Good Reads & Views

Searching for Sylvie Lee by Jean Kwok 
Fiction

About the Author: Jean Kwok is an award-winning, New York Times and international bestselling author. Jean immigrated from Hong Kong to Brooklyn when she was five and worked in a Chinatown clothing factory for much of her childhood. She received her bachelor's degree from Harvard and completed an MFA in fiction at Columbia University. She currently lives in the Netherlands. 

Reviewers say: “Kwok’s story spans generations, continents and language barriers, combining old-fashioned Nancy Drew sleuthing with the warmth and heart we’ve come to expect from this gifted writer” (New York Times Book Review).

You might also like: The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri or The Book of Unknown Americans by Cristina Henriquez.

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Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk
Fiction

What it’s about: First one of her neighbors turns up dead, then other bodies follow. Janina, or Duszejko, as she prefers to be called, is of an advanced age and lives in a remote Polish village. She does not eat meat, prefers the company of animals over humans, and quotes William Blake. She is absolutely sure she knows who is behind the deaths and inserts herself into the investigation.

Want a taste? “The best conversations are with yourself. At least there's no risk of a misunderstanding.” “Being healthy is an insecure state and does not bode well. It's better to be ill in a quiet way, then at least we know what we're going to die of.”

Reviewers say: “Tokarczuk's novel succeeds as both a suspenseful murder mystery and a powerful and profound meditation on human existence and how a life fits into the world around it. Novels this thrilling don't come along very often” (Publishers Weekly). “In her depictions of her characters and their worlds both internal and external Tokarczuk has created something entirely new” (Kirkus Reviews).

Author info: in 2018 Tokarczuk won the Man Booker Prize International for her novel Flights and in 2019 she was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.

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Olive, Again by Elizabeth Strout
Fiction

What it’s about: Retired math teacher Olive is back, and like its predecessor, Pulitzer Prize winning Olive Kitteridge, the novel is told in interlinking stories. Olive is now older and dealing with various changes in her life. Has age mellowed her? You be the judge of that.

Want a taste? “But we’re both old enough to know things now, and that’s good.” “What things?” “When to shut up, mainly.”

Reviewers say: “Beautifully written and alive with compassion, at times almost unbearably poignant. A thrilling book in every way” (Kirkus Reviews); “Exquisite” (Library Journal).

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The Saturday Night Ghost Club by Craig Davidson
Fiction

What it’s about: Toronto brain surgeon Jake Baker recalls one strange summer in the 1980s, when he was 12 years old, living in Niagara Falls. Timid, bookish, and bullied, Jake spends most of his free time at his Uncle Cal’s occult shop, where he befriends newcomers Billy Yellowbird and Billy’s older sister, Dove. Led by Uncle Cal and his friend Lex, the kids spend the summer exploring the local spooky places, investigating the truth behind these urban legends.

Why you might like it: Eccentric and colorful characters, whimsical and well-timed humor, and a quirky landscape contribute to a surprisingly tender and compassionate coming of age story dealing with first love, loss, and the secret lives of youth.

Reviewers say: “Immensely enjoyable, piercingly clever, and satisfyingly soulful, The Saturday Night Ghost Club is an exquisite little talisman of a book, one that doesn't flinch as it probes the dark underside of nostalgia.” Jason Heller for National Public Radio.

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Big Sky by Kate Atkinson
Fiction

Featuring: The return, after nine years, of private investigator Jackson Brodie—brooding, compassionate, and unable to resist rescuing others. In this case, Brodie stumbles on a murder that may be linked to a sex trafficking ring. Also featuring Jackson’s “protégé,” who reappears from When Will There Be Good News? If you are new to Jackson Brodie, start with the first book in the series—Case Histories.

Why you might like it: Atkinson excels at creating characters to care about—she really gets you inside their heads, revealing their inner lives and motivations. Her compelling storyline moves back and forth in time and is told from multiple perspectives, giving it depth and complexity. The multiple storylines intertwine in unlikely ways, but one of Brodie’s maxims is "A coincidence is just an explanation waiting to happen."

Reviewers say: Brodie “is not so much the central character as the grumpy, anxious, largehearted gravitational field that attracts a motley assortment of lost souls and love interests…. The deaths and disappearances that Jackson investigates change with every book, but the human heart remains the central mystery. The welcome return of an existential detective" (Kirkus Reviews).

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Another Brooklyn by Jacqueline Woodson
Fiction

What it is: This #ownvoices novel is a bittersweet prose-poem about childhood, friendship, race, love, and grief. August returns to Brooklyn to say goodbye to her dying father, and remembers her childhood spent adapting to a move from Tennessee to Brooklyn while her father tries to rebuild their family, haunted by an absent mother; longing to belong to the world she and her brother observe from the window of their Bushwick apartment. Despite her mother’s warnings about the treachery of women, more than anything young August wants to be friends with a trio of girls she has admired from the window. To August’s amazement, the girls befriend her, and the trio becomes four, "Sylvia, Angela and Gigi, the four of us sharing the weight of growing up Girl in Brooklyn, as though it was a bag of stones we passed among ourselves." But as the girls mature, each faces her own challenges that may not be carried by the others.

Reviewers say: “Woodson brings the reader so close to her young characters that you can smell the bubble gum on their breath and feel their lips as they brush against your ear. This is both the triumph and challenge of this powerfully insightful novel. ‘This is memory,’ we are reminded.” Tayari Jones for The New York Times. “Another Brooklyn is a short but complex story that arises from simmering grief. It lulls across the pages like a mournful whisper.” Ron Charles, The Washington Post

You might also like: Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward, River, Cross My Heart by Breena Clarke, and The Burning Girl by Claire Messud.

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There There by Tommy Orange
Fiction

What it is: Above all, this is a novel about a specific place—Oakland, California—and about what the notion of belonging means for Native Americans. Narrated by 14 different characters, all Native Americans connected to the upcoming Big Oakland Powwow, this gripping novel explores the contemporary urban Native American experience. “I feel bad sometimes even saying I’m Native,” one of the characters says. “Mostly I just feel I’m from Oakland.”

Why you might like it: Lyrical prose, fast-paced and dramatic storyline, and the sensitive portrayal of the many characters contribute to a unique and haunting story that examines the meaning of home, culture, and tradition. As one character muses: "But home for Jacquie and her sister was a locked station wagon in an empty parking lot. Home was a long ride on a bus. Home was the three of them anywhere safe for the night.”

What critics are saying: “Allow(s) for moments of moments of pure soaring beauty to hit against the most mundane, for a sense of timelessness to be placed right beside a cleareyed version of the here and now” (The New York Times). “Engrossing at its most granular, in characters’ thoughts and fleeting moments, There There introduces an exciting voice” (Booklist). A 2019 Batavia Public Library Tournament of Books Sweet 16 nominee.

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The Round House by Louise Erdrich
Fiction

What it’s about: In this coming of age story, the adult Joe recounts his 13th summer, when his mother, a tribal consultant for the Ojibwe in North Dakota, is brutally attacked by an assailant she can’t or won’t identify. When questions of jurisdiction halt the criminal investigation, Joe and his friends attempt to bring her assailant to justice. Lyrical, moving, and authentic.

Why you might like it: A devastating story that still manages to be funny and tender, it is peopled by vibrant, lively characters, including bawdy storytelling elders and boys on bikes, with all the freedom and trouble that can bring. Joe, exploring the world, is tough and protective on the outside, but that covers a sweet softness for his mother. Comical and spiritual.

Try this next: For similar topics and characters, try The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven by Sherman Alexie, or There There by Tommy Orange. For similarly complex, layered, and tied-together plots, try anything by Kate Atkinson.

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The Truth and Other Lies by Sascha Arango
Fiction

What it’s about: Famous bestselling author Henry Hayden is happily married to Martha, who, unbeknownst to everybody, is the one actually penning all his books. Life is good, but then Henry’s mistress Betty, whom truth be told he is not particularly fond of, informs him that she is pregnant. Before long, Martha ends up dead and Henry has to try to keep the carefully created façade of his life from unraveling.

Want a taste?  “But men are never more cowardly and their lies never more pathetic than when they’re caught with their pants down. Isn’t that so, gentlemen?”

Reviewers say: “this is one wicked tale. You keep waiting for the author to slip, plot-wise, but, as with his protagonist, you wait in vain” (Kirkus).

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Stay with Me by Ayobami Adebayo
Fiction

What it’s about: Infidelity, infertility, the betrayal of body, heart, mind and biology--it's all here, and it's heartbreaking. When Yejide and Akin fell in love and married they agreed that the Nigerian tradition of polygamy wasn’t for them, but after years of infertility, Akin succumbs to family pressures to take a second wife. Desperate to save her marriage, Yejide finally does conceive, but only at great cost. Meanwhile, a tumultuous Nigeria falls apart around them.

Is it for you? Told from both Akin’s and Yejide’s perspectives, Adebayo deftly reveals the story’s twists and turns at a quick pace. This tale of love and betrayal is filled with the flavor and traditions of Nigeria and is damning of its culture, in much the same way as Celeste Ng's Little Fires Everywhere is damning of suburban culture in the U.S. In a different society, the outcome of the story might have been very different.

Book buzz: ALA Notable Book 2018 and New York Times Notable Book 2017

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