[bksvol-discuss] Fw: Fiction A to Z September 2008
- From: "Amber Wallenstein" <amber.wallens@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 15 Sep 2008 06:30:26 -0400
Fiction A to Z September 2008
"The family. We were a strange little band of characters trudging through life
sharing diseases and toothpaste, coveting one another's desserts, hiding
shampoo, borrowing money, locking each other out of our rooms, inflicting pain
and kissing to heal it in the same instant, loving, laughing, defending,
and trying to figure out the common thread that bound us all together."
~ Erma Bombeck (1927-1996), American humorist
New and Recently Released!
Man in the Dark - by Paul Auster
Publisher: Henry Holt and Company
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 8/19/2008
ISBN: 9780805088397
ISBN-10: 0805088393
Following an incapacitating car accident, elderly widower August Brill moves in
with his daughter and his granddaughter as all three try to deal with huge
losses in their lives. To hasten sleep, August tells himself stories of an
imaginary parallel world in which 9/11 never happened. America is, instead,
at war with itself, the more liberal states having seceded after the 2000
election. As his stories--and the night--progress, August is joined by his
granddaughter,
still struggling with guilt over the murder of her boyfriend in Iraq.
Publishers Weekly calls this bestselling author's latest "compelling and
intellectually
rigorous."
The Gargoyle - by Andrew Davidson
Publisher: Doubleday
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 8/5/2008
ISBN: 9780385524940
ISBN-10: 0385524943
You know how some stories seem to defy simple description? This is one of those
stories. The unnamed narrator, a drug-addicted porn star-turned-producer,
has awakened in a hospital after being horribly burned in a gruesome car
accident. As he recovers from his disfiguring injuries, he's visited by a
beautiful
and enigmatic (or perhaps insane) gargoyle sculptress who claims that they've
been lovers for more than 700 years. As she takes him through their history
together, the injured man, at first skeptical, comes to rely on her. Suspend
your disbelief and give this unconventional love story by a first-time Canadian
author a try.
First Chapter
The White Mary: A Novel - by Kira Salak
Publisher: Henry Holt and Company
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 8/5/2008
ISBN: 9780805088472
ISBN-10: 0805088474
In the wake of the death of journalist Robert Lewis, her Pulitzer Prize-winning
hero, battle-weary war correspondent Marika Vecera decides to take time
off to write his biography. But when she receives a letter that leads her to
believe that Robert is still alive and well in the wilds of Papua New Guinea,
she decides to cross the wilderness in search of him. Echoes of Joseph Conrad's
Heart of Darkness are inevitable, as are comparisons to first-time novelist
Kira Salak's own life; she too is an award-winning journalist who has traveled
alone to some very remote and dangerous places, and her own experiences
help bring Marika's to life.
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society - by Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie
Barrows
Publisher: Dial Press
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 7/29/2008
ISBN: 9780385340991
ISBN-10: 0385340990
This delightful debut, told entirely in letters, takes place in 1946, when
writer Juliet Ashton finds the inspiration for her next book in her
correspondence
with a native of Guernsey, a British island just off the coast of France. As
their correspondence expands to include others, Juliet decides to visit the
island, where she strengthens her relationships with the members of the
Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, a book club born as an alibi
during
the German occupation of World War II. The captivating stories she hears will
charm your socks off and leave you wanting to visit Guernsey yourself.
First Chapter
T.H.U.G. L.I.F.E - by Sanyika Shakur
Publisher: Grove Press
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 8/5/2008
ISBN: 9780802118714
ISBN-10: 0802118712
If you've read reformed gangster Sanyika Shakur's memoir of gang life (Monster)
or are looking for insight into life on the streets of South Central L.A.,
try Shakur's first effort at fiction, which centers loosely on the death of
rapper Tupac Shakur (no relation). Rival gangs and crooked cops add drama to
the story of LaPeace Shakur, a high ranking member of the Crips, who gets
involved in a massacre that leaves eight dead. Loyalty and betrayal are
important
themes in this novel, which offers a realistic portrayal of the violence of
gang life.
Focus on: Family Sagas
The Family Orchard: A Novel - by Nomi Eve
Publisher: Knopf
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 9/1/2001
ISBN: 9780375724572
ISBN-10: 0375724575
For six generations and nearly 200 years, a Jewish family in Jerusalem has been
collecting tales of the loves, secrets, triumphs, and tragedies that form
their family history--or perhaps, more accurately, the present-day narrator of
The Family Orchard spins these enticing stories around the basic facts she
receives from her father's written history of the family. Either way, the
colorful characters of each generation are swept up in the narrator's
imagination
as they fall in love, marry, and produce offspring. "Fascinating," says
Booklist.
First Chapter
Table of Contents
Consequences - by Penelope Lively
Publisher: Viking
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 5/31/2007
ISBN: 9780670038565
ISBN-10: 0670038563
In the 1930s, upper-class Londoner Lorna Bradley and tradesman Matt Faraday
meet by chance, fall in love, marry, and move to a Somerset cottage. There they
have a daughter, but when Matt is killed in World War II, Lorna and daughter
Molly return to London. Eventually, the story shifts to the independent Molly
as she makes her way through the world, and then to her own daughter, Ruth. As
an adult, Ruth is busy but unfulfilled until, in search of family history,
she returns to the place where her family's story began. Readers aware of how
chance meetings can change everything will love the stories of Lorna, Molly,
and Ruth.
No Great Mischief - by Alistair MacLeod
Publisher: Vintage Books
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 3/1/2001
ISBN: 9780375726651
ISBN-10: 0375726659
The MacDonalds first arrived in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, in 1779, when Calum
MacDonald and his family left Scotland in search of a better future in the
New World. Now, 200 years and 5 generations later, Alexander MacDonald, an
Ontario dentist, is visiting his much older and rougher alcoholic brother in
Toronto. Together, they recount the stories of the close-knit MacDonald clan,
including that of Alexander, orphaned at three and raised by his grandparents,
and of red-headed Calum. These glimpses into the MacDonald past are "without
exception gripping and quite moving," says Kirkus Reviews.
First Chapter
The Songcatcher: A Ballad Novel - by Sharyn McCrumb
Publisher: Signet
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 4/1/2002
ISBN: 9780451202505
ISBN-10: 0451202503
Seven generations ago, Malcolm McCourry was kidnapped from the Scottish island
of Islay and transported to America's Appalachian Mountains, bringing with
him a stone, a curse, and a ballad that was passed down through successive
generations. In the current day, folksinger Lark McCourry is on her way home
to care for her dying and estranged father in those same mountains, though what
she's really interested in is the provenance and lyrics of a ballad she
remembers from childhood. The Songcatcher switches back and forth between
Malcolm's story and Lark's own, and is full of humor and glimpses of life in
the Appalachians.
Liars and Saints: A Novel - by Maile Meloy
Publisher: Scribner
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 5/1/2003
ISBN: 9780743244350
ISBN-10: 0743244354
Over her father's objections, French Canadian Yvette Grenier marries an
American fighter pilot and follows him to California. Life is fine for a while,
until Yvette decides to hide certain facts from her husband--including their
teen daughter's pregnancy. Her plan (which works) involves claiming the child
as her own, with none the wiser. Her deceptions plague the family for several
generations, both here and in author Maile Meloy's second book, Family Daughter.
Readers who enjoy the memorable Liars and Saints will definitely want to
continue the tale, for Family Daughter casts a whole new light on the events
described
here.
First Chapter
The Professor's Daughter: A Novel - by Emily Raboteau
Publisher: Picador
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 1/24/2006
ISBN: 9780312425685
ISBN-10: 0312425686
When Emma Boudreaux's much-admired older brother suffers an accident that
leaves him in a vegetative state, Emma is cast adrift in a world in which she
has yet to find her place. The daughter of a white mother and a black father,
Emma has always struggled with her identity, but the loss of her brother
has exacerbated her sense of not belonging. Her story is told along with that
of her father, who escaped a miserable childhood to become a well-respected
professor at Princeton University, and of her grandfather, who died a terrible
death before his son was born. This debut is "an impassioned, poetic work"
(Kirkus Reviews).
First Chapter
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