The White Garden
Stephanie Barron
Barron, known for her mysteries featuring Jane Austen, now focuses on another literary figure, Virginia Woolf. American gardener Jo Bellamy is commissioned to research Sissinghurst Castle's White Garden, created by Woolf's lover Vita Sackville-West, where she also hopes to discover why her grandfather committed suicide (decades earlier, he had tended the garden). Uncovering what appears to be Woolf's final diary with the first entry dated the day after the author apparently drowned herself, Jo enlists the assistance of manuscript expert Peter Llewellyn to verify its authenticity--but the diary is stolen. Jo and Peter follow literary clues to libraries and historical homes and attempt to recover the diary and solve mysteries past and present. Verdict Fans of historical mysteries and literary suspense novels will enjoy this entertaining read. Jo and Peter are engaging characters, and readers will be drawn into their adventure.
Library Journal Review; September 2009.
Generation A
Douglas Coupland
It's been 18 years since Coupland (JPod) identified and deflated Generation X in his 1991 debut. Now he blends the end with a new beginning, taking on Generation A. Set in a deteriorating near future, it's the story of five young people: an Iowan who farms nude; a New Zealander whose parents have abdicated belief; a sullen Parisian addicted to World of Warcraft; a Tourette's-afflicted Canadian dental hygienist; and a Sri Lankan telemarketer whose family was erased by a tsunami. Digitally plugged-in but otherwise isolated, they rise from obscurity when stung by bees, creatures that everyone thought extinct. Brought together on a remote island, they are asked by a shadowy scientist to, of all things, tell stories. With deft twists, seemingly random details are melded with grace. With strands of humor, sf, and social commentary, Coupland melds Chuck Palahniuk's wild imagination with Nick Hornby's character ensembles. This clever send-up of modern culture will send readers racing to the beginning to see what they missed on first pass. Lightning strikes twice! Coupland defines another generation and crafts a satisfying ode to the power of story.
Library Journal Review; October 2009.
Delilah
India Edghill
Most people have at least a passing acquaintance with the biblical story of Samson and Delilah--the warrior bent on slaying as many Philistines as possible and the temptress willing to betray her lover for money. Edghill (Queenmaker) takes this ancient tale from the book of Judges and turns it on its end. Her Samson is a generous man of goodwill and kindness who longs for nothing more than to live in peace with his neighbors, Hebrews and Canaanites alike. Delilah is a young and devout temple priestess whose beautiful dancing attracts Samson's attention. The lovers are caught between the machinations of the rulers of the Five Cities and the Israelites who fight to claim Canaan, the land promised to them by God. Edghill has crafted a powerful, lyrical novel and created two unforgettable characters.
Library Journal Review; October 2009.
The Kingdom of Ohio
Matthew Flaming
Flaming's debut mixes time travel, historical grit and an alternate history of the American frontier in a romance with a fantastic bent. A contemporary antiques dealer, after coming across an old photo, unspools the story of Peter Force, newly arrived in 1900 New York from Idaho, as he joins a crew of laborers toiling in grim conditions to build the subway system. A chance encounter throws Peter into the path of Cheri- Anne Toledo, a troubled woman who claims to have traveled seven years into the future from the Lost Kingdom of Ohio, a small frontier kingdom over which her father reigned. Cheri-Anne's plight, and his feelings for her, drags them into the orbits of a crusty J.P Morgan and of dueling inventors Thomas Edison and Nicola Tesla. As Peter and Cheri-Anne evade the powerful forces invested in Cheri-Anne, the moment when their lives and the contemporary narrator's intersects looms closer and closer, creating palpable suspense. The journey through the seedier side of New York's Gilded Age, with reprisal killings for labor agitators and nights spent in drunken dance halls, is an arresting contrast to classic time- travel themes. This is a real crowd-pleaser.
Publishers Weekly Review; September 2009.
When Autumn Leaves
Amy Foster
In the tiny town of Avening in the Pacific Northwest, life hums with a peculiar sort of energy. Some call the town enchanted; others call it quirky. But all would agree that it is a special sort of hamlet, populated by some rather intriguing people. Perhaps the most intriguing is the town witch and wise woman. An individual of extraordinary, even magical talents, Autumn Avening is ready to retire--and must find a replacement from among the local denizens. With one year to choose, Autumn begins keeping an ever closer watch on her friends and neighbors, looking for just the right candidate. Through her eyes, we get intimate glimpses of the locals of Avening--strong men and women whose stories are both heartwarming and heartbreaking. Loose ends in Foster's strong debut indicate sequel potential for those who enjoy following characters from book to book. Fans of Alice Hoffman (Practical Magic) and Joanne Harris (Chocolat) will love getting to know the residents of this cozy, charming little town. Highly recommended.
Library Journal Review; September 2007.
Unfinished Desires
Gail Godwin
Bestselling author Godwin (Evensong; The Finishing School) brings readers back in time to the early 1950s in this endearing story of Catholic school girls and the nuns who oversee them. As Mother Suzanne Ravenel begins a memoir of her 60-plus years at Mount St. Gabriel's School in Mountain City, N.C., she's forced to re-examine the 'toxic year' of 1951-1952, one of her worst at the school--beginning with the arrival of ninth-grade student Chloe Starnes, who's recently lost her mother, and Mother Malloy, a beautiful young nun assigned to the freshman class. Starnes and Malloy's arrivals presage a shift in the ranks of freshman Tildy Stratton's cruel clique, with significant consequences for all involved. Change, when it finally comes, stems from the girls' attempt to revive a play written years before by Ravenel. Godwin captures brilliantly the subtleties of friendships between teenage girls, their ambivalence toward religion and their momentous struggle to define people--especially themselves. Poignant and transporting, this faux memoir makes a convincing, satisfying novel.
Publishers Weekly Review; September 2006.
A Good Fall
Ha Jin
In The Bridegroom (2000), his last collection of short stories, Ha Jin, a National Book Award winner, captures the paradoxes of life under China's Communist regime. In his new stories, sharply etched works remarkable for the contrast between their directness of expression and complexity of feelings, he creates a mirror-image set of tales about a Chinese immigrant community in Flushing, New York. Ha Jin's ear and eye for Chinese American life are acute, as is his sense of how one life can encompass a full spectrum of irony, desperation, and magic. The advent of e-mail enables a sister in China to blackmail her sister in America. A struggling composer develops a remarkable rapport with his absent lover's parakeet. Marriages come under duress, one due to the almost surreal insensitivity of a visiting mother, the other to the husband's suspicions about his wife and the strange truth they reveal. A classic story about grandparents from the old country appalled by their Americanized grandchildren is balanced by the startling title story, in which a young kung fu master and monk achieves an unforeseen form of enlightenment. The quest for freedom yields surprising and resonant complications in Ha Jin's sorrowful, funny, and bittersweet stories.
Booklist Review; November 2009.
True Confections
Katharine Weber
In her fifth novel, after Triangle (2006), Weber unleashes a wacky comic sensibility. Ostracized by her high-school clique and denied admission to college after accidentally setting fire to a classmate's home, Alice Tatnall applies for a job at Zip's Candies on a whim and finds her life's calling. Immediately taken under the wing of candy magnate Sam Ziplinsky, Alice learns the ins and outs of the candy-making business, from mixing the proper proportions of the ingredients to repairing the ancient production line that churns out the company's reliable moneymakers, Little Sammies, Tigermelts, and Mumbo Jumbos. She further cements her place within the company and the family by marrying Sam's son and heir Howard 'Howdy' Ziplinsky and bearing him two children. Billed as an affidavit, Alice's slyly funny, frequently self-serving, and perhaps unreliable narration leads to some unexpected surprises when Alice's old nickname, Arson Girl, comes back to haunt her in a big way. Filled with candy lore, impassioned critiques of chocolate, and Alice's one-of-a-kind takes on marriage and family, this is sweet reading for fans of the offbeat.
Booklist Review; December 2009
Stephanie Barron
Barron, known for her mysteries featuring Jane Austen, now focuses on another literary figure, Virginia Woolf. American gardener Jo Bellamy is commissioned to research Sissinghurst Castle's White Garden, created by Woolf's lover Vita Sackville-West, where she also hopes to discover why her grandfather committed suicide (decades earlier, he had tended the garden). Uncovering what appears to be Woolf's final diary with the first entry dated the day after the author apparently drowned herself, Jo enlists the assistance of manuscript expert Peter Llewellyn to verify its authenticity--but the diary is stolen. Jo and Peter follow literary clues to libraries and historical homes and attempt to recover the diary and solve mysteries past and present. Verdict Fans of historical mysteries and literary suspense novels will enjoy this entertaining read. Jo and Peter are engaging characters, and readers will be drawn into their adventure.
Library Journal Review; September 2009.
Generation A Douglas Coupland
It's been 18 years since Coupland (JPod) identified and deflated Generation X in his 1991 debut. Now he blends the end with a new beginning, taking on Generation A. Set in a deteriorating near future, it's the story of five young people: an Iowan who farms nude; a New Zealander whose parents have abdicated belief; a sullen Parisian addicted to World of Warcraft; a Tourette's-afflicted Canadian dental hygienist; and a Sri Lankan telemarketer whose family was erased by a tsunami. Digitally plugged-in but otherwise isolated, they rise from obscurity when stung by bees, creatures that everyone thought extinct. Brought together on a remote island, they are asked by a shadowy scientist to, of all things, tell stories. With deft twists, seemingly random details are melded with grace. With strands of humor, sf, and social commentary, Coupland melds Chuck Palahniuk's wild imagination with Nick Hornby's character ensembles. This clever send-up of modern culture will send readers racing to the beginning to see what they missed on first pass. Lightning strikes twice! Coupland defines another generation and crafts a satisfying ode to the power of story.
Library Journal Review; October 2009.
DelilahIndia Edghill
Most people have at least a passing acquaintance with the biblical story of Samson and Delilah--the warrior bent on slaying as many Philistines as possible and the temptress willing to betray her lover for money. Edghill (Queenmaker) takes this ancient tale from the book of Judges and turns it on its end. Her Samson is a generous man of goodwill and kindness who longs for nothing more than to live in peace with his neighbors, Hebrews and Canaanites alike. Delilah is a young and devout temple priestess whose beautiful dancing attracts Samson's attention. The lovers are caught between the machinations of the rulers of the Five Cities and the Israelites who fight to claim Canaan, the land promised to them by God. Edghill has crafted a powerful, lyrical novel and created two unforgettable characters.
Library Journal Review; October 2009.
The Kingdom of OhioMatthew Flaming
Flaming's debut mixes time travel, historical grit and an alternate history of the American frontier in a romance with a fantastic bent. A contemporary antiques dealer, after coming across an old photo, unspools the story of Peter Force, newly arrived in 1900 New York from Idaho, as he joins a crew of laborers toiling in grim conditions to build the subway system. A chance encounter throws Peter into the path of Cheri- Anne Toledo, a troubled woman who claims to have traveled seven years into the future from the Lost Kingdom of Ohio, a small frontier kingdom over which her father reigned. Cheri-Anne's plight, and his feelings for her, drags them into the orbits of a crusty J.P Morgan and of dueling inventors Thomas Edison and Nicola Tesla. As Peter and Cheri-Anne evade the powerful forces invested in Cheri-Anne, the moment when their lives and the contemporary narrator's intersects looms closer and closer, creating palpable suspense. The journey through the seedier side of New York's Gilded Age, with reprisal killings for labor agitators and nights spent in drunken dance halls, is an arresting contrast to classic time- travel themes. This is a real crowd-pleaser.
Publishers Weekly Review; September 2009.
When Autumn LeavesAmy Foster
In the tiny town of Avening in the Pacific Northwest, life hums with a peculiar sort of energy. Some call the town enchanted; others call it quirky. But all would agree that it is a special sort of hamlet, populated by some rather intriguing people. Perhaps the most intriguing is the town witch and wise woman. An individual of extraordinary, even magical talents, Autumn Avening is ready to retire--and must find a replacement from among the local denizens. With one year to choose, Autumn begins keeping an ever closer watch on her friends and neighbors, looking for just the right candidate. Through her eyes, we get intimate glimpses of the locals of Avening--strong men and women whose stories are both heartwarming and heartbreaking. Loose ends in Foster's strong debut indicate sequel potential for those who enjoy following characters from book to book. Fans of Alice Hoffman (Practical Magic) and Joanne Harris (Chocolat) will love getting to know the residents of this cozy, charming little town. Highly recommended.
Library Journal Review; September 2007.
Unfinished DesiresGail Godwin
Bestselling author Godwin (Evensong; The Finishing School) brings readers back in time to the early 1950s in this endearing story of Catholic school girls and the nuns who oversee them. As Mother Suzanne Ravenel begins a memoir of her 60-plus years at Mount St. Gabriel's School in Mountain City, N.C., she's forced to re-examine the 'toxic year' of 1951-1952, one of her worst at the school--beginning with the arrival of ninth-grade student Chloe Starnes, who's recently lost her mother, and Mother Malloy, a beautiful young nun assigned to the freshman class. Starnes and Malloy's arrivals presage a shift in the ranks of freshman Tildy Stratton's cruel clique, with significant consequences for all involved. Change, when it finally comes, stems from the girls' attempt to revive a play written years before by Ravenel. Godwin captures brilliantly the subtleties of friendships between teenage girls, their ambivalence toward religion and their momentous struggle to define people--especially themselves. Poignant and transporting, this faux memoir makes a convincing, satisfying novel.
Publishers Weekly Review; September 2006.
A Good FallHa Jin
In The Bridegroom (2000), his last collection of short stories, Ha Jin, a National Book Award winner, captures the paradoxes of life under China's Communist regime. In his new stories, sharply etched works remarkable for the contrast between their directness of expression and complexity of feelings, he creates a mirror-image set of tales about a Chinese immigrant community in Flushing, New York. Ha Jin's ear and eye for Chinese American life are acute, as is his sense of how one life can encompass a full spectrum of irony, desperation, and magic. The advent of e-mail enables a sister in China to blackmail her sister in America. A struggling composer develops a remarkable rapport with his absent lover's parakeet. Marriages come under duress, one due to the almost surreal insensitivity of a visiting mother, the other to the husband's suspicions about his wife and the strange truth they reveal. A classic story about grandparents from the old country appalled by their Americanized grandchildren is balanced by the startling title story, in which a young kung fu master and monk achieves an unforeseen form of enlightenment. The quest for freedom yields surprising and resonant complications in Ha Jin's sorrowful, funny, and bittersweet stories.
Booklist Review; November 2009.
True ConfectionsKatharine Weber
In her fifth novel, after Triangle (2006), Weber unleashes a wacky comic sensibility. Ostracized by her high-school clique and denied admission to college after accidentally setting fire to a classmate's home, Alice Tatnall applies for a job at Zip's Candies on a whim and finds her life's calling. Immediately taken under the wing of candy magnate Sam Ziplinsky, Alice learns the ins and outs of the candy-making business, from mixing the proper proportions of the ingredients to repairing the ancient production line that churns out the company's reliable moneymakers, Little Sammies, Tigermelts, and Mumbo Jumbos. She further cements her place within the company and the family by marrying Sam's son and heir Howard 'Howdy' Ziplinsky and bearing him two children. Billed as an affidavit, Alice's slyly funny, frequently self-serving, and perhaps unreliable narration leads to some unexpected surprises when Alice's old nickname, Arson Girl, comes back to haunt her in a big way. Filled with candy lore, impassioned critiques of chocolate, and Alice's one-of-a-kind takes on marriage and family, this is sweet reading for fans of the offbeat.
Booklist Review; December 2009
0 comments:
Post a Comment