14 Monday Dec 2015
Posted in Fiction
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A woman reflects on her life, particularly her relationship with her late sister, who died after driving off a bridge. The novel alternates between past and present, and includes a “novel within a novel” that adds to the mystery surrounding the two sisters’ lives. Margaret Atwood is an acclaimed writer, and this is my favorite of her books that I’ve read.
“Absorbing… expertly rendered… Virtuosic storytelling [is] on display.”–The New York Times
30 Monday Nov 2015
Posted in Fiction
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A small island holds a horse race each year; what makes it so dangerous is that the horses come from the sea. This novel follows two young people, each desperate to win the race. It is an unusual, beautifully written, and magical story.
“Stiefvater’s novel, inspired by Manx, Irish, and Scottish legends of beautiful but deadly fairy horses that emerge from the sea each autumn, begins rivetingly and gets better and better . . . all the way, in fact, to best.”–Horn Book Review, Starred Review
“Masterful…like nothing else out there now.”–Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review
23 Monday Nov 2015
Posted in Fiction, Historical Fiction
If you are willing to be transported to the jungle-fringed tea plantations of the Cameron Highlands to discover the only Japanese garden in Malaysia, this most gifted writer will unveil another time, a place, two characters who wrestle with unspeakable brutal pasts, and seek the healing solace in the art of gardening. I guarantee this story and this garden will linger in your mind long after you’ve read the last page.
16 Monday Nov 2015
Posted in Fiction, Historical Fiction
In 1919, Rachel Rabinowitz and her brother were placed in the Hebrew Orphans Home in New York City after a series of tragic family events. The orphanage is noted for its efficient care of over 1000 orphans and its modern medical facilities which include an X-ray machine. Dr. Mildred Solomon, a young radiologist eager to show her knowledge, carries out medical research using several of the orphans as research subjects.
Thirty-five years later in 1954, Rachel is now a nurse in the hospice wing of the Old Hebrews Home where she recognizes her new patient as Dr. Mildred Solomon. Rachel must now choose between forgiveness or revenge.
A fascinating but disturbing work of historical fiction by a new author who bears watching.
“Kim van Alkemade has moxie. In her provocative novel, family is saturated with betrayal, care is interrupted by ambition and desire, and the past is intimately explored, invoking the abandoned child in all of us. Orphan # 8 brims with complicated passions and pitch-perfect historical details. A riveting, memorable debut.” (Catherine Zobal Dent, author of Unfinished Stories of Girls)
“This book is utterly unputdownable. At once atmospheric, disturbing and absolutely engrossing, it poses a host of moral questions; I fully anticipate that it will become popular with book clubs.” (Historical Novels Review)
04 Wednesday Nov 2015
After reading the first three words, the first sentence and the first paragraph, the reader will know what happened to the central character in this book. But then the question is Why? and then How? and then For What?
Celeste Ng, in her first novel, has gracefully written a poignant and heartbreaking story of family, ethnicity, communication and grief that the reader will be compelled to read in one sitting.
“If we know this story, we haven’t seen it yet in American fiction, not until now… Ng has set two tasks in this novel’s doubled heart—to be exciting, and to tell a story bigger than whatever is behind the crime. She does both by turning the nest of familial resentments into at least four smaller, prickly mysteries full of secrets the family members won’t share… What emerges is a deep, heartfelt portrait of a family struggling with its place in history, and a young woman hoping to be the fulfillment of that struggle. This is, in the end, a novel about the burden of being the first of your kind—a burden you do not always survive.” – Alexander Chee, The New York Times Book Review
“Wonderfully moving…Emotionally precise…A beautifully crafted study of dysfunction and grief…[This book] will resonate with anyone who has ever had a family drama.” – Boston Globe
21 Wednesday Oct 2015
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Americans, booksellers, detectives, embassies, France, missing persons, mystery, Paris
Get ready for suspense and red herrings in the world of the bouquinistes – the book stalls along the Seine in Paris. Hugh Marston, the head of security at the US embassy in Paris, passes many a lunch break perusing old books to find the perfect gift. And then one day, we watches helplessly as his favorite bookseller is dragged away at gunpoint. Surprise – the police couldn’t be bothered even as more booksellers begin to disappear. Taking matters into his own hands with the help of his long time friend Tom, CIA, and short term friend, Claudia, a journalist, he uncovers an obscure past that may explain matters. But can he piece the puzzle together before his time runs out?
“Pryor’s steady and engrossing debut combines Sherlockian puzzle solving with Eric Ambler-like spy intrigue. With a cast of characters you want to know better and a storyline cloaked in World War II betrayals…the author winningly blends contemporary crime with historical topics.” –Library Journal Starred Review
“A real page-turner. This is what thriller writers always aim to produce and so often fail to get right…. You can’t ask for better than this.” –San Francisco Book Review
As strong and welcome as a hot coffee on a chilly Paris morning. Bibliophiles, Francophiles, and mystery addicts rejoice! The debut of Hugo Marston is one you don’t want to miss.” –Steven Sidor, author of Pitch Dark
30 Wednesday Sep 2015
Posted in Fiction
What good fortune – the discovery of a very fine author – new to me! Recommended by another Weston librarian who remembered so fondly Kallos’ first book, Broken for You. I opened the covers of this book and was immersed in storytelling at its finest, unpredictable connections of characters, mastery of the words that made me pause to reread and savor, and something close to the divine fleetingly reveals itself. Prepare to embrace a fine author for your reading pleasure.
“A riveting read…Kallos moves back and forth in time, and among characters, in a story that deftly mixes family drama, neuroscience, mystery and an exploration of the dying art of handwriting that is far more intriguing than it sounds…You’re likely to find yourself rereading it at least once to fully absorb what you may have missed the first time around.”—Bookpage
“Language Arts was like yoga for my heart—my sentiments were stretched and strengthened, my imagination challenged and contorted, and when I finished, I felt grateful for this beautifully honest, lyrical journey. I loved this book.” — Jamie Ford, best-selling author of Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet
“Kallos’ earlier novels, Broken for You (2004) and Sing Them Home (2009), have been widely praised, and her third deserves all of those kudos and more. This novel, masterfully plotted and written, is a wondrously beautiful story of love and loss, offering hope in the face of the harshest reality.”—Booklist, starred review
14 Monday Sep 2015
Posted in Fiction, Historical Fiction
Rural Ireland’s recent past is the setting for this novel about a 40-year-old mother of four, Nora Webster, who struggles to adjust emotionally after a fatal illness takes the life of her husband of 20 years. Burdened by straitened finances, distracted by grief and by turns worried about or detached from her children, she is weighed down by the dullness of her days without her husband. Nora’s circumstances are not entirely hopeless though as she is capable, independent-minded and supported by well-meaning family and acquaintances. Her pessimism about the future begins to recede as she permits herself to take pleasure in small moments of happiness. A chance encounter with a local voice teacher leads to a new focus on music as a means to recovery as she crafts a new life on her own.
“Fascinating… Revelatory… More thoughtful than Emma Bovary and less self-destructive, in the end far and away a better parent than the doomed Anna Karenina for all the latter’s dramatic posturing, Nora Webster is easily as memorable as either—and far more believable. To say more would spoil a masterful— and unforgettable—novel.” (Betsy Burton NPR)
“The Ireland of four decades ago is beautifully evoked… Completely absorbing [and] remarkably heart-affecting.” (Booklist (starred review))
02 Wednesday Sep 2015
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In this thriller by bestselling Japanese novelist Higashino, a distressed single mother has a tough time freeing herself and her daughter from her abusive ex-husband. Her requests to the police for protection from this deadbeat go unheeded and she attempts to escape him by relocating. Settling into her new apartment she and her daughter introduce themselves to their next-door neighbor, a lonely math teacher for whom this meeting proves to be tragically fateful.
Veteran police detective matches wits with a brilliant rookie criminal. This character-driven mystery by the prolific Higashino has much to recommend, including a droll Columbo-like sleuth and a great surprise ending. (Kirkus Reviews (starred review))
Winner of Japan’s prestigious Naoki Prize and a bestseller there with more than two million copies sold, this literary psychological thriller is a subtle and shifting murder mystery. It will make readers redefine devotion and trust in an otherwise complete stranger. (Library Journal (starred review))
21 Friday Aug 2015
Posted in Fiction
The author, once again, in this his last novel, returns to the fictional small town of Holt, Colorado, the setting for all of his fiction (Plainsong, Eventide, and Benediction).
Haruf, who passed away in November 2014, has written a bittersweet but buoyant novel about a widow and a widower who find each other and in the process find an antidote to loneliness.
Despite the author’s spare style, Haruf packs as much action, character development and emotion in 179 pages as many authors do in books twice or three times as long.
The review in Library Journal states that “this novel resonates beyond the pages … don’t miss this exceptional work from a literary voice now stilled.”
“A fine and poignant novel that demonstrates that our desire to love and to be loved does not dissolve with age. . . . The story speeds along, almost as if it’s a page-turning mystery.” —Joseph Peschel, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch
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