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WHAT TO GIVE, WHAT TO GET 2001: Begin Your Holiday Shopping With Us Hip Fiction
THREE TO SEE THE KING by Magnus Mills Picador USA ISBN: 0312283555 This fable, peopled by eccentric characters and littered with Biblical references, is the third from author Mills, a cult-favorite in his native England. Readers will be engrossed in the twisted yet weirdly poignant tale of a city built only of tin houses. Back to top.
LEAVING DISNEYLAND by Alexander Parsons St. Martin's Press ISBN: 0312278551 Parson's depiction of life inside prison is as frightening as it is compelling. It is a world driven by the ecology of violence, Darwinism demonstrated time and again in a miserable concrete Petri dish. This is Doc Kane's world, a world he wants desperately to leave, yet a world that, after 16 years, offers the comfort of familiarity, the security of routine, and the certainty of a code of honor, however violent. Doc is as complex a character as you're likely to find in fiction, at once likable and frightening, driven alternately by the most admirable of human qualities and the darkest of passions. In telling Doc's story, Parsons has achieved something remarkable, something so believable yet so strange, something painfully, poignantly human. Doc's humanity transcends facile politics and easy sentimentality. What is left is fiction free of illusions, but warm-blooded and rich in the flawed, beautiful poetry of human existence. Read a Review. Back to top.
THE ALTAR OF THE BODY by Duff Brenna Picador USA ISBN: 0312268653 In the war of the body versus the mind, there can be no winner. The two are inextricably linked; to defeat either defeats both. Nevertheless, the characters in Duff Brenna's latest novel, THE ALTAR OF THE BODY, all seem to be ignoring one side to champion the other. Brenna's novel addresses the frailty of flesh, our inevitable doom, the power and shortcomings of love and art, and the bonds of family. It's a fun read from start to finish, delightfully over-the-top in all the right places yet full of deeply touching moments. The characters are ravaged and torn by the choices they make; those who survive intact are the ones who learn they can't choose only a part of themselves but must embrace the whole. It's a worthy lesson in a beautiful package. Read a Review. Back to top.
THE GOOD PEOPLE OF NEW YORK by Thisbe Nissen Knopf ISBN: 0375411453 This first novel by short story writer Thisbe Nissen (OUT OF THE GIRL'S ROOM AND INTO THE DARK), is a delightful, funny, moving and very real story about one woman, one man, and the daughter they bring into the world --- and the everyday lives they lead. It may not sound like much but it's a universe of a book that will unleash a torrent of wonder and joy into the lives of everybody who reads it. Read a Review. Back to top.
LIVING WITH SAINTS by Mary O'Connell Atlantic Monthly Press ISBN: 0871138263 In these 10 stories, all of them involving difficult moral ambiguity, the protagonists try to find meaning in the seeming randomness of modern life. The young women face tough choices and suffer the consequences of their decisions, but they don't seem to have a lot of options. None of them are saints, but the collection makes us wonder if the detachment and asceticism of sainthood is relevant to the modern world. The saints O'Connell describes get involved --- they're not afraid of some heavy lifting in the realm of morals. The intercession of the saints is a vehicle for bringing moral guidance, a guidance no longer provided (it seems) by family, community, or church organizations. Whether you're religious or not, these stories resonate in their profound search for meaning. A fine debut collection painting a morally complex world. Read a Review. Back to top.
NIAGARA FALLS ALL OVER AGAIN by Elizabeth McCracken The Dial Press ISBN: 0385318375 Elizabeth McCracken's new novel, NIAGARA FALLS ALL OVER AGAIN, stars Mike Sharp, straight man of the comedy duo Carter and Sharp --- vaudevillians, movie stars, radio and television personalities, best friends. As Sharp recounts a lifetime of experiences, nearly all of which are refracted through the prism of his relationship with fat funny man Rocky Carter, he takes the reader through the history of comedic entertainment in the 20th century. But Sharp's story is essentially about tragedy, not comedy. Although Carter and Sharp are enormously successful, Sharp's reminiscences reveal how a lifetime of disappointments, large and small, can alienate a person from those he most loves. McCracken has given her narrator a memorable voice, equal parts lighthearted and melancholy, reminding us that the relationships that bring us the most joy and those that bring us the most pain are often one and the same. Read a Review. © Copyright 2001, Bookreporter.com. All rights reserved. Back to top.