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"Britt-Marie is not actually passive-aggressive. She's considerate. After she heard Kent's children saying she was passive-aggressive she was extra considerate for several weeks." ~ from Fredrik Backman's Britt-Marie Was Here
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| Britt-Marie Was Here: A Novel by Fredrik BackmanBritt-Marie is 63 when she walks away from her loveless marriage and takes a job as a caretaker for a soon-to-be-demolished rec center in the tiny, depressing Swedish town of Borg. The mess (and unruly teens) are a bit of a challenge for the fastidious Britt-Marie, who fusses when things are not in their place. Though some might call her obsessive (or even rude), she thinks of herself as considerate and dutiful -- and these very traits are just what Borg needs. A delightful, charming story of transformation, this is another winner from the author of A Man Called Ove. |
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| The Versions of Us by Laura BarnettJim Taylor and Eva Edelstein meet by chance in Cambridge, England, in 1958, thanks to a rusty nail that pierces the tire of Eva's bike. They fall in love, marry, have children. Or is that chance meeting the end of it? Or do they meet only after Eva is already deeply involved with someone else? Following the three different versions of their lives allows for an exploration of "what could have been," much in the way of Kate Atkinson's Life After Life. But the three different versions are told in parallel, each one advancing at the same pace, offering an "intriguing exploration of the many roads not taken" (Booklist). |
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| Sweetbitter by Stephanie DanlerThis debut novel has an origin story that is quite in line with its subject matter: word has it that author Stephanie Danler pitched the story to an editor dining at a table she was waiting on. Sweetbitter itself follows a year in the life of a pretty young Midwestern woman who has taken a job in a prestigious Manhattan restaurant. Eager to taste all the world has to offer, she throws herself into learning about food and wine, as well as the edgier after-hours activities revolving around drug and alcohol abuse. Flush with vivid descriptions not only of the food but of the weird intricacies of restaurant life, this novel is an excellent choice for fans of memoirs like Service Included and Waiter Rant. |
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| Ladivine by Marie NDiayeEager to escape her dark-skinned mother Ladivine's life of servitude, light-skinned Malinka Sylla left home at 16 and reinvented herself as "Clarisse." Years later, she continues to make the monthly train trip to Bordeaux to visit her mother, though neither her husband nor her daughter know of Ladivine's existence -- nor does Ladivine know of theirs. This ignorance of each other's daily lives continues until the issue is forced, and comes under close examination in this complex novel, which was longlisted for the Man Booker International Prize this year. |
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| The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper by Phaedra PatrickIn this poignant, charming debut, 69-year-old Arthur Pepper stopped engaging with life a year ago, when his wife of 40 years died. But the discovery among her things of a charm bracelet he'd never seen before prompts a quest to discover the origins of the bracelet and all of its charms. His adventures take him from his home in York through the English countryside, and on to Paris and India. If you're looking for a feel-good novel about personal transformations along the lines of The Little Paris Bookshop, you won't go wrong with The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper. |
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| Where the Moon Isn't: A Novel by Nathan FilerIn this unique, heartbreaking debut, line drawings and the use of different fonts help depict a young man with bipolar disorder struggling to understand what happened the night, years earlier, that his older brother died. Matthew loves his family very much, and carries a great deal of guilt for whatever his role was in his family's disintegration; now living off and on in a British mental health facility, he decides he knows how to bring his brother back, and goes off his meds and out the door to do so. |
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| Arcadia by Lauren GroffThe first to be born in the upstate New York commune Arcadia in the late 1960s, Bit Stone is a quiet child, more interested in observing than participating. Though his family moves on from the commune when it falls apart in his youth, he never loses his connection to Arcadia, even as its members face the world outside with varying degrees of success. Dispensing with hippie stereotypes to focus on Bit's progress through the world (through 2018), author Lauren Groff shows off her skill with description; her "exquisite writing makes the reader question whether to hurry up to read the next beautiful sentence or slow down and savor each passage" (Library Journal). |
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| 44 Scotland Street by Alexander McCall SmithTwenty-year-old Pat needs a room, so she's rented one from a rather attractive (if also quite vain) surveyor named Bruce. Her fellow residents at 44 Scotland Street (on the edge of bohemian Edinburgh) include the eccentric widow Domenica, a precocious saxophone-playing five-year-old (he reads Auden for pleasure), and a large dog. Their daily doings are sure to amuse -- and if you have a taste for witty send-ups, Scottish settings, or author Alexander McCall Smith's other writings, you won't want to miss this 1st in a delightful series, the 10th and most recent of which is The Revolving Door of Life, published in February. |
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| Life After Life by Jill McCorkleThough perhaps easily confused with the novel of the same name by Kate Atkinson, this book does not deal with a single life lived over and over again. Rather, in this Life After Life, residents of Fulton, N.C. -- many at the Pine Haven retirement facility -- share the stories of their lives in turn; a minor character in one tale becomes the narrator of the next. Though death is a constant presence (hospice volunteer Joanna keeps a notebook of every passing she's a part of), it never overwhelms nor becomes maudlin or depressing, and author Jill McCorkle has a deft hand with humor and her indelible characters. |
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| 44 Charles Street: A Novel by Danielle SteelTo make ends meet, art gallery owner Francesca Thayer reluctantly decides she'll have to take in boarders at her beloved West Village brownstone. After much painstaking research, in come Eileen, a young teacher; Chris, a single father; and Marya, a renowned chef. Each juggling their own complex, chaotic lives, their relationships deepen into friendships...and then something like family. Cozy and engaging, this is a fun choice for Danielle Steel's legion of fans. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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West Babylon Public Library 211 Route 109 West Babylon, New York 11704 (631) 669-5445http://wbpl.us |
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