The Book of Jonah
Joshua Max Feldman, 2014
Henry Holt & Co.
352 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780805097764
Summary
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, nascetur neque iaculis vestibulum, sed nam arcu et, eros lacus nulla aliquet condimentum, mauris ut proin maecenas, dignissim et pede ultrices ligula elementum. Sed sed donec rutrum, id et nulla orci. Convallis curabitur mauris lacus, mattis purus rutrum porttitor arcu quis. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—
• Where—
• Education—
• Awards—
• Currently—
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, nascetur neque iaculis vestibulum, sed nam arcu et, eros lacus nulla aliquet condimentum, mauris ut proin maecenas, dignissim et pede ultrices ligula elementum. Sed sed donec rutrum, id et nulla orci. Convallis curabitur mauris lacus, mattis purus rutrum porttitor arcu quis. (From .)
Book Reviews
Two lost souls seek meaning in this enticing debut novel about faith and the “inescapability of being (oneself).” Jonah Jacobstein, a ladder-climbing associate at a large Manhattan law firm, finds himself in the throes of a spiritual malaise that recalls the story of his Biblical namesake. Jonah is plagued by alarming visions that include the city sinking underwater and everyone around him suddenly appearing naked. He breaks things off with his erstwhile girl-on-the-side, Zoey, comes clean about his infidelity to his girlfriend, Sylvia, and is fired from his job for a half-hearted whistleblowing attempt. Jonah decamps to Amsterdam and meets Judith, a fellow ambivalent Jew with a tragic past. Convinced that their encounter contains the final piece in his spiritual puzzle, Jonah seeks from her both absolution and closure. When it comes down to it, Jonah’s journey, which includes two break-ups, a firing, relocation, and a new love interest, has all the makings for a mediocre romantic comedy. But even the most banal events can lead to existential and religious revelations, which Feldman shows here, for instance, when a character observes that “the most potent experiences in life end up making what tell you less believable, not more.” Agent: Susan Golomb, Susan Golomb Literary Agency. (Feb.)
Publishers Weekly
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, nascetur neque iaculis vestibulum, sed nam arcu et, eros lacus nulla aliquet condimentum, mauris ut proin maecenas, dignissim et pede ultrices ligula elementum. Sed sed donec rutrum, id et nulla orci. Convallis curabitur mauris lacus, mattis purus rutrum porttitor arcu quis
Library Journal
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, nascetur neque iaculis vestibulum, sed nam arcu et, eros lacus nulla aliquet condimentum, mauris ut proin maecenas, dignissim et pede ultrices ligula elementum. Sed sed donec rutrum, id et nulla orci. Convallis curabitur mauris lacus, mattis purus rutrum porttitor arcu quis
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:
• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)
(We'll add specific questions if and when they're made available by the publisher.)
Don't Breathe a Word
Jennifer McMahon, 2011
HarperCollins
464 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780061689376
Summary
On a soft summer night in Vermont, twelve-year-old Lisa went into the woods behind her house and never came out again. Before she disappeared, she told her little brother, Sam, about a door that led to a magical place where she would meet the King of the Fairies and become his queen.
Fifteen years later, Phoebe is in love with Sam, a practical, sensible man who doesn't fear the dark and doesn't have bad dreams—who, in fact, helps Phoebe ignore her own. But suddenly the couple is faced with a series of eerie, unexplained occurrences that challenge Sam's hardheaded, realistic view of the world. As they question their reality, a terrible promise Sam made years ago is revealed—a promise that could destroy them all. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—1968
• Where—suburban, Connecticut, USA
• Education—B.A., Goddard College; M.F.A., Vermont College
• Currently—Montpelier, Vermont
In her words
I was born in 1968 and grew up in my grandmother’s house in suburban Connecticut, where I was convinced a ghost named Virgil lived in the attic. I wrote my first short story in third grade.
I graduated with a BA from Goddard College in 1991 and then studied poetry for a year in the MFA in Writing Program at Vermont College. A poem turned into a story, which turned into a novel, and I decided to take some time to think about whether I wanted to write poetry or fiction.
After bouncing around the country, I wound up back in Vermont, living in a cabin with no electricity, running water, or phone with my partner, Drea, while we built our own house. Over the years, I have been a house painter, farm worker, paste-up artist, Easter Bunny, pizza delivery person, homeless shelter staff member, and counselor for adults and kids with mental illness—I quit my last real job in 2000 to work on writing full time.
In 2004, I gave birth to our daughter, Zella. These days, we're living in an old Victorian in Montpelier, Vermont. Some neighbors think it looks like the Addams family house, which brings me immense pleasure. (From the author's website.)
Book Reviews
[A] strange and unsettling shocker ... With the tale’s outcome utterly unforeseeable even as it races along, Don’t Breathe a Word leaves you breathless.
Wall Street Journal
Family secrets and fairy lore create a shifting reality in McMahon's unsettling novel about the disappearance of a 12-year-old girl.... [A] rural Vermont chiller with a Rosemary's Baby vibe, but even after a surprising villain...emerges and more than a few disquieting passages about Lisa are burned through, many readers will remain in the dark
Publishers Weekly
A young girl disappears in the woods one summer night. The only clue to her whereabouts rests with her brother and her cousin, who never reveal what they know.... [This] literary thriller seems designed to keep readers guessing, but with an overly complex plot and excess of characters, the thrill of suspense is lost amid confusion and frustrating loose ends. —Leigh Wright, Bridgewater, NJ
Library Journal
Discussion Questions
1. From an early age, Phoebe has a complicated relationship with men and their place in her life. How do you think this affects her relationship withvSam? How do you think it affects her ability to trust?
2. Throughout the book, there are a lot of references to fairy tales. How doyou think fairy tales mold children’s perceptions about the world? In what ways do fairy tales represent or mimic real world problems and fears?
3. How do you think the Evie/Lisa relationship and the Phyllis/Hazel relationship parallel each other? Does one woman in each bond hold sway over the other? Is it always apparent who’s really in control of the situation?
4. Throughout the book, it seems as if some men, or the idea of a man like Teilo, hold a strong power over the women. Why do you think this is? How are those men different from Sam and Dave?
5. Lisa's unwavering belief in the fairies, despite the skepticism of everyonearound her, is a driving force in the story. Is believing in something so fiercely a strength or a weakness?
6. At one point, Sam states that instead of having cancer and heart disease passed down in their family, they have malevolent stories. Do you think the stories we tell have the power to shape, even change, reality? Are there stories that have been passed down in your family that, true or not, have become part of how you see yourself and where you come from?
7. We get to know Sam and Evie both as children and as adults. How do you think their childhood selves compare to their grown-up selves? Do you think the adults they became were shaped by what happened the summer Lisa went missing?
8. Part of the book is told from the point of view of Sam's present-day girlfriend, Phoebe. She is the one character who was not part of the story’s central mystery, Lisa’s disappearance. Why do you think the author chose to tell the present day story from Phoebe’s perspective? Is she an effective narrator?
9. Evie, in some ways, is the most complicated character in the book. She is fiercely loyal to Lisa, yet she betrays her terribly; she wants the truth to come out, yet participates in the deception. Does Evie truly have Lisa's best interests at heart? Is she responsible for all of her actions?
10. The ending of the book is open to different interpretations. What do you think really happened?
(Questions issued by the publisher.)
The Good Luck of Right Now
Matthew Quick, 2014
HarperCollins
304 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780062285539
Summary
Call it fate
Call it synchronicity
Call it an act of God
Call it . . .
The Good Luck of Right Now
For thirty-eight years, Bartholomew Neil has lived with his mother. When she gets sick and dies, he has no idea how to be on his own. He thinks he's found a clue when he discovers a "Free Tibet" letter from Richard Gere hidden in his mother's underwear drawer. In her final days, Mom called him Richard—there must be a cosmic connection.
Believing that the actor is meant to help him, Bartholomew awkwardly starts his new life, writing Richard Gere a series of letters. Jung and the Dalai Lama, philosophy and faith, alien abduction and cat telepathy are all explored in his soul-baring epistles. But mostly the letters reveal one man's heartbreakingly earnest attempt to assemble a family of his own.
A struggling priest, a "Girlbrarian," her feline-loving, foulmouthed brother, and the spirit of Richard Gere all join the quest to help Bartholomew. In a rented Ford Focus, they travel to Canada to see the Cat Parliament and find his biological father...and discover so much more. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—October 23, 1972
• Raised—Oaklyn, New Jersey, USA
• Education—B.A., LaSalle University; M.F.A, Goddard College
• Currently—lives in Holden, Massachusetts
Matthew Quick is an American author of young adult and fiction novels. His debut novel, The Silver Linings Playbook, was adapted into a movie, starring Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence, with Robert De Niro, Jackie Weaver, and Chris Tucker.
His other novels include Sorta Like a Rockstar (2010), Boy21 (2012), Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock (2013) and The Good Luck for Right Now (2014). Quick was finalist for a 2009 PEN/Hemingway Award, and his work has been translated into several languages.
Quick grew up in Oaklyn, New Jersey. He has a degree in English literature from La Salle University and an MFA from Goddard College. He left his job as a tenured English teacher in Haddonfield, New Jersey, to write his first novel while living in Collingswood, New Jersey. He now lives in Holden, Massachusetts with his wife, novelist Alicia Bessette. (From Wikipedia. Retrieved 02/17/2014.)
Book Reviews
[A] quirky coming-of-age story about an earnest, guileless 38-year-old man with a dyspeptic stomach...[whose] motley flock slowly takes form, including the bipolar priest he's known his whole life, a foulmouthed paranoid grieving for his dead cat, and the paranoid's depressed sister.... Quick writes with an engaging intimacy, capturing his narrator's innocence and off-kilter philosophy, and the damaged souls in orbit around him
Publishers Weekly
Quick, the author of The Silver Linings Playbook, provides another offbeat gem populated with eccentric, fallible, intensely human characters…. Humor, pathos, and quirky bends in the road define they odyssey, making it increasingly clear that it is all about the journey, not the destination.
Booklist
(Starred review.) Quirky, feel-good.... [Neil] Bartholomew...is something of a holy innocent. He becomes enamored with the "Girlbrarian," a woman he falls platonically in love with at the library he haunts. Through synchronicity (a key concept in the novel), it turns out the Girlbrarian, Elizabeth, has a brother, Max...and the novel switches to a road trip to Canada.... A whimsical, clever narrative.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. Bartholomew becomes somewhat obsessed with Jung and synchronicity. Two events linked not by causes but by meaning to a certain individual—we often call this coincidence. What is the most memorable coincidence you have personally experienced? Did it challenge or reinforce your personal beliefs? How so?
2. The little man in Bartholomew’s stomach often calls him a "retard." Others have called him similar names in the past. In your opinion, is Bartholomew mentally challenged? What are his strengths and weaknesses?
3. At the end of chapter seven, Bartholomew’s mother says, "most people don’t measure intelligence the right way." Do you agree or disagree? Why?
4. How do Bartholomew’s inherited religious views (Catholicism and his mother’s ‘Good Luck’ theory) help him? How do these worldviews limit him? Compare these views to Max’s belief in aliens.
5. Is Father McNamee a good priest? Is he a good person? Defend your point of view.
6. Compare Wendy and Elizabeth. What do they have in common? How are they different? Who is better suited to help Bartholomew? Why?
7. At the end of Chapter 10 Bartholomew quotes the Dalai Lama. "Tragedy should be utilized as a source of strength." Which characters do this? How does it affect their lives?
8. Why does Max say "fuck" so much? Did his repetitive use of the word make you laugh, did it frustrate you, or did it have no effect on you whatsoever? What does your answer to that last question say about you?
9. How does Bartholomew save Elizabeth? What exactly does he do? Why does his involvement make a difference? Is he a hero? Why or why not?
10. Discuss Richard Gere’s role in the story. Serendipity links Gere to our protagonist, but the Pretty Woman lead (or Bartholomew’s fictional version of him) turns out to be—in so many ways—the perfect mentor for our protagonist. If you had to research a celebrity and write him/her intimate letters, who would it be? Why? What would you hope to learn?
11. In the last chapter, Max gives an impassioned speech about Cat Parliament. Bartholomew and Elizabeth allow Max to watch the cats for a long time afterward, even though he looks odd amongst the children. When was the last time you gave yourself permission to fully enjoy an experience that others might label foolish or odd? Have you ever risked your reputation to allow a loved one access to beauty or joy? Was it worth it?
12. What can we learn from Bartholomew Neil?
(Questions issued by publisher.)
An Unnecessary Woman
Rabih Alameddine, 2014
Grove/Atlantic
320 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780802122148
Summary
One of the Middle East’s most celebrated voices, Rabih Alameddine offfers an enchanting story of a book-loving, obsessive, seventy-two-year-old "unnecessary" woman.
Aaliya Saleh lives alone in her Beirut apartment, surrounded by stockpiles of books. Godless, fatherless, childless, and divorced, Aaliya is her family’s “unnecessary appendage.” Every year, she translates a new favorite book into Arabic, then stows it away. The thirty-seven books that Aaliya has translated over her lifetime have never been read—by anyone.
In this breathtaking portrait of a reclusive woman’s late-life crisis, readers follow Aaliya’s digressive mind as it ricochets across visions of past and present Beirut. Colorful musings on literature, philosophy, and art are invaded by memories of the Lebanese Civil War and Aaliya’s own volatile past.
As she tries to overcome her aging body and spontaneous emotional upwellings, Aaliya is faced with an unthinkable disaster that threatens to shatter the little life she has left.
A love letter to literature and its power to define who we are, the prodigiously gifted Rabih Alameddine has given us a nuanced rendering of one woman's life in the Middle East. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—1959
• Where—Amman, Jordan
• Raised—Kuwait and Lebonan
• Education—B.S., University of California, Los Angeles; M.B.A, University
of San Francisco
• Currently—lives in San Francisco, California, USA
Rabih Alameddine is a Lebanese-American painter and writer. He was born in Amman, Jordan to Lebanese Druze parents (Alameddine himself is an atheist). He grew up in Kuwait and Lebanon, which he left at age 17 to live first in England and then in California.
A lover of mathematics, he earned a degree in engineering from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) and a Master of Business in San Francisco. He began his career as an engineer, then moved to writing and painting.
He is the author of four novels—Koolaids: The Art of War (1998); I, the Divine (2001); The Hakawati (2008); and An Uncessary Woman (2013)—as well as The Perv (1999), a collection of short stories. In 2002 he received a Guggenheim Fellowship.
The Hakawati (The Storyteller in Arabic), his most famous work, was the result of eight years of intensive work. It has received critical acclaim and been translated into ten languages. Alameddine lives in San Francisco and Beirut. (From Wikipedia. Retrieved 2/20/2014.)
Book Reviews
[I]rresistible
[the author] offers winningly unrestricted access to the thoughts of his affectionate, urbane, vulnerable and fractiously opinionated heroine. Aaliya says that when she reads, she tries to 'let the wall crumble just a bit, the barricade that separates me from the book.' Mr. Alameddine's portrayal of a life devoted to the intellect is so candid and human that, for a time, readers can forget that any such barrier exists.
Wall Street Journal
Alameddine
has conjured a beguiling narrator in his engaging novel, a woman who is, like her city, hard to read, hard to take, hard to know and, ultimately, passionately complex.
San Francisco Chronicle
You can't help but love this character.
Arun Rath - NPR, All Things Considered
A restlessly intelligent novel built around an unforgettable character
a novel full of elegant, poetic sentences.
Minneapolis Star Tribune
I can’t remember the last time I was so gripped simply by a novel’s voice. Alameddine makes it clear that a sheltered life is not necessarily a shuttered one. Aaliya is thoughtful, she’s complex, she’s humorous and critical.
Rosecrans Baldwin- NPR.com
(Starred review.) Alameddine’s most glorious passages are those that simply relate Aalyia’s thoughts, which read like tiny, wonderful essays. A central concern of the book is the nature of the desire of artistic creators for their work to matter, which the author treats with philosophical suspicion. In the end, Aalyia’s epiphany is joyful and freeing.
Publishers Weekly
[T]he internal struggles of a solitary, elderly woman with a passion for books...Aaliya's life may seem like a burden or even "unnecessary" to others since she is divorced and childless, but her humor and passion for literature bring tremendous richness to her day-to-day life—and to the reader's... Though set in the Middle East, this book is refreshingly free of today's geopolitical hot-button issues. A delightful story for true bibliophiles, full of humanity and compassion
Library Journal
Studded with quotations and succinct observations, this remarkable novel by Alameddine is a paean to fiction, poetry, and female friendship. Dip into it, make a reading list from it, or simply bask in its sharp, smart prose. — Michele Leber
Booklist
(Starred review.) Though, until its climax, there's little action in the course of the day in which the novel is set, Aaliya is an engagingly headstrong protagonist, and the book is rich with her memories and observations..... [S]she never feels embittered, and Alameddine's storytelling is rich with a bookish humor that's accessible without being condescending. A gemlike and surprisingly lively study of an interior life.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:
• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)
(We'll add specific questions if and when they're made available by the publisher.)
North of Boston
Elisaabeth Elo, 2014
Pamela Dorman Books
400 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780670015658
Summary
A big discovery in the world of female suspense, about an edgy young woman with the rare ability to withstand extreme conditions.
Elisabeth Elo’s debut novel introduces Pirio Kasparov, a Boston-bred tough-talking girl with an acerbic wit and a moral compass that points due north.
When the fishing boat Pirio is on is rammed by a freighter, she finds herself abandoned in the North Atlantic. Somehow, she survives nearly four hours in the water before being rescued by the Coast Guard. But the boat’s owner and her professional fisherman friend, Ned, is not so lucky.
Compelled to look after Noah, the son of the late Ned and her alcoholic prep school friend, Thomasina, Pirio can’t shake the lurking suspicion that the boat’s sinking—and Ned’s death—was no accident. It’s a suspicion seconded by her deeply cynical, autocratic Russian father, who tells her that nothing is ever what it seems. Then the navy reaches out to her to participate in research on human survival in dangerously cold temperatures.
With the help of a curious journalist named Russell Parnell, Pirio begins unraveling a lethal plot involving the glacial whaling grounds off Baffin Island. In a narrow inlet in the arctic tundra, Pirio confronts her ultimate challenge: to trust herself.
A gripping literary thriller, North of Boston combines the atmospheric chills of Jussi Adler-Olsen with the gritty mystery of Laura Lippman. And Pirio Kasparov is a gutsy, compellingly damaged heroine with many adventures ahead. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—N/A
• Where—Boston, Massachusetts, USA
• Education—B.A., Brown University; Ph.D. Brandeis University
• Currently—lives in Brookline, Massachusetts
Elisabeth Elo grew up in Boston and went to Brown University. She worked as an editor, an advertising copywriter, a high-tech project manager, and a halfway house counselor before getting a PhD in American Literature at Brandeis University. Since then, she’s taught writing in the Boston area. She lived next to the ocean for many years and now resides in Brookline, Massachusetts. (From the author's website.)
Book Reviews
The novel’s subplots ripple out from the opening collision, circling a story rich with wicked smart allusions to Russian literature and clever nods to Western culture's most famous fishing story—Moby-Dick. Pirio is a fascinating character and Elo a noteworthy new voice in the genre.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
The author chose the thriller genre for her debut novel because she loves a strong protagonist who drives the action. She’s created a dandy in Pirio Kasparov.
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
(Starred review.) Elo’s outstanding debut stars an intelligent, confident woman of Russian descent, Pirio Kasparov, who survives for nearly four hours in the frigid waters of the North Atlantic.... Pirio begins to believe that the collision at sea was deliberate.... The brisk plot smoothly incorporates such far-flung subjects as environmental issues, the fishing industry, and the perfume business.
Publishers Weekly
Gritty downtown Boston and the awe-inspiring but unforgiving North Atlantic coast come to life in Elisabeth Elo’s debut suspense novel...readers will...be rooting for the doggedly determined Pirio right to the end.
BookPage
(Starred review.) Pirio Kasparov is an alluring heroine. She’s sharp-witted, hell-bent on finding the truth, and her narrative voice is laced with surly sexiness. Pirio’s baldly honest, slightly melancholic reflections and Elo’s use of extreme natural settings will have strong appeal for Scandinavian crime fans. An impressive debut with surprising literary depth.
Booklist
North of Boston grapples with and melds seemingly disparate subject matter (commercial fishing, perfume, alcoholism, issues of class, environmental consciousness, self-determination) in an original and entertaining way.... Judging from North of Boston, Pirio’s next puzzle promises to be nothing short of unpredictable and exciting.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1.What do you think of Pirio as a protagonist? What do you find, say...most endearing about her? What do you see as her flaws?
2. There is a tension in the novel between Boston society and the wildness of the open sea. Talk about Pirio's journey toward knowledge (and self-knowledge) as the trappings of civilized Boston society fall away. The author has said in a publisher interview, "the outward journey is always an inner one."
3. Why did you think Elo choose to make Pirio the daughter of perfumers? What significance might it have for the story?
4. The story is framed with Thomasina’s substance abuse struggles. Do you find her a sympathetic character? Is her struggle with alcohol realistic? Does it have any resonance in your life or someone close to you?
5. Class and political divisions are a subtle thread throughout North of Boston. In what ways do they define Pirio, Thomasina, and others?
6. Talk about the world onboard the Galaxy. How did you experience reading those scenes?
7. The author has more books planned for Pirio Kasparov in the future? Does this first book make you want to follow her new adventures?
(Questions based on an author interview by her publisher.)