Mr. Darcy Forever by Victoria Connelly (2012)

I am the first to admit:  few things entice me more than There are few things I love more than a trashy fiction made slightly less trashy by the invoking of the great name of Austen.  That is, I love a good Jane Austen spin-off (and a bad one).

I was at Barnes & Noble, perusing their lovely Austen spinoff fiction shelf, and could not resist the cover of this one. 

 This novel is rather strange, but compulsively readable.  It's about two sisters who parted ways three years ago, and the chapters unfold the story of their split, trading off between the perspectives of the two characters. Really draws out in full, slow detail the story of how the sisters parted ways.  To be honest, the male characters are rather cardboard-ish and the relationships simplistic.  HOWEVER, the story of the sisters traveling to Bath for the Jane Austen Festival is so very, very fun. It has a very strong sense of Bath, and is very fun to read and revisit the places of Bath.  It's also terrifically full of fun Jane Austen references.  Although I had some issues with the characters and storyline, I also could NOT stop reading this book.  And I'm famous for my book intolerance and impatience, so that's saying something.  And I immediately dashed out and requested (and read) Victoria Connelly's other two Austen books: A Weekend with Mr. Darcy and Dreaming of Mr. Darcy.

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell (2013)

I absolutely adored Eleanor & Park.  Adored.  So I was terribly excited to read her newest young adult novel, Fangirl.

This is a charming young adult novel--a bit slighter than Eleanor & Park--but a charming novel nonetheless about twin sisters Cath and Wren starting college and going their own separate ways.

The story is told mostly from the perspective of Cath, the shyer, more awkward sister, and portrays her struggle with social anxiety with vivid realism.  Cath is a huge Simon Snow fan and has been writing Simon Snow fanfiction for years.  She's built up a huge fan base, but is feeling unexpectedly challenged by her fiction-writing class.  She has to figure out how to balance her love of writing fanfiction with writing fiction, and how to be her own person at college.  As always, Rowell writes wonderfully vivid characters and touchingly realistic situations.

After a controversy erupted here in a local school district about her book Eleanor & Park (check out Linda Holmes's wonderful Monkey See blog for a great rundown on the whole situation), Rowell came to Minnesota for an author visit and I am very happy to report that she is every bit as delightful as her books.  If you ever get the chance to see her speak, I highly recommend it!

The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer (2013)

I really rather liked this large, semi-sprawling novel about six friends who meet at arts camp in the 1970s and whose lives remain connected through their lives as they take different paths through life.

I loved the look at the complications of long-term friendship and how you can love someone and have mixed feelings about them as well. I thought Wolitzer (a writer I'd never really warmed to before this) did a marvelous job with the wanderings about in time and changing viewpoint from character to character.  Darn solid characterization and relationships. And isn't that cover gorgeous?

While looking online for the cover artist info, I was reminded of the fascinating  piece that Meg Wolitzer wrote last year for the New York Times called The Second Shelf: On the Rules of Literary Fiction for Men and Women which discussed how literary fiction by women authors tends to get dismissed as "women's fiction" and literary fiction by men is held in higher regard.  Much discussion on this topic emerged, and Bookslut, one of the best literary blogs, talked to Wolitzer about it in their interview with her this year.  Fascinating reading!

By the way, cover artist info is surprisingly hard to find online!  I will add the cover artist info as soon as I can get a copy of the book into my actual hands.

The Stench of Honolulu by Jack Handey (2013)

 

Sometimes a book just stays with you--more than you expect. This is one of those books.

I checked this out after reading a fascinating piece in the New York Times magazine called Jack Handey Is the Envy of Every Comedy Writer in America and realizing, hey, Jack Handey (of Deep Thoughts fame really IS a real person and, incidentally, a comedy legend).

The Stench of Honolulu is a wildly weird, eccentric and surreal novel. Short and not at all sweet, with a perfect weird joke in nearly every paragraph. Absolutely original, hilarious and delightful. There's really not much else to say.

The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty (2013)

Liane Moriarty is quickly becoming one of my Adored Authors. 

Kirkus Reviews says: "Moriarty may be an edgier, more provocative and bolder successor to Maeve Binchy" and it's true.  I've long felt that Liane Moriarty and Maeve Binchy were long-lost sister writers, setting their stories in Australia and Ireland respectively, but sharing the same amazing characterization and beautifully written relationships, artfully weaving the lives of their characters together and creating wonderfully realistic and insightful novels.

In The Husband's Secret, Cecelia, perfect mother and wife, finds a letter in her attic from her husband saying "to be opened in the case of his death."  Sooooo .... Does she open it? 

In addition, we meet a number of other fascinating characters: Tess, whose husband just confessed to falling in love with Tess's cousin and closest friend, and Rachel, a mother and now grandmother who's still struggling with the murder of her daughter many years ago.  All three of these women's lives are intertwined in complex and delicate ways, and their stories unfold in a most compelling fashion.  Just a fabulous story, beautifully told.

Whatever Happened to Pudding Pops by Gael Fashingbauer Cooper and Brian Bellmont (2011)

Subtitled: The Lost Toys, Tastes and Trends of the 70s and 80s, this is a fun, alphabetical listing of pop culture memories from that time.  A former local girl, Fashingbauer Cooper writes the fabulous blog Pop Culture Junk Mail and brings an authentic love of pop culture to the table.

The descriptions in this book are so vivid, and so lightly snarky that I longed to smell Sun-In and Love's Baby Soft one more time, slick on a little Village Bath lip balm, play Pitfall, go to Burger Chef's condiment bar, and read Dynamite magazine--among many, many more.  Crazy side note?  This book is beautifully indexed, which always scores a point with your librarian.

Followed by the equally charming and evocative The Totally Sweet 90s, which is ideal vacation reading.  Perfect little page-long snappy snippets of fun, snarky remembrances of 1990s pop culture "From Clear Cola to Furby and Grunge to Whatever: the Toys, Tastes and Trends that Defined a Decade."  So fun, so delightfully nostalgic.

Meet Me At the Cupcake Cafe by Jenny Colgan (2013)

Back in the days when I couldn't pass up a British chick lit title, Jenny Colgan was one of my very favorite authors.  She'd been a bit off my radar for a few years, though apparently she'd kept writing--including a Doctor Who novelization, interestingly enough.

I happened upon her new title in our catalog and requested it for old times' sake.  Like the heroines of her books, Colgan has grown up.  It's just lovely to read a good, dishy novel about a woman in her thirties.

Issy Randal gets laid off from her office job, gets ditched by her ex-boss/secret lover, and decides to use her severance money to open a cupcake cafe in her charming neighborhood of Stoke Newington.  Issy loves to bake and was taught by her grandfather, who is growing senile in a nearby care facility.  Recipes sent to her by her grandfather are interspersed through the book (and look quite tempting). 

Colgan's great gift is her characterizations--every character is drawn beautifully, from her bossy nurse roommate Helena to her employee, single mother Pearl, to her baker grandfather and everyone in between.  And the inevitable romantic interest?  Surprisingly imperfect.  Meet Me at the Cupcake Cafe is lightly and dryly funny, while at the same time very heartfelt and moving.  Just lovely. 

I've recommended this to tons of people, and I hate that the title sounds so twee.  It's much more substantial than it sounds, although it really is .... delicious.

The Wells Bequest by Polly Shulman (2013)

 

A very endearing young adult novel that follows the adventures of the pages who work at the New-York Circulating Library, a library that lends out magical items instead of books. We first met this library in the even-more-charming The Grimm Legacy. 

While researching robots, Leo discovers the New-York Circulating Library and the mysterious objects held within its walls.  Leo gets a job as a page at the library, mostly to be around the intriguing head page Jaya, but soon gets embroiled in time travel, death rays and other exciting developments.  Funny, adventurous and charming, and great fun for any fan of H.G. Wells. 

See also The Librarian's Note which explains how the librarian created call numbers for the mythical and magical objects in these two books.

Team Human by Justine Larbalestier and Sarah Rees Brennan (2012)

Very sweet and funny young adult novel about a town where humans and vampires live in (relative) peace. 

When a handsome vampire comes to her high school and falls in love with her best friend, Mel's world is turned upside down. Not to mention that her other best friend is still struggling with her father's decision to run away with a vampire. But Mel is not just going to sit back and let things happen. She investigates mysteries and is fiercely ready to protect her friends--even if they don't want to be protected. 

When she meets Kit, a human living with the vampires (and one of the most charming romantic interests ever), the plot thickens even more. Delightful.

An Inquiry into Love and Death by Simone St. James (2013)

This is the second of St. James's books that I've read and although this felt like a slower starter, it was ultimately just as satisfying as The Haunting of Maddy Clare. 

Like The Haunting of Maddy Clare, this novel is set in England after WWI. Jillian Leigh gets notification that her eccentric uncle has died and she has to go to the village where he was working as a ghost hunter to go through his things. 

Meanwhile, there's a ghost to catch and her uncle's murder to solve, and a handsome but unreliable Scotland Yard inspector to help out. St. James's novels are dark and melancholy and romantic and give a lovely feel of the time after WWI. And the ghost stories really are scary. All so good!