641.3383 Vanderhoof, Ann: THE SPICE NECKLACE: My Adventures in Caribbean Cooking, Eating, and Island Life

 

The subtitle of this breezily written book says it all.  Vanderhoof and her husband put their jobs on hold and sailed around the Caribbean on their boat, discovering the foods and recipes of the various islands.  Enriched with bits of history and geography, this is entertaining reader for the cook   and the armchair traveler.

304.8 Wilkerson, Isabel: THE WARMTH OF OTHER SUNS: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration

 

The Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist explores the Great Migration of African-Americans from the South to places such as Chicago, Harlem, and Los Angeles.  By focusing on three individuals in three decades she makes her subject personal and compelling.

THE DEVOTION OF SUSPECT X by Keigo Higashino

 

When a woman’s abusive ex-husband is killed, her smitten neighbor offers an alibi.  Now he must match wits with the genius who is helping the police.  Wonderfully original psychological suspense.

BIO PINTER Fraser, Antonia: MUST YOU GO? My Life with Harold Pinter

 

Fraser uses excerpts from her diaries to illuminate the love story she shared with the great playwright, including their travels, their work, and their family.  A deeply felt and cleverly written memoir.

027.6 Steinberg, Avi: RUNNING THE BOOKS: The Adventures of an Accidental Prison Librarian

 

In need of health insurance, recent Harvard graduate Steinberg became the librarian at Boston’s South Bay prison.  His stories of the inmates he worked with are as fascinating as one would expect:  sometimes hilarious, often heartbreaking.  A captivating look at a closed world.

 

A VERY SIMPLE CRIME by Grant Jerkins

 

When Adam’s wife is murdered, he becomes the top suspect.  His brother, Monty, is an attorney who defends him at trial.  Keep your eye on the prosecutor and enjoy the twists and turns in this entertaining tale.  For fans of legal suspense.

THE IMPERFECTIONISTS by Tom Rachman

 

This debut novel is made up of linked stories about people who work for a failing English-language newspaper in Rome.  The stories are about the personal lives of the characters,  but brief interludes chronicle the reason for the newspaper’s existence. Funny, touching, surprising, outstanding.

PORTOBELLO by Ruth Rendell

London’s Portobello Road, famous for its shops and outdoor market, is the setting for Rendell’s latest novel of suspense.  A group of mismatched characters encounter each other and, as always, Rendell gradually increases the level of tension and anxiety.  A master at suspense and characterization.

Also pictured:  a couple of other PAGETURNERS  favorites.

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BIO AUCHINCLOSS: A VOICE FROM OLD NEW YORK: A Memoir of My Youth by Louis Auchincloss

 

Old families and old money:  the themes of Auchincloss’s fiction and non-fiction.  This posthumously published memoir is not a chronology but a series of essays describing people, places, and events that were formative in his youth.  An engaging look at high society from one of its members.

THE FATES WILL FIND THEIR WAY by Hannah Pittard

One Halloween night, 16 year old Nora disappeared.  The boys she left behind never stopped thinking about her;  years later, in a collective voice, they speculate about what happened and in doing so tell their own stories.  

 

THE CLOUDS BENEATH THE SUN by Mackenzie Ford

 

 

Kenya, 1961:   a young woman finds mystery, action, and murder when she joins an elite archaeological team run by an aristocratic woman and her two sons. (They are based loosely on the famous Leakey family.)  Evocative descriptions of the exotic setting.

808.042 Fish, Stanley: HOW TO WRITE A SENTENCE and How to Read One

 

Fish, a New York Times columnist and a college professor, discusses the sentence in terms of form and content;  analyzes sentence creation;  includes many quotes and famous first and last lines .  Far from being a dry text, the book is filled with beautiful sentences.  For all who love language.

CROOKED LETTER, CROOKED LETTER by Tom Franklin

 

In rural Mississippi, a friendship developed between two young men of different races.  One stayed and became a troubled outcast;  one left and eventually returned as town constable.  A mystery keeps the pages turning, but it’s the moody atmosphere and lovely writing that are most  memorable.

 

 

Try his earlier HELL AT THE BREECH, a fictional account of a true incident, another wonderful story.

SEA CHANGE by Jeremy Page

Guy lives alone on his old boat and grieves for the family he lost five years ago.  He has kept a diary all this time:  it is really fiction, as he imagines the life that might have been.  Eventually, Guy heads out into the North Sea and into a ferocious ocean storm.  Dark, moody and intricate, this is strong literary fiction.

Flint, Shamini: INSPECTOR SINGH INVESTIGATES: A Most Peculiar Malaysian Murder

 

The inspector is an overweight and sweaty policeman in Singapore.  His superiors wish he’d take early retirement, but he’s not going anywhere…except to Kuala Lumpur, where he is sent to investigate the case of a former model accused of killing her ex-husband.  A strong start for a planned new series.

930.1 Childs, Craig: FINDERS KEEPERS: A Tale of Archaeological Plunder and Obsession

 

Who should own an archaeological object?  The finder, a museum, its original culture?  The book jacket describes the author as a “naturalist, adventurer, and desert ecologist”, and he writes in a breezy, readable style about a fascinating subject. 

WEST OF HERE by Jonathan Evison

In 1890, Washington state’s Port Bonita attracts adventurers and visionaries.  One young man intends to build a dam.  By 2006, the dam is about to be torn down and the townspeople, like the town itself, have diminished expectations.  A sprawling American saga;  reviews often used the word “epic.”

YOU KNOW WHEN THE MEN ARE GONE by Siobhan Fallon

Soldiers from Fort Hood deploy to Iraq or Afghanistan for a year or more, leaving their families behind.  This collection of eight linked stories explores the love and fear that bind these military  families – and sometimes tear them apart. 

THE WORST THING by Aaron Elkins

 

An expert in the art of hostage negotiation, Bryan Bennett knows his subject from firsthand experience.  He suffers from panic attacks and refuses to fly;  but an Icelandic corporation wants his services and his wife really, really wants to go.  What’s the worst that can happen?  He has no idea.  A fast, fun read from a master of suspense.

COMMUTERS by Emily Gray Tedrowe

In a small New York bedroom community, 78 year old Winnie marries wealthy Jerry, setting off alarms in both of their families.  This thoughtful, funny story of family dynamics and the complicated lure of money is told in the alternating voices of three generations.

THE NOBODIES ALBUM by Carolyn Parkhurst

 

What if a novelist decided to rewrite the final chapters of all of her books?  That’s what Octavia Frost has done;  she is about to deliver the result to her publisher when she learns that her estranged son  has been arrested for murder.  The chapters and their revisions, scattered throughout the book, let us in on the family story.  

641.5092 Kimball, Chris:

FANNIE’S LAST SUPPER:  Re-creating One Amazing Meal from Fannie Farmer’s 1896 Cookbook

 

When Kimball and his wife bought a Victorian townhouse in Boston’s South End, he decided to create a twelve-course meal based on Farmer’s famous cookbook.  Two years later, research and prep complete, he filmed the dinner for PBS.  Full of wildly entertaining descriptions of the problems they encountered, along with lots of local history and other interesting bits of information.  A fun and fascinating read.

THE LONELY POLYGAMIST by Brady Udall

Golden Richards is having a midlife crisis.  Things are not going well at home:  the kids are out of control and he never gets any peace.  His construction business is struggling.  Sound familiar?

Yes, but Golden belongs to a sect that practices polygamy:  he has four wives and 28 children.  Filled with humor and also tragedy, this book may be, according to one review, “a serious contender for Great American Novel status.”  

CROWN OF DUST by Mary Volmer

 

During the California gold rush, a varied group of prospectors turn up in a little settlement called Motherlode.  They gather at the Victoria Inn, run by the formidable Emaline, as they try to make their fortunes or at least to change their lives.  This debut novel tells a lively story while illuminating a fascinating time in our history.

BOUND by Antonya Nelson

 

Catherine, the third wife of an older man (currently dallying with a possible fourth), is stunned to learn that her old high school

friend has died and has made Catherine the legal guardian of her daughter…who has run away.  A beautifully written exploration of the many kinds of  ties that bind.  (Look for Nelson’s short stories, too.)

330.9759 Reyes, Paul: EXILES IN EDEN: Life Among the Ruins of Florida’s Great Recession

Reyes got his subject matter by joining his father’s business:  “trashing out” involves emptying and cleaning foreclosed homes.  In Florida, in 2008, business was booming. 

Not an analysis of the housing crisis, but a consideration of the stories of the people who lost everything:  what they leave behind and how they walk away.   Part report, part memoir;  an absorbing read.

FATHER OF THE RAIN by Lily King

 

At eleven years old, Daley is caught between her alcoholic father and her mother, who plans to leave him.  At nearly thirty years old, Daley is called home from the satisfying life she has created:  her father is in crisis.   A moving, sometimes infuriating, portrait of a damaged family.

You might also enjoy King’s earlier novels, THE ENGLISH TEACHER and THE PLEASING HOUR. 

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THE HIDDEN by Bill Pronzini

 

A couple borrows an isolated cottage on the California coast, hoping to repair their marriage.  When the lights go out, they meet their neighbors – troubled, to say the least.  There’s also a serial killer on the loose…one of the neighbors, perhaps?

Pronzini, author of the Nameless Detective series, knows how to keep the suspense going.  Lock all the doors and stay up late with this one!

ONE DAY by David Nicholls

 

Emma (uncertain, smart, loyal) and Dexter (handsome, charming, cocky) meet just as they graduate from college. We drop in on their lives  on the anniversary of that first encounter,  for the next twenty years.  Hilarious and heartbreaking, a clever romantic comedy with heart.

BIO BROWNING: SLOW LOVE: HOW I LOST MY JOB, PUT ON MY PAJAMAS AND FOUND HAPPINESS by Dominique Browning

 

Some years ago, refurbishing her house and reviving her garden helped Browning through her divorce and resulted in the essay collection AROUND THE HOUSE AND IN THE GARDEN.  Another crisis, another collection:  when House & Garden magazine folded, she lost her job as editor-in-chief.  Browning writes elegantly,often humorously, about her life.

Myla Goldberg: never the same story twice!

 

Goldberg’s newest novel, THE FALSE FRIEND, is a literary mystery about a long-ago crime and the point at which memory (unreliable) and truth (uncertain) collide.  She is perhaps best known for the best-selling BEE SEASON, about a family caught up in competitive spelling.

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You might also enjoy WICKETT’S REMEDY, a highly original historical fiction set in Boston at the beginning of the 20th century;  and TIME’S MAGPIE, a non-fiction exploration of Prague.

Every book is different, and they are all captivating.

BILL WARRINGTON’S LAST CHANCE by James King

 

Bill’s memory is becoming unreliable,  he has started talking to his dead wife, and he is more or less estranged from his three adult children.  What to do?  Essentially, he runs away from home.  A story about a believable family, told with care and humor. 

ELEGIES FOR THE BROKEN-HEARTED by Christie Hodgen

Born poor in a depressed industrial area in the 1970s, Mary Murphy and her sister are dragged along – and down – by their mother through her serial marriages.  In this uniquely framed and beautifully written novel, Mary delivers elegies to five people who have touched her life;  in doing so, she tells her own story.

TILL I END MY SONG: A Gathering of Last Poems; edited by Harold Bloom

 

Noted scholar and critic Bloom has selected one hundred poems written over the course of four hundred years.  Not all of the included poems are actually the last written by the poets, but all are poems Bloom admires.  Dip into this book, with brief introductory comments accompanying each poem, to revisit old favorites and perhaps find some new ones.

I’D KNOW YOU ANYWHERE by Laura Lippman

 

A woman’s contented life is disrupted when she receives a letter from a man on death row.  He is the serial killer who had held her captive for several weeks when she was a teenager.  How has he found her?  And what does he want?  Terrific psychological suspense from a popular author.

BIO SLOCUM: THE HARD WAY AROUND: The Passages of Joshua Slocum; by Geoffrey Wolff

 

Here is a biography that reads like an adventure story.  Slocum, a master sailor, left Gloucester in 1895 and spent the next three years sailing around the world – alone -  in a 36-foot sailboat.  This wonderful biography tells about his personal as well as maritime adventures, right up until he was last seen off Martha’s Vineyard in 1908.  For all sailing and adventure enthusiasts.

THE DAMAGE DONE by Hilary Davidson

 

 

Travel writer Lily Moore has left New York for Spain, although she still pays the apartment rent for her troubled sister Claudia.  Summoned home after learning that Claudia has drowned in the tub, Lily learns that – you guessed it – the victim isn’t Claudia.  But who is she?  And where is Claudia?  Terrific psychological suspense from a first-time author.

THE AMATEUR HISTORIAN by Julian Cole

 

 

 

Set in York, England, this atmospheric debut novel links the dark stories of two young girls separated by one hundred years:  one died, and now one has been kidnapped by the very disturbed title character.  An appealing private investigator searches for the missing girl, although not without clashing with the Chief Inspector, who happens to be his brother.  

Remember to laugh!

814.54 Ephron, Nora:  I REMEMBER NOTHING AND OTHER REFLECTIONS

The screamingly funny Ephron (I FEEL BAD ABOUT MY NECK) returns with another collection of essays  in which she reviews events in her life and bemoans the aging process.   One example: in  “My Life as a Meatloaf” she relives the ecstasy of having a restaurant’s entree named for her, and the agony of its eventual removal from the menu.  No one does it better.

DEVOURED by D. E. Meredith

 

 

In Victorian London, a wealthy woman is murdered and a packet of about-to-be-published letters is stolen.  The police call in an expert in the emerging science of forensics.  This debut mystery is full of atmosphere…is it the start of a new series?

Philip Roth: A Great American Author

 

During his long career, Roth has often set his novels in mid-twentieth-century New Jersey.  NEMESIS takes place there, during a polio epidemic.  A young playground director sees the disease ravage the children he cares for;  when he has the chance to escape the city, he is torn between self-protection and devotion to duty.  While telling a great story, Roth explores issues of guilt,  obligation,  and the effects of choice and chance.

NEMESIS is the fourth in a series of recent short novels by Roth;  separately or together they are powerful reading.

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IN SEARCH OF MERCY by Michael Ayoob

 

A troubled young man, living in gritty Pittsburgh, is offered a large sum of money to find an old-time actress.  This absorbing mystery by a first-time author won Best First Private Eye Novel, given by the Private Eye Writers of America.  Try it if you’re feeling noir.

813.54 Conroy, Pat: MY READING LIFE

 

 

The popular storyteller has mined the difficulties of his life for absorbing, often heart-tugging fiction (THE GREAT SANTINI, THE PRINCE OF TIDES, etc.)  In this engaging collection of essays, he describes the people and books that have influenced and inspired him.  (Yes, GONE WITH THE WIND is discussed!)

ALL IS FORGOTTEN, NOTHING IS LOST by Lan Samantha Chang

 

The characters studying and teaching at a “famous writing school” include two gifted poets who become unlikely friends, and the professor, lovely and distant, who influences them both.  This beautifully written book has several themes, including the cost of ambition and the loneliness of the writing life.  Powerful and absorbing.

THE LONG SONG by Andrea Levy

 

Jamaica in the 1820s:  slaves worked on the sugar plantations until the behavior of the British plantation owners led to the rebellion of 1831.  July was a child then, but  she tells her story as an elderly woman, with occasional interruptions from her son.  July’s narrative voice is light-hearted, often funny and slyly satirical, which only highlights the sadness and horror of much of what she describes.  A terrific historical fiction by the author of SMALL ISLAND (another great read).

UNION ATLANTIC by Adam Haslett

 

In a leafy Massachusetts town, a rogue banker builds a monumental home.  His neighbor, a retired teacher, is enraged by the house’s tastelessness and by the fact that it was built on land originally donated to the town by her family.  The battle lines are drawn between old and new money.  A complication:  the bank may be in trouble, and the head of the Federal Reserve is the teacher’s brother.

This is a powerful book and a very timely story about our national financial situation.

UNFINISHED DESIRES by Gail Godwin

 

Aging Mother Ravenel is writing a history of Mount Saint Gabriel’s, a Catholic girls’ school in the mountains of North Carolina.  Ravenel was a student there in the 1920s and eventually became the headmistress.  Something happened in 1951 that has haunted Ravenel ever since.

The novel moves back and forth in time as the story is slowly revealed. Godwin’s  humor and depth of perception are on display;  it’s an absorbing story with unforgettable characters.  Highly readable, the book offers much to think about and would be great for discussion.

081 McPhee, John: SILK PARACHUTE

The noted essayist offers a collection of elegant and entertaining pieces on subjects ranging from his mother to the U.S. Open. 

428 Elster, Charles Harrington: THE ACCIDENTS OF STYLE

If you want to brush up on grammar, style and usage, give this book a try:  in brief and breezy entries, the author advises readers how to “avoid accidents.” 

910.4 Morris, Jan: CONTACT! A Book of Encounters

 

  World traveler and beloved travel writer Morris collects brief impressions (some only a paragraph, few more than a page) of people met along the way.  Some are famous, most are not, but all of the observations are fresh and lovely.