Fly Me by Daniel Riley

Title: Fly Me

Author: Daniel Riley

Genre: Fiction

Fly Me is, at its heart, a novel about flight attendants in 1970s southern California. Weaving through the novel are threads of love, family, beaches, parties, drugs, and work. Fly Me will transport you to Southern California with its glamour and glitz, but also take you across the country and overseas as its protagonist, Suzy, hits the skies. This story's haze will suck you in and leave you wanting a sequel.

- Jamie

Check out Fly Me @ the library.

Be Frank With Me by Julia Claiborne Johnson

Alice Whitley is a twenty-something administrative assistant to a publisher in New York. Her boss sends her to Bel Aire to make sure that reclusive literary legend M.M. (Mimi) Banning finishes the draft of her first new book in over twenty-years. What Alice doesn't realize is that she'll be acting as a full-time companion to Mimi's eccentric nine year old son Frank.

Frank isn't like other nine year old boys. He has a penchant for dressing as a 1930s movie star, often right down to the top hat, monocle, and pocket square. With a higher IQ than most adults, Frank displays characteristics of a child on the Autism spectrum, but that doesn't stop Alice from loving Frank as if he were her own.

Full of love and classic movie quotes, Be Frank With Me is sure to tug on your heartstrings and make you laugh at the same time.

Ana of California by Andi Teran

Fifteen year old Ana, from East Los Angeles, has been in and out of foster families for most of her life. With only the option of a group home left, Ana and her social worker explore the possible options of emancipation, but only after Ana successfully completes a semester long farm trainee program. Willing to try just about anything, Ana agrees to being placed on the Garber family farm in Hadley, California.

Emmett and Abbie Garber are a brother and sister duo that have been running the family farm; however, times have been tough in more ways than just financial. Abbie makes the decision to take part in the farm program that brings Ana to them. Unlike Emmett, Abbie is thrilled to have Ana living with them, appreciating both Ana’s hard work and her positive presence.

Ana begins to acclimate to life in Hadley. Ana and Abbie bond over art, music, and life in general. While Emmett is a bit more gruff in his interactions with Ana, it's easy to see that she's beginning to create a soft spot in his heart. Ana's found a friend in the eccentric Rye Moon and has developed a crush on bad boy Cole Brannan. Tangled in small town secrets and gossip there are reasons Emmett and Abbie refuse Ana to see Cole. With setbacks along the way, Ana's biggest concern is being sent back to life in a group home.

Ana of California loosely emulates L.M. Montgomery's classic Anne of Green Gables series, but spinning it with a modern twist. For those who liked the classic L.M. Montgomery books, this will be an interesting read as you draw connections from Emmett and Annie to Matthew and Marilla, Cole to Gilbert Blythe, the nosy Minerva Shaw to Avonlea's Rachel Lynde. Avid Anne of Green Gables fans are sure to see the humor in this new take.

Wolf In White Van by John Darnielle

The first novel by the lead singer of the band The Mountain Goats is a strange and wonderful thing.  Clocking in at a scant 207 pages, Darnielle takes us into the mind of a man who, years earlier, had attempted to commit suicide.  The novel moves in reverse and we learn much about Sean Philips the young man from his reflections as an adult.  As teenage Sean lays recovering in the hospital, the idea for a role-playing game begins to take shape in his head.  In the game, Trace Italian, players must choose based on provided “moves” how best to attempt to make it through a post-apocalyptic world into the safety of the Trace fortress itself.  Players mail in their “moves” or decisions and Sean mails back their next options.  His relationships with the players is professional but a few become heavily invested in the game.  Sean gets to know two teen players, Lance and Carrie who play Trace Italian as a team.  Tragedy strikes and somehow Sean has charges brought against him. Sean has never met the players in person, so how can he be responsible for anything that happened to them?  The result is a book that winds in and out and back upon itself as bits of Sean’s teenage self are glimpsed in these new teens. 

Darnielle is a great writer.  Reading a novel told by an unreliable narrator can often be a frustrating task, but Darnielle makes it quite enjoyable.  This is a book that has many layers and since it is short, can easily be read again for more nuance and texture.

Check out a copy of John Darnielle’s Wolf In White Van from the library today!

Model Home by Eric Puchner

When Warren Ziller moved his family from Wisconsin to the West Coast, he hoped to exchange a comfortable Midwestern life for an even better one in California.  But his wife and children adapted to life in Southern California with varying degrees of success. Seventeen year old Dustin fits right in. He becomes that stereotype of a 1980’s California adolescent: a handsome surfer and garage-band musician. But his brother and sister, eleven year old Jonas and sixteen year old Lyle, don’t fit in quite so well. Warren’s wife, Camille, works for a small film company and tries to maintain a normal family life. But she worries that her husband is keeping a secret from her and that secret is an affair. Warren is keeping a secret from his entire family, but it is not an affair.  His secret is possibly even more destructive. He has risked and lost all the family’s wealth on a failed housing development in the desert. While the family struggles with their problems, big and small, an actual tragedy occurs: their gated-community house explodes and Dustin is badly injured and disfigured. Within a year they are the only family living in Warren’s failed development, forced there by poverty. Eventually they adjust to their new circumstances, but the family cannot hold together. Model Home by Eric Puchner shows a family broken by mistakes and bad luck.  It can happen to anyone.

Check out Model Home @ the library!