Fast forward fifty years from the events of Wolf Hall. Anne Boleyn’s daughter now reigns in England, former heretics are running the country, and if you’re still Catholic, it’s best to keep that a secret. Patricia Finney’s Elizabethan spy thrillers take place in the bloody mess of Europe’s religious wars, with longsuffering characters who are [...]
Archive for the ‘Literary fiction’ Category
Gloriana’s Torch, by Patricia Finney
Posted in Adventure, Books, Charlotte's Picks, Historical fiction, Literary fiction, Readers' advisory on December 1, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, by Stieg Larsson
Posted in Books, Circulation Services's Picks, Crime fiction, Literary fiction, Readers' advisory, Thrillers on November 23, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
This week we are pleased to welcome back staff from the WRL Circulation Services Division to BFGB. Today’s review comes from Mandy Malone, who opens the week with an exciting and thought-provoking thriller.
Upon finishing The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, I set the book aside, shook my head, and muttered my frustration with Stieg Larsson. [...]
Olive Kitteridge, by Elizabeth Strout
Posted in Andrew's Picks, Books, Characters, Gab Bags, Language Focus, Literary fiction, Quirky characters, Sense of place, Setting on October 30, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
I’ve read a number of books that present themselves as short story collections, but which, when taken as a whole, comprise powerful novels. I think one reason that this succeeds is that the author can approach the same topic from a number of different angles without losing the narrative thread that ties the whole package [...]
The Bookshop, by Penelope Fitzgerald
Posted in Books, Characters, Historical fiction, Jessica's Picks, Language Focus, Literary fiction, Quick read, Readers' advisory on October 16, 2009 | 1 Comment »
It is my unscientific but educated opinion that most authors are better at short stories than longer works. With full-length narratives, authors are prone to blathering on or cramming in unnecessary details or cluttering the story with extraneous characters. With short stories they are forced to make careful choices about each word and sentence. The [...]
Hell, by Robert Olen Butler
Posted in Books, Dark humor, Fantasy, Horror, Humor, Jessica's Picks, Language Focus, Literary fiction, Plot, Readers' advisory, Satire, Sense of place, Setting on October 14, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Welcome to Hell. The toilets are backed up, a new Wal-Mart opened today, and the weather forecast calls for scattered sulfurous fiery storms. There are cockroaches everywhere, but no trees or animals (but they don’t deserve to be here, do they?). There are lots and lots and lots of people—Stalin and Hitler (no surprises there) and [...]
In the Shadow of No Towers, by Art Spiegelman
Posted in Books, Graphic novel, Historical Nonfiction, Jessica's Picks, Literary fiction, Memoir, Nonfiction, Political Science, Quick read, Readers' advisory on September 11, 2009 | 2 Comments »
It has been eight years to the day since America was attacked on September 11, 2001. To commemorate, I’d like to discuss the best piece of 9/11 literature I’ve encountered in those eight years, a nonfiction graphic novel by Art Spiegelman, In the Shadow of No Towers.
Even if you don’t normally read graphic novels, you [...]
The Magicians, by Lev Grossman
Posted in Academic fiction, Books, Charlotte's Picks, Fantasy, Literary fiction, Magical realism, Readers' advisory on August 26, 2009 | 1 Comment »
The comparisons to Harry Potter are inevitable, but when Quentin Coldwater is recruited by Brakebills, a magical university hidden in upstate New York, he’s no wide-eyed eleven year old. Smart, anti-social, competitive, and melancholy, he’s designed his life to please Princeton’s admissions office. He took up performing magic tricks so that he could claim an [...]
The Hillston trilogy, by Michael Malone
Posted in Books, Characters, Circulation Services's Picks, Crime fiction, Language Focus, Literary fiction, Mysteries, Readers' advisory, Sense of place, Southern fiction on July 27, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
This week we are delighted to have folks from the library’s Circulation Services division join us. This first post of the week comes from Alan Bernstein.
Between 1983 and 2002 Michael Malone wrote three novels (Uncivil Seasons, Time’s Witness, and First Lady) about the fictional North Carolina town of Hillston.
Hillston is an exemplar of the new [...]
Death with Interruptions, by José Saramago
Posted in Books, Characters, Fantasy, Jessica's Picks, Language Focus, Literary fiction, Plot, Readers' advisory, Romance, Satire on July 16, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
On New Year’s Day, in an unidentified country, everyone suddenly stops dying. Disease still strikes, accidents still happen, the elderly get even more so, but everyone just keeps on ticking.
Havoc ensues, but it is very funny havoc, if you go in for dark social satire. The funeral workers are in a tizzy. The government is [...]
Case Histories, by Kate Atkinson
Posted in Books, Characters, Crime fiction, Jessica's Picks, Literary fiction, Mysteries, Readers' advisory on April 10, 2009 | 1 Comment »
I didn’t like the first three chapters of Case Histories. They were completely unrelated. It was like reading short stories or vignettes, which is fine if that’s what you’re in the mood for, but I wanted a novel.
Then I read the fourth chapter and became a hopeless fan of Kate Atkinson. Took a little while [...]

