[bksvol-discuss] Fw: Fiction A to Z September 2009

From: "Amber Wallenstein" <amber.wallens@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Mon, 21 Sep 2009 11:02:21 -0400
Fiction A to Z September 2009

"The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher 
demonstrates. The great teacher inspires."
~ William Arthur Ward (1921-1994), American writer
New and Recently Released!

Await Your Reply: A Novel - by Dan Chaon
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 08/25/2009
ISBN-13: 9780345476029
ISBN-10: 0345476026
While Miles Cheshire follows erratic letters and clues in a decade-long search 
for his missing twin brother, 19-year-old Ryan Schuyler learns that his con-man
uncle is really his father, and orphaned Lucy Lattimore finds that her daring 
escape from her hometown--with her high school history teacher--poses 
unexpectedly
dangerous consequences. Though these three people are seemingly unconnected, by 
the novel's end they will have come together in surprising ways. You will,
however, have to be patient: author Dan Chaon has created a complex, 
suspenseful book in which nothing is exactly as it seems, but figuring out 
where his
characters are going is part of the appeal.
First Chapter

A Long, Long Time Ago and Essentially True - by Brigid Pasulka
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 08/12/2009
ISBN-13: 9780547055077
ISBN-10: 0547055072
In a tiny Polish village just as World War II begins, a young man known as The 
Pigeon falls in love with and wins the heart of a beautiful girl named Anielica.
After the war they move to Kraków with high hopes for the future. Half a 
century later, after the fall of communism, times are still tough in Poland, and
their granddaughter Beata also moves to Kraków from the countryside. Their 
stories, which in some ways parallel each other, alternate throughout the book,
and illustrate the fortunes of their homeland as well as their family. This 
"delightful" (Publishers Weekly) novel is Polish-American short story writer
Brigid Pasulka's first.

The Crying Tree - by Naseem Rakha
Publisher: Broadway Books
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 07/07/2009
ISBN-13: 9780767931403
ISBN-10: 0767931408
Not long after the Stanley family relocates to Oregon, 15-year-old Shep Stanley 
is shot and killed in their home. A young man named Daniel Robbins is accused
of the crime, found guilty, and sentenced to death, but the family itself finds 
small comfort in justice and is destroyed by their loss. Shep's mother,
Irene, struggles daily with her grief and waits for the day Daniel will die, 
but she eventually comes to realize that Daniel's execution won't heal her
pain. With well-developed characters and a story that focuses on loss, 
vengeance, and forgiveness, The Crying Tree is "spellbinding" (Publishers 
Weekly).
First Chapter

Once on a Moonless Night - by Sijie Dai
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 08/11/2009
ISBN-13: 9780307271587
ISBN-10: 0307271587
Though narrated by a French woman studying in China in the 1970s, this tale of 
an ancient silk scroll inscribed with a Buddhist sutra will appeal to fans
of historical fiction. The complicated path taken by the 2nd- or 3rd-century 
scroll--which is inherited, thrown away, and stolen--is detailed here, as
are the historians and translators who follow the scroll through the centuries. 
If you're fascinated by languages you'll especially appreciate the role
that they play, as well as the fact that Tumchooq, the unknown language of the 
scroll, is also the name of the man with whom the narrator falls in love.

This Is Where I Leave You - by Jonathan Tropper
Publisher: Dutton
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 08/06/2009
ISBN-13: 9780525951278
ISBN-10: 052595127X
When Mort Foxman succumbs to cancer, his wife calls upon her four adult 
children to sit shiva for seven days. Though the story centers on Judd--who is 
living
in a moldy basement apartment after walking in on his wife having sex with his 
boss--the hilariously dysfunctional members of the Foxman family play large
roles. Forced together for a week, they must face their failures and each other 
while they mourn their father. Replete with old resentments and erupting
fistfights and leavened by many laugh-out-loud moments (there's a priceless one 
involving a toilet-training toddler at the dinner table), this is one heartfelt
family reunion you won't want to miss.
Back to School

Prep: A Novel - by Curtis Sittenfeld
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 11/22/2005
ISBN-13: 9780812972351
ISBN-10: 081297235X
This bestselling novel follows former scholarship student Lee Fiora (now 24) as 
she looks back over her years at a prestigious prep school in Massachusetts.
Perpetually an outsider, Lee watches from a distance as those around her 
interact and forge relationships, and proves herself to be particularly 
competent
at observing how class distinctions play out on campus. When she finally does 
decide to participate more fully in campus events, it is with decidedly mixed
results. Read this witty coming-of-age story for "shrewd insights" (Booklist) 
both into adolescence in general and life for the privileged at prep school
in particular.
First Chapter

Wonder Boys: A Novel - by Michael Chabon
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 04/29/2008
ISBN-13: 9780812979213
ISBN-10: 0812979214
In his pursuit of lasting literary success, middle-aged professor and author 
Grady Tripp has worked his way through three marriages (and a heck of a lot
of pot) and into a teaching job at a mediocre Pennsylvania college. His best 
friend and agent, who's in town for a literary festival, is equally in danger
of losing what success he's found. But with the addition of a transvestite, a 
dead dog, a tuba, a promising if rather alarming student, and a stolen car,
these two men are in for an absurd and self-destructive weekend that just might 
help them both grow up. Or, it might not; either way, book lovers will
enjoy this tale of two literary men who can't seem to get out of their own way. 
Wonder Boys was made into a movie starring Michael Douglas and Robert Downey
Jr. in 2002.

Straight Man - by Richard Russo
Publisher: Random House
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 06/01/1998
ISBN-13: 9780375701900
ISBN-10: 0375701907
William Henry "Hank" Devereaux, Jr., a once-promising novelist, is now the 
middle-aged interim chair of the English department at a small, second-tier 
Pennsylvania
college. Author Richard Russo (whose latest, That Old Cape Magic, came out last 
month) chronicles an eventful week in Hank's life, complete with squabbling
faculty members, fears over losing departmental funding, accusations that Hank 
killed a goose, and a variety of other hilarious and improbable situations.
Booklist says that Straight Man is full of "wry comedy, endearing characters, 
and an artful blend of high jinks and heartache" that are sure to appeal
to readers.
First Chapter

The Secret History - by Donna Tartt
Publisher: Knopf
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 09/01/1992
ISBN-13: 9780679410324
ISBN-10: 0679410325
When Richard Papen arrives on Hampden College's Vermont campus, he feels as if 
he's entered a different world. He's also drawn to the five close-knit, 
intelligent,
and somewhat eccentric students in the Classics program led by a brilliant 
scholar. Once he's joined their exclusive group, however, he finds cracks under
their sophisticated exteriors as secrets--and murder--threaten to tear them 
apart. If you enjoy psychological suspense and brilliant, self-indulgent 
characters,
you'll likely also appreciate Marisha Pessl's Special Topics in Calamity 
Physics, which stars a bright female high-school student who falls in with a 
similar
crowd, with similar devastating repercussions.

Acceptance: A Novel - by Susan Coll
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 03/01/2007
ISBN-13: 9780374237196
ISBN-10: 0374237190
The last 12 months before a student graduates from high school are filled with 
SAT tests, AP tests, college applications, and, often, a whole lot of worrying
about all of the above. If you're familiar with that stressful time, you'll 
appreciate this witty satire, in which three very different students from the
same suburban Washington, D.C. high school are all drawn to Yates University, 
which--due to a technical glitch at U.S. News & World Reports--has just been
listed among the top 50 American schools. Told from the points of view of the 
students, their families, and Yates' interim dean of admissions, Acceptance
deftly pokes fun at the world of college admissions; for a more serious take, 
try Jean Hanff Korelitz's Admission.
First Chapter

Election: A Novel - by Tom Perrotta
Publisher: Berkley Books
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 12/30/2004
ISBN-13: 9780425167281
ISBN-10: 0425167283
Suburban New Jersey's Winwood High School is in the midst of the most 
competitive campaign for student-body president in its history. Originally 
running
unopposed is the highly ambitious Tracy Flick, who should have the election in 
the bag. But history teacher Jim McAllister doesn't want her to win, and
he encourages an All-American football player to run against her. His younger 
sister, wrestling with demons of her own, also decides to enter the race.
The three-way race soon heats up as tempers flare--the ballots are rigged, the 
national media get involved--and people start falling apart. This highly
readable and bitingly funny book was made into a movie (starring Reese 
Witherspoon and Matthew Broderick) in 1999.
OPRAH BOOK CLUB SELECTION

Say You're One of Them - Akpan, Uwem
Publisher: Little Brown & Co
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 07/15/2009
ISBN-13: 9780316113953
ISBN-10: 0316113956

Uwem Akpan was born in southern Nigeria. He was ordained as a Jesuit priest in 
2003 and received his MFA in creative writing from the University of Michigan
in 2006. In 2007, he began a teaching assignment at a seminary in Harare, 
Zimbabwe.

"It is not merely the subject that makes Akpan's...writing so astonishing, 
translucent, and horrifying all at once; it is his talent with metaphor and 
imagery,
his immersion into character and place....Uwem Akpan has given these children 
their voices, and for the compassion and art in his stories I am grateful
and changed." -Susan Straight, Washington Post Book World (front page review)



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[bksvol-discuss] Fw: Fiction A to Z September 2009

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