Gone
By Cathi Hanauer
(Atria, $24.99, 368 pages)
Who is this author?
Cathi Hanauer, who lives in western Massachusetts, “gets” women. She edited the lively, provocative bestselling essay anthology, “The Bitch in the House: 26 Women Tell the Truth About Sex, Solitude, Work, Motherhood, and Marriage,” wrote the novels “My Sister’s Bones” and “Sweet Ruin” and has contributed many articles, essays, and pieces of criticism to such major publications as The New York Times, Elle, O, Glamour, Self, Parenting and Whole Living.
What is this book about?
O Magazine sums the story up best: “Beautifully complicated and often funny, Cathi Hanauer’s “Gone” asks the question many long-marrieds barely dare to contemplate: What would you do if your husband left to drive the babysitter home and just never came back?”
That’s the situation Eve, who is gaining success as a nutritionist, finds herself in when, after a restaurant dinner with her husband of 14 years whose career has stalled, he just takes off, leaving her to cope with their two kids, work, middle-age life and the host of related problems, not to mention the emotional smackdown that being abandoned has delivered.
Why you’ll like it:
Summer’s nearly over, but a good beach book can be read any time of year. This is one is far better than the stereotypical beach-y fluff, yet contains the elements that make such books so appealing: it’s about love, marriage, raising children, succeeding at work and finding oneself at an age when such exploration is thought to be long past. What would you do if your spouse just took off one night: mourn, rejoice, go numb, get going? Eve’s story will have you pondering this frightening, yet possibly liberating, turn of events.
What others are saying:
“Gone is an outstanding novel about change and about redefining, in middle age, everything from one’s marriage to one’s career to one’s role as a best friend, parent, and spouse. It is a novel about passion and forgiveness and knowing when to let something go and when to fight to hold on to it, about learning to say goodbye—but, if you’re lucky, not forever, says a Barnes and Noble review.
“Cathi Hanauer is a great chronicler of modern love and life, who has created, in the pages of “Gone,” the beautiful, intricate story of a beautiful, intricate marriage. This novel will resonate with anyone who has ever been married—which is to say, it will resonate with anyone who has ever struggled to reconcile love against ambivalence, loyalty against the lure of solitude, and domestic fidelity against the call of the open road,” says Elizabeth Gilbert, author of “Eat, Pray, Love.”
“Hanauer’s crisp examination of a troubled family keenly depicts the mercurial nature of contemporary marriage and parenthood,” says Booklist.
Family dynamics change when a husband abandons his wife and two children. …Eve is forced to come to terms with her new role. Now, she truly is in charge of her family’s future, and she must learn how to juggle parenting, career and friendships. She must make decisions that are difficult and painful at times, but with these feelings are moments of exhilaration and self-fulfillment…. The author’s portrayal of Eve as a woman who has no choice but to muddle through and do the best she can will resonate with many women who have been in, or are going through, similar circumstances. Hanauer delivers a novel that is rich with relatable characters, realistic in its approach and highly readable,” says Kirkus Reviews.
When is it available?
Get going and get “Gone” at the Downtown Hartford Public Library or the Blue Hills branch library.
Do you have something to say about this book, this author or books in general? Please post your comments here and I will respond. Let’s get a good books conversation going!
Barack Obama: The Story
By David Maraniss
(Simon & Schuster, $32.50, 672 pages)
Who is this author?
David Maraniss is a journalist’s journalist. By that I mean he is a much respected, diligent researcher, graceful writer and astute interpreter of current events and past occurrences, making it clear how they have affected the lives of the famous people who have been the subjects of his acclaimed biographies.
An associate editor at The Washington Post, Maraniss has written bestsellers about Bill Clinton, coach Vince Lombardi, Vietnam and the ‘60s, baseball star Roberto Clemente and the 1960 Rome Olympics. How good is he? Well, Maraniss won the 1993 Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of Clinton, was part of a Post team that won the 2007 Pulitzer for coverage of the Virginia Tech tragedy and has been a Pulitzer finalist three other times. He’s based in Washington, D.C., and Madison, Wisconsin.
What is this book about?
You’d think by three years into his presidency, we’d all agree on what we know about Barack Obama. Yet, due to the egregious political divide that is plaguing our country, misinformation and mystery persists about Obama’s early years, partly because some citizens want to believe the worst about him and partly because his backstory is not well known. Maraniss does us a service in this book by presenting a meticulously researched examination of Obama’s parents and grandparents, his early life and how his experiences in Hawaii and Indonesia, at Occidental College and at Columbia University, influenced the man and the politician.
Why you’ll like it:
The election is not far off. Having enough verified information about the candidates is important for every voter, and well-informed voters are a necessity for a healthy and engaged electorate. This book offers that kind of information is a highly readable style. Whether you admire or abhor the current president, learning more about his life can help you assess whether your perceptions are accurate.
What others are saying:
“This is a highly textured and intimate look at the family stories behind Obama …A thoroughly fascinating, multigenerational biography that explores broader social and political changes even as it highlights the elements that shaped one man’s life,” says Booklist in a starred review.
“Throughout, Maraniss notes Obama’s “determination to avoid life’s traps.” His struggle to find stability in his volatile world is the book’s prominent recurring theme…. General readers…will be gripped by this absorbing, graceful account,” says Library Journal.
“An exhaustive, respectful study of the president’s “shattered genealogy…these same “misfits” in his family, especially his hardworking mother and her Kansan parents, Stanley and Madelyn, embraced the biracial grandson unconditionally, shielding him from the bigotry of the era… Maraniss’ portrayal of Barack Obama senior, from astute political mind to abusive husband and self-destructive drinker, is masterful and moving, while “Barry” the son emerges very gradually from the cocoon of his elite Honolulu boarding school to grasp his identity as an African-American young man at Occidental College and then Columbia in the 1980s. Maraniss stresses that Obama’s Muslim ancestors encompass only one facet to his complex, fascinating makeup. Another in the author’s line of authoritative biographies,“ says Kirkus Reviews.
“…a revelatory book, which anyone interested in modern politics will want to read, and which will certainly shape our understanding of President Obama’s strengths, weaknesses and inscrutabilities. Every few pages Maraniss offers a factual nugget that changes or enlarges the prevailing lore….a richer view of the man we have become familiar with, without really knowing…. after this book we know one public figure much better,” says The New York Times Book Review.
“It’s not often that a book has the potential to change the course of political history, which is why this one is probably the most eagerly anticipated American book of the year,” says NPR.org.
When is it available?
The Downtown Hartford Public Library has this book now.
Do you have something to say about this book, this author or books in general? Please post your comments here and I will respond. Let’s get a good books conversation going!
Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar
By Cheryl Strayed
(Knopf Doubleday, $14.95, 368 pages)
Who is this author?
Cheryl Strayed, best known to many readers as the “Dear Sugar” advice columnist for the online magazine The Rumpus (www.therumpus.net), also is a memoirist (“Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail)” and novelist (“Torch”). She has written stories and essays for The New York Times Magazine, The Washington Post Magazine, Vogue, Allure and other major publications. Strayed lives in Portland, Oregon, quite possibly America’s hippest city, and her frank, penetrating, empathetic advice columns reflect her deep understanding of current-day emotional dilemmas and dramas.
What is this book about?
It’s about life and love and heartbreak and spirituality and the various emotional dilemmas we all suffer though. It’s also about the comfort of learning that no matter how unusual your personal problem seems to be, chances are someone else has experienced something similar and Strayed has written about it. Some of the pieces in this book have not been previously published; others show why Sugar was such a popular advisor.
Why you’ll like it:
Strayed/Sugar is known for her ability to get to the heart of the matter and to speak to her correspondents in especially vivid ways. Here she is on that all-too-common problem of getting over a lost love:
“You let time pass. That’s the cure. You survive the days. You cry and wallow and lament and scratch your way back up through the months. And then one day you find yourself alone a bench in the sun and you close your eyes and lean your head back and you realize you’re okay.”
Advice columnists, from Ann Landers to Ask Amy, have always attracted huge (and hurting) readerships. Sugar sweetly, but never tritely, offers comfort to the lovelorn and is not afraid to chastise those who deserve it. Chances are that even if your particular problem is not addressed here, you will find these essays compelling.
What others are saying:
Publishers Weekly says:
“Strayed … chooses thought-provoking questions from her readers and listens deeply to their emotional content. In casually intimate prose (to a struggling writer: “dear sweet arrogant beautiful crazy tortured talented rising star glowbug”) and literary grace, she creates moments of wise, compassionate insight in often startlingly personal miniature memoirs, cradling gentle but practical guidance with enough humor to cement Strayed’s presence as both a mentor and the most understanding of friends. Sugar can be tough and honest (to the same struggling writer: “buried beneath all the anxiety and sorrow and fear and self-loathing , there’s arrogance at its core”), but she’s never mean: in Sugar’s world, we all deserve love unconditionally, but also owe it to ourselves to act in the world to be the best, most authentic selves that we can be. For a regrounding in the beauty of what it means to be flawed and gorgeously human, for answers that feel real whether we’ve been able to ask the right question, Strayed’s caring little essays offer surprisingly rich comfort.”
“…Dear Sugar” quickly attracted a large and devoted following with its cut-to-the-quick aphorisms like …”Be brave enough to break your own heart.” This collection gathers up the best of Sugar, whose trademark is deeply felt and frank responses grounded in her own personal experience. In many ways, it is a portrait of Strayed herself: she describes her estranged father, her passionate but doomed first marriage, her relationship with her current husband (Mr. Sugar), and, most thoroughly, her much-missed mother, who died suddenly while Strayed was in college. She answers queries on subjects ranging from professional jealousy to leaving a loved partner to coping with the death of a child…Part advice, part personal essay, these pieces grapple with life’s biggest questions. Beautifully written and genuinely wise, this book is full of heartache and love. Highly recommended,” says Library Journal.
“Sugar’s Golden Rule–”Trust Yourself”–pushes the author and her readers to embrace themselves and not be afraid of asking life’s complex questions… Men and women of all ages contact her hoping she can solve their problems, which include affairs, the loss of a loved one, self-acceptance and understanding the point of existence. In thematic sections, the author presents verbatim letters and their detailed published replies. Strayed’s practical advice mixes with abundant personal anecdotes in which she illustrates to the addressee the reasoning behind her counsel. … Appealing to Dear Sugar fans and self-help seekers alike, this “collection of intimate exchanges between strangers” demonstrates that wisdom doesn’t come only from age, but also from learning from the experiences of others. A realistic and poignant compilation of the intricacies of relationships,” says Kirkus Reviews.
“Strayed is less therapist than long-suffering friend who wants to show you how her spiritual reawakening can be yours, too…[she] is an eloquent storyteller, and her clear-eyed prose offers a bracing empathy absent from most self-help blather, says The Washington Post.
When is it available?
You can get Strayed’s collection now at the Barbour or Mark Twain branches of the Hartford Public Library or request a copy to be picked up at the downtown library.
Do you have something to say about this book, this author or books in general? Please post your comments here and I will respond. Let’s get a good books conversation going!
The Quality of Mercy
By Barry Unsworth
(Knopf Doubleday, $26.95, 336 pages)
Who is this author?
Barry Unsworth died in Italy on June 5, of lung cancer, at age 81. That was the same day that Ray Bradbury passed away. Cynthia Crossen, writing in the Wall Street Journal, said “Mr. Bradbury invented the future; Mr. Unsworth invented the past.”
Unsworth won a major British literary award, the Booker Prize, for his novel “Sacred Hunger,” to which “The Quality of Mercy” serves as a sequel. His other books include “Pascali’s Island,” “Morality Play” and “The Ruby in Her Navel.” The New York Times called him “one of the best historical novelists on either side of the Atlantic.”
What is this book about?
Unsworth tells a tale of the late 18th century, blending a court case about a slave ship mutiny, abolitionist politics, the adventures of an itinerant Irish fiddler and the brutish lives of British coal miners in a thrilling tale. The main characters are Sullivan, the Irishman; Erasmus Kemp, son of a slave ship owner who killed himself; and Frederick Ashton, an anti-slavery crusader. Sullivan is traveling through England to find the family of a dead shipmate, who, like him, was involved in the mutiny. Kemp wants compensation for the slaves who were thrown overboard…allegedly because they were ill and water was running out, but really because the ship owner hoped to collect on the insurance for his “property.” Ashton represents the insurance company that does not want to pay. Things grow more complex when Kemp meets Ashton’s sister and a romance develops.
Why you’ll like it:
Unsworth’s brand of historical fiction was not the kind that focuses most on the outfits and customs of the era, but instead illuminates the actual history of the period. But that is not to say he did not create fascinating characters whose involvement with the great issues of their day offer a fine way for contemporary readers to understand what was going on at that time and how those events may still influence us today. Reviewers have compared Unsworth’s narrative sweep to that of Dickens, and this book, which turned out to be his last, may tempt readers to go back and enjoy all his others as well.
What others are saying:
Says Library Journal:
“…Recalling the Amistad and the song “Amazing Grace,” Unsworth’s finely crafted plot brings together a vivid cast of seamen, miners, and landowners at a moment in history when crimes of property were considered more serious than crimes against persons and a more enlightened future lay just around the corner. Highly recommended.”
“Told with bite and freshness. Unsworth, one of the most ingenious and varied of today’s British writers, makes his scenes not just vivid but microscopically vivid – we see not only their visible life but the invisible life that pulsates beneath. But what may be more remarkable is the creative subversion he works in his characters. . . . Unsworth gives his figures glittering definition, and then leaves them open and undefined,” says Richard Eder in The Boston Globe.
“Wryly, and with Austenesque delicacy, Unsworth presents the intricacies of love, competition, and other timeless human emotions, as well as 18th-century law (if slaves thrown overboard were already dying, the insurance company was not liable for lost property, etc.). Having invented his own brand of historical fiction, characterized by research, imagination, and a literate narrator equally adept at penetrating a society’s values or an individual’s heart, Unsworth creates a novel that works both as period piece and indictment of industrial capitalism,” says Publishers Weekly.
“Unsworth is one of the greatest living historical novelists, and this is what he does best: He entices us back into a past gloriously appointed with archival detail and moral complexity. . . . His sentences recall the sharp detail, moral sensitivity and ready wit of Charles Dickens. But his sense of the lumbering, uneven gait of social progress is more sophisticated, more tempered, one might say, by history,” says Ron Charles in The Washington Post.
“Deeply moving. . . . Unsworth brings his characters together with authority and grace. As with all of his historical novels, he conveys the sights, sounds and smells of life in another century without the slightest hint of pedantry,” says The Wall Street Journal.
When is it available?
Unsworth’s last novel is available now at the Downtown Hartford Public Library.
Do you have something to say about this book, this author or books in general? Please post your comments here and I will respond. Let’s get a good books conversation going!
Don’t Ever Get Old
By Daniel Friedman
(Minotaur, $24.99, 304 pages)
Who is this author?
Daniel Friedman is not one of those authors whose every life experience, including what he ate for breakfast this morning, is available on the Internet. But here are some facts about him: He was born in Memphis, just turned 32, is a graduate of the University of Maryland and NYU School of Law and now lives in New York City. And his debut mystery novel, “Don’t Ever Get Old,” has won him a slew of very enthusiastic reviews, many of which are comparing him to that master of wry mayhem, Elmore Leonard. Not bad for a first novel, not bad at all.
What is this book about?
The book’s unlikely hero is an 87-year-old retired cop, who is both Jewish and from Memphis – not the most common combination. Baruch “Buck” Schatz was an American prisoner in a German camp in World War II and has never forgotten the horrors. When he learns that a cruel camp guard made it to the United States with a treasure of stolen gold, Buck recruits his grandson to join him in a hunt for the guard and the gold. Along the way, he encounters various other players in this drama that mixes hilarious and sardonic dialogue with a serious underpinning and plenty of action.
Why you’ll like it:
As mentioned above, reviewers are comparing Friedman to Elmore Leonard, and those of you who know Elmore’s books or watch TV’s “Justified” know that is high praise. The book is realistic about old age and sparkling with gritty wit. Here’s what Friedman himself told www.bookpage.com about Buck Schatz, and about Elmore’s influence on him:
“I’ve been reading Elmore Leonard’s Raylan Givens books lately, and I think it’s real cool how Raylan stands there with his fingers hooked into his belt, waiting for the bad guys to make their move before he draws and shoots them. But I can’t really see myself acting that way in the same circumstances, so I write a different sort of character. Buck Schatz is more interested in getting home in one piece than in maintaining a sense of fair play. He figures that if he gives the bad guys a chance to draw on him, sooner or later, one of them is going to be faster. I don’t think he would ever shoot an unarmed man, but if he’s facing an armed suspect, he’d probably shoot without warning.
Even though Dirty Harry is an obvious influence for me, if Buck has the drop on you, and you’ve got a gun tucked in your waistband, he’s not going to ask you if you feel lucky. Your luck has already run out.”
“. . . Being young is about hope and about expectation. Tomorrow you’re going to run faster or lift more weight. Next year you’re going to find true love. Within five years, you’ll have that promotion, and you’ll make more money. But at a certain age, the expectation that things will get better reverses on you. That’s what Buck is facing in “Don’t Ever Get Old.”
They say that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, but it isn’t true. Invasive surgeries don’t make you stronger. Hypertension doesn’t make you stronger. Arthritis doesn’t make you stronger. Buck Schatz is a war veteran and a retired police detective. His identity and his idea of virtue is based on being tough and self-reliant. A big part of the story is about how he struggles to cope with becoming increasingly frail and dependent on others. And a lot of older people are having to deal with the same kind of circumstances.”
What others are saying:
Says Booklist in a starred review:
“The title of this knockout of a book is misleading. Ninety-ish, retired Memphis homicide cop Buck Schatz makes coot-dom look like a riot. Buck is an abrasive old party with not an ounce of codger cuteness. He has trouble remembering; his skin has grown papery; he can’t push his lawn mower anymore. But his cop’s watchfulness is intact. He keeps his .375 Magnum close by. He’s a death-camp survivor — his real name is Baruch — and right off, he learns that the sadistic guard who brutalized him is likely still alive and the possessor of much stolen Nazi gold. To honor the Nazi’s victims and maybe grab the gold, Buck and his chatterbox grandson go on a quest. But who are these people who suddenly come out of the woodwork — a loan shark, a scholar, a pretty Israeli soldier? And why does everyone start dying? In prose as straightforward and tough as old Buck, the plot reveals its secrets with perfect timing. It’s a shock when the killer’s identity is revealed. But, then, we think eventually, who else could it be?”
“Short chapters, crackling dialog, and memorable characters make this a standout debut. With his curmudgeonly lead, Friedman ensures his intergenerational detective story maintains a pitch-perfect tone. The underlying theme of revenge balances a wacky plot that evokes Elmore Leonard, “ says Library Journal.”
“…The real prize here, however, isn’t Nazi treasure but Buck’s what-the-hell attitude toward observing social pieties, smoking in forbidden venues and making life easier for other folks. As he battles memory loss and a host of physical maladies, it’s great to see that he can still make whippersnapper readers laugh out loud. A sardonically appealing debut for a detective who assures his long-suffering grandson, “I care about people. I just don’t like them.., “says a starred Kirkus review.”
“It’s a pitch-perfect debut novel, expertly balancing comedy, gritty crime drama, absurdity, and genuine poignancy. It’s also one of the most assured debuts in some time… Highly recommended,” says Mystery Scene.
“Daniel Friedman is the Jewish Elmore Leonard. Friedman is a master storyteller who can speed your heart up and stop it on a dime,” says Andrew Shaffer for EvilReads.com.
When is it available?
Get this book now at the Barbour, Dwight or Goodwin branches of the Hartford Public Library or request a copy to be picked up at the downtown library.
Do you have something to say about this book, this author or books in general? Please post your comments here and I will respond. Let’s get a good books conversation going!
The Age of Miracles
By Karen Thompson Walker
(Random House, $26, 288 pages)
Who is this author?
Karen Thompson Walker makes her debut as a novelist with “The Age of Miracles,” a fine example of speculative fiction that has earned comparisons with “The Lovely Bones” and caused Rolling Stone to dub her “the next big female novelist. Even the notoriously fussy Michiko Kakutani of The New York Times loved this book.
Thompson Walker graduated from UCLA and the Columbia MFA program and was formerly an editor at Simon & Schuster. She won the 2011 Sirenland Fellowship and the Bomb magazine fiction prize. A native of San Diego, she sets her book in California and now lives in Brooklyn with her husband.
What is this book about?
How many times have you told yourself, “slow down?” Good advice if you are stressed, but terrible if it is the earth itself that is slowing its rotation, leading to endless daylight, problems with gravity and disaster for the environment. What is a young girl to make of all this, as the end of life as we know it (and we don’t feel fine at all) looms? At home, her parents fight, old friends are lost and her grandfather falls prey to paranoia. Walker handles both the macro scientific aspects and micro family story with equal skill.
Why you’ll like it:
This sad and forbidding descent into a future that only a gifted writer could imagine is told by young Julia, and it is her voice that gives this “what-if” tale its power and poignancy and opens a door for the reader into this skewed world.
Here is what Walker told an Amazon.com interviewer about why she chose to tell her story through that character:
“Julia’s voice–the voice of a young woman looking back on her adolescence–came into my head as soon as I had the idea of the slowing. It was the only way I could imagine writing the book. Adolescence is an extraordinary time of life, a period when the simple passage of time results in dramatic consequences, when we grow and change at seemingly impossible speeds. It seemed natural to tell the story of the slowing, which is partly about time, in the context of middle school. It was also a way of concentrating on the fine-grain details of everyday life, which was very important to me. I was interested in exploring the ways in which life carries on, even in the face of profound uncertainty.
Julia felt like a natural narrator for this story because she listens more than she speaks, and she watches more than she acts. I think the fact that Julia is an only child is part of why she’s so observant. Julia also places a very high value on her friendships, and is unusually attuned to the subtle tensions in her parents’ marriage, which increase as the slowing unfolds.”
What others are saying:
“In “The Age of Miracles,” the world is ending not with a bang so much as a long, drawn-out whimper. And it turns out the whimper can be a lot harder to cope with. The Earth’s rotation slows, gradually stretching out days and nights and subtly affecting the planet’s gravity. The looming apocalypse parallels the adolescent struggles of 10-year-old Julia, as her comfortable suburban life succumbs to a sort of domestic deterioration. Julia confronts her parents’ faltering marriage, illness, the death of a loved one, her first love, and her first heartbreak. Karen Thompson Walker is a gifted storyteller. Her language is precise and poetic, but style never overpowers the realism she imbues to her characters and the slowing Earth they inhabit. Most impressively, Thompson Walker has written a coming-of-age tale that asks whether it’s worth coming of age at all in a world that might end at any minute. Like the best stories about the end of the world, The Age of Miracles is about the existence of hope and whether it can prevail in the face of uncertainty,” says Kevin Nguyen for Amazon Best Books of the Month, June 2012.
“[A] moving tale that mixes the real and surreal, the ordinary and the extraordinary with impressive fluency and flair … Ms. Walker has an instinctive feel for narrative architecture, creating a story, in lapidary prose, that moves ahead with a sense of both the inevitable and the unexpected … Ms. Walker maps [her characters’] inner lives with such sure-footedness that they become as recognizable to us as people we’ve grown up with or watched for years on television… [A] precocious debut…one of this summer’s hot literary reads,” says Michiko Kakutani in The New York Times.
“[A] gripping debut . . . Thompson’s Julia is the perfect narrator. . . While the apocalypse looms large — has in fact already arrived — the narrative remains fiercely grounded in the surreal and horrifying day-to-day and the personal decisions that persist even though no one knows what to do. A triumph of vision, language, and terrifying momentum, the story also feels eerily plausible, as if the problems we’ve been worrying about all along pale in comparison to what might actually bring our end,” says Publishers Weekly in a starred review.
“This is what imagination is. In “The Age of Miracles,” the earth’s rotation slows, gravity alters, days are stretched out to fifty hours of sunlight. In the midst of this, a young girl falls in loves, sees things she shouldn’t and suffers heartbreak of the most ordinary kind. Karen Thompson Walker has managed to combine fiction of the dystopian future with an incisive and powerful portrait of our personal present,” says Connecticut author Amy Bloom.
When is it available?
“The Age of Miracles” is at the Barbour, Dwight and Mark Twain branches of the Hartford Public Library and can be requested for pick up at the Downtown library.
Do you have something to say about this book, this author or books in general? Please post your comments here and I will respond. Let’s get a good books conversation going!
Kingdom Come
By J.G. Ballard
(Liveright Publishing, $24.95, 320 pages)
Who is this author?
J.G. Ballard died in London three years ago and left us with 19 novels, many of which were adapted as major movies, such as “Empire of the Sun” and “Crash.” He is known for his ability to write in a calm and understated way about violent and disturbing themes.
What is this book about?
When Richard Pearson’s father is shot and killed by an insane man in a huge shopping mall near Heathrow Airport outside London, the unemployed ad executive is horrified – and suspicious – when the killer is released. He soon discovers the mall is headquarters for a fascist group whose glib leader is fomenting frenzy among his followers, and what seems like nothing more than enthusiastic consumerism and rah-rah patriotism thinly masks a dangerous turn toward mob rule and a racist revolt by middle-class suburbanites.
Why you’ll like it:
Though we cannot say it was Ballard’s intent, this book, published first in 2006 in England, carries more than a hint of counter-programming to the Olympics, whose desire to show one world coming together to celebrate sports prowess is in uneasy contrast to the growing racial and anti-immigrant tensions in England and other European countries. Ballard is a satirist who relishes exposing the dark side of contemporary life and politics. As Anna Mundow writes in a Barnes and Noble review:
“In his final, elegiac vision of suburban apocalypse, Ballard once again allows us to imagine the unthinkable.”
What others are saying:
“Ballard, paradoxically, with all his characters gripped by obsession and necessity, is one of the great novelists of freedom,” says the Financial Times.
“[T]here’s a lot of irony in Ballard. If his late (and very funny) books sound peculiar to American ears, it’s probably because of his very English tendency to play almost everything he says, however outrageous, at moderate to low volumes. Unlike the noisier, New Yorkerish avant-garde types who like to shock and awe their readers, Ballard doesn’t shout or swear or get in your face. Even his most disturbing obscenities…are as mannered and concise and unimpassioned as a GPS device’s soothing, digitally modulated voice describing how to reach the next gas station,” says Scott Bradfield in a New York Times Book Review.
“Ballard (1930–2009) creates a world reminiscent of “A Clockwork Orange” and “V for Vendetta” in this novel of suburban fascism… Ballard writes brilliantly about the nightmarish underside of modern life, and this novel makes us poignantly aware of the loss of his voice,” says Kirkus Reviews in a starred review.
“An assassination, an uprising and masses of people rallying to defend their sacred dome from attack. The temple they’re ready to die for is the Metro-Centre shopping mall, which represents the only meaning in J. G. Ballard’s biting, surreal vision of suburban London. “Consumerism is the one thing that gives us our sense of values,” one local citizen says of the belief system he actually despises. (He turns out to be behind the putsch to reclaim their town from retailers.) …Ballard, who died in 2009, is more funny than preachy; there’s a certain glee in his spite…” says the New York Times.
When is it available?
Come and get this book at the Downtown Hartford Public Library or its Albany branch.
Do you have something to say about this book, this author or books in general? Please post your comments here and I will respond. Let’s get a good books conversation going!
The Proposal
By Mary Balogh
(Random House/Delacorte, $26, 320 pages)
Who is this author?
Mary Balogh, who is known for her high-quality historical romances set in Georgian or Regency England, is a New York Times bestselling author and has written dozens and dozens of novels. Her series include the Slightly and Simply novels, the Mistress trilogy and the Huxtable series, among others. Balogh (pronounced like Kellogg) grew up in Wales and was a high school teacher in Saskatchewan, Canada, before becoming a full-time writer.
Here’s what she says on her website, www.marybalogh.com, about how she got started:
“I was addicted to the novels of Georgette Heyer, whom I had discovered only a few years before while working my way through a Grade XI reading list during a maternity leave. I cannot adequately explain how enchanted I was, how transported into a world I had experienced before only through Jane Austen. I knew that if ever I wrote, it was that romantic world of Regency England that I wanted to recreate.”
What is this book about?
It’s about an unlikely romance: Lady Gwendoline, a young, aristocratic widow seemingly satisfied with her new solitude meets Lord Hugo, an ex-soldier with a noble title inherited from his wealthy merchant father. Neither initially thinks the other is a worthy partner, but when he scoops her up following an ankle-spraining fall, their hormones kick in and love blooms in a fast and furious manner. But problems ensue, as they always do. Despite his title, Hugo is middle-class and happy to be; Gwendoline carries serious emotional baggage from her marriage, which ended unhappily. And the fate of Hugo’s unmarried sister is entwined with that of the loving couple.
Why you’ll like it:
Balogh gives her readers the delicious details of life in a long-gone time, but the emotions of her characters are universal. Her imagination seems boundless, allowing her to create a huge body of work that enchants her readers and, through sheer numbers, offers many opportunities to enjoy her writing.
What others are saying:
Says Publishers Weekly:
“In a strong opening for the Survivor’s Club series from prolific Regency doyenne Balogh … a mismatched couple finds common ground in trauma and survival. When Hugo Emes, Lord Trentham, a resolutely middle-class businessman’s son raised to the peerage for heroism in battle, rescues elegant widow Gwendoline Grayson, Lady Muir, after she badly sprains an ankle, both agree that their mutual attraction can go nowhere. Though Gwendoline’s agreement to sponsor Hugo’s young sister in society allows Balogh to include the typical trappings of the Regency genre, the heart of the tale lies in the slow-growing closeness between the alternately taciturn and blunt Hugo and the charming and gracious Gwendoline, whose social poise hides deep wounds left by a troubled marriage. Beautifully characterized and with a gracefully developed romance, this is a historical romance of unusual thoughtfulness and depth from one of the best writers in the genre.”
“A widowed noblewoman and a lord with middle-class antecedents engage in a decidedly unconventional courtship. Lady Gwendoline, somewhat lame from a long-ago riding accident, sprains her ankle while taking an ill-advised shortcut up a seaside cliff, which just happens to be on the grounds of Penderris Hall, where the Survivors’ Club, six Napoleonic war veterans and a widow, meets annually. One of these, Hugo, Lord Trentham, who earned his title as a reward for valor in a “Forlorn Hope” assault on the enemy, comes upon Gwen, and in his gruff, no-nonsense way carries her to Penderris. ..Gwen and Hugo are instantly drawn to each other, and in contravention of every rule of decency, consummate their love days later, in a way that Jane Austen may well have imagined but would never have put in writing…Balogh contravenes the conventions of historical romance by introducing an ingredient the genre is not always known for: intelligence,” says Kirkus Reviews.
“This is Mary Balogh at her riveting best. Everyone loves a wounded hero, and Balogh introduces us to an unforgettable one who discovers the healing power of love,” says #1 New York Times bestselling author Debbie Macomber.
When is it available?
It’s on the new book shelves at the Barbour, Blue Hills, Camp Field, Dwight and Goodwin branches of the Hartford Public Library and can be requested at the Downtown library, where it also is available in a books-on-tape format.
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The Next Best Thing
By Jennifer Weiner
(Atria, $26.99, 400 pages)
Who is this author?
Jennifer Weiner is a fine example of local girl makes very, very good. A No. 1 best-selling author, she grew up in Simsbury, graduated from Princeton, became a journalist in Philadelphia, went on to write funny, perceptive novels with special appeal to women readers and has had the pleasure of seeing several of her 10 novels adapted as feature films. She first hit the big time with the instant bestseller “Good in Bed,” a classic get-even-with-a-cad novel, and among her other titles are “In Her Shoes,” “Then Came You,” “Certain Girls” and “Best Friends Forever.”
She also co-created and -produced the 2011 ABC Family sitcom “State of Georgia,” which gave her valuable insights into the world of TV sitcoms that add power to the new book.
What is this book about?
The heroine is 23-year old Ruth, who as a child lost her parents in a car crash and was badly scarred. Raised by her grandma, Rae, for whom the word “feisty” must have been coined, Ruth is whirled off from Massachusetts and after a few years of toiling in the Hollywood-and-Vine yard, her autobiographical sitcom idea about a talented young scriptwriter and her 70-year-old grandmother gets green-lighted. Ruth is hired to be the showrunner, and all is good….or is it? The book lays out just how tough it can be to make your dreams come true, even when they seem to be just ready to do so.
Why you’ll like it:
Weiner’s readers love her for her sharp and witty dialogue and her easy to relate to…or easy to despise…characters. You’ll root for Ruth and admire her exasperating granny, who works as an extra and is one hot old babe. There are also some familiar Weiner players: the lead actress is struggling mightily with her weight and an annoying ditz lands a major role on the show. Add to that a rocky romance, and you’ve got a great beach book to drop into your beach bag this summer.
What others are saying:
“Weiner is coming off a year in Hollywood, and she puts the experience to excellent use in this utterly engaging story of a showrunner who, after six years of slogging, finally gets a series on the air, only to discover that her troubles are only beginning—meddling studio execs, egomaniacal actors and one crushable but unobtainable boss,” says Time.
Kirkus Reviews says: “Spares no bon mot in exposing Hollywood’s sexism, ageism and incurable penchant for extravagant silliness.”
“Full of warm and interesting characters as well as a wealth of insider industry detail (Weiner was a co-creator of an ABC Family sitcom), this is a must-read for Weiner’s many fans and anyone who enjoys smart, funny fiction,” says Library Journal.
“An entertaining story about the dream-crushing compromises on the road from page to screen,” says People .
When is it available?
“The Next Best Thing” to read is on the shelves at the Downtown Hartford Public Library and the Camp Field and Goodwin branches.
Do you have something to say about this book, this author or books in general? Please post your comments here and I will respond. Let’s get a good books conversation going!
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