Fiction
AS YOU WISH: INCONCEIVABLE TALES FROM THE MAKING OF THE PRINCESS BRIDE by Cary Elwes
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As the title implies, this book takes readers behind-the-scenes of The Princess Bride. The main narrative is from Cary Elwes’ (Westley) point of view, but frequent asides from most of the actors, director, and producer add depth and detail. The book reads like a story and contains hilarious anecdotes that added to my appreciation of a film I thought I couldn’t possibly love more than I already did. I listened to the audiobook, which is narrated by Cary Elwes with the voices of most of the original cast reading their own recollections. But I also had the print book with me while I listened so that I could look at all of the photographs. I’m not sure it would be appealing to someone who hasn’t read The Princess Bride, but for fans it is a must read!
ODD THOMAS by Dean Koontz
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Odd can’t help it that the dead communicate with him. They sense that he can see them, and often they tell him the stories of their deaths–which, for those spirits restless enough to stick around, were usually untimely and unpleasant. Odd is not a cop, and he has no desire to be. He is nothing more than the best short order cook in Pico Mundo. But sometimes he can’t help getting involved with apprehending a murderer or preventing a future crime. His gift just won’t allow it. And when a suspicious man comes to the diner surrounded by the shadowy spirits that usually gawk at mass-murder, Odd knows it is up to him to prevent an unthinkable tragedy, despite the warnings that his involvement may lead him down a path of incredible suffering.
Wow, was this novel great! It starts with a quick case to get you hooked and then moves into the slow-moving but incredibly suspenseful main plot. Do not mistake “slow-moving” for a negative qualifier. Odd is an unreliable narrator. He admits at the beginning that he is leaving out major details for the sake of the story. When he deviates from the main plot into quirky asides about particular ghosts, characters, the town, or himself, he both deepens the incredible character development and ramps up the suspense. In this case, the slow-broil is brilliant and ultimately very satisfying when so many little details come together in the end. And I have never read an adult mystery/thriller series with this level of character development. This is a new favorite for me!
I highly recommend the audiobook!
LANDLINE by Rainbow Rowell
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Georgie and her writing partner, Seth, are getting the break they’ve been dreaming of since college: a big time producer is considering picking up their show. Not the unbelievably successful sitcom they’ve been writing for the past 10 years–complete with obnoxious actors and even more obnoxious laugh track–but the show they’d been planning since they first started writing together in the ULA comedy magazine almost two decades ago. It’s a once in a lifetime chance, but there’s a catch. They only have one week to draft for new episodes before their pitch, and Georgie and her family have plane tickets to visit Neal’s mother in Omaha for Christmas. Georgie hopes that Neal will be willing to stay home for the holiday, but when he takes the girls to Omaha without her, Georgie is forced to consider the possibility that her marriage is falling apart–especially when he doesn’t answer any of her phone calls.
While staying at her mother’s house, Georgie calls Neal’s mother’s home phone from the old vintage telephone in her childhood bedroom, the one she used to talk with Neal when they were dating in college. But she is astonished to discover that whenever she uses the landline, the Neal who picks up is 22 year old Neal, 1998 Neal, the Neal that she never called after their fight 15 years ago–the last time Neal went to Omaha without her. As she comes to grips with the impossible reality that she has a magic telephone that communicates with the past, Georgie relives her past with Neal as she struggles to figure out a way to save their future.
This is the second realistic fiction love story from Rainbow Rowell that I have absolutely loved. This is not usually my genre, but Rowell has a way of inventing characters that are beautifully flawed, endearing, interesting, and in this case, quite humorous. And the relationships between her characters are incredibly accessible and raw. My husband was on a business trip when I read this book, and it made me ache for missing him. I highly recommend this book to readers who enjoy realistic love stories and don’t mind a twinge of fantasy– i.e., magic phones.
THE 100-YEAR-OLD-MAN WHO CLIMBED OUT THE WINDOW AND DISAPPEARED by Jonas Jonasson
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An hour before his 100th birthday party, Allan Karlsson climbs out the window of his bedroom in the Old Folks Home and heads toward the bus station. His escape might have been perfectly ordinary if he hadn’t run into the young gang member with the large and intriguing suitcase. While the young man is in the bathroom, Allan steals the suitcase and hops a bus to nowhere in particular. And so it is that the centenarian becomes one of Sweden’s most wanted, chased across the countryside by policemen and thieves, and collecting an odd assortment of friends and circus animals along the way. Not that this type of thing is anything out of the ordinary for Allan Karlsson. After all, it pales in comparison with the time he helped Mao’s third wife escape from anti-communist revolutionaries or the time he helped President Truman build the atom bomb or the time. . .
The absurd story of Allan’s present weaves in and out of the absurd stories of his past in this hilarious satire novel. The suspense of the suitcase mystery and the cast of colorful characters (past and present) make this book difficult to put down. I highly recommend it to readers who enjoy political satire. This novel may appeal to fans of Kurt Vonnegut and Joseph Heller.
Thanks for the recommendation, Meagan!
ELEANOR AND PARK by Rainbow Rowell
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When the new girl with the weird clothes sits next to him on the bus, Park does his best to ignore her and hopes it is a one time thing. If she wants to draw attention to herself by dressing oddly, that’s her business, but the last thing he needs is for Steve and the other kids at the back of the bus to start picking on him, too. He’s done a good job of keeping his head down so far. When Eleanor gets on the bus for the first time, she knows the school year is going to suck. Everyone makes it clear that they don’t want her to sit with them, so she takes an open seat next to an Asian kid and does her best not to bother him. This is what she has come back to after her year of sleeping on a friend’s couch: a creepy stepfather who still hates her guts and a bus full of hateful high schoolers.
But as the year progresses, Eleanor and Park start to lower their barriers. They begin to acknowledge one another, to read comics together, to exchange music. And as their friendship grows into romance, they hesitantly allow one another to catch a glimpse into their deeper struggles, especially in their home lives.
It is hard to describe the brilliance of this book in a summary. My mother (also a librarian) recommended it to me with no summary saying, “Just read it. It’s wonderful.” And it is. It is one of those books where the words themselves are engaging. The imagery is fresh and interesting. Every word is deliberate. Every character is nuanced and realistic. The plot lines range from sappy and heartwarming to disgusting and horrifying. Realistic fiction love stories are not usually my genre (I usually require some sort of thriller/sci-fi subplot to cut through the sap), but this book is incredibly well-written–and gets some bonus points for the very subtle Romeo and Juliet parallels (starting with the title). I recommend it to teens and adults who like love stories and literary fiction.
If you liked Eleanor and Park, you might like Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler.
BOXERS and SAINTS by Gene Luen Yang
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In two companion novels, Yang tells the story of the 1900 Boxer Rebellion in China from the perspective of a member of the Society of the Righteous and Harmonious Fists and the perspective of a Chinese Christian. These National Book Award recognized graphic novels are violent, though-provoking, challenging, and perhaps even inspiring. Yang exposes both virtue and corruption in characters on both sides of this historical tragedy, while violence undermines, propels, but ultimately balks before spirituality. I would recommend these novels (which must be read together, in the order listed) to anyone who enjoys truly thought-provoking historical/war fiction—and who doesn’t mind a fair bit of violence.
Boxers
Bao grew up loving the opera stories of the ancient Chinese gods. When he sees his a foreign Catholic priest smash a statue of one of his gods, he is infuriated. His father goes on a journey to seek justice for the actions of the foreigner and the Chinese Christians (“secondary devils”) who were with him, but the foreign army beats him nearly to death. In response, Bao joins a secret society which vows to honor the ancient Chinese traditions, protect their families, and eradicate the devils (foreign and Chinese) from their land. Through a cleansing ritual, Bao and his brethren become possessed by the ancient gods when the fight. They are all but invincible. But as they through travel China, slaughtering foreigners and secondary devils, Bao finds that his values are frequently called into question as he struggles to balance justice and mercy. And when a woman wishes to join their order, he must decide whether he accepts the ancient belief that too much involvement with women can taint a man’s soul.
Saints
Four Girl has grown up without a name, the only one of her mother’s children to survive infancy and believed by her grandfather to be cursed. Deciding she will live up to her nickname as a “devil,” Four Girl makes horrible faces whenever anyone looks at her. Her mother takes her to an acupuncturist to be healed of her “devil face.” The kind man “heals” her by making her laugh. But Four Girl is intrigued by the crucifix on the man’s wall. She begins asking him questions about Christianity. After having several visions of the Christian warrior woman Joan of Arc, Four Girl decides to convert to Christianity and takes the Christian name Vibiana. But when her family learns of her conversion, they have her beaten. She runs away and seeks refuge at a Christian stronghold. In her new life, Vibiana feels called to pursue justice and protect her Christian community from the violence that threatens it. Thinking it an obvious course of action given her calling, she starts training to be a warrior maiden like Joan. But Vibiana’s calling may not be as simple as she thinks.
THE HOBBIT, OR THERE AND BACK AGAIN by J.R.R. Tolkien
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Bilbo Baggins was a polite and respectable hobbit who lived in a neat little hobbit-hole in the Shire and never, ever did anything unexpected. That is, until the wizard Gandalf the Grey and a company of thirteen dwarves show up on his doorstep and suddenly sweep him off on an adventure. The dwarves have been wandering for years since their home under the Lonely Mountain was conquered by Smaug the dragon. Thorin Oakenshield believes the time is right to lead his followers back to the mountain and reclaim his grandfather’s treasure. For reasons he does not fully explain, Gandalf has chosen Bilbo as the “burglar” who will help the dwarves reclaim their home (although poor Bilbo has never stolen anything in his life). The quest begins with unfortunate encounters with mountain trolls and goblins, and Bilbo worries that he may not be cut out for adventuring after all. But when a misadventure in the Misty Mountains leads him to discover a magical ring, Bilbo’s luck turns for the better, and he may become a successful burglar at last.
Tolkien’s classic precursor to the Lord of the Rings trilogy is truly a children’s book–lighthearted and full of adventure, humor, and magic. Elementary-age readers who enjoy fantasy such as Harry Potter or the Redwall books will love The Hobbit, although younger or less skilled readers may prefer it as a family read-aloud since it is not an easy text. It is an engaging book, however, and many reluctant readers find that the story motivates them to read it again and again despite the initial struggle.
If you liked The Hobbit, you may also enjoy The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, Charmed Life, The Secret of Platform 13, Magyk, Peter Pan, Peter and the Starcatchers, Gregor the Overlander, and Redwall.
BEAT THE REAPER by Josh Bazell
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Pietro has worked hard to become a doctor, and the witness protection program has worked hard to keep him safe from the mafia hitmen who want him dead. It seems you can’t throw a mob boss’s son out of a sixth-story window without ending up on someone’s hitlist. But everyone’s hard work goes to waste when a ghost from Pietro’s mob days shows up in his hospital. The mobster tips off a friend as to Pietro’s whereabouts and instructs him to spread the word–unless Pietro can save the dying mobster’s life. Now Pietro is locked in a race against time and nature. As he struggles to save the man’s life, he remembers the events that led up to his involvement in the mafia and his life on the run.
If you like horrifically violent, action-packed, suspenseful thrillers, this is the book for you! If you do not like horrifically violent books, do not read this book. I have read a lot of thrillers, serial killer mysteries, etc., but this book was officially the most violent book I have ever read. At several points I actually felt dizzy and physically ill from the level of violent detail. That said, I couldn’t put it down! The protagonist was such an intriguing character with a fascinating, intricately designed past! And of course the suspense and action from the plot kept me on the edge of my seat. A great read, but definitely, definitely not for the squeamish.
(Movie rights were purchased in 2009, but it does not appear that any substantial steps have been taken toward a film adaptation.)
WHEN THE EMPEROR WAS DIVINE by Julie Otsuka
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The woman read the notice with relatively little emotion. Things hadn’t been the same since the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Her husband had been gone for months, and the house hardly seemed the same. Now because they were Japanese-Americans, she and the children would have to leave as well. They did not know where they would be going. Nor did they know what would happen to their house and their possessions while they were gone. They could take only what they could carry. So the family packed their belongings and left for the hot desert where they would live for years until the end of the war. And though they would one day return, their lives would never be the same.
Julie Otsuka’s writing style is quiet and distant. She never gives her characters names, but allows the reader to experience the thoughts of all three major characters–mother, son, and daughter–as they live in the internment camps. Though the writing style is subdued, there is disturbing content, so it is not a “gentle read.” But it will be more enjoyable to readers who like a gentle writing style than those who enjoy suspenseful or plot driven novels. Personally, the quiet style did not engage me, but it may be more engaging to other readers. The historical content itself was certainly interesting.
THE BONE GARDEN by Tess Gerritsen
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When Julia bought an old fixer-upper house in rural Massachusetts, she was looking forward to gardening–a relaxing project to keep her mind off of the divorce. But when she unearths a human skeleton which shows signs of premortem trauma, she finds herself getting swept up in a mystery that began in 1830s Boston. She meets Henry Page, an 89 year old man with family connections to her new estate, and they begin searching through boxes of old letters, many of them written by the famous Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes. Along with Julia, the reader begins to hear the story of seventeen-year-old Irish immigrant Rose Connolly and medical student Norris Marshall, the son of a lower-class farmer. While Norris, Wendell, and their fellow doctors try to discover the cause and treatment for a fever epidemic that claimed the life of Rose’s sister and many other recently pregnant women in the hospital, Rose tries to protect her late sister’s child from her abusive brother-in-law, Eben. Norris and Rose’s stories become intertwined when nurses and doctors from the hospital begin to be murdered and mutilated with a distinctive pattern of knife wounds. Norris and Rose are the only two people to have seen the murderer (a figure cloaked in black with a mask like a skull), but no one believes them, and due to their lower-class status and circumstantial evidence, they both become murder suspects. Meanwhile, it seems people besides Eben are after Rose’s baby niece. The key to the mystery may be found in an old locket that Rose pawned to pay for her sister’s burial.
If you like thrillers and find medical history interesting, then this is the book for you! Gerritsen weaves details about Victorian medical knowledge (or lack thereof), body-snatching surgeons, and the medical education system of the time into a suspenseful mystery plot. The present day plot is kind of cheesy, but only comprises a small fraction of the novel. Readers who like suspenseful forensic mysteries or historical fiction thrillers will likely enjoy this novel.
If you liked The Bone Garden as a historical mystery, you may be interested in The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher by Kate Summerscale. If you liked The Bone Garden as a medical thriller, you might like the Lincoln Rhyme books by Jeffrey Deaver.
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Susan the Librarian 