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Fiction A to Z August 2019
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The Gone Dead
by
Chanelle Benz
What happens: Billie James has just inherited a ramshackle home in the Mississippi Delta from her father, a respected (if underrated) African American poet who died when she was four. When she visits, she learns of the mysteries surrounding the night of his death.
Why you might like it: Starring a biracial protagonist coming to terms with her complicated family history and distinguished by a strong sense of place and memorable dialogue, this slow-burning debut novel is steeped in Southern Gothic atmosphere.
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You've Been Volunteered: A Class Mom Novel
by
Laurie Gelman
Starring: sassy, sarcastic, relatable Jen Dixon, who is once again class mom (this time for her son's 3rd-grade class) -- and now is apparently in charge of the safety patrol.
For fans of: Class Mom, in which Jen took on kindergarten as a third-time parent, as well as other irreverent tales of harried parenthood like Maria Semple's Today Will Be Different or Bunmi Laditan's Confessions of a Domestic Failure.
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What it's about: months after Pearl Harbor, a corrupt vice cop, a crime-lab whiz facing Japanese internment, a fascist police consultant to Army Intelligence, and a rogue profiteer investigate a murder in 1942 Los Angeles. Series alert: this is volume two of Ellroy's LA Quartet, after Perfidia. Reviewers say: "a raucous tale that will likely leave you in need of a shower and a Disney film." (Kirkus starred review)
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The Most Fun We Ever Had
by
Claire Lombardo
What it is: a sweeping family drama that follows Marilyn and David Sorenson and their four adult daughters over one challenging year. Alternating chapters illuminate the previous 30 years in the Sorenson home.
What kind of challenges? A teenage son given up for adoption at birth reappears, but there's also an unexpected pregnancy, the normal disappointments of early adulthood, and -- of course -- the friction inherent in any loving, close-knit family.
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Starring: Abigail Sorensen, whose brother Robert went missing when she was fifteen – after, she starts receiving anonymous mailings of chapters of a book called The Guidebook. Twenty years later: Abigail and twenty-five other recipients of The Guidebook are invited on an all-expense-paid vacation where their host, the son of The Guidebook's authors, promises to tell them all the truth. The reviews: "Quirky and beguiling, this witty quest for the truth will delight" (Kirkus)
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Starring: Quoyle, a hapless newspaperman and father of two girls, whose elderly aunt decides to move the family to Newfoundland after Quoyle's wife is killed in a car accident. Newfoundland: does not appear to be the ideal place to start over: cold weather, rocky landscapes, and a house that is "mean and hopeless". And yet: Quoyle is hired by the local paper to cover car-wrecks and the shipping news and soon is writing surprisingly zippy columns and starting a relationship with a local widow. The strange, fascinating residents of Killick-Claw provide a stable environment where Quoyle and his family find themselves, for the first time, fitting in.
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What happens: forty-something Annie Colwater, recently divorced, returns to her dad's house in Mystic, Washington to rebuild herself after an adult life that revolved around her ex-husband and his career as a high-powered lawyer. Read it for: a satisfying, heartwarming, tale of emotional growth and fortitude.
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Katie Brenner: has just been dramatically fired from her job at a hip branding agency and can now no longer afford the London apartment she shares with her terrible roommates. What she does: retreat to her family's farm in Somerset to help with the family glamping business while applying for jobs – and when her former boss shows up for a relaxing family vacation, begins to plot her revenge. Reviewers say: "Kinsella creates characters that are well-rounded, quirky, and a complete joy to read. A delightful and charming story" (Kirkus, starred review)
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Starring: Rebecca Winter, once a world-famous photographer but now lacking in inspiration and with steeply declining photo royalties. She is divorced and living in a pricey Manhattan apartment – while also supporting her filmmaker son and her mother, who's in a nursing home. To make ends meet, she decides to sublet her apartment – and move herself upstate to a cheap, ramshackle cabin. Enter: Jim, also divorced, also burdened by family responsibilities, and the only man for the job when Rebecca needs help evicting a marauding raccoon.
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I Almost Forgot About You
by
Terry McMillan
What it's about: Though she's a successful optometrist and has a full life with her daughters and friends, Georgia Young still feels stuck. So she's decided to visit all of her former flames to tell them what they meant to her, and to get some perspective on why those relationships failed.
Why you might like it: Engaging, humorous, and with wonderfully realistic characters, this is a heartwarming tale of a woman finding her way.
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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Demarest Free Public Library |
90 Hardenburgh Ave. |
Demarest, New Jersey 07627 |
(201) 768-8714 |
demarestlibrary.org |
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