Books that captivate with their exquisite prose and unforgettable storytelling. Perfect for readers who appreciate the art of language.
When Will There Be Good News?
Kate Atkinson, 2008
400 pp.
November 2009
This is 3rd in the Jackson Brodie series—none of which are are typical of the genre. They're plot-driven like all detective novels, but Atkinson's are also rich in character development. Her pages are filled with the angst of orphaned characters—survivors of family tragedies—who feel alone on the planet and yearn for connection.
Atkinson provides the connection, stringing them together in a tightly knit world that overflows with coincidence, parallel events, and literary allusions. It's all accomplished with crackling wit and sharp insight.
Mister Pip
Lloyd Jones, 2006
272 pp.
October 2009
Pop Eye is the village freak show. He sports a clown's nose and pulls his large, regal wife around with a rope tied to the end of a wooden trolly. Such a sight.
Civil war has erupted on this unnamed South Pacific Island. And when the entire white popularion flees to avoid bloodshed, the island is left without teachers. So village leaders turn to the single white man left who would have the background to educate their children—Pop Eye.
The Master
Colm Toibin, 2004
464 pp.
September 2009
A beautiful work! The title, by the way, refers to James's moniker. He became known as "The Master" due to the precision and elegance of his style and the complex, hidden depths of his characters—mysterious beings who are never quite knowable..not unlike we beings in real life.
Toibin has taken the many biographies of James and fashioned a poignant novel, a psychological study much like James's own novels. In doing so, Toibin permits us entry into the privileged lives of a very thin slice of American and British society—the rich and famous and accomplished, very much the people James wrote about.
Olive Kitteridge
Elizabeth Strout, 2009
266 pp.
August 2009
It's hard to know what to make of Olive Kitteridge, the gruff, big-boned woman who dwells around the edges—and sometimes at the center—of the 13 stories in this gorgeous novel/story collection. Olive is hard to like—but she's impossible not to love.
Olive lives in Crosby, Maine, which author Elizabeth Strout has created as her "little postage stamp of native soil" (the term Faulkner used to describe his fictional home).
The Soloist
Steve Lopez, 2008
304 pp.
July 2009
Schizophrenia is an equal opportunity disease, a fact never more evident than its attack on a once brilliant Julliard student turned street musician and homeless man. As author Steve Lopez says toward the end of his wonderful recounting: rich or poor, brilliant or not...
Mental illness...shows no mercy and often arrives like an unexpected storm, dropping an endless downpour on young dreams.