The Impossible Fortress by Jason Rekulak (2017, Simon & Schuster; 304 pages) The Impossible Fortress, Jason Rekulak’s breezy, funny first novel, is a coming of age story wrapped inside a love letter to the 1980s. It's the story of Billy Marvin, a 14-year-old boy growing up in a small New Jersey town in 1987. Billy is a trailblazer, a computer nerd before there were computer nerds, at a time when computers were just beginning to make their way into people’s homes. When he's not hanging out with his friends, Alf and Clark – both outsiders, like Billy – Billy is holed up in his room programming video games on his Commodore 64. Then Playboy magazine publishes photos of Wheel of Fortune hostess Vanna White, and the trio of friends – too young to just walk into the only store in town that sells the magazine -- Zelinsky’s -- and buy a copy, concoct a Mission Impossible-style caper to get their hands on the magazine. The scheme involves the three nerdy kids enlisting the help of a popular kid with a dark side, and Billy wooing Mary Zelinsky, the overweight daughter of the store’s owner. But Mary is a sharp-as-a-tack expert programmer herself, and, much to his surprise, Billy finds himself growing to really like Mary. As in, like-like. Of course, things go spectacularly awry in ways both hilarious and serious, especially for Billy, leading to another impossible mission for the trio of friends. The Impossible Fortress has passages that are laugh-out-loud funny – many featuring references to the 1980s -- and others that are quite touching, and the story has some twists that you won’t see coming at all. It’s a light, fun read -- albeit one with some serious turns -- and I’d recommend it for older teens and adults. Find this title in our catalog: The Impossible Fortress Recommended by: Greg
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Last Bus to Wisdom by Ivan Doig (2016, Riverhead Books; 480 pages) This is a beautifully written tale about the summer adventures of an imaginative eleven year old boy. Donal Cameron is being raised by his grandmother on a ranch in western Montana. When Gram needs to address some medical issues, Donny is sent to spend the summer with her sister in Wisconsin. Aunt Kate is bossy and tyrannical, setting the scene for a miserable summer. Her henpecked husband, Herman the German, befriends Donny and before long the two find themselves on an unplanned adventure. This is a wonderful book! Find this title in our catalog: Last Bus to Wisdom Recommended by: Ann A MAN CALLED OVE -- a thoughtful exploration of the profound impact one life has on countless others2/21/2017 A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman (2015, Washington Square Press; 337 pages) At 59, Ove is a grumble Gus of the first degree. Rules are made to be followed, signs are meant to be obeyed, and don’t even get him started about computers and mobile phones. In truth, Ove has been this way his whole life, but he’s gotten worse in the last four years since his wife, Sonia, died, taking with her all the color in a world Ove sees as black-and-white. Ove has decided life without Sonia is not worth living and plans to join her in the next world. But a young couple and their two children (a third is on the way) move in next door, his oldest friend and most feared enemy is about to be forcibly removed to a nursing home, and a street-scarred cat insinuates itself into his life. Suddenly, Ove’s suicide plans get delayed as he helps solve neighborly crises large and small. The story of Ove is one of transformation, about a grumpy old man who has suffered great loss. Enter a cast of unlikely, diverse characters that turn his world upside down. It’s a fast, feel-good read. Find this title in our catalog: A Man Called Ove Recommended by: Ann Another Brooklyn by Jacqueline Woodson (2016, Amistad; 192 pages) Another Brooklyn is the first adult novel in 20 years by Jacqueline Woodson (National Book Award-winning author of Brown Girl Dreaming), a recipient of four Newbery Honor awards. This novel starts with a punch to your heart in the form of a sentence: "For a long time, my mother wasn´t dead yet." This is the story of August, a young girl trying to find herself in the midst of danger, loss, silence, memories, and the beauty and burden of growing up in 1970s Brooklyn. The story is based on the memories of August as an adult. She is returning home for the funeral of her father, now having become an Ivy League-educated anthropologist. Her Brooklyn memories, her story, begins in 1973, 20 years earlier, when she moves with her brother and father to the neighborhood following the death of her mother. She is eleven years old and she is in deep denial about her mother´s fate, finding consolation with her friendship to a group of girls who will become her life. Their names are Sylvia, Angela and Gigi. They are four girls "together, amazingly beautiful and terrifyingly alone." It is indeed beautiful to read about them, their relationship, and their coming of age adventures in a turbulent historical period -- the late 1960s and 1970s -- a detail the novel reflects with accuracy and also in a lyrical way. The prose of Jacqueline Woodson is poetic, tender, exquisite and sensuous, and she masters the most singular of voices. Each page leads the reader to a new secret and a new revelation based on August's memory. "This is memory" becomes, in fact, a motto, and a reminder of the importance of living in the present too. Recommended to those who love singular voices, heartbreaking stories and lyrical narrative. Find this title in our catalog: Another Brooklyn Recommended by: Maite The Other Einstein by Marie Benedict (2016, Sourcebooks Landmark; 304 pages) It is the year 1896. Mileva Marić, a twenty year old woman, has chosen a very different path than most of the girls around her. Mileva is smart enough to join an elite group of Zurich male students studying physics, among them Albert Einstein, who takes an interest in her at a moment when her world turns sideways. The Other Einstein is the story of the brilliant Mile Marić, incredible physicist and Einstein's wife, whose contribution to the special theory of relativity is hotly debated and may have been inspired by her own profound and very personal insight. The author offers us a window into a fascinating woman with an incredible personality whose light suffered in Einstein's enormous shadow. Marie Benedict bases her work of fiction on a cache of love letters between the couple dated from 1897 to 1903, years when Mileva and Albert were university students first and then a married couple. Those letters were discovered in 1980. The book searches to find the answer to the question of what role Mileva truly played in Albert's "miracle year" of 1905, when she was forced to subsume her academic ambitions and intellect to his ascent, and investigates how she had to disguise her own discoveries and his. This is a story of another woman in science whose aspirations and contributions suffered from a misogynist society. It is also the story of women's friendship, a fascinating and thoughtful reading. Recommended. Find this title in our catalog: The Other Einstein Recommended by: Maite STATION ELEVEN -- a tragically beautiful novel that both mourns and mocks the things we cherish12/1/2016 Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel (2015, Vintage; 352 pages) This is a gorgeous and unsettling book, a haunting portrait of life at the edge in a post-apocalyptic world where some humans try to preserve art, culture and kindness while defending their lives from other human predators. Arthur Leander, a famous Hollywood actor, had a heart attack onstage during a production of King Lear. Kirsten Raymonde was there when that happened. She never forgot that night, not only for that event but because it was also the night when a devastating flu pandemic arrived in the city. A few weeks later, civilization as we know it came to an end. We move forward 20 years and we find Kirsten traveling between the settlements of the altered world with a small troupe of musicians and actors. They are the Traveling Symphony, and they have dedicated themselves to keeping the remnants of art and humanity alive. But one day they encounter a violent prophet that will threaten the band's existence. With action that moves between the old and new world, the author draws connections between the characters and their pasts. This is a book about many things, but above all, about the value of friendship, love and art -- values that do not become obsolete. The writing is beautiful and lyrical, an apocalyptic story that can almost read like a long poem. It is, of course, a book that is hard to put down and one of those readings that reminds you with each page of our mortal condition, and the privileges we enjoy without even realizing it. Great reading for winter evenings in Alaska. Find this title in our catalog: Station Eleven Recommended by: Maite The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion (2014, Simon and Schuster; 295 pages) Don Tillman is a brilliant professor of genetics, with essentially no social skills. He embarks on finding the perfect mate by creating and circulating a questionnaire to weed out the smokers, vegans, and consistently tardy. It doesn’t take the reader long to conclude that Don’s rigid schedule and consistently odd mannerisms are manifestations of Asperger’s. When he meets Rosie, who falls into the completely unsuitable category, he’s drawn to assist her in locating her birth father via genetic testing. The two characters are obviously attracted to each other, but it takes some funny and endearing events for the two to figure it all out. Find this title in our catalog: The Rosie Project Recommended by: Ann News of the World by Paulette Jiles (2016, William Morrow; 224 pages) New York Times Bestselling Author of Enemy Women, the poet Paulette Jiles has written a beautiful story about a traveling newsreader and his quest to return a ten-year-old girl to her family after being captured and living with Native Americans. The book got in my hands as an advance reader´s edition and it immediately caught my atention. Writing beautifully, Jiles works with a lyrical language that evolves in gorgeous descriptions of dreamed landscape. It is a relatively short book, and there is a lot to devour in it. The main characters, Captain Kidd and Johanna, are those type of humans that you want to have in your life. They are brave, they are ones to care for. There is also a sense of sharp humor in the story through Captain Kidd that adds a great tone to the book. If you like stories that trap you and carry you around during just a few days, and if you are into good writing, good characters, descriptive prose, and forces like compassion and transformation, or simply into a good story, this is the book for you. Find this title in our catalog: News of the World Recommended by: Maite The Natural Man by Ed McClanahan (1993, Gnomon Press; 240 pages) Are you looking for a funny novel? I mean, really funny? Laugh-out-loud, shoot milk or soda pop or whatever you're drinking out your nose funny? The Natural Man by Ed McClanahan is such a book. It's a coming-of-age story, about the trials and tribulations of 15-year-old Harry Eastep, a precocious, gawky teenager growing up amongst the hayseeds in the narrow confines of Needmore, Kentucky in the late 1940s. Harry's dull, small-town life is forever torn asunder by the arrival of Monk McHorning, a giant, 15-year-old orphan man-child who spews hilarious ribald ditties and observations at every turn. McClanahan gives us a delicate and engaging balance of nostalgia and R-rated humor that is charming, light-hearted and superbly written. Just be sure to cover everything around you in plastic. Find this title in our catalog: The Natural Man Recommended by: Greg PEOPLE OF THE BOOK -- a novel of sweeping historical grandeur and intimate emotional intensity5/29/2016 People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks (2008, Penguin Books; 396 pages) This is probably one of my favorite readings in the last year. It is a book written by Pulitzer Prize winner Geraldine Brooks, and it is about the journey of a rare illuminated manuscript through centuries of exile and war. The story is inspired by a true event. The author chose a first-person narration, that of the captive artist who creates the book’s original illuminations. What I love most in the book is the theme that cruises throughout the book: the Haggadah’s account of the liberation of the Jews. This is what the book is about according to the author: “In 1996, Hanna Heath, an Australian rare-book expert, is offered the job of a lifetime: analysis and conservation of the famed Sarajevo Haggadah, which has been rescued from Serb shelling during the Bosnian war. Priceless and beautiful, the book is one of the earliest Jewish volumes ever to be illuminated with images. When Hanna, a caustic loner with a passion for her work, discovers a series of tiny artifacts in its ancient binding—an insect wing fragment, wine stains, salt crystals, a white hair—she begins to unlock the book’s mysteries. The reader is ushered into an exquisitely detailed and atmospheric past, tracing the book’s journey from its salvation back to its creation. In Bosnia during World War II, a Muslim risks his life to protect it from the Nazis. In the hedonistic salons of fin-de-siècle Vienna, the book becomes a pawn in the struggle against the city’s rising anti-Semitism. In inquisition-era Venice, a Catholic priest saves it from burning. In Barcelona in 1492, the scribe who wrote the text sees his family destroyed by the agonies of enforced exile. And in Seville in 1480, the reason for the Haggadah’s extraordinary illuminations is finally disclosed. Hanna’s investigation unexpectedly plunges her into the intrigues of fine art forgers and ultra-nationalist fanatics. Her experiences will test her belief in herself and the man she has come to love.” You can read a review of the book by Ursula K Le Guin here Find this title in our catalog: People of the Book Recommended by: Maite |