[bksvol-discuss] Fw: Fiction A to Z January 2008
- From: "Amber Wallenstein" <amber.wallens@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 11 Feb 2008 22:53:46 -0500
New and Recently Released!
Manless in Montclair: How a Happily Married Woman Became a Widow Looking for
Love in the Wilds of Suburbia - by Amy Holman Edelman
Publisher: Shaye Areheart Books
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 11/13/2007
ISBN: 9780307236951
ISBN-10: 0307236951
Widowed after 15 years of marriage, single mother of two Isabel Ackerman scours
suburban New Jersey in search of a decent man--at the request of one of
her daughters. After dozens of unsuccessful fix-ups arranged by friends,
matchmakers, and online dating sites, Isabel's last-ditch effort is an email
promising
an all-expenses-paid trip for two to the person who can find her a husband.
Then the national media catches wind of the story. Believe it or not, author
Amy Edelman writes from experience--try searching the wedding announcements in
The New York Times for proof.
First Chapter
Beethoven Was One-Sixteenth Black: And Other Stories - by Nadine Gordimer
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 11/27/2007
ISBN: 9780374109820
ISBN-10: 0374109826
The short stories written by South African Nobel Prize-winner Nadine Gordimer
for Beethoven Was One-Sixteenth Black feature a range of unusual perspectives
(one narrator is a tapeworm) and address issues of race, identity, and
politics. The title story follows a former anti-apartheid activist seeking his
racial
identity; another focuses on a parrot who comments on bystanders. Some stories
are poignant, others are amusing, but as a whole the collection is "terrifying,
sometimes acidly funny and often beautiful" (Publishers Weekly).
Table of Contents
How the Dead Dream - by Lydia Millet
Publisher: Soft Skull Press
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 12/28/2007
ISBN: 9781593761844
ISBN-10: 1593761848
T. is a successful real estate developer living alone in L.A. with very little
in the way of emotional connections. Then he adopts a dog, becomes a caretaker
for his mother, and falls in love. In short order, however, he loses his
girlfriend, his mother sinks farther into dementia, and he learns that one of
his developments has hurried a species into extinction. As a result, T. becomes
aware of the suffering of animals, and takes to breaking into zoos to sit
with them. Booklist calls How the Dead Dream an "intelligently conceived and
devastating journey."
Gods Behaving Badly: A Novel - by Marie Phillips
Publisher: Little, Brown
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 12/10/2007
ISBN: 9780316067621
ISBN-10: 0316067628
What a premise--alive well into the 21st century despite their failing powers
and the need to hold jobs (as dog walkers, TV psychics, and phone sex
operators),
the Greek gods of Olympus live in a dingy London townhouse that has definitely
seen better days. As have the gods and goddesses, who are bored and bicker
constantly. In an act of revenge, Aphrodite gets Eros to shoot Apollo with a
love arrow; he falls for the mousy, timid Alice, a cleaning lady, and events
spiral out of control. Eventually, Alice's equally meek friend, Neil, must
venture into the Underworld (via the London Underground, naturally). Great fun,
especially for those familiar with mythology.
Focus on: Social Issues
Prodigal Summer: A Novel - by Barbara Kingsolver
Publisher: HarperCollins
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 10/1/2000
ISBN: 9780060199654
ISBN-10: 0060199652
In the Appalachian Mountains, wildlife biologist Deanna Wolfe is trying to
protect a pack of coyotes that has just moved into the area. In the neighboring
valley, entomologist Lusa Landowski finds herself at odds with her husband's
family. Nearby, elderly gentleman farmer Garnett faces a problem: his use
of herbicides is threatening his neighbor's organic apple trees. Although
ecological issues do play a large role in Prodigal Summer, it is the people and
their stories that take central stage. Nevertheless, if you've a passion for
nature or a desire to learn more about man's relation to it, you'll want to
check out this compelling book.
First Chapter
The Last of Her Kind - by Sigrid Nunez
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 12/27/2005
ISBN: 9780374183813
ISBN-10: 0374183813
Working-class scholarship student Georgette George and wealthy, idealistic,
radical Ann Drayton first met as college roommates in 1968. Though Georgette
is at first wary of Ann, eventually they form a friendship that continues until
a fight separates them. Ann continues to fight for social and racial justice,
but in 1976 is arrested for murder and goes to jail (where she fights for
prison reform). Narrated by Georgette and set against an era of radical politics
and activism, this tale of friendship and family features three-dimensional
characters and is likely to appeal particularly to women who lived through
these dramatic years.
First Chapter
My Year of Meats - by Ruth L. Ozeki
Publisher: Penguin Books
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 3/1/1999
ISBN: 9780140280463
ISBN-10: 0140280464
Japanese-American Jane Tagaki-Little's salary is paid by the beef industry; her
job is to travel across America filming attractive, robust housewives creating
yummy (beef-based) recipes for Japanese television. In Japan, Akiko Ueno, the
wife of the show's head ad exec, watches the show and dutifully cooks the
recipes. As Jane becomes more aware of the unwholesome side of the meat
industry, she uses the show to undermine it, and Akiko comes to understand that
she doesn't have to settle for a loveless marriage. My Year of Meats is
issue-oriented yet entertaining, but a word of caution to burger lovers: reading
this book may cause a change in your eating habits.
Three Women - by Marge Piercy
Publisher: HarperCollins
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 1/1/2002
ISBN: 9780060937027
ISBN-10: 0060937025
This multigenerational story focuses on the lives of Suzanne Blume, a
successful Boston attorney; her mother, Beverly, an elderly feminist and former
civil
rights activist; and her eldest daughter, the beautiful and unhappy Elena. When
Elena moves back in with Suzanne and Beverly has a stroke that incapacitates
her, Suzanne's solitary and controlled life undergoes some major changes. If
you like reading about women's lives and relationships and enjoy pondering
issues like motherhood, independence, or sexuality, you'll want to get hold of
this insightful, character-driven novel.
First Chapter
Take a Class!
Special Topics in Calamity Physics - by Marisha Pessl
Publisher: Viking
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 8/3/2006
ISBN: 9780670037773
ISBN-10: 067003777X
This combination coming-of-age novel and cleverly plotted suspense tale is told
by the highly gifted Blue van Meer, the teenaged daughter of a well-read
professor who spends each term in a new locale. Blue's entire senior year of
high school, however, is spent at the St. Gallway School in Stockton, North
Carolina. There she falls in with a charismatic group of students and their
captivating teacher, Hannah Schneider. But Hannah's stories don't add up, and
as Blue puts hard-won clues together, she is left with more questions and only
her gimlet-eyed instincts and far-reaching education to guide--or misguide--her.
English majors and lovers of literature and intellectual mysteries should snap
this up immediately.
Table of Contents
The Finishing School: A Novel - by Muriel Spark
Publisher: Anchor Books
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 11/8/2005
ISBN: 9781400077397
ISBN-10: 1400077397
College Sunrise is a nomadic, expensive, and somewhat suspect private school in
Switzerland (this year), founded and managed by Rowland Mahler and his wife,
Nina. They are also the only faculty for their nine students; one, Chris Wiley,
forgoes classes in favor of writing a novel. The ease with which Chris
writes--and the attention that he receives from publishers and
producers--enrages Rowland, who is suffering from writer's block. With finely
written characters
and tongue firmly in cheek, this is a "cool, delightful little book of bad
deeds and good manners" (Publishers Weekly).
First Chapter
The Music Lesson - by Katharine Weber
Publisher: Picador USA
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 1/1/2000
ISBN: 9780312252854
ISBN-10: 0312252854
Irish-American art historian Patricia Dolan has somehow gotten herself involved
in the theft of a famous Vermeer painting called The Music Lesson. More
than that, she's come to realize that her infatuation with the man who
orchestrated the theft may put her--and a friend--in danger. Her journal, which
forms the basis of this novel, is packed with her observations and her
deepening concerns, for she is isolated in a tiny Irish town, with only an
elderly
neighbor and the painting itself for company. The New York Times calls The
Music Lesson both "affecting and elegant."
First Chapter
Old School: A Novel - by Tobias Wolff
Publisher: Knopf
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 11/1/2003
ISBN: 9780375401466
ISBN-10: 0375401466
The narrator of Old School is a scholarship student at a prestigious boys'
school in New England where top students compete to win a private audience with
visiting authors like Robert Frost or Ayn Rand. In the early 1960s, the author
to meet is Ernest Hemingway, and competition is fierce. Obsessed with literature
and not entirely honest with or about himself or his family life, the unnamed
narrator has trouble writing from the heart. If you've taken or taught a
writing class, you'll appreciate the homage to literature and writing found
here--if you haven't, you just might be inspired.
First Chapter
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