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

  • From: "Amber Wallenstein" <amber.wallens@xxxxxxxxx>
  • To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Mon, 19 May 2008 10:23:33 -0400

I am already scanning the House at Riverton.
Fiction A to Z May 2008

"The number one sign you have nothing to do at work: The 4th Division of 
Paperclips has overrun the Pushpin Infantry and General White-Out has called for
a new skirmish."
~ Fred Barling, American humorist
New and Recently Released!
Unaccustomed Earth: Stories - by Jhumpa Lahiri
Publisher: Knopf
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 4/1/2008
ISBN: 9780307265739
ISBN-10: 0307265730
Author Jhumpa Lahiri won the Pulitzer Prize for her first collection of 
stories, Interpreter of Maladies, and early reviews suggest that this collection
may be even better. The eight stories in Unaccustomed Earth explore themes of 
identity and family life via the lives of Bengalis and Bengali-Americans
in American society, and include three linked tales of a man and a woman who 
meet as children, as teens, and, years later, as adults. With her usual precise
writing and eye for detail, Lahiri has once again produced something special.
Table of Contents
First Chapter
The House at Riverton: A Novel - by Kate Morton
Publisher: Atria Books
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 4/22/2008
ISBN: 9781416550518
ISBN-10: 1416550518
At the age of 98, former archaeologist Grace Reeves is living out her final 
days in a British nursing home. When she's approached by an American filmmaker
on a fact-checking errand, she is prompted to recall her years as a housemaid 
and later personal maid for the aristocratic Hartford family, whose secrets
she has spent "a lifetime pretending to forget." The sibling rivalry between 
the two Hartford sisters and the 1924 death of a young poet at their family
manor, Riverton, provides the focus for this intriguing debut novel, which also 
faithfully recreates the end of the Edwardian era, the World War I years,
and the 1920s.
Three Girls and Their Brother: A Novel - by Theresa Rebeck
Publisher: Shaye Areheart Books
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 4/1/2008
ISBN: 9780307394149
ISBN-10: 030739414X
After the Heller sisters appear on the cover of The New Yorker, the three teens 
(all beautiful redheads) are launched into the high-flying world of celebrity
stardom, where being hounded by paparazzi and frequenting the covers of fashion 
magazines is de rigueur. With a mostly absent father and a pushy, ambitious
mother, the girls (18, 17, and 14) soon fall prey to the temptations of show 
business. When the youngest is asked to appear in an off-Broadway play, it
unleashes a rivalry that threatens the relationships among the three girls and 
their wary, neglected brother. Narrated by all four siblings, this entertaining
satire is a sure bet for celebrity watchers and cynics alike.
The Ginseng Hunter - by Jeff Talarigo
Publisher: Nan A. Talese
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 4/15/2008
ISBN: 9780385517393
ISBN-10: 0385517394
The son of a Chinese mother and a Korean father, a nameless ginseng hunter 
lives a solitary life in a remote valley along the river that separates North
Korea and China. On each of his monthly trips to the nearest Chinese town to 
sell his roots, he spends one night in a brothel, where he slowly becomes
aware of the harshness of the repressive North Korean regime through a young 
North Korean prostitute. His eyes now opened, he begins to notice other 
refugees,
begging on the streets or drifting, dead, down the river. Soon he must become 
more than an observer; his story, and that of young girl separated from her
mother, create "a memorable, morally stringent tale" (Publishers Weekly).
First Chapter
If You Like: Louise Erdrich
To draw readers into the challenges of life in rural North Dakota, Louise 
Erdrich writes complex stories that are peopled by a diverse array of 
characters.
The men and women she writes about generally lead difficult lives, often on the 
fringes of society; the slow pace of her stories and her precise, clear,
and simple writing style puts the focus on the relationships among these men 
and women. Many readers are also drawn to Erdrich's books for the way she
writes about Native American culture. For those of you who have already read 
her latest, The Plague of Doves, or who are waiting for your turn with it,
one of the books below might appeal to you.
The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven - by Sherman Alexie
Publisher: Grove Press
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 2/28/2005
ISBN: 9780802141675
ISBN-10: 0802141676
In The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, life on and around the 
Spokane Indian Reservation is pretty bleak for many of the Native Americans 
living
there; though despair and alcohol-fueled violence are endemic, many still 
attempt to hold on to valuable and meaningful traditions. Day-to-day life for
the reservation's Indians is portrayed through a series of linked stories that 
convey both pathos and humor, and which are narrated by several different
characters. This "lyrically beautiful" (Kirkus Reviews) first novel was the 
inspiration for the movie Smoke Signals; readers who are drawn to Erdrich's
stories about Native Americans will enjoy this book.
First Chapter
Table of Contents
A Yellow Raft in Blue Water - by Michael Dorris
Publisher: Picador
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 3/1/2003
ISBN: 9780312421854
ISBN-10: 0312421850
For many years, Louise Erdrich collaborated with fellow writer Michael Dorris 
(they eventually married but later divorced); A Yellow Raft in Blue Water
was his first novel. The story follows three generations of Native American 
women beset by hardships, torn by angry secrets and abandonment, yet tied 
together
by the apparently unbreakable bonds of kinship. It is narrated by first 
15-year-old Rayona, then her mother Christine, and finally by Christine's 
supposed
mother, who is referred to as Aunt Ida. If you liked Erdrich's Love Medicine, 
you're sure to appreciate A Yellow Raft in Blue Water.
Accordion Crimes - by Annie Proulx
Publisher: Scribner Paperback Fiction
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 6/1/1997
ISBN: 9780684831541
ISBN-10: 0684831546
Like Louise Erdrich, Annie Proulx uses lyrical prose to express the struggles 
faced by those living on the fringes of society. Accordion Crimes is a series
of stories that follow the path of an accordion as it passes through the hands 
of various male and female immigrants to the U.S. Brought to New Orleans
in 1890 by a Sicilian immigrant and his young son, the accordion finds its way 
into the lives, dreams, fantasies, and sorrows of Germans in Iowa, French
Canadians in Maine, Mexicans in Texas, and so on. Perhaps you too will be "held 
rapt by Proulx's imagination, [and] cultural and social perception" (Booklist).
First Chapter
Empire Falls - by Richard Russo
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 5/1/2001
ISBN: 9780679432470
ISBN-10: 0679432477
For a look at ordinary people stuck in dead-end situations similar to those in 
Erdrich's books, try Richard Russo's Empire Falls, which focuses on blue-collar
Miles Roby as he tries to hold his family together and improve his lot in life 
in an old logging town. Prosperous no longer, Empire Falls, Maine, has 
definitely
seen better days, but this peek at the broken dreams and missed opportunities 
of an entire town is also tinged with humor. If you've ever felt squashed
by your circumstances, you'll likely find it easy to connect with Miles and his 
surroundings.
First Chapter
Working Nine to Five
Microserfs - by Douglas Coupland
Publisher: ReganBooks
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 6/1/1996
ISBN: 9780060987046
ISBN-10: 0060987049
Author Douglas Coupland (popularizer of the term Generation X) is known for his 
quirky characters and satirical outlook on contemporary culture. Microserfs
fills these criteria easily--this novel of life in the 1990s explores the 
working world of computer giant Microsoft as seen through the eyes of several
of its nerds---errr, programmers. These hardworking techies manage to escape 
their "serf" status in order to found their own company, and in the process
find lives outside their cubicle walls. Microserfs was written in the early 
days of the Internet, but the book itself takes the form of an online journal;
for a 21st-century version, try Coupland's jPod, published in 2006.
First Chapter
Then We Came to the End: A Novel - by Joshua Ferris
Publisher: Little, Brown
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 2/26/2008
ISBN: 9780316016391
ISBN-10: 031601639X
As their numbers dwindle, the remaining copywriters and designers at a formerly 
successful advertising company spend their time gossiping about who's next
(or whose anxiety is getting the best of them), competing for the best 
left-behind office furniture (chairs are particularly sought-after), and 
relishing
secret romances, elaborate pranks, and frequent coffee breaks. They have only 
one real project--a mysterious pro-bono ad campaign that may or may not have
to do with their boss' illness. Quirky and often absurd, this debut novel 
perfectly captures office life during anxious times.
Kings of Infinite Space - by James Hynes
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 1/30/2005
ISBN: 9780312319663
ISBN-10: 0312319665
In the wake of numerous failed relationships (an affair destroyed his marriage) 
and a "setback" in his university teaching career, downwardly mobile Paul
Trilby is temping as a typist in the mind-numbing General Services Division of 
the Texas Department of General Services. Slowly, he begins to notice 
definitively
odd things going on at the office (there's a corpse in one of the cubicles, but 
no one seems to notice) and at home (he's being haunted by a cat that will
only allow him to watch cat-related programming on the television). If you're 
looking for something just a little different, you might want to try this
"hilarious supernatural sendup of office life" (Publishers Weekly).
First Chapter
Can You Keep a Secret? - by Sophie Kinsella
Publisher: Dial Press
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 3/1/2004
ISBN: 9780385336819
ISBN-10: 0385336810
We've all got secrets--and we've all suffered from foot-in-mouth syndrome at 
one time or another, but imagine how Emma Corrigan feels when, following the
worst day of her life, she spills all of her embarrassing secrets (including 
her preference in underwear) to a complete stranger during a turbulent airplane
ride--and he turns out to be the CEO of her company. "Oops" doesn't really 
cover it when the man who signs your paycheck knows you hate your job. But 
rather
than fire her, handsome Jack Harper seems to like having her around. Complete 
with entertaining office shenanigans, romance, and an endearing if hapless
heroine, Can You Keep a Secret? is just the thing to lift your spirits after a 
long day.
First Chapter

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