Perez-Reverte’s latest translated novel has two men, one a war photographer and the other a former Croatian soldier who was a tortured prisoner of war, having an engaging philosophical dialogue from their personal experiences about what they both have seen and done (and not done). Faulques, a world famous photographer, has had a career in most of the warring “hotspots” of the world, and has retired to painting memories of wars that he feels can only be applied to a large mural he is working on. Markovic, the Croatian who was once a photo op subject of Faulques, has tracked the painter Faulques down in order to eventually kill him. While both men were witnesses to the atrocities of war in which both men lost loved ones, Faulques was mostly an observer taking photos while Markovic was a participant soldier. Hector V.
Edward Wozny does not understand why he has been asked to help unpack some crates with old books for an important and rather mysterious client of his prestigious financial firm. After all, Edward is a senior financial analyst there. There must be some kind of mistake. Yet, once he sets eyes on the project, he feels compelled to continue. His decision will involve him in a dangerous and intriguing game in the search for an invaluable medieval codex that will have an unexpected conclusion. Bonina G.
Orwell's semi-autobiographical debut novel is an often funny portrayal of poverty experienced firsthand, interspersed with social commentary. The narrator is an out of work British writer who spends half the novel working as a plongeur (dishwasher) in different Parisian eateries and half as a tramp in London. He relates his adventures with a journalistic sensibility: he treats with sympathy and respect the characters he meet, with the clear-sightedness of the outsider, and his decent into near starvation and penury are dealt with almost abstractedly. Lina C.
“Cool Instructor” Kylie Chase sells her cool services to the socially inept. Geeks, nerds and wannabes flock to her to learn about the latest trends. A super hot celebrity journalist, wanting to do a piece on her profession, tails her mercilessly, wanting to get to the core of being cool. The only thing is Kylie Chase really isn’t cool. In fact, she makes a shambles out of many of the lives she touches, including her own and doesn’t want her dirty little secret getting out. Deirdre L.
Join self-proclaimed Queen of Babble Lizzie Nichols on her quest to snag the perfect husband. Commitment phobe, Luke doesn’t see Lizzie in his future but after a week without her and that old comforting feeling, he returns with a huge rock. His best friend Chaz is secretly in love with Lizzie and takes every opportunity to advise her on Luke’s lack of intention and to show her that he is the real deal. Deirdre L.
Peony is a young woman about to be married, who is sensitive and unusually well educated for her times. She yearns for something else beyond the gates of her home and the secluded life of her traditional household. In this beautiful yet haunting story, we follow Peony’s life as it unfolds against the background of the classic Chinese opera The Peony Pavilion. The reader will be instantly drawn to the marvelous details about traditions, rituals, and the life of women in seventeenth-century China after the Manchu conquest of the Ming Dynasty. Bonina G.
The protagonist Alice Butler works for a major, cutting-edge toy company. Her job deals with the making of espionage toys. During her assignment to create a hit product for teenage girls, she receives a strange letter written in code and embarks on a journey to solve the mystery of the letter's origins. Her journey leads her to question the ethics of her assignment, her company, and corporate society. Alice is a quirky, highly intelligent young woman. She is simultaneously sharp and independent, but girlish and innocently curious. The author, Scarlett Thomas, writes about cryptology, code-breaking, history and the mathematical language in a compelling and captivating fashion, making the novel accessible for even the least mathematically-minded people. This may be one of the smartest, most thought-provoking, modern piece of literature you will ever pick up.
Cecilia Q.
Delve into this must-read historical novel set in 1860s New York and follow a young German immigrant through the dangerous adventure that his life has become. Unfortunately one night while working as a stableman for the Greatest Circus on Earth, he awakes to find his stable burning to the ground. The next day a body of a pregnant woman is found within the rubble pinning our innocent stableman with murder and arson. With the help of street criminals, the immigrant emerges with a new identity as Irishman Frank Harris narrowly escaping imprisonment. Frank penetrates the crime family, finding love in an unlikely place and eventually attempts to live a normal, ordinary life. However, Frank will discover that his story, his life will never be ordinary. Sky K.
Worlds collide as women in the Welsh borderlands awake one morning in 1944 to find that all the men in their isolated farming community have vanished overnight without a trace. Long isolated from the turmoil of World War II, they know little about the Nazi invasion after the Allied D-Day invasion was rebuffed. As the Nazi’s consolidate their grip on Britain, a secret advance patrol is sent on a secret mission across the English border into Wales. The lives of the soldiers and farm women are inexorably altered as both sides are forced together during a brutal winter. Welsh poet Owen Sheers’ brilliant debut novel is both a chilling alternative history of what could have been and a paean to rural life in the stunning Welsh countryside. Susan L.
This unusual novel is set in the near-future, where the dead inhabit an afterlife “city” as long as someone alive still remembers them. The author’s skillful writing and thoughtful tone make the theme of life’s interconnectedness moving and memorable. Sheila B.
Imagine undertaking the daunting task of reading all thirty-two volumes of the complete Encyclopedia Britannica. A chip off the old block, AJ Jacobs picks up where his father failed and this humorous novel chronicle’s Jacob’s attempt. Join Jacobs as he shares how the pursuit of his goal reached every aspect of his life from his relationship with his wife, friends and expecting a new child. Does he accomplish his lofty goal and consume all thirty-two volumes? Read “The Know-It-All” to find out! Sky K.
Agnes Shanklin finds herself independent in every way after tragic events alter her until then, predictable and rather dull life. She decides to travel to Egypt and there she becomes involved with some of the movers and shakers of the 1921 Cairo Peace Conference: Gertrude Bell, Winston Churchill and Lawrence of Arabia. Dreamers of the Day is an evocative and fascinating read. Rich with historical detail, this novel provides insight into momentous geopolitical events that took place long ago in the Middle East but still have impact in today’s state of affairs. Bonina G.
Ha Jin, the winner of the 1999 National Book Award, weaves a quiet yet powerful narrative that follows the lives of Nan Wu, a Chinese émigré, and his family as they build a new life in America. Nan has hopes for a career as a poet but soon finds his dreams and hopes slowly receding into the minutiae of everyday life. Ha Jin’s delicately woven tale, and Nan’s story and feelings will resonate powerfully with readers long after they have turned the last page. Bonina G.
Blackwater is a private security company with close ties to the George W. Bush administration. It received a contract to provide security for U.S. installations and diplomatic personnel in Iraq. In 2004, four of its agents were ambushed and murdered in Fallujah. Jeremy Scahill writes a fascinating expose on the company and its archconservative founder, Erik Prince, along with other private security firms now performing tasks which once were the domain of the military. Alan V.
Delve into the journal of Amy Mason, which combines her private notes, e-mails and newspaper clippings in a scrapbook format. Uncover the truth about Amy's mysterious death and decide whether it was murder most foul or the result of a frantic, stressing life of being a mother and wife in a failing marriage. Hint: There are hidden clues in the book, see if you can find them! Sky K.
Set in Virginia during the years just prior to the Civil War, the novel traces the lives of a few free African-Americans and the many slaves they owned. Just like Walker’s “A Color Purple,” family ties play an integral part of the story. The free African-American slave owners, who readily accept their social status as slave owners, are caught in a balancing act between conducting business with whites and overseeing people of their own color. The well-researched novel is rich in detail, and was the 2004 recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. Hector V.
Set against the background of World War II and its aftermath, this novel vividly describes the intersecting lives of four ordinary Londoners. The story, told in chronologically reverse sections, shows the importance of past events and experiences, and increases the reader’s involvement with the well-drawn characters. Sheila B.
In telling the stories of a Hindu gangster and the Sikh policeman who is investigating him, the author brings the reader into the complex world of Mumbai’s crime and corruption. Contemporary issues of India and the world are portrayed through the three-dimensional and compelling characters. Sheila B
Touring as part of a rock band provides ample opportunity to sample exotic and unique foods around the globe. Alex Kapranos, lead singer of the Scottish rock band Franz Ferdinand, relies on vivid prose and his pre-music experiences as a chef to recount the hidden delights and surreal gastronomical situations he encountered while touring the world. What results is one of the more off-kilter travel guides available, celebrating the experience of the new. Charles R.
This novel combines elements of time travel, mystery and reincarnation set in a futuristic United States where terrorism has destroyed peace of mind among its citizens. The archetypal hero of the story searches for the woman he dreams of, the woman he has always loved and will always love, throughout time. Lina C.
In this suspenseful, psychological novel four Danish women who work for a nonprofit that collects and disseminates information on world genocides turn on each other after two of the women receive death threats. This intelligent analysis of the human psyche under stress and of the cruelty and paranoia that results of is thought provoking and unsettling. Lina C.
This tropical thriller set in Miami is a gripping thrill ride from the very beginning. A Cuban-American detective and a “Jane Doe” on the run collide in an explosive mix of sorcery and murder. Diane K.
Bill Bryson is the tour guide on a hilarious trip through Australia, from Sydney to Perth to the Great Barrier Reef. If you haven’t been there already, you will want to go, and if you have been there, you’ll want to go again! Diane K.
The art of war
by Sunzi (Sun Tzu); translated by Samuel Griffith.
From the battlefield to the boardroom, Sun Tzu's Art of War has inspired military, political and commercial strategists for over two thousand years. Often imitated but never surpassed, this classic manual offers time tested techniques for surviving and thriving in any kind of conflict. Bryant C.
Multiple cultures interact in the Southwest late 1800s as two French priests are assigned to fix an archdiocese lacking in traditional services and devoted followers. The French priests interact with Mexicans, Native Americans, and North Americans, including Army soldiers and the legendary Kit Carson. Cather's colorful descriptions of people, places, and things along with anecdotes truly add to a picturesque yet historic narrative. Hector V.
Cal Stephanides was born twice: first as a baby girl in a maternity ward in Detroit, and later as a teenage boy in an emergency room in Michigan. He was a hermaphrodite born from 80 years of stained family history and the relentless inevitability of his genetic makeup. This Pulitzer Prize-winning narrative spans generations and continents in a wondrously woven tapestry of people and places that rings true despite, or because of, the magic, chance, and fate that culminates in Cal. Lina C.
Cambridge student Adam Banting uncovers two murder mysteries, separated by 400 years, while researching a Renaissance garden in Tuscany for his thesis. Lina C.
This novel is written as a series of letters from a wife to her husband concerning their son Kevin, in an attempt to make sense of the brutal murders he committed. It is a history of their life and marriage and deals with the question of ultimate responsibility. Diane K.
This powerful collection shows Sontag in top form: passionate, brilliant, eloquent and profoundly clear-sighted. "I think that, for her, the joy of living and the joy of knowing were really one and the same," her son David Rieff reminisces in his foreword (Sontag died in 2004). Here she tackles an array of topics-some with urgency-that range from her reactions to 9/11 and its aftermath, the atrocities of Abu Ghraib and the protracted involvement in Iraq to the importance of moral courage and the indelible value of literature in our lives. Not to be missed.
Brian C.
Watch how the simple request of a man becomes the venting of many. This book is filled with postcards of people from around the world who wanted to share their secrets without being exposed. Beware, you may not be the only with that secret to bare! Cynthia S.
When his wife goes into labor during a snowstorm, a physician is forced to deliver his own twins and makes a decision that changes his life and that of his family forever. Lina C.
The early history of the European settlement of Australia is told through the experiences of the family of William Thornhill, a character based on a relative of the author. Diane K.
This story is uniquely told in the voice of a fifteen-year-old autistic boy, Christopher Boone. Christopher is unable to read the subtle clues in tone, body language and behavior, and takes everything he sees or hears literally. When he is unjustly accused of killing his neighbor's dog, he resolves to solve the crime. Lina C.
Sun Shuyun retraces the “Long March,” to interview the aged and forgotten survivors as she uncovers the truth about one of modern China’s most enduring legends. In 1934 Chinese Communist leader Mao Zedong led his followers on a two-year, 8000-mile-long eastward trek into the hinterland to escape both the rival Nationalist Army foes and the occupying Japanese forces. Two years later, the strengthened Communist Party re-emerged to take power, which it maintains until today. In this groundbreaking oral history, Shuyun exposes the Communists’ ruthless and brutal techniques that resulted in an 80% mortality rate among the marchers. Meet Woman Wang, Soldier Huang, Orderly Liu, Hygienist Chen, Operator Zhong, and others, who learned first-hand that the Communists demanded total dedication, but gave nothing in return. Susan L.
When Rolling Stone music critic Rob Sheffield's wife died unexpectedly in 1997, all he really had left to remember her by were the music mix tapes they used to trade with each other. Using those mix tapes to examine their love and loss of each other, Sheffield creates a touching memoir of a young couple obsessed with music during the 90's. Much more than just a moving remembrance for his wife (which it is), it's also a tribute to the power music has in bringing people together and helping them to move on. Charles R.
A museum curator begins a search for his true identity after he discovers he has been adopted. Each chapter begins with an object which triggers a special memory for him—an ordinary life, not really so ordinary at all. Diane K.
When reading these compiled essays, get ready to laugh and know that you are not the only one who has gone through some crazy things in your life. This is one book you won’t be able to put down and will make you realize how funny life can be. Cynthia S.
An ironically funny view of a world in which mankind is inevitably doomed through the over- consumption of resources and excessive technology. Jack Gladney is a professor of Hitler Studies at a small college, who may or may not have been exposed to a fatal dose of noxious gas, and whose wife may or may not be taking an experimental drug that eradicates the fear of death. Lina C.
An epistolary novel between young Brooklynite Joey Margolis and 1940s baseball hero Charlie Banks, their correspondence shares Joey’s comedic coming of age while confronting issues such as Joey’s parents’ divorce and Hitler’s rising power. Shared in a scrapbook-like format, this story is a must read for all ages and afterwards will be a must share. Sky K.
A comet heralds the misfortune that plagues a seventeenth century Persian girl after her father unexpectedly passes away. After she and her mother literally reach death's door, she manages to save them both through her art and talent as a carpet weaver. Lina C.
As the Galactic Empire crumbles about him, Hari Seldon hatches a plan to compress the coming Dark Age of 30,000 years into a mere millennium. At the far end of the galaxy he leaves the Foundation to fulfill this plan alone, stranded in a sea of barbarians and without the military and material resources to defend itself. This classic is a must read. Bryant C.
Biologist Marlene Zuk offers strategies to survive in the ever evolving germ-infested jungle that exists within us and in the world outside. Survival in this germ-eat-germ world means adopting often counter-intuitive measures. Beware: washing with anti-bacterial soap may be hazardous to your health. But, leaches may actually be therapeutic. Susan L.
Set on an Oregon reservation, this sophomore novel explores the life of the charismatic and optimistic Elliot Barrow and his school for Native American children by exploring the lives of those connected to him - daughter, ex-wife, colleagues. At the same time, a father and daughter drive across country to meet Elliot for reasons that are kept intentionally vague. Everyone's story culminates in the answer to the mystery of Elliot's life in a conclusion that is both tragic and hopeful. Claudia O.
Dana Halter discovers she has been the victim of identity theft after a minor traffic accident. Her attempt to clear her name leads her on a wild cross-country ride filled with tension and suspense. Diane K.
