Fiction to Watch This Week
Below are a few titles that may be sleepers and, since holds are not heavy, available for RA.
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This book has come up often on GalleyChat. Virginia Stanley, head of library marketing at HarperCollins, is a passionate advocate. I agree with her assessment that it’s “a wonderful portrait of a marriage.” Given its setting, a community of houses on pilings in the Biscayne Bay, it’s no surprise that thee Miami Herald is the first newspaper to review it, summing it up perfectly, “Daniel renders Frances and her family so authentically, their dynamics and quirks come to feel utterly familiar and endearing. Deceptively placid Stiltsville reminds us, like Frances, to appreciate the small but potent magic in everyday life.”
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A favorite of Carol Fitzgerald at the BookReporter.com who said in her newsletter back in April that it reminds her of how much she enjoyed reading Herman Wouk’s Marjorie Morningstar. It’s about a man who, “spends his life trying to escape a past that he is not proud of as he infiltrates the most elite social circles. It takes place over four decades, and the story is rich and full of detail.”
The author supported herself as a shoe shine girl on Wall Street while beginning her novel.
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Tantor Audio; UNABR; Read by Renée Raudman; On Sale Date: 08/03/2010
Trade; 9781400118366; 8 Audio CDs; $34.99
Library; 9781400148363; 8 Audio CDs; $83.99
MP3; 9781400168361; 1 MP3-CD; $24.99
I spent the weekend completely absorbed by this O, the Oprah Magazine and indie next pick. It’s told through the eyes of various family members during their 2007 Thanksgiving celebration in Connecticut, a great device for exploring the conflicts which lie beneath the slightly rippling surface. Adding suspense are chapters about two black teenagers from the Stamford projects, planning a break-in. The book raises issues about financial privilege, the treatment of war veterans, and feminism, making it ripe for book discussions. On the Today Show‘s “Hot Summer Reads” segment in June, Justin Cronin called Vanderbes “one of our great underrated authors…she’ll have many new fans with this book.”
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