Book Light ON "The Good Lord Bird"

The Good Lord Bird by James McBride

Ahhh, the panic-stricken moment when you realize you haven't read the winner of one of the highest writing awards around... If you're wondering how quickly I put The Good Lord Bird on hold after its big win was announced, the answer is "within a minute." I had heard the buzz mounting around McBride's pre-Civil War masterpiece for months, so when I finally tasted the honey, I wondered why I had waited so long, until I had been persuaded by a little golden sticker, to enjoy this amazing treat.

In The Good Lord Bird, Henry Shackleford, a slave boy, tells the story of how he was suddenly freed (or stolen, as he first puts it) after a saloon brawl between his master and famous abolitionist John Brown, who mistakes the small, young boy for a girl and nicknames him...er, her Onion. Or at least it's kind of about that. Though he constantly announces that he meant to run away from John Brown, Onion's story is so tightly linked with that of his liberator that it gradually becomes more and more about the man who freed him. Brown, a genuine historical figure, firmly believed that the best and only way to do away with slavery was through battle, not through impassioned, empty words. Furthermore, as a very religious man, he believed that his violent insurrection against "the infernal institution" was ordained by a higher power. His battle plans were chaotic, as often his band of warriors randomly ran into rebels or federal agents and fighting broke out, but in Onion's narration, we see that Brown was undeniably an effective and charismatic leader of his men. His battles broke out as often and randomly as his prayers, which through Onion's descriptions offer giggles as well as a true sense of awe at Brown's commitment to his cause. John Brown of course planned and led the ill-fated run on Harper's Ferry, so following history to a beautifully researched T, we know there is no other way for this novel to end than Brown's inevitable death. Despite that and the grief-fraught background of the full-swing slavery south, The Good Lord Bird was never a depressing read. Quite the contrary: With Onion's constant good humor and Brown's determined attitude, it was a really fun read, and McBride ends this novel on such a glowing, resounding, uplifting note that I have thought about it for days and days after finishing it.

With years of research, a knack for the vernacular, and an ability to infuse a terribly painful time in human history with joy and humor, McBride has created a winner in so many senses of the word, a novel sure to become an enduring classic in the years to come. Keep your eyes open for the February 13, 2014 release of this title on audiobook—it's sure to offer an excellent aural experience.

-Abby, Reference Librarian

Flaherty-Dunnan 2013 Short List

Awarded by the Center for Fiction, The Flaherty-Dunnan Prize recognizes the best first novel published in the previous year. Established in 2006 as the John Sargeant, Sr. First Novel Prize, it has for the past six years offered a barometer of the talented new writers beginning what we hope to be promising careers. Former winners include Marisha Pessl for Special Topics in Calamity Physics, who recently published the creepy mystery Night Film (watch for this in an upcoming Book Light!), and Benn Fountain for Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk. We don't know who has won yet, but we know the "short list," which turns out to be a pretty amazing reading list of current fiction.

Click through the links to place holds on any of these exemplary titles.

1. A Constellation of Vital Phenomena by Anthony Marra.

2. Eleven Days: A Novel by Lea Carpenter.

3. Ghana Must Go: A Novel by Taiye Selasi.
4. The Morels by Christopher Hacker.
5. Motherlunge by Kristin Scott.
6. The Residue Years by Mitchell S. Jackson.
7. Wash by Margaret Wrinkle.
8. Y: A Novel by Marjorie Celona.

Pulitzer Prize Winners 2013

The Pulitzer Prize Board announced its annual list of winners on April 15th! We’re pleased to say we have many of the Letters winners living on our shelves, and of course nearly all of them are available throughout our county-wide system. How many of the winners and finalists have you read?

Fiction winner
The Orphan Master’s Son by Adam Johnson

Fiction nominees

What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank by Nathan Englander

The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey

History winner
Embers of War: The Fall of an Empire and theMaking of America's Vietnam by Fredrik Logevall

History nominees

The Barbarous Years: The Peopling of British North America:The Conflict of Civilizations, 1600-1675 by Bernard Bailyn

Lincoln’s Code: The Laws of War in American History by John Fabian Witt

Biography/Autobiography winner
The Black Count: Glory,Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo by Tom Reiss

Biography/Autobiography nominees

Portrait of a Novel: Henry James and the Making of anAmerican Masterpiece by Michael Gorra

The Patriarch: The Remarkable Life and Turbulent Times ofJoseph P. Kennedy by David Nasaw

Poetry winner
Stag's Leap by Sharon Olds

Poetry nominees

Collected Poems by the late Jack Gilbert

*The Abundance of Nothing by Bruce Weigl

Nonfiction winner
Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall,the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America by Gilbert King

Nonfiction nominees

Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death and Hope in aMumbai Undercity by Katherine Boo

The Forest Unseen: A Year's Watch in Nature by David George Haskell

* The Abundance of Nothing is the only title to which we do not have direct access, but no worries — it’s still available through Interlibrary Loan!