VPL Staff Picks - January, 2015Like this list

23 items

• The Temporary Gentleman

  Barry, Sebastian, 1955-

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  Barry’s 8th novel opens in Africa in 1957. Jack McNulty is the “Temporary Gentleman” of the title - (this is an ironic designation implying “gentleman” status to a soldier, but only for the duration of the war.) Jack cannot bring himself to return…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Leaving Tomorrow

  a Novel

  Bergen, David, 1957-

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  Like so many Canadian novels, Bergen’s latest begins in a small, rural town. In Tomorow , Alberta brothers Bev and Arthur grow apart. Their love of the land and the faith in which they were raised lose interest as they mature. Bev leaves to fight in…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Good Spy

  the Life and Death of Robert Ames

  Bird, Kai

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  Robert Ames was the CIA's "leading Arabist" at the time he was killed in a 1983 truck bombing in Beruit. The portrait of Ames is of a man who went his own way and held personal opinions that were often at odds with his government's official…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Missing You

  Coben, Harlan, 1962-

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  New York policewoman Kat Donovan has to deal with serious emotion damage including the murder of her father. In Coben's latest thriller, the plotlines include ones dealing with Kat's ex-fiance, a kidnapping, and new evidence concerning her father's…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Let Me Be Frank With You

  Ford, Richard, 1944-

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  Ford's latest Frank Bascombe novel is set in the post-Hurricane Sandy Eastern Seaboard. Frank's travels become a meditation on mortality as he encounters his ex-wife who is suffering from Parkinson's disease and a dying ex-friend.

• Arctic Summer

  Galgut, Damon, 1963-

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  South African author Damon Galgut takes the title for his latest novel from an unfinished manuscript by E. M. Forster. In fact, Galgut's new novel, Arctic Summer, is about both the private world and literary life of Forster, and the public, Imperial…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Ice Cream Queen of Orchard Street

  a Novel

  Gilman, Susan Jane

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  This colourful story by the cheerfully, unreliable narrator Lillian Dunkel - founder of soft-serve ice cream - is a lively confection that tells of one eccentric family's coming-to-America story. Lillian is described by the author as a combination…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• From the Memoirs of a Non-enemy Combatant

  Gilvarry, Alex

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  Charming, innocent-abroad Boy Hernandez, is newly arrived from the Philippines and has his eye on the fashion runways of New York. With success seemingly in his grasp, he undergoes the humiliation of being arrested as a terrorist suspect and shipped…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Where the Air Is Sweet

  a Novel

  Jamal, Tasneem

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  This family saga follows three generations of an Indian family in Uganda. The story begins in 1921 and reaches its climax with Idi Amin’s 1972 expulsion of the country’s citizens of South Asian descent. A compelling narrative for fans of historical…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The City

  a Novel

  Koontz, Dean R. (Dean Ray), 1945-

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  Koontz offers a coming-of-age story set in New York during the 1960's. Jonah Bledsoe (a boy with seven middle names honoring the great Afro-American greats of Swing) observes his parents rocky, on-again, off-again marriage against a background of…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• After I'm Gone

  Lippman, Laura, 1959-

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  Lippman brings a sure, and practiced hand to this epic family drama which covers 50 years in the lives of Baltimore's Brewer family. Five women are abandoned by patriarch Felix Brewer as the book opens, setting the plot ion motion.

• A Girl Is a Half-formed Thing

  McBride, Eimear

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  McBride’s take on Irish fiction is both conventional and unconventional. Many of the elements of “Orish miserablism” are present, but the handling is rather daring. Dates, place names and historical references are missing. Additionally, none of her…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Handsome Man's De Luxe Café

  McCall Smith, Alexander, 1948-

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  The latest offering from McCall Smith features the detective team of Ramotswe and Makutski investigating the case of a woman who claims to have amnesia. On the domestic front, Mme Makutsi astounds one-and-all by opening a restaurant.

• Punishment

  a Novel

  MacIntyre, Linden

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  After being forced into early retirement from his job as a prison guard, Tony Breau returns to his home town in Nova Scotia. Once home, Breau is drawn into the investigation into a young girl's death. Secrets cloud Breau's attempts to separate the…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Dirtbags

  a Novel

  McWhirter, Teresa, 1971-

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  In McWhirter's novel of a runaway girl living on the fringes of Vancouver's punk scene, she explores themes of alienated youth, and forged relationships. If this is your cup of tea, you might also enjoy Ashley Little's Anatomy of a Girl Gang, Lynda…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• A Thousand Forests in One Acorn:

  An Anthology of Spanish-language Fiction

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  This collection offers a great introduction to Spanish literature of the 20th Century. Famous names such as Fuentes, Vargas Llosa, Echenique, and Marais are joined by many other writers who may be less familiar to readers of Spanish literature in…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Some Luck

  Smiley, Jane

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  Jane Smiley launches a new trilogy with the release of Some Luck. The story of the Langdon family begins in 1920 and follows through to the early 1950s. Each chapter represents a years in the family’s life. The book also serves as a chronicle of…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Station Eleven

  Mandel, Emily St. John, 1979-

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  Mandel’s latest National Book Award nominated novel, Station Eleven moves back and forth from the near-present to a dystopian future shaped by a deadly pandemic. Surviving communities are small and scattered. Against all odds, a nomadic group, The…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Mãn

  Thúy, Kim

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  A Vietnamese woman named Mãn finds herself married to a Vietnamese restaurateur in Montreal. Living in a marriage that is rooted in duty and stability, Mãn looks to the art of cooking and the power of food in order to find happiness. Written by…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Nora Webster

  a Novel

  Tóibín, Colm, 1955-

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  The story is set in the 1960s in the small, Irish town of Ballyconnigar where a young widow named Nora Webster is attempting to come to terms with her grief. Toibin also paints a portrait of a close-knit community where everyone knows everyone…Read moreRead more of this annotation