This week’s Book Buzz explores the world of brothers and sisters, both fiction and non-fiction tales of the tangles and triumphs of siblings. From Cain and Abel to the ugly stepsisters and from the Brothers Grimm to the Bronte Sisters
This week’s Book Buzz explores the world of brothers and sisters, both fiction and non-fiction tales of the tangles and triumphs of siblings. From Cain and Abel to the ugly stepsisters and from the Brothers Grimm to the Bronte Sisters siblings have played a powerful role in literature.
This week’s book list comes with a shout out to the Big Brothers and Big Sisters programs on Kaua‘i. Thank you for the work you do. And to all of us, remember that reading to family members is one of life’s sweetest gifts.
Happy Reading.
Amigoland
By Oscar Cesares
The estranged Rosales brothers live in an American town just north of the Mexican border. They end up on a hilarious and heart-breaking road trip to the past, a delightful romp and an ultimately liberating journey. They show how love, borders, death-and most of all, willful ignorance-are part of everyday reawakenings. And the ending? Bittersweet, unexpected and undeniably precious.
Atlas of Unknowns
By Tania James
Sisters Linno and Anju are raised in Kerala, India but follow very different paths. The convergence of their journeys-toward each other, toward America, toward a new understanding of self and country, and toward a heartbreaking mystery long buried in their shared past-brings to life a predicament that is at once modern and timeless: the hunger for independence and the longing for home; the need to preserve the past and the yearning to break away from it.
Brothers: 26 Stories of Love and Rivalry
Edited by Andrew Blauner
306.8752 Br
This fine collection of essays and short fiction play numerous variations on the bonds between brothers, employing a number of popular literary lions aging from 24 to 84. Watch the boys in this rich anthology battle and booze, worship, envy, argue and die. Whether or not you have a brother, you’ll enjoy the entertaining, affecting tales.
The Geometry of Sisters
By Luanne Rice
The prolific Rice contemplates class, family and math in this outing as she explores the different angles, circles, triangles that love and life can take. The relationship between the daughters reflects on the mother’s relationship with her sister.
Brothers in Battle,
Best of Friends: Two World War II Paratroopers from the Original Band of Brothers Tell Their Story
By William Guarnere
940.54127 Gu
Using interview transcripts the author provides a personal history of the 101st Airborne Division’s Easy Company, as well as the soldiers’ own stories of growing up and growing old.
Guarnere and Heffron recount their South Philly childhoods, their induction into Easy Company and their work in it, from the disastrous Operation Market Garden to the frozen hell of Bastogne. The men also discuss their post-war lives, and those of their comrades; 60 years after meeting, these two men still call each other nearly every day, and their bond provides the volume its large heart.
Her Fearful Symmetry
By Audrey Niffenegger
The endurance of love animates this gothic mystery story set in and around Highgate Cemetery, in London. Elspeth leaves her estate to the twin daughters of her twin sister. The author brings to life her quirky, troubled characters but readers may need their own supernatural suspension of disbelief as the story winds to its twisty conclusion. It is a haunting tale about the complications of love, identity, and sibling rivalry.
My Sister, My Love:
The Intimate Tale of Skyler Rampike
By Joyce Carol Oates
Oates revisits in fantastic fashion the JonBenet Ramsay murder, replacing the famous family with the Rampikes-father Bix, a bully and compulsive philanderer; mother Betsey, obsessed with making her daughter, Bliss, into a prize-winning figure skater; and son Skyler, the narrator of this tale of ambition, greed and tragedy. Moving at breakneck speed this tale is a painful scrutiny of a media-mad society and the things people often value.
One Day at a Time
By Danielle Steel
Steel does not depart from her typical formula in this latest offering, which centers on the life of Coco Barrington, a young and beautiful daughter of privilege who rejects her family’s wealthy L.A. lifestyle. But one weekend, while house-sitting for her movie-producer sister, Jane, she strikes up a friendship with Jane’s handsome and witty houseguest. And things begin to change.
Shanghai Girls
By Lisa See
This is a fresh fascinating adventure about two sisters who leave Shanghai to find new lives in 1930s Los Angeles. They struggle to find a new life in America while still bound to the old. The author explores tradition, the ravages of war and the importance of family in this absorbing tale.
Silent Thunder
By Iris Johansen
Bestseller Johansen her Edgar-winning son, Roy collaborate on their first thriller with entertaining results. Hannah Bryson, a top-notch submarine designer, and her brother, Conner, must make sure that a Russian nuclear submarine recently purchased by the U.S. government for use as a maritime museum, is safe for visitors. The two make a strange discovery that’s swiftly followed by a deadly attack. Others, both Russian and American, want what the Brysons have uncovered and will stop at nothing to obtain it.
True Colors
By Kristin Hannah
In her 17th novel the author portrays the delicate and enduring bonds of sisterhood. The story of the Grey sisters is set in a small Washington town and follows Winona, Aurora and Vivi Ann from the time of their mother’s death, when they are young teens, on through adulthood, cataloguing their trials and the men who typically come bearing them. Though Hannah boldly embraces over-the-top drama, she really knows what women-her characters and her audience-want.
True Detectives
By Jonathan Kellerman
This is the author’s 24th Alex Delaware novel but it highlights PI Aaron Fox and L.A. cop Moe Reed, interracial half-brothers who appeared briefly in “Bones.” Though both are sons of cops, they couldn’t be more different. Biracial Aaron pulls in a sweet six figures as a PI; younger Moses, a forthright, muscle-bound blond, does things by the book for the LAPD. Childhood rivalries, misunderstandings, and different personalities have kept them at odds throughout their lives. Then, suddenly, they find themselves working on the same case.
The Wettest County in the World: A Novel Based on a True Story
By Matt Bondurant
This family saga follows the Bondurants, bootlegging brothers runnin’ stills, runnin’ loads, and runnin’ from the law in Depression-era Virginia. The book is mainly narrated through the experience of the youngest Bondurant, Jack (in truth, a grandfather of the author), and his family’s moonshine enterprise supplies the action in a plot that evokes the culture of distilling and distributing white lightning. Bondurant endows his gritty story with all the puzzle-solving satisfactions of a mystery.
Where Are You Now
By Mary Higgins Clark
Mary Higgins Clark’s latest novel is a well-paced thriller sure to please longtime fans. It is a gripping tale of a young woman searching for her lost brother and trying to unravel the mystery of a family tragedy, a quest with terrifying repercussions.
While My Sister Sleeps
By Barbara Delinsky
The relationship between sisters changes under devastating circumstances. This is a family portrait filled with thought-provoking ideas about the nature of life and how emotions affect the decisions we make, and how letting go can be the hardest thing to do and the greatest expression of love all at the same time.
You Were Always Mom’s Favorite: Sisters in Conversation throughout Their Lives
By Deborah Tannen
306.8754 Ta
This book explores one of the most powerful and perplexing relationships in our lives: sisters.
With a witty and wise voice, the author shares insights and anecdotes from well over a hundred women she interviewed, along with moving and funny recollections of her own two sisters. You’ll come away with a profound new understanding, as well as effective techniques to improve and accessible solutions for problems in this unique and precious relationship.
• Carolyn Larson, head librarian at Lihu‘e Public Library, brings you the buzz on new, popular and good books available at your neighborhood library. Book annotations are culled from online publishers’ descriptions and published reviews.
