Featured Genre/Contributor Friday: Mystery

Those of you who know Amanda at the circulation desk know that she is always ready with a good book recommendation.  Here she waxes poetic about a fun series in a genre that this blog has not yet covered: mystery.

An Ode to a Viking Vampire

The Sookie Stackhouse Series by Charlaine Harris

10 books (Dead Until Dark, Living Dead in Dallas, Club Dead, etc)

Fiction (Adult)

The mystery novel can be many things to many people and it can take place anywhere, at any time. However, there is always one constant. A mystery novel must have a detective, professional or amateur, and there must always be a mystery to solve.  At the Topsfield Library the Mystery genre gets its very own room in the original lobby of the building. In this elegant little room with its large windows overlooking the common and the comfortable leather backed chairs, you could certainly get lost for an hour or two. It is a forgotten space that gets little foot traffic but deserves so much more….

It is officially November and Halloween is now over.  If Halloween is your favorite holiday and you are starting to pine away for your next chance to spook or haunt, may I suggest an alternative to moping around the house in your old Dracula costume: how about a good mystery series?

Charlaine Harris has currently written 10 books and several short stories comprising the Sookie Stackhouse series. The first one, Dead Until Dark, was originally published in May of 2001. In 2008, HBO adapted this first book into the television series True Blood and it has since been followed by 4 more seasons and counting. The Sookie Stackhouse series is one I would have never dreamed of picking up before the premiere of True Blood on HBO.  In its tiny paperback incarnation, Dead Until Dark looks like just another tacky romance novel and if you’ve seen the television show you could assume it might be.

For Louisiana waitress Sookie Stackhouse, the world was never quite the same for her as it was for her neighbors and classmates.  She was born telepathic but was raised to believe she had an unnamed disability and was treated like an outcast by her small community of Bon Temps, Louisiana. When the “Great Revelation” reveals that Vampires are not myth and legend but in fact real life, Sookie’s world gradually starts to change. Not only are the vampires real in Sookie’s world, but so are werewolves, witches, goblins, fairies, and shape-shifters. Once her disability is deemed a talent by the supernatural community, she embarks on a series of adventures.  These adventures make up the ten Sookie Stackhouse novels. The series takes Sookie to some unusual destinations and puts her in some very unusual situations. One of the most endearing aspects of this series is that Ms. Harris chooses not to ignore Hurricane Katrina and its impact on Louisiana. Starting with the 7^th book in the series, All Together Dead, Hurricane Katrina becomes an event with a lingering domino effect on the human and supernatural communities, which triggers various plot lines and sub-plots in the following novels.

Although I enjoy the True Blood television series, it has diverged greatly from the books Charlaine Harris wrote, robbing the characters of their genuine appeal and authenticity. These novels contain engaging characters, like Sookie herself who is brave, kind, and generous. Or the Viking vampire Eric Northman, who is calculating, handsome, and frank.  If I could love any vampire, it would be Eric Northman.

This is a charming and addictive series of mysteries with a core that is far more human and real than it would first appear. -Amanda

Featured Genre Friday: Romance

Natural Born Charmer by Susan Elizabeth Phillips / Pub Date: Feb 2007 / 400 pgs.

Blue Bailey is your typical feisty, self-sufficient tomboy heroine.   She is walking down the road–dirty, frustrated, and in a beaver costume–when she encounters Dean Robillard, star quarterback for the Chicago Stars.  Blue is a classic rootless drifter: an artist taking on odd jobs (hence the beaver costume), on her way to tell off an ex-boyfriend who has done her wrong.  She is certainly not the type of woman to fall for Dean, but Dean is not used to having women ignore him and sure enough, they are soon driving down the highway in Dean’s shiny Aston Martin, on the way to his summer home in Tennessee, bantering all the way.  Phillips fleshes her story out well with interesting characters embroiled in a family-saga subplot (including two aging rockers embarking on a romance of their own, and a sweetly misunderstood eleven-year-old girl).  This book is listed as part of the “Chicago Stars” series, but non-football-loving readers, never fear: there is almost no mention of the game (and also, the books in this “series” can be read in any order.) Phillips’ multifaceted work is a good choice for fans of Lisa Kleypas, Jennifer Crusie, and Rachel Gibson.

Flirting with Pete by Barbara Delinsky / Pub Date: June 2003 / 368 pgs.

Delinsky, a seasoned women’s fiction author, offers intriguing romantic suspense in this family saga. Bostonian Casey Ellis is in her early thirties, happily unmarried, and a successful psychologist.  However, her mother has been in a coma for the past three years, and Casey has never officially met her father, renowned psychologist Cornelius (Connie) Unger (although she had followed his career and became a psychologist because of him).  When he dies suddenly, Connie leaves Casey his Beacon Hill townhouse, much to Casey’s surprise.  While sorting through the house, Casey discovers a manuscript–titled “Flirting with Pete”–that could be a journal, a novel, or a case study of one of her father’s clients.  As Casey begins to read through the journal, she is drawn into the story of abused, small-town girl Jenny, who makes plans to run away with her handsome, perfect new boyfriend Pete.  The story unfolding in “Flirting With Pete” begins entwining with Casey’s new life on Beacon Hill, not to mention her new relationships with her sexy, mysterious gardener, Jordan, and young, eager-to-please new housekeeper, Meg.  Delinsky is a more old-fashioned writer than Susan Elizabeth Phillips; the actual romance takes a while to heat up, and her story veers toward melodrama in parts.  Once the romance gets going, however, true fans of the genre will enjoy the steamy relationship between Casey and Jordan (and between Jenny and Pete). Likewise, women’s fiction fans will enjoy the realistically strong character of Casey, who has quite a lot to do in the novel on her own before any romance gets involved.

Other Suggestions:

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon / Pub Date: June 1991 / 600 pgs.

This classic time-traveling romance by Gabaldon, set in Scotland, is the first of a vast series of books – a true saga.  Don’t let the length of the book scare you–you’ll be finished before you know it, and eager to grab the next. From Publisher’s Weekly: “English nurse Claire Beauchamp Randall and husband Frank take a second honeymoon in the Scottish Highlands in 1945. When Claire walks through a cleft stone in an ancient henge, she’s somehow transported to 1743. She encounters Frank’s evil ancestor, British captain Jonathan “Black Jack” Randall, and is adopted by another clan. Claire nurses young soldier James Fraser, a gallant, merry redhead, and the two begin a romance, seeing each other through many perilous, swashbuckling adventures involving Black Jack. Scenes of the Highlanders’ daily life blend poignant emotions with Scottish wit and humor.”

In The Garden trilogy by Nora Roberts / Pub Date:  first installment Oct. 2004

From Novelist:  “Nora Roberts remains the benchmark for the Romance genre. Whether writing Contemporary, Paranormal, or Futuristic Police Procedurals, she satisfies with her classy heroines, strong and sexy heroes, interesting background details, and strong extended family relationships. Her storytelling skills make her a popular choice with a wide range of readers. Her recent In the Garden trilogy combines strong love stories and ghosts.”

Featured Genre Friday: Gentle Reads

And now, for a complete antidote to my last genre study, I bring you: gentle reads!

At Home in Mitford by Jan Karon / Pub Date: 1994 / 432 pgs.

Visiting Mitford, North Carolina, is almost like visiting a fairy tale, and there lies the appeal of this classic series by Jan Karon. Realism is important to me, personally, in a book, but readers who enjoy escaping to a completely pleasant world have a lot to love about the Mitford series. Despite the book’s sometimes difficult to swallow characters and situations, Mitford won even this skeptic over. Father Tim lives alone in Mitford’s rectory, in the middle of this idyllic town.  Soon, without knowing quite how, he acquires a dog, an 11-year-old boy who becomes sort of an adopted son, and a sweet relationship with the new neighbor next door.  Karon’s folksy Southern characters are ones you’ll want to return to, and you’re in luck, because At Home in Mitford is only the first book of a nine-book series. Waiting for you after you finish those is Karon’s newest series, a spinoff  starring Father Tim started in 2007 with Home to Holly Springs, boding well for future books.

Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man by Fanny Flagg / Pub Date: Sept. 1992 / 320 pgs.

If you enjoyed Flagg’s classic Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle-Stop Cafe, certainly try this hilarious, light-hearted tale of Daisy Fay Harper, writing as a precocious pre-teenager in the 1950′s.  The book takes the form of Daisy Fay’s diary during her most…interesting years, from age 11 through the end of her teens. Daisy Fay gets herself into a variety of wacky adventures growing up in Mississippi.  Flagg paints a loving picture of Southern small-town life in a bygone era, and Daisy’s voice will grab you from the first page.

The Girls by Lori Lansens / Pub. Date: May 2006 / 352 pgs.

This book captures the feeling of a small town and all its quirky characters from a very unique perspective–that of a pair of conjoined twin sisters by the names of Rose and Ruby Darlen.  In alternating chapters, Lansens narrates the story from the point of view of each sister, cleverly crafting separate identities for them. Writing their autobiography is budding author Rose’s idea, one that Ruby, the prettier though less linguistically inclined sister, just goes along with. Ruby, however, adds her own valuable insight to their tale. This is a lesser-known book, but I added it for the depiction of country life and Lansens’ interesting characters–none more so, of course, than the twins themselves.

Other Suggestions:

The Good Good Pig by Sy Montgomery / Pub. Date: May 2006 / 272 pgs.

Like Marley and Me, but with a lovable 750-lb. pig as the main character.  Christopher Hogwood–aforementioned 750-lb. main character–charms author Montgomery and the other members of her small New Hampshire town.

Miss Julia Speaks Her Mind by Ann B. Ross / Pub. Date: June 1999 / 288 pgs.

Proper Christian widow Miss Julia is startled by the arrival of her late  husband’s mistress and her nine-year-old boy, her husband’s “last legacy.” From Publisher’s Weekly: “Ross’s characters resist their stereotypical outlines…along with its homespun appeal, the novel offers an interesting take on gender, race and family in the South; it’s fast-paced and funny despite Ross’s persistent asides to readers and reference to serious issues.”

Featured Genre Friday: Absurdist Fiction

A woman once walked in to the bookstore where I was working and said, “I need a book for my grandma.  She’s into reading about really bizarre stuff– alternate worlds, drugs, circus freaks, twisted people.” These are some books I would recommend for that (really cool-sounding) grandma.  If you’re looking to bend your mind with some deliciously strange, offbeat literature, here you go.

Survivor by Chuck Palahniuk / Pub Date: Feb. 1999 / 304 pgs.

Your first stop should be Chuck Palahniuk. His early books are especially interesting (Survivor is Palahniuk’s second novel after his acclaimed Fight Club).  In Survivor, time elapses backwards: we start with Chapter 47 and close the book after finishing the final (first?) page of Chapter 1. Our (anti-) hero, Tender Branson, is flying an empty plane until its inevitable crash-landing somewhere in the Australian outback.  He is also the last surviving member of a suicide cult, and he is determined to dictate his entire life story into the plane’s “black box” before he hurtles to his death. Palahniuk is a wonderful satirist and social commentator, and this darkly witty, biting novel is perfect for our times.

But don’t read it on a plane.

Clown Girl by Monica Drake / Pub Date: Jan. 2007 / 298 pgs.

Having successfully completed Palahniuk, why not take a trip to Baloneytown.  Here you’ll find Nita, a.k.a. Sniffles the Clown, a.k.a. “Clown Girl.”  Baloneytown is a sort of clown slum, where Nita lives in a run-down old house with her ex-boyfriend-turned-landlord, a drug dealer. But Nita’s heart really belongs to Rex Galore, a sexy, artsy clown pursuing high art in San Francisco, where he is hoping to win admission to Clown College.  Having paid Rex’s way to California, Nita is left home in Baloneytown, pining for Rex and scraping by taking corporate clowning gigs for quick cash.  Although Drake’s overuse of every metaphor and simile under the sun can become tiring, this funny, smart and surprisingly emotional book will make you feel for Nita, identify with her dilemmas, and appreciate her complicated, darkly hilarious life.

Half-Life by Shelley Jackson / Pub Date: July 2006 /448 pgs.

This is the book that really put the term “alternate present” on my radar.  In Half-Life, Jackson presents us with an alternate present in which Siamese twins, called “twofers” are extremely common, due to chemical fallout from increased nuclear testing.  Nora and Blanche (get it?) Olney are one set of such twins.  However, they are faced with a much less common problem–namely, that Blanche has been comatose for 15 of their 28 years. Nora, who has become tired of carrying around the literal weight of her not-quite-dead sister, signs up for not-quite-legal “individuality surgery.” Naturally, the twins live in San Francisco where a vocal activist twofer subculture thrives. Jackson, whose current work-in-progress is being tattooed, word by word, on the bodies of thousands of volunteers, does not disappoint fans of the bizarro genre with this book which cleverly sends up today’s culture.

Geek Love by Katherine Dunn / Pub Date: March 1989 / 347 pgs.

Dunn’s Geek Love has become a true classic of the genre.  It’s a must read for a any absurdist-lit fan and also anyone who happens to love Tod Browning’s 1932 classic film Freaks (like me). The Binewski clan are their own traveling sideshow: there’s Arturo the Aqua Boy, born with flippers instead of limbs; Fortunato, who is normal-looking but possesses telekinetic powers; Electra and Iphigenia, Siamese twins and pianists; and our narrator, Oly, a humpbacked albino dwarf. How did so much physical dysfunction makes its way into a single family? Simple: mother Lily used experimental drugs during each pregnancy, with the express purpose of producing circus freaks with “an inherent ability to make a living just by being themselves.” That, to Lily and Art, the patriarch of the clan, is the ultimate in parental love. What. A. Book.

If these books are not your cup of tea, my next genre study will be titled “Gentle Reads,” and I’ll be reviewing books of a completely opposite tone. Stay tuned.

Also, I will be on vacation next week until Jan. 20th. I’m bringing with me The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver and Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls, so expect reviews forthcoming!

Featured Genre Friday: Narrative Nonfiction

The Devil in the White City by Eric Larson

Pub Date: Feb. 2003

Non-fiction (History / True Crime)

Eric Larson’s The Devil in the White City is a wonderful read for non-fiction lovers and reluctant non-fiction readers alike. Larson tells us the story of the World’s Columbian Exposition–better known as the World’s Fair–that took place in Chicago in 1893. The genesis and execution of the Fair would have made a wonderful story by itself.  The reader learns many random facts–the first zipper and the first electric dishwasher, among other things, made their debut as this Fair–and the colorful, crazy descriptions of the many exhibitions–pygmys! Turkish belly-dancers!–provide a suitably entertaining read.  We also learn about the Fair’s difficult path to greatness, starting with the choice of Chicago as the setting and the appointment of the chief architect, Daniel Burnham. But what makes this story riveting is the real-life creepiness taking place mere steps away from the merriment of the Fair.  A young doctor calling himself H.H. Holmes moves into the White City and begins luring young single women to his massive “World’s Fair Hotel.” Unimaginable things are housed within, and somehow, the young women never return. Holmes’ story, coupled with the general bizarreness of the Fair itself makes for an unforgettable read.

Other suggestions:

Memoir

A Girl Named Zippy by Haven Kimmel / Pub Date: Mar. 2001 / 288 pgs.

Kimmel’s comforting, nostalgic memoir of “growing up small in Mooreland, Indiana” in the 1970s and 80s.

The Color of Water: A Black Man’s Tribute to His White Mother by James McBride / Pub Date: Jan. 1996 / 256 pgs.

McBride’s moving and inspirational story of being raised in poverty by his mother–a Polish Jew who traveled to New York City by way of the American South.

History

Dark Tide by Stephen Puleo / Pub Date: Sept. 2004 / 273 pgs.

The story of Boston’s Great Molasses Flood of 1919. (See my review from September: http://overbookedlibrarian.wordpress.com/2009/09/18/dark-tide-by-stephen-puleo/ )

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil : A Savannah Story by John Berendt / Pub. Date: Jan. 1994 / 400 pgs.

The eccentric folks of Savannah, Georgia as encountered by travel journalist Berendt.

Humorous

In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson / Pub. Date: June 2000 / 320 pgs.

Bryson’s is an always-appreciated voice in the travelogue set; this time he takes on Australia.

Featured Genre Friday: Audiobooks

I am admittedly new to the world of audiobooks, and this post spontaneously arose from my urge to share a wonderful experience I’m having – listening to Katherine Howe’s The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane on audio.

The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane takes place in two separate time periods – 1692, that most infamous year of the witch trials, in Salem, MA, and 1991, next door to Salem in Marblehead, MA.  Connie Goodwin, our modern heroine, has just completed her doctoral candidate qualifying exam and is preparing begin work on her thesis on American Colonialism, specifically late-seventeenth-century witchcraft. Her somewhat cartoonishly-rendered adviser, Manning Chilton, has recommended Connie track down an undiscovered primary source. Connie is wondering how she will accomplish this seemingly impossible task when her hippy-dippy mother, Grace, calls from Santa Fe and informs Connie that Connie’s grandmother’s house in Marblehead needs to be sold, pronto.  So Connie moves into the crumbling, three-hundred-year-old house for the summer and lo and behold, a mystery literally falls into her lap.  Picking up an old family bible, an old, hollow key falls out with a scrap of paper rolled into the barrel baring only the words Deliverance Dane. The reader is then taken along for an adventurous tale involving romance, magic, mystery and academia as Connie’s story merges with Deliverance’s.

I am absolutely enchanted listening to this, for a couple of reasons. First, the narrator, Katherine Kellgren, is excellent.  Kellgren is an accomplished stage actress, and brings each character to life, from 17th-century Salem women to Connie’s crusty advisor Chilton to Connie’s new-agey mother Grace.  Also, I happen to live very near where the action in the book takes place so I spend some nights wandering around Marblehead, imagining the action in the book taking place right in front of me.  I am so into everything — the story, the voices, even the little musical interludes that indicate a change between Connie’s time and Deliverance’s, and I can see how I would be having a profoundly different experience had I simply sat and opened the book.  Not that that would have been a bad experience–just different.  I suggest experiencing this book either way–but if possible, listen to it. In Salem. In October.

Other audiobook recommendations include Street Gang: The Complete History of Sesame Street by Michael Davis, read by Sesame cast member Carol Spinney, who voices Big Bird.  Spinney’s sparkling narration takes the listener through Sesame Street’s evolution as it grew from a tiny seed of an idea planted at a mid-60′s Manhatten dinner party, through Sesame’s glory years in the 70′s and 80′s, up to its still-evolving state today.  We learn the back stories of such beloved Sesame characters of Gordon, Susan, Maria–and the actors who portray them.  Spinney recreates key scenes and conversations in Sesame’s history with great skill and clear affection for his material .  After the last track finished, I found I immediately wanted to start it over again–which I did (another way audiobooks differ from print books, I’m finding). This under-the-radar book is a great nostalgic listen for anyone who had small children–or was a small child–in the 1970s or 80s.

Jodi Picoult‘s latest offering, Handle With Care, is also an excellent listen on audio.  Charlotte and Sean O’Keefe’s 5-year-old daughter, Willow, was born with a very rare disease that makes her bones incredibly fragile and debilitating breaks all-too-common.   Like many Picoult titles, this one features family turmoil and hard decisions as the O’Keefe family struggles with a wrongful-birth suit–and Charlotte must decide if it would have been better for the family had Willow not been born at all.  A six-person cast performs the story’s multiple points of view — another Picoult hallmark.   The cast beautifully handles the individual nuances and biases of Picoult’s emotional characterizations.  Highly recommended, this is one of Picoult’s best.

Featured Genre Friday: Science Fiction

Usually I’m a girl based firmly in reality.  But, really, who can resist the pull of a good science fiction novel? It’s where to head if you want your normal world skewed just a little bit.

Kindred by Octavia Butler / Pub Date: 1979 / 264 pgs.

This novel by the late, great Octavia Butler, deals with many themes: racism, slavery, feminism, time travel. Dana, a thoroughly modern 1970s woman, is inexplicably sent back in time and finds herself deposited on a white slave owner’s farm. She is there for a moment, then returns to the present day. But it starts to happen again and again.  Realization begins to sink in for Dana–first, that she appears whenever a white little boy, Rufus, is in danger, and second, that Rufus is actually her ancestor, and the black child he will eventually sire will become her own grandmother. However, Dana knows that not continuing to save Rufus’s life means jeopardizing her own birth.  Powerful, harrowing book.

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro / Pub Date: Mar. 2006 / 304 pgs.

It is hard to talk about how good this novel is without giving away too much of the sublimely written, beautiful, calm yet undeniably creepy story.  Kathy, in her early 30′s,  is an alumna of an elite boarding school in Britain’s countryside. But the school has a special purpose and the students are of…unexpected origin. The students themselves are “told but not told” what is really going on, and it is the same for the reader as Ishiguro subtly and masterfully reveals meaning. Go into it blind, but with an open mind. Never Let Me Go is the Topsfield Town Library Book Club pick for November, so you have two months, but if you crack open the cover you will finish it in a day.

A Swiftly Tilting Planet by Madeleine L’Engle / Pub Date: 1978 / 224 pgs.

This is one of the sequels to A Wrinkle In Time.  However, I think it does quite nicely as a stand-alone title.  I must mention that this is one of my favorite series of all time, and I usually never enjoy fantasy, and this has such fantastical elements to it. (Unicorns! Strange planets!) But the books blow my mind.  In Planet, the world is on the brink of a nuclear war and the family of Meg Murray, the heroine of Wrinkle, have the power to stop it. Meg must help her brilliant baby brother Charles Wallace, now 15, travel back in time with the help of a unicorn to unravel the events that have brought the world to this place.  It is such a layered story that can be enjoyed on so many levels, for adults and young adults alike.

Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood / Pub Date: May 2003

Oryx and Crake is a dystopian tale set years in the future after climate change and technological downfall have rendered the world unliveable.  The post-apocolyptic trio of Snowman (“a man once known as Jimmy”), his childhood best friend Crake (so-called because it was once his handle in a multiplayer online game), and Oryx,  a Southeast Asian prostitute who first meets the men as a child, is a love triangle for the ages.  Not a “nice” story by any means, it is disturbing and depressing, but a fine book in the tradition of Huxley, Orwell, or Cormac McCarthy’s The Road.

Featured Genre Friday: Suspense

Suspense is a genre I hadn’t read for years and have recently gotten back into.  I started with Stuart Woods, one of those authors I see go out all the time but had never read myself, and suddenly I was saying to myself, Oh, now I get it!

Orchid Beach by Stuart Woods / Pub Date: Nov. 1998 / 336 pgs.

Holly Barker moves to Orchid Beach, Florida after a scandal forces her to retire early from her two-decades-long army career.  She accepts a job offer from the Orchid Beach chief of police, an old army buddy of her father’s, to be his deputy.  Of course, by the end of her first day on the job, the Chief is left in a coma, and Holly is up to her ears in a mystery, acting Chief to a police force she’s not sure she can trust– a force who is, in turn, suspicious of her.  Woods wastes no time getting to the action, and I was surprised how fast I got into the story and into the tough and intelligent character of Holly in particular.  Woods has a particular ear for dialogue and renders his lead character compassionately.  The man knows how to write a woman’s character.  After finishing Orchid Beach in nearly a day (appropriately, I took it along with me to the beach), I quickly devoured the second in the Holly Barker series, Orchid Blues, and am waiting on the third. Thank you, Mr. Woods, for reintroducing me to the world of suspicious doings and dangerous situations.

Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane / Pub Date: April 2003 / 336 pgs.

I’ve recently been on a kick of movies based on Dennis Lehane novels–Gone Baby Gone, Mystic River–I just love ‘em! But then I realized I had never actually read a Dennis Lehane novel, so I figured a good place to start was with Shutter Island, as it, too, will be made into a film this fall.  A stand-alone novel, Shutter Island takes place on an island off the coast of Massachusetts in the mid-1950′s.  U.S. marshal Teddy Daniels and his partner, Chuck Aule, are summoned to the “hospital” for the criminally insane on the island to investigate the disappearance of a missing patient, Rachel Solando. The nature of the hospital and all its patients, though, isn’t necessarily what it seems.  Lehane’s is a calm, controlled page-turner;  he’s got the psychological-suspense aspect down pat, and readers are treated to a satisfyingly complex plot full of puzzles and deceptions large and small.  For fans of atmospheric, unpredictable reads, Shutter Island is tough to beat.

On the Street Where You Live by Mary Higgins Clark / Pub Date: April 2001 / 320 pgs.

I figured the next obvious place to go was to the queen of suspense herself, Mary Higgins Clark.  On the Street Where You Live is a century-spanning mystery. In the twenty-first century, we have Emily Graham, a pretty yet down-on-her-luck attorney, who has just purchased her family’s turn-of-the-century Victorian in a seaside New Jersey resort town.  Emily’s not had an easy time of it lately–she’s moving to escape bad memories of a crazed stalker.  At least her stalker is finally in jail–or is he? In the late 19th century, we have Madeline Shapely, Emily’s great-great-great aunt who’s had an even worse time–she was found murdered when she was just 19, in 1891. When a body is found in the foundation of Emily’s new house, it is of yet another young woman who disappeared four years before–but something is found in her lifeless hand that offers a connection to Madeline’s disappearance, more than one hundred years before. Emily is quickly sucked into the mysteries surrounding her ancestral home and begins her own investigation–and starts to realize that she can literally trust no one.  Read this book for the plot, not the characterization–with so many characters, it is hard to flesh them all out, and Clark doesn’t try. What she does offer is an old-fashioned suspenseful mystery that will appeal to true fans of the genre.

The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood / Pub Date: August 2001 / 521 pgs.

When thinking of suspense authors, one might not typically immediately think of Margaret Atwood.  But that’s what’s great about Atwood–she defies genres.  To me, the many layers of this novel–the mysterious death, the  family secrets, the complexities of the plot–justifiably place it in suspense territory.  The Blind Assassin is the story of two sisters, one of whom dies in the novel’s opening. In her 80′s, in the present day, Iris Chase reflects on the ambiguous death of her beautiful twenty-five-year old sister Laura in 1945. Laura’s novel, called The Blind Assassin, was published posthumously, and its text makes up a good part of the novel, as a novel-within-a-novel.  Atwood’s tale weaves together important events in the twentieth century–the two world wars, Communist witch hunts, the Depression–with a sweeping family saga, mystery, suspense, science fiction, a love story…there’s a lot, a lot to like about this Booker prize-winning novel. On top of all that, Atwood’s use of language is, as always, to die for. In my humble opinion, she is one of the best writers alive today.  Set aside an evening to just dive into this novel. You won’t regret it.

Featured Genre Friday: Memoirs

Looking for something to read after The Glass Castle? Want to find another book like Animal, Vegetable, Miracle? For readers, like me, who are partial to fiction but sometimes want to step outside that box,  memoirs are a treat.  Memoirs have been huge lately, especially what I call “stunt” memoirs—i.e., the let-me-try-a-crazy-thing-for-a-year-and-write-about-it variety.  Not that those aren’t as fun and informative to read—I enjoy them and have included a couple in my recommendations below.

Jesus Land by Julia Scheeres / Pub Date: September 2005 / 368 pgs.

For months after I read this book I was an evangelist for it.  It would definitely appeal to fans of The Glass Castle but it seems far fewer people have heard of this book, a fact I would like to change.  Scheeres narrates this gripping story in the present tense from the point of view of her as a child, when she was growing up in a cold, abusive home in rural Indiana with two adopted black brothers.  Julia and her brother David grow extremely close, while she has the opposite relationship with her brother Jerome.  It is a story of troubling contradictions–the children sit at home and eat a soup literally made of garbage while their father drives a Porsche; the Scheeres parents–devout Christians–abuse their children even when flaunting their supposed “tolerance.”  The first half of the book takes place in Indiana, the second half takes place in a bizarre Christian “reprogramming” camp in the Dominican Republic where Julia and David end up being sent. Its appeal lies not only in the mind-boggling story, but also in its honest and unsentimental telling.

Between Two Worlds by Zainab Salbi / Pub Date: Oct. 2005 / 304 pgs.

When Zainab Salbi was growing up, she and her family were members of Saddam Hussein’s elite inner circle, as Zainab’s father was Saddam’s private pilot.  Now president of Women for Women International, an activist group for female victims of war, Salbi recounts the strange and troubling days her family spent ensconsed with Saddam.  What really makes the book is not only Salbi’s unique perspective, but alternating chapters comprised of her mother’s diary entries, which reveal the danger they were in–even if most of it eluded Salbi at the time.

Her Mother’s Daughter: A memoir of the mother I never knew and of my daughter, Courtney Love by Linda Carroll / Pub Date: Jan. 2006 / 320 pgs.

I know what you’re thinking: a memoir written by Courtney Love’s mother– is there anyone who won’t jump on the memoir/celebrity tell-all bandwagon these days? And I admit, the subtitle is the only reason I picked it up in the first place.  (Yes, I am a fan!) And then I opened it, and started reading. And then I kept reading. And I was pleasantly surprised when I realized that this was not a “tell-all” at all, rather it was actually quite an intelligent, thought-provoking commentary on the meaning of mother-daughter relationships.  When she hears that Courtney is pregnant with her first child, a daughter, Linda is compelled to locate her own birth mother, whom she has never met. Her quest causes her to examine her relationship with her well-meaning, if distant, adoptive mother, and her relationship with her enigmatic, extremely smart and troubled daughter Courtney.  Hoping to avoid what she sees as the “curse of the first-born daughter,” Linda seeks to understand what makes mothers and daughters the way they are to each other. Why did her birth mother give her up, and how could have her relationship with Courtney been different growing up? Linda’s is a deeply personal, thoughtful and undeniably interesting story of four mothers and daughters. Who knew? Courtney Love’s mother has written a book to remember.

Plenty: One man, one woman, and a raucous year of eating locally by Alisa Smith and J.B. Mackinnon / Pub Date: April 2007  / 272 pgs. 

It is a concept reminiscent of Barbara Kingsolver’s recent Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: vowing to eat only locally-grown food for one year.  However, this book was actually executed and written before Kingsolver’s bestseller. In Plenty, journalists Smith and Mackinnon decide to eat only locally-grown food for one year following a delicious meal made from locally-grown food at their rustic Canadian cabin. For most of the year, though, the couple lives in a cramped Vancouver apartment, and here the book offers a difference from Kingsolver’s (who lived on a large Virginia farm): you can live urbanly and still eat locally.  Also, the couple set one strict rule in place: nothing they ate or purchased could be produced more than 100 miles away (in fact, the book was first published under the title The 100-mile Diet). It is at once a memoir of their new eating habits and a memoir of their personal relationship, with alternating chapters written by each, with interesting facts on the local movement and recipes thrown in.

Not Buying It: My year without shopping by Judith Levine / Pub Date: Feb. 2006 / 288 pgs.

I picked up this book in January, a time when resolve is as yet unweakened and resolutions are as yet unbroken.  Spend an entire year without shopping!, I thought. I could do it too! Of course, I failed, but happily read along with Levine as she eventually reached her goal:  she and her husband did manage to spend an entire year going without “unnecessary” purchases.  Of course, readers may disagree with what she deems “necessary,” but that’s half the fun of reading.  How do you decide what constitutes necessity? Levine’s arguments are timely and compelling and they get more so every day.  It is a bit politically charged, but raises many extremely valid points about the way we spend today–both personally and nationally–and what that means.

Featured Genre Friday: Women’s Fiction

Welcome to the first of what I hope will be a regular feature–the wonderful world of genre exploration!

“Women’s Fiction” might mean different things to different people, from frothy chick-lit novels with candy-colored covers to deeply cerebral fare written by and about women. Having feminist tendencies myself, this is my favorite genre, and one I frequently turn to for recommendations.  Below is a selection of novels that I’ve read over the past few years and still can’t seem to get out of my head.  They all make excellent book club reads, and all are no more than a few years old but none so new that they generate anxiety about not getting enough copies for your meeting! Or, maybe you’re looking not for a book club selection, but just something to keep you up turning pages at night.  Look no further.

We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver / Pub Date: April 2003 / Fiction (Adult) / 432 pgs.

I was handed this book last fall by a neighbor who said, “Just read it. Then we’ll talk.” Being a huge fan of Shriver’s more recent novel The Post-Birthday World, I happily accepted. What I found was a book even more haunting, chilling, and absolutely engrossing than my (already high) expectations. Eva has always felt her son, the titular Kevin, to be, at best, a little “off” and at worst cruel and sadistic. Eventually, he commits a heinous, Columbine-like mass murder at his high school. We know this fact up front–the horrifying, riveting,and engrossing part is learning the story of Kevin, Eva and their family from a series of letters written by Eva to her estranged husband.  Shriver is an expert at dissecting marital and parental relationships, and her female characters are my favorite kind–not necessarily  “likeable” but always complex, intelligent, restless, conflicted and drawn with great depth.

The Last of Her Kind by Sigrid Nunez / Pub Date: Dec. 2005 / Fiction (Adult) / 391 pgs.

A novel about social issues–racism,  classism , feminism, and the intricate relationship between two college girls in the late 1960s. The intellectual, academic, intense prose follows the life of Georgette George, a weary, working-class girl, and explores her relationship with her Barnard roommate Ann, who grew up with privilege but harbors radical leftist tendencies.  The narrative continues after college as the lives of the two women diverge, and then reunite after Ann’s indictment for a 1976 murder.  Smart, powerful and a little strange, this is a singular book.

Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen / Pub Date: Aug. 2007 / Fiction (Adult) / 304 pgs.

Looking for a light novel that still packs substance? Sarah Addison Allen delivers with her debut novel Garden Spells.  Filled with romance, quirky relationships, magical realism, horticulture, delicious descriptions of food and recipes–oh, and romance, Garden Spells is the story of two distant sisters finding themselves, forging new relationships, falling in love, and going home again.  Would appeal to fans of Alice Hoffman, Isabel Allende, and Adriana Trigiani.

The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry/ Pub Date: July 2008 / Fiction (Adult) / 416 pgs.

I have to admit, I did not love this book the whole way through.  I thought it started slow and ended strangely. But I was swept away by the middle of the novel, and the characters, and I adored the local setting–Salem, Ma, where I myself had recently moved.   This intriguing story did not disappoint me, don’t get me wrong–when I finished it I wanted nothing more than to discuss it with someone, which is why it makes for such a good book club read.  In fact, Salem resident Barry had self-published back in 2006 and gained tremendous word-0f-mouth buzz by donating manuscripts to local book clubs.  Protagonist Towner Whitney has just returned home to Salem from California, to investigate the mysterious disappearance of her great-aunt Eva. Hers is a family of “lace readers,” women who can tell the future by looking at pieces of lace. Of course, in Salem, it seems almost everyone has a supernatural talent. Towner also delves into the story of her twin sister, Lyndley, a woman with a history of psychological problems (the middle of the book, which I found the most compelling, gives us a glimpse into Lyndley’s journals that she kept when she was a mental patient).  The Lace Reader has thematic  similarites to Allen’s Garden Spells–a large, eccentric, mostly-female clan, the exploration of a sister relationship, misogynistic male characters, magical realism, and the concept of “going home again.” This is a book sure to elicit a reaction, whatever it may be.

American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld / Pub Date: Sept. 2008 / Fiction (Adult) / 592 pgs.

Finally, no entry on women-centered fiction would be complete without mentioning my current favorite author, Curtis Sittenfeld.  Ms. Sittenfeld (like Lionel Shriver, she is a female novelist with a masculine name) has created a sort of fictionalized biography of none other than our former First Lady, Laura Bush. Like the protagonist in her excellent debut novel, Prep, American Wife‘s Alice Lindgren Blackwell is deeply introspective and sometimes awkward. She is an observer by nature, carefully sizing up the people around her.  It’s the ultimate “opposites attraction,” then, when Alice meets politician’s son Charlie Blackwell, an Ivy League party boy. They enter into an improbable but loving and long-lasting marriage as Charlie–just as improbably–climbs the political ranks, eventually becoming President. This is not at all Charlie’s story, though–it’s Alice’s, and Sittenfeld, like Shriver, is incredibly skilled at creating honest, intelligent, deeply felt female characters.