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Fiction A to Z November 2013
"Me thinks that the moment my legs begin to move, my thoughts begin to flow."
~ Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862), American writer
New and Recently Released!
Lighthouse Island - by Paulette Jiles
Publisher: HarperCollins
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 10/08/2013
Share Lighthouse Island ISBN-13: 9780062232502
ISBN-10: 0062232509
The U.S. is drought-ravaged, overpopulated, relentlessly urban, and intellectually stifled. In a world where animals are a rarity and water is strictly rationed by a totalitarian government, Nadia Stepan's only pleasure is dreaming of Lighthouse Island, a most-likely-mythical utopia in which people are free and water is abundant. But when a workplace disaster forces her to flee, she begins a search for the island, aided by a disfigured mapmaker. The dystopian setting is reflected in the author's prose; not everyone will appreciate this dark and detailed novel, but fans of dystopian fiction won't want to miss it.
The Night Guest - by Fiona McFarlane
Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 10/01/2013
Share The Night Guest ISBN-13: 9780865477735
ISBN-10: 0865477736
This compelling debut novel mixes psychological suspense and elements of magical realism with fears of aging and isolation; Booklist refers to its "eerie aura of foreboding." It concerns Ruth, a widow living alone in an isolated beach house on the Australian coast, who hears tigers in her living room and allows Frida, a woman who claims to be a governmental care worker, into her home. Plagued by memories of her childhood in Fiji, Ruth is also uncertain that Frida is who she says she is -- a concern that readers will also come to share.
Mr. Lynch's Holiday: A Novel - by Catherine O'Flynn
Publisher: Henry Holt
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 10/08/2013
Share Mr. Lynch ISBN-13: 9780805091816
ISBN-10: 0805091815
Newly retired and recently widowed, English bus driver Dermot Lynch has headed off on his very first international trip, to visit his son, Eammon, in beautiful Lomaverde, Spain. But Eammon's housing development is falling apart as Spain's economy crumbles, his girlfriend has fled back to England, and he himself is seriously depressed. The two men -- never particularly close -- haltingly navigate around each other, struggling to connect and provide support. A compassionate and understated tale, Mr. Lynch's Holiday is a "rare love story between a father and a son" (The Telegraph).
The Rosie Project: A Novel - by Graeme C. Simsion
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 10/01/2013
Share The Rosie Project%3a A Novel ISBN-13: 9781476729084
ISBN-10: 1476729085
Don Tillman is an extremely logical, efficient, and socially awkward genetics professor who has never been on a second date. But having completed a scientifically rigorous and evidence-based questionnaire setting out his expectations (she must eat meat, be punctual, not smoke, and so on -- it runs to 16 pages), he believes it's only a matter of time until he finds the perfect wife. Instead, he finds Rosie Jarman, a disorganized and fiercely independent bartender who is on a quest to find her biological father -- and needs Dr. Tillman's help. Appealing characters and heartwarming humor shine in an award-winning debut that's already headed to the big screen.
Focus on: Traveling by Foot
Watership Down - by Richard George Adams
Publisher: Scribner
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 11/01/1996
Share Watership Down ISBN-13: 9780684836058
ISBN-10: 068483605X
Whether you consider it an allegory, a classic adventure story, or a fantasy, a kids' book or for adults, this novel has enchanted readers for more than 40 years. It follows a group of wild rabbits as they leave their home den to find a safer -- and more humane -- society. Prompted by Fiver, a young rabbit with a gift for prophecy, and led by his brother, Hazel, the rabbits encounter much danger along the way, including from their own kind. Their society, language, and mythology are exceedingly well-detailed, which will appeal to readers who enjoy other worlds.
The Feast of Love - by Charles Baxter
Publisher: Vintage Contemporaries
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 05/01/2001
Share The Feast of Love ISBN-13: 9780375709104
ISBN-10: 037570910X
Though it begins with a nocturnal walk, The Feast of Love is exactly what it sounds like -- an assortment of intertwined and deliciously told stories of love flavored by everything from passion to regret. They feature a man working to get over his first -- and then his second -- wife, a young couple madly in love, and a professor who longs for his missing son. The 2007 movie had an all-star cast (including Morgan Freeman and Greg Kinnear), but you should read the book to get a true taste of "the seemingly effortless ebb and flow of the author's clear-sighted yet deeply poetic vision" (Publishers Weekly).
The Unnamed: A Novel - by Joshua Ferris
Publisher: Little, Brown
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 01/18/2010
Share The Unnamed%3a A Novel ISBN-13: 9780316034012
ISBN-10: 0316034010
Happy at work and at home, successful attorney and family man Tim Farnsworth is nevertheless unaccountably compelled to literally walk away from it all -- and to continue walking until he collapses in exhaustion. Having suffered through two bouts of this undiagnosable and untreatable illness, his wife knows how to prepare Tim and how to find him, but his compulsion is growing stronger, affecting his work and home life more than ever before. As an allegory for any condition that forcibly takes away an individual's control over his own life -- illness, addiction, or even stress -- The Unnamed is "utterly compelling" (Booklist).
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry: A Novel - by Rachel Joyce
Publisher: Random House
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 07/24/2012
Share The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry%3a A Novel ISBN-13: 9780812993295
ISBN-10: 0812993292
Harold Fry really likes his routines. So it's a bit shocking when, jolted by a letter from a dying friend, he goes to drop off a response in the mailbox down the street...and keeps walking. Ultimately, he decides to hand-deliver the letter, wearing what he'd left the house in (boat shoes and a jacket and tie). Though the 500-mile walk stirs up memories of unhappy marital and parenting experiences, it also affects (for better and worse) his relationship with his wife, the widower next door, and those in England who begin to follow his journey. Charming and poignant, this debut is a sure bet for readers who appreciate tales of relationships, regret, and last chances to set things right; if you enjoy it, the author's second book, Perfect, is due out this month.
The Road - by Cormac McCarthy
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 09/26/2006
Share The Road ISBN-13: 9780307265432
ISBN-10: 0307265439
Cormac McCarthy's The Road is one of the best-known works of post-apocalyptic fiction: in addition to winning the Pulitzer Prize and being selected for Oprah's book club, it was made into a movie starring Viggo Mortensen. Set in a futuristic and definitively post-apocalyptic world, a father and his young son are making their way on foot through a devastated American landscape. The sun is obscured by ash and the land is dead; many of the few survivors have resorted to cannibalism, and father and son have only each other in this violent, horrific world. Though beautifully written, The Road is not for the faint of heart.
The Tenderness of Wolves - by Stef Penney
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 03/04/2008
Share The Tenderness of Wolves ISBN-13: 9781416571308
ISBN-10: 1416571302
In 19th-century Canada, a local trapper has been viciously killed, his throat cut and his head scalped. A teenage boy who was friends with the dead man is missing, and his footsteps lead away from the cabin into the cold, unforgiving wilderness. Determined to find him, his mother sets out from their snow-covered settlement, aided by a half-Indian trader. But they aren't the only ones interested in finding the boy; others are on the move, too. This debut novel -- written by an agoraphobic author who had never been to Canada -- won Britain's prestigious Costa Book of the Year Award in 2006.
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