General Fiction on My June Reading List

June is one of the big publishing months of the year. What follows are general fiction titles that caught my attention. Some of these books are perfect for light reading on a hot day by the pool; some are heavier and will make you think.

The blurbs are taken from the publishers' summaries. I've also provided the names of the audiobook narrators.

The Angel of Rome by Jess Walter (Harper): A stunning [short story] collection about those moments when everything changes—for the better, for the worse, for the outrageous—as a diverse cast of characters . . . [question] their roles in life and [find] inspiration in the unlikeliest places. First line:

Mother was a stunner.

Audiobook: Read by Edoardo Ballerini and Julia Whelan

The Beach Trap by Ali Brady (Berkley): Two best friends torn apart by a life-altering secret. One Summer to set the record straight. First line:

There’s something unique about friendships forged between girls at summer camp.

Audiobook: Read by Brittany Pressley and Imani Jade Powers

The Catch by Alison Fairbrother (Random House): A story of the gifts we’re given over the course of a lifetime—the ones we want and the ones we don’t yet understand that we need. First line:

My father, a minor poet, celebrated holidays out of season.

Audiobook: Read by Julia Knippen

Dele Weds Destiny by Tomi Obaro (Knopf): The story of three once-inseparable college friends in Nigeria who reunite in Lagos for the first time in thirty years . . . about mothers and daughters, culture and class, sex and love, and the extraordinary resilience of female friendship. First line:

In the photo they are eating something out of frame, pounded yam, perhaps, or maybe eba.

Audiobook: Read by Tarlye Peterside

Gilt by Jamie Brenner (Putnam): A luxurious and richly compelling . . . novel . . . about a famous family jewelry dynasty and the hidden past that could topple it all. First line:

She reached for her mother's hand, excited and just a little bit afraid.

Audiobook: Read by January LaVoy

Girls They Write Songs About by Carlene Bauer (Farrar, Straus & Giroux): A thrumming, searching novel about the friendships that shape us more than any love affair. First line:

Rose and I moved to New York to be motherless.

Audiobook: Read by Cady Zuckerman

The Hotel Nantucket by Elin Hilderbrand (Little, Brown): An immensely satisfying page-turner . . . about a summer of scandal at a storied Nantucket hotel. First line:

Nantucket Island is known for its cobblestone streets and redbrick sidewalks, cedar-shingled cottages and rose-covered arches, long stretches of golden beach and refreshing Atlantic breezes—and it's also known for residents who adore a juicy piece of gossip (which hot landscaper has been romancing which local real estate mogul's wife—that kind of thing.

Audiobook: Read by Erin Bennett

The Measure by Nikki Erlick (William Morrow): Both heartbreaking and profoundly uplifting, [this] is a sweeping, ambitious meditation on life, family, and society that challenges us to consider the best way to live life to the fullest. First line:

It was difficult to imagine a time before them, a world in which they hadn't come.

Audiobook: Read by Julia Whelan

Nora Goes off Script by Annabel Monaghan (Putnam): Filled with warmth, wit, and wisdom, [this] is the best kind of love story—the real kind where love is complicated by work, kids, and the emotional baggage that comes with life. First line:

Hollywood is coming today.

Audiobook: Read by Hillary Huber

Out of the Clear Blue Sky by Kristan Higgins (Berkley): A funny and surprising new novel about losing it all—and getting back more than you ever expected. First line:

Six months ago, if you had asked me what I thought I’d be doing today, the answer would not have been transporting a drugged skunk to the house where my soon-to-be ex-husband lived with his much-younger fiancée.

Audiobook: Read by Xe Sands and CJ Bloom

These Impossible Things by Salma El-Wardany (Grand Central): A paean to youth and female friendship—and to all the joy and messiness love holds. First line:

"Do you think Eid sex is a thing? Like birthday sex, but just the Muslim equivalent?"

Audiobook: Read by Shazia Nicholls

Tracy Flick Can't Win by Tom Perrotta (Scribner): A pitch-perfect new satirical novel about ambition, coming-of-age in adulthood, and never really leaving high school politics behind. First line:

There was another front-page story in the paper.

Audiobook: Read by a full cast

Truth about Ben and June by Alex Kiester (Park Row): This . . . novel explores the complexity of a modern-day marriage and motherhood, when a new mother vanishes one morning, and her husband must retrace events of their recent past to bring her home. First line:

On the day everything fell apart, Ben awoke to the sound of the baby crying.

Audiobook: Read by Brittany Pressley and Pete Cross

Vacationland by Meg Mitchell Moore (William Morrow): A delicious summer read set in midcoast Maine, tackling family secrets, marriage, motherhood, and privilege. First line:

The Greyhound from Altoona, Pennsylvania, to Rockland, Maine, takes twelve hours and thirty-three minutes with three stops, all of them in the places where you don't necessarily want to use the bathroom but may find you have no choice.

Audiobook: Read by Stacey Glemboski

Who You Might Be by Leigh N. Gallagher (Henry Holt): A fiercely original debut that takes readers from 1990s Southern California to a UFOlogist holdout in Nevada, the graffiti playground of Detroit, and a self-important New York art scene in an unflinching examination of how life’s most unexpected turns—and the people we meet along the way—shape who we become. First line:

Two fourteen-year-old girls, one beautiful and one just okay, are running away from home on a northbound Amtrak.

Audiobook: Read by Aven Shore

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What I Read Last Week

Hello, all. Here is another of my periodic "what have I read lately" posts. I skipped a December roundup, but my thoughts on everything I read in 2020 are available on GoodReads, where I'm BethFishReads.

One of Our Own by Jane Haddam (Minotaur: Nov. 2020; Dreamscape: 9 hr, 6 min). This is the end of a long series featuring an ex-FBI agent, his wife, and the members of his Philadelphia Armenian American neighborhood. Haddam finished this book just before she died. Note: because I was the copyeditor for the first several entries in this series, the Demarkian books have always held a special place in my heart.

Although this isn't the strongest Demarkian book, Haddam did a fine job concluding the series. Most of the story arcs reached a satisfying ending, though (rightly so) not everything was tied up in a neat bow. I'm sorry to say goodbye to the returning characters whose stories I've followed since the first book was published.

As in most of the Demarkian books, Haddam addresses contemporary sociocultural/sociopolitical issues. In this case, she looks at inner city housing and a real estate magnate, immigration and ICE, foster care, culture clashes, and the changing nature of city neighborhoods. The mystery and side stories are well constructed, complex, and engrossing.

You'll want to start this series from the beginning so you can understand the dynamics between the main characters. For my thoughts on the audiobook, read by David Colacci, see AudioFile Magazine.

The Children's Blizzard by Melanie Benjamin (Delacorte: Jan. 12; Random House Audio: 11 hr, 25 min). This is a well-researched, though fictionalized, account of the great 1888 blizzard, often referred to as the Children's Blizzard because it struck just when most schools in the upper Midwest were closing for the day. The majority of those schoolchildren failed to made it home or to a safe haven before the blinding snow engulfed them.

The focus of the novel is on two sisters who are schoolteachers in different towns. The women make very different choices for how to tend to the children in their care. We also meet a newspaper man who is forced to think about his role in enticing the unprepared to stake claims on the prairie, and a young girl who was sold by her mother to a childless couple and makes decisions based on her unique situation.

The storm came up so suddenly that people were simply caught unaware and unprepared on the open prairie, where they became lost in the blinding snow, eventually freezing to death. The novel conveys the horrors of the blizzard, why even seasoned settlers were surprised by the snow, and how the storm had lasting effects.

Cassandra Campbell performs the audiobook, adding to the drama and bringing the characters to life. Thanks to the publishers and Libro.fm for review copies in audio and digital media.

Under the Alaskan Ice by Karen Harper (Mira: Dec. 2020; Harlequin Audio: 9 hr, 9 min). I was attracted to this book because of the premise of the mysterious unmarked private plane that crashes into a frozen Alaskan lake. What I didn't realize, though, was that this mystery had a heavy romance factor. That in and of itself would have been okay, but ultimately I had problems with the writing/style and put the book aside fairly early on.

My primary issue was the number of times the author asks the questions that should be left up to the engaged reader. For example, Harper has one of the characters think through a long list of questions about the plane: Why did it crash? Why now? Why here? and so on. The plotting should have made me ask those questions, without the prompting. This happens more than once. In addition, the young child was little too precocious for my tastes.

I'm a mystery fan and love an Alaskan setting, but this book just didn't click with me. Thanks to the publishers for audio and digital review copies.

Summerwater by Sarah Moss (Farrar, Straus & Giroux: Jan. 12 Macmillan Audio: 4 hr, 27 min). Written almost as linked short stories or vignettes, this slim novel, told over the course of one day, follows about a dozen people who are vacationing in a remote area of Scotland.

At the beginning of the day, which opens with a young mother taking a dawn run, each family is insular, hunkering down in their own cabins or following their own amusements. As we see the day progress through the eyes of different characters, we begin to view the temporary community of strangers as unique individuals, understanding their behavior from a variety of perspectives. By the end of the day, several groups have crossed paths, quarreled, or bonded . . .

The novel is beautifully written. Moss creates an uneasy atmosphere, building a sense of dread beneath what should be a relaxing summer day for the vacationers. This isn't an uplifting story, and some threads are left open-ended. But life isn't always bright and we can't predict how people are going to face their challenges.

The audiobook is read by Morven Christie, who does an excellent job conveying the author's style, building the tension, and subtly distinguishing between the characters. Highly recommended.

Thanks to the publisher and libro.fm for the audio review copy.

The Effort by Claire Holroyde (Grand Central: Jan. 12; Hachette Audio: 10 hr, 38 min). What happens when a comet is destined to hit Earth? A secret international team is quickly cobbled together to try to figure out a way to deflect the comet's path. Meanwhile, a team of scientists is heading to the North Pole, with a poet and photographer in tow, to try to record the last vestiges of Arctic wildlife and the icy landscape before climate change finally wins.

We follow the individuals from these two groups as the countdown to either the comet's impact or the comet's destruction occurs. We also see what happens afterward.

I liked the premise and the different ways people reacted to the news of the impending death of the world as we know it. This isn't an action-packed story but more a slow burn as individuals rise to the occasion or crumple under hopelessness. In addition, this isn't a feel-good story, but it does give us lots to think about.

This will not be the best book I'll read this year, but I'm glad I read it. This would be a good book club pick because readers will likely have differing opinions about the characters' actions. Worth your while.

The audiobook was read by Jay Ben Markson, whose sense of pacing was good match for this book. Thanks to the publishers for the digital and audio copies of this book.

The Power of the Dog by Thomas Savage (Back Bay: 2001; Hachette Audio: 8 hr, 15 min). This is a re-issue of a book originally published in 1967 and my first time reading it. It is soon to be a movie.

Set in the 1920s in Montana, this is the story of two brothers, aged 38 and 40. The older, Phil, has always been thought of as the smarter, tougher, more sociable of the two. George is stocky and quiet. The brothers run a successful cattle ranch, living together in their childhood home, which their parents left them when they moved to Salt Lake City.

Strict routines are kept until George suddenly, and without telling Phil, marries Rose, a widow from town, bringing her out to the ranch to make a new home for her and her son. Teenage Peter is bookish, somewhat effeminate, and has trouble connecting with others, but George hopes to be a good stepfather. Phil concocts myriad reasons for disliking and distrusting Rose and Peter and is determined to break up the marriage so life can get back to normal.

Savage writes with power and insight. He provides just enough of the characters' history, through minimal backflashes and memories, to give foundation to the events that unfold after George brings Rose into their home. Chilling and moving. In a way, Savage reminds me of Mishima: through sparse prose, a full and lush story is told. The Power of the Dog will likely be on my best of 2021 list.

This is my first Savage book, but now I must read the rest of his work.

The unabridged audiobook was brilliantly read by Chad Michael Collins. This is my first experience with him, and I was taken in by his pacing, his delivery style, and his ability to build a mood. The afterword (do not miss this!) is read by Annie Proulx, who provides context and thoughts gleaned from several close readings.

Thanks to the publisher and Libro.fm for the audio review copy.

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11 Picks for Nonfiction November

November brings us a lot of things, from cooler weather to pumpkin pies and turkeys. In the book-reading world, it’s also popularly known as nonfiction month. Whether you’re official participating in Nonfiction November or are just interested in what’s new, here are my choices from this month’s releases. (all copies—print, digital, and/or audio—provided by the publisher)

Science and Animals

My Penguin Year: Life among the Emperors by Lindsay McCrae (William Morrow; Nov. 12). Written by a BBC award-winning photographer and documentary filmmaker, this memoir recounts the year McCrae spent in Antarctica in the company of 4,000 emperor penguins. Illustrated by gorgeous photographs (see the cover) and drawings, this memoir gives us a rare look at these large penguins and their Antarctica home, not only describing the behavior of the birds throughout the seasons but also giving us insight in how climate change is affecting the penguins’ future. “An unforgettable narrative account that is poised to become a classic of nature writing.” Audiobook: Read by the author (HarperAudio; 7 hr, 28 min).

Beyond the Known: How Exploration Created the Modern World and Will Take Us to the Stars by Andrew Rader (Scribner; Nov. 12): Written by a mission manager at SpaceX who knows as much about history as he does about the possibilities of the future, this book looks at the various ages of discovery, including the exploration of the physical world we live in, discoveries made through scientific inquiry, and—of course—our fascination with space. “Told with an infectious zeal for traveling beyond the known, [this book] illuminates how very human it is to emerge from the cave and walk toward an infinitely expanding horizon.” Audiobook: Read by the author (Simon & Schuster Audio; 11 hr, 14 min).

Snow: A Scientific and Cultural Exploration by Giles Whittell (Atria; Nov. 19): Written by the chief leader writer of the London Times, this book is about all things snow: how it forms, why each snowflake is unique, how many snowflakes fall each second across the globe, and our relationship with it—both fun (skiing) and deadly (avalanches). Scientific snowy facts and figures are balanced with fun trivia and Whittell’s evident passion for and curiosity about the white stuff. “An eye-opening and charming book that illuminates one of the most magnificent wonders of nature.” Audiobook: no information.

Women’s Stories

The Girl in the Photograph: The True Story of a Native American Child, Lost and Found in America by Byron L. Dorgan (Thomas Dunne; Nov. 26): Written by a former U.S. senator, this is at once the story a single American Indian woman as well as a look at hundreds of years of neglect and lies from the U.S. government. American Indian youth have slipped through the safety nets—for example, 33 percent live in poverty and the teen suicide rate is more than double the national rate. When Dorgan met young Tamara in 1990 at Standing Rock Indian Reservation, he became more resolved than ever to make a difference. “Readers will fall in love with this heartbreaking story, but end the book knowing what can be done and what they can do.” Audiobook Read by Peter Berkrot (Dreamscape; 6 hr, 3 min).

Carrie Fisher: A Life on the Edge by Sheila Weller (Sarah Crichton; Nov. 12): Written by an award-winning journalist and best-selling author, this biography gives us insight into Fisher’s life both on and off the screen. Weller relies on firsthand accounts to tease out the truths of Fisher’s roots, her acting career, her relationship with her mother and daughter, her short marriage to Paul Simon, her successful writing career, and her tough battles with bipolar disease and drug addiction. The biography “is an affectionate and even-handed portrayal of a woman whose unsurpassed honesty is a reminder of how things should be.” AudiobookRead by Saskia Maarleveld (Macmillan Audio; 13 hr, 19 min).

Conversations with RBG: Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Life, Love, Liberty, and Law by Jeffrey Rosen (Henry Holt; Nov. 5): Written by a law professor and legal journalist, this book reveals almost thirty years of conversations with the long-time Supreme Court justice. Rosen reveals Ginsburg’s thoughts on constitutional law (abortion, cases she disagrees with), contemporary cultural issues, personal life philosophy, and the Supreme Court. “These frank exchanges illuminate the steely determination, self-mastery, and wit that have inspired Americans of all ages to embrace the woman known to all as ‘Notorious RBG.’ ” Audiobook: Read by Peter Ganim and Suzanne Toren (Macmillan Audio; 6 hr, 55 min).

Wild Life: Dispatches from a Childhood of Baboons and Button-Downs by Keena Roberts (Grand Central; Nov. 12): Written by a woman who grew up sometimes in Botswana and sometimes in the affluent Philadelphia suburbs, this is a memoir of Africa, private school, and trying to use African bush skills to fit in with American teen culture. Blending descriptions of life in Africa (adventure, danger, oppressive heat) with memories of negotiating mean girls and field hockey games in Philly, Roberts paints a realistic picture of both her selves and recognizes how each informed the other and led her to pursue a public health career. “By turns heartbreaking and hilarious,” this is “the story of a daring but sensitive young girl.” Audiobook: Read by the author (Hachette Audio; 9 hr, 42 min).

Highway of Tears: A True Story of Racism, Indifference, and the Pursuit of Justice for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls by Jessica McDiarmid (Atria; Nov. 12): Written by a Canadian journalist, this book looks into a series of murders of Indigenous women and girls that took place along a remote section of highway in British Columbia. McDiarmid interviewed the victims’ families and friends, providing an insider’s look at the effects of racist violence while connecting these murders to thousands of similar cases throughout Canada, This book explores “how systemic racism and indifference have created a climate in which Indigenous women . . . are overpoliced yet underprotected.” Audiobook: Read by Emily Nixon (Simon & Schuster Audio; 9 hr, 58 min).

History

The Ship of Dreams: The Sinking of the Titanic and the End of the Edwardian Era by Gareth Russell (Atria, Nov. 19): Written by a historian and novelist, this book places the tragedy of the Titanic into the wider context of a rapidly changing and modernizing world. “Using previously unpublished sources, deck plans, journal entries, and surviving artifacts,” Russell focuses on six very different first-class passengers—including a countess, an actress, and a business tycoon—detailing their fates and showing how their lives signaled a turning point in history, technology, commerce, and politics. The book includes many black-and-white and color photographs. Audiobook: Read by Jenny Funnell (Simon & Schuster Audio; 15 hr).

The Golden Thread: How Fabric Changed History by Kassia St. Clair (Liveright; Nov. 12): Written by a journalist, this book looks at the history of fabric from the very earliest fibers made by cave dwellers to the fabrics that protect astronauts and clothe today's elite athletes. St. Clair takes a deep historical look at fabric, connecting it to early human migrations out of temperate climates as well as later trade routes (The Silk Road), which connected East and West. The book offers “insights into the economic and social dimensions of clothmaking” and dispels “the enduring, often demeaning, association of textiles as ‘merely women’s work.’ ” Audiobook: Read by Helen Johns (John Murray; 11 hr, 26 min).

Family Papers: A Sephardic Journey through the Twentieth Century by Sarah Abrevaya Stein (Farrar Straus & Giroux; Nov. 19): Written by an award-winning historian, this is the story of a large Sephardic family and how they were affected and scattered by the fall of the Ottoman Empire and later almost wiped out by the Holocaust. Basing her research on the family’s abundant correspondence and papers, including various documents and photographs, Stein recounts the joys and sorrows of a family struggling to keep their connections intact while surviving political unrest and forced immigration. Through these papers, Stein tells “not only [the family’s] history, but the history of Sephardic Jews in the twentieth century.” Audiobook: no information.

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Stacked-Up Book Thoughts: 2 Nonfiction Recommendations

Happy Thanksgiving week for those who live in the States. A short workweek is always a mixed bag of scrambling to get work done before the holiday and then enjoying a few days out of the office to relax with friends and family (and a few books!).

Finishing Up the Year

I cringed a little when I typed that heading. Yes, we're actually into the last weeks of the year, and I still have a lot I want to get done here on Beth Fish Reads.

Coming up in November, you can expect several posts with gift ideas, a bookish way to help hurricane victims, and a new tea company I discovered, along with my usual photographs, cooking posts, and roundups. Over on the AudioFile blog, you'll find the first post in my series featuring audiobook narrators (available on Nov. 23).

During December, I'll continue with gift suggestions, my best of 2017 lists, some audiobook-specific posts, a couple of movie reviews, at least one year-end wrap up post, and of course book reviews.

What I Read Last Week

If you recall, I spent some much-needed R&R time with my women friends, so I didn't have a lot of reading time. I did manage to finish one nonfiction audiobook and a graphic nonfiction, and I've started a fiction audiobook, a short-story collection, and a fantasy.

• The Gourmands' Way: Six Americans in Paris and the Birth of a New Gastronomy by Justin Spring (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Oct. 10). Focusing on the lives and work of A. J. Liebling, Alice B. Toklas, M. F. K. Fisher, Julia Child, Alexis Lichine, and Richard Olney, Spring explores America's relationship with French wine and food from the 1930s, through the war, and into the late twentieth century. I loved this well-researched look at some of the classic early food writers, especially because Spring colors his account with gossipy bits and doesn't strive to always paint a pretty picture. It was fun to get a glimpse of the real people behind the curtain of white-washed fame. This is a must-read for all foodies. I listened to the unabridged audiobook (Blackstone Audio; 13 hr, 30 min), performed by Bronson Pinchot. My full audiobook review will be available through AudioFile, but here's the short take: I was for the most part impressed with Pinchot's accents, although his delivery could have been smoother. Still, you won't be sorry if you choose to listen instead of read.
• Saigon Calling by Marcelino Truong (Arsenal Pulp Press, Oct. 17). This is a moving and not always easy to read (emotionally) account of the Vietnam War years as seen through the eyes of a family who managed to escape to London before American involvement escalated hostilities. Truong, whose father was a Vietnamese government interpreter and whose mother was French, writes about how immigration and the war affected his family. His father struggled to find a new identity after leaving the embassy, while his mother had issues with bipolar disease. Marco and his siblings had trouble finding a place in an increasingly hip London and in their French school. And all were worried about family and friends who remained in Vietnam during the war and after the fall of Saigon. The artwork is expressive, with life in England and France rendered in vivid colors and scenes of the war colored mostly in browns. This is the second of Truong's memoirs, but I didn't feel lost starting with this book.

What I'm Reading Now

My thoughts so far: I love City of Brass, I have mixed feelings about Hum if You Don't Know the Words, and I'm enjoying the stories in Skating on the Vertical. More about these books next week.

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6 Books to Put at the Top of Your Reading List

I truly love being a freelance book editor, but it does have one drawback. Each year as winter wanes, my workload becomes close to insane, which means I don't have the time or desire to devour books for pleasure. But that's okay because my reward come April is to immerse myself in all the great books. Here are six (in alphabetical order by title) at the very top of my must-read list.

• The Arrangement by Ashley Warlick is a novel based on the life of one of my favorite (food) authors, M.F.K. Fisher. In particular the story focuses on Fisher's deepening relationship with artist Tim Parrish, while she was still married to her first husband, Al. The background is Europe in the 1930s, and rumors of war are still a few years away. (Viking Books, Feb. 2016) • I credit Christine Heppermann with renewing my interest in poetry. Her Ask Me How I Got Here is a novel in verse about a young girl who has to make a difficult decision that will affect her future and her psyche. (Greenwillow, May 2016) • One of my favorite fantasy series (read and listened to in my prebogging days) is Lian Hearn's Tales of the Otori. I nearly squealed aloud when I heard she has another book coming out. Emperor of the Eight Islands is the first in a new fantasy / adventure series set in medieval Japan. (FSG, April 2016)

• I'm so curious about Jhumpa Lahiri's memoir, In Other Words, not just because I admire her work but because I'm interested in what she has to say about language itself and her decision to write only in Italian. How does an author make such a transition and how does it affect her craft? (Knopf, Feb. 2016) • When I first read Edna O'Brien, many years ago, I instantly connected to her writing style and her Ireland. The Little Red Chairs, her new novel, looks at love and desire in a small Irish village juxtaposed with contemporary violence and hatred. (Little, Brown, March 2016) • Just because Peter Geye's Wintering comes last in the list doesn't mean it's last in my mind. This is pretty much my absolutely most anticipated novel of the season. I'll be reading it on my first free afternoon. Can't wait to lose myself in the story: What happens after the elderly Harry Eide disappears from his sickbed, hightailing it for the northern Minnesota woods? (Knopf, June 2016)

What's at the top of your reading list?

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Review: The Hypnotist by Lars Kepler

If you like Scandinavian mysteries and thrillers then I'm sure you've heard of the author Lars Kepler (really the pen name for a Swedish couple). I had too, but I was slow to start this series starring police inspector Joona Linna.

However, I gave a copy of the first Linna book, The Hypnotist, to my father and both he and my niece made a point of telling me that they liked it. So on that double recommendation, I decided to give the audiobook a try.

In short, Kepler had me on the edge of my seat. I was even talking to the characters: "No, don't go down in the basement!" "Watch out!" I mean it, I was totally invested.

• The plot. When Joona Linna takes on a case involving a teenage boy, Josef, who barely survived when his family was murdered by a knife-wielding intruder, he calls on Erik Maria Bark, a psychologist who once used hypnosis as therapy for traumatized patients. For reasons we learn only later, Erik has vowed to never hypnotize anyone ever again. Joona, however, talks Erik into helping Josef remember what happened to his family, hoping that the boy will reveal the killer once he's under hypnosis. That one act sets off a whirlwind of events that profoundly affect Erik and his family. There seems to be no way out of the disastrous situation.
• The good and the bad. The Hypnotist was a slow start for me. There are several things going on that concern both Joona and Erik together and separately and it took me a while to get a handle on the characters and their personalities. But once the action started (a couple of hours into the audiobook) I was suddenly sucked right into the story and couldn't leave. Some of the action is startling, some scary, and some disturbing (in a good thriller kind of way). I don't want to tell you exactly what happens because I don't want to take away from the shock value, but if you stick with this story through the setup, you will be amply rewarded. My only other complaint was that one of the plot lines seems to have been dropped, but I got over that.
• The cover. Once you've read the book, you will find the cover to be really, really creepy!
• The audiobook. The unabridged audiobook edition (Blackstone Audio, 17 hr, 28 min) was read by Mark Bramhall, who did a good job, although I was bothered by some odd pronunciations of a couple of English words. On the other hand, he distinguished the characters enough so I could tell them apart and excelled at adding to the thriller/tension part of the story. I won't hesitate to listen to the next book in the series, also read by Bramhall.
• Recommendation. Despite a slow start, I became fully invested in the story and recommend Lars Kepler's The Hypnotist to anyone who likes psychological thrillers, Scandinavian mysteries, and semi-scary escape reading.

Published by Farrar, Straus & Girous / Sara Crichton Books, 2011
ISBN-13:9780374173951
Source: Bought (audio) & review (print) (see review policy)
Copyright © cbl for Beth Fish Reads, all rights reserved (see review policy)

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Imprint Friday: Man Alive! by Mary Kay Zuravleff

Welcome to Imprint Friday and today's featured imprint: Farrar, Straus & Giroux. Stop by each week to be introduced to a must-read title from one of my favorite imprints. I know you'll be adding many of these books to your wish list.

Do you remember when I introduced you to Mary Kay Zuravleff's Man Alive!, which I learned about at the Book Group Speed Dating session at BookExpo America? It was my top pick from Farrar, Straus & Giroux because I loved the premise and thought it'd make a fantastic book club selection.

Before I tell you more, take a look at the publisher's summary:

All it takes is a quarter to change pediatric psychiatrist Dr. Owen Lerner’s life. When the coin he’s feeding into a parking meter is struck by lightning, Lerner survives, except that now all he wants to do is barbecue. What will happen to his patients, who rely on him to make sense of their world? More important, what will happen to his family?

The bolt of lightning that lifts Lerner into the air sends the entire Lerner clan into free fall. Mary Kay Zuravleff depicts family-on-family pain with generosity and devastating humor as she explores how much we are each allowed to change within a family—and without. Man Alive! captures Owen and Toni Lerner and their nearly grown children so vividly you’ll be looking over your shoulder to make sure the author hasn’t been watching your own family in action.

On the last day of vacation, just as Owen pauses on the street to watch his family for a little longer before they head into the restaurant for dinner, his life is changed forever in the instant it takes for lightning to course through his body. Although Owen is the obvious victim, everyone in the Lerner clan is scarred by the event.

With a skillful mix of comedy and the profound, Mary Kay Zuravleff explores how one accident can have far-reaching effects. Toni Lerner, worried about money now that they they have two kids in college, is not prepared to be a full-time caregiver to her husband on top of all her other responsibilities. Young Brooke, a budding gymnast, the only daughter, and the youngest kid, is growing up fast, and the lack of parental guidance and attention is taking its toll. The lightning strike even upends the well-honed dynamics between Will and Ricky, identical twins, who react to their changed circumstances in completely unindentical ways.

Besides his visible scars and residual numbness, Owen is a new man. He wants nothing more than to give up his practice and become the next barbeque king. But is this the true Owen or the result of posttraumatic stress syndrome? When he starts digging up the backyard to build his barbecue pit, is he selfish, as Toni sometimes thinks, or has he decided life's too short to waste it on something you don't love?

Man Alive! is told from alternating points of view, allowing us to see how each family member perceives the before and after and how each copes (or doesn't) with life after near death. Zuravleff has written an intriguing examination of family, marriage, and what it means to be truly alive.

For more about Man Alive! visit the book's webpage at FSG, where you can read an extract, download a reading guide, and read reviews. For more on Mary Kay Zuravleff, check out her website; while there, don't forget to look at her tour schedule to see if she'll be at a bookstore near you.

Farrar, Straus and Giroux was founded in the 1940s and is famous for its broad range of excellent fiction and nonfiction for both adults and children. They have published many prize-winning authors, including Hermann Hesse, T. S. Eliot, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, and Seamus Heaney. You've likely heard of many of their writers, including Michael Cunningham, Jonathan Franzen, Alice McDermott, Susan Sontag, Thomas Friedman, and John McPhee. (Information from the FSG website.) To learn more about FSG, follow them on Twitter, like their Facebook page, like their Book Keeping page, and subscribe to their fabulous weekly newsletter, "Work in Progress."

Published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2013
ISBN-13: 9780374202316
Copyright © cbl for Beth Fish Reads, all rights reserved (see review policy).

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Imprint Friday: Little Century by Anna Keesey

Welcome to Imprint Friday and today's featured imprint: Picador USA. Stop by each week to be introduced to a must-read title from one of my favorite imprints. I know you'll be adding many of these books to your wish list.

I suppose I'm like most readers in that there are a few settings and time periods that always attract my attention. Books set in the far West, especially in the late 1800s, seem to call me, and Anna Keesey's affecting debut novel, Little Century, is no exception.

As always, let me start with with publisher's summary:

Orphaned after the death of her mother, eighteen-year-old Esther Chambers heads west in search of her only living relative. In the lawless town of Century, Oregon, she’s met by her distant cousin—a cattle rancher named Ferris Pickett. There, she begins a new life as a homesteader, in the hope that her land will one day join Pick’s impressive spread.

But Century is in the midst of an escalating and violent war over water and rangeland. As incidents between the sheep and cattle ranchers turn to bloodshed, Esther’s sympathies are divided between her cousin and a sheepherder named Ben Cruff, sworn enemy of the cattlemen. Torn between her growing passion for Ben and her love of the austere land, she begins to realize that she can’t be loyal to both.

Although the summary makes Little Century sound like a historical romance, the novel is really about life on the Oregon high desert during the waning days of the old frontier. Two aspects of Keesey's writing stood out sharply for me: her characters and her ability to capture the environment.

So often authors fall back on the stereotypes of the Old West: the prostitute with the good heart, the gruff wrangler who is really gentle, the principled sheriff, and the black-hatted outlaw. Keesey, however, has mostly avoided that pitfall. Her characters are complex and full of realistic contradictions. For example, Pick likes to think that he has lofty goals, but in the end, he really acts in his own best interest.

Of all the people in Century, I was particularly taken with Esther. Raised in the city and now alone without options, she is not a martyr or a whiner. She's accepted the realities of her life and is determined to make a go it, learning to ride a horse, sleeping alone in her cabin, and trying hard to understand the local grazing rights conflict.

She, who "for most of her life  [had] known mostly women and girls," is suddenly thrown into the world of men in a country that isn't exactly lawless but is far from the predictable streets of Chicago. Within hours of her arrival, she finds herself lying about her age with her hand upon the Bible, foreshadowing the moral conflicts of living in the West. Her transformation from a lonely, naive schoolgirl to a mature, capable woman drives the plot, although there is plenty of action, especially in the later chapters.

Keesey's evocative and flowing prose bring forth the sights and sounds of the Oregon desert, from the gray winter days to the awaking of spring and from the hot sun to the deepest hour of the night. As other reviewers have mentioned, the landscape plays a strong role in Little Century, shaping the characters, the town, and the events that unfold.

Anna Keesey's Little Century opens up a piece of the real frontier: the bleakness, the infighting, and the broken dreams are solidly juxtaposed with the fight for survival and the ever-present promise of making one's own luck.

Picador USA is a featured imprint on Beth Fish Reads. For more information about the imprint, visit the Picador's website. While there, take a look at the Picador book club and reading guides and sign up for their newsletters. For up-to-date news, don't miss their Tumblr site or Facebook page and follow them on Twitter.

Published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux / Picador 2013
ISBN-13: 9781250033369
Copyright © cbl for Beth Fish Reads, all rights reserved (see review policy).

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Guest Post: Author Eli Brown (Cinnamon and Gunpowder) Talks Taste

A few weeks ago I gave you a bare-bones tease of Eli Brown's Cinnamon and Gunpowder and shared the opening paragraph. Here's the premise in a nutshell: Owen Wedgwood was been captured by Mad Hannah Mabbot, a fearsome pirate. In return for his life, Mabbot makes the following proposal:

You will, of a Sunday, cook for me, and me alone, the finest supper. You will neither repeat a dish nor serve foods that are in the slightest degree mundane. In return I will continue to keep you alive and well. . . . Should you balk in any fashion you will find yourself swimming home, whole or in pieces, depending upon the severity of my disappointment. (p. 13)

What follows is an action- and food-packed account of Owen's meals, his developing relationship with Hannah and her pirate crew, and his many failed attempts at escape. Side plots include historical information about British trade in the Far East and what life was like aboard a pirate ship. I found Cinnamon and Gunpowder to be a fun summer read, and I often thought how I'd manage to cook my way off the gangplank if I were in Owen's shoes.

Today I'm happy to welcome author Eli Brown to Beth Fish Reads. When I met Eli in New York during BEA, we chatted about food and writing and editing, but we didn't talk about biology. What does science have to with Owen Wedgwood? Read on to find out.

The Taste Map

The first time I saw the taste map chart in a biology textbook I was around eight years old. It showed up again and again as I grew, and it was still there when I entered college. You've probably seen it too, the graphic that delineates where on the tongue we experience different tastes: sweet is perceived on the tip, salt flanks sweet, sour sits like saddle bags on the sides near the rear, and bitter squats near the hole in the back. It's compelling in its simplicity, and there's something comforting about seeing our senses organized in bright colors.

In Cinnamon and Gunpowder, the chef, Owen Wedgwood muses about taste, assigning each one a color. It's a kind of earned synesthesia that was inspired by my own explorations into this sense. For me it all started with that drawing of the tongue.

Of course, the taste map is wrong—very wrong. Scientists now tell us that none of the tastes is so clearly confined to any region of the tongue. Some tastes even wander to the roof of the mouth.

And where on the chart was umami, the savory fifth taste? It hadn't been "discovered" by Western palates yet, and so, for much of my life I couldn't distinguish it. I grew up in a culture that was limited to only four tastes. I was umami-blind.

We were told a number of whoppers as children. It turns out that the brontosaurus, that benign behemoth, was a pastiche of different animals. Franklin didn't fly a kite in a storm. Newton didn't sit under apple trees. But the taste map holds a special place in my internal museum of misinformation. It was the one lie that I could easily have disproved. I had a tongue, and it worked just fine. Still, I believed the chart. We all did.

But there are revelations hidden inside the shadows of ignorance. We now "know" that sweetness will brighten the whole tongue, not just the tip. I'm thrilled to have my tongue unshackled from the numbing chart, thrilled to have five tastes instead of four.

Now I can't help but wonder what dark age I still wander. What undiscovered continents of pleasure await naming? 

Thanks, Eli, you certainly gave me some things to think about. I clearly remember that taste chart from the many, many biology classes I took over the years. I'm particularly fascinated by the different perceptions between East and West and the idea that it took us Westerners so long to figure out that there was a fifth taste. How did that effect Eutopean culinary masters throughout the centuries?

________

Don't forget to pick up a copy of Cinnamon and Gunpowder; you'll love getting to know Owen and the crew. And if you're an audiobook fan, consider listening to the unabridged audio edition (Macmillan Audio; 11 hr, 50 min), which is nicely read by James Langton, even if he doesn't know how to pronounce mole (the Mexican sauce). Langton captures the characters' personalities beautifully and kept my attention throughout.

Published by Farrar, Straus, & Giroux, 2013
ISBN-13: 9780374123666
Source: review (print); bought (audio) (see review policy)
Copyright © cbl for Beth Fish Reads, all rights reserved (see review policy).

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BEA Book Group Speed Dating Sesson: Part 1

My favorite panel at BEA each year is the one geared to book clubs. For the second year, the Reading Groups Guides panel has been set up in a speed-dating format. Attendees sit at round tables, and the publicity and marketing people from various publishing houses move from table to table to tell us about their hottest titles that will prompt the best discussions. Here is Part 1 of my recap of that event, covering four of the eight publishers that stopped by my table. (Come back on tomorrow for BEA Book Group Speed Dating Session: Part 2.)

Here are the books I learned about at the session, plus my top pick from each publisher. Titles in boldface are books that made it to my wish list.

Farrar, Straus and Giroux

• Man Alive! by Mary Kay Zueavleff: a contemporary novel of family and values
• Someone by Alice McDermott: a woman scorned in the 1930s; we are all fools for something
• Tinderbox by Lisa Gornick: contemporary novel about how a nanny disrupts a family's dynamics
• Hild by Nicola Griffith: historical novel; a seer in 7th-century Britain, just as Christianity is taking hold in the kingdom

All it takes is a quarter to change pediatric psychiatrist Dr. Owen Lerner’s life. When the coin he’s feeding into a parking meter is struck by lightning, Lerner survives, except that now all he wants to do is barbecue. What will happen to his patients, who rely on him to make sense of their world? More important, what will happen to his family?

The bolt of lightning that lifts Lerner into the air sends the entire Lerner clan into free fall. Mary Kay Zuravleff depicts family-on-family pain with generosity and devastating humor as she explores how much we are each allowed to change within a family—and without. Man Alive! captures Owen and Toni Lerner and their nearly grown children so vividly you’ll be looking over your shoulder to make sure the author hasn’t been watching your own family in action.

What will book clubs talk about? Family, the importance of money, ambition, the true meaning of success, marriage and expectations, adapting to change. On sale September 3; ISBN 13: 9780374202316

Grove / Atlantic

• Just What Kind of Mother Are You? by Paula Daly: contemporary novel about a woman whose friend's child disappears while she is in charge
• Wash by Margaret Wrinkle: historical novel; effects of slave breeding in early 1800s Tennessee
• It's Not Love, It's Just Paris by Patricia Engel: focuses on the inhabitants of a woman's rooming house in Paris

In this luminous debut, Margaret Wrinkle takes us on an unforgettable journey across continents and through time, from the burgeoning American South to West Africa and deep into the ancestral stories that reside in the soul. Wash introduces a remarkable new voice in American literature.

In early 1800s Tennessee, two men find themselves locked in an intimate power struggle. Richardson, a troubled Revolutionary War veteran, has spent his life fighting not only for his country but also for wealth and status. When the pressures of westward expansion and debt threaten to destroy everything he’s built, he sets Washington, a young man he owns, to work as his breeding sire. Wash, the first member of his family to be born into slavery, struggles to hold onto his only solace: the spirituality inherited from his shamanic mother. As he navigates the treacherous currents of his position, despair and disease lead him to a potent healer named Pallas. Their tender love unfolds against this turbulent backdrop while she inspires him to forge a new understanding of his heritage and his place in it. Once Richardson and Wash find themselves at a crossroads, all three lives are pushed to the brink.

What will book clubs talk about? Slavery, breeding programs, spirituality, cultural differences. On sale November 9; ISBN 13: 9780802122032

Harlequin Mira

• The Sweetest Hallelujah by Elaine Hussey: described as The Help meets Beaches; 1950s Mississippi
• The Returned by Jason Mott: contemporary novel; what if your loved ones could return from the dead?
• Teatime for the Firefly by Shona Patel: early 1940s India; unlikely love story at the brink of great social change; the author grew up on a tea plantation in India
• The Tulip Eaters by Antionette Van Heugten: contemporary and historical (World War II); thriller in which the crime has roots in the Dutch resistance

Harold and Lucille Hargrave's lives have been both joyful and sorrowful in the decades since their only son, Jacob, died tragically at his eighth birthday party in 1966. In their old age they've settled comfortably into life without him, their wounds tempered through the grace of time. . . . Until one day Jacob mysteriously appears on their doorstep—flesh and blood, their sweet, precocious child, still eight years old.

All over the world people's loved ones are returning from beyond. No one knows how or why this is happening, whether it's a miracle or a sign of the end. Not even Harold and Lucille can agree on whether the boy is real or a wondrous imitation, but one thing they know for sure: he's their son. As chaos erupts around the globe, the newly reunited Hargrave family finds itself at the center of a community on the brink of collapse, forced to navigate a mysterious new reality and a conflict that threatens to unravel the very meaning of what it is to be human.

With spare, elegant prose and searing emotional depth, award-winning poet Jason Mott explores timeless questions of faith and morality, love and responsibility. A spellbinding and stunning debut, The Returned is an unforgettable story that marks the arrival of an important new voice in contemporary fiction.

What will book clubs talk about? Death, spirituality, religion, love, hope, what happens when wishes come true. Extra: this has been picked up as a television series, which will be called Resurection. On sale August 27; ISBN 13: 9780778315339

Penguin USA

• Margot by Jillian Cantor: contemporary novel with flashbacks to World War II; what if Anne Frank's sister escaped to the United States and now must relive past horrors when her sister becomes posthumously famous
• Me before You by Jojo Moyes: contemporary novel; UK setting; love story
• A Working Theory of Love by Scott Hutchins: what happens when a man tries to build the first sentient computer using his late-father's journals
• The Yellow Eyes of Crocodiles by Katherine Pancol: translated from French; two sisters try to help each other out with unexpected results

When her chronically unemployed husband runs off to start a crocodile farm in Kenya with his mistress, Joséphine Cortès is left in an unhappy state of affairs. The mother of two—confident, beautiful teenage Hortense and shy, babyish Zoé—is forced to maintain a stable family life while making ends meet on her meager salary as a medieval history scholar. Meanwhile, Joséphine’s charismatic sister Iris seems to have it all—a wealthy husband, gorgeous looks, and a très chic Paris address—but she dreams of bringing meaning back into her life. When Iris charms a famous publisher into offering her a lucrative deal for a twelfth-century romance, she offers her sister a deal of her own: Joséphine will write the novel and pocket all the proceeds, but the book will be published under Iris’s name. All is well—that is, until the book becomes the literary sensation of the season.

What will book clubs talk about? Marriage, sisters, motherhood, get-rich-quick schemes, honesty, jealousy. On sale December 31; ISBN 13: 9780143121558

Don't forget that discussion guides will be available for all these titles. Check ReadingGroupGuides.com and the publishers' websites for more information about book club resources, the books, and the authors.

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Today's Read: Cinnamon and Gunpowder by Eli Brown

What if your life depended on your cooking skills? Now imagine that your kitchen is on a pirate ship and that your pantry is rarely restocked. Would you last even one night? Each Sunday, Owen Wedgewood must produce a stellar meal for Mad Hannah Mabbot, captain of the Flying Rose, or face the wrath of his abductor.

This body is not brave. Bespeckled with blood, surrounded by enemies, and bound on a dark course whose ultimate destination I cannot fathom—I am not brave.

The nub of a candle casts quaking light on my damp chamber. I have been afforded a quill and a blank logbook only after insisting that measurement and notation are crucial to the task with which I've been yoked.

—Cinnamon and Gunpowder by Eli Brown (Macmillan / Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2013, p. 3)

Quick Facts

• Setting: the high seas, various ports around the world, 1819
• Circumstances: female pirate Mad Hannah demands her weekly gourmet meal while hunting down her sworn enemies and obtaining wealth; Owen cooks for his life
• Characters: Owen, world-famous chef; Hannah, world-famous pirate; the crew; a love interest
• Genre: historical fiction; food fiction; adventure
• Themes: friendship; loyalty; making the best of things; the darker side of the British Empire
• Miscellaneous: I was lucky enough to meet Eli Brown at BEA, and he has promised us a guest post; the novel has been described as "the Scheherazade story turned on its head, at sea, with food"

ISBN-13: 9780374123666
Copyright © cbl for Beth Fish Reads, all rights reserved (see review policy).

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Starting from Page 1: Six for Late Summer

August is half over, and in the United States that means it's time to squeeze in a few more days of freedom before the kids go back to school and to scramble to finish all those warm-weather projects you never did get around to doing.

I was looking over the barely touched stack of books that I was sure I was going to read this summer and realized I will likely never find time to read every book that calls to me. As I mentioned earlier this summer, one way I choose my next book is by reading the opening lines to see what grabs me. Here's what I read yesterday.

Sally Goldenbaum
The Wedding Shawl
Penguin / New American Library
ISBN-13: 9780451233196
Cozy mystery

It would be a night of murder, they'd been told. And there'd be lemon squares, too.

Joanna Briscoe
You
Bloomsbury, 2011
ISBN-13: 9781608194834
Fiction

It's haunted, she thought.

They emerged from the lanes on to the upper reaches of the moor, and Cecilia understood that the baby girl was still there: there in the sodden cloud shadows, there in the bracken.

Amanda Kyle Williams
The Stranger You Seek
Random House / Bantam, 2011
Thriller

The sun had not even burned dew off the grass under the live oaks, but the air was thick and soupy already, air you could swim around in, and it was dead-summer hot.

Inside the car she had not yet noticed parked on her street, a patient hunter dabbed at a trickle of perspiration and watched as Westmore Drive began a sleepy jog toward midweek.

Jeff Hirsch
The Eleventh Plague
Scholastic Press, 2011
Young adult dystopian

I was sitting at the edge of clearing, trying not to stare at the body on the ground in front of me. Dad had said we'd be done before dark, but it had been hours since the sun had gone down and he was still only waist deep in the hole, throwing shovelfuls of dirt over his shoulder.

Leila Cobo
Tell Me Something True
Hachette / Grand Central, 2009
ISBN-13: 9780446519366
Fiction

The air feels sweet and moist and just the slightest bit warm when you get off the 9 p.m. flight to Cali. It clings to your skin, but in the faintest, most tenuous way, like the sheerest of gauze blouses touching but not touching your arms as you breathe.

Jacques Strauss
The Dubious Salvation of Jack V.
Farrar Straus Giroux
ISBN-13: 9780374144128
Fiction

When I was eleven I was too old to cry in front of my friends, but not too old to fake a stomachache at a sleepover if I was suddenly overcome with homesickness because my friend's mother and made mutton stew and prayed before the meal and bought no-name-brand toothpaste that tasted funny.

From the opening lines, which of these would you read first? I haven't yet decided.

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