Staff Choices

May Attaway is turning 40 and has realized her life might be lacking. As a gardener at a local university, she finds herself more comfortable with trees than people. Living with her father in her childhood home, May starts to wonder how she got to such a place of separateness. “I don’t have a daughter and I don’t know if I ever will. But if I do we will not carry this sadness forward. I’m tired of holding it.”

An unexpected reward of time off has May deciding she will spend the time reconnecting with those who knew her at a different time as she begins to cobble together the pieces. Thinking about a reverse Odyssey “What if Penelope had left?” or a friendless Beowulf, May packs Emily Post’s book on etiquette, a suitcase she has named Grendel and heads out. Each visit reflects on her past, as well as the observation that life is generally complicated.

In Rules for Visiting, Jessica Francis Kane gives us a thoughtful and touching story, and a character you will find yourself rooting for.

Jac Jemc’s latest work, False Bingo, is an unnerving collection of stories where the mundane and ordinary ride upon a wave of anxiety.  Building on the hallucinatory strangeness of her previous novel, The Grip of It, Jemc’s writing is spare and beautiful.  There are elements of Shirley Jackson in this volume, but Jemc’s voice is unique and original.

Creepiness pervades stories like “Hunt and Catch” where a woman commuting home from work believes a garbage truck driver is following her.  In the story “Don’t Lets,” a woman recovering from an abusive relationship vacations at a southern plantation and is visited by a boo hag, a creature from folklore that steals the breath of its victims.

Despite these themes, False Bingo is not merely a collection of horror stories.  The psychological tension Jemc evokes takes the reader into the realm of dread, suspense, and the absurd; demonstrating that it is undeniably creepier to wonder than it is to know. 

This is the debut novel by Blake Crouch, who since has written over 10 books. The book  begins quickly when a horror writer finds a letter in his home ." Greetings. There is a body buried on your property, covered in your blood". Andrew is told if he doesn't do as asked, the evidence will be sent to local police. The next Andrew remembers is waking up in a motel outside of Denver, drugged and locked in a small room where he meets his captor, Orson, his twin brother.

Orson, who had disappeared many years ago, has been quite busy as a serial killer, Orson forces Andrew to join him in killing three victims, implicating him further in his twisted life. Andrew is released and seeks  revenge. This is the first of a trilogy and is a page turner. This book is quite gory and not for the squeamish but an interesting look at the mind of a serial killer. I will be reading the next one soon, in the daytime.

Not everyone knows who Valerie Solanas was, although her assassination attempt of Andy Warhol may be her greatest claim of infamy.

Swedish feminist and author Sara Stridsberg attempts to piece together this complex, radical feminist through a series of reminisces about important places and times in her life in Valerie. We visit her troubled childhood, and the courtroom that delivered her conviction, and through an omniscient narrator, we visit her in the hotel where she spends the final moments of her complicated life.

Stridsberg’s prose is glorious, evoking an abundance of responses from the reader. More importantly, this serves as a reminder that we are the sum of our experiences. To look at one event in a life is to ignore everything else that may have shaped someone’s existence.

Indecent is a play about a play, or more precisely, about a response to that play based on fear. On Broadway, in 1923, the play God of Vengeance by Sholem Asch debuted. It had played to many audiences already, but on this night, the police arrested the company on charges of indecency stemming from the intimate, joyous love scene between two women.

Indecent chronicles the development and implementation of this play, and the desire by Asch to display the diversity within the Jewish population and dispel xenophobic views. Sadly, this conflict maintains current relevancy.

Playwright Paula Vogel pulls all the emotion and intention possible from her characters, and we find ourselves breathing the same air they do. Indecent, nominated for the Best Tony in 2017, does what theater does best: perpetuate the relentless pursuit of truth in art.

Agnes, by Swiss writer Peter Stamm, begins with a startling revelation. The narrator tells us, “Agnes is dead. Killed by a story.” I am a sucker for a great opening line, and that one did it for me. In this brilliant short novel, Stamm explores the relationship between reality, and the reality we would like to create with our words.

We are all guilty of telling stories that do not accurately mirror the authenticity of actual events. But if the narrative imagines future events, to what extent can we shape the direction of our lives? Agnes and the narrator meet in the Chicago Public Library and begin a curious relationship. She wants to be remembered, so she asks her lover to chronicle their experiences. But the line between fact and fiction begins to blur, and life begins to imitate art.

Stamm ponders an intriguing subject here. Can we control our own destiny, and can we shape it with our words? Can we script life as we would like it? Interesting characters, a suspenseful plot, and perfectly controlled prose make this an excellent addition to your fall reading list.

This book was an entire surprise to me. I almost put it down when what is depicted on the cover happens in the book, but I am glad I continued reading. Rough upbringing vs. rich upbringing, bad decisions, friendship, loyalty, loss, aimlessness and care-taking for unusual children that are really not really all that unusual in the end.

My favorite line in the book is on page 207: It looked like what love must look like, just barely there, so easy to extinguish.

Elizabeth Gilbert began writing City of Girls after losing her partner to cancer, and she had remarked in her journal that this book was to be her "medicine". And while sad things do occur in the novel (it is, after all, set mainly during WWll), City of Girls manages to be a joyous and effervescent coming of age tale. Vivian Morris is a spoiled debutante, who at age 19, has managed to flunk out of Vassar, much to the chagrin of her waspish, distant parents. They banish her to live with her Aunt Peg (an off Broadway theater owner, and the black sheep of the family) in New York City...and it is here that Vivian's true education begins. This book is a celebration of female sexuality, and a love letter to NYC. I listened to the excellent audio version of City of Girls, and even though it was over fourteen hours, I was so sad to have it end. 

 Autonomous, by Annalee Newitz, is pure cyberpunk; an entertaining story full of danger, hot pursuits and forays deep into the world of modern technology and beyond. Techno-pirates, scientists and assorted forms of artificial intelligence populate this story. Bold, brash characters with a lot to say, unapologetic, plunging into action.

Then, something unexpected happened as I read this book. The bots, indentured and autonomous, become the stars of this story as we watch them negotiate relationships, sexuality and gender. Meanwhile, the distinctions in the human characters are shaped by their thoughts and actions, not informed through gender.

How absolutely brilliant. In a world where we spend a lot of time navigating gender possibilities, Newitz bestows characteristics on these individuals that deliver tangible clues to their identities. Newitz is a journalist and author who has written for Popular Science and Wired. Autonomous is their first novel.

The group Oregon have creating stunning music together since the original lineup of guitarist/pianist Ralph Towner, bassist Glen Moore, oboist/reedsman Paul McCandless  and sitar/tabla player Colin Walcott emerged from the Paul Winter Consort in 1969. While not "jazz" in a traditional sense, their music has a strong improvisational component, while also bringing in diverse elements of classical, folk and world musics. 1978's Out of the Woods is often considered the masterpiece of their early period, mixing complex arrangements, precision playing, gorgeous melodies and a strong sense of musical adventure. Highlights include Glen Moor's cinematic "Fall 77," Ralph Towner's mesmerizing "Waterwheel" and the group's legendary take on Jim Pepper's oft-covered  "Witchi-Tai-To," which evolves from a quiet meditation and evolves into a near anthem.