The days are longer, maybe a little lazier. You might even be tempted to use a sick day for a beach day. C’mon, what else are you planning to use all the extra daylight for, but to read by it! This month, Mechanics’ Institute’s staff bibliophiles recommend interesting, immersive fiction that we consider un-put-downable! Come check out the display and see if you agree.
A few recommendations to whet your appetite:
Chris recommends Outline by Rachel Cusk.
A quiet book of deep observation and insight, Outline follows narrator Faye during her brief teaching stint in Greece, primarily through the interactions she has with others, many fellow travelers like herself. Conversationally withholding, we glean Faye's personality and worldview through her internal assessments of those she meets. Autobiographical in a uniquely indirect manner, this look into strategies and habits of self-representation is highly intelligent, readable and original.
Deb recommends The Beekeeper's Apprentice and the other Mary Russell series by Laurie R. King.
I love Sherlock Holmes and when I stumbled upon the Mary Russell series by Laurie R. King, I was able to continue my enjoyment of his adventures written from a woman's point of view who is a true match for his intellect and wit.
Heather also recommends So Much For That by Lionel Shriver.
I’ve made the pronouncement so many times, my friends are tired of hearing it: Lionel Shriver is one of the best writers of our generation. Everything about her works is atypical – she can’t be pigeonholed into a “type” of story – whether she’s writing about the risks of motherhood (We Need to Talk About Kevin), the perils of self-righteousness (Game Control), or smug terrorists caught in a cult of personality (The New Republic), Shriver’s expertise is in writing characters as if she doesn’t care whether you like them or not. Most often, you don’t (I despised the narrator of her most recent book, Big Brother, for instance). So Much For That is my favorite of her books – there’s no flinching at the interconnected trauma inflicted by the health care system, multi-layered family dynamics, and the strange jealousies that overtake the characters in this novel.
STAFF PICKS: FICTION
Zadie Smith White teeth
Daniel Alarcon Lost City Radio
Niccolo Ammaniti I'm not scared
Benjamin Anastas The faithful narrative of a pastor's disappearance
Alaa al Aswany Chicago
Alessandro Baricco Ocean sea
Richard Bausch Before, during, after
Matt Bell In the house upon the dirt between the lake & the woods
Naomi Benaron Running the rift
Roberto Bolano Woes of the true policeman
Agota Bozai To err is divine
Mike Bryan The afterword
NoViolet Bulawayo We need new names
A.S. Byatt A whistling woman
Angela Carter The magic toyshop
Anita Desai Fasting, feasting
Charlotte Greig A girl's guide to modern European philosophy
Daniel Handler We are pirates
Kaui Hart Hemmings The possibilities
Sheila Heti How should a person be?
Lindsay Hill Sea of Hooks
Takahashi Hiraide The guest cat
Eva Hoffman Appassionata
Dara Horn A guide for the perplexed
Gil Hornby The hive
Nick Hornby How to be good
Michel Houellebecq The elementary particles
Tom McCarthy Remainder
Leah Stewart The myth of you & me
Jessica Maria Tuccelli Glow
Padma Viswanathan The toss of a lemon
Wendy Wasserstein Elements of style
David Whitehouse Bed
Gene Wilder My French whore
Gabrielle Williams Beatle meets Destiny
Meg Wolitzer The wife
Daniel Woodrell The death of Sweet Mister
Tiphanie Yanique Land of love & drowning
Banana Yoshimoto The lake
Yu Hua Brothers
Alejandro Zambra; translated from the Spanish by Megan McDowell Ways of going home
Jenny Offill Dept. of speculation
D. E. Stevenson; with a new preface by Aline Templeton Miss Buncle's book
Rachel Cusk Outline
Alex Gilvarry From the memoirs of a non-enemy combatant
Paolo Giordano The solitude of prime numbers
Eliza Granville Gretel & the dark
Miranda July The first bad man
Lionel Shriver So much for that
John Boyne This house is haunted
Anita Diamant The Boston girl
Peter Ackroyd The casebook of Victor Frankenstein
Antonia Arslan; translated from the Italian by Geoffrey Brock Skylark Farm
Aryeh Lev Stollman The illuminated soul
Leo Tolstoy; translated from the Russian by Richard Pevear & Larissa Volokhonsky War & peace
Sarah Jamila Stevenson The Latte Rebellion
Tonino Benacquista ; translated by Emily Read Malavita
Michael Gregorio Days of atonement
Joanne Harris Gentlemen & players
Terry Hayes I am Pilgrim: a thriller
Laurie R. King The art of detection
Jon Stock Dirty little secret
Helene Tursten; translated by Katarina E. Tucker The torso
John Brandon A million heavens
Neil Gaiman The ocean at the end of the lane: [a novel]
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie The thing around your neck
Robin Black If I loved you, I would tell you this: stories
Robert Olen Butler A good scent from a strange mountain: stories
Guo Songfen; edited & with an introduction by John Balcom Running mother & other stories
David Guterson Problems with People: Stories
Koji Suzuki; translation, Glynne Walley Birthday
Yoko Tawada; translated & with an afterword by Margaret Mitsutani Facing the bridge
Laurie R. King The god of the hive: a novel of suspense featuring Mary Russell & Sherlock Holmes
Kurt Vonnegut Galapagos
Julia Alvarez How the Garcia girls lost their accents
Margaret Atwood Oryx & Crake
Richard Brautigan In watermelon sugar
Mikhail Afanasʹevich Bulgakov The master & Margarita
Hortense Calisher The novellas of Hortense Calisher
Amy Ephron A cup of tea
William Gaddis J R
Peter Høeg; translated by Barbara Haveland The history of Danish dreams
Laurie R. King The beekeeper's apprentice: or, On the segregation of the queen
Vladimir Nabokov Despair
Carol Olwell; commentary by Judith Lynch Waldhorn A gift to the street
Irvine Welsh Marabou stork nightmares
Jeanette Winterson Art & lies: a piece for three voices & a bawd
