Deal's Picks

Hailed as Murakami's magnum opus, 1Q84 is certainly his magnum with a page count of 925, and it is one hellova good story for those not afraid of a long, and heavy (2 pounds, 14.3 oz.) book.  The author's take on Orwell's 1984, 1Q84 is only partially centered in this world; Murakami then inserts the magical realism he is so well-known for to give the reader a parallel world where most of the action is taking place.

Following two primary characters in alternating chapters, both Tengo and Aomame appear to have ended up in this parallel world, though neither knows why or how, or, even if they are in fact in this theoretical world.  They just know, to varying degrees, that something is different; therefore, the Q in 1Q84, for “question”.  What both of them do know is that the world around them has changed, and it all began with a remarkable book titled Air Chrysalis that was written, or sort of written, by a seventeen year old girl who has learning and social disabilities and a very uncertain past.

Murakami combines the best qualities of magical realism, mystery, thriller, and romance to give the reader a novel unique in perspective and character.  He has been one of my top five international authors for decades, and 1Q84 only adds to his appeal for me.  The two faults I found with this work were a tendency for over-descriptiveness and repetitiveness, though in any translated work, especially a translation from an Oriental language, it is always a question of “was this the author, or the translator?”

Even with these two faults, 1Q84 should garner some awards, give Murakami some new readers, and propel him toward the Nobel Prize for Literature, which he well deserves.

Jim Harrison continues to stand at the top of my list of “the best American writers living today”.  Every once in a while he will issue forth something less than stellar, but then he follows it with something more than outstanding.  The Great Leader is of the more than outstanding category, is a must read for any Harrison fan and a great beginning point for anyone who wants to start reading Harrison, or for anyone who just wants to read a remarkable American novel. 

The Great Leader tells the tale of retired, and pickled, detective Sunderson as he tracks down a cult leader, beginning in the upper peninsula of Michigan, through the west, and into Nebraska.  While tracking the “great leader”, Sunderson's past demons are after him, so he is battling both a forward and rear-guard action.  But, Sunderson has the unlikely help of a sixteen-year-old, a neighboring girl, with a mind and body of her own, both of which Sunderson is maybe just a little too aware of.

Jim Harrison write an beautiful and descriptive novel, and he commands a magical prose to tell his story.  He has authored almost three dozen books of fiction, poetry, memoir, essays, and even a childrens book.  He also like food, so he is well-rounded.  Pick up The Great Leader and enjoy Harrison at his best.

North Carolina native Robert Morgan follows up his outstanding Boone with an equally rigorous and entertaining examination of the men who were instrumental in expanding the United States to the Pacific Ocean in his new book Lions of the West:  Heroes and Villains of the Westward Expansion.  Morgan delves into the lives of ten men, most of them well-known, such as Thomas Jefferson, David Crockett, and Andrew Jackson, but a few somewhat more obscure, such as John Chapman (Johnny Appleseed) and Nicholas Trist, the latter of whom I don't think I had ever been aware of.  With each person covered, he builds on the accomplishments of the previous personages, and clearly, and entertainingly, shows how their efforts and actions advanced the westward expansion of the states.

Lions of the West carries Morgan's trademark readable narrative and is literally jam-packed with information.  Morgan spent four years researching the information behind his vignettes, traveling to the areas where the people lived and where the action took place, with the exception of Mexico, which he considered just too unsafe at this time to access the first-hand exploration involved.  He spends about forty pages average on each individual, and naturally there is overlap as most of these people interacted  with each other, either in person or via correspondence. 

Amazingly to me, virtually everyone discussed in the book had some connection to North Carolina, from the very direct such as Andrew Jackson and James K. Polk to the more remote who perhaps just had family which, at some point, passed through.  Of course, what we must remember is that, through much of this period, North Carolina theoretically extended westward as far as the Mississippi or even beyond.

I strongly recommend Lions of the West as one of the best non-fiction books of the year and suggest it to anyone.  We have a number of signed copies on hand, and Morgan was also gracious enough when here to sign us some copies of Boone and Gap Creek, as well as his new book of poetry, Terroir.  And, for those who are fond of Morgan's novels, the sequel to Gap Creek will be out next year.  We hope of have Robert back in the shop for that.

The Gendarme is part World War I novel, part Armenian genocide, part love story, and part the gradual recollection of a period in ones life which, for reasons physical, mental and emotional, have resisted recall until the waning days of life.  Our narrator may be falling into the early stages of Alzheimer’s, but as he does so he is re-experiencing parts of his past.  He isn’t certain how much is true, how much is dream, how much is desire; professional help is not necessarily so.  Yet he is going places he must go, for his days are numbered to find out the truth of what he was.  Moving between Turkey and the United States, this is a novel of hope transcending hopelessness across a life.

Exley is the story of nine-year-old Miller Le Ray, who is pretty sure his father went to Iraq; who is pretty certain that he lays in a poor state in the VA Hospital across town; who knows for certain that his father’s favorite book of all time is A Fan’s Notes by Frederick Exley.  But most of all, Miller believes that the only person in the world who can save his fathers life is Frederick Exley.  Unfortunately, no one believes Miller; not his mother, not his psychiatrist, Dr. Pahnee, not anyone.  And, Miller is prone to making a few things up and living in his head, to the point that, sometimes, he isn’t sure he believes himself.

Exley is Brock Clarke’s second novel from Algonquin Press, following the excellent An Arsonist’s Guide to Writers’ Homes in New England.  Exley advances through a series of narratives by Miller as he pursues his quest to bring Exley to his dad, interspersed with “doctor’s notes” from psychiatrist Dr. Pahnee.  Between the two sources, the story is furthered and insight is gained for the characters and for the reader, all leading to a smashing and definitive conclusion.

Brock Clarke’s Exley is an amazing book that will draw the reader in and not let go.  Upon the conclusion of my reading, I had but one thought in my head:  Exley is the Iraqi War generation’s A Prayer for Owen Meany, the best book John Irving ever wrote.  And, just like when I finished that latter book some years ago, I rested Exley upon my lap and knew that I would need a few days breather before beginning my next book.  Exley is that powerful.

For those who are interested, Frederick Exley was a real person, and A Fan’s Notes is a real book.  A Fan’s Notes was the first book in a fictional autobiographical trilogy, and the only book of the three still in print.  It is available at Literary Bookpost.

Nnedi Okorafor is an American of Nigerian heritage who has penned a rather remarkable African novel with Who Fears Death.  Set more or less in contemporary times, the novel runs the borderline between magical realism and fantasy, though there is enough reality in its pages that I would place it in the former.  Especially if one puts in the framework of the various mythologies and folktales of the “mysterious continent”, the novel becomes much less farfetched than if the tale were set in, say, present day America.

Central character Onyesonwu, which translated means “who fears death”, is a sorcerer, or sorcerer in training, who, along with her friend Mwita, who did not quite make the cut to become a sorcerer, are somewhat outcasts in their community.  They are both of mixed blood, Onyesonwu due to the rape of her mother.  The vision of her rapist true father has haunted her for years, and once she has gone into sorcerer training, her mission is to destroy him.  This is where the story begins, and Okorafor takes the reader to the end through the months-long journey of Onyesonwu, Mwita, and several accompanying friends who Onyesonwu has provided with a vision of what happened to her mother and how she became.

The story is not as fantastical as it may seem, for the reality of Africa is always the umbrella under which the events transpire.  Take away the magic, and Who Fears Death is a very realistic novel.  But, by adding the magic in, the novel becomes simply enthralling, and you know how it is going to end, but you keep reading anyway because you are hoping, you are really hoping, for a big surprise when you get to the last page. 

I am not, for the most part, a reader of fantasy, but magical realism keeps me on my toes.  I loved this novel, and was satisfied with my choice at the end.  Further, I think Okorafor is a new voice that is going to see a lot of attention in the years to come if she continues to write books as moving and meaningful as Who Fears Death.

What a piece of great Southern fiction; and this, coming from a guy who is rarely enamored with his own region’s works.  Debut author Stockett has done a remarkable job writing a novel about the “help”, or, more specifically, the “colored” help that in effect kept the houses of many white southerners in the middle and upper income brackets from completely falling apart.  And it is even more remarkable that she is able to do such a magnificent rendition of the black southern dialect, a feat which she admits in her afterward was a challenge for which she felt some trepidation. 

Set in Jackson, Mississippi, in the early 1960’s, the novel revolves around three main characters and a host of subsidiary ones.  Skeeter is white, returned home after college, hoping for a job offer from Harper & Row publishers in New York City.  Minny and Aibileen are black; they are among many of the “help” for the more well-to-do white families.  After Harper & Row turn Skeeter down for a job, she is challenged by an editor to write a book for Harper, and after a few false starts decides to write about the life of the maids and domestics in Jackson based on interviews with the workers themselves.  This is the frame of the story, and Stockett fills it out beautifully. 

If you remember these times or if you lived in the South during these times, you will find this novel very dead-on.  You will be amused at points, laugh at times and cry at other times.  Depending on which side of the proverbial tracks you came up on, or, which side of the then prominent racial barrier you were on, you may finds points in this novel which will make you angry, or make you wonder if we have come very far in the past fifty years.  But from whatever perspective you peer from, you will not find a finer Southern novel and you will come to the end knowing you enjoyed the experience of reading The Help.   

In my job as bookshop manager/partner, I usually find it necessary to read books back to back to keep up with what is coming out.  But, when I finished Kathryn Stockett’s The Help, I had to set the book down and let it “get fat” in my head for a few days before I could move on to the next one.  For me, that is a rare, good, book.

After a long wait we finally have the new novel from Water for Elephants author Sara Gruen, Ape House, and a rollicking good story it is.  An emotional and action packed story, Ape House throws together various factions of the animal rights movement, primate research ala Jane Goodall, secret laboratories of nefarious institutions and individuals, and a cast of highly lovable and less-than lovable characters, not excluding the bonobo apes that are the central theme of the novel.

Gruen throws all of these elements into the mix and weaves a tale that only in the America of the present age could be believable, and it is very believable.  Gruen develops her characters into mostly believable human beings, tosses out threads in various directions and follows them, tying them all into a tidy package the becomes an almost true story of the day.  With much more action, and faster paced, than Water for Elephants, Ape House moves the reader right along toward what is expected to be a dynamite conclusion.

And, that is the only problem I had with Ape House, the dynamite conclusion.  After carefully plotting out and developing an awesome story, everything comes together and concludes in a very few pages.  There is a back story to Ape House.  Originally scheduled to come out two years ago, it was postponed for a year.  Then it was postponed for another year.  Then there was a publisher change.  So, did Gruen simply run into writer’s block, and finally just get tired of writing this book, rushing through the conclusion, or did some editor at Random House say, alright, enough already, give us what you’ve got and be done with it?  Whatever the reason, an extra thirty or sixty pages added to the end would have made the end as good as the beginning and middle.

Bottom line is that Ape House, despite the abbreviated ending, was worth the wait, and I highly recommend it as an outstanding fall novel to put on your list to read.  And, I will put forth my wish that Gruen, who for those who don’t already know, is now a resident of North Carolina, in the Asheville area, will return to former publisher and North Carolina based Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill for her next book.  I think Algonquin’s editors will force a better ending out of her!

Mankell just keeps getting it right!  The Kurt Wallander police procedurals of Mankell’s have always been the more simplistic of his writing in my opinion, but not so with The Troubled Man.  This is one involved procedural/mystery, and nobody will be disappointed in its convolutions.  It is a story of disappearing people, disappearing submarines, spy vs spy, and family intrigue.  And, if one can believe what one reads, it may also be the last Kurt Wallander.  This is a must read for the Mankell reader, and must read for any Swedish mystery reader, and a put on your list read for everyone else.

Ah, more Swedish crime fiction, how I love the genre.  And, this is coming from someone who pretty much steers away from the domestic mystery and police procedural area as just too much of the same old same old.  Yet, beginning with Henning Mankell, I have fallen in love with the Swedish version of this age old novel subset. 

Camilla Lackberg excels in her dubut novel The Ice Princess, the first of four books she has written in Sweden and the first to be translated into English for the American audience.  I am apparently not her only fan, for she has recently signed contracts to have her other three books translated.  The translation is impeccable, which should surprise nobody as translator Steven T. Murray has also translated for Mankell and the hugely popular Stieg Larsson. 

The Ice Princess is set mostly in the small town of Fjallbacka in Sweden. The story is told by writer Erica Falck, beginning with her return to her hometown where she must take care of her parents estate.  The body of her childhood friend Alex has only minutes before been discovered in the frozen water of her bathtub, the victim of an apparent suicide.  As is so often the case, something just doesn’t appear right.  From this point on, the novel takes us on a fascinating ride through “who done it” with a host of eccentric yet all too believable characters.   

There are many things to love about Lackberg’s novel, not the least of which is her ability to keep the true culprit well hidden.  Several times in my reading I firmly believed I had pegged the scene and the culprit, only to be disappointed again and again.  And, at the end, I was totally surprised, yet found the end truly believable. The Ice Princess is a great read from a new author on the American scene, and I am already anticipating the next translation to come.

Mankell gives a different and much more complicated story in his new novel The Man from Beijing.  Moving from his native Sweden, where all of the initial action takes place, to China and back, with a short excursion in the story to a historical incident in the United States, Mankell gives us a tale of atrocities on both sides of the world that are joined in a most mysterious way.

This stand-alone novel of all new characters has men and women of eccentricity all on their own.  Primary character Judge Birgitta Roslin carries the weight of the story, and the burden of the story, for the beginning of the novel sees the massacre of nineteen people in a small Swedish village, and those murdered include Roslin’s grandparents. 

The mystery of the massacre turns into a globe encompassing hunt for the truth of why as well as the proverbial “who done it”.  There are complicated though well thought-out interconnections over history, geography, and personalities.  And, there are surprises galore that deepen the mystery each step along the way.

Always a fan of Mankell, even before Mankell had many fans in the USA, I have become more so as he has moved on beyond his basic police procedurals.  His African novels are a step above almost any writing of the kind, and now, with The Man from Beijing, Mankell gives us even more.  If the author has not yet reached the top of his form, it is incredible to think what may come next from him.

An epic novel set in the Pacific Northwest in the vein of a Michener book, West of Here moves between the founding years of the fictional Port Bonita and the present day.  It is the story of the building up of a civilization, and the tearing down of that same civilization as modern insights are gained as to just what has been created.  Evison does a masterful job telling his story, and his story will stick with you long after you have finished the book.

Louise Erdrich always impresses me; with Shadow Tag she also surprised me.  First off, Erdrich strays across a psychological boundary which she rarely crosses, yet she does it with confidence and the fine ability she has as an awesome author.  Last in, she gives the reader a quite unexpected ending in the final chapter of the book; normally, and not negatively said, Erdrich endings can usually be predicted.  In between, the author gives us an in-depth personal story of a young family living in trouble and in suspicion.   

In a nutshell, we have a couple with children.  Gil is an artist; Irene is a Ph.D candidate attempting to complete her dissertation on George Caitlin.  Gil has been reading Irene’s diary.  Irene knows this, and begins to keep a duplicate diary.  The diary she keeps hidden is accurate while the diary she makes certain is always found is filled with all of the worst fears Gil can imagine in a marriage.  This is the outline of Shadow Tag, and Erdrich fills in all the blanks with a very credible and enthralling story, joining everything together for a shattering climax. 

I also consider Louise Erdrich a must read, and she never disappoints.  Shadow Tag takes her writing to a slightly different dimension, and it was a satisfying visit.

What a delightful and fascinating novel from this transplanted Indian now living in New York City.  A storyteller named Hassan comes to the central square, or Jemaa, of Marrakesh and tells a story every year.  It is the same story, about a young foreign couple who once came to the Jemaa, and disappeared.  But, as he tells his story, members of the audience chime in, wishing to tell their versions, or parts thereof, and the story grows and morphs.  In the end, we have one hell of a story of a story.  A one of kind, mesmerizing novel from a new voice in fiction, you don’t want to miss this debut.

The Invisible Bridge, Julie Orringer’s debut novel, is an epic, romantic, holocaust novel that excels in the genre of literary fiction.  The body of the novel occurs between 1937 and the end of European action in World War II, with a short epilogue set post-war in the United States.  The European setting moves between Hungary and France, Budapest and Paris, and is the accounting of two Hungarian families as their lives interact both with each other’s and with others around them. 

Andras has come to Paris from Hungary to study architecture at the Ecole Speciale d’Architecure; his brother Tibor, after a short while, passes through on the way to Italy to study medicine.  Youngest brother Matyas is left behind with the parents who operate a small lumberyard.  In Paris there is another family from Hungary, among them Klara, who now goes by the name Claire, and teaches dance; her high school aged daughter, and, off in a different part of the city, the nephew Jozsef.  Each of these parties carries with them their own mysteries and their own emotional and romantic entanglements, some of which will become intertwined as The Invisible Bridge moves forward. 

Complications ensue from the very beginning for virtually all parties involved, not the least of which is the threat of coming war with Germany.  All is made more fragile by the issue of Jewish heritage, of which all major parties and many of the minor characters are a part.  As German influence grows greater both in France and in Hungary, expatriates are recalled for “visa renewal” and find themselves virtually imprisoned in their native Hungary.  Although Hungary does not early on participate in the “ultimatesolution” to the “Jewish problem”, there are increasing restrictions on life, and as Germany begins its march across Europe, Hungarian Jews are assigned to non-military work details which are one step removed from slave labor.  And, of course, things continue to worsen until Hungary is actually invaded by Hitler’s troops.  In the end, Hungary does not escape the Holocaust. 

The Invisible Bridge follows Andras, Klara, their neighbors, friends and kin through the nightmare of pre-war and war-torn Hungary.  There are small triumphs, there is hope, there is birth, and there is love.  But, there are defeats, despair, and death as well.  And, in the final epilogue, Orringer lets us see where some of the survivors have alighted, and that, as we all know, life can and does go on though the horror of memory never goes away.