VPL Staff Fiction Picks - September 2010
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For older lists of recommended titles, please see the VPL Fiction Picks Archive. |
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Trofimuk, Thomas You might say this is a novel about a man in love with the idea of being in love. Already involved in a new love affair, the narrator obsesses about his former lover and decides to send her a poem every week for a year. The style is poetic and introspective and reads like a dream journal. The narrator describes his characters as if they were landscapes: East Coast, West Coast, mountain, prairie.
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Massie, Allan Detailed account of the life of Gaius Octavius Thurinus, destined to become the Roman princeps Caesar Augustus. Styled as an autobiography, the novel is in two parts. Part one shows Augustus as a rather sickly youth struggling to avenge the murder of his uncle Julius and bring stability back to the empire. Part two features the still rather sickly Augustus in middle age dealing with affairs of state and issues of succession. I especially enjoyed the complicated domestic details Massie presents in the second half of the novel. Recommended.
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Deighton, Len After five years of desk work veteran British Intelligence agent Bernard Samson finds himself ordered back into the field to help valued agent “Brahms Four” escape from East Germany.
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Harvey, Colin Frances Dedman, aka Faith DuQuayne, is a tarot reader from Brighton Pier. A young girl goes missing, and “Faith” and her uncle become private investigators. Why does “Reverend Jo” dose her followers with strong wine and maybe something else? Meanwhile the police find a burnt corpse of a woman that had been bitten very deeply days before her death. Bitten by a human.
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Moriarty, Laura Set in Kansas, the story documents the coming of age of Evelyn Bucknow, a young girl being raised in a trailer home by a single mother. Caught between conflicting authority figures who dictate their versions of moral order, the maturing Evelyn finds her own unique truth. A lovely book.
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The town of Common, New Mexico had a rude awakening when two local boys, Joel and Tom, share a reckless and very public kiss. The kiss stirs strong emotions in the civic, religious and social order of the town. First published in 1989, this classic of gay literature is notable for its depiction of coming-out in a small-town setting.
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Bradford, Arthur This is a quirky collection of short stories that falls somewhere between satire and pathos. Unassuming, first-person narrators detail strange events and even stranger individuals who seem drawn into the stories in the most coincidental of ways. The narrators never seem to register surprise. Bradford, an O. Henry Shory Story Prize nominee, has an impressive fan club including David Sedaris, David Foster Wallace, and Zadie Smith.
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Renault, Mary This excellent historical novel is a must read for fans of Annabel Lyon’s The Golden Mean. Renault offers a much broader perspective on the childhood of Alexander and the various teachers who helped shape his character. Alexander’s story continues in Renault’s The Persian Boy and Funeral Games. Recommended.
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Gadd, Nick Philip Trudeau, a once respected investigative journalist - now working at a local paper writing “filler stories”, is sent to cover a routine death at a train crossing and soon finds himself in the middle of a mystery involving art theft, political intrigue, business corruption and murder!
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Smith, Patti Patti Smith offers a tender memoir about her early days in New York City and her relationship with Robert Mapplethorpe. As well as a fascinating account of the life and development of an artist, Smith paints an unblinking portrait of New York from a much grittier era. The book is a must read for music and poetry fans.
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Schulman, Sarah In Schulman’s dystopian vision of New York City, homelessness, poverty, and big-box stores become a thing of the past. Despite the positive changes, a feeling of unease is felt by the population. Schulman’s characters find themselves asking “Is there a place for love in a world where everything is for sale?” A thoughtful read.
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Putney, Mary Jo Would you fall in love again, after being married at 16, beaten and abused , accidentally causing your husband’s death, and then spending years in hiding? Until she was found by the villains hunting her, and then rescued, Julia would have said Never!
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Armstrong, Lori Set in North Dakota ranch country, Mercy Gunderson is a tough-as-nails, take-no-prisoners kinds of gal who'd just as soon outshoot or outdrink a man as bed him.
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Kantner, Seth Caught between two cultures, neither of which will fully accept him, Cutuk Hawcly realizes “something is missing in [him] – that feels like being born a wolf and choosing a dog’s life.” This beautifully written book captures the stark beauty of the Alaskan tundra and the drama of living “in” not “off” the land. The book will appeal to fans of Cathleen With's Having Faith in the Polar Girls' Prison.
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Cleave, Chris After two years spent in a refugee detention centre, Little Bee sets off to rejoin a British couple she encountered in her home country, Nigeria. Weaving the past and present, Little Bee muses on the complexities of the Queen’s English and whether the future tense actually belongs in her vocabulary. The book is a beautiful document that illustrates the plight of political refugees in today’s world and introduces us to one of the most beguiling narrators to appear in modern literature. Highly recommended.
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Donoghue, Emma Set in Victorian London and based on a scandalous divorce case, Donoghue’s 2009 Barbara Gittings Literature Award nominated novel is rich in period detail
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Jacobs, Harvey This funny, absurdist satire features everyman Simon Apple – death row inmate and life-long pincushion to medical misadventure. Witty, inventive and irreverent.
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Dawn, Amber The book is narrated by Little, a young girl who has been lured into the world of Sub Rosa – a zone within the city where women are forced to work as prostitutes. Dawn has created an edgy novel / allegory showing marginalized women who are all but invisible to the city at large.
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Avery, Ellis In 1865, nine-year-old Aurelia Caillard is orphaned in Japan. She is taken in by the Shin family, master-teachers of the tea-ceremony and befriended by their teenage daughter, Yurako. As Aurelia matures, she finds her attraction to Yukako deepen into love. This book is the 2008 winner of the Barbara Gittings Literature Award.
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Hurwitz, Gregg Andrew Patrick Davis has always dreamed of making a movie, but after his first screenplay is sold his world comes crashing down. It all starts when he receives his first DVD showing that someone is watching him and follows with e-mails and threats. A well written psychological thriller that will have you turning the pages late into the night!
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This is Jolley’s great trilogy comprising the titles My Father’s Moon, Cabin Fever, and The Georges’ Wife. Jolley was masterful at portraying the inner life of characters who were somewhat outside the conventions of polite society. Her tone is introspective and, at times, haunting yet filled with wry and very funny observations. Highly recommended.
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Welch, Denton Excellent, though largely forgotten, final novel from Welch detailing the harrowing, true life trauma he suffered in the aftermath of an automobile accident. Welch’s narrator keeps a firm grip on his emotions and distances himself from his pain in beautifully detailled descriptions of people and objects he observes during his recovery. Would appeal to fans of Jean-Dominique Bauby’s the Diving Bell and the Butterfly.
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Barr, Nevada A murder mystery set in January in Isle Royale in Lake Superior. Anna Pigeon is sent to learn about managing and understanding wolves, as her home park plans to acquire its own pack. Soon things begin to go sideways, a giant wolf? Alien DNA found in the wolf scat? A female scientist is killed, the mauling meant for Anna?
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Moore, Laurie “Investigator Reporter Barbie” gets sucked into a small town sheriff’s ongoing war with the Texas prison system, among other chilling events, and hopes to escape getting fired or murdered or falling in love.
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