Ages 18+.
Blog Post
Take a Walk with "The Walking Man"
by gulickb
Every so often a book comes along that defies labeling. A book so different from others that are being published that it's hard to exactly put your finger on what it is. The Walking Man by Jiro Taniguchi is one of those books.
At first glance, this manga graphic novel appears to be your standard fare for Japanese slice of life manga, but to list it merely as slice of life would be doing it a great disservice. The book is a series of short stories about a man who walks, but again, to say it's just a book about walking is to belittle the masterful art that has gone into its creation. So it's a slice of life manga about a man who takes walks, and on those walks, it could be argued that he explores the Japanese concept of "ikigai" or the reason for being.
The stories are almost meditative in their simple complexity (I know this is an oxymoron but somehow it works) and after reading them, it is entirely possible for you to walk away with a little more understanding of life and humanity, as the stories will resonate with different people in different ways.
So if you are looking for something different, something new and unusual check out The Walking Man.
Blog Post
John Grisham's Latest Book is Available for FREE Download
by Sara W
John Grisham, bestselling author of legal thrillers, has a new book out, and it's different than anything else he has written before. Called The Tumor, Grisham even subtitled this work "A Non-Legal Thriller."
The Tumor, which is a quick read at under 70 pages, was inspired by medical technology called focused ultrasound. Focused ultrasound treatments may have the potential to extend life expectancies in patients with brain tumors, and may have benefits for patients suffering from diseases including Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, hypertension, as well as certain types of cancer.
This potential inspired Grisham to imagine a story of a 35-year-old family man suddenly diagnosed with a brain tumor, and the ultimate outcome facing him and his family. Then, Grisham re-imagines the same situation one decade later, when focused ultrasound treatments have advanced and there is no longer one single foregone outcome to such a diagnosis.
According to Grisham, "This is the most important book I have ever written. I have found no other cause that can potentially save so many lives." The Tumor is such a passion project for Grisham, that he has released the book for free. Whether you're a Kindle user, a PDF, or an epub reader, there's a version available for you to download. Print devotees can even order free hardcovers of the title.
Blog Post
Fabulous Fiction Firsts #583
by muffy
Winner of the 2011 prestigious Campiello Prize Not All Bastards Are From Vienna * marks the English debut of Venetian poet/children's author Andrea Molesini, and is inspired by his great-aunt’s wartime journals.
Reminiscent of Atonement (in its examination of class conflict and coming-of-age against a war-torn backdrop), Captain Corelli's Mandolin and Birdsong, the narrative unfolds in the autumn of 1917 in Refrontolo—a small community north of Venice, ravished by the bitter fighting between the Germans/Austrians and the Italians.
Villa Spada, is home to 17 year-old Paolo, recently orphaned; his eccentric grandparents; headstrong aunt; and a loyal staff, including the enigmatic estate steward Renato, a recent arrival with murky references. Times are hard, food is short, and life is perilous, but it does not deter family members from joining the resistance effort, right under the noses of the occupying German troops. When an aristocratic Austrian major takes possession of the villa, the Spadas’ resistance activities become even more vulnerable to betrayal.
Combining a comedic touch and vivid characterizations, "this is a powerful tale of endurance, sacrifice, love, and war’s suffering and cruelty."
* = starred review
Blog Post
Celebrating the Life of Harper Lee
by Sara W
Beloved author Harper Lee passed away at her home in Monroeville, Alabama at the age of 89 this week. Lee left her small town home to move to New York in pursuit of a writing career, which culminated in the publication of To Kill a Mockingbird to great acclaim in 1960. A year later, the book was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. A year after that, an Academy Award-winning film adaptation was released, starring Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch.
Lee assisted her childhood best friend, Truman Capote (the inspiration for the character of Dill in To Kill a Mockingbird) with his research for In Cold Blood. She continued to write throughout her life, though she was never satisfied with what she produced, and chose not to publish these later works. She lived for much of her life back in her hometown on Monroeville, on which she based the fictional town of Maycomb. An intensely private person, Lee gave few interviews or public speeches, though the lasting impact of her work continued to bring her acclaim. In 2010, she was awarded the National Medal of Arts.
Demand for Lee's work lives on. In 2015, her second novel, apparently an early draft of To Kill a Mockingbird was published as Go Set a Watchman. In recent weeks, it was announced that a theatrical adapation of To Kill a Mockingbird by Aaron Sorkin would be coming to Broadway in 2017.
Interest in Lee's life and legacy are sure to continue, as new generations of readers discover and treasure her timeless classic.
Blog Post
Fabulous Fiction Firsts #582
by muffy
Taking the title from a line in "Kath," a 1991 song by indie rock band Sebadoh - Every Anxious Wave by Mo Daviau, is a "highly original debut -- a wild romp of a love story across time and a soulful interweaving of science and music -- this is The Time Traveler's Wife meets Where'd You Go Bernadette."
Karl Bender, washed-up former guitarist for an indie rock band now owns and runs The Dictator's Club, a bar in Chicago's Buck Town. He finds a wormhole in his closet while searching for his boot, and with his best (and only) friend Wayne, develops a business selling access to people who want to travel back in time to hear their favorite bands. Then Wayne insists on traveling back to December 8, 1980, Manhattan in order to rewrite history, but Karl's slip on the keyboard sends him back to 980, 500 years before the first boatload of Dutch colonists landed on the Island of Mannahatta.
Desperate to get Wayne back to the present, Karl enlists the help of Lena Geduldig, a prickly, overweight astrophysicist at Northwestern. Their connection is immediate. While they work on getting Wayne back, they fall in love - with time travel, and each other. Unable to resist meddling with the past, Karl and Lena bounce around time, altering the course of their lives. Then out-of-the-blue Karl gets an email from his future self, sending him forward in time to try to save someone dear to them.
"Daviau is ferocious with her sad and flawed characters, whose pain propels the story through several iterations... A dark and funny love story that, like its main characters, is much sweeter than it appears on the surface."
The author (Smith,Helen Zell Writers' Program at UM), a former librarian and storyteller, now lives in Portland, Oregon. An earlier version of this novel won an Hopwood Award in 2012. You might want to check out the NPR book review also.
Blog Post
Join the Ann Arbor Commission on Disability Issues
by iralax
If you are an advocate for equal opportunity for people with physical, mental, and/or emotional disabilities you may want to serve as a commissioner on the Ann Arbor Commission on Disability Issues. Public meetings are held at City Hall on the third Wednesday of every month starting at 3:15pm. Meetings are open to the public and can also be viewed on Community Television Network (CTN)-Comcast Cable Channel 16. You can also view CTN videos On Demand by going to a2gov.org.
If you would like an application to apply for a seat on the Commission contact the Mayor’s Office 734-794-6161 or visit our Resource Page. If you desire more information about being a commissioner e-mail us at a2disabilityissues@gmail.com
Blog Post
Fabulous Fiction Firsts #581 “Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.” ~ Rumi
by muffy
A bestseller in its native Spain, love in lowercase by Francesc Miralles (translated by Julie Wark) is a delightful romantic comedy in the tradition of The Rosie Project and The Solitude of Prime Numbers, where a series of surprising events lends a solitary bachelor a second chance at love.
New Year Eve. 37 year-old Samuel, a linguistics lecturer could hardly wait to turn in after observing the Twelve Grapes ritual alone in his Barcelona apartment. Accustomed to a routine of lesson-planning, housework, books, foreign films, classical jazz, and the thrill of an occasional trip to the supermarket, he would hardly believe that all that will change on New Year’s Day when a cat decides to take up residence in his home, and forces him to interact with the messy outside world.
The cat, which he named Mishima first sends him upstairs to meet Titus, a frail book editor who, in turn sends him on an errand where he crosses paths with Gabriela, his lost childhood love. Along the way Samuel learns the importance of what he terms "love in lowercase", a phenomenon in which “some small act of kindness sets off a chain of events that comes around again in the form of multiplied love” and inspires him to seek out Gabriela.
Listen to the Publishers Weekly's radio podcast as Francesc Miralles discusses his novel, also available in Spanish in our World Language Collection.
Blog Post
Fabulous Fiction Firsts #580
by muffy
"Absorbing, intriguing, insightful" raved a reviewer of The 6:41 to Paris * by Jean-Philippe Blondel; a brilliant psychological thriller though there's nary a crime in sight.
This European bestseller is narrated by Cecile Duffaut and Philippe Leduc, lovers who parted 27 years ago as they meet by chance on the 6:41 morning train bound for Paris. Cecile has just spent a dreary weekend dutifully visiting her parents. The only empty seat in the train compartment is claimed by none other than Philippe. Though they each recognize the other at once, neither acknowledges it.
The once plain and socially-awkward Cecile is now a successful business owner, married with grown children, confident and stylishly dressed while the once handsome, charming and care-free Philippe is unrecognizable - "old, wrinkled, flabby, the kind of man that inspires pity." This gives Cecile no small satisfaction as she remembers Philippe's betrayal and her humiliation on a trip to London so painful that she cannot bear to return to the city. In the time it takes the 6:41 train to reach Paris, their thoughts compellingly trace the meandering paths between who they once were and who they are now.
"A fast, yet deep journey through the characters' experiences of anger, triumph, remorse, and forgiveness, Blondel's novel ... reminds us that even long-ago heartbreaks have the power to ignite our most powerful emotions."
"Funny, wise and conciliatory."
Read-alikes: The Forgiven by Lawrence Osborne; Trains and Lovers by Alexander McCall Smith; and The London Train by Tessa Hadley
* = starred review
Blog Post
Fabulous Fiction Firsts #579 “Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers.” ~ Charles William Eliot
by muffy
An international bestseller The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend * *, first novel by Katarina Bivald (translated from Swedish by Alice Menzies) is a sleepy charmer you would not be able to put down.
Broken Wheel, IA, pop. 637. Bookseller Sara Lindqvist travels from her native Sweden, against her parent's warning and her own inhibition, to visit Amy Harris, her longtime American pen pan, only to arrive on the day of Amy's funeral. Not having seen a tourist for years, the town folks are eager to get to know Sara. They insist that Sara stays in Amy's house, and refuse Sara's effort to pay for her groceries and meals. They even assign her a chauffeur.
Feeling entangled and with a need to repay all their kindnesses, Sara happens upon the idea of opening a bookstore in an abandoned storefront, using Amy's eclectic collection. Amazingly, it is an absolute success and before long, a tourist attraction, turning Broken Wheel into a hotbed of romance and progressive ideas. Now, can the town folks work more of their magic in getting Sara to stay? For good?
"This gentle, intelligent Midwestern tale will captivate fans of Antoine Laurain's The Red Notebook; Nina George's The Little Paris Bookshop; and Gabrielle Zevin's The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry. An ideal book group selection, it reminds us why we are book lovers and why it's nice to read a few happy endings."
* * = 2 starred reviews
Blog Post
Film Adaptation Alert: Me Before You
by Sara W
Jojo Moyes’ novel Me Before You might break your heart, sure, but it’s also going to make you laugh and remember to appreciate the loved ones in your life. The story starts with Will Traynor, a wealthy man with a big appetite for life, in the board room or on his global thrill-seeking expeditions, enduring an accident that leaves him a quadriplegic. Enter Louisa Clark, an ordinary, small-town girl, who lands a position as his caretaker and starts off just trying to get through each day without infuriating him. Eventually, a bond develops, and soon, they find great happiness in each other’s company.
This is a story about knowing your own mind and what it is to love with true unselfishness, and how difficult both of those things can be. It manages to be both meaningful and quirky without becoming too heavy-handed or too wacky. And yeah, you’re going to want to have some tissues handy at the end, but the range of emotions you’ll experience on the way are well worth the tears.
The book has now been adapted into a feature film, starring Game of Thrones’ Emilia Clark and Hunger Games’ Sam Claflin. The movie comes out June 3, and the official trailer has just been released.