Book Description:
A. J. Fikry's life is
not at all what he expected it to be. His wife has died, his bookstore
is experiencing the worst sales in its history, and now his prized
possession, a rare collection of Poe poems, has been stolen. Slowly but
surely, he is isolating himself from all the people of Alice Island-from
Lambiase, the well-intentioned police officer who's always felt kindly
toward Fikry; from Ismay, his sister-in-law who is hell-bent on saving
him from his dreary self; from Amelia, the lovely and idealistic (if
eccentric) Knightley Press sales rep who keeps on taking the ferry over
to Alice Island, refusing to be deterred by A.J.'s bad attitude. Even
the books in his store have stopped holding pleasure for him. These
days, A.J. can only see them as a sign of a world that is changing too
rapidly.
And then a mysterious package appears at the bookstore.
It's a small package, but large in weight. It's that unexpected arrival
that gives A. J. Fikry the opportunity to make his life over, the
ability to see everything anew. It doesn't take long for the locals to
notice the change overcoming A.J.; or for that determined sales rep,
Amelia, to see her curmudgeonly client in a new light; or for the wisdom
of all those books to become again the lifeblood of A.J.'s world; or
for everything to twist again into a version of his life that he didn't
see coming. As surprising as it is moving, The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry is an unforgettable tale of transformation and second chances, an irresistible affirmation of why we read, and why we love.
This book is the perfect choice for any book lover, a celebration of all things bookish and quirky. It's fun and funny, full of quotes you'll want to put on mugs, but it's also very touching in some places. The love story is sweet, but also heartfelt. While the plot appears random at first, bordering on magical realism, the ending brings all the little plot threads together... and the books. The literature references are many and varied, always perfect for the occasion. Plus, A.J. Fikry is the NSL Book Club's pick for August! Click here for more information.
Book Description:
As the junior wizard sentinel for New Orleans, Drusilla Jaco’s job involves a lot more potion-mixing and pixie-retrieval than sniffing out supernatural bad guys like rogue vampires and lethal were-creatures. DJ's boss and mentor, Gerald St. Simon, is the wizard tasked with protecting the city from anyone or anything that might slip over from the preternatural beyond. Then Hurricane Katrina hammers New Orleans’ fragile levees, unleashing more than just dangerous flood waters.
While winds howled and Lake Pontchartrain surged, the borders between the modern city and the Otherworld crumbled. Now, the undead and the restless are roaming the Big Easy, and a serial killer with ties to voodoo is murdering the soldiers sent to help the city recover. To make it worse, Gerry has gone missing, the wizards’ Elders have assigned a grenade-toting assassin as DJ’s new partner, and undead pirate Jean Lafitte wants to make her walk his plank.
Local author Suzanne Johnson's "Sookie Stackhouse meets Harry Dresden" series is a perfect choice for urban fantasy fans. Johnson uses the New Orleans setting to great effect, and she's created a realistically complex fantasy world around it. The heroine is more scientifically-minded than most heroines, but she's still fun and sassy. The writing is a little choppy in this first book -- the mystery elements can be overly obvious, and the romantic subplots unwieldy. Still, it's a strong and atmospheric first book, and in the sequel (River Road), those problems are solved!
Book Description:
2009: When Julia Conley
hears that she has inherited a house outside London from an unknown
great-aunt, she assumes it’s a joke. She hasn't been back to England
since the car crash that killed her mother when she was six, an event
she remembers only in her nightmares. But when she arrives at Herne Hill
to sort through the house—with the help of her cousin Natasha and sexy
antiques dealer Nicholas—bits of memory start coming back. And then she
discovers a pre-Raphaelite painting, hidden behind the false back of an
old wardrobe, and a window onto the house's shrouded history begins to
open...
1849: Imogen Grantham has spent nearly a decade trapped in a
loveless marriage to a much older man, Arthur. The one bright spot in
her life is her step-daughter, Evie, a high-spirited sixteen year old
who is the closest thing to a child Imogen hopes to have. But everything
changes when three young painters come to see Arthur's collection of
medieval artifacts, including Gavin Thorne, a quiet man with the
unsettling ability to read Imogen better than anyone ever has. When
Arthur hires Gavin to paint her portrait, none of them can guess what
the hands of fate have set in motion.
Lauren Willig is most known for her Secret History of the Pink Carnation books; a comedic historical-romance series based around Napoleonic-era spies. However, in recent years she's been branching out into standalone novels with much different tones. That Summer still has its share of humor and romance, but on the whole it's a more serious book. It's intense, but it's not a whirlwind of
overwrought emotions. Slimmer than the Pink Carnation books, yet with a new layer of complexity. There's something about it that's calculating, which suits its content very well. It's
comprehensively researched, you get dropped right into the world of
pre-Raphaelite artists, but Willig never allows the research to
overwhelm
the story itself. The
characterization is perfect the whole way through, and you'll still be
thinking about these people long after their stories are over... Be
warned, the ending is shocking. Not everything turns out well.
Released last June, That Summer isn't your typical light beach read, but it's still a great choice heading into the summer months!
Book Description:
In an unnamed Middle Eastern security state, a young Arab-Indian hacker shields his clients—dissidents, outlaws, Islamists, and other watched groups—from surveillance and tries to stay out of trouble. He goes by Alif—the first letter of the Arabic alphabet, and a convenient handle to hide behind. The aristocratic woman Alif loves has jilted him for a prince chosen by her parents, and his computer has just been breached by the State’s electronic security force, putting his clients and his own neck on the line. Then it turns out his lover’s new fiancé is the head of State security, and his henchmen come after Alif, driving him underground. When Alif discovers The Thousand and One Days, the secret book of the jinn, which both he and the Hand suspect may unleash a new level of information technology, the stakes are raised and Alif must struggle for life or death, aided by forces seen and unseen. With shades of Neal Stephenson, Neil Gaiman, Philip Pullman, and The Thousand and One Nights, Alif the Unseen is a tour de force debut—a sophisticated melting pot of ideas, philosophy, religion, technology and spirituality smuggled inside an irresistible page-turner.
Alif the Unseen is a brilliant debut novel published in 2012. The setting is engrossing, drawing on Middle Eastern lore and combining it with the world of modern computer hackers. That level of creativity makes for a satisfying story on many levels, with enough personal drama for literary fiction and enough magic for a fantasy novel. Aladdin's genie even makes a cameo! The characters are wonderfully varied -- petty, noble, cowardly, and one-of-a-kind -- and each person is fully realized. Wilson avoids stereotypes by including plenty of female characters and people from many different backgrounds, with many different levels of piety. You can find Alif the Unseen in the adult fiction section, but it would hold equal appeal in YA!
