Pat Conroy and I have this in common, we were both surprised to learn that John Grisham’s new book was a collection of short stories. Here is where we differ. I have yet to write an Amazon.com “exclusive”  that mentions John Grisham alongside writers John Irving, Richard Russo, Anne Rivers Siddons, Chekhov, de Maupassant, Flannery O’Connor, William Faulkner and Eudora Welty.

I’m not saying Grisham isn’t a good storyteller. I’m not saying that at his best he’s not a great storyteller. And I’m not saying that I got a free copy of Grisham’s book before it was available to the public as, apparently, Conroy routinely does. I’m just saying that once there was a little boy who said he kept seeing wolves, but there actually were no wolves, so everybody stopped believing him. And then, this one time, there was a wolf. That’s all.

For our inaugural Dusty post, let me remind you of their purpose.  We don’t mean dusty as in old, necessarily.   Just as in, sitting around on the shelf collecting dust.  Possibly a candidate for the weeding cart!  Oh horrors!   As a librarian, it breaks my heart to see books languishing on the shelf that I know would be checked out and enjoyed if only someone would find them.  So we would like to pay tribute to those books waiting patiently for their reader.  Our hope is, if you’re a librarian, you’ll pull these guys off the shelf and stick them on your endcap or your next display.  Or perhaps you’ll handsell it to the next patron who asks you for something good to read.  If you’re a reader, we hope to entice you to look beyond the bestseller list and ask about these books.

And with that, we bring you…

Tully by Paullina Simons. 1994.

Simon’s first novel had a large print run and garnered positive reviews, but quickly hit the remainder table.  Possibly thanks to it’s door-stop length (594 p!) and fairly bland cover.  It doesn’t help that Simons went on to write all over the map, from historical Russian fiction to twisty thriller to college noir.  But if you can get this book into a reader’s hands, they just might fall for tough-girl Tully.  Her lower-class Topeka, KS adolescence is marred by an abusive mother, and the suicide of a close friend.  Things don’t get much better when she begins an affair to escape her reality.  You know,  I can’t understand why this wasn’t an Oprah selection!  It sounds bleak and depressing, but it’s really an honest and well-spun story with great characters.

Glass Castle phenom Jeannette Walls arrived on the New York Times’ Best Seller list again last week with her new “true-life novel” Half Broke Horses. In this slightly fictionalized account, she speaks in the voice of her wise-cracking, horse-breaking, school-teaching, plane-flying maternal grandmother Lily Casey Smith.

As a tomboy in West Texas, Lily is a daddy’s girl who roars through life with great whoops of confidence and a well-honed sense of adventure. A boarding school attempt at civilization leaves her no more ladylike, but inspires her to become a teacher. Which, at 14, she does. Lily’s struggles to fit in to the conservative small towns that will take an adolescent teacher exemplify the unwillingness to compromise that will define her. Through marriages, floods, blizzards, men named Rooster who fall hopeless in love with her, poker games, and hearses turned into school buses, Lily stands her ground, even when stepping aside might have been the smarter choice.

Readers wanting more stories of strong women making their own way in the world will enjoy:

Away by Amy Bloom
After her family is killed, Lillian Leyb leaves Russia and comes to the United States in 1924. Doing whatever it takes to survive, Lillian finds new determination when she learns that her daughter may still be alive. Though much bleaker than Half Broke Horses, Lillian is a tough-willed woman storming her way through America’s often inhospitable landscape.

The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse by Louise Erdrich
After a convent deflowering, common-law marriage, and bank robbery abduction, Agnes DeWitt assumes the identity of Father Modeste, a priest on his way to serve on a North Dakota Ojibwe reservation. There she spends the rest of her life, living as a man and keeping watch over those around her.

Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg
Eighty-six-year-old  Ninny Threadgoode puts Evelyn Couch’s midlife crisis in perspective as she tells her the story of Idgie and Ruth. The whole town of depression-era Whistle Stop, Alabama, was moved by the change they saw in brash, independent Idgie when she fought for gentle Ruth and her son Stump.

A Girl Named Zippy by Haven Kimmel
Like Lily Casey, Haven Kimmel’s 1960s childhood home was small (Mooreland, Indiana. Population 300) but her world was grand. A little girl who often displays more sass than sense, I once told a friend, “It’s like reading Ramona Quimby’s autobiography. But it’s real!”

These Is My Words by Nancy Turner
I swear, if you put Jane Austen’s Elizabeth Bennett in 1881 Arizona you’d have 17-year-old Sarah Agnes Prine. As Sarah and her family travel back to the Arizona Territories from a disastrous trip to Texas, she meets the outwardly disagreeable Captain Jack Elliot. And there’s banter and misunderstandings and Indians. And it’s wonderful.

What’s that you say?  It’s Friday AGAIN?  Well then it must be time for our Web Crush of the Week…

This week’s crush is Reading the Past.

This blog features previews of upcoming historical fiction as well as backlist reviews. Sarah Johnson is tareference/electronic resources librarian at a midwestern university and  the book review editor for the Historical Novels Review; she also reviews and writes about books for Booklist, NoveList, and CHOICE, among others.  Some of the reasons we enjoy her blog are: she has an unpretentious style; you can tell she totally LOVES historical fiction; and, there just aren’t very many historical fiction blogs out there, so if you’re going to do one, do it right!  And she does.

Covet, the first book in J.R. Ward’s new “Fallen Angels” series debuted on the New York Times’ Paperback Best Seller list last week.

In the latest from the erotic paranormal romance writer (her words), tough guy Jim Heron’s performance on seven tasks will determine the fate of the world. If he’s successful, the angels win and hell and its minions disappear. If he fails, the demons win and the world as we know it and all the angels up in heaven go bye-bye.

His first mission is to save the soul of driven businessman Vin diPietro. At first Heron thinks he is supposed to help Vin commit to his mysterious girlfriend Devina. But no, Vin’s soulmate is really Marie-Terese, an abused single mother on the run from her her powerful ex who only works as a prostitute to keep her son safe. (And, yes, the movie “Pretty Woman” is referenced half a dozen times.)

The book is a traditional romance in that the main story becomes the relationship between Vin and Marie-Terese and they do get their happily ever after. There are several steamy sex scenes, but fewer than one might expect in nearly 500 pages from a best-selling erotic romance writer. Faithful readers of Wards’ Black Dagger Brotherhood series will enjoy the focus on alpha-males on a mission. Fans of both series may also enjoy:

Lara Adrian
Midnight Breed series
Book 1 “Kiss of Midnight”

Keri Arthur
Riley Jenson series
Book 1 “Full Moon Rising”

Christina Dodd
Chosen Ones series
Book 1 “Storm of Visions”

Christine Feehan
Carpathians series
Book 1 “Dark Prince”

Sherrilyn Kenyon
Dark-Hunter series
Book 1 “Night Pleasures”

Alexis Morgan
Paladins fo Darkness series
Book 1 “Dark Protector”

C.E. Murphy
Negotiator Trilogy
Book 1 “Heart of Stone”

Lynn Viehl
Darkyn series
Book 1 “If Angels Burn”

The recent news coverage of the boy in the balloon, which turned out to be a hoax, had me thinking about unreliable narrators/twist endings.   So today’s list features books where you can’t be sure of who is telling the truth.  Don’t worry, I won’t spoil anything for you (like the time I wanted to read Primal Fear, so I asked my husband if he had ever read it or watched the movie, and he immediately replied,  “Oh, the one where ********?”  Sigh.)  Then again, if you like that sort of thing, then we should chat about my dysfunctional relationship with MoviePooper.com.

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie is undeniably a (if not THE) classic example.
Hercule Poirot investigates a series of mysterious deaths, culminating in the murder of one Roger Ackroyd.  A list of suspects is quickly assembled, with our narrator knowing more than they’re willing to tell.

Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk.
Our unnamed narrator hates his life and everything in it.  Then he meets Tyler Durden, a charismatic yet psycho young man who changes everything.  I’d tell you more, but the first rule of Fight Club is, You Don’t Talk About Fight Club.

The Basic Eight by Daniel Handler.
The debut novel of the man who would become Lemony Snicket, this is the story of precocious Flannery Culp and her high school clique, who call themselves The Basic Eight.  When the group falls under the influence of drugs and absinthe, murder ensues – or does it?  Is Flan a psychopath or simply a drama queen?  At turns darkly hysterical and deeply disturbing, Flan is one hell of an unreliable narrator that you won’t soon forget.

Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane.
Shutter Island is an old military base that is now a hospital for the criminally insane. U.S. Marshal Teddy and his partner, Chuck  are sent to investigate the disappearance of a young woman from the facility, but discover there are more sinister things at work on the island – or do they?  Lehane throws a number of red herrings, odd plot twists, and a hurricane in to the mix, leaving the reader wondering exactly what is going on.

Bad Monkeys by Matt Ruff.
In this dark, fast-paced satiric novel, a strange young woman named Jane is being held in a Las Vegas jail cell and interrogated for murder.  She claims that she works for a secret government organization: the Department for the Final Disposition of Irredeemable Persons.  Meaning, her job is to kill people, “Bad Monkeys”, who aren’t… nice.  As her tale unfolds, it becomes less and less clear if she is criminally insane, or if she’s actually telling the truth.

Atonement by Ian McEwan.
Our narrator here is pre-teen Briony, jealous of her glamorous older sister, Cecilia.  When a confused and jealous Briony tells a lie that spirals out of control, she changes the destinies of Cecilia and their childhood friend Robbie, as well as her own.  Personally, I would have liked a some more action here (and really didn’t need 2 pages of description about the lawn and a fountain…) but literary fiction lovers will devour this all the way through the twist at the end.

Primal Fear by William Diehl.
When Aaron, an altar boy, is accused of murdering a Catholic Archbishop, an unscrupulous lawyer takes the case in order to gain publicity for himself.  But when Aaron confesses to the crime under the influence of a dual personality disorder, the trial becomes even more sensational, with a stunning conclusion.

The Double Bind by Chris Bohjalian.
Narrator Laurel has survived a brutal attack while biking on an isolated trail.  Some years later, she comes across photographs taken by a homeless man, and among them is a picture of her on her bike.  She becomes obsessed with finding out more about the photographer, including how on earth he may be connected to her.  But is she telling us everything we need to know?

Stop You’re Killing Me: This mega-mystery site has put every mystery book properly in it’s place  – you can search by author, title, character name, character profession, place,  time period, the list goes on.

Created by Bonny Brown and maintained by Lucinda Surber and Stan Ulrich, this is a site that we just can’t get enough of.  About the only thing missing is a searchable index by color of the front cover.  (Come on, guys, get on that, will you??)

So when your patron comes to the desk looking for a mystery they read 10 years ago, featuring an Episcopal vicar from New Jersey, it will take you no time at all to point them to the Mother Lavinia Grey series by Kate Gallison.  And you will look BRILLIANT.

http://www.stopyourekillingme.com/

Juliet, Naked by Nick Hornby

As in all charming Nick Hornby novels, we meet the main characters just as they’re about to realize that there’s a now unacceptable divide between where they are in their lives and where they want to be. Pop culture professor Duncan is the smug expert on the reclusive American singer-songwriter Tucker Crowe. His live-in girlfriend Annie is the curator of the local museum in their gray seaside town of Gooleness. When Annie posts a review of a recently released stripped down (ie, naked) version of Crowe’s last album, Juliet, the man himself responds. An email flirtation emerges between childless Annie and the multiply-married (and divorced) father of five. The book’s not so much about music as the passion that it can produce and, in contrast, passions that can be misplaced for a lifetime. (And am I the only one who mistook the optical illusion on the cover for ovaries? It could explain why Barnes and Noble has Women’s Fiction under “Related Subjects.”)

The reviews for Hornby’s latest weren’t all love songs. Entertainment Weekly called it “How Annie Got Her Groove Back” (but still gave it a B+). Washington Post reviewer Ron Charles admits, “Yes, Hornby deserves all the success and affection he’s received, but it’s time to pick up the tempo.” Juliet, Naked may not be Hornby’s masterpiece, but his newest novel will leave many readers wanting the beat to go on.

The Song Is You by Arthur Phillips
Julian Donahue is lured out of the grief over his son’s death and his wife’s resulting infidelity by the siren song of Irish singer Cait O’Dwyer. From the shadows, writing set notes on bar coasters, Julian mentors the struggling Cait from afar. When Cait starts incorporating his comments into her shows and her success begins to grow, Julian begins to find his own voice.

The Alternative Hero by Tim Thornton
Obsession is in the eye of the restraining order petitioner. Clive Beresford formed his teen identity as the #1 fan of the band The Thieving Magpies. When the band goes bust, so does Clive’s underdeveloped sense of self. Years later Clive’s crap job and lacking love life have him still wondering where it all went wrong. Then he learns that the Magpie’s former frontman Lance Webster lives down the street, and he cons his way into a friendship with the broken rocker.

Stupid and Contagious by Caprice Crane
In this romantic comedy, downsized PR exec Heaven Albright joins unsuccessful music producer Brady Gilbert on his trip from New York to Seattle to pitch the ultimate coffee flavoring to Starbucks founder Howard Schultz. Not exactly “Roger and Me,” these two twentysomethings aren’t looking to expose big business, merely to find something bigger than themselves.

Wonder Boys by Michael Chabon
In one of Pulitzer prize-winner Chabon’s earlier novels he introduces Grady Tripp–a vain, lazy, adulterous, and hilarious anti-hero. The arrival of his editor sends the pot-smoking prof and one of his students on a weekend spree to protect his uncompleted 2,000 page magnum opus. A sly look at art, academics, and missed opportunities.

Looking Up by Rebecca Gregson
Mark Webb and his wife Caitlin have a  high school reunion to thank for their mid-life bag of mixed emotions. Harried mother Caitlin is surprised by her staid husband’s sudden interest in reconnecting with his high school band mates and, yes, even an exgirlfriend. Caitlin finds herself in a spot of “what if” when a dashing new coworker  looks at her as something more than a mother of four.

Fargo Rock City by Chuck Klosterman
Ah, the 80s. North Dakota native Klosterman discovered a much larger, louder world listening to the screeching guitars and shouted lyrics of the heavy metal heavyweights of the 1980s. Yes, they were ridiculous in many ways. Yes, they wore headbands and spandex and makeup. But, man, did they rock. Klosterman perfectly captures the awe of finding the music that speaks directly to who you are or who you dream of being at a precise moment in time.

Almost Famous written and directed by Cameron Crowe
Crowe won the 2000 Oscar for Best Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen for this semi-autobiographical film. At 16, his alter ego, William Miller, gets the cherry job of going on tour with the band Stillwater for a profile in Rolling Stone magazine. I know it’s cliche to call anything “coming of age” or to use the phrase “sex, drugs, and rock & roll” but that really does sum it up.

As a singer myself (not to mention a lover of snarky humor), I was not surprised at the immediate popularity of FOX’s new show, Glee.  Although, the guidance counselor has rapidly gone from cute and quirky to disturbing and sad, and both of the pregnancy storylines are completely absurd… but I digress.

If your patrons gush to you about Glee, why not share some of these reads with them:

How I Changed My Life by Todd Strasser.
Is it possible that this 1995 YA novel held some inspiration for Glee? High school nobody Bo decides it’s time for a life makeover senior year when she finds herself working on the school play alongside a  hunky football player, Kyle.  Fast-paced with funny dialogue.

To Be Someone by Louise Voss.
Part of what has people buzzing about Glee is the show’s use of old favorite songs, which has everyone running to iTunes the next day. (Admit it, YOU LIKE JOURNEY.)   Voss’ book follows the rise of a British rock group and the eventual crash landing of Helena, the lead singer.  Each chapter is punctuated by an 80s-90s Britpop song which will drum up memories.

Rats Saw God by Rob Thomas.
This YA book features snarky high school humor and a realistic look at what life is really like for teens.  In an effort to pass his English class, 18-year-old Steve  has to write a 100-page essay about his life, giving him a chance to reflect on his four years of high school, from drugs to pranks to the most realistic “first time” scene ever.

Election by Tom Perrotta.
A satirical look at high school politics, Perrotta’s novel (famously made into a movie which made me weep for an aged Ferris Bueller) explores the painful truth about teenage life – it’s all a popularity contest and it sucks.  Glee‘s Rachel has got to be related to the novel’s Tracy Flick, somehow.

How I Paid for College: a Novel of Sex, Theft, Friendship & Musical Theater by Mark Acito
When Eddie’s dad tells him he won’t pay for Juilliard, Eddie and his overly-dramatic friends decide that petty crime is the way to go, including blackmail and setting up a fake scholarship fund.   Over-the-top funny with a  pitch perfect teenage voice.  Followed by Attack of the Theatre People.

Dedication by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus.
29-year old Kate realizes she hasn’t really left high school behind when her former flame, now a major pop star, comes back to town.  Jake has spent the last decade turning their brief relationship in to a string of pop hits, and Kate wants some closure.  Readers will love the chapters set in their high school days.

The Sopranos by Alan Warner.
Not everyone’s cup of tea (a bit on the rough side and very Scottish), this novel follows the all-girls choir from Our Lady of Perpetual Succor through a weekend of pub crawling, snogging, and shoplifting.

Great reviews and heavy holds lists for Jonathan Tropper’s newest novel This is Where I Leave You speak to the comfort readers find in being able to view family farce from a safe and well-told distance.

Sitting shiva for his agnostic father, Judd Foxman is also mourning his marriage and career. (They go hand in hand when your wife’s sleeping with your teeth-bleached, egomanic boss.) His self-involved siblings and cleaveage-bearing mother enjoy nothing more than picking at each other’s tenderest scabs, leaving them all with impressive emotional scars. For readers who like their domestic drama over the top (and I mean that in the best way):

The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen
Enid Lambert is desperate for one last perfect Christmas before her husband Alfred’s Parkinson’s-induced dementia turns his family into nothing more than an unreliable memory. The three Lambert children are far from perfect, of course, and they return to St. Louis with emotional baggage from their adult lives that battles for attention with the unpacked wrongs from their childhood.

An Arsonist’s Guide to Writers’ Homes in New England by Brock Clarke
After you’ve served a prison sentence for “accidentally” burning down Emily Dickinson’s house, it’s really no surprise that blame falls to you when Edith Wharton’s crib gets torched. Sam Pulsifer tries to clear his name while living with his unabashedly alcoholic parents and stalking his estranged wife.

Between, Georgia by Joshilyn Jackson
Nonny has not one, but two dysfunctional families, and now she’s stuck in a family feud that began the night she was born. Her biological family, the Crabtrees, are the poor lawless outcasts of their rural Georgia town;  her adopted family, the Fretts, are the upper-crust, can-do-no-wrong type. Her adopted mother is blind and deaf, her rocker husband is always half out the door, and her  biological grandmother sets her Dobermans on anyone she doesn’t like.

Why Did I Ever by Mary Robison
Script doctor Money Breton’s got her hands full with three ex-husbands, teams of ridiculous movie people demanding her help, money problems, a new boyfriend, undermedicated ADD, a methadone-addicted daughter, and a son whose recent assault may have exposed him to AIDS. It shouldn’t be funny. It really shouldn’t. But what can I tell you? It really, really is.

Mermaids in the Basement by Michael Lee West
Mourning the death of her mother, Renata escapes to her grandmother’s cottage, but instead of finding rest and relaxation, finds more stress, thanks to her family. Eventually, she discovers that her parents led secret lives to which she was never privy, until now: Grandmother Honora and pals have decided it’s time to let all of the skeletons out of the family closets. And to top matters off, when her father’s new fiancée is found unconscious in the pool at their engagement party, Renata becomes the prime suspect.

Kick Me by Paul Feig
The creator of the short-lived (and much mourned) TV show “Freaks and Geeks” mines the dysfunction not so much of his immediate family but of the absurdity of adolescence itself in this humorous essay collection. The humiliations of growing up are never forgotten, and in Feig’s case–that’s a good thing.

Loser Goes First by Dan Kennedy
The subtitle “My Thirty-Something Years of Dumb Luck and Minor Humiliation” really sums it up. Kennedy’s comic memoir wryly examines the genuine shock one feels when you realize that adulthood is full disappointment that you have to have to deal with yourself. The fashion, music, and other media shoutouts to the 80s and early 90s are particularly rewarding for anyone who has a love/hate relationship with grunge music and Meg Ryan movies.