Dystopian Novels are All the Rage

What is a dystopian novel, you say?  It usually involves a controlled state, posing as a utopia, in which citizens actually have very little control over their lives.  There is usually one person (or sometimes a group) that tries to fight a controlling entity (government, technology) and break away from the crowd.  The Hunger Games is one of many dystopian novels that are extremely hot right now.  2030: The Real Story of What Happens to America by Albert Brooks is another newer dystopian novel making waves.  Here are just a few titles for you to try:

A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

Blindness by Jose Saramago

The Dream of Perpetual Motion by Dexter Clarence Palmer

Seed by Rob Ziegler

Things We Didn't See Coming by Steven Amsterdam

Veracity by Laura Bynum

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

The Light Between Oceans

M.L. Stedman has written one of the most powerful debut novels I've read in years.  The Light Between Oceans, while heartbreaking in the extreme, is a difficult book to put down.  I know I was tired after staying up late to finish it.

The novel centers around Tom Sherbourne, a man who has lived a difficult life and is simply looking for a quieter life.  He becomes the lighthouse keeper on Janus Rock, a tiny island off the coast of Australia.  During one of his shore leaves he meets Isabel.  They fall in love and she moves to Janus Rock with Tom.  The story becomes complicated once a boat washes up on shore, containing a dead man and a living infant. 

Tom, who keeps detailed records of what happens on Janus Rock and reports every minor detail, wants to report this to the mainland.  Isabel, who has suffered through a stillbirth and two miscarriages, decides that fate has delivered the child to them.  She convinces Tom to keep the child, but a rift in their marriage has been created.  They soon learn that they are not the only people in the young child's life.

I found this to be a difficult read at times, due to the emotional impact, but it's very well worth it.  It would not surprise me if this book ends up on many awards lists at the end of the year.

Dead Men

I recently finished reading Dead Men by Richard Pierce.  This is one of those titles I almost didn't pick up but I'm very happy I did. 

The plot revolves around Birdie and Adam, who meet under bizarre circumstances, and their quest to find what really happened to Captain Robert Falcon Scott and his men during their Antarctic expedition.  The mystery of the failed expedition is why did Scott and his men spend over a week in a tent only eleven miles from the safety of a depot?  Birdie has been obsessed with this mystery for years and is determined, with Adam's help, to find out what happened to Scott and his men.

This title is interesting in that we get some history behind the expedition, both through Adam and Birdie's research and through some flashbacks to Scott's camp. The real focus of the book is the budding relationship between Adam and Birdie.  Pierce's descriptions of the Antarctic landscape are intense and well worth the read. 

Ohioana Award Winners Announced

The Ohioana Library Association recently announced the 2012 book award winners.  The association is dedicated to promoting Ohio authors, musicians, and artists.  Here are the 2012 award winners:

Fiction- The Paris Wife by Paula McClain

Nonfiction- Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend by Susan Orlean

Poetry- Weather: Poems by Dave Lucas

Juvenile Literature- Where Do You Stay? by Andrea Cheng

Young Adult Literature- The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson

About Ohio- Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President by Candice Millard

Go to this link for more information on the Ohioana Library Association and the awards.

Looking for some good short stories?

For the past couple years I've always tried to fit in a book of short stories into my regular rotation of books.  Short stories are wonderful for a change of pace and they can offer something that regular novels can't always offer.  I'm amazed by the amount of emotion some short story authors can pack into their works.  Try one of these authors if you're looking for some great short fiction.

Alice Munro- This is my absolute favorite short story author.  Her stories aren't usually uplifting in any way but they are still very enjoyable.  All of her works are winners, but I would start by recommending "Something I've Been Meaning to Tell You" as a good jumping off point.

Dan Chaon- Chaon wrote two solid novels (Await Your Reply and Your Remind Me of Me) but is best known for his works of short fiction.  I was introduced to him through Among the Missing, a wonderful collection.  The overall theme is that of loneliness.  Many of the characters deal with loss of one kind or another and must deal with it in their own way.  Chaon can pack a big emotional punch in short order.

Lucia Maria Perillo- Perillo is a new author I stumbled upon recently.  I was extremely impressed with her writing style and look for big things in the future.  Her collection is entitled "Happiness is a Chemical in the Brain".  Honestly, how could I not pick up a book with that title?  It's difficult to describe the book, other than to say that the main characters don't react to outside influences in a way the reader is expecting.

Kevin Brockmeier- He's known more for his novels, but I found Brockmeier's "The View From the Seventh Layer" to be an excellent collection of short stories.  Some of the stories have a sci-fi, fantasy type feel for them, which is very different from the stories I normally read.  I also have to mention that this work has a "choose your own adventure" story, too.  How cool is that?