2009 Staff Picks
- Staff Picks by Genre in alphabetical order by author's last name.
March 2009
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Butler, Octavia Parable of the Sower Science Fiction |
Parable of the Sower, published in 1993, is the
first in a two-part series of sci-fi novels by Octavia Butler. The
story focuses on teenager Lauren Olamina who lives in dystopian California
in the 2020s. Society has broken down so severely – economically,
socially, environmentally – that people either live in walled-in communities
trying to defend themselves, or live on the outside in extremely desperate
conditions including drugs, crime, prostitution, new forms of slavery
and more. The walls come tumbling down and Lauren, at 18, ends up
on the perilous road trying to survive. Lauren is a sort of spiritual
prophet. For years she has secretly transcribed verses of a religion
she calls Earthseed. On the road she recruits devotees to fulfill
Earthseed’s destiny of life on another planet. What makes this book
worth reading is a captivating story that’s also a powerful commentary
on very important issues of our time including race, gender, the environment,
religion, community. It reminds me of the way Star Trek episodes could
be such good commentary. Recommended by Jude, March 2009 |
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French, Tana In The Woods Fiction |
In a grim suburb near Dublin, Ireland, three 12-year-old
children playing in a local woods do not return for supper. A frantic
search locates one of the three cowering beside a tree in a near catatonic
state with no memory of what happened. The other two children are
never found. Flash twenty years into the future and the lone survivor,
now a police detective, and his female partner are assigned to investigate
the murder of a young girl in the same wooded area. The story, told
through the survivor-detective’s eyes, recounts an intense murder
investigation against the background of a complicated relationship
with his partner, and his attempts to resolve the fate of his childhood
friends and to recover his memory. As the book progresses it becomes
clear how much his childhood trauma has damaged him. This is a beautifully
written book with interesting, well-drawn characters and a sophisticated,
multi-layered plot. Rather like a Dennis Lehane novel, this story
will not completely satisfy readers who require happy endings and
all questions resolved. Recommended by Noufissa, March 2009 |
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Light, Alison Mrs. Woolf and the Servants: An Intimate History of Domestic Life in Bloomsbury Nonfiction |
The title of one review, “A room of one's own -- and someone
to clean it,” aptly describes the era in which Virginia Woolf lived,
(1882-1941). In England during the post-Victorian era, upper-class
household life changed as former live-in servants took jobs in shops,
where shorter work hours and independent living meant autonomy and
freedom. Woolf grew up with full-time servants, and employed a live-in
cook until she was 53. For Woolf, being home alone meant alone with
the servants, and Virginia and her husband Leonard were not actually
home alone until their seventeenth year of marriage, when they traded
live-in help for a daily housekeeper. This thoroughly researched and
insightful book divides its time equally between the lives of Woolf
and her domestics, while exploring issues of dependence/independence,
and the nature of human intimacy. Recommended by Julie, March 2009 |
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Martel, Yann Life of Pi Fiction |
Life of Pi is my default book recommendation
for someone looking for “something good to read.” It’s the story of
an Indian boy named Piscine, or Pi for short, who’s moving from India
to Canada with his parents and the family zoo. That’s right, zoo –
Pi’s family owns a large zoo in India, but for political reasons decide
to move themselves and the zoo to Canada. To do so they must pack
the zoo onto a huge ocean liner, which sinks. Pi survives but is stranded
in the middle of the Pacific Ocean on a lifeboat. And he’s not alone:
some zoo animals survive the shipwreck and hop aboard Pi’s lifeboat,
including a fearsome Bengal tiger. Most of the story centers around
Pi’s adventure on the open sea with his unwanted companion, and it’s
a truly page-turning ordeal. But there are other interesting elements
in the story too, such as its underlying religious theme. The novel’s
prologue presents Pi’s adventure as true, and claims it as a “story
that will make you believe in God.” This little detail is easily forgotten
until the conclusion, when an incredible twist brings it back to the
fore in a “whoa” kind of moment. Life of Pi is crosslisted
under adult and young adult fiction, and it’s a survival adventure
classic with a philosophical edge that I will recommend to people
of all ages for many years to come. Recommended by Wes, March 2009 |
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Martinez, Guillermo The Book of Murder Fiction |
A woman approaches a man she worked for briefly ten years
before with a fantastic story. She believes that another of her previous
employers is murdering everyone close to her. The alleged murderer
is now a profoundly successful and famous author who is apparently
murdering her loved ones in ingeniously contrived “accidents.” Not
just a murder mystery, Martinez attempts to analyze life itself. Is
life just a series of random events or coincidences that the human
mind needs to organize in an attempt to make meaningful? Or is all
this philosophizing just a smoke screen to discredit the victim and
hide the truth? Guillermo Martinez also wrote The Oxford Murders,
another psychological and philosophical mystery. Recommended by Geo, March 2009 |
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Nilsen, Anders. Monologues for the Coming Plague Graphic Novel |
The simple manner in which Anders Nilsen presents his
comics, using panel-less, scribbled line drawings free of background
detail, and freehand, sometimes scratched-out text, belies the subtle
humor, complex philosophies and pure wickedness behind them. Some
of the most hilarious moments occur in the sardonic exchanges between
a pigeon and a woman feeding it, during one of which the pigeon quips,
“None for me, thanks. I’m on a hunger strike.” In another motif, two
people having a surreal discussion about semiotics and career selection
travel to Pittsburgh. Also, there’s a dinosaur. Recommended by Renée, March 2009 |
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Powers, Richard The Time of Our Singing Fiction |
This hefty book is not for the casual reader. The story
follows the Strom family -- mother Delia, an African American singer,
and father David, a German Jewish physics professor, and their three
children -- as they face issues of race, identity, and family dynamics
from the late 1930s through the Civil Rights movement. The oldest
brother Jonah is a gifted singer who transcends racial boundaries
through his music. Joseph, also a musician, struggles with his own
identity beyond serving as his brother’s accompanist and keeper, while
their sister Ruth embraces her African American heritage in a fight
for equality. Filled with detailed descriptions of both music and
physics, the novel contains as much history as fiction. The New York
Times reviewer Judith Shulevitz said of Powers’ work “ . . . if Powers’
novels are sometimes unfun to read, they are never uninteresting to
think about.” Recommended by Joanne, March 2009 |
February 2009
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Doctorow, E. L. The March Fiction |
E.L. Doctorow is an accomplished master story teller and
he does it again with The March. It is 1863, and General
Sherman is marching through the Southern Confederate states. Doctorow
weaves together an epic story line that includes Sherman, several
other generals from both the North and South, and the ongoing travels
of the newly emancipated slaves who follow the troops. We also meet
a German surgeon who operates on wounded Union soldiers, a Southern
woman who becomes his aide, and two AWOL confederate soldiers. The
writing is spellbinding. The way Doctorow meshes all of these stories
together is masterful. Building to the climax, we even get to meet
Lincoln. There is an assassination attempt, though it’s not the one
you might suppose. Recommended by Noufissa, February 2009 |
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Krauss, Nicole The History of Love Fiction |
The History of Love is divided into four tales
told by four narrators whose stories gradually merge. The History
of Love is also the title of a book one of the characters has
written. These facts alone spell “postmodern novel.” But don’t dismiss
this gem because of the labyrinthine narrative. The History of
Love’s poetic prose offers the reader startling rewards. Krauss
draws fully formed characters who live lives of undying faith and
love, and who embody the power of creativity, especially the written
word. Life and literature intertwine in a beautiful story of patient
faith in love. Recommended by Julie, February 2009 |
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London, Jack Martin Eden Fiction |
Jack London, known predominantly as the author of The
Call of the Wild and the short story "To Build a Fire," is often
pigeonholed for his “dog” and “man-against-nature” books. But he actually
wrote on other subjects, including a memoir of his struggles with
alcoholism, John Barleycorn. Considered too shocking to be
published in his day, today it would rest on a crowded shelf. Martin
Eden is not about dogs or nature but is an adventure story of
another kind. Imbued with philosophy and the difficulties faced by
anyone who tries to circumvent society’s predilection for squelching
individualism and nurturance of mediocrity, the peril of our hero,
while not physical, is real. Attempting to become worthy of a woman
far above his class, autodidact extraordinaire Martin Eden manages
to outstrip all his contemporaries only to find that it is, indeed,
lonely at the top. Throughout Martin’s quest, London gives glowing
examples of public libraries and librarians and the self-empowerment
they facilitate. I felt as if I’d been thanked. Thank you, Jack. Recommended by Geo, February 2009 |
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McCaig, Donald Rhett Butler’s People Fiction |
As many times as I’ve watched Gone with the Wind,
there’s a part of me that always hopes Rhett Butler will change his
mind, put down his bag, and sweep Scarlett O’Hara back up that staircase.
McCaig’s story doesn’t change the outcome of Margaret Mitchell’s book,
but it does fill in the back-story of Butler’s misspent youth in Charleston,
highlights his troubled relationship with his father, and follows
the circuitous path that leads him back to Tara. While GWTW
purists may balk at the irreverent suggestion of a happy ending for
these two characters, McCaig makes a convincing argument that they
do, indeed, deserve each other. Filled with rich historical details,
the question is, frankly, will you give a damn? I think so. Recommended by Jane, February 2009 |
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Simmons, Josh Jessica Farm Graphic Novel |
Both Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud acknowledged the symbolism
of houses in dreams and ascribed rooms and floors different aspects
of the psyche. Both psychologists would have a field day with Josh
Simmons’ graphic novel Jessica Farm, which navigates a plot
filled with dream logic that darts between dread and joy. Jessica
wanders from room to room, meeting different “house friends” at every
turn. Some are happy, welcoming creatures, while others are nightmarish,
but all fit in perfectly with the strange geography of the whimsically
shifting house. Much has been said about Simmons’ unique writing process.
Beginning in January 2000, he drew a page a month until he had created
96 pages. He plans to continue until 2050, releasing a volume every
eight years. The art and story line stand up to the curiosity of Simmons’
unique method. Simmons combines lines and cross hatching to convey
a wealth of information in each deceptively simple drawing. Panels
range from nearly solid black squares, as when Jessica passes through
a dark hallway, to intricate scenes that reveal new details with every
look, as when she awakens to a phenomenal sunrise and utters “Zowie.”
The images are carefully arranged to fluidly glide between tension,
suspense, humor and relief as Jessica moves through various situations.
By the end of the book, I was shaken, amused and enchanted, and counting
down the days until the next volume comes out in 2016. Recommended by Renée, February 2009 |
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Vinge, Vernor A Fire Upon the Deep Science Fiction |
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There’s science fiction, and then there’s SCIENCE FICTION.
Vernor Vinge’s Hugo Award winning A Fire Upon the Deep is
definitely the latter. A Fire Upon the Deep takes the reader
thousands of years into the future to a point in time when Earth,
or “Old Earth” as it is referred to, is just a legend. This distant
vision of the future imagines a Milky Way Galaxy populated with thousands
of alien species living in various “zones of thought.” These zones
of thought influence the developmental capacity of civilizations and
technologies. At the very bottom of the zones is the Slowness, where
most civilizations have barely surpassed the stage of feudalism. Old
Earth, for instance, resides somewhere in the Slowness. Many species,
including humans, have escaped the Slowness and have founded civilizations
in the Low, Middle, and High Beyond, where powerful technology allows
for complex trade networking. (Vinge’s description of the networking
is clearly strongly inspired by computer networking, which makes sense
because Vinge is a former computer scientist.) Above the Slowness
and the Beyond is the Transcend, where some individuals, called Powers,
have achieved godlike technological abilities that have a significant
impact on those in the lower levels. With all of that now explained,
A Fire Upon the Deep is about a malevolent Power that is
accidentally created and begins wreaking havoc on the civilizations
within the Beyond. A human spaceship carrying the secret to destroying
the Power escapes the devastation and becomes stranded on a planet
in the Low Beyond populated by a wolf-like species that communicates
with a group mind. Two child survivors from the ship, a brother and
sister, become separated and enmeshed in a bloody war between rival
factions of the wolf-like creatures. In the High Beyond, a rescue
group of four individuals, two human and two tree-like aliens that
ride in automated carts, set off for the Low Beyond to save the children
and retrieve the secret of the ship, but face their own challenges
as they attempt to traverse thousands of light years of space while
being stalked by the malevolent Power. And this summary just scratches
the surface. A Fire Upon the Deep is truly SCIENCE FICTION.
Recommended by Wes, February 2009 |
January 2009
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Allende, Isabel Daughter of Fortune Fiction |
I’ve loved Isabel Allende's writing since The House
of the Spirits, and her mixture of South American history, romance,
adventure, and fantasy continues here. Set in Chile and San Francisco,
the daughter of the title is Eliza Sommers, abandoned on a doorstep
and then adopted by a brother and sister in nineteenth century Valparaiso.
Eliza travels from Chile to America as a stowaway to find her lover
who has abandoned her and her unborn child. Along the way, she rekindles
a friendship with Tao Chi’en, a Chinese doctor whose devotion and
love take her on another sort of unexpected journey. Allende mixes
the temporal and the sensual with the fantastic and we often wonder
where the narrative ends and the fantasy begins. No matter, really
– what‘s important here is the tale and it’s a lovely one. Recommended by Jane, January 2009 |
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edited by Jones, Daniel Modern Love: 50 True and Extraordinary Tales of Desire, Deceit and Devotion Nonfiction |
The more things change the more they stay the same – a
phrase that couldn’t be more perfect when considering the intricacies
and challenges of modern love. The language of love got a lot more
difficult when text messaging and the internet were added to the mix
of an already mystifying and complicated subject. Taken straight from
the New York Times weekly “Modern Love” column, 50 intrepid
authors bare their souls in illuminating essays about love in the
twenty-first century. A voyeuristic approach to love and a superb
collection for anyone who has loved, lost, or googled her date’s name.
Recommended by Lisa, January 2009 |
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Keyes, Ralph The Courage to Write Nonfiction |
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Keyes separates this highly approachable and entertaining
book into two sections. The first, "The Elements of Courage," examines
the many sources of fear for writers and ways fear can manifest itself
in the writing process. Causes range from the well-known fears of
revealing family secrets, receiving terrible reviews or accidentally
publishing mistakes. Some of these fears and their expressions are
more surprising, though. For instance, the constant procrastination
so many writers experience might not result from a lack of discipline,
but a hesitance to confront the raw emotions and self-examination
that writing demands. Even that dreaded beast, writer’s block, has
some of its roots in fear. These examinations are infinitely helpful
in identifying the ways fear causes a writer to avoid writing or writing
honestly, so she can recognize the cause of her counterproductive
patterns and change them. In the second section, "Coming to Terms
with Fear," Keyes details methods for writing that go beyond the common
(and useless) assurances like “Just start writing and you’ll feel
better” or “There’s nothing to be afraid of.” Instead, Keyes acknowledges
the actual importance of fear to the writing process, stating that
fear and courage travel in tandem. He offers helpful suggestions,
such as designing a writing schedule around your most productive,
least defensive time of day, or sharing work at variously public levels.
Most encouraging, Keyes includes myriad anecdotes and quotes from
well-known writers regarding their own negotiations with the fear
to write. Without pep talks or gimmicks, Keyes acknowledges the many
ways fear presents itself in different stages of writing, and ultimately
recognizes it as a tool and an essential element of writing. Recommended by Renée, January 2009 |
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McEwan, Ian On Chesil Beach Fiction |
It is July 1962 in England. Florence is a talented musician
who dreams of a career on the concert stage and of the perfect life
she will create with Edward, an earnest young history student. Their
courtship has been both cerebral and platonic. Newly married, Edward
and Florence honeymoon at a Dorset hotel on the English coast, on
Chesil Beach. At dinner in their room, they are anxious about the
wedding night. Edward harbors a private fear of failure, while Florence's
anxieties are overcome by sheer disgust at the idea of physical contact.
All goes badly. In spite of their deep love and affection for each
other, what might have been a marriage of great compatibility comes
to a halt. Their lives go forward in different directions. You feel
compassion for both Edward and Florence as they struggle with their
lack of ability to communicate with each other. On Chesil Beach
is another solid novel from British writer Ian McEwan. This is a story
of lives changed forever by the gesture that wasn’t made and the words
that weren’t said. Recommended by Noufissa, January 2009 |
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Ridley, Matt The Origins of Virtue: Human Instincts and the Evolution of Cooperation Nonfiction |
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What are the origins of human morality? If your first
answer is religion, think again. While it cannot be denied that the
moral systems of the world’s great monotheistic religions have a strong
influence on us today, these moral systems have only existed for several
thousand years. For millions of years prior, humans and our hominid
ancestors lived in social groups that required moral behavior without
the mediation of powerful religious institutions. Hence, contemporary
research in human evolutionary studies is asking what evolutionary
pressures led humans to behave morally. Matt Ridley’s The Origins
of Virtue is a brilliant delineation of the developments in this
field of research. Limited space prevents me from discussing every
excellent detail of the book, but its basic conclusion is this: human
morality is the result of the evolutionary pressures of group living.
In other words, the features of morality that we take for granted,
such as empathy for others, cooperation, sharing, and a sense of justice,
are the hardwired products of millions of years of biological evolution
that emerged as our hominid ancestors turned to sociality for survival
purposes. The fascinating implication of this is that mandated morality
by governments or religious institutions is unnecessary, and usually
does more harm than good. With that said, besides being a tour de
force of contemporary science writing, The Origins of Virtue
is also a compelling argument for the libertarian political tradition.
Recommended by Wes, January 2009 |
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Scottoline, Lisa Lady Killer Mystery |
A co-worker suggested that I try a Lisa Scottoline book,
and I’m sure glad I did! Scottoline writes stand alone novels as well
as a series about a group of female lawyers in Philadelphia. I have
read four of the latter, of which my favorite is Lady Killer.
This story focuses on Mary DiNunzio, one of the associates in the
law firm. She gets an urgent visit from her high school nemesis, Trish,
who pleads for protection from an abusive boyfriend. When the boyfriend
is murdered, Mary’s investigations lead her back to her past, and
the memories and people who remain there. Mary’s traditional Italian
Catholic family lends some lighter moments to this legal mystery that
will keep the reader guessing until the end. Recommended by Karen G., January 2009 |