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

Book Light ON "The Coldest Girl in Coldtown"

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black

It's Teen Read Week and I'm celebrating by doing something I do on the regular: reading YA lit and encouraging you to do it, too! Why adults wait for a novel to become inescapably huge (the Twilight, Harry Potter, and Hunger Games series come to mind) before reading them mostly because everyone else is, I'll never understand. The entertainment value of the area is clear, with more and more YA novels and series being picked up by major studios and being converted into movies. I'm not saying that all YA literature is good, because I have read the Twilight series and I was sincerely unimpressed (though I get why the story really carried people away). But several YA authors continuously blow me away: Leigh Bardugo, Holly Black, Maggie Stiefvater, and countless others. This week, I'm devouring (vampire pun!) The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black, bestselling author of the Spiderwick Chronicles and Doll Bones.

The world Black has created here is like a super creepy alternate reality: The world is basically the same except there are evil vampires lurking in the dark and everyone knows it. Teenagers have sundown parties where they hole up in a home all night, garlic and rose brambles strewn over entrances. Tana wakes up in a bathtub the morning after one such party, disheveled and embarrassed, and hopes to sneak out before any of her friends wake up. But the living room is pure carnage, bodies and blood everywhere, and none of her friends will ever wake up. Except her ex-boyfriend, who is tied to a bed and infected by a vampire's venomous bite. Chained in the same room is a red-eyed vampire who inexplicably warns Tana that the monsters who massacred her friends are still in the house, biding their time until sunset. Tana moves quickly, rescuing her infected friend and (crazily) the incredibly dangerous vampire beside him. What follows is a seriously tense, very unnerving trip from that death-reeking house to the local Coldtown, a government-established, self-contained community for vampires, infected humans, and normal humans who for their own reasons want to be used by the vampires. Tana is a wonderfully conflicted character: brave despite her fear; strong despite her frailties; simultaneously repulsed and drawn to the coldness. Her back story is touched with terror, which makes her current predicament even more harrowing.

Black's monsters are fairly consistent with the well-established vampire mythology of literature: cold, heartless, hungry, but capable of feeling some human impulses. Black's writing is strong and suspenseful; chapters alternate between Tana's present and what I'll just refer to as "side stories" (including Tana's story, the chained vampire's story, what is going on in the world around while Tana tries to save herself). For lovers of vampire fiction and YA lit, it's a strong recommend. With the rate YA novels are being turned into movies, I wouldn't be surprised if this gets optioned. Find it in print in the catalog!

- Abby, Reference Librarian

Book Light ON "Love in the Time of Global Warming"

Love in the Time of Global Warming by Francesca Lia Block

If you follow us on Twitter, you'll know about my odyssey through Francesca Lia Block's body of work. More often than not, I'll write tiny reviews on Twitter for the Young Adult titles I'm reading, but Block's newest novel (pub. date August 27, 2013) was a beautiful read that could be enjoyed by adults and young adults alike.

In the recognizable style of Block, Love in the Time of Global Warming tells the story of a North American (possibly global) apocalypse with plenty of magical realism. It's a modern-day pastiche of Homer's Odyssey, but instead of a war leading main character Pen (née Penelope) to her journey, it's the swelling of the Pacific Ocean that rises over her California home, robbing her of her family, friends, and comfort*. Fearing the worst has happened to her parents and brother, Pen hides out inside her pink family home until the vicious world outside barges in, disrupting her fear and forcing her to flee into the desolate wasteland around her. She quickly learns that the worst post-apocalypse terrors aren't other humans. After all, how bad are humans when giants, sirens, and witches abound? Pen doesn't travel alone, surrounding herself with a ragtag posse of outcasts who somehow survived the flooding and the fires and the flesh-eating giants. The posse intently searches for Pen's family with clues delivered by a harbinger, a mystic and of course, the Odyssey itself.

The allusions to the Odyssey are admittedly obvious, with pertinent passages being read almost immediately after an encounter with a Homeric character and a member of Pen's posse making an unsubtle statement pointing out how their life reflects the Odyssey. For someone unfamiliar with the epic poem, I can see these moments being helpful in drawing the necessary ties between Block's and Homer's work. (Block might have benefited from watching my favorite take on Homer, O Brother, Where Art Thou... generally though, everyone would benefit from watching it; it's awesome.) I found myself wishing the direct quotations would stop, but they didn't really detract from my enjoyment of Love in the Time of Global Warming. Block's prose is lyrical as ever and I'm nothing if not a sucker for magical realism. It's available in print throughout the catalog. Give it a read and stop by to talk about it!
- Abby, Reference Librarian

* Here, I should point out that the title is a little misleading. You'll have to read it to understand why, but global warming is not discussed in much depth at all.

Book Light ON "Rose Under Fire"

Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein

First things first, for adults who think there's no quality writing for teens, stop doing everything you are currently doing and get yourself a copy of Rose Under Fire's companion novel, Code Name Verity or better yet The Book Thief by Markus Zusak and get ready to be amazed by how great Young Adult literature can be. I absolutely loved Code Name Verity, so I could not wait to get my bookish paws on Wein's 2nd in her saga of female WWII air transport auxiliary (ATA) pilots.

Where Code Name Verity explored (among other things) the cruelty of the Gestapo in WWII, Rose Under Fire dives into the atrocities of concentration camps. It opens on American-as-apple-pie Rose generally enjoying her time serving the war effort as a transport pilot (ferrying people and planes to UK destinations, no air combat required), even though a fellow female pilot fatally crashed her plane and bombs are constantly falling on England. Her British uncle pulled some strings for her to get her spot, so you won't be surprised when he pulls strings AGAIN to have her fly him to Paris. The civilian pilots of the ATA—especially the female ones—were as a rule not allowed to fly into Europe proper, but that uncle makes it happen and that's the last we hear of Rose for a while. The letters from her friends and family follow, sharing how little is known about Rose's disappearance as she flew her plane back to England. Is Rose dead? Alive? And if she is alive, where is she? As months pass in the series of letters, no one knows anything and it is endlessly heartbreaking. All this happens within the first quarter of the book and I in no way plan to spoil the rest of it for you.

I started the story, which has one pivotal character in common with Code Name Verity, thinking to myself "Don't let [Character] lose another friend!" and considering how unfair it would be for her to have two friends fall in this horrible, bloody war. The second after I thought those thinks, I knew what was going to happen and felt silly for hoping. Because war isn't fair and it's typified by loss and Wein doesn't gloss over the atrocities that have been discussed and documented. I've read a lot of WWII fiction and I am always beyond disturbed to think that these stories, while fictionalized, are NOT exaggerations. If you like WWII fiction as much as I do, this (as well as the books I mentioned in the first paragraph!!) are must reads!

-Abby, Reference Librarian

Book Light ON "Orange is the New Black"

Orange is the New Black: My Year in a Woman's Prison by Piper Kerman

For anyone who has watched the Netflix original series "Orange is the New Black," this book is a must read. For anyone who's curious about how prisons help their inmates become law-abiding citizens before returning them to society, this book is an essential read. I will sheepishly admit that I watched the show and read the book because of this Buzzfeed post, but am very glad I read it, all in all.

Ten years after leaving her drug-dealing lover, Kerman finds herself indicted on federal drug charges for having one time (ONE TIME!) internationally delivered a suitcase of drug money. If the indictment had come a year later, she would have been safe and free, happily living her life with her boyfriend Larry in New York. Imagine the shock her loved ones felt when they heard that Piper, a WASPy Ivy League-college graduate, was involved with drug trafficking--frustrated, not understanding how a 10-year-old infraction could put her in prison for anywhere between 15 months or more. Ok, so she made some really terrible choices in her youth and no one is arguing that she didn't, but 15 months in a federal prison seems like a terrifying amount. Kerman rails frequently on mandatory minimum drug sentencing and as her memoir progresses, it's clear that the majority of women in the prison on similar (but more often, much more serious) drug charges do not have their involvement in drugs behind them. It's also clear that the inmates are not gaining much serious help to avoid getting tangled back into their familiar webs once they've be released. Kerman has good things to go home to (a really excellent job, a supportive Larry, a new apartment) and many of her fellow inmates have none of this, moving into homeless shelters, entertaining no job prospects, and very often having lost custody of their children. Kerman builds strong bonds with many of these women, who become part of her salvation amid acclimation to prison culture, truly terrible treatment by prison personnel, and the loss of a family member.

Kerman's memoir is ultimately about finding peace and focusing on growth while facing a dark personal conflict; it's not voyeuristic and it certainly doesn't glorify prison life. It's fortifying, really, to read about her ability to make something good come of her experience and the statistics she spreads throughout the reading are shocking. You know the end of the story without reading it--Piper is no longer in prison and has written this very successful book while leading a duly successful career in the outside world. What I admire most is that she has become an advocate for the incarcerated and continues to use her once-embarrassing experience as a platform for change. It's available throughout the catalog as an ebook, audio download, CD book, and of course in print, and it comes highly recommended!
-Abby, Reference Librarian

Book Light ON "The Final Solution"

The Final Solution: A Story of Detection by Michael Chabon

It was a strange, nonlinear line which brought me to read The Final Solution this month. I won't take you down the path; I'll just say I've loved other novels by Michael Chabon (The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, Wonder Boys, and The Yiddish Policemen's Union) and saw this relatively short offering as a quick dip into the mind of this gifted, Pulitzer Prize winning author.

The focus of The Final Solution undulates around an extraordinary gray parrot—Bruno, who calls out lengthy strings of numbers in German—and his mute companion, a little Jewish refugee named Linus. The omniscient narrator's perspective shifts from chapter to chapter, detailing the unfurling events as perceived by a diverse cast: a clever octogenarian, a since-retired Sherlock-esque detective of international fame; a suspicious character living in the same boarding house as Linus and Bruno; in their own turns, the couple who owns the boarding house; an inspector called upon to solve a murder and a disappearance; even the bird himself. The swiftly swapping narration, steadied by Chabon's carefully wrought language, flows quickly through the brief story... though more than once, I found myself re-reading paragraphs that seemed overly complicated, not sure once I'd found the meaning what it applied to anymore.

If you take it at its word and consider it a story of detection, you might be disappointed. It doesn't quite fit in with the modern-day mysteries and the resolution is only kind-of satisfying. Thinking back about it again and again, I can really only come up with one clue in the whodunit. But bonus: Chabon doesn't include a lengthy monologue by the crime-solvers explaining how they came to their ultimate conclusion (their final solution), so that's something I can get behind. The story really is much more of a protracted character study than a mystery, with Chabon's elegant language and one-sentence paragraphs building humans moreso than suspense or thrills. We get to know several characters with some intimacy, but sadly we see so little of the interesting personalities populating The Final Solution that more questions are left dangling irritatingly in front of our faces than are answered.

Overall, it was a quick read filled with some really fine turns of phrase and brilliant metaphors, and an OK story of detection with a resolution I didn't expect. Even though it wasn't my favorite read ever, my opinion of Chabon's mastery hasn't changed. His particular gift for verbose prose is much better suited to a longer novel. It seemed to me that this could have been a much shorter story in the hands of a more concise writer, that Chabon had a vase for a short story and too many lovely words to fill it and didn't mind if he spilled a little so long as he could do so beautifully.

Until next time...
- Abby, Reference Librarian

Book Light ON "The Cuckoo's Calling"

The Cuckoo's Calling by "Robert Galbraith"

I'll start by being totally honest:
I would not have read this book if J. K. Rowling hadn't been revealed as the author. The leak of The Cuckoo's Calling's true creator flooded me with interest in the novel (not to mention swelled its sales -- 4000% increase almost over night? Unheard of.). I went into it with all the hope of a sincere Rowling fangirl who was a little downhearted after an unsuccessful attempt to get into The Casual Vacancy.

From the very beginning of Cuckoo, I thought to myself, If no one had leaked JKR as the author, I would have known! I would have knownnnn!! Of course, there is no way to be sure of that; it was just a feeling. All the excitement I felt catch hold in myself the first time I read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone came surging up through my heart in a moment I can only describe as pure nerdy giddiness. Rowling as Galbraith does exactly what we loved her for through 7 Harry Potter books: She created noble, bright, magnetic characters that immediately engage your sympathies. To be sure, they have their flaws. Robin the temp spends her whole walk to her new short-term job as a private investigator's assistant sighing over her recent engagement (which I found profoundly annoying). All the romance ends quickly, and painfully, when a woman storms out of the PI's office, pursued by a huge man who nearly knocks Robin down a very steep spiral staircase — saving her only by hauling her back up (unfortunately) by the only thing he could grab hold of... her breast. Robin's savior happens to be her embarrassed new boss, private investigator Cormoran Strike. As we get to know Strike (former military man; amputee; illegitimate son of a rock star and a supergroupie; impoverished and deeply in debt to multiple parties; on-again, off-again fiancé of a beautiful, manipulative, spoiled rich girl) the more we yearn for his success not only in life, but in the case he's just taken on: The apparent suicide of young supermodel Lula Landry.

Her incredibly public death reflected her life, with the tabloids leeching on every tiny detail of the case. Landry's adoptive brother, a middling lawyer named John Bristow, suspects that the police and journalists must have missed something — his sister, though bipolar and on medication for her condition, would not have killed herself. Her friends mostly agree with his assessment, while the police are adamant that deaths like hers very often come without warning. Strike, in desperate need of money, feels a little slimy taking a case he feels was probably pretty well proved, but when he shakes hands with Bristow, he comes at Landry's death with a remarkably keen eye. As the investigation narrows toward a surprising conclusion, Landry shapes up to be a compelling character in her own right. Most excitingly, Robin the temp, who since her youth has longed wistfully to be a PI, takes a huge interest in the case, investigating leads, taking on ad hoc personae, and getting Strike closer to the truth.

Illustration: Matt Blease

In writing under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith, Rowling gave herself the freedom to try a new genre with a novel that could succeed or fail on its own merits. Until she was revealed as the author, The Cuckoo's Calling truly was a small success — well reviewed and selling fairly well. Clearly, this book is now a blockbuster with movie theaters clamoring for film rights, but it's succeeding with good reason. Like Harry Potter who came before him, Cormoran Strike is going to be a well-known name (so long as JKR keeps more Strike tales coming ... and allow me to publicly plead via the Internet that she continues this into an endless series with tons and tons of movie licensing agreements). The CAFÉ system has abundant copies, so put a hold on one today!

- Abby, Reference Librarian

Book Light ON "The Ocean at the End of the Lane"

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

I've been a truly obsessed Gaiman fan since I read American Gods (and promptly read every other possible thing he has ever written or even associated himself with), so the minute this book was published, it promptly bumped every other book from my To-Be-Read queue and consumed my life for a day and a half.

True to Gaiman's style, it's part sci-fi supernatural thriller, part bone-chilling horror story, which makes it wholly awesome. The story begins in the present day where the nameless narrator is attending a family funeral and decides, during a break and totally impulsively, to visit his family's old (now demolished) home. He's reminded during his journey of a friend he had who lived down the lane, a girl a little older than him named Lettie Hempstock, and wondering what ever had become of her, he visits her family's farm. Stepping onto the Hempstock property, his memories of Lettie's pond—which she in her adorably provincial way referred to as her ocean—trickle into his consciousness until he's flooded with his memory of the suicide of a diamond miner, the catalyst for the narrator and Lettie becoming fast friends, as well as their encounter with a strange, paranormal creature that can't resist using its powers on Earth.

Though the narrator begins a skeptic, he quickly remembers walking hand-in-hand with Lettie through the Hempstock property into a parallel world where they confront a hideous beast who grotesquely bores her way into the narrator's body and is transported like a virus into his world. Soon the beast has infiltrated his family, causing unrest and seeking the whole time to do the narrator endless harm. The book quickly escalates, as the beast's destruction of everything good introduces a slew of even more harmful, ravenous "varmints," and does this all at a nightmare-inducing pace that makes it impossible to put the book down lest the young narrator and Lettie come to more danger because you're not reading them to safety.

It's a short read, well worth the time invested, and not without its moments of bittersweet realities. When you as a reader take a dip in the eponymous ocean at the end of the lane with Lettie and the narrator, you'll want to jump in just as much as I did to see how those improbable waters change you. Needless to say, this is one I will gladly re-read (I can go slower now that I know the ending is at least not UNhappy). The Ocean at the End of the Lane is available throughout the CAFÉ system in print and audiobook.

-Abby, Reference Librarian

Book Light ON "Shades of Grey"

Shades of Grey: the Road to High Saffron by Jasper Fforde

Of all the possible "Shades of Grey" novels in the world, Jasper Fforde's is arguably the most original. Fforde, the man behind two highly creative ongoing series, Thursday Next and Nursery Crime Division, is a prolific, inventive writer with a knack for enveloping his readers in strangely familiar worlds that are comfortable and recognizable, but juuuust eerie and off-putting enough that you know they're fated to fall apart.

Fforde's dystopian world of Chromatacia is divided by a hierarchy of hues (a Colortocracy), with those members of each group being able to see a disparagingly limited amount of natural colors. Our narrator, Eddie Russett, is a red and aside from synthetic colors generated to be seen by everyone, he can only see various shades of his house hue. The grass, the sky, a daffodil all appear black, gray, or white to him unless they are synthetically colorized to be seen by every person in the hierarchy except the achromatic greys. The motto of this color divided world? Apart we are together. It's clear that the residents of Chromatacia aren't exactly human — their pupils never dilate, so no one can see in the dark. The other weird thing is that viewing specific color swatches can heal sicknesses, while others can offer narcotic-like sensations, make one hear symphonic music, and even quicken or cause death.

In addition to the segregation of color perceptions, Eddie's world strictly adheres to rules, which from our viewpoint as readers are ridiculously arbitrary. For example, no new spoons can ever be manufactured, so like titles and estates, spoons are passed down when elderly family members die. No one can marry a complementary color, so Eddie knows better than to fall for a green girl. Greys, people with no natural color perception, are relegated to a life of menial labor and are undesirable marriage partners. Most disturbingly, the world has no facts — the rules are the only facts that society thinks are necessary for its citizens to know.

Eddie has lived his whole life observing the harmony of the Colortocracy's status quo, but when he's sent to the Outer Fringes of society, the delicate weave of the rules begins to fray and unravel. He meets a vicious, violent, lovely Grey girl named Jane, a man who by the rules can be seen by everyone but must be treated as if he doesn't exist, and enough rule benders to realize that the insignificant weight of a question is enough to make the entire system break.

This book marks the start of a new Fforde series (YESSS!), with the publication date of book 2, Shades of Grey: Painting by Numbers as yet unannounced.

Shades of Grey: The Road to High Saffron is available throughout our system in hardcover, large-print hardcover, MP3 playaway, and audio book, as well as downloadable e-book and audiobook formats through the Wisconsin Digital Library.

-Abby, Reference Librarian

Book Light ON "Bring up the Bodies"

We’re starting a new feature on our blog that just might keep you up at night. Book Light will illuminate the reading materials that we just cannot put down, even if it means losing a little sleep. We apologize for any rough mornings our recommendations might cause!

Bring up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel

Let me start by saying, I am obsessed with the Tudors. But even if I wasn’t, I still would not be able to put down 2012 Man Booker Prize winner Bring up the Bodies. It seriously doesn’t even matter if you’ve read Mantel’s Wolf Hall, the stunning predecessor to Bring up the Bodies, which also won a Man Booker; jumping into this historical fiction account of the downfall of Anne Boleyn is enthralling, and the story is so well known that it hardly needs an introduction (but indulge me, because I’ll give you a little of it anyway).

In failing to give Henry VIII a male heir and having a notoriously high-and-mighty personality with a sharp tongue to boot, the doomed Queen Anne has quickly worn out her welcome. When the king takes a keen interest in the lady Jane Seymour, he quickly (and mercilessly) makes it Thomas Cromwell’s job to bring Anne down, and boy, does he know how to do it. Accused of countless acts of adultery, treason, and the unspeakable crime of incest, Anne finds herself fighting not just for the king’s favor, but for her life. We all know how this story ends (SPOILER ALERT: she crashes and burns on an epic level), but that doesn’t make the trip there any less suspenseful. Though the history is familiar, the eyes through which we see it are not. The awesome twist in both Wolf Hall and Bring up the Bodies is that they offer a fresh, fascinatingly foreign take on the timeless Tudor scandals. By retelling the story through Cromwell, an actual man who served as a powerful adviser to the king, Mantel makes a well-known tale as fresh and raw as it’s ever been. Even better, she recreates Cromwell in a more sympathetic light than historical sources have typically done, so we see how very much he has gained and understand how much he has to lose.

Bring up the Bodies is the second book of the planned Wolf Hall trilogy. Mantel is working on The Mirror & the Light, which will inevitably end the tale of Cromwell's rise to power with his bloody downfall. I know it's coming, but I've grown so fond of him over the first two books of the trilogy that I already dread the thought of his demise. 

Bring up the Bodies is available throughout our library system in hardcover, large-print hardcover, audio book, and MP3 playaway. And I know I said you don’t have to have read Wolf Hall to enjoy Bring up the Bodies, but both books are awesome, so don’t hesitate to pick up the pair. Wolf Hall is available throughout our system in hardcover, large-print hardcover, and audio book (both CD and eAudio formats).

-Abby, Reference Librarian