Fabulous Fiction First #592

Tue, 04/12/2016 - 6:30pm by muffy

Spill Simmer Falter Wither * * by Sara Baume, the winner of the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature; short-listed for the Costa First Novel Award; and also a March 2016 Indie Next Pick, is praised as "unbearably poignant and beautifully told... (a) captivating story follows, over the course of four seasons (echoed in the title), a misfit man who adopts a misfit dog."

57 year-old Ray lives alone at the edge of the Irish sea. Once a week on Tuesdays, he goes into the village for supplies, and it is on one of these trips in the spring that he saw a notice about a dog up for adoption. With a back story equally heartbreaking, Ray and One-Eye (injured severely while badger baiting), forge an unlikely connection.

With each other as company, they venture out and explore their surroundings, and their small, seaside town suddenly takes note of them. A mishap on the beach brings the dog warden to their door. Desperately and ill-prepared, the pair takes to the road as autumn turns into winter.

"Fans of Garth Stein’s The Art of Racing in the Rain (2008) will adore this glimpse inside a very unusual relationship between two very unusual creatures."

Suggested read-alikes: Mirian Toews' All My Puny Sorrows - "rich with deep human feeling and compassion..., (where) observations are knife-sharp"; and All the Birds, Singing by Evie Wyld, the story of an isolated life in all its struggles and stubborn hopes, unexpected beauty, and hard-won redemption.

* * = 2 starred reviews

PEN/ESPN SPORTS AWARD

Fri, 03/04/2016 - 3:05pm by iralax

Scott Ellsworth has just won the PEN/ESPN Award for Literary Sports Writing 2016 for his book, The Secret Game: A Wartime Story of Courage, Change, and Basketball’s Lost Triumph. It is the story of a 1944 illegal basketball game between the North Carolina College for Negroes in Durham and the Duke University Medical School team. Congratulations to Ellsworth, who is a lecturer in the UM Department of Afroamerican and African Studies.

Oscar Winners!

Mon, 02/29/2016 - 10:15am by manz

Last night at the star-studded 88th annual Academy Awards, hosted by funny man Chris Rock, Oscar winners were announced for the best in film for the past year. Top honors went to Spotlight – Best Picture, Inside Out – Animated Feature Film, Amy – Documentary Feature, and Son of Saul – Foreign Language Film. Mad Max: Fury Road was the big winner with six Oscars in a variety of technical categories.

Individual Oscars went to Leonardo DiCaprio for Actor in a Leading Role in the The Revenant, Brie Larson for Actress in a Leading Role in Room, Mark Rylance for Actor in a Supporting Role in Bridge of Spies, Alicia Vikander for Best Actress in a Supporting Role in The Danish Girl, and Alejandro G. Iñárritu for Directing in The Revenant. (He also won Best Director last year for Birdman.)

Be sure to check out the complete list of winners.

Fabulous Fiction Firsts #584

Sun, 02/28/2016 - 6:46pm by muffy

A much anticipated debut - The Girl in the Red Coat * * * by Kate Hamer was shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award and was a Dagger Award finalist. (Watch Kate speak on YouTube about the nomination with other finalists such as Kate Atkinson; Michael Robotham; and Robert Galbraith).

On a fog-shrouded day in Norfolk, 8 year-old Carmel Wakeford, who has a tendency to wander, is separated from her mother Beth at a storytelling festival. When a man tells her that he is her estranged grandfather, and her mother has been taken to a near-by hospital, she takes his hand in relief.

Through the years, in alternating chapters, the story unfolds as Beth struggles to hold on to hope and Carmel fights to remember her true identity while being held captive by a ragtag bunch of self-described miracle workers.

"Hamer's spectacular debut skillfully chronicles the nightmare of child abduction. Telling the story in two remarkable voices, with Beth's chapters unfurling in past tense and Carmel's in present tense, the author weaves a page-turning narrative. The trajectories of the novel's two leads—through despair, hope, and redemption—are believable and nuanced, resulting in a morally complex, haunting read."

Read-alikes: The 2007 Costa First Novel Award-winner What Was Lost by Catherine O'Flynn; The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman; and The Year of Fog by Michelle Richmond

* * * = 3 starred reviews

Fabulous Fiction Firsts #583

Tue, 02/23/2016 - 8:21pm by muffy

Winner of the 2011 prestigious Campiello Prize Not All Bastards Are From Vienna * marks the English debut of Venetian poet/children's author Andrea Molesini, and is inspired by his great-aunt’s wartime journals.

Reminiscent of Atonement (in its examination of class conflict and coming-of-age against a war-torn backdrop), Captain Corelli's Mandolin and Birdsong, the narrative unfolds in the autumn of 1917 in Refrontolo—a small community north of Venice, ravished by the bitter fighting between the Germans/Austrians and the Italians.

Villa Spada, is home to 17 year-old Paolo, recently orphaned; his eccentric grandparents; headstrong aunt; and a loyal staff, including the enigmatic estate steward Renato, a recent arrival with murky references. Times are hard, food is short, and life is perilous, but it does not deter family members from joining the resistance effort, right under the noses of the occupying German troops. When an aristocratic Austrian major takes possession of the villa, the Spadas’ resistance activities become even more vulnerable to betrayal.

Combining a comedic touch and vivid characterizations, "this is a powerful tale of endurance, sacrifice, love, and war’s suffering and cruelty."

* = starred review

Fabulous Fiction Firsts #582

Thu, 02/18/2016 - 7:46pm by muffy

Taking the title from a line in "Kath," a 1991 song by indie rock band Sebadoh - Every Anxious Wave by Mo Daviau, is a "highly original debut -- a wild romp of a love story across time and a soulful interweaving of science and music -- this is The Time Traveler's Wife meets Where'd You Go Bernadette."

Karl Bender, washed-up former guitarist for an indie rock band now owns and runs The Dictator's Club, a bar in Chicago's Buck Town. He finds a wormhole in his closet while searching for his boot, and with his best (and only) friend Wayne, develops a business selling access to people who want to travel back in time to hear their favorite bands. Then Wayne insists on traveling back to December 8, 1980, Manhattan in order to rewrite history, but Karl's slip on the keyboard sends him back to 980, 500 years before the first boatload of Dutch colonists landed on the Island of Mannahatta.

Desperate to get Wayne back to the present, Karl enlists the help of Lena Geduldig, a prickly, overweight astrophysicist at Northwestern. Their connection is immediate. While they work on getting Wayne back, they fall in love - with time travel, and each other. Unable to resist meddling with the past, Karl and Lena bounce around time, altering the course of their lives. Then out-of-the-blue Karl gets an email from his future self, sending him forward in time to try to save someone dear to them.

"Daviau is ferocious with her sad and flawed characters, whose pain propels the story through several iterations... A dark and funny love story that, like its main characters, is much sweeter than it appears on the surface."

The author (Smith,Helen Zell Writers' Program at UM), a former librarian and storyteller, now lives in Portland, Oregon. An earlier version of this novel won an Hopwood Award in 2012. You might want to check out the NPR book review also.

The Reading List 2016

Fri, 01/15/2016 - 11:56am by muffy

At the ALA Midwinter in Boston, a committee of 8 librarians announced this past year's best of the best in genre fiction - the Reading List. The winner in each of the 8 categories are:

Adrenaline
Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter
Three sisters are driven apart in the aftermath of one’s disappearance. When a violent crime occurs new fears arise and relationships shift again. Long term effects of family grief are exploited by the compulsions of a psychopath. Brutal and disturbing, this is ultimately a story of love and empowerment.

Fantasy
Uprooted by Naomi Novik
In this enchanted old-world fable, villagers threatened by a blighted magical wood allow the resident wizard to take one daughter into servitude for ten years. When he chooses klutzy Agnieszka, she faces an unexpected future and confronts the dangers of a wider political world and the roots of magical corruption.

Historical Fiction
Crooked Heart by Lissa Evans
Raised by his eccentric ex-suffragette godmother to be a free-thinker, young Noel is thrown into chaos when the London Blitz forces him into the home of a scam artist loyal only to her layabout son. Thrust together, the two oddballs are forced to find a way through the wartime landscape.

Horror
The Fifth House of the Heart by Ben Tripp
Flamboyant antiques dealer Asmodeus “Sax” Saxon-Tang made his fortune by accidentally killing a vampire with a horde of treasure. To protect the only person he loves, his niece, he’s forced to return to old Europe to assemble an eccentric team of vampire hunters in this gory, witty caper.

Mystery
The Long and Faraway Gone by Lou Berney
Cold cases cast a twenty-five year shadow of grief and guilt on the lives of two survivors of traumatic teenage crimes. New leads and new cases bring them back to Oklahoma City as past and present intersect in this poignant and compelling story of lives forever changed by random violence.

Romance
Taking the Heat by Victoria Dahl
Sassy relationship advice columnist Veronica overcomes her commitment anxiety and gains confidence with the help of mountain-climbing librarian Gabe. Steamy romance evolves into a strong relationship as they scale a mountain of family conflicts and share secrets against a majestic Jackson Hole backdrop.

Science Fiction
Golden Son by Pierce Brown
Insurgent Darrow inveigled his way into high Gold society in 2014’s Red Rising. In this dramatic, high octane follow-up, conflicting loyalties and his own ambitions lure Darrow into an untenable web of deceptions. Bolstered by new alliances, Darrow battles to overthrow corrupt lunar leadership and bring freedom to Mars.

Women’s Fiction
Re Jane by Patricia Park
Anxious to escape the strict upbringing of her uncle’s Flushing grocery, Korean-American Jane accepts an au pair position in the pretentious household of two Brooklyn academics and their adopted Chinese daughter. Park has created a bright comic story of falling in love, finding strength, and living on one’s own terms.

Check out the complete list for a shortlist of honor titles in each category.

Coretta Scott King 2016 Awards Announced!

Tue, 01/12/2016 - 3:50pm by krayla

The news is out! At its Midwinter Conference, the American Library Association named several recipients of the Coretta Scott King Awards! These awards are given annually to African American authors, illustrators, and community workers who "demonstrate an appreciation of African American culture and universal human values" in honor of Coretta Scott King and Martin Luther King, Jr. Read on to find out who won this year!

Rita Williams-Garcia won the Coretta Scott King Author Award this year for her newest title, Gone Crazy in Alabama. This award-winning novel continues the series that started with One Crazy Summer, featuring the Gaither sisters. When they visit family in rural Alabama for the summer and are met with catastrophe, the Gaithers have to forget their family feuds and work together.

Bryan Collier won the Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award for Trombone Shorty, an inspiring autobiography of jazz musician Troy Andrews. School Library Journal adds that, "Collier's beautiful watercolor, pen-and-ink, and collage artwork picks up the rhythm and pace of Andrew's storytelling, creating an accompaniment full of motion and color. Each spread offers a visual panoply of texture, perspective, and angles, highlighting the people and the instruments."

Ronald L. Smith received the John Steptoe New Talent Author Award for his first novel, Hoodoo. This is the suspense-filled, supernatural story of Hoodoo, a boy named for his family's practice of folk magic. Although he can't perform one spell, a creepy man is asking around town for him. The mysterious man seems to have a connection with Hoodoo's deceased father and will only leave him alone if lent a hand.

Ekua Holmes was awarded the John Steptoe New Talent Illustrator Award for Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer, Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement. The vibrant and varied illustrations highlight the work and perseverance of Fannie Lou Hamer, a hero of the Civil Rights Movement. Booklist supports that "...the illustrations are filled with light, texture, movement, and darkness. They are both abstract and realistic, brilliantly juxtaposing gentle floral motifs with protest placards and Fannie Lou Hamer's face in bold relief."

Last, but certainly not least, Jerry Pinkney received the Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement! Pinkney is well-known for his Caldecott Award-winning title, The Lion & the Mouse. According to ALA's press release, "Jerry Pinkney’s illustrations detail a world that resonates with readers long after the pages of a book have been turned. His five decades of work offer compelling artistic insights into the legacy of African American storytelling and experience."

For even more winning titles, authors, and illustrators, check out AADL's list of all Award Winners!

Printz Award Winners Announced!

Tue, 01/12/2016 - 1:16pm by manz

Yesterday many awards were given for excellence in books, video and audio books for children and young adults at the American Library Association’s Youth Media Awards. One the biggies given annually is the Michael L. Printz Award, which is given for excellence in literature written for young adults. This year there was one Printz Award Winner and two Printz Honors named, so if you’re looking for some new teen fiction, here are a few worth a glance.

Winner:
Bone Gap by Laura Ruby – Eighteen year old Finn, an outsider in his quiet Midwestern town, is the only witness to the abduction of town favorite Roza, but his inability to distinguish between faces makes it difficult for him to help with the investigation, and subjects him to even more ridicule and bullying.

Honors:
Out of Darkness by Ashley Hope Pérez – Loosely based on a school explosion that took place in New London, Texas in 1937, this is the story of two teenagers: Naomi, who is Mexican, and Wash, who is black, and their dealings with race, segregation, love, and the forces that destroy people.

The Ghosts of Heaven by Marcus Sedgwick – Four linked stories of discovery and survival begin with a Paleolithic-era girl who makes the first written signs, continue with Anna, who people call a witch, then a mad twentieth-century poet who watches the ocean knowing the horrors it hides, and concluding with an astronaut on the first spaceship from Earth sent to colonize another world.

Looking for more Printz winners? Here’s a list of the winners and the honors that have been awarded since 2000.

Bowie Lives On

Tue, 01/12/2016 - 12:13pm by lucroe

What can one say about such an influential icon as David Bowie that has not been said already? He was never one to be pigeon holed into one look or one style of music. From the '60s hippie days of Space Oddity with the hit “Major Tom” to the glam rock 70s of Ziggy Stardust, Bowie was forever changing and adding new personas. Following Ziggy were such blockbusters as Aladdin Sane (“Panic In Detroit” was on this one), Diamond Dogs with its soul/funk beats and the break out hit, “Rebel, Rebel”, then Young Americans with the popular song, “Fame”, co-written with John Lennon which became his first number one hit in the U.S.

In the late '70s he changed his persona again into the elegant Thin White Duke with the album Station to Station and another memorable tune, “Golden Years”. Ahead of his time in so many ways, he experimented with electronic, ambient, and world music alongside Brian Eno to create the experimental Berlin Trilogy of albums: Low, Heroes, and Lodger. Artists, like Philip Glass would be highly influenced by his work during this time.

With the '80s came the album Scary Monsters which some consider to be his last great album with hits such as “Ashes to Ashes” and “Fashion”. But then came the hit album, Let’s Dance, with Chic guitarist, Nile Rodgers, producing and the legendary Stevie Ray Vaughn on lead guitar. On this one album Bowie had several memorable songs including “China Girl” and “Modern Love”, and once again he led the way but this time in music videos especially for the title track. Next was Tonight with the hit, “Blue Jean” which garnered him a Grammy for best music video. Lesser albums like Never Let Me Down rounded out his '80s releases. He then had a short-lived rock quartet called Tin Machine at the start of the '90s. After they disbanded, he returned to solo work starting with Black Tie, White Noise but none of them quite lived up to the commercial success of previous albums. However his last album, Blackstar was just released, and has earned rave reviews. See music videos for the album here. If you are looking for a best of album check out Best of Bowie which includes the single “Under Pressure”.

Bowie was also a noted actor on stage as the Elephant Man and in some unique movie roles such as a vampire in the Hunger, an alien in the Man Who Fell To Earth, a prisoner of war in , king of the goblins in Jim Henson’s the Labyrinth, and portraying Andy Warhol in Basquiat. He produced albums as well like those for his good friend Iggy Pop (the Idiot), and was a well-respected post-modernist painter. This of course was a brief overview of his most notable works and to read more thoroughly about him there are plenty of websites and books to fill the gaps.

If you want to remember him on twitter type #bowieliveson or post a comment below. For me, the song "Blue Jean" still gets me dancing. You can watch the video to it here. He definitely has the cheekbones to pull off that makeup!
RIP Bowie