Hey, horror fans! Nightmare on Oak Street is back this year, though not in person. We’ll be meeting on Zoom on Saturday, October 17th at 5pm for an enjoyable hour of horror movie & book discussion and Holley will lead you through making your very own corn husk doll. Pagan idol or cute harvest poppet? You decide! Register your email to receive a link to the meeting and a supply packet for the craft: https://emmetoneal.libnet.info/event/4550303.
The next Genre Reading Group meeting will be Tuesday, October 27th at 6:30pm on Zoom and the topic up for discussion will be inventors and inventions. Peruse the library catalog for ideas: https://bit.ly/2EPjp5i
Leaping forward a bit, November’s GRG topic is fantasy fiction.
I am always delighted to help, so if you’d like assistance
choosing something, reach out: 205.445.1117 or hwesley@oneallibrary.org.
Last night, GRG meet to talk about epistolary novels, which
are stories told in letters, diaries, journals, memos, referral letters,
emails, and, during our discussion, security cameras, blog posts, texts, and
more!
A Best Book of
the Year: NPR and Boston Globe
Finally a novel that puts the
"pissed" back into "epistolary."
Jason Fitger is a beleaguered professor of
creative writing and literature at Payne University, a small and not very
distinguished liberal arts college in the midwest. His department is facing
draconian cuts and squalid quarters, while one floor above them the Economics
Department is getting lavishly remodeled offices. His once-promising writing
career is in the doldrums, as is his romantic life, in part as the result of
his unwise use of his private affairs for his novels. His star (he thinks)
student can't catch a break with his brilliant (he thinks) work Accountant in a
Bordello, based on Melville's Bartleby. In short, his life is a tale of woe,
and the vehicle this droll and inventive novel uses to tell that tale is a
series of hilarious letters of recommendation that Fitger is endlessly called
upon by his students and colleagues to produce, each one of which is a small
masterpiece of high dudgeon, low spirits, and passive-aggressive strategies. We
recommend Dear Committee Members to you in the strongest possible terms.
1 NEW
YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NOW A NETFLIX FILM • A remarkable tale of
the island of Guernsey during the German Occupation, and of a society as
extraordinary as its name.
“I wonder how the book got to Guernsey? Perhaps
there is some sort of secret homing instinct in books that brings them to their
perfect readers.” January
1946: London is emerging from the shadow of the Second World War, and writer
Juliet Ashton is looking for her next book subject. Who could imagine that she
would find it in a letter from a man she’s never met, a native of the island of
Guernsey, who has come across her name written inside a book by Charles Lamb. .
. .As Juliet and her new correspondent exchange letters, Juliet is drawn into the
world of this man and his friends—and what a wonderfully eccentric world it is.
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society—born as a spur-of-the-moment
alibi when its members were discovered breaking curfew by the Germans occupying
their island—boasts a charming, funny, deeply human cast of characters, from
pig farmers to phrenologists, literature lovers all.
Juliet begins a remarkable correspondence with
the society’s members, learning about their island, their taste in books, and
the impact the recent German occupation has had on their lives. Captivated by
their stories, she sets sail for Guernsey, and what she finds will change her
forever. Written with warmth and humor as a series of letters, this novel is a
celebration of the written word in all its guises and of finding connection in
the most surprising ways.
Sam is, to say the least, bookish. An English major of the
highest order, her diet has always been Austen, Dickens, and Shakespeare. The
problem is, both her prose and conversation tend to be more Elizabeth Bennet
than Samantha Moore.
But life for the twenty-three-year-old orphan is about to get
stranger than fiction. An anonymous, Dickensian benefactor (calling himself Mr.
Knightley) offers to put Sam through Northwestern University’s prestigious
Medill School of Journalism. There is only one catch: Sam must write frequent
letters to the mysterious donor, detailing her progress.
As Sam’s memory mingles with that of eligible novelist Alex
Powell, her letters to Mr. Knightley become increasingly confessional. While
Alex draws Sam into a world of warmth and literature that feels like it’s
straight out of a book, old secrets are drawn to light. And as Sam learns to
love and trust Alex and herself, she learns once again how quickly trust can be
broken.
Reminding us all that our own true character is not meant to be
hidden, Katherine Reay’s debut novel follows one young woman’s journey as she
sheds her protective persona and embraces the person she was meant to become.
Ella Minnow Pea is an
epistolary novel set in the fictional island of Nollop situated off the coast
of South Carolina and home to the inventor the pangram The Quick Brown Fox
Jumps Over The Lazy Dog. Now deceased, the islanders have erected a monument to
honor their hero, but one day a tile with the letter “z” falls from the statue.
The leaders interpret the falling tile as a message from beyond the grave and
the letter is banned from use. On an island where the residents pride
themselves on their love of language, this is seen as a tragedy. They are still
reeling from the shock, when another tile falls and then another.... Mark Dunn
takes us on a journey against time through the eyes of Ella Minnow Pea and her
family as they race to find another phrase containing all the letters of the
alphabet to save them from being unable to communicate. Eventually, the only
letters remaining are LMNOP, when Ella finally discovers the phrase that will
save their language.
A love story for the ages,
the tale of Griffin and Sabine is an international sensation that spent over
100 weeks on the New York
Times bestseller list and continues to beguile readers 25
years after its original publication. Here to celebrate that anniversary is the
final volume in Griffin and Sabine's story—a book that can be enjoyed as a
singular reading experience or in conjunction with the series as a whole. The Pharos Gate rejoices
in the book as physical object, weaving together word and image in beautifully
illustrated postcards and removable letters that reveal a sensual and
metaphysical romance, one full of mystery and intrigue. Published
simultaneously with the 25th-anniversary edition of Griffin & Sabine, The Pharos Gate finally
shares what happened to the lovers in a gorgeous volume that will surely
delight Griffin and Sabine's longtime fans and a new generation of readers.
This gorgeously illustrated,
full-color classic celebrates a time before email with an interactive picture
book full of real letters to read aloud. The Jolly Postman brings a batch of
wonderful letters for Christmas, including notes from the Big Bad Wolf and all
the King's men. Open this book, take out the letters, and discover what
favorite characters would write to each other--and reimagine best-loved tales
together.
Manderley Resort is a
gleaming, new twenty-story hotel on the California coast. It’s about to open
its doors, and the world--at least those with the means to afford it--will be
welcomed into a palace of opulence and unparalleled security. But someone is
determined that Manderley will never open. The staff has no idea that their
every move is being watched, and over the next twelve hours they will be killed
off, one by one.
Writing in the tradition of Edgar Allan Poe and Stephen King,
and with a deep bow to Daphne du Maurier, author Gina Wohlsdorf pairs narrative
ingenuity and razor-wire prose with quick twists, sharp turns, and
gasp-inducing terror. Security is grand guignol storytelling at its very best.
A shocking thriller, a brilliant narrative puzzle, and a
multifaceted love story unlike any other, Security marks the debut of a fearless and gifted writer.
We survived the zombie
apocalypse, but how many of us are still haunted by that terrible time? We have
(temporarily?) defeated the living dead, but at what cost? Told in the haunting
and riveting voices of the men and women who witnessed the horror firsthand, World War Z is the only
record of the pandemic.
The Zombie War came unthinkably close to eradicating
humanity. Max Brooks, driven by the urgency of preserving the acid-etched
first-hand experiences of the survivors, traveled across the United States of
America and throughout the world, from decimated cities that once teemed with
upwards of thirty million souls to the most remote and inhospitable areas of
the planet. He recorded the testimony of men, women, and sometimes children who
came face-to-face with the living, or at least the undead, hell of that
dreadful time. World War Z is the result. Never before have we had access to a
document that so powerfully conveys the depth of fear and horror, and also the
ineradicable spirit of resistance, that gripped human society through the
plague years.
Bernadette Fox is notorious.
To her Microsoft-guru husband, she's a fearlessly opinionated partner; to
fellow private-school mothers in Seattle, she's a disgrace; to design mavens,
she's a revolutionary architect; and to 15-year-old Bee, she is her best friend
and, simply, Mom.
Then Bernadette vanishes. It all began when Bee aced her
report card and claimed her promised reward: a family trip to Antarctica. But
Bernadette's intensifying allergy to Seattle -- and people in general -- has
made her so agoraphobic that a virtual assistant in India now runs her most
basic errands. A trip to the end of the earth is problematic.
To find her mother, Bee compiles email messages, official
documents, and secret correspondence -- creating a compulsively readable and
surprisingly touching novel about misplaced genius and a mother and daughter's
role in an absurd world.
In the winter of 1885,
decorated war hero Colonel Allen Forrester leads a small band of men on an
expedition that has been deemed impossible: to venture up the Wolverine River
and pierce the vast, untamed Alaska Territory. Leaving behind Sophie, his newly
pregnant wife, Colonel Forrester records his extraordinary experiences in hopes
that his journal will reach her if he doesn't return--once he passes beyond the
edge of the known world, there's no telling what awaits him.
Meanwhile, on her own at Vancouver Barracks, Sophie chafes
under the social restrictions and yearns to travel alongside her husband. She
does not know that the winter will require as much of her as it does her
husband, that both her courage and faith will be tested to the breaking point.
Can her exploration of nature through the new art of photography help her to
rediscover her sense of beauty and wonder?
The truths that Allen and Sophie discover over the course of
that fateful year change both of their lives--and the lives of those who hear
their stories long after they're gone--forever.
After a dust storm nearly
kills him and forces his crew to evacuate while thinking him dead, Mark Watney finds
himself stranded and completely alone with no way to even signal Earth that
he’s alive—and even if he could get word out, his supplies would be gone long
before a rescue could arrive. Chances are, though, he won't have time to
starve to death. The damaged machinery, unforgiving environment, or plain-old
"human error" are much more likely to kill him first.
But Mark isn't ready to give up yet. Drawing on his
ingenuity, his engineering skills—and a relentless, dogged refusal to quit—he
steadfastly confronts one seemingly insurmountable obstacle after the next.
Will his resourcefulness be enough to overcome the impossible odds against him?
Charlie Gordon is about to
embark upon an unprecedented journey. Born with an unusually low IQ, he has
been chosen as the perfect subject for an experimental surgery that researchers
hope will increase his intelligence-a procedure that has already been highly
successful when tested on a lab mouse named Algernon.
As the treatment takes effect, Charlie's intelligence expands
until it surpasses that of the doctors who engineered his metamorphosis. The
experiment appears to be a scientific breakthrough of paramount importance,
until Algernon suddenly deteriorates. Will the same happen to Charlie?
Howard Forney’s journal recounts the intense promise and
disastrous effects of his younger brother Bobby’s genius. When Bobby discovers
an unknown chemical that diminishes anger and hostility, he believes he’s found
the path to world peace. Only after utilizing an erupting volcano to spread the
chemical throughout the world does Bobby learn that the chemical also causes
dementia and eventually death.
Hilariously
imagined text conversations―the passive aggressive, the clever, and the
strange―from classic and modern literary figures, from Scarlett O'Hara to
Jessica Wakefield
Mallory Ortberg, the co-creator of the cult-favorite website The Toast, presents this
whimsical collection of hysterical text conversations from your favorite
literary characters. Everyone knows that if Scarlett O'Hara had an unlimited
text-and-data plan, she'd constantly try to tempt Ashley away from Melanie with
suggestive messages. If Mr. Rochester could text Jane Eyre, his ardent missives
would obviously be in all-caps. And Daisy Buchanan would not only text while
driving, she'd text you to pick her up after she totaled her car. Based on the
popular web-feature, Texts from Jane Eyre is a witty, irreverent mashup that brings the
characters from your favorite books into the twenty-first century.
One GRG member directed us toward pioneer blogger Justin Hall and his blog documenting online life in the 90's-early 2000s:
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