just say: Three cheers for Curtis Sittenfeld and her astute, sharp and ebullient anthropological interest in the human condition.”—Sarah Lyall, The New York Times Book Review

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The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn

02 Friday Mar 2018

Posted by in Fiction, murder, mystery

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I loved this dark, creepy novel. The main character is an alcoholic, agoraphobic woman who lives in NYC who hasn’t been able to leave her apartment in almost a year. She spends her days drinking, watching old black and white movies, and spying on her neighbors through their windows. One day she thinks she sees something very disturbing happen, but can we, the reader, trust her point of view? If you like Alfred Hitchcock, you’ll like this one.

“The Woman in the Window is a tour de force. A twisting, twisted odyssey inside one woman’s mind, her illusions, delusions, reality. It left my own mind reeling and my heart pounding. An absolutely gripping thriller.” (#1 New York Times bestselling author Louise Penny)

“The Woman in the Window is one of those rare books that really is unputdownable. The writing is smooth and often remarkable. The way Finn plays off this totally original story against a background of film noir is both delightful and chilling.” (Stephen King)

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To Say Nothing of the Dog or How We Found the Bishop’s Bird Stump At Last by Connie Willis

23 Friday Feb 2018

Posted by in fantasy, Fiction, Future, Humor

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In the not too distant future, historians at Oxford have found a way to travel back in time to study different time periods. A wealthy patron of the program is insistent on finding an artifact that belonged to one of her ancestors, and so Ned and Verity, two Oxford academics, are sent back to 1888 England, where many funny adventures ensue. This is a great choice for people who love Victorian novels.

“Willis effortlessly juggles comedy of manners, chaos theory and a wide range of literary allusions [with a] near flawlessness of plot, character and prose.”–Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“The most hilarious book of its kind since John Irving’s The Water-Method Man and A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole.”–Des Moines Sunday Register

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The Ninth Hour by Alice McDermott

17 Saturday Feb 2018

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A portrait of the Irish-American experience is presented through the story of an Irish immigrant’s suicide and how it reverberates through innumerable lives in early twentieth-century Catholic Brooklyn.

“This seamlessly written new work from National Book Award winner McDermott asks how much we owe others, how much we owe ourselves, and, of course, McDermott’s consistent attention to the Catholic faith, how much we owe God . . . In lucid, flowing prose, McDermott weaves her character’ stories to powerful effect. Highly recommended.” ―Library Journal, starred review

“McDermott delivers an immense, brilliant novel about the limits of faith, the power of sacrifice, and the cost of forgiveness . . . It’s the thread that follows Sally’s coming of age and eventual lapse of faith that is the most absorbing. Scenes detailing her benevolent encounters . . . are paradoxically grotesque and irresistible . . . McDermott exhibits a keen eye for character.” ―Publishers Weekly, starred review

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Fools and Mortals by Bernard Cornwell

09 Friday Feb 2018

Posted by in Fiction, Historical Fiction, Humor, London

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Philippa Gregory describes this book perfectly: “With all the vivid history that is his trademark, Bernard Cornwell transports the readers to the playhouses, backstreets, and palaces of Shakespeare’s London with added depth and compassion, and a likeable hero.”  This is historical fiction at its best with a thriller element thrown in for sheer reading pleasure.

“In this delightful departure from his popular military historicals, Cornwell (The Flame Bearer, 2016) conducts a boisterous behind-the-scenes romp through the often sordid world of the Elizabethan theater…. Cornwell displays his usual masterful attention to detail…. Sumptuously entertaining.” (Booklist)

“Marvelous…. Full of drama, both on- and offstage, and with numerous delightful, laugh-out-loud moments, this novel is an absolute joy. A must-have for anyone who loves the theater, this is easily the best book this reviewer has read this year.” (Library Journal, starred review)

 

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The Dark Lake by Sarah Bailey

26 Friday Jan 2018

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This is debut novel with punch!  Detective Gemma Woodstock seems to have an unhealthy obsession with the victim, a former classmate, and you don’t know why. She seems jealous of Rosalind’s beauty and sense of mystery which has a kind of magnetism on people which Gemma feels she lacks and the train-wreck of her own life reflects. As the secrets of this small Australian town are revealed, her partner and boss sense Gemma has deeper connections to the murder victim, more than adrmissible…but when Gemma falls into the sights of the murderer, nothing will keep her from the satisfying pursuit to its end. For readers who enjoy Tana French and Lisa Gardiner –  a new writer to follow.

“Police work comes easily to Det. Sgt. Gemma Woodstock, the narrator of Australian author Bailey’s stellar first novel…Bailey interweaves her sympathetic protagonist’s past and present with uncommon assurance…a page-turner that’s both tense and thought provoking.”―Publishers Weekly

“The Dark Lake is a mesmerizing thriller full of long buried secrets that sucked me right in and kept me up late turning pages. Gemma Woodstock is a richly flawed and completely authentic character – I loved going on this journey with her and the way the truth of her past was revealed in bits and pieces as we went along. Sarah Bailey has crafted an exquisite debut – I can’t wait to see what she does next!”―Jennifer McMahon, New York Times bestselling author of The Winter People

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The Stars are Fire by Anita Shreve

13 Saturday Jan 2018

Posted by in Fiction, Historical Fiction

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Along with storytelling mojo and stylistic verve, this novel has an excellent, suspenseful premise: Grace’s life is upended and ultimately transformed by a real-life historical catastrophe, the wildfires that spread through coastal Maine in October of 1947, following months of severe drought. With all the terror of fire on our West coast these days, it is scary to realize it happened not far from us not that long ago.  As good as her first book, The Weight of Water.

“This is sure to be a best seller. Shreve’s prose mirrors the action of the fire, with popping embers of action, licks of blazing rage, and the slow burn of lyrical character development. Absolutely stunning.”—Library Journal  (starred review, Editors’ Spring Picks)

“It is a book of small moments, a collection of seemingly simple themes that build to surprising and moving crescendoes. Shreve’s spare, economic prose suits her character’s practicality and initial hesitance to determine the course of her own life… Shreve’s crisp writing becomes more expansive in the moments when her protagonist consciously stretches beyond the boundaries of her previously narrow life.—BookPage

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Standard Deviation by Katherine Heiny

29 Friday Dec 2017

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This book really made me laugh. Graham and Audra are a married couple living in New York with their son. There’s not too much more to the plot than that, as they navigate their son’s needs and interact with Graham’s first wife, Audra’s friends, and the origami club their son joins. What I loved about this book is the humor, much of it related to Audra, who is one of the most unique characters I have encountered in a while.

“Audra Daltry is a singular creation—a character so funny, so appealing, so sure that she can change the world for her family that she will jump right off the page and take up permanent residence in your heart. Standard Deviation is a marvel.” —Kate Atkinson, author of Life After Life 

“Warmhearted… Dishes up amusing riffs on marriage, misfits, and finicky eaters, plus some wonderfully on-target descriptions… Explores the complexities and ambivalences that color even our most central relationships… This book is about a marriage under stress—though Heiny keeps it bubbly, evoking the smart, stylish wit of Laurie Colwin, Nora Ephron, and Maria Semple… [She] clearly has what it takes to join the elite coterie of witty social satirists who turn out smart, lively charmers.” —Heller McAlpin, NPR

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Murder in the Marais (An Aimée Leduc Investigation) by Cara Black

22 Friday Dec 2017

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This title is the first in a series featuring female sleuth Aimee Leduc. The story is set in 1990’s Paris with flashbacks to the early 1940’s.  The author’s writing style makes for a quick, absorbing read and her inclusion of details about life in France during the German Occupation are revealing. The story hinges on the murder of Lili Stein, the proprietor of a small grocery store in a Jewish neighborhood. When she is discovered strangled in her bedroom, forehead marked by a Swastika, Aimee sets about unraveling long held secrets that lead ultimately to a present day election.\

“Literate prose, intricate plotting, and multifaceted and unusual characters mark this excellent first mystery.” –Library Journal

“The charm of this series comes from the character and a vividly rendered setting. Aimée rides her pink scooter through the streets of Paris, roller skates through the Louvre after closing time, and tears through dark tunnels under the Palais Royal wearing peep-toe shoes or vintage Valentino boots, her eyes ringed with kohl, trying to figure out who is out to get her . . . Zut alors! It’s quite a ride.”
—The Boston Globe

“Forever young, forever stylish, forever in love with Paris—forever Aimée.”
—New York Times Book Review 

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On Beauty by Zadie Smith

13 Wednesday Dec 2017

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An English professor moves his family to a Boston suburb to teach at a university, where they are each drawn into relationships, friendships, and conflicts, particularly with another academic family. This book is funny, insightful, and poignant, loosely based on E.M. Forster’s novel Howards End.

“In this sharp, engaging satire, beauty’s only skin-deep, but funny cuts to the bone.” —Kirkus Reviews

“…[A] thoroughly original tale about families and generational change, about race and multiculturalism in millennial America, about love and identity and the ways they are affected by the passage of time. Ms. Smith possesses a captivating authorial voice—at once authoritative and nonchalant, and capacious enough to accommodate high moral seriousness, laid-back humor and virtually everything in between—and in these pages, she uses that voice to enormous effect, giving us that rare thing: a novel that is as affecting as it is entertaining, as provocative as it is humane.” —Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times

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