“Hysterical, Romantic and Heart-Warming”

New / Old Flames is a series in which our readers share their very favorite books.

 

The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion
Reviewed by Rachel

Don Tillman is not just a genetics professor—he’s also something of a genius of the kind that really annoys other people. As a result, he really only has one friend—a colleague named Gene (who is happily open-married and on a quest to sleep with a woman from every country in the world). Even though Don likes his life, he knows that something is missing. Sure, he’s an excellent cook, especially after following the same weekly menu for years. And of course, he’s in great shape from being accomplished in Akikido, despite his admittedly, um, robust alcohol consumption. And yeah, he’s got a comfortable position at the University of Melbourne, even though he’s rubbed a few students and administrators the wrong way (but of course he’s always been right).

But Don, who is also the spitting image of Gregory Peck a la Atticus Finch (*swoon*), has decided that what he’s lacking is a wife and thus the Wife Project is born. The Wife Project takes the form of an extensive survey quizzing potential mates about their habits, likes, dislikes, mannerisms, and many other characteristics essential to determining an appropriate partner for Don. The survey is methodical and leaves little room for error—but of course what Don doesn’t realize is that human attraction can’t be encapsulated in a multiple-choice exam, no matter how thorough the questions.

While Don is completely immersed in the Wife Project, Gene sends him Rosie Jarman, who Don assumes is another applicant. The fact that she smokes, works at a bar, cusses, dresses untraditionally, and is always late puzzles Don. However, he is inexplicably drawn to her acceptance of his quirks, her guileless honesty with him, and—let’s be honest—she’s also smokin’ hot.

The Wife Project quickly gets relegated to the back burner when Rosie reveals her own project to find out who her biological father is—the Father Project. The Father Project, and Don’s determination to help Rosie complete it, forces him to confront some of his own failings that have kept women and friends away in the past, and to realize that love really does spring from the most unlikely places.

The Rosie Project is hysterical, romantic, and heart-warming from the first page to the last. Don Tillman is at once aggravatingly narrow-minded and touchingly genuine, and you’ll find yourself empathizing with Rosie Jarman’s struggles with her shocking attraction to Don, but completely rooting them on. This is a great love story that will keep you laughing the whole way through.

 

Rachel is one of our Youth Services Librarians at Central Library.

 

“At its heart, it is a story for anyone who wants to believe in magic and wonder and love…”

Library readers share their favorite books  – the ones they spend 10 minutes enthusing over, until you agree to read them too.

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
Reviewed by Katie

Can a two year old book really constitute an “old” flame? Well, if we’re okay with defining an old flame as a book that one returns to again and again (and, let’s face it, again), then The Night Circus fits the bill. For the past three Septembers, as the nights gradually begin to lengthen, I find myself once again seeking out the magical world of Erin Morgenstern’s The Night Circus. It is an atmospheric book, tailor-made for fall nights.

Indeed, this is the story of Le Cirque des Reves, a circus, open only at night, that arrives in towns without warning. Its black and white tents appearing and disappearing seemingly on a whim. One might say like magic, if one were the sort to believe in such things.

And yet despite the air of enchantment and mystery, a visitor would never guess is that the circus is merely a backdrop for an ongoing duel between magicians, a battle of abilities and style between two strangers who have never met, playing out their roles in an old fight. It is only once the path of these magician’s–Celia and Marco–cross that the stakes are revealed and the true nature of the circus emerges. Their deep connection sets into motion a series of events that cast into the spotlight the darker side of the night circus and the dreams it holds.

The Night Circus weaves its magic with beautiful language and glorious world building as it spans years and continents, casting its spell everywhere it goes (including on the reader). There is intrigue, there are secrets, and there are elements of darkness and danger. And yet at its heart it is a story for anyone who wants to believe in magic and wonder and love. It also just so happens to go perfectly with long nights, a hot cup of tea, and a cozy sweater.

One final note: If you’ve already fallen in love with The Night Circus, you may want to revisit it the novel in audiobook format. The audiobook was narrated by Jim Dale–he of Harry Potter audiobook fame–and is the perfect way to recapture the magic a second time.

Katie is a regular blogger for our teen blog and when she’s not reviewing for us she’s a librarian for the National Library of Medicine.

 

“A book that made me even more in awe of the English Language and the Oxford English Dictionary. What can I say? I’m a nerd.”

Library readers share their favorite books  – the ones they spend 10 minutes enthusing over, until you agree to read them too.

 

 

The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary by Simon Winchester
Reviewed by Karen Sullivan

Good writing meets history and language. I’m a sucker for both, though I admit I’m horrible with dates.

The book starts with murder. The murderer is caught. He’s deemed insane. But as an American Civil War veteran and a doctor, he warrants special treatment. He’s off to Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum where he lives in relative comfort.

This could very well have been the end of Dr. W.C. Minor’s claim to fame (or infamy) but a huge project is underway, one that needs volunteers. When Professor James Murray took on the role of editor for the world’s most renowned dictionary – the Oxford English Dictionary – he had no way of knowing just how colossal a feat he was undertaking. Nor could he know that a verifiable lunatic would be his greatest asset and friend.

In the hopes of honoring Minor and his contribution of more than 10,000 definitions, an undertaking achieved before the advent of Google or anything resembling the modern dictionary, Murray discovers the truth about Minor: he is a murderer and insane. However, this does not stop Murray from becoming a true friend to a man whose mental health set him apart in Victorian England.

If you’re fascinated by the magnitude of the English Language, its innuendos, connotations and denotations, then this is a book you have to read. If you aren’t, you still have to read this book that paints a striking picture of friendship and determination in a world that struggles to understand both language and mental illness.

 

Karen is logophile, always looking to learn new words. She’s also a librarian at the Cherrydale Branch Library.

 

“It’s this Fantasy Epic storyline that tells us that our actions matter…”

Library readers share their favorite books  – the ones they spend 10 minutes enthusing over, until you agree to read them too.

 

In honor of Arlington Reads 2013, we bring you:

 

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
Reviewed By Rebekah Jones

 

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao was the odd book out in my English 201 class. The professor was a portly man in his mid-forties who wore glasses and passionately loved Emily Dickinson and Nathaniel Hawthorn. He smirked as he announced the assigned book to the class because he knew it was going to throw us.

It’s hard to pick out what impacted me so powerfully about this book, what made me fall in love with it. I identified with Oscar in many little ways. There were times his experiences stung me with their familiarity. I understand being the person so awkward in a group of freaks that even they are a bit ashamed of you. I know what it’s like to read books I love even as the stories dismiss people like me as unimportant or even villainous. I could connect with those things. Like Oscar, I have been struck by the knowledge that a genre I love and escape into isn’t really for me – how the stories ignore people like me, or worse, are sometimes even hostile. Oscar was a black immigrant who read in Tolkien’s books about the dark-skinned savages from the south. I was the girl who read about women who were only good as prizes, sacrifices, or temptresses for the man. It’s hard enough to admit your heroes who wrote stories and worlds you fell in love with aren’t perfect. It’s incredibly painful to admit that your very presence as a fully functioning and independent human being is something they find offensive or unbelievable.

But Oscar is just a single part of the story. He shares the spotlight equally with his mother, his sister, Lola, and his friend, Yunior. All of them have a history and tale of their own, all are affected by the evil dictator Trujillo in a thousand ways big and small – perhaps that is what captured me most. In much of modern-day literature set in our reality, the characters are individuals within small worlds impacted by other individuals within small worlds. Junot Díaz plucked what I have always seen as so realistic and true about fantasy narratives – the far reaching consequences of actions, the resounding and terrifying power some people have for good or ill – to tell the story about people who society often sees as a footnote. Because they were affected, they were impacted, and they all are small people who are part of a large world with its stories and myths and echoing effects.

This book was one that made me think about how reality works. It discusses the structure of oppression and of everyday and institutional dictatorships and about the ways we reinforce them and use them to knock each other down. It recognizes the damage our own culture and those in power cause, and talks about struggling to break the cycle instead of continuing to perpetuate it. It’s this Fantasy Epic storyline that tells us that our actions matter, that we may be small people, but that our struggle to break the cycles of oppression is something that connects with everyone, that goes beyond ourselves and frees others.

 

Rebekah Jones has a BA in English from VCU, works for the SPCA, and hopes to soon go overseas to teach English.

 

“The romantic comedy I wish would come to my multiplex…”

Library readers share their favorite books  – the ones they spend 10 minutes enthusing over, until you agree to read them too.

 

 

Attachments by Rainbow Rowell
Reviewed by Nico

 

My job requires me to spend a lot of time online, and I’m guessing most people at work are in the same boat. One of the joys in my day is looking at my inbox and seeing a new missive from one of my good friends.  I don’t get many long letters in my apartment’s mailbox, but at least once a day, I know that I can expect to hear from the desk of one of these ladies.  For better or for worse, when I’m old, this will probably be some of my most treasured correspondence.

The same is true of two of the three main characters in Rainbow Rowell’s debut novel, Attachments. Beth and Jennifer are reporters in 1999 and their newspaper has just barely decided that it will allow its employees to use personal email. In between writing their articles these two friends send emails back and forth to each other discussing love, terrible bridesmaids dresses and what they might eat for dinner. They write to each other even after the newspaper warns that it is going to be monitoring all electronic communication and flagging anything they consider questionable. Beth and Jennifer don’t think they’re out of order, so the emails keep flying.

Of course, it’s all well and good to say as a company that you’re going to be monitoring emails. But, at Jennifer and Beth’s paper, this means that a program searches for words it thinks unsavory and then all those emails get thrown in a folder waiting for someone to read each one… Enter Lincoln, who has the honor of taking on this task.  This was not what Lincoln had in mind when he applied for an IT position – he’d be much happier doing just about anything except creepily reading the personal thoughts of these writers, who seem like nice people actually. And instead of turning in Beth and Jennifer as flagrant email offenders, he finds himself waiting for the next installment of their correspondence.

Attachments was the romantic comedy that I’d been wishing would come to my multiplex. It’s smart, funny and the characters all feel like people that you wouldn’t mind sharing a cubicle wall with. As you read Jennifer and Beth’s emails, you’ll feel just like Lincoln, wishing that you were in on the conversation with these two vibrant women.

 

Nico is one of our Young Adult librarians, with a taste for all things pop culture. 

 

“A book you’d call in a dedication for, on the Love Songs at Night radio show…”

Library readers share their favorite books  – the ones they spend 10 minutes enthusing over, until you agree to read them too.

 

 

Love is a Mix Tape by Rob Sheffield
Reviewed by Nico

 

Rob Sheffield knows music. He’s been a critic for over twenty years and his commentary can be seen in Rolling Stone Magazine. His memoir, Love is a Mix Tape is perfect for music lovers, pop culture nerds and really anyone who loves a great memoir or love story. And it’s a book that I’d recommend as heartily as I would my favorite album.

Using the playlists of 15 mix tapes from his life, Sheffield tells the story of the seven years that he spent with his wife, Renee.  Renee jumps off the page, the type of girl you’d want to go to concerts with. It’s easy to fall in love with her and very easy to see how the loss of her would rip up your life. Sheffield easily pulls you into his life, his romance and his heartbreak and gives you the soundtrack to go with it.

Chances are, if you’re an armchair critic or a professional top 5 maker, you’ve already checked out High Fidelity (either in book or movie). Love is a Mix Tape goes great with HF and will load up your ITunes playlist just as quickly. But, where it differs from Nick Hornby’s bitter rock critic tale is that Rob Sheffield is someone who unabashedly loves what he’s writing about – both the music and his wife.

Finally, what puts this book over the top for me as an all time favorite is that it features young and hip people who also happen to be married. There are so few books that feature married characters who are still interested in life outside of their apartment, that you’d think those two things were mutually exclusive. If you think it’s possible to wear a wedding ring AND still retain your premarital levels of cool, you will have even more reason to enjoy Love is a Mix Tape.

 

Nico is one of our Young Adult librarians, with a taste for all things pop culture.