Son of a Witch

Mary Jane of Information Services recommends Son of a Witch by Gregory Maguire:

Travel caravan leader, Oatsie Manglehand, stumbles upon the body of an unknown young man, badly beaten, comatose, but still alive. Novelist Gregory Maguire returns to Oz where he introduces us to Liir, the fourteen year old boy last seen hiding in the shadows of the castle after Dorothy did in the Witch. Shattered in spirit and form, Liir is tended by a mute novice who heals him with her musical gifts. What dark force left Liir in this condition? Is he really Elphaba’s son? He has her broom and her cape, but what of her powers? These and other questions drive a tale that mixes drama, humor and political satire into a well knit examination of good and evil. 

National Book Awards and New York Times Notables

If you were held spellbound by the documentary film Man on Wire, you’ll already have a connection to the 2009 National Book Award winner for fiction.  Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann is the story of a diverse group of New Yorkers who are touched by Philippe Petit’s highwire dance between the Twin Towers in 1974.  In the nonfiction category, T.J. Stiles won for The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt.  Other finalists:

[Fiction] Lark and Termite, American Salvage, In Other Rooms, Other Wonders, and Far North
[Nonfiction] Following the Water, Remarkable Creatures, Fordlandia, and The Poison King 

Also making news are the 100 Notable Books of 2009, an annual tradition of The New York Times.  Take a look, and let us know which ones are deserving and which titles were overlooked!

The Weird West

What really led to the shootout at the O.K. Corral? Emma Bull layers Tombstone, Arizona's most famous event with subtle fantasy in Territory, the first of a two book series. Wyatt Earp may or may not be a good man. Doc Holliday is ever the charmer, but could that be because of a bit of genetically endowed magic? Jesse Fox, a horse trainer, is repressing his own unexplainable powers while getting to know Mildred Benjamin, the local widow-journalist-typesetter-extraordinaire. A turf battle between Earp and John Ringo leads to the recruitment of Jesse Fox and the legendary gunfight at 3 p.m. on October 26, 1881.

Secrecy

If you peek inside the cover of Little Bee by Chris Cleave, you will be greeted with the message, “We don’t want to tell you what happens in this book.”  Search reviews, and you will find much the same message: this is a compelling story, but you’ll have to trust us on that.  Why the secrecy?  Little Bee, which follows two very different women, hinges on an event that isn’t fully revealed until well into the story.  From the arresting first sentence (“Most days I wish I was a British pound coin instead of an African girl.”) to the pivotal scene that entwines the characters, this is a tale that draws its power in how it is told.  Both haunting and hopeful, Little Bee shouldn't be missed.  Trust us.  

Do you know what you are eating?

Where does our food come from? It is strange to learn that when you walk into a supermarket and see thousands of products, only a handful of companies own each and every brand. The documentary Food, Inc. interviews folks like Eric Schlosser and Michael Pollan to help decipher who supplies our food. Factory farming and genetically modified foods are studied as is the well-being of not only those that eat the food, but those that package it. Similar to the movies Supersize Me and King Korn, Food, Inc. examines the high cost of inexpensive food, but with a wider view of the problem that even includes praise for unlikely corporations that take positive steps towards using organic products…like Wal-Mart.

Vampires in Chicago

If you like your vampires with smarts and sass, you need to meet Merit.  Recently "turned" and then appointed Sentinel to one of Chicago’s oldest vampire Houses, Merit is still learning about the immortal life she now leads.  Her Master, Ethan, orders her to re-enter the society circuit she spurned when still human, which unfortunately means she has to deal with her family.  In Friday Night Bites, the latest of the Chicagoland Vampire novels by Chloe Neill, Merit proves her moxie in both combat and romance.  Sworn to defend the Master of her House, she must do as he asks, but working so closely with him is unsettling several aspects of her life.  Embrace your inner vamp and get bitten by this fun, fast-paced paranormal adventure. 

The Antithesis of Pop Country

Hank Williams III has taken country music thirteen steps away from family friendly back to being best friends with sin-pits and tragedy. Straight to Hell is a soundtrack for outlaws, miscreants, dive-bar revelry and night-driving reflection. You aren’t going to hear it on the radio. There’s a little too much punk rock to call it country and a little too much fiddle to call it metal. It’s the product of Hank Williams III edging his legacy with the Misfits, dusting it in brimstone and then drowning it in booze. As Stephen King said, “This is the real country: hollow of eye, pale of face, and bursting with the rhythm of the damned.”

Austen in a New Light

For those who cannot get enough of Jane Austen, there is no shortage of continuations, modernizations, or general homage to her novels of wit and manner.  What poses a challenge is finding an author who can do justice to the beloved stories but who also brings something new to the reader.  One such success is Joan Aiken, who was writing companions to Austen’s novels long before it was trendy.  In Jane Fairfax: Jane Austen’s Emma Through Another’s Eyes, Aiken chooses a minor character, one who in Emma seems cold and remote, and brings her to life as a complex, sympathetic heroine in her own right.  We're convinced Jane would approve.

The Emperor of the United States

Patty of the Fiction/AV/Teen Department recommends Norton I, The Emperor of the United States by William Drury:

In 1859, Joshua Abraham Norton audaciously declared himself “the Emperor of these here United States” and the “Protector of Mexico.” Emperor Norton walked the roads of San Francisco with an elaborate blue uniform, a sword, and perched on his curly hair was a beaver hat with a crooked peacock feather. Currency was printed with his likeness on it that was accepted at local establishments. Emperor Norton ordered decrees on a regular basis (though Congress and the U.S. Army consistently ignored them) and Mark Twain, Neil Gaiman and Robert Louis Stevenson have all based characters on him. In Norton I, William Drury examines the life of a loveably odd man who caused 30,000 people to flood the streets when he died.

In a Galaxy Beyond Narnia

Though beloved for The Chronicles of Narnia, Clive Staples Lewis did not limit his storytelling to that world alone.  In Out of the Silent Planet, the first of his Cosmic Trilogy, a man named Ransom is kidnapped and brought on a space voyage to be a sacrifice for the inhabitants of another world.  After landing on the mysterious red planet of Malacandra, he escapes and goes on the run, trying to learn more about his strange new surroundings while searching for a way home.  Out of the Silent Planet is a thought-provoking story of adventure that continues in Perelandra and That Hideous Strength.  Acknowledging his debt to H.G. Wells, Lewis creates imaginative settings and vivid depictions of space travel that are all the more amazing for having been written in 1938.