Though I only discovered Dodie Smith’s I Capture the Castle a few years ago, it feels like a book I’ve loved all my life. Cassandra is one of the most fascinating and natural storytellers you’ll ever read, and her cleverness adds spice to this extraordinary coming-of-age tale. Simply enchanting.
Check It Out Category: Books
John’s Pick: Asterios Polyp
David Mazzucchelli’s outstanding graphic novel Asterios Polyp isn’t notable just for its satisfying story – about an arrogant architect who learns to see the world in a new way – but for the way that story is told: elegant visual devices abound in this thematically rich work.
Donna S.’s Pick: In the President’s Secret Service
In the President’s Secret Service: Behind the Scenes with Agents in the Line of Fire and the Presidents they Protect is by Ronald Kessler. This nonfiction book presents facts, interesting tidbits and the concerns of agents who try to provide quality security service to our presidents.
John’s Pick: Juliet, Naked
John of Fiction/AV/Teen Services recommends Juliet, Naked by Nick Hornby:
Juliet, Naked, Nick Hornby’s latest novel, is a return to the elements that made his debut novel High Fidelity a hit: music, romance and arrested development. It tells the tale of a reclusive singer-songwriter who hasn’t recorded in years, the unexpected release of an acoustic version of his most popular album, and a trans-Atlantic correspondence with the increasingly disgruntled girlfriend of his biggest fan…which leads to something more. As always, Hornby’s witty characterization runs side-by-side with his sharp observations of how the way we consume popular culture shapes our lives.
Cathleen’s Pick: Six Suspects by Vikas Swarup
Cathleen of Fiction/AV/Teen Services recommends Six Suspects by Vikas Swarup:
When playboy Vicky Rai shot doctoral student Ruby Gill in the face and neck in front of fifty witnesses, all because she refused to serve him a drink, the nation gasped. Later, when Rai was acquitted, riots broke out. So it is no surprise that he himself is murdered at the very party he throws to celebrate his release. When the guests are searched, six separate individuals are found to have guns in their possession: a dim-witted American tourist, an ambitious politician, a Bollywood star, a primitive tribesman, a cell phone thief, and a corrupt bureaucrat who claims to have become Mahatma Ghandi. Each has a secret, and each had just as good a reason to want Rai dead. In his follow-up to Slumdog Millionaire, author Vikas Swarup casts a fascinating story of mystery and vengeance. One by one the characters are revealed, but the pieces won’t fully come together until the shocking end.