Staff Picks Category: Fiction

First Person Singular by Haruki Murakami [Book]

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This small collection of eight short stories by Haruki Murakami has everything I love about Murakami’s writing: the subtle oddness, the evocative descriptions of ordinary things, his expansive awareness of culture and great enthusiasm for favored subjects from baseball to jazz. Each story here is written in the first person, from the perspective a man, usually a middle-aged writer, examining some past experience. Many of the stories are completely realistic, with a few leaving you wondering whether they might be autobiographical. In one the narrator is even an author named Haruki Murakami! In others, the stories are subtly fantastic: the narrator reflects on the time he met a talking monkey at a hot spring; the narrator finds himself in another man’s body, perhaps. And, in typical Murakami fashion, even some of the most realistic stories leave you perplexed, like the narrator, wondering just what might have been going on.

My favorite story in the collection is, without a doubt, “The Yakult Swallows Poetry Collection”—the story with a narrator named Haruki Murakami that reads so much like memoir. In it the narrator tells us of his love of baseball, how he came to become a Yakult Swallows fan, and how, early in his career, he self-published a chapbook of poems about baseball. The story includes a number of delightful poems about baseball (you need not be a baseball fan to appreciate them) and is told in a pleasantly conversational tone. There is no strangeness in this story, except for the mundane strangeness that lies at its very heart—why would a man be a fan of such a losing team?

This is a great volume for fans of short stories. It is sure to delight established Murakami fans, and would be a great introduction to his work for anyone not yet familiar with his writing.

Translated from the Japanese by longtime Murakami translator Philip Gabriel.

By Any Name by Cynthia Voigt [Book]

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Voigt, a revered writer of teen fiction (Homecoming, Dicey’s Song), presents her first novel for adults. By Any Name is the story of a woman’s life told primarily through the eyes of her youngest daughter, Beth, with remembered interjections from her other three daughters, Meg, Jo, and Amy. Rida was an orphan who, by virtue of the heightened emotion and reduced social barriers of World War II, finds herself married to Spencer Howland, scion of a large and wealthy New England family. Consistently described as unconventional, Rida resists assimilation into Boston and Cape Cod society, supporting her professor husband in a comfortable lifestyle through strategic investment and management of his trust fund. She fiercely advocates for her daughters, rousting a lecherous teacher and disrupting a debutante ball as a protective parent. A compelling woman equally admired, loved, and resented by her girls, she allows them to grow into themselves, strong and uncompromising and ultimately happy. The story will appeal to now-grown Voigt fans, as well as teens interested in tales of large and complicated families.

Today Will Be Different by Maria Semple [Book]

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Semple returns to ground she covered in Where’d You Go, Bernadette? (2012) with an artistic antiheroine fumbling through her life of privilege as a NYC transplant to Seattle. Married to a celebrity hand doctor and ten years separated from her career as a groundbreaking animator, Eleanor Flood spends her days studying poetry with an untenured professor and thinking acerbic thoughts about the other moms at her precocious son’s private school. Having lunch with a former minion breaks something free in Eleanor’s past, and her life falls apart over the course of an afternoon. The reader learns details of her backstory and sympathizes, despite the seemingly trivial nature of her troubles (Sticking her foot in her mouth with her poetry teacher! Estrangement from her sister! Her husband’s absence from his practice! Her son’s enjoyment of makeup!).

Hilarious and touching, this will satisfy Semple’s numerous fans and gain her new ones. Great for readers of women’s fiction, Seattle denizens and aspiring residents, and people reviewing their lives and choices.

The Forever Summer by Jamie Brenner [Book]

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Over the course of a summer, seven women gather in a sprawling bed and breakfast in Provincetown to reconcile their complicated family relationships. Marin Bishop’s perfect life has fallen apart all at once with the appearance of a surprise half sister, Rachel, and the loss of her prestigious job. She and Rachel leave Manhattan to meet their grandmother Amelia on Cape Cod, stay for a few days at her inn, and forge connections neither knew they needed. As they gradually extend their stay week by week to the entire summer, Marin’s parents, boyfriend, aunt, Amelia and her wife Kelly, and seemingly all the other residents of Provincetown variously participate in their journey. Kelly teaches Marin the family craft of mosaic construction, and Marin’s completion of a long-planned gift wraps up her visit and sets her on her course, while great changes also come to the lives of Marin’s mother, Amelia, and Rachel. An engaging and emotional read with characters who stay with you.

This is a good fit for fans of Elin Hilderbrand, beaches, summer, and women’s stories.

Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly [Book]

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Spanning more than twenty years in the lives of three women, and based on real people and events, Kelly’s debut brings historical facts to startling life. As the narrative begins in 1939, Caroline Ferraday is a former Broadway actress and New York socialite who works with the French consulate, Herta Oberheuser is an ambitious young German doctor, and Kasia Kuzmerick is a fifteen-year old Polish girl just getting involved with the resistance. As World War II progresses and Hitler’s army proceeds through Europe, circumstances draw these women together. Caroline’s relief work becomes more necessary. Herta secures a position as camp doctor at Ravensbrück, and Kasia is transported there with her mother and sister after her courier activities are reported. When the war ends, and the camp is liberated, the story continues. Caroline pursues reparations and justice for the displaced, Herta is tried and convicted of war crimes, and Kasia attempts to return to a normal existence in now-Communist Poland, marrying and having a baby. Details of fundraising efforts, immigration issues, Reich politics, camp life, and interpersonal relationships render a gripping read that lingers well after the book ends.

This is for World War II aficionados, biography fans, and book clubs, as well as teens looking for more after The Diary of a Young Girl.

The Man Who Lived Underground by Richard Wright [Book]

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In 1940, Richard Wright had a best seller with his first published novel Native Son. Soon after he began work on another novel, The Man Who Lived Underground, of which he wrote “I have never written anything in my life that stemmed more from sheer inspiration”. This novel, which combines elements of realism, surrealism, and allegory (or at least something allegory adjacent), tells the story of a black man falsely accused of a murdering a white couple. He is violently interrogated by a trio of brutish police detectives, forced to sign a confession, and flees through the sewers and becomes “the man who lived underground”, an experience which changes him profoundly.

The Man Who Lived Underground would not be published as a novel in Wright’s lifetime—a much abbreviated version was published as a short story in 1942—but this year, in cooperation with Wright’s estate, Library of America has published the novel in its entirety, and it is well worth reading.

The novel is published together with an essay by the author, “Memories of My Grandmother”, in which he explains his writing process, inspiration, and intent in the novel. It’s fascinating and completely changed how I perceived the text. There’s also a short afterword by Malcolm Wright, the author’s grandson, which provides further context.

Highly recommend for anyone interested in Wright, African-American literature, or race and racism in the United States.

Keep Me Posted by Lisa Beazley [Book]

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Stay-at-home mom Cassie and her expat sister Sid make a drunken Christmas pact to reconnect by corresponding only through handwritten mail for a year. Cassie scans their letters for posterity, saving them to a private blog.

Cassie has three-year-old twins, a tiny West Village apartment, and a caring husband. She feels vaguely dissatisfied and uncertain how to cope. Sid has a teenage son, a toddler, and a distant husband. She’s easygoing but has to confront her husband’s infidelity. Their correspondence is intimate and open and safe for them both. When a technical glitch makes the blog public, the sisters become famous without their knowledge. Cassie discovers it through a magazine blurb and has to come clean to her husband, Sid, and their families.

A satisfying debut in the field of women’s fiction, Beazley creates some real moments of concern for our heroine and her relationships with her loved ones.

Here’s To Us by Elin Hilderbrand [Book]

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In Hilderbrand’s latest outing, three wives (two former, one current) and their children gather to mourn and celebrate the life of the man they all loved at the island home they shared with him. Celebrity chef Deacon Thorpe lived passionately, on a quest to recreate the feeling of a single perfect day spent with his father when he was thirteen. That memory centered on Nantucket, where he celebrated his earliest success by buying a cottage and building years of memories with his family. Nearly thirty years later, each of them changed by their relationship with him, his wives (high school sweetheart, award-winning actress, former nanny) address their rivalries while their children (travel writer and heroin addict, brilliant young chef, nine-year-old princess) grieve. Deacon’s best friend, manager, and executor has learned that the money is gone and the house is in arrears. No one wants to lose it, and only one of them has the resources to save it.

Ideal for new and old fans, those who enjoy tales of rarefied angst, and beachgoers.

Happy People Read and Drink Coffee. by Agnes Martin-Lugand [Book]

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It’s been a year since Diane’s husband and small daughter died tragically, and she hasn’t left her Paris apartment. Her friend Felix has been running their bookstore cafe, Happy People Read and Drink Coffee, into the ground. Her parents and in-laws think she simply needs to move on. That doesn’t seem possible, but one day she decides to move to Ireland, choosing the spot by placing her finger on a map. There, the volatile weather, the tiny village, and a hostile neighbor all contribute to her cigarette and wine-fueled return to life. She makes bad decisions, makes better decisions, and navigates her revised existence mostly on her own. Translated from the French by Sandra Smith, movie rights have already been sold and a sequel is imminent. For readers of women’s journeys and tales of hope, this slim volume engages the thoughts and feelings without whitewashing grief.

Gone to Dust by Matt Goldman [Book]

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A murder scene obscured with the dust from hundreds of vacuum cleaner bags opens this clever and compelling mystery set in a Minnesota January. Nils Shapiro is a private eye hired by his former police academy classmate, now a detective in the suburban Minneapolis police department ill equipped to solve this particular crime. The victim was a divorcee with no enemies and a boyfriend too self-involved to kill her. Political aspirations, a mystery woman, an FBI investigation, the frozen landscape, and pursuit of red herrings all interfere with the aggregation of clues as Nils befriends an array of characters and suspects, and manages his beautiful ex-wife. The resolution of the murder surprises and satisfies. Matt Goldman’s experience as a stand-up comic, playwright, and TV writer show to advantage in this debut novel’s wit, the story’s pace, and his hero’s charm. There is second Nils Shapiro mystery to look forward to in 2018.

If you like chilly Scandinavian noir and classic gumshoes like Philip Marlowe, this is for you.

All Systems Red by Martha Wells [Book]

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A charming story about a heavily weaponized semi-biological robot that calls itself “Murderbot”? Yes! An armed and armored security unit that has hacked its governor-module allowing it to act independently may sound like the terrifying killer robot from a “kill all humans” story from the age of classic sci-fi, but in Martha Wells’ Murderbot Diaries the AI in question is an awkward and kind-hearted, if incredibly sarcastic and anti-social, hero of an extended coming-of-age story. Murderbot just wants to be left alone to enjoy its favorite serials on the entertainment feed, but life keeps getting in the way and in the process Murderbot grows as a person, forming relationships and learning more about what it means to be alive than it could ever know from The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon or Timestream Defenders Orion.

The series begins with All Systems Red, a short novella that introduces Murderbot and some of the key humans who will play a part in its life. The series continues with Artificial Condition and is now a series of six books, with more on the way. Highly recommended.

The City Baker’s Guide to Country Living by Louise Miller [Book]

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After accidentally setting her fancy Boston workplace on fire, pastry chef Livvy flees to Vermont where her best friend helps her get a job at the local bed and breakfast, turning a temporary escape into something more. Livvy’s tetchy new employer has a hidden agenda: to regain blue ribbon status in the annual apple pie contest. Gradually, the directionless orphan and her trusty dog are drawn into the town and grow involved with its denizens. Her best friend gets pregnant and needs Livvy to stay close by. Her chef colleague develops a crush on her. The local contra dance band has an opening for her and her banjo. When Livvy’s path crosses that of the kindly neighbors’ prodigal son, her connection deepens. She takes a few wrong turns and has to find her way back from another instance of flight before she finds her happy ending. Pastry descriptions will require a bakery jaunt to make it through, and readers can bake their own blue ribbon apple pie from Livvy’s recipe.

This is a fun read for romance readers as well as folks who don’t think they like romance