Book Picks for January 2010

We Recommend

Where the God of Love Hangs Out

by Amy Bloom

As far as I'm concerned, short stories are the nouvelle cuisine of the literary world: I see this artfully arranged morsel in the middle of a big white plate and think I'm still going to be hungry when the food is gone. And sometimes that is true. But with Amy Bloom's new collection of stories about love gone right and wrong, lost and found, the morsel in the middle of the expanse of white china is both satisfying and tantalizing. While I was left wondering "and then?" at the end of some of the tales, I was also left with the savor of a dish well-crafted, well-served, and well-seasoned.
—Laura

The Kingdom of Ohio
by Matthew Flaming

Peter Force recalls his meeting with a woman who says she has traveled seven years into the future. His story then unfolds into an adventure filled with mystery, romance, and history of New York in the early 1900s. I like to "discover" debut authors that have talent. Flaming's foray into the fiction world is promising and I hope to read more from him soon.

—Teresa

Thereby Hangs a Tail
by Spencer Quinn

Chet and Bernie are back andd, once again, great fun. They have been hired to protect a delicate, little fluffball of a championship show dog and then are immediately fired over a slight mishap with a bacon-flavored treat. Back on the case after both owner and dog are kidnapped, they are off on another romp through canyons and ghost towns, meeting up with hippies, javelinas, and assorted bad guys, with Chet keeping us informed along the way from the shotgun seat of Bernie's old Porsche. I just find Chet so entertaining and such a DOG.

—Laura

Spice & Wolf

by Isuna Hasekura

Ignore the slightly trashy cover: Spice & Wolf is among the most clever genre novels I've read in years. It's a funny, fascinating fantasy series about romance and economics. Yes. Economics! A traveling merchant picks up a hitchhiking girl who's really a wolf god of the harvest in human disguise. Together they work and scheme their way through big scores and financial disasters, even as they downplay their growing mutual affection. Who knew currency fraud, supply & demand, and black market double-dealing could be so entertaining?
—Kimberly

Noah's Compass
by Anne Tyler

Anne Tyler is one of the people whose works I always read and I am always charmed by her slightly off-plumb characters. Her latest appealing misfit has been downsized (not fired) from his teaching job and is quietly giving up on life at 61. But life is not quite finished with him. It is fascinating to watch the author deftly re-anchor him in the world from which he had backed away.
—Laura

The Most They Ever Had
by Rick Bragg

Anything by Rick Bragg is sure to end up as a recommendation from me. His latest book is a collection of true stories about the trying, dangerous, and sometimes rewarding lives of workers at an Alabama cotton mill.
—Teresa

For Children

Baby & Kindergarten

The Butt Book
by Artie Bennett

"Eyes and ears are much respected, but the butt has been neglected. We hope to change that here and now. Would the butt please take a bow?" So begins The Butt Book, a tribute to keisters, derrieres, bums, heinies, and fannies. Hilarious!
—Teresa

Teen

What I Saw and How I Lied
by Judy Blundell

Newly in paperback is What I Saw and How I Lied, the taut and intelligent thriller that won the 2008 National Book Award for Young People's Literature. Set just after the end of WWII, it's the story of Evie, a New Jersey teenager longing for excitement who falls for a mysterious, handsome ex-GI. But his secrets threaten to split their romance and Evie's family apart as Evie uncovers the deadly noir grit beneath her life's elegant surface glamour.
—Kimberly