Staff Picks!

 

With Rhythm and Roots upcoming we decided that instead of our usual display only featuring books about music that we would poll the staff for some of their favorite books.  Then we could set up a display of “Staff Picks,” using guitar picks.  Maybe a bit corny, but we had a lot of fun seeing what everyone chose.  The BPL staff certainly has varied interests!

That said, there were a few books that showed up on more than one list.  Here are some of those:

Two titles by TJ Klune kept turning up on lists. Klune writes strikingly original fantasies, peopled by memorable characters, and leaves his readers with a warm glow.   The House in the Cerulean Sea tells the story of Linus Baker, a bureaucrat who works in an office dedicated to checking on the care of “Magical Youth.” He lives a colorless existence until he’s sent to check up on an orphanage where he meets an amazing assembly, including a gnome, a dragon, and the mysterious Arthur Parnassus.  Oh, and the Antichrist.  Linus’ life will never be the same.

In Under the Whispering Door, Wallace Price’s life will never be the same, either—mainly because Wallace is dead.  He’s very disappointed and more than a bit angry when only five people show up at his funeral: his three law firm partners and his ex-wife, none of whom seem particularly upset by his demise.  This is probably because Wallace was, frankly, not a very nice person. The fifth person he doesn’t recognize. It turns out that she is his Reaper, sent to guide him to the waystation called Charon’s Crossing so he can pass into the afterlife. Charon’s Crossing is managed by Hugo, a ferryman who guides souls but Wallace is going to prove to be more stubborn than most.  Populated by a cast of delightful and unforgettable characters, this is another “feel good” tale by Klune that also tackles the big questions, like the meaning of life—and death.

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson showed up on three lists. The story is narrated by Mary Katherine, known as Merricat, who lives in an old mansion with her sister and an uncle.  A family tragedy has made them outcasts from the town, and Merricat must keep a watchful eye to keep outsiders away. While Jackson’s best known book is arguably The Haunting of Hill House, our staff members seem more drawn to this title.  We found the book to be deliciously atmospheric, with intriguing characters and a mystery at its core.

Japanese author Hiro Arikawa’s The Travelling Cat Chronicles touched the hearts of a couple of staff members.  The story is told from the point of view of a stray cat adopted by a kind young man who takes the cat on a trip to find a new home.  Warm, poignant, and ultimately uplifting, this tale has a special poetic charm all its own.

Another author who has done well in translation is Fredrik Backman.  His breakthrough book was A Man Called Ove, about a curmudgeonly Swede who takes a dim view of modern society in general and his neighbors in particular. His Beartown was the start of a series of books set in a town whose inhabitants live and breathe for hockey, their one claim to fame.  It’s since become a TV series for Netflix.

Jon Krakauer writes compelling non-fiction, so it’s no surprise that his name turned up on the lists. Into the Wild examines the life and death of Chris McCandless, an idealistic young man who set out on a search for truth and ended up dying alone in the Alaskan wilderness, while Into Thin Air is the author’s personal account of a climb up Mt. Everest in 1996.  That’s the year that a storm hit, causing the deaths of eight people in one day, and remains a controversial event in the history of mountain climbing.

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides was a debut novel that thrilled its readers, including two of our staff members.  Artist Alicia Berenson is a convicted murderer who shot her husband in the face six times, but since then has refused to speak.  A new therapist is determined to try to unlock the secrets she’s held since that awful day.

Finally, Agatha Christie is also included on a couple of lists, proving the classic, Golden Age mysteries never go out of style!

These are just a few of the selections that garnered more than one mention.  There could have been a lot of others, judging from the overheard murmurs of, “Gee, I should have included that one on my list…”

And as for displays, we do still have one set up featuring music—and genealogy! Rhythm and Roots indeed!

Under the Whispering Door by T.J. Klune

 

Reviewed by Jeanne

Attorney Wallace Price is not a happy man.  He’s already had to fire one employee, a previously reliable woman who tried to give him some sob story about her unemployed husband.  Wallace has no time for drivel like that.  People are paid to work, not to have lives. Children, spouses, pets, hobbies—all things that distract them from the real purpose of life: work.  Why can people not understand that? Wallace was married once, but for some odd reason it didn’t work out.  You don’t see him crying about it, do you?

And then he’s in a church where a sign out front says “A Celebration of the Life of Wallace Price.” He finds this a little disturbing, but not as much as when he sees only five people at the service: his three law partners, his ex-wife Naomi, and a young woman he doesn’t know.  His expectations to at least hear nice things about himself is shattered when he discovers the partners are more interested in discussing a ballgame and Naomi is more concerned with the plane she has to catch—and airing old grievances against Wallace.  

That leaves the young woman. His half hope that she was a secret admirer is dashed when she tells him that she is a Reaper and that he, Wallace, is dead.  She’s come to escort him to his next destination, which as it turns out, is a bizarrely built shop pretty much in the middle of nowhere with a sign that reads

Charon’s Crossing

Tea and Treats

Inside, he finds an inappropriately cheerful young man named Hugo, a dog that can walk through walls, and an old man who clearly has no respect for the legal profession or the newly dead.  Hugo is a ferryman, one who helps the dead to pass over, to go upstairs and through a door to… something.  Somewhere.

But Wallace is not ready to go.

Klune excels at world-building.  He creates these highly imaginative worlds with rules and glorious characters we’d all love to know. Even the irascible Wallace begins to learn how to break through his self-imposed rigidity and learn to live, despite being dead.  The fun is in watching it happen.  Hugo is a wonderfully warm, generous man who works hard to try to set the world right for everyone.  Mei the Reaper is new to the job, but she also wants to make her newly deceased charges transition easily.  Nelson, Hugo’s grandfather, is also dead (as is the dog Apollo) but he’s decided to hang around to watch over his grandson for a while.  He provides delightful running commentary on all the characters, especially Wallace.

Along the way, Klune allows the reader to meditate on life, death, and love.  He keeps the mystery; there is no glorious revelation of the Afterlife, but there doesn’t need to be. All the characters know is the Earth side of the Whispering Door, not what happens when you go through.

Klune has a reputation for creating feel good books that exude love, compassion, and acceptance, and with endings that make the reader want to cheer. Under the Whispering Door is a fine addition to that tradition.

Nevermore: Traitor, Under the Whispering Door, Spy Who Came in from the Cold, Esperanza Rising, Between Certain Death

 

Reported by Garry

The Traitor by V.S. Alexander is historical fiction based on true events that occurred in Germany at the beginning of World War II. The White Rose was an underground non-violent resistance group based out of the University of Munich. In this novel, Natalya Petrovich is a student at the University who joins the White Rose group after witnessing the horrors of war first-hand as a nurse on the Russian front. Natalya’s life is soon in danger as the Gestapo closes in on members of the resistance. Our reader said that this is a very fascinating story about a part of Nazi Germany not that well known here in America, and commented on the excellent quality of both the writing and the research of this novel.  WJ

 

Under the Whispering Door is the latest fantasy novel by the award-winning author of The House in the Cerulean Sea, TJ Klune. In this heartwarming story, Wallace is a grump – cold, unfeeling, unforgiving, and dead. He first realizes that something is up when no one can see him in the sparse audience at his funeral, except for Mei, a young woman who turns out to be a reaper, (as in Grim Reaper,) to collect him. Mei takes him to Charon’s Crossing, a teahouse/waystation for those who are not yet ready to cross where Wallace has the time and guidance to reexamine his life and to learn to live, even when dead. Our reader really loved this book for its warmhearted, humorous writing and the fantastical world-building for which Klune is known.  WJ

 

Our next reader enjoyed the novel that set John LeCarre on the path to becoming one of the best-selling authors in the world: The Spy Who Came in from the Cold. Initially published in 1963, this thriller tells the story of Alec Leamas, a British agent who is sent to East Germany posing as a defector in order to sow damaging information about a highly effective East Germany intelligence officer. Revolutionary at the time for its portrayal of espionage agents as morally ambiguous and more interested in expediency of national security than doing the “right thing,” this book set the stage for the entire genre of modern-day spy novels. Our reader really loved this book, specifically the intricate and deftly woven plot, and highly recommends it for its masterful storytelling.  FC

 

Esperanza Rising by Pam Muñoz Ryan is a young adult book that tells the story of Esperanza, a daughter of a wealthy rancher in Mexico. During the Great Depression of the 1930s, Esperanza’s life changes dramatically when her father dies unexpectedly. Under pressure to marry a man she does not love, Esperanza’s mother makes the perilous decision to flee with her daughter to a migrant worker camp in the United States, where life is harsh and like nothing Esperanza has experienced (or even knew about) before. Our reader was touched by the sensitivity and depth of the writing in this book, especially in its depiction of the lives of migrant workers during the era of the Great Depression. Noting how immigration and workers’ rights are very current issues, our reader pointed out that this book, written in 2002 and set in the 1930s is as relevant today as it was when it was published.  AH

 

Finally, another reader recommended Between Certain Death and a Possible Future: Queer Writing on Growing Up with the AIDS Crisis edited by Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore. A collection of essays from a diverse population of writers, this book explores the hopes, fears, and changing attitudes of those who grew up with the specter of HIV/AIDS as a potential consequence of connecting with another human.  KP

 

Also mentioned:

The Guest House (poem) by Rumi

My Planet: Finding Human in the Oddest Places by Mary Roach

Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company that Addicted America by Beth Macy

The Midnight Hour by Elly Griffiths

Our Man in Havana by Graham Greene

The Sea-Wolf by Jack London

Betrayal: The Final Act of the Trump Show by Jonathan Karl

Strength in What Remains by Tracy Kidder

The Coming Plague: Newly Emerging Diseases in a World Out of Balance by Laurie Garrett

Whereabouts by Jhumpa Lahiri

We Didn’t Mean To Go To Sea by Arthur Ransome

The Deal of a Lifetime by Fredrik Backman

The Cat Who Saved Books by Sosuke Natsukawa

The Lost World of John Smithson: Science, Revolution, and the Birth of the Smithsonian by Heather Ewing