[bksvol-discuss] Fw: Fiction A to Z February 2008

  • From: "Amber Wallenstein" <amber.wallens@xxxxxxxxx>
  • To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Mon, 18 Feb 2008 07:49:59 -0500

Fiction A to Z February 2008

"I must say that I find television very educational. The minute somebody turns 
it on, I go to the library and read a book."
~ Groucho Marx (1980-1977), American comedian
New and Recently Released!
There's No Place Like Here - by Cecelia Ahern
Publisher: Hyperion
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 1/1/2008
ISBN: 9781401301880
ISBN-10: 1401301886
Ireland's 34-year-old Sandy Shortt (who isn't--she's a raven-haired 6'1") has 
been obsessed with finding lost things ever since a childhood neighbor went
missing. Naturally, she operates a missing persons agency, frets about the 
past, and is habitually unable to connect with the people in her present. One
day while out for a jog, she ends up in the magical place where lost items go. 
What she learns there will change the way she looks at life. If this whimsically
inventive author's name sounds familiar, it should: Cecelia Ahern's debut was 
the basis for the movie P.S. I Love You; she also co-created the ABC comedy
series Samantha Who?
A Golden Age - by Tahmima Anam
Publisher: HarperCollins
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 1/1/2008
ISBN: 9780061478741
ISBN-10: 0061478741
As a young widow in Bangladesh, Rehana Haque was forced to give up her son and 
daughter; a year later, she was able to retrieve them. Now, 20 years later,
Rehana's desire to never divide the family again is put to the test when she 
and her children are caught up in the country's 1971 fight for independence.
This debut, which highlights the love and courage of mothers, is the first in a 
proposed trilogy, and the depiction of war and its consequences will appeal
to those who appreciate tales of political upheaval and family drama, such as 
Kiran Desai's The Inheritance of Loss.
People of the Book - by Geraldine Brooks
Publisher: Viking
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 1/1/2008
ISBN: 9780670018215
ISBN-10: 067001821X
Given the coveted job of analyzing and conserving the priceless Sarajevo 
Haggadah, which disappeared during the 1992 siege, Australian rare-book expert
Hanna Heath discovers a series of tiny artifacts within the ancient volume's 
pages--a hair, an insect's wing, a stain--that reveal its origins and its
journey. Moving backwards through time, People of the Book is the imagined 
history of a real illuminated manuscript that truly did survive for centuries
thanks to the bravery of people of many faiths. If you're intrigued by 
depictions of other eras and places, or are drawn by the mystery of teasing out
an item's provenance, this tale is sure to please.
Beginner's Greek: A Novel - by James Collins
Publisher: Little, Brown
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 1/9/2008
ISBN: 9780316021555
ISBN-10: 0316021555
Peter Russell has done a stupid, stupid thing: he's gone and fallen hopelessly 
in love with the beautiful woman seated next to him on his flight to LA...and
then lost her phone number. Over the next several years, life goes on for Peter 
until, on the verge of marriage, he meets his former seatmate again. She
is, however, married--and married to a friend of Peter's who also happens to be 
a womanizing cad. Will Peter and his soul mate ever be together? If you've
ever seen a romantic comedy or read a chick-lit novel, you'll know that the 
answer to that question is yes, but that getting there is half the fun.
First Chapter
Gotta Keep on Tryin': A Novel - by Virginia DeBerry and Donna Grant
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 1/8/2008
ISBN: 9781416531678
ISBN-10: 141653167X
In this sequel to Tryin' to Sleep in the Bed You Made, Patricia and Gayle are 
ten years older, but they're still best friends and they're still dealing
with ghosts from their pasts. Pat is growing ever more distant from her husband 
Marcus (who's facing problems of his own), while Gayle's difficult daughter
has dropped out of school and moved in with her loser boyfriend. Even the 
relationship between the two friends is tense. Written by two best friends, 
Gotta
Keep on Tryin' explores friendship and success and their pitfalls in a manner 
sure to delight anyone who has ever had a best friend--or a problem.
First Chapter
Mermaids in the Basement - by Michael Lee West
Publisher: HarperCollins
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 1/1/2008
ISBN: 9780060184056
ISBN-10: 0060184051
Struggling with her mother's sudden death, a case of writer's block, and the 
suggestion that her boyfriend is having an affair, screenplay writer Renata
DeChavannes flees to her grandmother's home in Alabama. There, with the help of 
her grandmother Honora and Honora's best friend--as well as her former
nanny--Renata comes face to face with the skeletons in her family's closet. 
Meanwhile, her father's about to get married (again), and Renata slowly realizes
that there's a lot more to her parents' relationship than she understands. This 
wacky slice of Southern life "never fails to entertain" (Kirkus Reviews).
Dynamic Duos
Maynard & Jennica - by Rudolph Delson
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 9/18/2007
ISBN: 9780618834488
ISBN-10: 0618834486
Eccentric Maynard Gogarty is an unsuccessful musician whose hobby is covertly 
filming New York City subway commuters. Jennica Green is a hardworking, 
spreadsheet-oriented
transplant from California; their initial meeting is forgettable, but the 
romance that eventually ensues is not. Told from 35 different perspectives 
(including
at least one dead ancestor, a macaw, and an inanimate object), this story about 
falling in and out of love in New York City is set both pre- and post-9/11,
and makes for a compelling, witty, and unusual read.
Me & Emma - by Elizabeth Flock
Publisher: Mira
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 3/1/2006
ISBN: 9780778322856
ISBN-10: 0778322858
In a nowhere town in North Carolina, timid eight-year-old Carrie Parker and her 
fearless little sister, Emma, live with an unfeeling mother, an abusive
stepfather, and memories of happier days before their father was killed. Tired 
of having to forage for food and of the constant abuse, Carrie makes plans
for the two to run away, but their escape is thwarted. Narrated by Carrie, Me & 
Emma is a haunting tale of abuse and the invisible marks it leaves behind.
"Tremendously touching," says Kirkus Reviews.
First Chapter
Freddy and Fredericka - by Mark Helprin
Publisher: Penguin Group USA
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 7/25/2006
ISBN: 9780143037255
ISBN-10: 0143037250
Ridiculed constantly by the British press for their routine gaffes, 
intellectual Prince of Wales Freddy and his wife, the frivolous Fredericka, are 
sent
on a destiny-fulfilling mission to retake the barbaric land of America (they 
parachute nearly naked into New Jersey). Their misadventures include 
impersonating
dentists, manual labor under assumed names, and working for a terribly stupid 
presidential candidate. Farcical though their mysterious quest might be,
Freddy and Fredericka do manage to repair their weakened relationship. This 
silly, imaginative, and clever tale is sure to appeal to fans of everything
from Mark Twain to Monty Python.
Table of Contents
Shopaholic & Baby - by Sophie Kinsella
Publisher: Dial Press
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 2/27/2007
ISBN: 9780385338707
ISBN-10: 0385338708
In this 5th entry in the Shopaholic series, Becky's life is pretty much 
perfect, with a great job at a new London boutique, weekends spent house-hunting
with her gorgeous husband Luke, and a baby on the way. But at heart she's still 
Becky Bloomwood (ok, Becky Brandon), and she's got to have the best for
her baby--and that includes the best obstetrician. Too bad that beautiful, 
glamorous obstetrician-to-the-stars Venetia Carter also just happens to be 
Luke's
ex-girlfriend. Hijinks ensue when Becky hires a private eye to make sure 
there's no funny stuff, but with a Shopaholic book, you know there will be 
laughs
aplenty. Nesting chick-lit readers will find Becky's adventures especially 
enjoyable.
First Chapter
Astrid & Veronika - by Linda Olsson
Publisher: Penguin Books
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 2/6/2007
ISBN: 9780143038078
ISBN-10: 0143038079
Astrid is an elderly woman so withdrawn that she's thought to be a witch by her 
rural Swedish neighbors. The woman renting next door, struggling author
Veronika, is trying to get on with her life after a personal tragedy. Though 
both Astrid and Veronika have imposed their isolation upon themselves, the
two women gradually open up to one another about the losses they have suffered. 
If you enjoy reading about the complicated relationships between friends
or among families, you'll appreciate this richly observant debut.
Amy and Isabelle - by Elizabeth Strout
Publisher: Vintage Contemporaries
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 2/1/2000
ISBN: 9780375705199
ISBN-10: 0375705198
At 16, shy Amy Goodrow found she couldn't stand her mother. She also discovered 
her growing sexuality. When her relationship with her math teacher is 
discovered,
her mother, Isabelle, is devastated--not only by the teacher's actions but by 
her daughter's duplicity and sudden sexuality, and by the shame and anger
she feels about her own past and choices. The complexities of the 
mother-daughter relationship are at the core of author Elizabeth Strout's 
debut, but
the lives of other women in the town are also depicted. If you've already read 
and enjoyed Amy and Isabelle, look for Strout's latest, Olive Kitteridge,
which publishes in March.
First Chapter

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  • » [bksvol-discuss] Fw: Fiction A to Z February 2008