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Fall Reading, 2014

The Children Act by Ian McEwan

The marketing for The Children Act will rightfully focus on religion; it is a novel that asks provocative questions about faith, freedom, and ethics. But I would argue that at its heart, The Children Act is a book about choices, and the way a single decision can ricochet into the world with startling, unpredictable consequences. The Children Act is also pure Ian McEwan all the way through—elegant, haunting, and arresting, the kind of book you find yourself returning to over and over again. I couldn’t ask for anything more in a novel.
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$25.00
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ISBN: 9780385539708
Published: Nan A. Talese - September 9th, 2014

The Good Lord Bird by James McBride

Winner of the National Book Award for Fiction!

“A magnificent new novel by the best- selling author James McBride...a brilliant romp of a novel...McBride—with the same flair for historical mining, musicality of voice and outsize characterization that made his memoir, The Color of Water, an instant classic—pulls off his portrait masterfully, like a modern-day Mark Twain: evoking sheer glee with every page.” —The New York Times Book Review

The Good Lord Bird (National Book Award Winner): A Novel By James McBride Cover Image
$18.00
ISBN: 9781594632785
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Riverhead Books - August 5th, 2014

Love Me Back by Merritt Tierce

I will be the first to admit that this book is not for everyone—Tierce pulls no punches in her novel of a twenty-something waitress sexing and drugging her way towards adulthood. What I will also say is that Tierce’s writing is a thing unto itself, each sentence unique, not all put together, and exactly perfect. In this beautiful, stripped-raw story, there exists real heart and a desperation to survive in spite of one’s self.

Dear Committee Members by Julie Schumacher

A novel in the form of recommendation letters? Sounds like a literary stunt but Schumacher absolutely nails it. While maintaining the book’s formal conceit, she perfectly blends satire and genuine human emotion, offering a hilarious commentary on modern academia through one professor’s tired pen and fading sanity. If you’ve ever needed a letter of recommendation or written one, you will laugh and you will cry. I unreservedly recommend (!) Ms. Schumacher for your reading pleasure.

Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami

This is not the book I expected Haruki Murakami to write. This book is simple and subtle in both language and plot. The protagonist, Tsukuru Tazaki, leads the reader through both his past and present experiences, as he seeks out the answer to a question that has continued to plague him. The plot will, no doubt, interest you. However, I feel that the soul of this book is better found in Murakami's language; presenting weighted moments with such elegance. This book is evidence of why we love Murakami, because of his ability to give energy to what is otherwise merely empty space.

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Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage: A novel By Haruki Murakami, Philip Gabriel (Translated by) Cover Image
By Haruki Murakami, Philip Gabriel (Translated by)
$25.95
ISBN: 9780385352109
Availability: Not On Our Shelves, But Available from Warehouse - Usually Delivers in 3-14 Days
Published: Knopf - August 12th, 2014

10:04 by Ben Lerner

This amalgam of fiction and autobiography is filled with profound observation, gorgeous prose and a narrative structure recalling the best of Nabokov or W. G. Sebald. With a childlike sense of wonder (and a healthy dose of dismay), Lerner reveals the connective tissue between the Challenger disaster, contemporary art, the film Back to the Future, Superstorm Sandy, a plagiarized poem that shows up (re-plagiarized) in a Reagan speech, and a popular dinosaur that never actually existed. Brilliant work.
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10:04: A Novel: A Novel By Ben Lerner Cover Image
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ISBN: 9780865478107
Availability: Out of Print
Published: Farrar, Straus and Giroux - September 2nd, 2014

A Permanent Member of the Family by Russell Banks

Russell Banks invites you into his stories with vivid descriptions and true-to-life characters. I love his candid writing, his quiet witticisms, and above all, the way his stories make me feel. His new publication of short stories keeps me captivated and thoroughly satisfied. Sometimes he threatens to change my life with sentences like, “You can’t regret something someone else did or didn’t do. Only what you yourself did or didn’t do.”

The Long Way Home by Louise Penny

In the latest in Penny’s deservedly acclaimed mystery series, Inspector Gamache has retired to the tiny town of Three Pines, Quebec when a request from a friend sends him searching for a missing person. As always, Penny has turned out a thoughtful, gracefully written, and deftly plotted mystery filled with insight and multifaceted characters. Her books are consistently excellent, and if you haven’t read them, you should give them a try, starting with Still Life.
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The Long Way Home: A Chief Inspector Gamache Novel By Louise Penny Cover Image
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ISBN: 9781250022066
Availability: Out of Print
Published: Minotaur Books - August 26th, 2014

The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton

In 17th-century Amsterdam, young Petronella arrives at her new husband's doorstep and is greeted with coldness and secrecy. To occupy her time, he gives her a cabinet replica of their house, wrought in extraordinary detail. Nella commissions an enigmatic craftsman, but gets a shock when the delivered items portend violent mishaps in the family's future. With a style as bewitching as the miniaturist's crafts, this debut is a great pick for book groups.

The Sun is God by Adrian McKinty

It is a rare, sweet thing to find an author you adore and then discover how very prolific they’ve been. Adrian McKinty has written fourteen books, and The Sun is God is his newest, and perhaps his biggest departure. Set on a far-flung island in New Guinea in 1906, the site of a nudist colony who worships the sun, The Sun is God promises to be the kind of cracking historical crime novel that only McKinty can deliver. I can’t wait!

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