We enjoyed seeing so many of you participate in #LibFaves17 (thanks for making Jane Harper’s THE DRY an official 2017 Top Ten pick!).

Now here are OUR #LibFaves17 picks (aka our 2017 “Recommended Reads” from the newsletter):

Talia

THE MAP THAT LEADS TO YOU by J.P. Monninger
Also available in audio
Finally, a book version of that romantic trilogy of films that Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy collaborated on… And most especially reminiscent of BEFORE SUNRISE. I’m also fondly reminded of the first boy that I ever fell in love with, his name was Lenny Grant, we were both sixteen and attending a summer writing program in Boston. It may as well have been Europe…

THE STANDARD GRAND by Jay Baron Nicorvo
THE STANDARD GRAND is reminiscent of Frank Bill’s CRIMES IN SOUTHERN INDIANA in terms of its grittiness and the ragtag group of misfit anti-heroes trying to survive in the wilderness. And I’ve always loved reading novels that were written in a sort of rushed exuberance—as if the author just had to share his or her story…

KNIFE CREEK by Paul Doiron
Also available in audio
Paul Doiron’s Mike Bowditch (my favorite bad-ass—does everything on his own terms—Maine game warden) is back for more! In KNIFE CREEK, Mike and his girlfriend Stacy (a bit of a rogue operator herself) are hunting wild rampaging boars that are destroying their beautiful town and surrounding environs. During the hunt, the couple discovers a dead infant in a shallow grave. Mike is a game warden but he’s got the instincts of a seasoned detective and must find out who committed such a gruesome deed. He just can’t help himself. And I love him for that. A home explosion that nearly kills him, an encounter with two very strange “sisters” wearing matching red wigs—one of whom may or may not be a long-dead co-ed (or was she kidnapped?), and a small town that’s full of suspects… Mike’s clearly on to something here, but what?

FRESH COMPLAINT by Jeffrey Eugenides
Also available in audio
I’ve always loved short story collections (see Shobha Rao’s AN UNRESTORED WOMAN, Tom Perrotta’s NINE INCHES, David Bezmozgis’ NATASHA, Helen Ellis’ AMERICAN HOUSEWIFE, Lauren Holmes’ BARBARA THE SLUT, James Franco’s PALO ALTO). The intensity of dipping into a life, briefly, and popping right out of it again… Of meeting someone at a particularly vulnerable and strangely fascinating moment in their lives… Of sharing that moment with them but never fully knowing when it began or where it ends is particularly exciting to me. And in Jeffrey Eugenides’ new short story collection FRESH COMPLAINT, meditations abound on life at every stage and at its most banally bizarre moments. Readers are thrown into a period of post-college idealism (and dysentery), mid-life pregnancies (and an ensuing tragicomedy), rebuilding after failure, sex studies in the jungle (and leaving one’s inhibitions behind), the worshiping of a musical instrument, a green card marriage and finally death. And we are treated to it all with a healthy dose of slightly off-beat characters.

THE WIFE BETWEEN US by Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen
Also available in audio
There’s a marketing specialist at Macmillan whose taste in books I trust completely. I will not name names, because she is my secret “book Santa” and I refuse to share her. Since 2004, she has very occasionally sent me manuscripts to read. She has always chosen a book that I end up loving, hating deeply, or at the very least ends up inciting an incredibly visceral reaction. I won’t list the favorites she’s sent, because her identity will most certainly be revealed. And now let’s talk about her latest manuscript, THE WIFE BETWEEN US. There is no train. There is no girl. There is drinking (all good stories need alcohol, right?). There is an unreliable narrator (but those are the most intriguing, aren’t they?). There is a handsome husband (marriages are always fascinating to dissect, good or bad!). There is “another” woman (a thriller always needs a mysterious “other,” right?). And that’s all I can tell you. Read it. And let’s talk about that ending.

INDECENT by Corinne Sullivan
An insecure shy teacher’s apprentice barely out of college at an all boys boarding school is tempted by the popular boy… He’s brash, he’s arrogant, he’s the leader of the pack… But, will she do what’s right? I can’t help but think of the only younger man that I ever dated. During the summer before I went off to college I dated a rising senior. He wore Polo cologne, had long hair and we spent most of that summer in hidden corners and behind closed doors. But it’s not the same, is it? readmoreremove