Beyond the Bestsellers, Authors A-L
Alexie, Sherman INDIAN KILLER
Remember Reservation Blues? Great book. OK, now forget it. Gone is the whimsicality, replaced
by escalating violence--spurred on by a ritualistic serial killer--from both
sides of the Indian/white hostilities in Seattle. Lost souls, Indian wannabes
and the homeless populate this tense landscape, lit by multiple viewpoints.
Alexie is one of Granta's "best 15" young writers, and here he
clearly shows why. (Spring, 1997)
Amick, Steve THE LAKE, THE RIVER & THE OTHER LAKE
Funny but also dead-on look
at a resort community in Michigan's Lower Peninsula, where the locals look
askance at their financial superiors, the summer-dwellers and Fudgies (read it
to find out), and where the summer-dwellers look endlessly at themselves and
each other, while sometimes even pretending they can fit in. Are Jet-skiers the
lowest form of human life? It's arguable, just as Hamilton in his Upper
Peninsula books has the Snowmobilers at the bottom of the food chain. This is
like Cathie Pelletier in Michigan; read, and enjoy. (20 February 2006)
Anaya, Rudolfo SHAMAN WINTER
From the "Godfather of Chicano literature in English" and New Mexico writer Laureate and
professor emeritus, comes a mystery wrapped in mysteries. Detective Sonny Boca
returns here, dream-haunted while recovering from injuries, but the figures
from the dream--Owl Woman, Raven--turn out to be real: mystical-real, or
real-real. And the dream figures present mysteries and dangers more pressing
than those from the case, paralleled in the dreams, that Sonny is actually
hired for. For Sherman Alexie fans. (Fall, 1999)
Ansay, A. Manette VINEGAR HILL
Sharp sketching in a careful first novel about
self-discovery: a loutish husband, a brutal father-in-law, a vicious
mother-in-law, and Ellen, trapped (a prison of her own device, perhaps?) with
her children in a sterile marriage and her in-laws' fusty home. Probably not
for readers who have transitioned smoothly from happy childhood to warm family,
to fulfilling marriage, but . . .. Hello? How many of these can there be?
(Fall, 1994)
Auster, Paul TIMBUKTU
Is it ironic that a book
narrated by a dog is so deeply drenched in humanity? Probably not from a
magician like Auster. But this story of Mr. Bones and Willy Christmas is no
canine romp; in fact, it could have come from the pen of Hardy, so you might
want to avoid it if feeling depressed. Its solemnity is however strangely
joyful, even in loss, in remembrances of "Greta, the malamute from Iowa
City," of disdain at the idea of a mouse (Mickey) having a pet dog,
ofdreams of Willy after he's gone. Mr. Bones is endlessly wise: listen to him. And check out other books from Auster's remarkably diverse oevre. (Fall, 1999)
Baker, Larry THE FLAMINGO RISING
No, not the bird--rather, the
world's largest drive-in in 60's Florida, run by an eccentric father, an
academic mother, two beloved adopted children and a great supporting cast. Told
in retrospect, through vignette, Flamingo is a coming-of-age story, a blast
from the past, and much more. Check out the July 4 pyrotechnics that lead to
one catastrophe in 1967, and then an even greater one in 1968. Slow to start,
but full of humanity. (Spring, 1998)
Banks, Russell CLOUDSPLITTER
At first glance, this magisterial novelized life of
Abolitionist John Brown shares nothing with Banks' book of outlaw excess, Rule
of the Bone. Yet both deal with single-mindedness, rebellion and
codes--except that Brown's versions of these (he would have agreed with Dylan
that "To live outside the law you must be honest") are more
honorable. With all the stark beauty of the Adirondacks and Brown's religion,
this is a near-must-read, which also allows the reader, as in the works of
Mallon and Gifford, to participate in history. (Summer, 1998)
Barclay,Linwood BAD GUYS
Barclay's earlier Bad Move
was good--this is better. You'd think things would be quiet for paranoid dad
Zack Walker, moved back to the city, and giving up his sci-fi writing caper for
a newspaper features job. But he gets hooked up with a PI on a features piece,
and what the PI is working on gets him involved with the ineptly murderous
mobster Barbie Bullock (named after--well--his doll collection), and soon the
real and would be corpse count is growing. And we haven't yet even mentioned
the weird kid stalking Zack's daughter. Zany crime fiction with some neat
twists. (July 7, 2005)
Bateman, Colin DIVORCING JACK
This debut novel, set in Northern Ireland, offers up
an alcoholic reporter whose troubles only start when his wife
moves out after finding him in the embrace of another woman in their own house;
they intensify when his new lover is murdered, and he murders (sort of) her
mother. And then there's the IRA. This wryly offbeat thriller is a nice change
of pace. (Winter, 1996)
Belfer, Lauren CITY OF LIGHT
Buffalo--yes, Buffalo--was a happening place at the
turn of that last century, the 20th. It was getting tons of power from the
Falls (hence the title), hosting a lively social scene and the massive
Pan-American Exposition. Beneath the bright clear surface, though, are
currents, currents which draw beautiful, independent headmistress Louisa
Barrett into a thought-dead past, between a death at the hydroelectric plant
and the death of a President. Remarkably deep and mature first novel. (Winter,
2000)
Black, Ethan AT HELL'S GATE
Black turnes the nuance down
a notch from his superb Dead for Life, but turns the action up.
Multimillionaire cop Conrad Voort, whose family's wealth goes back to the
Revolution, and fiancee Camilla are kayaking the East River when they find a
corpse, which leads to investigation or an old sunken wreck. But bigger forces
are at work, bigger even than Voort's family, and they send the preternaturally
evil Bok to scare Voort off the case. We won't say how he does it--it's grim.
Still, terrified, Voort assumes a different identity, and with only partner
Mickie involved, goes after Bok and company. The final shootout in a historic
church is vintage Black, and you'll want to read more of escape-from-the-impossible
detective Voort. (13 January 2005)
Blinder, Martin FLUKE
Eclectic true-crime writer Blinder surprises here, with a graceful
sometimes-ironic sometimes-sweet novel about--get ready--Warren Harding. Some
of it is from the viewpoint of Nan Britton, Harding's mistress and the love of
his life, and even the parts that are not show a Harding betrayed by his staff
(yes, the notorious Teapot Dome) while trying to grow into his difficult job,
and even taking on themes way ahead of his time, like labor reform and racism.
And then there's the quote, from one of his last speeches--a small surprise for
Kennedy buffs. No, you never in a million years thought you'd shed tears for
Warren Harding--but read this, and see. (Fall, 1999)
Boswell, Robert MYSTERY RIDE
Seeking stability, Angela
moves with her "wild" teenaged daughter from Southern California and
a cheating second husband, back to Iowa, the home of her first. Good,
undiscovered writer here--lots of quirky characters, and it's interesting what
the concept of 'Iowa' betokens to various fiction writers (so many
writers, maybe because of the formidability of the Iowa Writers' Workshop?).
Title borrowed from Springsteen. (Summer, 1993)
Brown, John Gregory DECORATIONS IN A RUINED CEMETERY
This emotionally-charged
first novel in the "southern-fiction" tradition takes on the themes
of race and family with force. It begins with a bridge collapse, then explores
consequent de(con)structions and constructs. Good dialogue, excellent observation--sometimes
a little talky. (Fall, 1994)
Browner, Jesse TURNAWAY
Never-Never Land, sort of, is
Turnaway, an uncharted island in New York Harbor. A shipwrecked narrator finds
it, its "owner," the socially naive Elias Huthinson (who believes
himself sole survivor of a Native American tribe), and Elias's
"brother"/keeper/doctor, living intentionally in the past. How sane
Elias is depends on how one views sanity, and the book poses many
questions--but the splendid "reality" of Turnaway and its Victorian mansion
and Elias's effort to join the 20th century to find his woman-of-destiny are of
themselves worth the read. Sticks in the memory. (Spring, 1997)
Brussig, Thomas HEROES LIKE US
If this German bestseller is as funny in its native
tongue, it's pretty funny, and bravo to translator John Brownjohn, because as
with Nabokov much of the humor lies in the diction. But then, consider this:
it's about a narcissistic protagonist's coming-of-age, his preoccupation with
his (euphemism alert!) member, and his receipt of a Nobel Prize for his role in
the fall of the Berlin Wall, through demonstration of his (euphemism alert!)
member, grown through surgical error to gigantic proportions, to awed border
guards. Truly far out.(Spring, 1998)
cahill, Mary CARPOOL
Ann Tyler-ish look at suburbia, but also,
surprisingly, a murder mystery. Occasionally really funny, this is nothing
profound, but it's a good read that has proven durable, with a good corpse
discovery and an odd car chase. Somebody emailed me a while back wondering what
happened to Cahill and why this didn't become a Graftonesque franchise. Got me.
Anybody know? (Fall, 1992)
Cambor, Kathleen THE BOOK OF MERCY
Interlocked stories weld a
daughter's coming-of-age and the retirement of her father, an avid fireman.
That's the skeleton: what the fireman retires to is the Paracelsan flame, a
second career as an Alchemist. No metaphor--a real Alchemist,
and you can draw your own conclusions as to whether on his third and last
attempt he achieves the Magnum Opus, finds the Elixir, just as
his daughter, now an M. D., comes to have him institutionalized. Wonderful
first novel. (Fall, 1996)
Cambor, Kathleen IN SUNLIGHT, IN A BEAUTIFUL
On Memorial Day in 1899, a
dam burst in Johnstown, PA, causing a wall of water 75 feet high and a half
mile wide (according to the PA WPA Guide) to devastate everything within its
path. The dam's walls were untended by its owners, the wealthy patrons of the
South Fork Hunting and Fishing Club, who used the artificial lake for their
amusement. From this disaster, Cambor creates a moving and elegant fiction.
Read it for its grasp of history, its bittersweet love stories, and a new look
at Mellon, Frick and Carnegie. (Fall, 2001)
Carkeet, David THE ERROR OF OUR WAYS
To the initiated, a new
Carkeet novel is as big a deal as a new David Lodge. This time we find veteran
unhappy linguist-protagonist Jeremy Cook married (unhappily), employed
(unhappily) and researching the linguistic traits of the daughter of the Nut
King of St. Louis, who has troubles of his own. Yet mid-book, Jeremy proclaims
an unusual and unexpected zest for life, and then at the end--well--someething
happens. Features a world-class linguistic joke (p. 210). (Summer, 1997)
Chiaventone, Frederick MOON OF BITTER COLD
Chiaventone is a military historian and superb writer,
who here depicts the Fetterman Massacre (or Fight, depending on viewpoint)
which took place on a frigid windswept bluff in Wyoming the day before
Christmas, 1866. Fetterman's ill-advised and contra-orders foray cost the US
80-some men, and gave Red Cloud (whose strategy is almost textbook) one of his
great victories. Popinjay Civil War Vet Fetterman boasted that with 80 men he
could "ride through the Sioux Nation": he was dead wrong. Great book.
(Fall, 2002)
Colapinto, John ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Cal Cunningham is a writer
manque, working in a bookstore, when his first novel rockets him to literary
stardom. Trouble is, the novel was written by his dead lawyer-roommate, Stuart.
Cal feels entitled--after all, he told Stuart all the "good" stories.
But Cal has tracks to cover, and in the process he marries Stuart's beloved,
settles in upper New Hampshire and becomes involved with an
ex-girlfriend-from-hell and a series of increasingly violent crimes. Yet the
reader pulls all along for the cunning Cunningham. Wickedly funny, reminiscent
of Ben Elton. (Winter, 2002)
Collins, Michael THE RESURRECTIONISTS
Desperation and confusion
cause Frank Cassidy to steal a car, pack up his makeshift family and drive off
(uninvited and unwanted) to Michigan's Upper Peninsula, where his
"uncle" has been murdered, apparently by a dead man. This edgy novel
is about ownership of the self, the soul, and the past. Also features an evil
doctor, Iron Lungs, soul-searching extortion, and a highly improbably try-out
with the Miami Dolphins. In the end, the UP's intense cold offers even some
hope of warmth, in a book that comes full circle. (2003)
Connolly, John BAD MEN
On an island set in Maine's
Casco Bay is the site of an ancient massacre, a clannish populace, a 7'2"
sheriff and a woman hoping to escape a hideous past. Except on Sanctuary, the
past is very must "alive." As the woman's husband (who connects back
to the massacre, in fact) and his associates (the title is very descriptive)
approach the island in a blizzard to regain his illicit fortune and--more to
the point, for him--revenge, the violent past and present find themselves in a
weird destructive collision. Maine officianados will love the very real setting
of this fast-paced thriller. (July 23, 2004)
Constable, George WHERE YOU ARE
Lake Stevenson, 30-something,
comfortable and adrift (albeit owner of a business where a colleague
communicates by way of "tableaux"), is thrilled to inherit his aunt's
opulent Philadelphia estate, less thrilled with a stipulation that he must move
into it and share it with her beloved Springer, Randall. Lake decides to
"lose" Randall, but various ploys fail, Randall infiltrates Instrux
(Lake's software-writing company), and Lake finds himself falling for the
real-estate agent (and maybe for Randall too). (Fall, 1997)
Dobyns, Stephen THE WRESTLER'S CRUEL STUDY
Simply put--amazing. Gnostic disputants, professional
wrestlers, occultists, doppelgangers, mutants and more participate in this
post-modern quest-novel/fairy-tale/comic-book/romance/allegory hybrid. Witty,
funny, with paragraphs so well constructed you'll find yourself re-reading them
just for the pleasure--and we haven't yet gotten to the incredible fooling
around with point-of-view. A whole new way to look at fiction. Of all the books
ever on "Beyond" (and lots that were on it fell away when the site
was revised in 2003 and again in 2007), this is the most ingenious, and "Beyond's" personal favorite.
Also check out Steve's fun-filled Saratoga books, and the compelling straight fictions Church of Dead Girls and Boy in the Water (Fall, 1993)
Drury, Tom THE END OF VANDALISM
Welcome to Grouse County,
Iowa (complimentary map included), where Louise Darling divorces unambitious
but sort-of-charming sheriff Tiny Darling, then moves in with and marries
laconic but sort-of-charming sheriff Dan Norman, in a book that ranges from
right-on deadpan humor to true, deep sadness. Kind of like a Cathie Pelletier
novel set in the midwest. (Summer, 1994)
Dufresne, John LOUISIANA POWER AND LIGHT
Containing the present state
of and history of the noted Fontana family of Monroe, those of all-male
offspring, copious weird behaviors and deaths, and possible descent from Venus
(the planet, not Eros, the place just across the county line). Ingenious book,
which on the side offers up a world-class philosophical joke (p. 216). (Fall,
1994)
Dunning, John THE BOOKMAN'S WAKE
The second adventure of
ex-cop turned rare-book-dealer (!) Cliff Janeway is populated by booklore, wit,
fine-writing, a small-press edition of "The Raven," and a heroine
(sort of, sort of) named Eleanor Rigby. Also, it practically groans with
suspense. Once read, nevermore (get it?) to be forgotten. You might also want
to look into Dunning's first, Booked to Die, which, ironically, brings
hundreds of dollars first-edition, mint, and his later ones. (Fall, 1995)
Egolf, Tristan LORD OF THE BARNYARD
The subtitle says a lot: "Killing the fatted calf
and arming the aware in the cornbelt." This is a wild ride down along the
Kentucky/Indiana border with chicken farmer savant John Kaltenbrunner featuring
a wooly mammoth, weird matriarchal disease, Methodist "crones"; a car
wreck with "trolls," a standoff, prison, and a world-class garbage
strike--where the downtrodden finally stand up (true, sometimes to get punched
back down). Linguistically flashy, politically incorrect, manic, comic and
caustic. Rejected by 70+ U. S. Publishers, it's a brilliant psychedelic fable
and a sign that much is wrong in the publishing industry. Unforutunately, suicide took Egolf before he could do much more. (Fall, 1999)
Edgerton, Clyde REDEYE
Subtitled ";a
western," Edgerton's book pushes fictional as well as geographic
frontiers. Humorous (sometimes dark, sometimes wry) without really being
"comic," multiple narrators bring their own personalities and
viewpoints to bear on tourism-vs.-archaeology, exploding corpses and an avenged
massacre (historically accurate). Redeye is a dog. This is probably the
most unusual western of recent memory. (Summer, 1995)
Egan, Jennifer THE KEEP
A story-within-a-story-within-a-story finds a volunteer prison writing instructor
developing a relationship with her student, Ray, who is developing a
fiction--or is it?--about Danny, who goes to a vague spot in Eurasia to help
his cousin develop an old castle into a sort of Luddite retreat center. The
castle chapters oddly seem the most real, albeit in a dreamy psycedelic way, as
Danny tries to figure out what the hell is going on. Ray's chapters are very
real, and sometimes violent. And the end of his segment will suprise as much as
that of our instructor Holly, who brings the book full magical circle. Quite a
read!--and its ca. 250 pp. don't condense well. (28 September 2006)
Elton, Ben POPCORN
Cyril Tourneur has, in his over-the-top dramatic
chiller The Revenger's Tragedy (1607) a character named Supervacuo, who
would be right at home in this over-the-top Hollywood-skewering comic chiller
about an Academy Award winning director for a movie resembling Natural Born
Killers who falls, with his family and a Playmate one-night-stand into the
clutches of a couple of--um--Natural Born Killers, direct from the trailer
park. Hilarious, but the bloodshed's not from exploding pellets. Check out the
popcorn box packaging too, complete with butter. (Spring, 1998)
Estleman, Loren POISON BLONDE
If there's a literary heir to
Raymond Chandler, it's Estleman. He's as hardboiled as Pelecanos--but largely
without social comment (apart from the deterioration of Detroit), and most
violence occurs offscreen. Here, veteran P.I. Amos Walker acts as a bodyguard
for a hot young Latina singer/actress who turns out to have a very serious
identity crisis, brought to light by a decaying corpse. Secrets beget secrets,
and finally the "Lincoln question" provides part of the solution.
Great throw-off lines, featuring a truly slimeball Paparazzo, this is
Estleman's 50th book. And you should check out the others, among them westerns (Billy Gahade and the great "Whiskey River" quartet. (2003)
Eugenides, Jeffrey THE VIRGIN SUICIDES
A great bittersweet evocation
of the suburban 50's fronts this collective narrative by a group of boys grown
middle-aged. The topic? The five Lisbon sisters--real, iconic, totemic--whose
suicides some twenty years past prompt the title and the meditations. This was
later a cult fave movie. (Fall, 1993)
Everett, Percival ERASURE
This absolutely brilliant novel follows black
"literary" writer Monk Ellison as, frustrated by his own place in the
publishing world and enraged by the best-selling status of the novel We
Lives in Da Ghetto (by an author touted on the Kenya Dunston(!) TV show,
who once spent a weekend in Harlem), he knocks off his own "ghetto"
novel, My Pafology, under the pseudonym Stagg R. Leigh. Yes, that whole
novella is included within Erasure, and it's a marvel. So is it that the
same writer can follow a dazzling send-up of the Deconstructionists with the
text of My Pafology. Arguably the best book so far in this new century, and right up there with Dobyns's Wrestler's Cruel Study as "Beyond's" favorite. (Summer, 2002)
Eversz, Robert SHOOTING ELVIS
Although much shooting does
go on in this book, Elvis himself is only shot in effigy, and
by camera. Nevertheless, this book, which could have been called Accidental
Terrorist, moves at a breakneck pace after the airport explodes due to the
transfer of a contraband Russian sink. Yes--sink. You'll just have to read the
book. See also the later entries in the Nina Zero franchise. (Spring, 1997)
Farrow, John ICE LAKE
A celebrity detective, a
Native American activist, and mercenary Drug Companies are the primary
ingredients in this icy thriller, set in Montreal and upstate New York. Detective
Cinq-Mars, in his second outing, is apparently at dead-end and in fear of his
life in a case that keeps getting deeper and deeper--ironic, since it started
in the shallows, with a body found in an ice-fishing shack. Clue-driven,
anti-tech procedural with mob ties. (Winter, 2002)
Fforde, Jasper THE FOURTH BEAR
This second in the "Nursery Crime" series
outdoes its formidable precursor. Here Chief Inspector Jack Spratt and Sgt.
Mary Mary seek to find the killer of journalist Goldilocks, who is quietly on
to something about nuclear fusion and large cucumbers. Hindered by corrupt
agencies, a WWI battlefield theme park and the escape of master-criminal the
Gingerbread Man and helped by a blue alien intern and various bears (even Edwin
Bruin, the agreeable ursine at whose home Goldy spends her last hours alive)
they eventually get to the surprising conclusion. Despite the weirdness and
occasional super-fun set-pieces such as a supposedly gay politician who fears
being outed as straight, Fforde again crafts a hilarious masterpiece that
somehow also works as crime fiction. (September 28, 2006)
Fitzhugh, Bill RADIO ACTIVITY
DJ turns PI in a fast-paced
AOR (enough acronyms?) mystery that'll have you either reminiscing or
scrambling for your turntable: Captain Beefheart, Johnny Winter, Procol Harem
(sic)--redefining classic rock. Or send you in search of sounds: Captain
Beyond??? Lots of argument material for rock fans (our DJ puzzlingly likes
Fleetwood Mac's Rumours, dislikes Iron Butterfly), with a good ol'
Southern-fried Mississippi mystery set on the side. (July 23, 2004)
Fleming, John Henry THE LEGEND OF THE BAREFOOT MAILMAN
Not only does Earl Shank make
a "place" of 19th century Figula, Florida by dint of finagling a post
office for the place, he also realizes his seemingly foolish daydreams of
turning it into a tourist trap for rich northerners with the help of a deluded
Civil War vet shipping magnate, and the unfortunate title-character.
Pre-Hiaasen Florida, but with the same themes. (Spring, 1996)
Friedman, Bruce Jay A FATHER'S KISSES
Probably the only book about
an out-of-work poultry distributor turned hired assassin, the naive,
politically-correct voice of its narrator, William Binny, will grow on you,
charm you, right up through the rather unexpected conclusion. Features a weird
phallic ritual in Japan, and a novel use for a Powered Super V Turkey Debeaker.
Gaddis, William A FROLIC OF HIS OWN
Described even by its author as "not
user-friendly" this 1994 National Book Award winner is, nevertheless, a
trip. Done mostly in unrefereed dialogue, by the hundredth page the reader has
already encountered a hilarious legal brief and a rather turgid Civil War drama
in a "plot" involving a copyright litigation, and a legal battle over
Spot, the dog, and the controversial experimental structure under which Spot
has become--well--stuck. Dense: read a mystery on the side. (Winter, 1995)
Garber, Joseph VERTICAL RUN
The ultimate thriller, and a
must-read for fans of The Firm and The Assassini. Imagine going
to your office, and, first thing, having your boss fail narrowly in an effort
to kill you, only to have your boss succeeded by a squad of paramilitary
killers. Bad day--good book. Do not miss the addendum ff. p.
305, which some readers have mistaken for an advertisement. (Fall, 1995)
Gifford, Thomas THE FIRST SACRIFICE
Another international
thriller from Gifford (Assassini, Praetorian), also a 20-year-later
follow-up to his enduringly popular Wind Chill Factor), with another
Nazi conspiracy, more history lessons and a high body count. Great suspense writing from an underappreciated master of expanded historical fiction. (Winter, 1995)
Girardi, Robert VAPORETTO 13
An occult "love story" backs this novel (from the author of Madeleine's Ghost)
about a currency trader sent on a doomed and cryptic mission to the sinking,
decaying, mesmerizing city of Venice. The city and a nocturnal cast star;
you'll not soon forget the midnight repast in a cemetery featuring only foods
colored black (octopus, in ink). The title comes from one of Venice's "bus lines" and where it leads--and doesn't--leaves one in awe. This is a
truly spooky, mysterious, erotic stunner! And one of "Beyond's" very best. (Summer, 1998)
Goodman, Carol THE LAKE OF DEAD LANGUAGES
This gets compared a lot (unfairly--few books can
stand up to that comparison) to Donna Tartt's cult novel The Secret History;
both involve close circles of friends, ritual, death, and the classical
curriculum in a private school. Here, few deaths--two girls and the
"brother" of one--from 20 years back time-travel to haunt Jane
Hudson, survivor of a trio of roommates, now a teacher at the upstate NY
school. Going back and forth between past and present, layers of mystery
uncover themselves, and we find the most seemingly sane to be the most
monstrously insane. Nail-biter, with Latin allusions. (Fall, 2002)
Gruber, Michael NIGHT OF THE JAGUAR
Allegedly the last of three
Jimmy Paz novels, this one has all the arcane suspense of the earlier two. Paz,
now retired from the Miami PD, is lured away from running his mother's Cuban
restaurant and raising his daughter, by a situation finding prominent corrupt
businessmen (including his own way-way-estranged father) being
slaughtered/devoured by--well--a supposed shape-changer. Can a small Indian
shaman, come to Florida to save his beloved piece of rain forest, really turn
into a ravenous Jaguar? Depends what "is" is, I suppose Mr. Clinton
would say. But the "reality" perceived through mystical religions
like Santeria can differ a lot our ordinary experiences. Tune in and see. (27
April 2006)
Grudin, Robert BOOK
Really really strange, and really really cool, here's one of the all-time
great Weird Academic Parable Award winners. A semiotic, deconstructionist
murder mystery is on here--one in which, at one point, the footnotes stage a
rebellion, cheered on by marginalia, and pull the plug on the text. Very funny,
for the adventurous, andvery far out. What's become of Grudin
in the last decade or so? (Spring, 1993)
Hamilton, Steve ICE RUN
Sixth in a series in the
chilly Upper PeninsulaIce Run finds the reclusive Alex McNight out of
the detective business, but lured into something a lot like it, when a romantic
evening at the landmark Ojibway Hotel in Sault-Saint Marie with new love
Mountie Natalie Reynaud ends with an odd old man leaving a snow-filled hat in
their room, with the message "I know who you are." This sets off a
stream of violence from a lake of bad blood going back decades in Natalie's
family, and Alex is lucky to escape alive. Of course, as usual, the ex-catcher
takes his share of beatings, and drinks his share of Canadian beer. You'll want
to read the rest of these. (13 January 2005)
Harington, Donald THIRTEEN ALBATROSSES
The title birds represent
reasons why brilliant photogenic autodidact ham-magnate Vernon Ingledew
"cannot" be elected Governor of Arkansas: like, he doesn't attend
church, didn't attend college and lives out-of-wedlock with his first cousin.
In a metafiction where some characters are privy to plot details and the author
inserts himself at will, anything goes, and this is true in the personal,
amatory, and political arenas. This hugely inventive and challenging book is
also a follow-up to 1975's Architecture of the Arkansas Ozarks and other
Ozark books. Ask your ILL folks about them if they're not in your library systems.
Also, world-class political joke (pp. 32-33). (2003)
Harrison, Colin BODIES ELECTRIC
Instant attraction to a
down-on-her-luck woman in a subway brings Dolores Salcines and her little girl
into the empty life of corporate exec Jack Whitman. But it also brings her
violent husband Hector and other unforeseens in this thriller about obsession,
where little is what it seems. Powerful: can be read as corporate-intrigue
novel, or as classical tragedy. Really. (Winter, 1994)
Harrison,Jamie THE EDGE OF THE CRAZIES
There's
a Twin Peaks aura to Blue Deer, Montana, where a 20-year-old murder has
surprising currency, and relevance to a surprising upsurge in violent death
contibuted to (in sundry ways) by the notorious screenwriting Blackwater
brothers. One might wish that investigating Ph. D./archaeologist/sheriff Jules
Clement could settle on either Edie or Rita, but . . .. You'll want to look at the (at least) three follow-ups to this. (Summer, 1995)
Haruf, Kent PLAINSONG
This book is as simple as two
boys putting out coins for the train to flatten, and as complicated as two old
bachelor farmers, the McPherons, taking in a pregnant high school girl and
paying the doctor that delivers the child with a side of beef. It's people breaking
apart and getting together in small-town Colorado. The writing is quiet,
belying its artistry in subtle ways, and this is a book to care about. Plainsong
was a National Book Award finalist, and should have won. (Spring, 2000)
Hassler, Jon THE DEAN'S LIST
A sequel to Rookery Blues,
this hugely sympathetic novel gives us a campus way, way up in Minnesota with
middle-aged Dean Edwards still trying to cut the apron strings, frustrated by a
college president who believes Paul Bunyan to be real, and Einstein alive. But
amidst weird faculty-proposed fund-raising schemes (Madonna?), the Dean wins
with a media event--a visit from reclusive Robert Frost-esque poet Richard
Falcon, pursued by family and the law, seeking peace to complete his magnum opus
before he dies. Features a hockey team called the Blue Herons. (Spring, 1998)
Hautman, Pete MRS. MILLION
When Barabaraannette Quinn
wins the Powerball lottery, her first impulse is to offer up a million-dollar
reward for her long-since absconded charming scoundrel husband Bobby. As
everyone from Bobby and his current flame, redneck buddies of Bobby and a
particularly evil college professor try to cash in, bumbling ineptitude, some
of it violent, carries the day. Picture, like, a Carl Hiaassen book set in
Minnesota, and you'd have it. Hilarious, with an edge.
Hazelgrove, William E. TOBACCO STICKS
Set in Richmond, VA in 1945, Hazelgrove's second novel
starts as a coming-of-age book, with adult narrator Lee Hartwell reflecting on
the momentous summer of his 13th year. It ends, though, as tense courtroom
drama, the seeming languor of the south betrayed by postwar and racial
tensions. This is a To Kill a Mockingbird for the 90's. (Spring, 1996)
Heywood, Joseph STRIKE DOG
Fifth in the “Woods Cop” series, this gets off to a relatively slow start, but when it picks up steam you can’t put it down. It’s a forensic thriller with a side of cyberspace set in the outbacks of the Upper Peninsula and the Ozarks. It seems a serial murderer is targeting the best game warden in every state for a particularly gruesome death, and Michigan is the only state remaining, making Grady Service a target, and then, bait. Weird names, tons of local color and peculiar accents, and a lot of twists (literal and figurative). (19 November 2007).
Hiaasen, Carl LUCKY YOU
Earlier Hiaasen works have
given us arm-ends decorated with rotting dog's heads and weedwhackers--this
time it's a crab. It's also the usual environmentally-tinged madness, as a pair
of redneck losers win half the Florida lottery, and try to steal the other half
(to fund a half-baked right wing militia) from its winner in Grange, home of
the Weeping Madonna and the Road-stain Jesus. No Skink (unfortunately), but
irreverent, with a capital "I"--and rated "R" for Rednecks. All of Hiaasen is wacky and worth the read, but to my mind, his second (Double Whammy) is still the best. (Spring, 1998)
Hoeg, Peter SMILLA'S SENSE OF SNOW
A sometimes bewilderingly
complex mystery is the framework for this novel's even better features. The
action ranges from Denmark to Greenland, as does the ancestry (part Inuit, part
Dane) of Smilla, the tough, edgy protagonist/snow-expert, whose narration moves
from poetic (on snow and ice) to acerbic, as she moves towards the mystery's
solution aboard the drug-ship Kronos. Convoluted, but brilliant. (Fall, 1994)
Hornby, Nick HIGH FIDELITY
Rob Fleming, owner of an
out-of-the-way London used-record shop, takes us on a quirky tour of popular
culture, as he tries to find out if his recent ex-, Laura (Rob and Laura, an
uncredited allusion) is his true love by revisiting his five greatest ex-'s
(fortunately, a certain Paul Simon song does not come to his mind). Hilarious
and perceptive--and don't miss the surprising concert by SONIC DEATH MONKEY.
Later an interesting movie which begins with the 13th Floor Elevators'
"You're Gonna Miss Me." Yeah. (Fall, 1995)
Hospital, Janette Turner THE LAST MAGICIAN
Does a photographic image
capture reality, or gloss it or explain it? Or, can a reality be captured? This
dense, brilliant novel explores worlds that exist, that may exist, and worlds
that people wish wouldn't exist. It gives us duality in Lucy (saint/whore) and
zero-reality or magical-reality in enigmatic voyager/voyeur/filmmaker Charlie.
Transparently opaque, like its unusual cover-art. (Spring, 1993)
Howie, Betsy SNOW
Like Wuthering Heights (but
only in this regard), this book goes really far out, and then goes further out.
It's "about" a broken marriage and a flight to the far north for a
woman and her two cats; it's really about finding self in this and past
lives, as you'll find out when one of the cats starts talking (the other
dances). Features an appearance by what must be Carlyle's Hyperborean Bear, now
named Simon and inordinately fond of Spam, which like other staples except
wood, appears at the cabin via wish. From Fableland. (Summer, 1998)
Hynes, James THE LECTURER'S TALE
It's tough to find an English Department novel to
compete with Russo's Straight Man, but here's one, but its humor is
pretty surreal. When academically down-and-out lecturer Nelson Humboldt has his
finger severed in a freak accident on the quad, he finds himself possessed with
"powers" when it is reattached. He can bend others to his will, even
the Mafia-Don-esque Department Chair, vampiric Assistant-Chair Victoria
Victorinix, and the rest of the weird and warped. Most academic novels don't
end in conflagration and hails of gunfire. This one does. Be there. (Spring,
2000)
Hynes, James PUBLISH AND PERISH
Three wicked, interconnected novellas-- 1) of tenure, amour, felinicide, and a feline
ghost; 2)of a truly failed conference, and a star academic anthropologist who
takes to the field, only to become--literally--way too much a part of it; 3) of
a vampiric, plagiaristic disgraced prof who uses spells--make this book live up
to its subtitle ("Three Tales of Tenure and Terror"), and make it a
worthy Weird Academic Parable Winner successor to Grudin's Book and
Russo's Straight Man. (Spring, 1998)
Inman, Robert DAIRY QUEEN DAYS
The Rev. Joe Pike Mosely contends there's something spiritual about the DQ. Son Trout takes
his first job there. No fish story here, though; when Joe Pike's wife is institutionalized, his
church moves him back to the small Georgia town named after his family, where he had been a
football hero, where labor troubles brew at the family mill. This, after he drives his rebuilt
Harley to church one Sunday, delivers a non-sermon, and then roars off to, well, "God knows
where." Good characters, good coming-of-age story, and good ol' Southern Realism (with a
twist or two). (Fall, 1997)
Isler, Alan CLERICAL ERRORS
This brilliant novel features the voice--erudite, witty, sad, ironic, urbane-- of rogue(ish)
priest Edmond Music, born a Jew, as he nears the end of an eventful life. Music oversees, to the
Church's chagrin, a library with a rare folio, which goes missing; there's also an ineffectual rival
priest bent on revenge, Music's "housekeeper," and as a bonus, some incredible Shakespeariana
"written" by an 18th Century Jewish Mystic, who also gets involved in the plot--to see how,
you'll just have to read it. Isler's been good before, but here he aspires to Robertson Davies.
(Fall, 2001)
Jones, Matthew F. BLIND PURSUIT
Still in the mountains around Albany, Jones gives us this time, instead of a frustrated rural loner
(A Single Shot), an upscale ex-urban couple whose daughter is abducted. The
suspense (and it's palpable) comes not so much from curiosity (who did it) as from
time constraints and a legal system hamstrung (necessarily) by individual rights when dealing
with an elusive psychopathic pedophile, evil incarnate, posing as artiste. Check this out: a
near-certain clue on p. 129 is never delivered on. (Winter, 1998)
Jones, Matthew A SINGLE SHOT
Set in the mountains of upstate New York, this is a tough, Naturalistic, violent, feral, rural
thriller about a good man, forced by circumstances to deerjacking, who accidentally shoots a
young woman, only to find her accompanied by a large stash of money. Complications, and the
body count, accumulate. Anyone remember Smith's A Simple Plan (see below)?
Similar book: way different ending. (Fall, 1996)
Karp, Marshall THE RABBIT FACTORY
Rambo is dead. Rambunctious Rabbit, that is, lynch-pin-bunny of the Lamaar Studios and Familyland Theme Park. If Rambo is dead, can Dexter Duck be far behind? Actually, yes, as the person or persons with grievances against Lamaar broaden out to kill employees, franchisees, tourists, anyone with a remote association. And Detectives Lomax and Biggs are under the gun (so to speak) even from the Governor to end the killing (of the state tourism's golden goose). Screenwriter Karp balances the humor and the suspense nicely, and any resemblance to a Mouse-driven megacorporation is purely intentional. (7 June 2006),BR CLEAR=ALL>
Keneally, Thomas WOMAN OF THE INNER SEA
After losing her children--accident? murder?--Kate Kaffney tries to find herself in today's
Australian back country. Helping her recover from the tragedy and her despicable husband are a
railroad hotel, some unusual men, and a kangaroo savant named Chifley. Dynamite, both
literally and figuratively. Keneally is better known for--well, you know. (Summer, 1993)
King, Jonathon KILLING NIGHT
The fourth in a series involving ex-Philly cop Max Freeman, now resident in an abandoned
research station in the Everglades is more urban than its forbears. Max has to navigate the
streets of Miami (trying to help protectinjured immigrant cruise ship employees from their
putative employers) and Philadelphia (checking on ex-colleague Colin O'Shea, suspected in a
series of murders of pretty bartenders in Miami). Although weaker in local color than the earlier
books, and lacking backwoods icon Nate Brown, the tight plotting makes this a winner. You'll
want to read the rest. (20 February 2006)
King, Thomas GREEN GRASS, RUNNING WATER
The loves and lost loves of five Blackfoot Indians come together at the traditional Sun Dance,
aided (and hindered) by four mysterious ancient Indians and their companion, the trickster
Coyote. This ranks not only as excellent Native American narrative/storytelling, but is also right
up there with the best of experimental writing. (Summer, 1993)
Kurkov, Andrey DEATH AND THE PENGUIN
This book features both Misha
the Penguin and Misha the Non-Penguin; the former is a pet of central character Viktor, acquired
when the Moscow Zoo deaccessioned him--the latter is a sort of Mafioso, who drops lots of
money and his daughter on Viktor. Viktor is an aspiring writer who takes to writing anticipatory
obituaries, which sounds boring enough until his file obits come to have an apparent "predictive"
quality. The penguin is great. Right from Kafka territory (Summer, 2002).
Kurtzweil, Allen A CASE OF CURIOSITIES
Beautifully detailed first novel: the world of 18th century science, hydraulics, metallurgy, etc.,
springs to life as a curio case from a modern-day auction invokes the life of its creator, who had
also been the creator of a marvelous automaton, a talking Saracen, in pre-Revolutionary Paris.
Truly exceptional, even at a backwards glance, full of the colors and textures and smells of the
past. (Winter, 1993)
Landvik, Lorna PATTY JANE'S HOUSE OF CURL
A hybrid of the Minnesota worlds of Mary Tyler Moore and Lake Wobegon, this family dramedy
should be a must-read for Ann Tyler fans. When Patty Jane loses her husband, Thor (and he's
really "lost," not dead, through amazing circumstance), she starts the titular
beauty-parlor-cum-cultural-center. As good comedy should, this book faces serious issues
squarely--and the big ones, too, like love and death--and the comedy prevails. (Summer, 1996)
Landvik, Lorna YOUR OASIS ON FLAME LAKE
Flame Lake, Minnesota, that is--must be in the SW corner of the state, since it's said to be near
Spirit Lake--and Your Oasis is a nightclub Dick Lindstrom builds in his basement. Lots of
incident: Dick's wife Devera engages in a really tawdry affair with (what else?) an
English professor moonlighting at teaching history; their best friends' hockey-playing daughter
gets beat up by jealous rival hockey players; and so on. Multiple narrators and great local color
from the author of the ever-engaging Patty Jane's House of Curl. (Winter, 1998)
Lansens, Lori RUSH HOME ROAD
This elegaic debut novel is set firmly in the present, in the Lakeview Trailer Park near
Chatham Ontario. There, 70-year-old Addie Shadd had largely put aside her growing-up years in
Rusholme, a town settled by fugitive slaves, an end-point of the Underground Railroad. But then
she opens her door and her heart to a 5-year-old girl abandoned at the Trailer Park, and this in
turn opens the doors to the past. This would make a good movie. Or Oprah book. (2003)
Lennon, J. Robert THE FUNNIES
Despite the title and theme, this book is not a side-splitter. It takes on the well-known comic
strip--although it isn't a strip but a single-panel "funny" often done in the round--that some love
and more love to hate, here called "Family Funnies." You know; family-values, guardian angels,
the kid who draws when Daddy's ill or for Father's Day, that schtick. Takes it, and deconstructs
it--down to Daddy's stoop, Mom's resilient figure, the odd shaped heads--from the point of view
of one of the sons. Funny, yes, but pensive, because in cartoons Moms don't get Alzheimers, and
Dads don't die bitter and bottle-ridden. (Summer, 1999)
Letts, Billie WHERE THE HEART IS
A reality-laced fairy tale begins when basically no-good Willy Jack Pickens drops
seven-months-pregnant (and unlucky with sevens) Novalee Nation off at a Wal-Mart in
Sequoyah, OK--and then abandons her. Novalee takes up covert "residence" at the store, even
has her baby Americus there, but the real interest comes as she emerges into the Sequayah
society and discovers for the first time a definition of "home." This has proven over time a real
reader favorite and transcends the usual Oprah fare. (Winter, 1996)
Lewycka, Marina A SHORT HISTORY OF TRACTORS IN UKRAINIAN
Told from the point-of-view of a daughter, this is the story of a geriatric ex-engineer in England,
and
the plush young would-be emigree from the Ukraine who sports fabulous breasts and favors
flashy
underwear, boiled dinners and big cars. As Nadezhda and alienated sister Vera try to
disentangle
Papa from the mercenary Valentina and her needy son (not to mention the possible lovers, the
pathetic husband and the Rolls salesman), this seems to shape up as fine comedy. But, as in
good
comedy, the characters are rounded, so there's a poignant air too. Great debut, and yes, there is a
history of tractors included, thankfully translated into English. (July 7, 2005)
Littell, Robert THE VISITING PROFESSOR
As the Soviet Union falls apart, codemaster Lemuel Falk is surprised at being granted an exit
visa and chair at the Institute for Advanced Interdisciplinary Chaos-Related Studies in
Backwater, NY (it must be--appropriately--near Hornell, judging by references), where he
deciphers our slang (after hearing "flies to more Florida cities," he wonders how one city can be
"more Florida" than another), computer-solves a serial-murder case, is wooed by various
intelligence communities, and woos a sexually-liberated haircutter. Cool--and another Weird
Academic Fable winner. (Summer, 1994)
Lowy, Jonathan ELVIS AND NIXON
On December 19, 1970, Elvis Presley "escaped" handlers and Vern and Priscilla, and in an
addled daze caught a commercial flight, fully armed and in jump-suit regalia, to DC, where he
flashed a gun in a doughnut shop; then he flew to LA, then back to DC, where the memorable
meeting with RMN occurred and Nixon gave him a badge as a Bureau of Dangerous Drugs
Agent. Whew. Lowy fictionalizes and chronicles with tongue-in-cheek, but with a very real
"feel" for the times, including especially the White House Paranoia and the national angst over
the My Lai affair and Lt. Calley. A funny but also cautionary docudrama. (Fall, 2001)
PLEASE visit the front page so that I get a count for your
visit.