Fabulous Fiction Firsts #625, Part 2
by muffy
First, you need to know that as one trusted Library Journal reviewer puts it in no uncertain terms: "(t)his bleak, potent picture will scare the pants off readers".
According to debut novelist Lindsey Lee Johnson (herself a former tutor/teen mentor), The Most Dangerous Place on Earth * * is your local high school - where we send our precious ones as a matter of course.
Alternately narrating is a group of privileged Mill Valley juniors, linked by the parts they played in the suicide of a middle school classmate. Among them are the classic high school archetypes: the jock, the A-student, the bully, the stoner, the outcast - all in the throes of a time of tumult and confusion, amplified by the seduction and tyranny of social media.
Caught up in the daily drama of these teens is Molly Nicoll, a mid-year replacement teacher from scrubbier Fresno. First time away from home, and barely out of her teens, she too, is navigating faculty-lounge cliques; the vigor of teaching; demands of entitled and indulgent parents; and trying to connect with her students. Lonely and naive, she strikes up a relationship with a fellow teacher who turns out to be a predator.
"(Johnson) keeps the action brisk and deepens readers’ investment, culminating in a high school party that goes wrong. Readers may find themselves so swept up in this enthralling novel that they finish it in a single sitting." (Publishers Weekly)
Suggested for fans of Celeste Ng's Everything I Never Told You and The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer.
* * = 2 starred reviews
Fabulous Fiction Firsts #625, Part 1
by muffy
I don't know any significance to January 17, but three of the most buzzed spring debut novels will be officially released on that date.
The Bear and the Nightingale * * * * by Katherine Arden is set in medieval Russia, steeped in history and myth.
At the edge of the wilderness where winters last forever, Princess Marina risked it all to bring Vasilisa “Vasya” Petrovna into the world, certain that she would inherit her royal grandmother’s gift of magic and knowledge of the spirit world. A stranger with piercing blue eyes presented the grieving father with a precious jewel meant for the child. Growing up wild and fearless, Vasya roamed the woods befriending sprites and household spirits until Konstantin, an exiled priest with golden hair, and Anna, her pious, and troubled stepmother became obsessed with Vasya’s salvation.
As two supernatural beings, Morozko and Medved, sought to harness Vasya’s powerful gifts by threatening the survival of their village, Vasya discovered that, armed only with the necklace and embracing the magic within, she might be the only one who could save them all.
"In a lush narrative with the cadence of a fairy tale, Arden weaves an immersive, earthy story of folk magic, faith, and hubris, peopled with vivid, dynamic characters, particularly clever, brave Vasya, who outsmarts men and demons alike to save her family. This beautifully written, auspicious first novel is utterly bewitching." (Booklist)
"Fleet and gorgeous as the firebird, a highly recommended exemplar of literary fantasy." (Library Journal)
Will appeal to fans of Naomi Novik; Neil Gaiman; and Eowyn Ivey.
* * * * = 4 starred reviews
2017 Michigan Notable Books
by Sara W
The Library of Michigan has announced with 2017 winners of the Michigan Notable Book Award - an honor highlighting books celebrating Michigan people, places, and events.
This year's 20 award winners include Beer Money: A Memoir of Privilege and Loss by Frances Stroh, a recollection of a city, an industry and a dynasty in decline, and finding a way out, Detroit Resurrected: To Bankruptcy and Back by Nathan Bomey, which tells the story of Detroit's financial ruin, backroom intrigue and political rebirth, and Terror in the City of Champions: Murder, Baseball and the Secret Society that Shocked Depression-era Detroit by Tom Stanton, a thrilling true crime story.
The list features fiction too, such as The Charm Bracelet, Viola Shipman's story of love, family and the importance of connectivity, it covers generations of Michigan history and will resonate with anyone who has enjoyed the beauty of summers in northern Michigan, Sweetgirl by Travis Mulhauser, about a fearless teen facing the wasteland of addiction amid the isolation of the Upper Peninsula, and The Last Good Girl by Allison Leotta, the thrilling latest entry in her legal suspense series.
There's something for everyone on this list - whether you're interested in travel, classic cars, biology, poetry, or architecture.
"Who Builds Anything in this Country"
by endless
When the heroine of Colson Whitehead's National Book Award winning novel, The Underground Railroad, asks who built the system of passages and caves that burrow throughout the southern states, a conductor answers "Who builds anything in this country?" It's a rhetorical question in the novel, but Whitehead's novel itself challenges our mythology of the underground railroad. From middle school history lessons through to the Underground Railroad museum in Cincinnati, white Americans have used the underground railroad as a way to imagine ourselves on the right side of history. And yes, there were white underground railroad conductors, many of them Quakers. But more often escaped slaves were smuggled by free blacks, branches of the African Methodist Episcopal church, or gained freedom by purchasing it from their masters. Whitehead includes these characters in The Underground Railroad: Ceasar, who was promised freedom when his master's wife died, only to be sold off to settle his debts, the elderly free black "proctors" at Cora's state run community in North Carolina with their pressed dresses and their equally pressed respectability politics, and Cora's mother who ran off when Cora was a small girl, choosing freedom and abandoning her daughter to slavery.
The Underground Railroad owes "our" ability to engage with it as a literary topic to a wave of stories about Harriet Tubman, the engaging Underground Railroad Museum that opened in Cincinnati in 2012, and the popular Jim McBride novel Song Yet Sung Tracy Chevalier's The Last Runaway, andSue Monk Kidd's The Invention of Wings. White Allies with a penchant for magical realism will appreciate this last book, as well as "Song Yet Sung." If you liked Whitehead's second most popular novel The Intuitionist, Paul Beatty's White Boy Shuffle and Baratunde Thurston's How to be Black deal with similar themes with more of Whitehead's usual sardonic tone.
This book is perfectly pitched to be an Oprah’s choice, to form part of high school curriculums, or to be a freshman reading experience novel at the U of M. The violence is off stage or muted, the history is traceable, and it answers a question we grapple with today – what are the benefits and violence on all sides of interracial solidarity?
Another Place You've Never Been between Lake Michigan and Buffalo
by endless
This debut novel by Rebecca Kauffman made the short list of publisher's weekly best first fiction. It's sparse and lovingly tragic aesthetic takes readers on repeated journeys from Michigan to Buffalo, complete with reckonings about snow chains. The chained up 4 wheel drive truck driven is driven by the novel's anti-hero, Tracy, a sharp witted Buffalo Bills "just shy of very pretty." We see Tracy from the perspective of her father's girlfriend, who resents her presence in their small trailer; from a childhood friend of her cousin, who envies and pities Tracy's lack of parental supervision; from one of the married men she sleeps with and ruins his marriage; and from her much younger boyfriend who likes that "she'd asked for so little, never expecting him to love her." Tracy is the kind of anti-hero you'd get by crossing The First Bad Man by Miranda July with Sister Carrie by Dreiser . She's in the realm of the heroines of shows like Crazy Ex Girlfriend, but with far less money and prospects. Tracy is fascinating, and you're on her side even though you don't much like her.
The novel, on the other hand, is blunt and chilling. The perfect episodic read for cold winter days in Michigan or Buffalo. There's a Native American mysticism and a lingering on Midwest landscapes that fall just shy of appropriation, tying together the episodes in Tracy's life into a unifying strand of places you've never been.
Fabulous Fiction Firsts #624 “I've always wanted to play a spy, because it is the ultimate acting exercise. You are never what you seem.” ~ Benedict Cumberbatch
by muffy
Ascension, the first book in a new series by Gregory Dowling is set in 18th century Venice in the weeks leading up to the Feast of the Ascension.
Alvise Marango, having grown up in London, is back in Venice, the city of his birth, alone, barely making a living as a cicerone, if not for his command of the English language. Rescuing an unsuspecting Mr. Boscombe and his tutor Shackleford from some shady characters at the gondola landing, he is hired as guide as they continue their Grand Tour.
After a series of gruesome murders, with the latest being that of Shackleford, Mr. Boscombe is arrested, along with Marango as his accomplice. With a solid alibi and his intimate knowledge of Venetian history and politics, Marango impresses the authority enough to be recruited as a spy.
From the grandest palaces to its darkest alleys, he follows the trail of a missing book that might lead him to a secret society and its sinister plan to destroy the city on its most important and spectacular holiday. That is, if he manages to stay alive.
British author Gregory Dowling moved to Venice in 1981, where he teaches American Literature at Ca' Foscari University of Venice.
Readers partial to the setting and time period might also enjoy Beverle Graves Myers' Tito Amato series (many of them available for download), featuring an opera singer who is also a spy; and Jason Goodwin's The Bellini Card that takes Investigator Yashim of the Edgar Award-winning series to Venice.
A Holiday Romance from Jill Shalvis
by CeliaM
Looking for something heartwarming and delightful to read this holiday season? Look no further than The Trouble with Mistletoe by Jill Shalvis.
Back cover:
Willa Davis is wrangling puppies when Keane Winters stalks into her pet shop with frustration in his chocolate-brown eyes and a pink bedazzled cat carrier in his hand. He needs a kitty sitter, stat. But the last thing Willa needs is to rescue a guy who doesn't even remember her. Saddled with his great-aunt Feline from Hell, Keane is desperate to leave her in someone else capable hands. But in spite of the fact that he sure he never seen the drop-dead-gorgeous pet shop owner before, she seems to be mad at him. Willa can deny that Keane changed since high school: he less arrogant, for one thing--but can she trust him not to break her heart again? It time to throw a coin in the fountain, make a Christmas wish--and let the mistletoe do its work.
I'm a huge sucker for holiday romances but they do tend to follow a couple of familiar tropes:
- Hero returns home after ten years to discover heroine has a child who is, suspiciously, ten years old.
- Everyone learns the true meaning of Christmas through a big holiday festival.
- Hero and heroine are stuck in a snow storm and are forced to shelter in a conveniently located abandoned cabin.
This book too has some of those classic elements - the heroine is obsessed with Christmas decorations and wears lots of sweaters and aprons with holiday themed puns embroidered on them. But it also has adorable animal antics, a cast of witty, meddlesome secondary characters, and some refreshing, unpredictable plot twists. Bonus: if, like me, Carl the doberman becomes your favorite character, he is featured in the novella sequel, One Snowy Night.
Quirky new picture book: Pug Man's 3 Wishes
by eapearce
The delightful new picture book Pug Man’s 3 Wishes, by Sebastian Meschenmoser, is described as a “misanthropic gem of a story” by Publishers Weekly and “the antidote to every cute fairy book.” The quirky story features Pug Man, a bipedal pug dog who is having a very bad day. He slept late, there’s nothing to eat for breakfast, and a morning rain has made his newspaper soggy. He’s feeling very sorry for himself when a brightly colored fairy appears out of nowhere and grants him three wishes. Children (and adults, for that matter) might think that they know what he’ll wish for, but everyone—including the fairy!—is in for a surprise. Readers will be touched by Pug Man’s modest wishes, and tickled by his obstreperous third wish in particular.
German author Meschenmoser adds to the book by depicting Pug Man’s bleak life in all black and white until the fairy appears, bringing bursts of color and fantastical beings with her. The unusual story is not for everyone, but certainly will appeal to those tired of fairies coming along to save the day… and to anyone who’s felt a little cranky when they wake up in the morning.
Fabulous Fiction Firsts #623
by muffy
In the same vein as fictional biographies such as Mrs. Poe by Lynn Cullen; The Paris Wife by Paula McLain; and Mrs. Engels by Gavin McCrea - in which intelligent women whose own aspirations and contribution were marginalized in favor of their spouses. Marie Benedict's debut gives us the story of Mileva Maric, a brilliant physicist and an extraordinarily gifted mathematician.
In 1896, before she was The Other Einstein, Mileva Maric´ was the only woman studying physics at Zurich Polytechnic and easily fell under the spell of a charismatic fellow student. Their courtship was kept secret not only due to the disapproval of the social-climbing Einsteins, but also for disappointing her father who held great hopes for her. An unplanned pregnancy, and failed qualifying exams sent Mileva home alone without any support from Albert.
When they eventually married, it was anything but the promises of being treated as an equal in both love and science. As a devoted mother of 2 boys, she was increasingly treated like a servant. The self-centered, womanizing Albert has no compunctions about deleting her name from papers they assiduously work on together, as a matter of fact, it has been hotly debated for over a century that Mileva might be the mastermind behind his 1905 groundbreaking ideas about relativity.
Benedict draws on many sources, especially letters from Albert, Mileva, and her friend Helene Kaufler, many of them now available at Princeton University's The Digital Einstein Papers Website. "Benedict insightfully portrays Mileva, Albert, and other European intellectuals of the time and dramatizes the difficulties a woman faced when attempting to enter that world. She also vividly captures the atmosphere, the cafes, the boardinghouse, and the customs of Mileva’s world, making for an engaging and thought-provoking fictional telling of the poignant story of an overshadowed woman scientist." (Booklist)
Love in one day
by Lucy S
The Sun is Also A Star
National Book Award Finalist
In her second novel for young adults, The Sun is Also A Star, Nicola Yoon (Everything, Everything) takes an intricate and varied look at the immigrant experience in America as seen through the eyes of several different characters. The two main players in this story are Natasha, whose parents have lived in New York as undocumented immigrants for 8 years, and Daniel, who was born in America to parents who immigrated from Korea.
At the start of the book, Natasha’s family is on the brink of deportation and Daniel is facing pressure from his parents and “perfect” older brother as he is applying to top colleges. These two experiences, one of trying to stay in the United States, and one of trying to fit in, circle around each other to bring Natasha and Daniel together. Interspersed throughout Daniel’s and Natasha’s chapters are stories and vignettes from background players, including the universe, that round out the diversity of the immigrant experience, of faith and religion, fate, family and the search for one’s place in the world.
Many events that occur on the day that Natasha and Daniel meet seem fated, but could just be coincidence? This is one of the of the larger questions Yoon conveys. Do things happen for a reason or does it just seem that they do because of what we chose to notice? Natasha and Daniel first approach this puzzle from very different viewpoints but learn that they are not so disparate in their thinking after all.
And they discover together that whether or not people change, their eyes can be opened to new ways of seeing. Though these existential questions might generally contribute to teenage angst, Daniel and Natasha are not typically angsty. Worried, yes, but grounded as well. They have the same concerns as most teenagers, as well as larger concerns imposed by culture, family, and citizenship. “For most immigrants, moving to the new country is an act of faith. Even if you’ve heard stories of safety, opportunity, and prosperity, it’s still a leap to remove yourself from your own language, people, and country. Your own history.” Their love story is the best kind, romantic and awkward and thrilling all at once. Their chronicles of immigration and of belonging provide relevance to this romantic tale and show us that much can be accomplished through brave acts.