Get Ready for Summer

Since Memorial Day kicks off the beach and vacation season, we thought we’d share Publishers Weekly’s recent list of  Best Summer Books 2013 in various genres. Whether you enjoy a good thriller, mystery, romance or nonfiction, here are a few selections from the list:

Red Sparrow by Jason Matthews

The Kill Room by Jeffery Deaver

Something Wicked by Lisa Jackson

Sisterland by Curtis Sittenfeld

Flora by Gail Godwin

The Other Typist by Suzanne Rindell

Books for Gardeners

Although weather has been a bit fickle here in the mid-Atlantic, there have been a few perfect days for gardening enthusiasts.   But, at those times when turning the soil isn’t an option, GoodReads has compiled a list of  Best Gardening Books to whet the appetite of any house-bound gardener.

Second Nature: A Gardener’s Education by Michael Pollan

Onward and Upward in the Garden by Katharine S. White

Suburban Safari: A Year on the Lawn by Hannah Holmes

Founding Gardeners: The Revolutionary Generation, Nature and the Shaping of the American Nation by Andrea Wulf

The $64 Tomato: How One Man Nearly Lost His Sanity, Spent a Fortune, and Endured an Existential Crisis in the Quest for the Perfect Garden by William Alexander

Gatsby: The Great American Novel

Baz Luhrmann’s film adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby opens on Friday and to mark the occasion, USA Today has published "Five Reasons 'Gatsby' is the Great American Novel." When Fitzgerald died in 1940, he had only sold 25,000 copies, writes USA’s Deidre Donahue. Today it is currently the second top-seller in the U.S. It sells more than half a million copies each year.

Donahue offers these five reasons for the novel’s staying power. See if you agree.

1.        At its heart, it is the most American of stories. Jay Gatsby is the iconic self-made man.

2.       Set in “The Jazz Age,” the novel chronicles the hedonism of a fascinating era.

3.      It’s complex characters seem relevant to each new generation of readers

4.      The novel is about an intriguing obsessive, “crazy” love.

5.      The prose, while sparse, is “imperishable.” As an example, Donahue quotes the novel’s final sentence: “So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past."

Must-Read Fiction for Men (and Women)

GQ recently published a list of the best in 21st-century fiction that its readers shouldn’t miss (“The New Canon: 21 Books From the 21st-Century Every Man Should Read,” April 8, 2013). “We spent months chiseling down a list of not just our favorite books from the 2000s,” the GQ editors wrote, “but also works of fiction we most readily recommend to our fathers, brothers, and non-blood-related bros.” We suspect none of the books on this list are gender-specific and may appeal to all readers of fine fiction. Here is a sampling:

The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

White Teeth by Zadie Smith

Runaway by Alice Munro

Tree of Smoke by Denis Johnson

Pastoralia by George Saunders

Fun Literary Facts

Do you love to talk books?  At your next gathering, you can share some little known facts about some classic reading. BuzzFeed recently published "20 Literary Facts to Impress Your Friends With." Here are some to get you started.

●    The original title of Fahrenheit 451 was The Firemen.

●    Don Quixote is the best-selling novel of all times – 500 million copies sold.

●    A dog ate John Steinbeck’s original manuscript for Of Mice and Men.

●   Gabriel Garcia Marquez will not allow One Hundred Years of Solitude to be made  into a film.

●    Ernest Hemingway hated the original cover of The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

●    Mary Shelley’s monster in Frankenstein has no name, but she once referred to him as “Adam.”

Books About Librarians

Since we are in the midst of National Library Week (April 14-20), we thought you might enjoy reading some books that feature librarians. GoodReads has a great list. Here are a few selections.

The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova

The Giant’s House by Elizabeth McCracken

The Murders of Richard III by Elizabeth Peters

Dewey, the Small-Town Cat Library Cat Who Touched the World by Vicki Myron

This Book is Overdue: How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All by Marilyn Johnson

Great Essay Collections

From Slouching Towards Bethlehem by Joan Didion to Naked by David Sedaris, essay collections are great reading when time is short. A well-crafted essay is a pleasure to savor – a great writer’s collection is a more enjoyable treat. Flavorwire recently published its list of "The 25 Greatest Essay Collections of All Times" (March 19, 2013). Here are a few recommendations from the list.


Notes of a Native Son by James Baldwin

The Boys of My Youth by Jo Ann Beard

Teaching a Stone to Talk by Annie Dillard

I Feel Bad About My Neck by Nora Ephron

Changing My Mind by Zadie Smith

Consider the Lobster by David Foster Wallace

Classic Travelogues

Believe it or not, travel writing dates back to c. 440 BC  when Herodotus authored his Histories chronicling travels to Egypt and other parts of the ancient world.  Smithsonian magazine recently published a selection of classic travel literature ("The Top Ten Most Influential Travel Books," March 20, 2013) that, in addition to Herodotus, includes other travel books that have endured.  You can find many at the library.

The Travels of Marco Polo by Marco Polo (c. 1300)

The Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain (1869)

On the Road by Jack Kerouac (1957)

In Patagonia by Bruce Chatwin (1977)

A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle (1989)

Tournament of Books

As March Madness gears up, there is another tournament for those who prefer a good book to the basketball court. ("March Madness for the Book Rolls On," New York Times, March 18, 2013). Since 2005, the Morning News has sponsored its Tournament of Books complete with brackets, opening rounds, quarterfinals and of course, ultimately a champion. Sixteen novels published in 2012 face off in one-on-one matches decided by a panel of judges. Some of the early results in the opening round and quarterfinals are below; don’t miss the championship round March 29.


Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl beat out underdog Ivyland by Miles Klee

Adam Johnson’s The Orphan Master’s Son squeezed past Maria Semple’s Where’d You Go, Bernadette

Hilary Mandel’s Bring Up the Bodies triumphed over Laurent Binet’s HHhH

How Should a Person Be? by Sheila Heti edged past Lauren Goff’s Arcadia

Women’s Prize for Fiction 2013

Formerly known as the Orange Prize for Fiction, this British prize devoted to fiction by women recently announced its list of finalists. Among them are more well-known bestsellers such as Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl and Hilary Mantel’s Bring Up the Bodies as well as works by Barbara Kingsolver and Zadie Smith. Here are a few lesser-known titles you may wish to try:


Alif the Unseen by G. Willow Wilson

How Should a Person Be? by Sheila Heti

Life After Life by Kate Atkinson

The Forrests by Emily Perkins

The Innocents by Francesca Segal

Where’d You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple

History as Fiction

Thomas Mallon’s Watergate was just named a finalist for the Pen-Faulkner Award, an honor bestowed on authors by fellow writers.  Once described by John Updike as “one of the most interesting novelists at work,” Mallon specializes in history through the lives of ordinary people at the edge of major historical events.  In his first novel Henry and Clara, Mallon recreated the tragic story of Henry and Clara Rathbone--the young couple who sat in the President's box on the night of Lincoln's assassination.  If you wish to sample some of Mallon’s other work and their historical eras, here are a few selections:

Fellow Travelers                  (The McCarthy Era)

Bandbox                                (The Jazz Age)

Dewey Defeats Truman      (1948 Presidential Election)

Two Moons                    (Reconstruction Washington, D.C.)

Top Animal Stories

Sarah Lean, author of A Dog Called Homeless, shared her picks for the best animal tales in The Guardian recently ("Sarah Lean's Top Animal Stories," Feb. 21, 2013). “A story can be funnier or richer with the presence of animals,” the British children’s author writes, “because we can see our own strengths and frailties in them." Here are a few books for younger readers among her selections:

Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White

The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate

The Call of the Wild by Jack London

The Butterfly Lion by Michael Morpurgo

Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo

http://fcplcat.fairfaxcounty.gov/uhtbin/cgisirsi/x/0/0/5?searchdata1=A Dog Called Homeless {245} AND Sarah Lean{100}

Bestsellers Around the World

It is quite easy to find out what bestsellers we Americans are reading. Just browse the Sunday New York Times or Washington Post lists each week. Ever wonder what tops the bestseller lists in other parts of the world? Flavorwire recently gathered some favorites from across the globe ("The Best-Selling Books in 10 Countries Across the World," Feb. 3, 2013.) Here are a few international top sellers:

Australia:
 All That I Am by Anna Funder

China:        
River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze by Peter Hessler

France:     
Une Place à Prendre (The Casual Vacancy) by J.K. Rowling

India:         
Steve Jobs: The Exclusive Biography by Walter Isaacson

Mexico:      
El Manuscrito Encontrado de Accra by Paulo Coelho (Manuscript Found in Accra)

Fiction for Food Lovers

Bon Appétit magazine recently published a guide “for those of us who like to read, eat, and read about eating” ("Get Ready for Foodie Fiction," Feb. 7, 2013). Writer Andrew Chee enjoys classic scenes such as an oyster dinner toward the start of Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina and a breakfast walk through Les Halles in Paris in James Baldwin’s Giovanni’s Room, but also recommends some more recent novels that revolve around food:

The Lost Art of Mixing by Erica Bauermeister

The Epicure’s Lament by Kate Christensen

An Evil Eye by Jason Goodwin

The Dinner by Herman Koch

The Book of Salt by Monique Truong

Epistolary Fiction

Stories told through letters, telegrams and other types of correspondence are a genre unto themselves. Writing in Shelf Awareness, Cheryl Krocker McKeon, a bookseller from San Francisco, shares some of her favorites, including the popular Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society ("Epistles," Feb. 5, 2013).  Here are a few more recommended by McKeon and others who enjoy this unique form of the novel:

A Woman of Independent Means by Elizabeth Forsyth Hailey

Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn

Where'd You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple

 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

Jane Austen’s Legacy

From ABC to The Huffington Post and NPR, you can’t miss the tributes to the 200th anniversary this week of Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy’s tumultuous love affair in Pride and Prejudice. Jane Austen’s cherished novel has survived the ages and its adaptations range from film, to a P.D. James mystery, a zombie variation and more. It is definitely a good time to reread the novel or enjoy it for the first time. If you want to know more about the novel or Austen herself, here are a few books to try:


The Annotated Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Flirting with Pride and Prejudice: Fresh Perspectives on the Original Chick-Lit Masterpiece by Jennifer Crusie

Jane’s Fame: How Jane Austen Conquered the World by Claire Harman

The Jane Austen Handbook: A Sensible Yet Elegant Guide to Her World by Margaret Sullivan

A Fine Brush on Ivory: An Appreciation of Jane Austen by Richard Jenkyns

Inaugural Poets

After Robert Frost recited a poem from memory at John F. Kennedy’s 1961 festivities (the glare of the sun prevented him from reading the poem he had composed), it took 31 years before another president, Bill Clinton, asked a poet – Maya Angelou -- to the podium. Next Monday, when Cuban-American poet Richard Blanco shares some verse on the west portico of the U.S. Capitol, he will succeed Elizabeth Alexander, who President Obama chose to read at his first inauguration in 2009. If you are interested in the writings of this select group of poets, here are a few collections to try:

City of a Hundred Fires by Richard Blanco

American Sublime: Poems by Elizabeth Alexander

The Complete Collected Poems of Maya Angelou

Poems by Robert Frost

Reading in the New Year

Midwinter is a great time to curl up with a good book and already January has produced some good reading.  Writing in Flavorwire, Emily Temple offers some suggestions to start off the new year ("Ten New Must Reads for January," Jan. 2, 2013).  Here is a sampling of her recommendations. The library has ordered all the titles below, so reserve your copy now and be among the first to read the year’s newest books.

The Death of Bees by Lisa O’Donnell

Tenth of December: Stories by George Saunders

A Memory of Light by Robert Jordan

Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief by Lawrence Wright

The Miniature Wife and Other Stories by Manuel Gonzales

Books into Film: 2013

With the release of “Les Miserables” on Christmas Day, “Jack Reacher,” based on Lee Child’s character on Dec. 21 and “The Hobbit” and “Life of Pi” earlier in December, the year winds down with yet more books into movies. Earlier this year we saw films based on such books as The Hunger Games, One for the Money and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.


Once the holidays finish, here are some books you may want to explore before their film versions are released in 2013.

Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

World War Z by Max Brooks

Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

The Host by Stephenie Meyer

Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card



 

Kid-Lit for Middle Graders

Looking for a great book for a young reader this holiday season? National Public Radio’s Backseat Book Club recently randomly polled some librarians and booksellers on this year’s best “middle-grade” fiction (The Year's Outstanding "Backseat" Reads, for Ages 9 to 14, Dec. 10, 2012). Here are a few of their top choices:

Wonder by R.J. Palacio

Starry River of the Sky by Grace Lin

Liar & Spy by Rebecca Stead

The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate

The Great Unexpected by Sharon Creech