|
| |
|
|
Novel Suggestions: Staff Picks
|
|
The
Calling
by Inger Ash Wolfe
Recommended by Laurie, Fiction Reader's Advisor
A
mystery introducing 61-year-old Detective Inspector Hazel Micallef whose
small-town policing skills are tested by first one gruesome murder and then
another. She
was practically ready for retirement before all this pressure on her and
her understaffed
department. The first book in a series written under a pseudonym by a "North American
literary novelist," try this one if you like Kate Atkinson's mysteries. It
is followed by a sequel, The Taken.
Find this book in the
Mystery collection of the Main
and West Branch Libraries.
|
|
8 in the
Box by Raffi Yessayan
Recommended by Laurie, Fiction Reader's Advisor
Author
Raffi Yessayan’s name isn’t as easy to remember as “Robert B.
Parker”,
but he was recently named by The Boston
Globe as one of the up-and-coming
authors likely to win a place in the hearts of readers missing Parker’s
mystery
series starring Spenser, the Boston
private investigator. 8 in the Box
introduces
homicide detective Angel Alves, a family man. He’s newly promoted and is
confronted with the case of the Blood Bath Killer, a serial murderer who leaves
his
female victim’s bathtub full of her own blood each time he kills. The Massachusetts
author spent 11 years as an assistant district attorney in Boston, and has set 8
in the Box, his first mystery novel, in a fictional South Bay District
courthouse
where the DAs work closely with the police in cracking down on crime on
the
streets of Boston. The second book in the series, 2 in the
Hat, is already out.
Find this book in the
Paperback collection of the Main
Library.
|
|
|
Honolulu
by Alan Brennert
Recommended by Laurie, Fiction Reader's Advisor
An intelligent,
headstrong Korean girl (named “Regret” for her parents’
disappointment
that she was not born a boy) secretly learns to read and then
submits a glamour
shot of herself to a matchmaker in the hope of continuing
in
America
the education she is
denied at home. When she reaches
Hawaii
to
marry the man who had
selected her from her photograph, the education she
receives isn’t what she
had hoped for. Under her new name of “Jin”, however,
meaning “gem”, she
stoutly makes a life for herself in Honolulu. This is moving
historical fiction about a Korean picture bride in mid-20th century Hawaii, with
local flavor and
detail by the author of the book group favorite, Moloka’i.
Find
this book in the fiction collection of the Main Library.
|
|
|
The
Physick book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe
Start with some history of
North Shore
Massachusetts, a pinch of the
supernatural, a dash of mystery, a smidge of romance, and you have The
Physick Book of Deliverance Dane. Connie
Goodwin is a Harvard graduate
student trying to work on her dissertation when her mother asks her to
handle
the sale of her grandmother’s desolate house in near by
Salem
. Thinking it an
easy task she consents to handle the matter but while there she discovers an
old
key with parchment with the name Deliverance Dane on it.
And let the mystery
begin! Drawn into the history of the
Salem Witch Trials and her mentor’s quest
for fame, Connie is set on a path that will change the way she views her life
and
the people in it. Rich with
New England
history, this book delivers a modern
woman’s story and the past with eloquence.
I highly recommend it for any
book club.
Find
this book in the Fiction collection of the Main Library
|
|
The
Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism by Timothy Keller
Recommended by Michelle, Head of Technical Services
While
the title of the book may be a bit of a turn off for the non-philosophical
thinker, it is remarkably readable and enjoyable.
In his book Keller provides a
brief introduction to the arguments for Christianity, as well as an explanation
of
the philosophical and theological answers to many of the questions that
the
skeptic most often makes. Interestingly
enough this book is not aimed at
Christians seeking converts, it is rather a book for Christians or those looking
for
answers in Christianity. It lays out
a surprisingly clear version of the Protestant
view of sin and redemption. It also
answers questions about Christian salvation,
citing the differences between religion and gospel.
Yet in this critic’s opinion,
the most fascinating part of the discussion is the continuous thread of
discourse
on truth, including what it is, what it means to believe in anything, why
people
believe things, and how we come to believe things.
While Keller’s book may
not be for everyone, it deserves wide reading among those who are either
questioning their faith or seeking answers to questions that seem out of reach.
It would, no doubt, make good reading for a Christian book group.
Find this book in the Nonfiction collection of the Main Library.
|
|
|
Admission
by Jean Hanff Korelitz
Recommended by Laurie, Fiction
Readers Advisor
Nearing 40, Portia
Nathan figures she should be happy with her successful
career
as an admissions officer at
Princeton
, a nice house
in
the college town of
Princeton
, and a long-term
relationship with Mark,
the chair of
Princeton
’s
English department. Portia puts everything
into her job; she feels a personal
connection to every new freshman
class, having had a role in their selection as
one of the Ivy League elite. But
when Portia travels to a quirky, alternative
school in
New Hampshire
and meets someone
from her former life (when she
herself was a student at an Ivy League college), her carefully
built-up life
begins to fall apart. An intriguing, in-depth look at the college admissions
process
in the
U.S.
,
but also a good novel in its own right. Recommended for readers
who like
books by Meg Wolitzer, Cheryl Mendelson, and Joanna Trollope.
Find this book in the
new fiction collection of the Main Library
|
|
|
Blame by Michele Huneven
Recommended by Laurie, Fiction
Readers Advisor
Blame
-- Michele Huneven's third novel -- grips you with its Hallen
College
professor
in
Altadena
,
California
-- known for loud, lascivious behavior at faculty parties and for missing the occasional
class
after a
night of drinking and pills. She plays the odds, partying when she knows
she shouldn't, until her luck runs out. Patsy, who has a suspended license,
is
arrested and jailed for killing a mother and daughter
--
Jehovah’s Witnesses -- in
her own driveway. She remembers nothing about
the accident, but has to live with
the guilt and remorse, facing the bereft
husband and brother in court. The hard,
manual labor and indignities of amost two years in jail come as a relief to
Patsy,
but the desire for a drink never leaves her. If you like literary novels by
authors
like Sue Miller or Ian McEwan, you should discover Michele Huneven ASAP.
Find this book in the
new fiction collection of the Main Library.
|
|
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by
Alan
Bradley
Recommended by Laurie, Fiction
Readers Advisor
This is an old-fashioned-styled mystery with a
charming young heroine,
Flavia De Luce, an eleven-year-old chemist and would-be poisoner. The
body of a stranger is found in the cucumber patch of the big, old
country
house Flavia shares with a distant father and her two irritating older
sisters,
outside the English
village
of
Bishop
’s Lacey. The household includes two
loyal family retainers (cook/housekeeper
Mrs. Mullet of the infamous
custard pie, and Dogger, the chauffeur/handyman
suffering from post-
traumatic stress syndrome) who come under suspicion, along
with everyone
else, as Flavia tries to sleuth out the murderer’s identity,
afraid all along that
it could really be her father.
Like Mrs. Mullet’s custard pie, this novel by
Canadian author and screenwriter Alan Bradley is light enough for summer,
but substantial enough to
stick with you for a while.
Find this book in the Fiction collection of the Main Library.
|
|
|
The Best of Times by Penny
Vincenzi
Recommended by Laurie, Fiction
Readers Advisor
A perfect vacation read for the beach or cottage, Penny
Vincenzi’s latest
extravaganza of characters and conversation, The Best of
Times, parcels out
the stories of a random group of people when events conspire
to put them on
the same stretch of major highway in heavy Friday afternoon
traffic. A tractor
trailer
truck jackknifes, sets off a chain of collisions and a massive traffic jam
that changed the lives of many involved. Vincenzi’s trademark humor makes
this
soap opera for the smart set a guilty pleasure worth having. (“When all
else
failed, Georgia
prayed. Not because she believed in God, exactly; but
because He did seem, on
the whole, to be very good about listening to her and
letting her have what she
wanted. Which meant, she supposed, that she really
ought
to believe in Him a bit
more; and be a bit more grateful.”)
If you’ve ever thought Maeve Binchy and Rosamunde Pilcher are nice
enough, but a
tad too tame, try bestselling British author Penny Vincenzi.
Find this book in the Fiction collection of the Main Library
|
|
|
The
Local News by Miriam
Gershow
Recommended by Laurie, Fiction
Readers Advisor
What is it like for the family left behind after a child vanishes
and a police
investigation turns up nothing? This subject has been explored in
other novels
(e.g. Every Visible Thing
by Lisa Carey, The Deep End of the Ocean
by
Jacqueline Mitchard, and The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold) but this first
novel by Miriam
Gershow delves equally well into the guilt, grief, and horror
felt by the family
and friends of Lydia Pasternak’s older brother, Danny, who
disappears one day
on the way home from a ballgame.
Lydia
, especially,
struggles with her mixed feelings, as she had disliked her
brother, who had
been mean to her over the last few years. Recommended for
anyone
interested in the human response to tragedy on an individual scale.
Find this book in the Fiction collection of the Main Library
|
|
Beat
the Reaper by Josh Bazell
Recommended by Laurie, Fiction
Readers Advisor
So many books are called thrillers these days that you can’t really trust
the
label, but this book actually does keep you on the edge of your seat most
of
the time. Don’t read it if you’ve got a hospital stay planned, because
Dr.
Peter Brown -- known in Mafia circles as Bearclaw -- makes TV’s House
look like someone who says no to drugs, and the things he and other
hospital
staff do on duty will make you want to cancel your surgery. The gross
factor
is high, and so is the implausibility of the story. The overall body count in
the
book is also high, but, as debut author Josh Bazell says in an interview, “they
deserved it.” If you liked the dark humor of Darkly Dreaming Dexter
by
Jeffry
Lindsay,you will probably enjoy Beat the Reaper.
Find
this book in the Fiction collection of the Main Library
|
|
|
The Blood Detective by Dan Waddell
Recommended by Laurie, Fiction
Readers Advisor
The first novel by London journalist and nonfiction author Dan Waddell,
The
Blood Detective has all the hallmarks of a classic English police procedural—
a sardonic, hard-boiled Detective Chief Inspector (Grant Foster), his younger,
understanding sidekick Detective Superintendent Heather Jenkins, and a
murderer who likes to taunt the police in his method of killing—but the
book
takes a few pages from the popular serial-killer suspense genre, ramping
up
the action. Genealogists, take note! Family historian Nigel Barnes tracks
ancestral bloodlines to help solve the crime. Try this if you want a
traditional-
style British mystery and don’t mind some descriptions of violence.
Find this book in the Mystery collection of the Main Library
|
|
|
|
|