Library Staff Directory
Posted Apr 10, 2015
We’re expanding our collection to include more independent books- books published by small presses, mid-size publishers, or self-published titles. We want to feature more writers and stories that you may not find on bestseller lists to give you a better idea of what’s out there. Here’s four worth taking a look at:
The Animals: A Novel by Christian Kiefer
After leaving a life of crime behind him in Reno, Nevada, Bill Reed (formerly Nate Reed) moves to a remote corner of northern Idaho to manage a wildlife sanctuary. Helping injured wolves, flightless raptors, and a bear named Majer, Bill performs a self-imposed penance while finding solace in the work he does. He plans to marry Grace, the local veterinarian, and live a happy life until his childhood friend, Rick, is released from prison. Bill gives Rick the money that he asks for, but after a twelve-year sentence, Rick still wants revenge. Written in a lyrical, suspenseful tone The Animals is a heart wrenching story of a lost soul trying to outrun the consequences of his disturbing past.
The Jaguar’s Children by John Valliant
Illegal immigrant Hector Maria de la Soledad Lazaro Gonzalez is trapped in a welded-shut water tank truck with his friend Cesar Ramirez Santiago and thirteen other Mexicans attempting to cross the border to el norte. Stuck in the hot Arizona desert, the coyotes responsible for transporting them are gone, and Hector texts AnniMac, the only U.S. number listed in Cesar’s phone. Assessing his current situation and reminiscing on the past, Hector explores his life in Oaxaca, Mexico; explains his family’s worship of the jaguar; expounds upon archeological digs; and examines genetically modified corn. Claustrophobic, desperate, and hopeless at times, The Jaguar’s Children is an issue-orientated novel that closely mirrors life, the hardships human endure, and the some controversies found around the globe.
Where All the Light Tends to Go by David Joy
Doomed eighteen year-old Jacob McNeely has it rough: he dropped out of high school and works for his father, the leader of a meth ring in Cashiers, North Carolina where killing people is just part of the routine. After botching his first hit, Jacob is looking for redemption and may find it in Maggie Jennings, his first love. He can both stay with his sociopathic father and live with the cards that fate has dealt him or rise above his situation and leave the Appalachians with Maggie. Intricately-plotted and fast-paced, Joy’s first fictional novel explores a gritty, cruel world with a lyrical writing style that exudes beauty despite the hardship.
Meet Megan. She’s twenty-four, bitter, drowns her pitiful sorrows in alcohol, and mocks her friends. Now meet Jillian. She’s a thirty-five year-old mother of one who is eternally optimistic and chipper; her latest dilemma is buying a cute puppy. Now picture the two working side by side in a gastroenterologist’s office in an upper-middle-class neighborhood in Chicago. Butler’s debut novel closely follows these two women’s drastically different thought patterns and monotonous daily behaviors as they continue to travel down the paths they have chosen. With a bleak and darkly humorous slice-of-life narrative, not much happens in Jillian, but the comic musings will keep readers occupied in this short read.
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