We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawyo

Darling is a ten year old girl living in an unnamed African country, probably based on Zimbabwe. She spends her days with a group of friends, children like her who have had their homes, schools and families destroyed by poverty and political violence. Unsupervised, they spend their days playing rough games, vandalizing property and stealing fruit from the trees in a wealthy neighborhood. Despite these activities, the essential innocence of the children is apparent in Darling’s telling of the story. Darling likes to brag to her friends that she will one day be joining her Aunt Fostalina in America and enjoy the all the benefits of life in that country. As a teenager, Darling does join her aunt in “Destroyed,” Michigan but the benefits she envisioned elude her. She misses the companionship of close friends because Americans choose isolation in their homes and apartments in front of televisions and computers. They don’t face hunger, but Americans either gorge themselves into obesity or starve themselves in order to be thin. School is not challenging and available jobs are menial and low-paying. Higher education is financially out of reach. Eventually Darling does make some American friends, but in place of running wild through the countryside, they watch pornography on the internet, drive illegally and hang out at the local mall.   Darling misses the family and friends she left behind in Africa but is unable to return and probably would no longer fit in if she could. Between two cultures, she faces a future of loneliness and dreams denied.  

Check out We Need New Names @ the library!

Glitter and Glue by Kelly Corrigan

Kelly Corrigan is a young woman in her early 20s.  She longs for adventure, for a chance to have interesting new experiences that you can only have when you “leave the house.”   She and her college roommate decide to go on a round-the-world trip beginning in Taipei.  The two are on the road for two months before they run out of cash while in Sydney, Australia.  Corrigan pictured herself working in a bar or restaurant to save up money for the next leg of her trip; not playing nanny to two kids whose mother has recently died of cancer.   And she certainly never expected to travel more than half way around the world to connect with her mother, of all people.  But this book is all about difference between what you imagine and what is.  About what you think is important, and what actually is important.

Corrigan uses a lot of flashbacks to talk about the type of person her mother is.  She makes it very plain that she and her mother have virtually nothing in common.  Her mother is a practical woman.  One who doesn’t spoil her children and makes them follow her rules at all times.  Her father, however, was always a pleasant, outgoing guy who loved to spend time with his kids after work and called his only daughter “Lovie.”  But as her mother liked to remind her daughter, “Your father’s the glitter but I’m the glue.”  Corrigan relishes the opportunity to be living her own adventure away from her mother’s nagging but soon finds that her mother’s voice is the one constantly giving her advice on how to care for the Tanner children.  As the weeks tick by, Corrigan is struck by how the Tanner family learns to survive without a mother.  The harder she tries to help the children, the more she thinks about her own mother and slowly discovers that life’s true adventure is experiencing life within a family. 

Glitter and Glue is a quick read that is a different type of coming of age memoir.  It begins with a young woman’s quest for independence and excitement and ends with her deep feelings about the importance of family.  Glitter and Glue is available everywhereFebruary 4th, 2014.  

Quiet Dell by Jayne Anne Phillips

In 1931, a widow from suburban Chicago, Asta Eicher, began to correspond with a man she met through a lonely hearts club advertisement. Deceived by his promises of marriage and financial security, she agreed to accompany him on a trip to his farm in West Virginia. He later returned without her to fetch her three children. None of them were seen again. But Asta was not as alone as the other victims of this serial killer, Harry Powers. Friends and neighbors became alarmed and alerted the police and press to their disappearance. Emily Thornhill, a journalist for the Chicago Tribune, traveled to Quiet Dell in West Virginia, where the Eichers’ bodies had been found. A woman in what was then considered a man’s profession, she used her intelligence, skill, fortitude and intuition to track down Powers’ true identity as well as report the story for her newspaper. Quiet Dell is based on a true crime, one that author Jayne Anne Phillips heard about from her mother who grew up in the Quiet Dell area. Despite its subject matter, this book is neither a mystery nor thriller. It is rather an examination of the human condition, of love, hate, fear, hope, greed, generosity and loneliness. And as Phillips tells the story, some good comes out of unspeakable evil.

Check out Quiet Dell @ the library!

Humans of New York by Brandon Staton

New York City has a population of over eight million people. Photographer Brandon Stanton has been photographing many of these people since 2010 and now in his book, Humans of New York, he has compiled four hundred of his pictures. Since his aim is to create a photographic census, he has included a wide swath of New Yorkers: wealthy, poor and middle class; young and old; native born and immigrant; the beautiful and not so beautiful; the eccentrically dressed and the elegantly dressed; introverts and extroverts; people doing well and people who are down and out; musicians, dancers, athletes, intellectuals, models and ordinary working people. There are pictures of feet, hands, mustaches, hair and tattoos and lots of dogs. As a reader, you can choose to flip through the book randomly or examine each photograph carefully. Just be sure to find the “Sultan of Wisconsin.”

Check out Humans of New  York @ the library!

You Don't Know Me but You Don't Like Me by Nathan Rabin

It begins, as these things generally do, with a girl.* What else could drive a man to go follow Phish for a summer (or two) as well as dive into the world of the Insane Clown Posse (ICP)? Nathan Rabin does both of these things in part to write this book, but also because of a girl who sent him the ICP video "Miracles" who happened to be a Phish fan.

What follows is an attempt to understand, explore and ultimately see what makes these two groups separate from the mainstream, yet still be profitable acts that can sell out concerts and festivals. From experiencing the Lot at a Phish show, to attending the Gathering of the Juggalo's, Rabin does not shy away from any experience a true follower would have.

You may not know what a Juggalo is, or ever want to experience the Lot at a Phish concert, yet You Don't Know Me makes you see the appeal to both groups. Rabin gives faces to the people who just happen to love the groups Insane Clown Posse and Phish. While they might be two separate tribes, each are a type of family that gives identity to those who may be lost and searching. You Don't Know Me but You Don't Like Me would appeal to fans of Chuck Klosterman, as well as those readers interested in music, as well as Phish and ICP fans.

Check out You Don't Know Me but You don't Like Me Phish, Insane Clown Posse and My Misadventures With Two of Music's Most Maligned Tribes @ the library!

*First line of the book, and the best way to introduce this book.

How to be a Good Wife by Emma Chapman

Marta is a middle-aged housewife living outside a village in a Scandinavian country. She is quite isolated, having no friends or relatives or even memories of her own. She is totally reliant on her husband Hector and his mother for companionship and support. Hector’s mother had given Marta her book “How to be a Good Wife” for a wedding gift, a book that dispenses old-fashioned advice about wifely and home-making obligations and Marta obediently lives her life according to its rules. When her adult son finishes school and moves to the city, Marta surreptitiously stops taking the pills Hector has insisted she take her entire married life. He has told her she is not well but provides no real details and she no longer believes him.  Without the pills, she begins to hallucinate, seeing visions of people, particularly a young woman, lurking in the closet, the bathroom, the bedroom, the kitchen. Clearly these visions are a result of her refusal to take her drugs, but is she experiencing psychotic episodes or repressed memories? Marta becomes convinced that Hector is medicating her in order to manipulate her personality and her memories. But the reader cannot be sure if she is right. Hector may be cool and distant and secretive, but he also seems to genuinely care for Marta’s well-being. In How to be a Good Wife, Emma Chapman has written a psychological mystery that keeps the reader off balance right to the end of the book.

Check out How to be a Good Wife @ the library!

Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh

Have you ever written a letter to your future self, and asked said future self to "write back soon"? Have you ever wondered if your dog was less intelligent than other dogs? Have you ever gotten overly excited by cake, the prospect of a birthday party or a toy that you never quiet used for it's intended purposes? Then you might just be Allie Brosh, author of the popular blog and now book Hyperbole and a Half.

This is a collection of popular posts as well as new material that will have you laughing out loud  The illustrations are just as absurd as the stories, and add that certain touch of humor that anyone who has tried to draw in "paint" is familiar with.If you are already a fan of Brosh's website, there is new material, and even if you've read every post, it's just as funny in print. Fans of offbeat humor, as well as the observer of life's oddities will also enjoy an unusual and humorous take on life found in Hyperbole and a Half.

Check out Hyperbole and a Half @ the library!

Perfect by Racehel Joyce

In 1972, in suburban England, two smart and observant English boys, Byron and James, are somewhat obsessive about perfection. They want things to be right and earnestly try to correct anything that is amiss. But, although they are smart and observant and well-meaning, they are eleven year old children. They do not always understand what they have observed, particularly the dynamics of adult relationships. Consequently, their meddling creates unintended problems, particularly for Byron’s kind mother, Diane, who must strive every moment of her life to conform to the expectations of her exacting and controlling husband. When Diane inadvertently becomes involved with a working class family in the area, the boys perceive each minor mishap as a catastrophe. Their well-meaning meddling creates chaos that consumes Diane’s life. In an alternate story occurring in present day England, a middle-aged man, Jim, struggles to adapt to independence after the mental hospital in which he has spent his entire adult life is closed. Unlike other patients, Jim has no family to go to and must learn to cope on his own. When some co-workers at his new job befriend him, he finds himself with an unorthodox support group that helps him navigate the complexities of everyday life. The two stories eventually connect in the surprising conclusion of Perfect. Rachel Joyce is the author of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, and in Perfect she has created another quirky, character-driven novel.

Check out Perfect @ the library!

Snobs by Julian Fellowes

Many of you probably know that Julian Fellowes writes for the beloved English period drama Downton Abbey.  You may even know that he won an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for the film Gosford Park in 2002.  But did you know that he used to be an actor?  And that he's also a novelist?  His 2004 novel simply titled Snobs takes a look into a modern day Downton Abbey-type manor house.  But lest you think this book is all "Upstairs vs. Downstairs," let me assure you that it is not.  It is really about how the class system is very much alive and well in England to this day.  And how the aristocracy treats everyone else.  It is a comedy of manners- or perhaps, a lack-there-of.

Snobs is written mostly from the point of view of an actor who was born an aristocrat, and he tells the tale of Edith Lavery and the Broughtons, who hold the seat as to the Marquess of Uckfield.  Edith, who was brought up in an upper-middle class household by a mother who longed to be debutante, is a very attractive blonde who agrees to go along with her mother's plans for coming out and taking an active roll in London's debutante season.  Nearly nine years later, Edith is working a boring desk job and hasn't landed a rich husband- or any husband at all.  While visiting the friends in Sussex, Edith, our narrator and their host Isabel Easton, decide to take a public tour of the nearby manor house Broughton Hall.  The group run into one of the members of the family while on the tour and Charles Broughton (heir to the Marquess and one of England's most eligible bachelors) takes a shine to Edith.  Months later, the narrator and Edith are both invited to join the Eastons at Ascot in London.  The group run into Charles again and the Earl manages to convince Edith to join him for tea.  The rest, as they say, is history.

Charles eventually proposes to Edith and being the pragmatic individual that she is, Edith accepts.  But life as an Earl's wife is hardly what she imagined it would be.  First, there's Charles mother, Lady Uckfield (known affectionately by the ridiculous nickname "Googie"). Lady Uckfield probably hates Edith with a venomous passion but seeing as manners and decorum dictate that she act as if she love Edith, never shows her true feelings.  Googie knows that Edith is not a true aristocrat and that is the one failing that Edith can never make up no matter how hard she tries.  Edith is, and always will be, an outsider.  Then there's the fact that Charles, while a good, loyal, man is rather...boring.  And though Edith plays her part and immerses herself in running flower shows, working with local charities and enjoying life in a grand house, she finds herself to be very unhappy.

Almost a year into their marriage, the Broughtons decide to let a production company film a period drama on the estate.  Our narrator secures a role in the production and is there to witness Edith finally come off the rails.  Throwing all caution and common sense to the wind, Edith begins an affair with the film's handsome leading man, leaves Charles and sets up shop with her new lover in London.  Our poor narrator is then forced to become a sort of go-between for Edith and the Broughton family.

Snobs is a novel about the less glamorous side of the English elite and can be practically summed up in the following quote:

"The English, of all classes as it happens, are addicted to exclusivity.  Leave three Englishmen in a room and they will invent a rule that prevents a fourth joining them."

A delightful read for any who enjoy English history and culture.