Blog Post
Fabulous Fiction Firsts #576
by muffy
One of February 2016 LibraryReads picks, Be Frank with Me * by Julia Claiborne Johnson, is one of the most enjoyable read I have come across for quite awhile.
M.M. (Mimi) Banning, whose first (and only) novel won her the Pulitzer as well as the a National Book Award at age 19, is desperately in need of a new book that would pull her out of financial ruin, having been the victim of Madoff-like investment adviser. Besides a substantial advance, she requires that her publisher send an assistant who "must drive, cook, tidy. Computer whiz. Good with kids. Quiet, discreet, sane, and no English majors or Ivy Leaguers", to manage her household and her 9 year old son, Frank.
That's how Alice Whitley ends up in the fortress-like Bel Air mansion. While Mimi is prickly and reclusive, it is Frank that wins Alice over, despite the disasters mother and son bring upon themselves. A walking encyclopedia of trivia facts and Hollywood lore, Frank dresses with the flare of a 1930s movie star and speaks with the confidence and wisdom beyond his years. Having no friend of his own age, Frank gradually opens up to Alice. When their sexy family friend Xander shows up, things decidedly take on an interesting turn.
"Johnson's magnificently poignant, funny, and wholly original debut goes beyond page-turner status...Her charming, flawed, quietly courageous characters, each wonderfully different, demand a second reading while we impatiently await the author's second work."
Readalikes: Marisa De los Santos' Love Walked In; Brooke Davis' Lost & Found, and Tell the Wolves I'm Home by Carol Rifka Brunt, all fabulous fiction firsts.
* = starred review
Blog Post
Two delightful novels from an unexpected author.
by Lucy S
Tove Jansson might be best known for The Moomins, her series of books and comics about a group of hippo-like characters and their Scandinavian home, but she is also responsible for a number of books for adults, two of which I have recently read and enjoyed immensely.
The Summer Book, written in 1972, is a moving and poignant story about a young girl, Sophia, who spends the summer with her grandmother on an island in the gulf of Finland. As the season progresses, these two develop a relationship that blooms with trust and truth, becoming tighter and clearer as the days pass. Their discussions skirt around the death of Sophia’s mother and the absence of her father, yet the seemingly small topics of their exchanges reveal the true nature of the love between girl and grandmother. Their conversation, humorous and sometimes heartrending, sparkles like the clear summer light that fills the book.
“‘Wait a minute!’ Grandmother said. She was very upset. ‘I’m not through! I know I do everything. I’ve been doing everything for an awfully long time, and I’ve seen and lived as hard as I could, and it’s been unbelievable, I tell you, unbelievable. But now I have the feeling everything’s gliding away from me, and I don’t remember, and I don’t care, and yet now is right when I need it!’”
Jansson’s spare writing hides the fact that this book is startlingly complex. As is a book she wrote ten years later, The True Deceiver. Like The Summer Book, is about the relationship between two women. In most other ways, it is the polar opposite of The Summer Book. takes place in the dead of winter in an undisclosed Scandinavian location. Where in The Summer Book, the relationship between the main characters grows closer as the story unfolds, here, it dissolves. The True Deceiver is “a novel about truth, deception, self-deception and the honest uses of fiction,” says Ali Smith in her introduction. Katri, the antagonist, is a wolfish loner who moves in with an aging author of children’s books, Anna. Anna is easily manipulated and Katri sets out to take over Anna’s life and finances. As the story proceeds it becomes less clear as to who is the “true deceiver,” who is playing games with whom. The thriller-like, yet haunting quality of this book will keep you turning the pages. The writing is sharp and Jansson’s well-crafted words reflect the nature and surroundings of this Nordic land, the quiet, hushed feeling of her prose mirroring the snowy terrain, hiding what truly lies beneath.
Each of these two books distill the essence of the seasons, the summer light, the weighty, sleepy feeling of it, an old woman who is always fighting exhaustion and a young child for whom summer provides the ultimate adventure and escape from heavier matters. And the dark, heavy snow, the thorough chill and the hush it creates. Two women isolated from a small village, hiding truths from each other and themselves.
As Ali Smith says in her review of The Summer Book in The Guardian , “her [Jansson’s] writing is all magical deception, her sentences simple and loaded.”
Blog Post
Waiting for the Winds of Winter?
by zurenkot
Although temperatures and snow have indicated the return of Winter, fans of George R.R. Martin are still waiting for Winter to come. Earlier this month Martin, writing on his blog, indicated that the next volume of A Song of Ice and Fire -- The Winds of Winter -- would not be released before the sixth season of Game of Thrones airs on HBO. Many fans were disappointed, but Martin received an outpouring of kind words and support.
In the meantime, thanks to a recently published collection of short stories, those who are jonesing for a jaunt through Westeros can pick up A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms by Martin. Join unlikely heroes Dunk and Egg -- a hedge knight and his squire -- as they battle royalty, fight for water rights (way more fun than you’d think), and witness the rise of a usurper.
Martin’s signature writing style is apparent throughout the book and complemented perfectly by Gary Gianni's illustrations.The amount of pure fun (and relatively less death) in the book make it a must read for anyone who has dreamed of enrolling in the lists at a lord’s tournament or just simply relaxing in the shade of a mighty elm.
Blog Post
The Reading List 2016
by muffy
At the ALA Midwinter in Boston, a committee of 8 librarians announced this past year's best of the best in genre fiction - the Reading List. The winner in each of the 8 categories are:
Adrenaline
Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter
Three sisters are driven apart in the aftermath of one’s disappearance. When a violent crime occurs new fears arise and relationships shift again. Long term effects of family grief are exploited by the compulsions of a psychopath. Brutal and disturbing, this is ultimately a story of love and empowerment.
Fantasy
Uprooted by Naomi Novik
In this enchanted old-world fable, villagers threatened by a blighted magical wood allow the resident wizard to take one daughter into servitude for ten years. When he chooses klutzy Agnieszka, she faces an unexpected future and confronts the dangers of a wider political world and the roots of magical corruption.
Historical Fiction
Crooked Heart by Lissa Evans
Raised by his eccentric ex-suffragette godmother to be a free-thinker, young Noel is thrown into chaos when the London Blitz forces him into the home of a scam artist loyal only to her layabout son. Thrust together, the two oddballs are forced to find a way through the wartime landscape.
Horror
The Fifth House of the Heart by Ben Tripp
Flamboyant antiques dealer Asmodeus “Sax” Saxon-Tang made his fortune by accidentally killing a vampire with a horde of treasure. To protect the only person he loves, his niece, he’s forced to return to old Europe to assemble an eccentric team of vampire hunters in this gory, witty caper.
Mystery
The Long and Faraway Gone by Lou Berney
Cold cases cast a twenty-five year shadow of grief and guilt on the lives of two survivors of traumatic teenage crimes. New leads and new cases bring them back to Oklahoma City as past and present intersect in this poignant and compelling story of lives forever changed by random violence.
Romance
Taking the Heat by Victoria Dahl
Sassy relationship advice columnist Veronica overcomes her commitment anxiety and gains confidence with the help of mountain-climbing librarian Gabe. Steamy romance evolves into a strong relationship as they scale a mountain of family conflicts and share secrets against a majestic Jackson Hole backdrop.
Science Fiction
Golden Son by Pierce Brown
Insurgent Darrow inveigled his way into high Gold society in 2014’s Red Rising. In this dramatic, high octane follow-up, conflicting loyalties and his own ambitions lure Darrow into an untenable web of deceptions. Bolstered by new alliances, Darrow battles to overthrow corrupt lunar leadership and bring freedom to Mars.
Women’s Fiction
Re Jane by Patricia Park
Anxious to escape the strict upbringing of her uncle’s Flushing grocery, Korean-American Jane accepts an au pair position in the pretentious household of two Brooklyn academics and their adopted Chinese daughter. Park has created a bright comic story of falling in love, finding strength, and living on one’s own terms.
Check out the complete list for a shortlist of honor titles in each category.
Blog Post
Fabulous Fiction Firsts #575
by muffy
The Blue Line, the first novel by Ingrid Betancourt, the Colombian French politician/activist who made headline news when she was kidnapped by the FARC, a brutal terrorist guerrilla organization and rescued six years later. Her memoir Even Silence Has An End : my six years of captivity in the Colombian jungle (2010) was well-received.
Set against the backdrop of Argentina's Dirty War in 1970s and '80s, and infused with magical realism, Betancourt draws on history and personal experience in this story of love, loyalty, and sacrifice.
Julia was 5 years old when she first experienced the "gift", inherited from her grandmother. She was able to see future disasters unfold through the eyes of others and therefore, to intervene. At fifteen, Julia falls in love with Theo, a handsome revolutionary but they were drawn into the political chaos with the return of Juan Peron to Argentina. As Montoneros sympathizers and radical idealists, they were arrested and imprisoned and, brutally tortured. While many of their family members (and innocent citizens) were killed or simply disappeared, they somehow managed to escape but were separated.
The narrative opens some 30 years later, in Connecticut where Julia is working as a translator. The story of how Julia and Theo were reunited gradually comes together.
Read-alikes: Island Beneath the Sea by Isabel Allende; and the 2014 International Impac Dublin Literary Award winner The Sound of Things Falling by Juan Gabriel Vasquez where a young man in Bogota reflects on the many ways in which his own life and that of others in his circle, have been shaped by his country's recent violent past.
Blog Post
Fabulous Fiction Firsts #574 "So with the lamps all put out, the moon sunk, and a thin rain drumming on the roof, a downpouring of immense darkness began. Nothing, it seemed, could survive the flood..." ~ Virginia Woolf
by muffy
Noah's Wife by Lindsay Rebecca Stark draws upon the motifs of the biblical flood story to explore the true meaning of community.
When Noah met his wife on a rain-battered whale-watching ship, the attraction was electric and mutual. The torrential downpour on their wedding day failed to spoil the happy occasion. Now Noah, a charismatic and energetic young minister has been called to a gray and wet little town in the hills where it has been raining for as long as anyone could remember, where everything - including the church is rotting in the rain.
Driven by her desire to help her minister husband revive the congregation, Noah's wife, who "has a talent for bringing out the best in people", is thwarted by the resistance of her eccentric new neighbors, and by Noah's crisis of faith.
As the river water rises, flooding the once-renowned zoo, the animals are evacuated - sending the penguins to the freezer at the local diner, the cheetah to the organist, the red fox to Noah's wife, and the peacocks (nursing a broken wing) to the general store. But the worse is still to come. And it will take everyone working together to keep their world afloat.
"Variously romantic, symbolic, philosophical, feminist, and fanciful, this is an atmospheric tale that meanders to a sweetly rousing conclusion. Forget the ark, forget the patriarch. It's the women who tend to triumph in this modern take on an Old Testament parable."
For character-driven novels about small-town life, readers might try The Next Queen of Heaven by Gregory Maguire; The Red Garden by Alice Hoffman; and The Mitford series by Jan Karon.
Blog Post
New from British author Tessa Hadley: The Past
by eapearce
British author Tessa Hadley is known for her ability to poetically describe the messiness and complications of everyday life, especially within familial relationships. In her most recent novel, The Past, Hadley works her magic again, telling the story of four adult siblings who gather at an old family country house for the summer. The ultimate goal of the holiday is to determine whether to keep the vicarage in the family or to sell it, but of course, much happens over the course of the steamy months spent at the decaying home.
The three sisters, Harriet, Fran and Alice, are curious about their brother Roland’s third wife and eager to feel her out as well as to visit with and care for their teenaged niece, Molly. Fran’s children run wild over the course of the summer, spying on Molly and her new love interest and making an unsettling discovery in an abandoned home in the woods. Harriet, the eldest sister, was planning to spend much of the vacation relaxing in solitude, but instead finds herself enthralled with one of the house guests with a passion she has never experienced before. Relations amongst the family members and house guests are all at once loving and turbulent as old wounds are reopened and resentments that had been nearly forgotten are remembered. Hadley artfully delves deeply into the emotions and thoughts of her characters, while also luxuriously describing the natural world around them. BookPage calls The Past “a novel of remarkable skill and scope,” and it's one that readers will not want to miss.
Hadley is also the author of Clever Girl, Married Love and Other Stories, The London Train, and five other works of fiction, all available at the AADL.
Blog Post
Get More Out Of This Year's Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti Reads
by valerieclaires
If you’re ready for Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti Reads 2016, be sure to check out the Reads Website! At aaypsireads.org, you’ll find all sorts of information and resources to help you get more out of this year’s Read and how to lead your own community discussion.
If you still need to get a copy of The Book of Unknown Americans by Cristina Henriquez, stop in to any location and pick one up from the display shelf or head over to the catalog and choose from several different formats. We have paperbacks, large print, audiobooks, and even a Spanish translation. Copies of the book are also available at the Ypsilanti District Library and at area bookstores.
Take a look at the Resources page, with loads of resources especially for book clubs following along with the Read. There is a Reader’s Guide with discussion questions, tips for hosting a book discussion and keeping it on track, and even download-and-print posters to promote your book discussion or other Reads-related event. If you do plan to host an event, let us know! We’ll list it with other Reads-related programming throughout January and February, including our Latino Americans: 500 Years of History film series. You can also find lists of films about the Latino experience and immigration, a few podcasts about the book and Latino culture, and the author's recommendations of the best books of 2015.
Finally, be sure to mark your calendar for a special visit from the author, Cristina Henriquez, on Tuesday, February 23 at 7 pm. Ms. Henriquez will be at the Towsley Auditorium on the campus of Washtenaw Community College to discuss her writing and especially The Book of Unknown Americans. Books will be for sale, and there will also be a booksigning following the talk.
Blog Post
Ready, Set, BAKE!
by Sara W
Have you gotten hooked on The Great British Baking Show yet? Whether you are watching on Netflix or catching it on PBS, it's adorable and addictive, and will send you searching for a Victoria sponge recipe that uses American measurements.
Here are some ways AADL can foster your newly-awakened baking obsession:
Bakers looking to stretch their skill sets will find the recipes and instruction they need in The King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion: All-Purpose Baking Cookbook, which covers everything from A (apple pie) to Y (yeast breads), and probably something that starts with Z, too. Along with helpful technique tips, this cookbook provides ingredient and equipment advice helpful to bakers at all levels.
Dorie Greenspan's Baking: from my home to yours is a gem - Greenspan is a true expert and offers recipes ranging from easy to ambitious, but she provides plenty of illustrations and guidance along the way. Her World Peace cookies are not to be missed.
There's also The Cook's Illustrated Baking Book: baking demystified with 450 recipes from America's most trusted food magazine, or Baking Illustrated: a best recipe classic, both produced by the team at Cook's Illustrated, and which are heavily tested and laboriously detailed. As the founder of Cook's Illustrated, Christopher Kimball has cemented his reputation as a provider of precise instruction, and he's built a dedicated fanbase through hosting PBS' America's Test Kitchen and his appearances on public radio's The Splendid Table.
If bread is more your cup of tea than sweet desserts, try Flour Water Salt Yeast: the fundamentals of artisan bread and pizza by Portland, OR-based Ken Forkish. Bakers who are serious about bread will find both excellent recipes and the reasons why they work in this bread-baking bible. For bread-lovers who do have a sweet tooth, Beard on Bread by the inimitable James Beard is a good fit. Like all of Beard's work, it is eminently readable, but the recipes within are a little sweeter and softer than bakers interested in a more artisan-approach may desire.
True disciples of The Great British Baking Show may have to check out Mary Berry & Lucy Young Cook Up a Feast just to satiate their Mary Berry fixation. She's a good-hearted master home baker who provides tried-and-true methods for foolproof recipes, and instructions for getting things done ahead of time so you can properly enjoy an event for which you are baking.
Fiction lovers might enjoy The Art of Baking Blind by Sarah Vaughn, a story about contestants in a baking competition who learn a thing or two about attempting to leave their real-life struggles behind and aiming for culinary perfection. There's also Simply From Scratch by Alicia Bessette, about a widow who enters a baking contest to shake off her grief, and ends up finding a friend in a motherless neighbor girl who came for the desserts, but finds more benefit in the companionship.
Knead any more proof of AADL's baking resources? No? How about another baking pun? No again? Well, happy baking, friends!
Blog Post
2016 Michigan Notable Books Announced!
by Sara W
The 2016 Michigan Notable Book Award winners have been announced! These are books recognized by the Library of Michigan for "celebrating Michigan people, places, and events."
There are 20 books on the list, covering a wide variety of topics and aimed an an array of different audiences, including children's books, nonfiction, fiction, and poetry. This list covers the Michigan Notable titles available for borrowing through AADL, but wait, there's more! Back in October, AADL hosted David Maraniss for a discussion of his book, Once in a Great City: a Detroit story, which can be downloaded or viewed directly library's site.
This list will lead you to explorations of niche Michigan industries, celebrations of famous Michiganders, National Book Award-finalist storytelling, and mouth-watering recipes. So, congratulations to our new Notable authors, and next time you seek a pleasant, Michigan-inspired read, look about you.