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Fiction A to Z August 2017
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The locals : a novel
by Jonathan Dee
A rural, working-class town in New England elects as its mayor a New York hedge fund millionaire who slowly transforms the community in his image, triggering unexpected changes in the life of a financially strapped contractor and his extended family. By the Pulitzer Prize-finalist author of The Privileges.
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The Lightkeeper's Daughters
by Jean E. Pendziwol
Filling her days with music and memories after the devastating loss of her eyesight, Elizabeth is forced to confront a painful past in the aftermath of her father's death, a situation that leads to a bond with a delinquent teen companion who helps her explore her grandfather's early years as a lighthouse keeper.
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| Less by Andrew Sean GreerLess than a year after their breakup, midlist novelist Arthur Less is invited to his ex-boyfriend's wedding. Not wanting to go but lacking (so far) a compelling reason to RSVP his regrets, he accepts every other invitation that comes his way, traveling to New York, Mexico, Morocco, and other far-flung destinations. In his efforts to run away from facing the fact that he has irrevocably lost the love of his life, however, he finds other reasons to live -- though of course he's got to endure some comically wrong turns first. With a surprising narrator (you'll find out at the end who) and flawed but sympathetic characters, Less is a poignant meditation on the universal search for love and happiness. |
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When the English fall : a novel
by David Williams
A tale told through the diary of an Amish farmer recounts his struggles to protect his family and way of life when a catastrophic solar storm decimates modern civilization, causing "English" outsiders to violently target the Amish for their resources. A first novel.
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The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Hollywood icon Evelyn Hugo was born Evelyn Herrera, but she hid her Cuban roots in order to get acting jobs. Now 79, she has chosen to tell her life story -- and the story of her seven husbands -- to inexperienced journalist Monique Grant. But why? The fully developed characters, details of movie-making in the 1950s, and the complications of the decisions that Evelyn makes to improve her life will captivate fans of Beatriz Williams' equally complex Schuyler sister stories, like Along the Infinite Sea.
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The art of fielding : a novel
by Chad Harbach
A baseball star at a small college near Lake Michigan launches a routine throw that goes disastrously off course and inadvertently changes the lives of five people, including the college president, a gay teammate and the president's daughter.
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| The Devil and Webster by Jean Hanff KorelitzNaomi Roth is the first woman president of an elite progressive college; her first major challenge had been a transitioning transgender student living in a women-only dorm, so this year's protest against a denial of tenure seems easy enough to handle at first. But that's before a charming student activist steps up to take the lead in pushing things ever further. The students believe the denial is racially motivated (it's not, but Roth can't share the real reasons), and the debate soon captures media attention. Dramatic and centered on very real issues, this novel could be torn from the headlines; for another academia-centered novel from the same author, try Admission. |
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| Loner by Teddy WayneDavid Federman is pretty smart but not particularly memorable. Overlooked in high school, he hopes to make a name for himself at Harvard, but (unsurprisingly) things don't get off to a great start. Ignoring friendly overtures from another girl, he becomes enamored of fellow freshman Veronica, and does everything and anything he can to ingratiate himself with her. Soon, his self-absorbed attempts move from pathetic to disconcerting to downright creepy, and we're left wondering exactly what is going on. Readers who appreciate psychological discomfort (think Sebastian Faulks' Engleby) will relish the increasingly unsettling nature of David's actions. |
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Joe College
by Tom Perrotta
Danny, a Yale student on Spring Break, who is spending his vacation working in his father's lunch wagon, the Roach Coach, tries to cope with an increasingly complicated love life and an incipient battle with a gang over his father's business.
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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