Fiction worth falling for: Your November list of best books
It was surprising when I looked at my list for this month, and it was void of nonfiction. Please accept my apologies. I will try to do better. But for fiction lovers, here are the November selections.
"Guilty by Definition" by Susie Dent. The author is a lexicographer and presents us with a splendid mystery set in Oxford, England, at the home of the Clarendon English Dictionary (sub for the Oxford English Dictionary). If you love words, literary references, and puzzles, you will delight in this debut novel.
"Heart the Lover" by Lily King. King is the author of "Writers & Lovers," which was widely acclaimed. She has done it again with this story of college lovers, the breakup that occurs, and the reunion decades later that leads to clarity if not forgiveness.
"The Case of the Missing Crime Writer" by Ragnar Jonasson. You know my attraction to Icelandic fiction, and this is another dark mystery. Good writing – atmospheric and well-paced. The finale was a shock.
"The Girl with Ice in Her Veins" by Karin Smirnoff. Lisbeth Salander continues her quest for justice. Nothing will live up to the original Stieg Larsson books, but this one retains the elements of Salander’s eccentric personality, and she is maturing, which is appropriate. The second half is superior to the first half, which introduces a lot of characters and places.
"Buckeye" by Patrick Ryan. A story set in a small town in Ohio, and the entwined lives of two couples through four decades starting at the end of WWII. The depiction of a small community in that time is exquisitely rendered by Ryan, and I say that as the product of a small Ohio town.
"Culpability" by Bruce Holsinger. We read this for a book club, and it provides good material for discussion. It does not provide likeable characters. A flawed story that raises excellent questions about liability and responsibility around how tech is radically changing our lives.
"Pick A Color" by Souvankham Thammavongsa. Slyly funny, this short book covers one day in the life of a nail salon owner. If you have ever had your nails done, read it and appreciate your nail technician as someone more than just a service provider.
"One Good Thing" by Georgia Hunter. Italy in WWII. Every time I read a book about that war, I learn something new. So many stories focus on France and England; this offers a new perspective. A Jewish woman trying to avoid Nazis in Italy while fleeing with her best friend’s son after his mother is “detained.” Chilling.
"Great Disasters" by Grady Chambers. Another debut novel, this one by a poet. His writing is spare and evocative as he follows six young men from a Chicago high school in 2000 through early adulthood. How they navigate disappointment, addiction, love, and their personal goals is affected by those formative teens and twenties.
"Theo of Golden" by Allen Levi. So many people recommended this book with such conviction that I felt I had to read it. A kind, older gentleman shows up in a Southern college town and over a year makes an enormous positive change on the community. An easy read, very limited characterization – the good are very good, the bad are very bad. A tad saccharine for my taste, but truly a sweet story and a counterpoint for our current loss of discourse.
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