The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister

Released January 2009

I read the blurb on the back of this book as saying “Fans of Laura Esquivel are going to fall in love with Erica Bauermeister’s beautiful story.” After finishing the book, I flipped it back over and re-read the sentence, which actually reads: “Fans of Maeve Binchy and Laura Esquivel are going to fall in love with Erica Bauermeister’s beautiful story.” Ahh. That explains a lot.

I read the blurb on the back of this book as saying “Fans of Laura Esquivel are going to fall in love with Erica Bauermeister’s beautiful story.” After finishing the book, I flipped it back over and re-read the sentence, which actually reads: “Fans of Maeve Binchy and Laura Esquivel are going to fall in love with Erica Bauermeister’s beautiful story.” Ahh. That explains a lot.

This book centers on the power of food and the existence of an incredible, mystical relationship with cooking. There are gorgeous descriptions of ingredients, of sauce-making, of perfect desserts. It’s a big love letter to gastronomy and an appreciation of taste and smell.

It’s also, well, a tad sappy. The characters are extremely sensitive – and each can communicate with others through only the most understanding of glances, or the kindest half-smile. In the same chapters where I scoffed at the sentimentality, I found myself next to tears in just a few pages. Even if I wasn’t crazy about what Bauermeister was doing with her characters, the language she used to make it happen was wonderfully moving.

“The School of Essential Ingredients” is really a place where everything works out, where the people are wholeheartedly good and the eating is divine. My final reaction was, so what if it’s romanticized to within an inch of it’s life? It’s delicious.  – Sara Wedell, Adult Services Librarian

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

Release Date: February 10, 2009

In the past week, I’ve read about 15 pages of about 5 different books and set each them aside, not because they are bad, just because they aren’t grabbing my attention right out of the gate. Thank goodness Kathryn Stockett’s debut novel came along to break my quitting streak!

The narration alternates between three characters every few chapters which keeps the story fresh and gives very different impressions of the events. Aibileen was definitely my favorite narrator, then Minny and Skeeter, but I loved the chance to hear directly from each of these three women. And the character of Hilly just captures all that close-minded, power-hungry attitude of the small-town elite. Oh, she’s awful.

Stockett does a great job building up her story of civil rights on the domestic front, introducing the indignities of being household help that were considered common and even necessary to 1960s families in Jackson, Mississippi. This is a pretty big book, around 450 pages, but it’s very well-paced, so events never feel rushed or stretched out.

I’ve heard great things about the audio as well, so if you are an audiobook fan, this might be one to listen to instead of read. — Sara Wedell, Adult Services Librarian

Goldengrove by Francine Prose

Released Sept. 16, 2008

Amazon Best of the Month, September 2008: Author and essayist Francine Prose’s novel Goldengrove will be a surprise to readers familiar with her famously razor-sharp dialogue and tough-love attitude towards her memorable characters. In this affecting coming-of-age novel, Prose introduces us to Nico, a chubby thirteen-year old girl who imagines nothing more than keeping her parents at arms length and hanging out with her older sister, Margaret and her charismatic boyfriend during the long summer break. Instead, Nico finds herself navigating the perilous course of mourning after her beloved sister drowns in the lake just beyond the family’s home. With little support from her grief-stricken parents, she must come to terms with the tragedy largely on her own. Prose’s ability to situate the adult reader within the heart and mind of young Nico is quite remarkable, and verges on the poetic. Goldengrove is a poignant story that prompts us to retrace those often long-forgotten, but monumental early steps towards acceptance and understanding.  – Amazon.com

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski

Released June 10, 2008

“A literary thriller with commercial legs, this stunning debut is bound to be a bestseller. In the backwoods of Wisconsin, the Sawtelle family—Gar, Trudy and their young son, Edgar—carry on the family business of breeding and training dogs. Edgar, born mute, has developed a special relationship and a unique means of communicating with Almondine, one of the Sawtelle dogs, a fictional breed distinguished by personality, temperament and the dogs’ ability to intuit commands and to make decisions. Raising them is an arduous life, but a satisfying one for the family until Gar’s brother, Claude, a mystifying mixture of charm and menace, arrives. When Gar unexpectedly dies, mute Edgar cannot summon help via the telephone. His guilt and grief give way to the realization that his father was murdered; here, the resemblance to Hamlet resonates. After another gut-wrenching tragedy, Edgar goes on the run, accompanied by three loyal dogs. His quest for safety and succor provides a classic coming-of-age story with an ironic twist. Sustained by a momentum that has the crushing inevitability of fate, the propulsive narrative will have readers sucked in all the way through the breathtaking final scenes.” Publishers Weekly

America America by Ethan Canin

Released: June 24, 2008

“Canin’s new work about class, politics, money, and media in the Nixon era through the present day will resonate powerfully with readers in this presidential election year. Corey Sifter, a working-class boy from a small New York town, is hired by the Metareys, the wealthiest family in Saline, to be a man-of-all-trades. His work ethic endears him to the Metareys, who treat him as one of the family, even paying for his prep school tuition. As both an insider and an outsider, Corey is in a unique position to observe the political maneuverings of Liam Metarey and his campaign to elect Sen. Henry Bonwiller to the presidency. However, Bonwiller’s personal failings ruin not only his political career but also the finances and family life of the Metareys. This saga of politics and family is a superb achievement; Canin (The Palace Thief ) interleaves past and present to create a classical tragedy from the very first page. This engrossing novel would be a good book club selection and is highly recommended.” Library Journal