Author: Kim

I was traveling oversees with my family for two weeks during the month of June, which did not leave me much reading time. I’ll add what I read to my list next month, but for this newsletter, I’m giving you a highlight list of some of my favorite reads from a genre I created (I have yet to see it in a bookstore, although I would read every book in this section).

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FAVORITE READS WITH QUIRKY NARRATORS

I love a good quirky narrator, and I find I’m drawn to one who is probably on the Autism spectrum. I love how they see the world in black-and-white and how they dissect everyday social behaviors as if it were a science experiment. My first book I remember reading in this genre was Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime. The plot was quite serious, but I was enamored with Christopher John Francis Boone and how we only read the story through his perspective.

Below are my top 4 favorite fiction novels and 1 nonfiction memoir with Quirky Narrators. As I mentioned in my introduction, this is not an official genre as far as I know, but I would love to see a turnstile or a small bookshelf with more of these stories. The world needs more quirky narrators.

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1. The Rosie Project

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Summary

Don Tillman, professor of genetics, has never been on a second date. He is a man who can count all his friends on the fingers of one hand, whose lifelong difficulty with social rituals has convinced him that he is simply not wired for romance. So when an acquaintance informs him that he would make a “wonderful” husband, his first reaction is shock. Yet he must concede to the statistical probability that there is someone for everyone, and he embarks upon The Wife Project. In the orderly, evidence-based manner with which he approaches all things, Don sets out to find the perfect partner. She will be punctual and logical—most definitely not a barmaid, a smoker, a drinker, or a late-arriver.
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Yet Rosie Jarman is all these things. She is also beguiling, fiery, intelligent—and on a quest of her own. She is looking for her biological father, a search that a certain DNA expert might be able to help her with. Don’s Wife Project takes a back burner to the Father Project and an unlikely relationship blooms, forcing the scientifically minded geneticist to confront the spontaneous whirlwind that is Rosie—and the realization that love is not always what looks good on paper.

2. The Cactus

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Summary

Susan Green is like a cactus: you can’t get too close. She likes things perfectly ordered and predictable. No surprises. But suddenly confronted with the loss of her mother and the unexpected news that she is about to become a mother herself, Susan’s greatest fear is realized. She is losing control.
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Enter Rob, the dubious but well-meaning friend of her indolent brother. As Susan’s due date draws near and her dismantled world falls further into a tailspin, Susan finds an unlikely ally in Rob. She might have a chance at finding real love and learning to love herself, if only she can figure out how to let go.

3. Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine

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Summary

Eleanor Oliphant has learned how to survive – but not how to live

Eleanor Oliphant leads a simple life. She wears the same clothes to work every day, eats the same meal deal for lunch every day and buys the same two bottles of vodka to drink every weekend.

Eleanor Oliphant is happy. Nothing is missing from her carefully timetabled life. Except, sometimes, everything.

One simple act of kindness is about to shatter the walls Eleanor has built around herself. Now she must learn how to navigate the world that everyone else seems to take for granted – while searching for the courage to face the dark corners she’s avoided all her life.

Change can be good. Change can be bad. But surely any change is better than…. fine?

4. The Clementine Complex

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Summary

Unremarkable legal assistant Gary Thorn goes for a pint with his coworker Brendan, unaware his life is about to change. There, Gary meets a beautiful woman, but she leaves before he catches her name. All he has to remember her by is the title of the book she was reading: The Clementine Complex. And when Brendan goes missing, too, Gary needs to track down the girl he now calls Clementine to get some answers.
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And so begins Gary’s quest, through the estates and pie shops of South London, to find some answers and hopefully, some love and excitement in this page-turning, witty, and oddly sweet story with a cast of unforgettable characters.

5. Look Me in the Eye

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Summary

Ever since he was small, John Robison had longed to connect with other people, but by the time he was a teenager, his odd habits—an inclination to blurt out non sequiturs, avoid eye contact, dismantle radios, and dig five-foot holes (and stick his younger brother in them)—had earned him the label “social deviant.” No guidance came from his mother, who conversed with light fixtures, or his father, who spent evenings pickling himself in sherry. It was no wonder he gravitated to machines, which could, at least, be counted on.
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After fleeing his parents and dropping out of high school, his savant-like ability to visualize electronic circuits landed him a gig with KISS, for whom he created their legendary fire-breathing guitars. Later, he drifted into a “real” job, as an engineer for a major toy company. But the higher Robison rose in the company, the more he had to pretend to be “normal” and do what he simply couldn’t communicate. It wasn’t worth the paycheck.

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It was not until he was forty that an insightful therapist told him he had the form of autism called Asperger’s syndrome. That understanding transformed the way Robison saw himself—and the world.

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1. The Cadaver King and the Country Dentist

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Summary

The Cadaver King and the Country Dentist recounts the story of how Mississippi propelled two Mississippi doctors—Dr. Steven Hayne, a medical examiner, and Dr. Michael West, a dentist—to the top of the state’s criminal justice apparatus. Then, through institutional failures and structural racism, these two built successful careers as the go-to experts for prosecutors; their actions, based on bad evidence and bogus science, resulted in countless flawed convictions and led many innocent defendants to land in prison. Some of the convictions then began to fall apart, including those of two innocent men who spent a combined 30 years in prison before being exonerated in 2008.

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My Review

This had been on my bookshelf on my library app, and I just decided to pull the trigger. Who chooses to read a title with the words “Cadaver King” in the title? Why, the daughter of a funeral director.

While I don’t often read nonfiction nearly as often as fiction, I do enjoy ones that find a piece of history that I might not have known about and tell its story. It was a difficult read for a number of reasons: 1) the writing was very data-driven. It often read less like a story and more like an academic report. 2) the topic is stomach-churning. There were stories of toddlers being murdered and black men being lynched and shot. All under the large umbrella of racial injustice in the South, primarily Mississippi. And we’re not talking about the 1800s or even the turn of the century. These stories took place all the way through the 1990s. It brought me back to reading “Just Mercy” by Bryan Stevenson.

But the history of the profession of the coroner/medical examiner is a fascinating one. As to whether or not you should read this book, I’ll let Temple Law department suggest it best: “If your interest is in forensic evidence, read this book; if it is in criminal justice, and in particular the interfaces of race and justice and expertise and justice, read this book; and if you simply want to read an oft-ignored but compelling aspect of American history, read this book.”

2. Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus

Summary

Aven Green loves to tell people that she lost her arms in an alligator wrestling match, or a wildfire in Tanzania, but the truth is she was born without them. And when her parents take a job running Stagecoach Pass, a rundown western theme park in Arizona, Aven moves with them across the country knowing that she’ll have to answer the question over and over again.

Her new life takes an unexpected turn when she bonds with Connor, a classmate who also feels isolated because of his own disability, and they discover a room at Stagecoach Pass that holds bigger secrets than Aven ever could have imagined. It’s hard to solve a mystery, help a friend, and face your worst fears. But Aven’s about to discover she can do it all . . . even without arms.

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My Review

This one also came from my bookshelf on the KDL app. I happened to click on a few too many books I had wanted to read…and they all were on hold at the same time! I knew I had my work cut out for me, so I committed to reading at every free moment I got.

Aven is a loveable character from the minute you first meet her. The fact that she has no arms makes you want to pity her, until she lets you know early on she does not need anyone’s pity. Thanks to her parents and their determination to raise her as a normal child, she is quite independent and self-sufficient. Bowling must have done her research, because no moment in my reader’s mind goes unexplained as to how a girl with no arms might handle a particular task or situation. And our heart goes out to her when she feels no other choice than to eat in the bathroom, lest she be the staring topic of everyone at her new school.

I did think the bringing in of two friends who were also outcasts to be sweet, and again, we got to learn more about Tourette’s Syndrome through her friend Connor. It just read a little too simplistic, too easy for me at times, like it was a PBS after-school special. There’s problems, but they’re not too big. There’s a mystery, but it’s quite easily solvable. And Aven makes friends, but they are also outcasts.

Overall, it does make for a super-quick read with a pleasant ending; I would easily recommend it to any middle schooler or even a late elementary student who is a high reader.

3. Louder than Hunger

Summary

It’s 1996.

13-year-old Jake Stacey lives in the Chicago suburbs with his mum and dad. He loves musicals, rollerblading and his grandmother (who takes him for drives in her big red car). But he hates school where he is bullied and ostracised by the other kids and worse, he is keeping a secret: inside him is a Voice, which tells him to exercise more and eat less. The Voice tells him not to trust anyone, tells him that the Voice is all he needs.

When Jake’s worried parents take him to Whispering Pines, the Voice tells Jake not to co-operate with the staff who want to help him to get better. But the staff are keen to show him that he doesn’t have to listen to the Voice, that he can build a different life for himself if he can just find it in himself to silence it …

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My Review

I wasn’t planning on reading this book, but when John Schu literally handed me a signed copy at a luncheon during the Michigan Reading Association conference, I decided to make it my next read. I knew from hearing John speak that this novel was only semi-fiction; it was based upon his life and some of his struggles in adolescence. The paperback version had just come out that week, so that is why we were all given a copy.

I brought it home, prepared to tackle a 500 page novel, only to be pleasantly surprised that it was written in verse. I have now read a few middle grade novels written in verse, and I think they are simply lovely. If you haven’t read anything in verse, consider it “accessible poetry.” It tells a story in prose form, but with fewer words it slows the reading pace down and asks the reader to take in every word. The novel still reads quickly, especially due to the heartbreaking story of Jake (a.k.a. John Schu) and his eating disorder due to the voice that tells him he is worth nothing and doesn’t deserve to take up space.

It’s a heavy topic, but I’m a firm believer in wanting to bring these important topics to the middle grade level. They are living it and experiencing it, so they should be given fictional material to read about it. This could be a fascinating book to read with your adolescent as I guarantee it will provoke worthwhile conversations.

4. The Lager Queen of Minnesota

Summary

The Lager Queen of Minnesota is about two generations in a Midwestern family—starting on a farm, with two sisters who have no desire to be farmers. Helen, the younger, go-getter sister, wants more than anything else in the world to make beer. She finagles her way into taking over her husband’s family’s failing soda business and builds it into a thriving beer company by single-handedly inventing light beer. Her older sister, Edith, shares none of this grand ambition, even as her pies are named third-best in the state of Minnesota. Unfortunately, being a champion pie baker does not earn her a fortune, or even a good living. Enter Diana, Edith’s beloved granddaughter, who grows up trying to help Edith make ends meet—and in the most roundabout way possible, becomes obsessed with making a series of the best IPAs the Midwest has ever seen. But just as she is about to open her own brewpub, the fates converge and she is forced to turn to the unlikeliest cadre of amateur brewmasters imaginable—Edith’s cohort of grandmother friends—to save her brewery before it’s DOA.

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My review

I chose this book in order to lessen my stack of unread books on my nightstand. My stack is tall, and some days it taunts me that I will never read all of them. But I’m a sucker for free, or very cheap, used books, so I find that I take them into ownership more frequently than I read them, hence the large stack.

Interestingly enough, this is my second “food based” fictional novel I have read this year (Funeral Ladies of Ellery County was the first). I’m not sure I can exactly remember how this book came into my possession; I do enjoy a good beer, especially a dark porter or stout, although I muss confess my body tolerates alcohol less and less these days. I did enjoy it as a lighter topic read; I learned quite a bit about the brewing industry and what goes into different beers.

While the characters and my interest in them kept my motivation early on, I was between ⅓ and halfway through the book before I actually began to understand what the plot might be. I do love a good “braid” or “strand” novels where the author tells seemingly different stories, only for the reader to trust there is a common connector. Stradal forces his reader to the very last chapters for the ultimate resolution.

5. The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie

Summary

It is the summer of 1950–and at the once-grand mansion of Buckshaw, young Flavia de Luce, an aspiring chemist with a passion for poison, is intrigued by a series of inexplicable events: A dead bird is found on the doorstep, a postage stamp bizarrely pinned to its beak. Then, hours later, Flavia finds a man lying in the cucumber patch and watches him as he takes his dying breath.

For Flavia, who is both appalled and delighted, life begins in earnest when murder comes to Buckshaw. “I wish I could say I was afraid, but I wasn’t. Quite the contrary. This was by far the most interesting thing that had ever happened to me in my entire life.”

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My review

My eye caught this book on a teacher’s desk where I was a guest speaker for the day; the title just sounded like something I wanted to read. Just as you should not judge a book by its cover (although we all do), I will now add that you should not choose a book simply based on its title.

In my own haste to put this book on hold and begin to read it, I failed to see any of the obvious markings on the cover and spine clearly marking it as a mystery. So perhaps I was the only reader in the history of this book to be surprised when a man was found dead in the main character’s garden. I also did not realize the book would be about collectable and valuable postage stamps despite the clear-as-day-picture on the cover.

Needless to say, I had some unpacking and repacking to do in terms of my expectations as I read this book. I have also stated that mysteries are not my favorite genre, and even within mysteries, this one read so much slower than some of my other recent mystery reads (Good Girl’s Guide to Murder or Vera Wong). This read more like an old-school, Sherlock Holmes type of murder, so the pacing didn’t match my hopes or expectations.

Flavia is an absolutely wonderful character, and you can’t help but fall in love with her wit and charm, although as a parent, I would strongly argue against the case that she is only 11 years old; her language and mannerisms place her at least a few years older, even if she was uniquely mature for her age.

If you love a Sherlock Holmes type mystery, then I believe you would love this book. If you were hoping for an enjoyable fiction read that did not involve a mystery, then you should have looked much more closely at the cover.

6. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Summary

In a vase in a closet, a couple of years after his father died in 9/11, nine-year-old Oskar discovers a key…

The key belonged to his father, he’s sure of that. But which of New York’s 162 million locks does it open?

So begins a quest that takes Oskar – inventor, letter-writer and amateur detective – across New York’s five boroughs and into the jumbled lives of friends, relatives, and complete strangers. He gets heavy boots, he gives himself little bruises and he inches ever nearer to the heart of a family mystery that stretches back fifty years. But will it take him any closer to, or further from, his lost father?

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My Review

When I am traveling, I often enjoy reading a book that takes place in the same location. I find it brings me feel more deeply connected to the book, and at times, if the book offers specifics about the location, I appreciate knowing exactly where the story is taking place.

I brought this book with me on my trip to New York City over spring break. My mistake was in thinking I’d have time to read in NYC. While we were not as adventurous as some can be, we did average over 10 miles everyday, exploring the city during the day and attending Broadway shows at night. I was thankful our hotel had comfortable beds, because I found myself crashing hard for both a midday nap and for a full-night’s sleep in the evening.

When I returned home, I began to tackle this book by Jonathan Foer; I knew it was related to the terrorist attacks of 9/11, and while I had watched it unfold in my living room as I watched the Today Show starting well before the attacks at 8am, I was still curious to know stories about those who lived in NYC or who lost someone in the towers.

I was impressed Jonathan Foer was able to write this novel less than 5 years after the terror attacks. I find I need time to process significant, traumatic events in my life, especially something such as an entire fictional novel surrounding that unforgettable day and its aftermath.

Unfortunately, I struggled through much of the novel. While I would normally tell people that I love a good, quirky narrator, perhaps even one on the Autistic Spectrum, I did not sync with Oskar or his narrative voice. I could not place how old he was, although he mentioned to a therapist that he was pre-puberty, but his language and knowledge make him more of Savant Syndrome with his cognitive level.

The actual use of text and pictures make this a unique novel. Foer does not always break up dialogue onto different lines; sometimes he writes them one after another and so it is the reader’s job to decode the conversation and to distinguish who is speaking when. Intermixed with Oliver’s story are a series of letters his grandfather wrote to his dad before his dad was born, but those are only differentiated by the date at the beginning of the chapter. Interlaced are random pages of pictures and even pages with only one line on them. It requires the concentrated reader, and as I identify more as a skim reader, I had difficulty following.

I wanted to like this book more. I told my husband when I was at page 167 that I might have abandoned this book had I not wanted to offer a full review. Selfishly, I wanted it to tell more about the story of 9/11, when really it was just the story of a child who was struggling mentally and emotionally with the death of his father. The story of the mystery key and the people he met along the way didn’t captivate me. I read somewhere that it had the label “trauma fiction,” which I believe is a good fit.

This isn’t for all readers. I felt that it was a combination of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime (which I should re-read) meets Holden Caulfield in Catcher in the Rye.