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.

After Visiting Friends by Michael Hainey

In 1970, Chicago newspaperman Robert Hainey died suddenly in the early hours of the morning. He was thirty-five and left behind a wife and two young sons, one of whom was Michael Hainey, then six years old.  Michael’s mother, Barbara, never discussed the death with her sons and curtly cut off all questions. This only heightened Michael’s need to know. When he was older, he found his father’s obituaries in library archives. He read that his father died on a Chicago street far from both his home and his workplace. The phrase “after visiting friends” was used, although the family had no friends in that area of Chicago. The desire to know the facts remained with Michael into adulthood. He became a journalist and eventually used his training to investigate the circumstances of his father’s death. His father’s co-workers claimed to be unable to tell him anything. But that was an answer he was unwilling to accept. He worked for years, searching out old medical records and finding long-ago acquaintances of his father’s until he arrived at the difficult truth. But he considered truth, as difficult as it was, better than ignorance or misinformation. In After Visiting Friends, the author has written a memoir about the difficulty of growing up fatherless in 1970’s Chicago, a time and place when there were no grievance counselors and stoic silence was considered a virtue.

Check out After Visiting Friends @ the library! 

Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen

Claire Waverly, a highly-sought caterer, has an instinctive flair for cooking and more – her food has magical properties. She’s a bit of a solitary recluse, living and working alone in the house where she grew up, and she is perfectly content with her lifestyle. Then her sister, Sydney, returns home to Bascom, North Carolina, after a long absence, and disrupts everything. She has a five-year-old daughter, the niece Claire did not know she had, and she needs shelter from an abusive ex-boyfriend. As the two sisters confront each other and the abuse in their own shared past, Claire is forced to drop her guard, which opens the door for new possibilities.

Sarah Addison Allen describes Garden Spells as Southern-fried magical realism with a love story at its heart. It also has an ornery apple tree that flings prophetic apples at people. If you like Alice Hoffman, you might also like Sarah Addison Allen. Now is a good time to read Garden Spells and her other novels The Sugar Queen, The Girl Who Chased the Moon, and The Peach Keeper. Her new novel Lost Lake, is set to release early in 2014.

Check out Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen @ the library!