While we all want to read what everyone else is reading and talking about, sometimes it can be just as fulfilling to read a book that doesn’t receive as much attention as one of these big blockbusters.
Here are some recommendations for some recent books that have you might have missed:
If you are like me and fondly remember the Choose Your Own Adventures Books of your childhood and wish someone would write one for adults, then you are in luck! Million Little Mistakes by Heather Mcelhatton is a new book in which, after winning $22 million in the lottery, you get to pick which direction the narrative will go. Will you end up married to George Clooney? Or will you go on a wild spending spree and lose all your money?
Like life itself, the course the book takes depends on your choices.
Posted under Authors, Books, Fiction, Humor
Summertime…the perfect time to go surfing! Since I can’t swim, the only surfing I am doing this summer is on the library’s catalog. My version of surfing involves finding a unique subject heading in the catalog and then riding the wave of the books that come up after clicking. A recent favorite surf of mine is the subject heading “Coma — Patients — Fiction.” Here I found such diverse materials such as Darius Jones, a steamy story by Mary B. Morrison, and After you’d gone, a literary tale of love and redemption by Maggie O’Farrell.
So catch a wave with me- look up a book, click on a subject heading and see what literary adventures await.
Posted under Books, Fiction
Since July 31 is the trading deadline in the baseball world, it got me thinking about how much fun it would be if we had the ability to trade our favorite literary characters between books. Literary mash-ups are all the rage these days, so why not literary trades? Just think, while Elizabeth Bennet is sailing down the Mississippi, Huck Finn could be causing havoc at Pemberley (considering Mark Twain’s disdain for Jane Austen, imagine how much Twain himself might enjoy that ruckus).
What do you think…The Brothers Karamazov for Sister Carrie and a player to be named later?
Moreover, teams out of the pennant race often trade established players to playoff bound teams for promising prospects. So, which great character from a not-so-great book do you think would help a good book become a classic?
Posted under Books, Fiction, HumorNPR is offering listeners (and readers) a chance to vote on the 100 best thriller books of all time. While I think the list is a little too heavy with recent publications, there are lots of wonderful books to choose from on this list.
You get 10 votes, but, as we know from Chicago elections, the best way to insure your favorites win is to vote early and often. NPR will announce the winners on August 2. Even if you do not vote, browse their list for some excellent book suggestions…or stop by the Readers Services Desk for even more great thriller recommendations.
The recent issue of The New Yorker – June 14 – 21, 2010 names whom they consider to be the most promising young writers under 40 years old. The last time the magazine did this was in 1999. See if you’ve read any of these authors and whether you agree or disagree with the magazine’s picks. I’m not a list fanatic, but it can be a nice way to discover new authors. Did they leave your favorite author out?
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, 32
Chris Adrian, 39
Daniel Alarcón, 33
David Bezmozgis, 37
Sarah Shun-lien Bynum, 38
Joshua Ferris, 35
Jonathan Safran Foer, 33
Nell Freudenberger, 35
Rivka Galchen, 34
Nicole Krauss, 35
Yiyun Li, 37
Dinaw Mengestu, 31
Philipp Meyer, 36
C. E. Morgan, 33
Téa Obreht, 24
Z Z Packer, 37
Karen Russell, 28
Salvatore Scibona, 35
Gary Shteyngart, 37
Wells Tower, 37
Just for comparison’s sake, here is the list of authors selected in 1999
George Saunders
David Foster Wallace
Sherman Alexie
Rick Moody
A.M. Homes
Allegra Goodman
William T. Vollmann
Antonya Nelson
Chang-rae Lee
Michael Chabon
Ethan Canin
Donld Antrim
Tony Earley
Jeffrey Eugenides
Junot Diaz
Jonathan Franzen
Edwidge Danticat
Jhumpa Lahiri
Nathan Englander
Matthew Klam
It’s always nice to be recognized by your peers. But what do you do when recognition comes in the form of livestock?
That’s what just happened to English novelist Ian McEwan, whose latest book Solar received the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction. The award, now in its 12th year, is given to the novel that best reflects the droll sensibilities of writer P.G. Wodehouse. Clearly, it’s an honor to have one’s work compared to the marvelously madcap Jeeves and Wooster books, especially for McEwan, whose Atonement was pretty much the opposite of hilarious. McEwan should be proud to know he can tickle the funny bone as well as he can tug on the heartstrings.
And now he’s got quite the reminder of his achievement, provided by the prize committee. A Gloucestershire Old Spot pig will take the name “Solar,” and it will join a literal stable of prize ungulates with names like Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi and Salmon Fishing in the Yemen.
To be fair, McEwan will also receive some fancy Champagne, and a complete set of the Wodehouse library. But we all know the real prize has four trotters and a curly tail.
If you like a little humor in your fiction, here are a few more titles to get you started:
What are your favorite comic novels?
Posted under Authors, Awards, Fiction, Humor
Seventy-four years ago today, Gone with the Wind was published. An instant best seller, this epic tale of love, war, and survival features one of literature’s most appealing character, Scarlett O’Hara. If you haven’t read Gone with the Wind or if you haven’t read it in a while, today is the perfect day to check it out. If reading GWTW, leaves you wanting to read more books set in the Civil War era, consult our Civil War fiction list.
I love the legend of Robin Hood and I am excited to see the new Robin Hood movie this weekend; so I thought I would share with you some of my favorite books about this famous outlaw hero.
The 2010 Pulitzer Prize Winners were just announced and Tinkers by Paul Harding won the Fiction Award this year. I have not read this book yet, but I now going to add it to my books to read list.
