Fantastic Fall 2012

This is a beautifully written debut novel set on a remote island off Western Australia in 1918. From time to time, I’d come across a sentence or paragraph that stopped me in my tracks, and I’d have to read it over several times to absorb its beauty of language. This is the perfect book group book. Moral decisions and consequences abound. It’s complicated, layered, and it stayed with me for a long time. I couldn’t help but sympathize with each of the characters.

Interweaving the lives of several inhabitants of Berkeley’s iconic neighborhood, Chabon creates a convincingly complex portrayal of a diverse and complicated urban setting. It’s a rich epic full of the emotional and material ups-and-downs of the characters, the beautiful meandering of elegant prose, and a passion for the details and subtle humor that bring an expansive novel to life.

I dove into this thrilling mystery and didn't come up for air for two days, it was that good. Set in Renaissance Italy and filled with political intrigue, occult murders, and a tender love story, one of the most fascinating aspect was how incredibly well-researched the novel was and how much of what drives the plot is actually taken from historical records.

I waited for what seemed like an agonizingly long time for the new book from Diaz to make its appearance. When an advanced copy finally landed in my hands, it was as if it had a halo around it...I dove right in and was instantly swept away by the energy and pace of his voice. His language literally sizzles, his style is electric, his use of dialogue is seamless, and his characters are immediately alive and utterly loveable, despite, or perhaps because of, their quirky yet endearing faults. The short story format may not appeal to all, but this is a must-read for anyone as enamored with Diaz as I am!

Davy Rothbart, founder of Found magazine, is a hopeless romantic. Following up the like-titled documentary of 2011, this collection of essays expands on the hardships of following the heart and recreates hilarious and key moments of his adolescence. In the style of David Sedaris and Sloane Crosley, but with his own wholehearted twist, these essays are often hilarious and touching. “These essays are a trip. Take that trip.” —Charles Baxter. (We’re looking forward to having Davy here Saturday October 13th)

Hitchens frequently quoted American educator Horace Mann's admonition that, "Until you have done something for humanity you should be ashamed to die." There's no denying Hitchens' contribution to our discourse and understanding in so many areas. In Mortality he made one final contribution. It is a stoic, lucid chronicle of his departure from the "country of the well across the stark frontier that marks off the land of malady" before succumbing to cancer in December of 2011.

If you were an admirer of Christopher Hitchens, you probably find yourself lamenting that you'll never again read his analysis of current affairs, or hear the virtuosity of his voice in debate. Fortunately, he left behind a wealth of essays ranging from literary criticism, to foreign affairs, and 107 of his more recent ones are collected in Arguably. So, open it to any page, imagine his voice, and be comforted that great minds endure through their writing.

City of Women is a novel about the people who endure war unwillingly, those on the home front who are told to continue their lives as usual amidst chaos and death. Sigrid is an ordinary wife in Berlin who seems numb to the air raids, rations and police on every corner, but slowly the press of war transforms her into an activist who will stop at nothing to save lives. Unputdownable and unforgettable.

This is Zadie Smith’s first novel in more than seven years, and I think that is cause for a new holiday. So mark your calendars for November what because you’re going to want a whole day to savor this new offering. Told in a fractured, slanted style, NW is a portrait of Northern London, a landscape of varied characters and separate worlds that constantly press up against each other. Another bright offering from a brilliant mind.

A woman wakes in a strange room in a strange city, bandaged and bloodied from a nasty head wound, and she has no idea who she is. We, of course, know this is Mary Russell, wife of Sherlock Holmes, and we watch her wander into truly unfamiliar territory, struggling to piece together her memory, her identity and her surroundings. The latest in Laurie R King’s wildly popular series is electric, unexpected and addictive as all get out.