Title:  Gold

Author:  Chris Cleave

Publisher:  Simon & Schuster, 2012

Summary/Review: This wonderful new novel from the author of Little Bee arrives just in time for the summer Olympics and should definitely be put on your
list of great summer reads.  Zoe Castle and Kate Meadows are stars in the world of professional cycling, and each are trying their personal best to make it to the 2012 games in London.  When their coach, Tom Voss, learns of a change in the rules that will allow only one of them to compete in the Olympics, he knows that no matter what happens, one of his cyclists will be destroyed.  In the years that Zoe and Kate have known each other, their lives have become intertwined in a very complicated way.   Cleave has done a terrific job of revealing their stories in between exciting racing sequences that demonstrate how physically and emotionally debilitating intense physical training can be.  Everyone we meet in
“Gold” is in the grips of a battle; whether it is 8-year old Sophie, Kate and Jack Argall’s daughter, who is fighting leukemia; Coach Tom, who must come to terms with his own failed athletic career and his love for his two athletes; or Kate and Zoe with their constant fight to compete and survive in sports, love and life.  This is such an intense novel and it is so emotionally satisfying.   It will be one of the best books you read this summer!

Who will like this?: Those who are excited for the Olympics, and want to get warmed up.  Anyone looking for an intense book that deals with sports, friendships, and the human
spirit.

If you like this, try this: If you liked the author’s style, try his other- “Little Bee” or “Incendiary”.

If you’re more interested in the cycling aspect, Lance Armstrong has a number of biographies including “It’s not About the Bike” and “Every Second Counts”.   Tim Moore’s book “French Revolutions” shines a more humorous light on the topic.

Recommended by: Mary, Reference Librarian

Visit the Fairfield Public Library catalog to see if this book is available, or to place a hold!  [Link will open in a new window]

Title: What Alice Forgot

Author: Liane Moriarty

Publisher: Berkley Trade; Reprint edition (April 24, 2012)

Summary/Review: This book has similarities to Sophie Kinsella’s novel “Remember Me?” However, What Alice Forgot has a much deeper, more powerful story line.

Alice wakes up on the floor of a gym unaware of how she got there. She soon realizes that she fell off her bike and hit her head hard during spin class. She is rushed off to the hospital by the paramedics not recognizing the people calling out to her. Alice becomes even more confused when the doctor insists it is a different year from the one she believes it to be. What Alice refuses to accept is that she has lost the last ten years of her life as a result of falling off the bike and bumping her head. She begins to realize that her life has gone through many serious changes in the last ten years. She no longer seems to have a best friend, she and her sister Elizabeth have grown apart and, worst of all, she and her husband have split up. They are in the middle of a nasty custody battle over their three children. Alice does not even remember having three children. She only remembers being barely pregnant with their first child.

Alice becomes desperate to find her way back to reality. Her anguish and anxiety worsens when she discovers that she does not like the person she became during her ten year lapse of time. She really is not a nice person at all. She was argumentative and uptight most of the time. As she learns about herself, Alice begins to realize why her marriage has disintegrated.

This book portrays Alice with a strong character. You will enjoy learning about the mystery of Alice’s past and why she is so determined to form a future for herself and her family.

Who will like this book?: People who like thought-provoking books with humor and a few of life’s lessons.

If you liked this, try this: “Here, Home, Hope” by Kaira Rouda; “Three Wishes”: A Novel by Liane Moriarty; “Sister”: A Novel by Rosamund Lupton; “The Story of Beautiful Girl” by Rachel Simon

Recommended by: Beverly D., Branch Circulation Coordinator

If this looks like a book you would be interested in, check the Fairfield Public Library catalog for availability and to place a hold! [link will open in a new window]

Title: Nice Girls Don’t Have Fangs

Author: Molly Harper

Publisher: Pocket Star, 2009

Summary/Review: This year brought Fairfield a light winter and an early spring, so I am channeling summer and diving into some good beach reads!

When Jane Jameson is unjustly fired from her position as the town’s Children’s Librarian, she heads off to the local pub. After a few rounds, she stumbles home only to be accidently mistaken for a deer, shot, and left for dead in a field. But, then a good-looking vampire – a group who has recently gone public thanks to a federal lawsuit – finds her and offers to turn her. She accepts the offer and three days later wakes up to find her world changed. Welcoming Jane to this new life is a gift basket from the Newly Undead Welcoming Committee, as well as, a cute and mysterious sire, Gabriel.

When someone starts framing Jane for a series of murders in her small town of Moon Hollow, Jane sets out to prove she’s still the nice girl she has always been. This book is the first in a series about Jane Jameson and her supernatural friends, but very normal family.

Written with humor (and a few jokes only a Children’s Librarian would understand), Nice Girls Don’t Have Fangs is great for those readers who enjoy a little paranormal romance in their lives.

Who Will Like This Book: Fans of the Sookie Stackhouse series, Nora Roberts fans, and adult readers of the Twilight saga.

If You Like This, Try This: A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness, Outlander by Diana Gabaldon,  Sign of the Seven Trilogy by Nora Roberts,  The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley,  Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

Recommended by: Mary Sorhus, Head of Children’s Services

Does this look like your kind of book?  Visit the Fairfield Public Library Catalog to check if it’s available and/or place a hold!

Title: The Art of Fielding – A Novel

Author: Chad Harbach

Publisher: Little, Brown and Company 2011

Summary/Review: The Art of Fielding is definitely “not just about baseball”. Although it centers around the baseball games, it is the characters who take center field. It was easy to identify with the hardships each character goes through, knowing that the outcome of one situation leads to another. The book revolves around five main characters: Henry Skrimshander, who lives and breathes baseball; Mike Schwartz, the team captain who befriends and pushes Henry to his limits; Owen Dunne, Henry’s roommate, who provides insight and support to those around him; Guert Affenlight, the college president, who shows that it is never too late to change and become the person you are supposed to be; and Pella Affenlight, Guert’s daughter, who overcomes her own personal issues trying to find her life’s path.

Overall, I found The Art of Fielding to be interesting read with some unexpected turns. I felt that the characters and storylines are something readers can relate to.

Who will like this book?: People who are interested in sports, but more interested in the people involved in them.

 If you liked this, try this: If you’re interested in learning more about baseball, check out “Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game” by Michael Lewis, which goes into (sometimes shady) economics of the Oakland A’s, or “The Boys of Summer” by Roger Kahn, a non-fiction book about the history of the Brooklyn Dodgers.  Also, try “Accidental Sportswriter” by Robert Lipsyte.

If you liked Char Harbach’s writing style, this is his debut novel- but he’s been compared to Jeffrey Eugenides (author of “Middlesex”), and Justin Torres (“We the Animals”).

Recommended by: Sharyn, Circulation Staff

Does this look like a book you’d like to read? Visit the Fairfield Public Library catalog to place a hold or check availability!

Title: Call After Midnight

Author: Tess Gerritsen

Publisher: Severn House, 2011

Summary: The book begins with a phone call at midnight, newlywed Kate Fountaine thinks it’s her husband of two months, Geoffrey. When she answers the call-not quite awake- it isn’t her husband: it’s the U.S. State Department. They are calling to tell her that her husband was killed in a fire in the hotel where he was staying in London. She is then asked to come in and answer a few questions. It is soon discovered that the body had a bullet in the head and now she is told he was murdered. She will not accept this and heads to London for answers; there she discovers Geoffrey isn’t the man she thought he was -in fact, he was leading a double life. He has a wife in London and they are both spies. The story takes off from there. It is very fast paced and has a few twists and turns along the way.

Who would like this book: Anyone who enjoys mysteries, a little romance and espionage.  

If you like this, try this: Anything else by Tess Gerritsen- she has written a number of books.  If you like the crime fiction aspect, Lisa Gardner, Karin Slaughter, and Robert Ludlum also write similar crime fiction. If you’re looking for something a little more gritty, try the Stieg Larsson series (Girl With the Dragon Tattoo…). If you’re more into espionage, try Alan Furst, who blends mystery, spies, thrills with an international twist.

Recommended By: Virginia, Circulation Dept.

If this looks like a book you’re interested in, visit the Fairfield Public Library catalog to check the availability and place a hold!

Title: Night Strangers

Author: Chris Bohjalian

Publisher: Crown, 2011

Summary: The beginning of Chris Bohjalian’s latest book is riveting.  It had me gasping for breath as I read about Chip Linton, a seasoned pilot, who had to ditch his jet in Lake Champlain after jamming into a flock of geese.  The normalcy of being seat belted into a chair and the next minute hitting the water and going under is frightening.  The body count, thirty nine deaths.

Chip, his wife (a lawyer) and their twin ten-year old girls move to New Hampshire in the hope that they can rebuild their lives.  However, in a musty dirt floor basement in the corner of the room sits a door that has long been sealed with 39 six-inch-long carriage bolts.  39 bolts, 39 deaths on the plane. It only gets spookier from there.

This novel is for sure a psychological thriller but it’s also a domestic drama and the story of a family coping with the aftermath of a horrible catastrophe.

The ghost story develops when Chip begins to see some of the dead from the plane crash, but there are also herbalists aka witches who play a huge part in the demise of this family.  As you read through you begin to build your own dread on what is going to take place.  The ghosts know exactly what they want and Chip is beginning to understand what he must do to help them.  Meanwhile you begin to understand that this cult of women, in this tiny town, is definitely moving this plot into a not so happy ending.  They are a strong and fearful group to reckon with and Chip and Emily’s twins will play an important role in their desires.

I haven’t read a ghost story in a long in a while but I really enjoyed this one.

Recommended by: Nancy, Deputy Town Librarian

Who will like this book?: Those who are already fans of Bohjalian, or those who enjoy psychological fast-paced thrillers

If you like this, try this: Other Bohjalian books, or other psychological thriller authors such as John Sanford or Jeffrey Deaver

Does this look like something you’d like to read? Visit the Fairfield Public Library catalog to put a hold or check availability!

Title: A Monster Calls

Author: Patrick Ness

Publisher: Candlewick 2011

Summary: 13-year old Conor’s life is spinning out of control. His mother is dying of cancer, his dad has run away to America to live with his new family, he’s the target of bullies at school, his work-centric over-bearing grandmother has come to stay with the family, and now- a monster has shown up at 12:07 outside his bedroom window. The monster, disturbingly drawn in sharp strokes of black and white, will tell Conor three stories: and then? Conor must share his own story, the nightmare that has woken him from sleep and haunted his waking life. As the monster, a Yew tree in its current form, tells his three stories, Conor must gather the strength to tell his own story, one he’s never shared with anyone.

A Monster Calls is a book that can be read in one sitting, the story gripping and the pictures haunting. The Yew tree’s stories offer life lessons that most kids will learn eventually: that there isn’t always a good guy and a bad guy, that people can be both, and that sometimes sacrifices must be made for a greater good. Conor’s story itself, which the reader will experience glimpses of throughout the book, is not the one you would expect. The book deals with death well, offering stories of death in several different lights but also never downplaying how difficult both life and death can be. Apart from the Yew tree’s stories, additionally the topics of bullying, mental issues, and familial relationships is addressed. While older children will certainly be intrigued by the story, teens and adults will feel its impact more directly.

If you liked this, try this: Teens and adults will enjoy Siobhan Dowd’s stories such as “Bog Child”. The story was inspired by an idea by Dowd, who passed away before the work was completed. Middle grade children seeking information about death may try “The Naming of Tishkin Silk”, which deals with losing a younger sibling.

Recommended by: Lauren, Technical Services Assistant

Title: Silver Sparrow

Author:  Tayari Jones

Publisher: Chapel Hill, N.C. 2011

 Summary: What would it be like to grow up knowing that you were meant to be kept a secret?  Dana Lynn Yarboro, one of the sisters starring in Tayari Jones’ third novel, struggles with this very thing every day.  Her father, James Witherspoon, is a bigamist, and Dana and her mother Gwen are his “second” and “secret” family, a fact of which they are painfully aware.  His “first” wife and daughter, Laverne and Chaurisse, have his last name and almost of his attention and time – and they know nothing about Dana and Gwen.  James goes to great lengths to keep it that way.  So when Dana and Chaurisse meet by accident at a science fair, things get very complicated.

The first half of the novel is narrated by Dana, and the second half by Chaurisse, and both of their stories are beautifully told.   Jones does a great job portraying the complex relationships between the two families and revealing the motivations behind the web of lives they have spun.  It’s fascinating to follow them as their lives slowly interconnect, and to see how the girls’ meeting changes everyone involved.  I love the way the author builds the momentum in the story in spite of the change of narrator half-way through.  I especially liked the fact that Chaurisse’s half of the novel picks up where Dana’s left off, and wasn’t just a retelling of the same story from a different perspective.  Atlanta in the 1980’s is so wonderfully described it becomes a character itself.   All of the people in Silver Sparrow are drawn with voices that are unique and will remain with me for a long time.

If you like this, try this: “The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison,  “The Untelling” or “Leaving Atlanta” by Tayari Jones

Recommended by: Mary, Branch Reference

A second look:

Set against the backdrop of 1980’s Atlanta, Silver Sparrow perfectly captures the dichotomy of family relationships. The reader will be torn, much like James, between the two families. Dana and her mother Gwen are smart, gorgeous, vibrant women while Chaurisse and her mother Laverne are plain, hard-working, and honest. Like their father, the reader will fall in love with both girls and their mothers, often forgetting that they are two scales perfectly balanced before disaster inevitably strikes.

When a chance meeting at a science fair piques Dana’s interest in Chaurisse, it is only a matter of time until their worlds collide and, ultimately, shatter.  As much as the reader feels they know each character, there is no predicting their actions when loyalties run deep- and the reader most likely will not know where their own loyalties lie.  Sad, intense, and eye-opening Silver Sparrow should not be missed.

Recommended by: LB, Technical Services Assistant

Does this look like a book you’d like to read? Visit our catalog here, where you can check availability and place a hold.

Title: Stolen Souls: A Jack Lennon Investigation

Author: Stuart Neville

Publisher: Soho Press, October 2011

Summary: A young Ukrainian sex slave escapes from her captors only to find an even greater horror awaits her.
    Soon after the brother of a Lithuanian crime boss is found dead, three of his business associates are murdered. Detective Inspector Jack Lennon must work quickly to stop the situation from spiraling out of control while trying to find the young woman who may hold the key to the brutal killings.
  Stuart Neville is by far one of the greatest crime fiction writers I have ever read. Starting with “The Ghosts of Belfast” and “Collusion”, Neville continues his Jack Lennon series with this new novel, again set in Belfast. “Stolen Souls” delivers non-stop action from first page to last. In fact, I was lucky to find a good stopping place in the middle so I could get some sleep because once back into it, I was in until the end. Neville’s protagonists are far from perfect. They are deeply flawed and living on the edge. Do these faults make us love them any less? Absolutely not. This is one of Neville’s gifts. We can forgive his heroes anything, because there is always someone out there darker and more evil than they could ever be.

Who Might Like This?: Fans of excellent crime fiction.

Recommended by: Sue B, Circulation Coordinator

Does this look like a book you’d like to read? Visit the Fairfield Public Library catalog here, where you can check availability and place a hold.

Title: Bent Road

Author: Lori Roy

Publisher: Penguin Group, March 2011

Summary: It’s 1967 and the Detroit race riots, among other things, have convinced Arthur Scott that it’s time to move his family back to Kansas and the town he fled more than 20 years before. Arthur and his older daughter, Elaine, adapt easily to life in the rural town of Arthur’s childhood, but his wife Celia and children Daniel and especially Evie have a more difficult time. Maybe it’s because Evie looks so much like Arthur’s dead sister Eve, for whom Evie was named. It seems the whole town is still haunted by the memory of Eve and her unsolved murder, even though 20 years have passed. When a little girl goes missing soon after the Scott’s arrival, fingers again point to Eve’s fiancé at the time of her death. The missing girl, Julianne Robison, looks strikingly similar to both Eve and Evie- a coincidence that does not go unnoticed by the townspeople. Are the two crimes related? Everyone seems to think so. Celia fears for her family, especially little Evie, since the prime suspect, now married to Arthur’s sister Ruth, is becoming more and more unhinged. Told from the point of view of different characters, sometimes without warning, the plot twists and turns while leading to a final, explosive showdown.

Who Might Like This?: Anyone who likes family drama with twists, turns, and some thrills thrown in.

If you like this, try this: Mudbound by Hillary Jordan

Recommended by: Sue B, Circulation Coordinator

Does this look like a book you’d like to read? Visit our catalog here, where you can check availability and place a hold