The Sparrow Sisters: An Amazing Debut Novel

Prepare to fall in love with the Sparrow sisters and the town that loves them. The Sparrow family is as much a part of Granite Point, Cape Cod as the sand that fills the beach.  The Sparrow sisters each possess a special gift that has benefited the entire town. Patience's gift is especially beneficial. She knows how to heal people just by looking at them. She knows what plants to use to make them better.  Henry Carlyle is the new doctor in town and does not believe in these 'folk remedies' and is determined to make Patience stop. When the townspeople tell him in no uncertain terms to leave the Sparrow sisters alone, especially Patience. He knows he should listen, but he does not seem able to stop himself from confronting her.  When he learns she is aiding an autistic child when the father forgets to give his son his medication he gets angry.  He talks with Patience and realizes she has not been causing the child harm. At least he believes this until Matty dies unexpectedly. 

As the boy's drunken father's rantings turn the town against the Sparrow's. The town becomes besieged by terrible weather and Granite Point begins to fall apart. Can the Nettie and Sorrel do anything to save the town and their beloved sister?  Is there a chance for Patience and her sister's to find love and happiness?  Well you'll just have to read this mesmerizing tale to find out.  A fantastic debut novel you won't want to miss. It's filled with hints of magic, love, loss and sacrifice. A beautifully written story that if you are like me and like a bit of romance with a mixture of the unexplained and magical you will love this book. I cannot wait for Ellen Herrick to write another novel with a focus perhaps on Nettie or Sorrel. Either one or better yet both!  

Fates and Furies: A National Book Award Finalist

Lauren Groff’s third novel, Fates and Furies, is making headlines. Just released in September, this book has caught the attention of several reviewers and was recently announced as a finalist for the National Book Awards.

Groff’s novel tells the epic love and marriage of Mathilde and Lotto. The story is very much their own and doesn’t claim to be the typical marriage. Lotto, from the time of birth, has been gifted with money, charisma, and passion—an artist’s fuel. Mathilde is more mysterious. Her life seems to be a void as we see her through Lotto’s eyes in the first half of the book. She is good and Lotto is unworthy, as he perceives it. The second half of the book is the same story, but from Mathilde’s perspective and not at all the same story in the end. Mathilde is much more complex than Lotto ever knew.

The book is compulsively readable. Groff’s writing is beautiful, just as the reviews state. However, I struggled with the story for the entire first part of the book. It felt contrived and predictable. I had that “this has all been done before” feeling, but when I moved over to Mathilde’s perspective things changed drastically. Perhaps it was just Lotto who was predictable, but Mathilde was the grease that allowed his predictability to stay in motion through sacrifice and strong will. After initially feeling deceived by reviewers, I started to feel like I needed to read the book again. And take notes. Lots of notes. There’s more to the book than you initially expect. 

The National Book Awards will be announced on November 18th. 

Happy Birthday John Le Carre'--The Espionage Thriller Master

Monday was spy master novelist John le Carre's 84th birthday.  In the exact opposite of Ian Fleming's James Bond character, le Carre's spies are world-weary, grizzled veterans.  Even though the spy thriller has changed from mostly English, male authors writing about the Cold War, John le Carre' is still popular and still relevant to today's readers. His The Spy Who Came in from the Cold is considered by many to be the greatest spy novel ever written.  He has reinvented his novels over the last 40 plus years and brought them into the 21st century, most recently with A Delicate Truth, featuring jihadist terrorists.  So, to honor this fantastic author, we will be highlighting spy thrillers for the next few weeks.  This week we will be focusing on the classics and female authors and spies.

The Classics

Len Deighton--The Ipcress File--number one in the Harry Palmer series--cool sixties spy.

Ian Fleming--Casino Royale--First in the James Bond series--dashing British agent.

Frederick Forsyth--The Kill List--latest stand-alone features an American agent.

Graham Greene--Our Man in Havana--MI6 operative in Cuba.

John le Carre'--The Spy Who Came in from the Cold--Alec Leamas is a British agent in early Cold War Berlin.

The Ladies

Charles Cumming--A Foreign Country--number one in the Amelia Levene series--head of British Intelligence--latest is A Colder War.

Gayle Lynds--Masquerade--number one in the Liz Sansborough series--CIA operative--latest is a stand-alone The Assassins.

Jason Matthews--Red Sparrow--number one in the Dominika Egorova series--Russian agent--latest is Palace of Treason.

Charlie Newton--Traitor's Gate--a pre-WWII historical thriller featuring Saba, an idealistic Palestinian woman and Eddie, an American chemical engineer.

Stella Rimington--At Risk--number one in the Liz Carlyle series--British MI5 operative--latest is Close Call.  The author is a former head of MI5.

Olen Steinhauer--The Cairo Affair--a stand-alone featuring Sophie, a murdered diplomat's wife in Egypt--latest is All the Old Knives--a stand-alone featuring Celia, a former CIA agent.

Elizabeth Wein--Code Name Verity--a British POW is forced by the Gestapo to write about her plane crash and her country's war plans. A fantastic young adult book that also appeals to adults.

Who is your favorite espionage author?

Try SearchOhio for any titles not available at the library.

Finders Keepers

When we last left retired detective Bill Hodges and his friends Jerome Robinson and Holly Gibney in Stephen King’s Mr. Mercedes, they’d just put the wraps on murderous nutjob Brady Hartsfield (a.k.a., the Mercedes Killer), preventing him from detonating a bomb (and himself in the process) at a music concert. Despite suffering a heart attack during the final pages of Mr. Mercedes, Hodges recovers with a new outlook on life and opens his own private detective agency, which brings us to the second book in the Bill Hodges Trilogy, appropriately titled Finders Keepers. This one involves the thirty-year-old unsolved murder of famed (and reclusive) writer John Rothstein, author of the famous Runner trilogy, at the hands of his number-one fan, Morris Bellamy. That’s not a spoiler, by the way, as this crime takes place in the first chapter. No, it’s the long-reaching consequences of this crime that drive the plot of Finder Keepers.

See, Mr. Bellamy not only got away with murder (he was incarcerated for something else, mind you), he also got away with some very extremely valuable items filched from Rothstein’s house, items a collector would pay a fortune for. Unfortunately, decades after Bellamy stashed them near the house he grew up in, a good kid named Pete Saubers (now living in that same house) stumbles upon their hiding place and seizes an opportunity to help his struggling family out of a rough spot. But with Bellamy recently released from prison, it’s only a matter a time before the rabid old wolf comes sniffing around his hidey hole, and when he discovers his ill-gotten gains missing, he won’t stop until he finds them, no matter who he has to kill to reclaim them.

Unless Hodges can stop him first.

Just like Mr. Mercedes before it, Finders Keepers is the kind of wild ride only Stephen King can give you. I enjoyed this book immensely, and I loved the slapstick chemistry between Hodges, Jerome, and Holly as they worked together to stop Bellamy. My only criticism would be that it was sometimes frustrating waiting for Hodges and the gang to catch up with what’s already been revealed to the reader, but that aside, the story—particularly Bellamy’s backstory—makes for some serious page turning. And, King lays out a few unsettling hints (of the supernatural variety) about what to expect in book 3 of the Bill Hodges Trilogy. Next summer can’t get here soon enough. 

2015 Man Booker Prize for Fiction Shortlist

Among the many prestigious literary awards is the Man Book Prize for Fiction. The Man Booker Prize, formerly known as the Booker-McConnell Prize, began in 1968. The prize recognizes the best novel of the year, written in English, and published in the U.K. When it began, only Commonwealth, Irish, and Zimbabwean citizens were eligible to win the prize. In 2013, the eligibility changed to any book in the English language. Winners of the prize, even nominees, tend to rocket toward literary stardom. For this reason, it is a highly sought after literary prize. Some even think it is the most important for an authorial career.

On October 13^th, the new Man Book Prize winner will be announced. This year’s nominees are powerhouses of literary ambition and talent, per usual. One of the best places to look for additions to your to-be-read pile is on the long and short lists of nominees for virtually any literary prize. For your reading pleasure, here is the Man Booker Prize for Fiction 2015 Short List:

A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James

Marlon created a fictionalized account of an assassination attempt on Bob Marley in the midst of political turmoil in Jamaica. Described as “delightfully profane” and “a wild ride.”

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

A Little Life is a depiction of heartbreak, and a dark examination of the tyranny of memory and the limits of human endurance.

A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler

A Spool of Blue Thread tells a poignant yet unsentimental story in praise of family in all its emotional complexity. 

Satin Island by Tom McCarthy

An unnerving novel that promises to give us the first and last word on the world--modern, postmodern, whatever world you think you are living in.

The Fishermen by Chigozie Obioma

Through the story of a family, Obioma creates a personal story that mirrors the larger social and political tensions in Africa

The Year of the Runaways by Sunjeev Sahota

An unlikely family created from a group of 13 men in flight from India.

For more information about the Man Book Prize for Fiction, including the announcement of the winner on October 13th, please visit http://themanbookerprize.com/. Happy reading!

October's In The Queue

Great titles from October's In the Queue!

Fiction
Christmas Bells: A Novel by Jennifer Chiaverini
This wondrous novel was inspired by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's Poem,
"Christmas Bells." This is a resonant and heartfelt novel that reminds readers to have faith and look for the good especially during times of hardship. 

Host by Robin Cook
This is an explosive medical thriller. When Lynn Peirce's boyfriend dies after routine surgery, she investigates. She discovers the truth is far worse than medical malpractice.

City on Fire by Garth Risk Hallberg
Hallberg's  debut novel is an unforgettable about love, betrayal and forgiveness and reminds us what makes life worth living in the first place. This is  a compelling mystery and a literary masterpiece.

The Theory of Death by Faye Kellerman
Peter Decker's quiet new job in upstate New York takes a dangerous turn when a man's naked body is found in the woods. Peter joins forces with his former colleague turned law student, Tyler McAdams, to uncover the truth.

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms by George R.R. Martin
Readers learn more about a poor knight named Duncan and a gallant squire called Egg, who will one day be known as King Aegon V the Unlikely, in three novellas that take place 90 years before Game of Thrones.

Fancy Dancer by Fern Michaels
A powerful and poignant story of love, redemption and family secrets.

The Lake House by Kate Morton
Alice Edevane's baby sister vanishes without a trace. Decades later, Detective Sadie Sparrow happens upon the crumbling estate. what she finds sets off a series of events and reveals shocking truths about the past.

Dark Corners by Ruth Rendell
A spectacular psychological thriller, a story of obsession, instability, blackmail, murder and one man's life unraveling as his choices lead to his demise.

New Books by Best Selling Authors
The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto by Mitch Albom
The Guilty by David Baldacci
The Crossing by Michael Connelly
Depraved Heart by  Patricia cornwell
Tricky Twenty-Two by Janet Evanovich
Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith
The Golem of Paris by Jonathan Kellerman
The Bazaar of Bad Dreams by Stephen King
Dashing Through the Snow by Debbie Macomber
Cross Justice by James Patterson
Crimson Shore by Douglas Preston & Lincoln child
See Me by Nicholas Sparks
Precious Gifts by  Danielle Steel

Nonfiction
Whoopi's Big Book of Relationships by Whoopi Goldberg
Whoopi speaks openly about why marriage isn't for everyone, and how what's most important is understanding who you are and what makes you happy.

Choosing Hope by Kaitlin Roig-DeBellis
A former first-grade teacher's heartfelt account of how she survived the Sand Hook Elementary School massacre and its aftermath.

The Witches-Salem, 1692 by Stacy Schiff
The Witches is Pulitzer Prize winning author, Stacy Schiff's account of the first great American mystery fully unveiled for the first time. This well documented narrative is extensive and looks at many new sides of the Salem witchcraft trials. 

2015 Dayton Literary Peace Prize Winners

The Dayton Literary Peace Prize (DLPP) began in 2006. The express mission of the award is to honor the advancement of peace through literature. The DLPP is the only annual literary award in the United States to take on this mission. Works of adult fiction and nonfiction promoting peace and humanity published within the past year are able to be nominated for cash prizes. It is a unique and prestigious award, and it is a Dayton original!

The 2015 winners of the DLPP offer an interesting range of subjects, which is not uncommon to the awards. Each year four books and one lifetime achievement winner are recognized.

Holbrooke Award Winner for Lifetime Achievement

This year Gloria Steinem was selected to receive the Richard C. Holbrooke Lifetime Achievement award for her work as a leader and spokesperson of worldwide feminism. Steinam has spent her life using words to achieve peaceful political action in many arenas. She has driven the women’s movement with her written and spoken word. Her newest book, My Life on the Road, is her memoir of travel, activism, and leadership.

Fiction Winner

Josh Weil’s debut novel, The Great Glass Sea, is a novel of political, philosophical and historical. Weil’s book blends genres, but ties it all together nicely with expert storytelling.  Weil has been named a National Book Award "Five Under Thirty-Five" author, he has received fellowships from the Fulbright Foundation, Columbia University, the MacDowell Colony, Bread Loaf, and Sewanee.

Nonfiction Winner

Bryan Stevenson, attorney and founder of the Equal Justice Initiative, wrote Just Mercy to bring attention to the different inhumane elements that we allow to inform our sense of justice in the U.S. His book focuses on an unjust death penalty case, but also highlights the focus of work overall—giving a voice to the condemned, both just and unjust cases. Stevenson has been recognized numerous times for his work exhaustive work defending human rights. He is also a Nobel Peace Prize Laureate.

Fiction Runner-up

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

Nonfiction Runner-up

The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace by Jeff Hobbs

To place holds on the books or view last year's winners, please check out our new Dayton Literary Peace Prize booklist.

For more information on the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, please go to daytonliterarypeaceprize.org.