The Wind is Not a River by Brian Payton

wind is not a riverA gripping tale of survival and an epic love story in which a husband and wife – separated by the only battle of World War II to take place on American soil – fight to reunite in Alaska’s starkly beautiful Aleutian Islands.

Following the death of his younger brother in Europe, journalist John Easley is determined to find meaning in his loss, to document some part of the growing war that claimed his own flesh and blood. Leaving behind his beloved wife, Helen, after an argument they both regret, he heads north from Seattle to investigate the Japanese invasion of Alaska’s Aleutian Islands, a story censored by the U.S. government. While John is accompanying a crew on a bombing run, his plane is shot down over the island of Attu. He survives only to find himself exposed to a harsh and unforgiving wilderness, known as “the Birthplace of Winds.” There, John must battle the elements, starvation, and his own remorse while evading discovery by the Japanese.

Alone in their home three thousand miles to the south, Helen struggles with the burden of her husband’s disappearance. Caught in extraordinary circumstances, in this new world of the missing, she is forced to reimagine who she is – and what she is capable of doing. Somehow, she must find John and bring him home, a quest that takes her into the farthest reaches of the war, beyond the safety of everything she knows. A powerful, richly atmospheric story of life and death, commitment and sacrifice, The Wind Is Not a River illuminates the fragility of life and the fierce power of love. (description from publisher)

Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan

Margo Lanagan is an artist, and Tender Morsels is a potent story, rich in magic and full of feeling. Liga, with a babe in arms and another on the way – both forced on her in the most unpleasant ways you care to imagine – is rescued from her miserable life by an elemental creature, removed to her Heart’s Desire: her personal heaven, a world that narrowly overlaps her real pre-industrial, vaguely-historical, sort-of-European one. The boundary is firm for a while and Liga raises her daughters in peace and safety, but eventually people start poking their way through – in both directions. What follows is a meditative, surprising, totally unique tale of self discovery, familial and romantic love, magic, fear, and growing up. It’s slow paced and knotted with complex, beautiful language. It’s brilliant and mature and devastating, but uplifting at the same time. Tender Morsels is based on the fairy tale Snow White and Rose Red. It fills in the bones of that story, adding motivation to the characters and a reason to the movements of the plot, which always bends to fit the whims of the magic, and never the other way around.

 “You are a living creature, born to make a real life, however it cracks your heart.”

This book isn’t for everyone: the plot hinges on violence and sexual abuse, so those who are uncomfortable with those topics will be unhappy with this book. It’s written for a teenage audience, but the complexity of the writing and some mature content mean that it’s better suited for older teens or adults who read YA.

Some more novels based on fairy tales:

Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver

flightbehavior

Set in rural Appalachia, Flight Behavior introduces readers to fiery haired Dellaboria Turnbow, a 28-year-old mother of two and wife of sweet, but dull Cub. After getting pregnant at 17, she traded college for rural poverty — helping her in-laws on their sheep farm.  We meet Dellaboria as she makes her way toward an adulterous rendezvous, which she skips after seeing what “looked like the inside of joy” that she interprets as a sign from God.  Her vision turns out to be a sea of Monarch butterflies that arrive in rural Tennessee after changing weather patterns disturb their flight behavior.  The butterflies bring in a cast of characters — from environmental activists to scientists to tourists to journalists — that push Dellaboria to challenge her expectations of herself and those around her.

This book reads as deeply personal, with Kingsolver’s fondness for these characters only matched by the urgency in her description of possible near-future effects of climate change.  Kingsolver lives in rural Appalachia (and has a background in ecology and biology), and you can tell that she looks on her home with a mix of affection and frustration.  She writes Dellaboria and her family and friends with enough respect to make them complicated, thoughtful, intelligent, and flawed.  Readers that enjoyed Kingsolver’s other forays into family and politics in  The Poisonwood Bible and Animal, Vegetable, Miracle will enjoy this beautifully written novel.  

 

 

Every Boy Should Have a Man by Preston L. Allen

every boy should have a manTrying to put into words how I feel about Preston L. Allen’s Every Boy Should Have a Man isn’t easy.  I keep trying to avoid calling the book weird — as not to turn away potential readers — while still imparting the distinct oddness of this novel.  I want to explain how unnerving the novel can be at times, while making sure that I don’t forgot to tell you that the book was also subtly funny and  wickedly smart.  Part science-fiction, part allegory, part fairy tale, and part scripture, Allen has created a work of fiction that isn’t easy to pin down.  Allen deftly employs irony, playing with the reader’s perception of humanity and challenging the way we interact with the earth.

Every Boy Should Have a Man takes place in a world in which Oafs keep “mans” as both pets and as potential food.  In this land, a poor boy Oaf owns three mans throughout his life; something that is typically only a privilege of the wealthy.  Spanning the lifetime of the boy Oaf (and a short time following), the book examines what it means to be civilized through a lens of a long list of divisive subjects including war, racism, global warming, and the ethics of domesticating animals for pets and livestock.  To say that the novel is unique is an understatement, but there is evidence of a wide range of influences from Jack and the Beanstalk and Gulliver’s Travels to Ursula K. Le Guin and Margaret Atwood.

 

Wonder by R.J. Palacio

wonder

Wonder by R.J. Palacio: This book came into my life like a freight train of emotion and steamrolled over everything else I was doing. Auggie is starting fifth grade after being homeschooled for the previous five years: he has extreme facial deformities that make going out in public an almost unbearable trial. Everywhere he goes, people stare at him and whisper to each other. Auggie almost always notices, and wants so very much just to be normal. Inside, he’s as normal as any bright ten year old can be – he adores Star Wars, he likes to play Halo, he’s read all the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books, and Halloween is his favorite holiday (since everyone is wearing a mask, he can too, and goes around just like a truly normal kid).

But Wonder isn’t just about Auggie, though he’s the main character. This is one of the few children’s novels I’ve seen that uses more than one narrator, and it’s surprisingly effective. Palacio doesn’t get carried away trying to make each narrator sound distinct (which would complicate matters for young readers): she uses a similar voice for each of the six viewpoint characters, letting their experiences and their emotions differentiate between them rather than her writing style.

This is a happy-sad book. Some moments will stab at you and make you weep, but overall you’ll feel rewarded and uplifted and most of all lucky: lucky to have met August, a character of such everyday bravery that you won’t soon forget him, lucky not to have the cascade of medical afflictions that have made him so remarkable, and lucky to have this beautiful book as a reminder to always be a little more kind than is necessary.

The Family Fang by Kevin Wilson

Family_Fang-Kevin_WilsonIt is hard enough to be well-adjusted while raised under typical circumstances, but Annie (Child A) and Buster (Child B) spent their childhood as players in their parent’s mischief disguised as art (or is it art disguised as mischief?).  They have spent their adult years attempting to distance themselves from their famous artist parents, but when their new lives start to fall apart, they find themselves back under their parent’s roof.

In his debut novel, The Family Fang, Kevin Wilson introduces us to the Fang family. With disdain for traditional art forms, Caleb and Camille Fang choose unexpected public performance art as their medium and have included their children in all of their greatest pieces. When their children return home, Caleb and Camille plan one final performance, and Annie and Buster are participants whether they want to be or not.  The quirky story (think Wes Anderson meets Arrested Development) is bolstered by flash-back chapters that help the reader better understand the character’s motives and gives clues to the final outcome.  Exceptionally written and a fun read, this book should please fans of Zadie Smith and Karen Russell.

Upcoming Books – June

Here are some of the new releases from popular authors that are coming out in June. Reserve your favorites today!

ides of april

sweet salt airthe heistbad monkeytell meone heart to win

 

 

 

Lindsey Davis – The Ides of April

Barbara Delinsky – Sweet Salt Air

Loren Estleman – The Confessions of Al Capone

Janet Evanovich – The Heist

Carl Hiaasen – Bad Monkey

Lisa Jackson – Tell Me

Johanna Lindsey – One Heart to Win

classified

second honeymoonchoke pointtrains and loversisland girlsrevenge wears prada

 

 

 

Fern Michaels – Classified

James Patterson – Second Honeymoon

Ridley Pearson – Choke Point

Alexander McCall Smith – Trains and Lovers

Nancy Thayer – Island Girls

Andrew Vachss – Afterschock

Lauren Weisberger – Revenge Wears Prada

For more new titles, be sure to check out Upcoming Releases on the Davenport Public Library webpage!

Upcoming Books – May

Here are some of the new releases from popular authors that are coming out in April. Reserve your favorites today!

pirate alleydead ever after bannon brothersflorazero hourinferno

 

 

Dan Brown – Inferno

Stephen Coonts – Pirate Alley

Clive Cussler – Zero Hour

Janet Dailey – Bannon Brothers: Triumph

Richard Paul Evans – A Step of Faith

Gail Godwin – Flora

Charlene Harris – Dead Ever After

delicate truthophelia cutlost daughterssilken prey deeply oddand the mountains echoed

 

 

Khaled Hosseini – And the Mountains Echoed

Dean Koontz – Deeply Odd

John Le Carre – A Delicate Truth

John Lescroart – Ophelia Cut

Mary Monroe – Lost Daughters

John Sandford – Silken Prey

Jeff Shaara – A Chain of Thunder

Fay Weldon – Long Live the King

For more new titles, be sure to check out Upcoming Releases on the Davenport Public Library webpage!

 

Upcoming Books – April

Here are some of the new releases from popular authors that are coming out in April. Reserve your favorites today!

mayas notebook

the hittapestry of fortunesdaddys gone a huntingstarting now

 

 

 

Isabelle Allende – Maya’s Notebook

Kate Atkinson – Life After Life

David Baldacci – The Hit

Elizabeth Berg – Tapestry of Fortunes

Mary Higgins Clark – Daddy’s Gone a Hunting

Debbie Macomber – Starting Now

12th of never

midnight at marble archmystery womanwhiskey beachparis

 

 

 

James Patterson – 12th of Never

Anne Perry – Midnight at Marble Arch

Amanda Quick – The Mystery Woman

Nora Roberts – Whiskey Beach

Edward Rutherfurd – Paris: the Novel

Stuart Woods – Unintended Consequences

For more new titles, be sure to check out Upcoming Releases on the Davenport Public Library webpage!

 

Real Housewives of Historical Fiction

Several recently published books focus on the wives of famous men – after all, who know the triumphs and failings of the great man better than the wife? Get an intimate, behind-the-scenes look of these historical men with these great titles.

aviator's wifeThe Aviator’s Wife by Melanie Benjamin – Despite her own major achievements – she becomes the first licensed female glider pilot in the United States – Anne Morrow Lindbergh is viewed merely as Charles Lindbergh’s wife. The fairy-tale life she once longed for will bring heartbreak and hardships, ultimately pushing her to reconcile her need for love and her desire for independence, and to embrace, at last, life’s infinite possibilities for change and happiness.

 

above all thingsAbove All Things by Tanis Rideout – Blending historical facts with imaginative fiction,  this title interweaves the story of George Mallory’s ill-fated 1924 attempt to be the first man to conquer Mount Everest and a single day in the life of his wife as she waits at home in England for news of his return.

 

 

 

paris wifeThe Paris Wife by Paula McLain – Meeting through mutual friends in Chicago, Hadley is intrigued by brash “beautiful boy” Ernest Hemingway, and after a brief courtship and small wedding, they take off for Paris, where Hadley makes a convincing transformation from an overprotected child to a game and brave young woman who puts up with impoverished living conditions and shattering loneliness to prop up her husband’s career.

 

mrs lincolns dressmakerMrs. Lincoln’s Dressmaker by Jennifer Chiaverini – A stunning account of the friendship that blossomed between Mary Todd Lincoln and her seamstress, Elizabeth “Lizzie” Keckley, a former slave who gained her professional reputation in Washington, D.C. by outfitting the city’s elite. Keckley made history by sewing for First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln within the White House, a trusted witness to many private moments between the President and his wife, two of the most compelling figures in American history.

 

z a novel of zeldaZ : a Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald by Therese Anne Fowler – When beautiful, reckless Southern belle Zelda Sayre meets F. Scott Fitzgerald at a country club dance in 1918, she is seventeen years old and he is a young army lieutenant stationed in Alabama. Before long Zelda has fallen for him despite his unsuitability: Scott isn’t wealthy or prominent or even a Southerner, insists that his writing will bring him both fortune and fame. Zelda optimistically marries him and take the rest as it comes. What comes, here at the dawn of the Jazz Age, is unimagined attention and success and celebrity that will make Scott and Zelda legends in their own time.