Al Capone Does My Shirts - Gennifer Choldenko

Slouching Towards Bethlehem - Joan Didion

Fatale - Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips

The Pursuit of Happiness (2006)

This bridge will not be gray - Dave Eggers

Secondhand souls - Christopher Moore

Summary: Something really strange is happening in the City by the Bay. People are dying, but their souls are not being collected. Someone -- or something -- is stealing them and no one knows where they are going, or why, but it has something to do with that big orange bridge. Death Merchant Charlie Asher is just as flummoxed as everyone else. He's trapped in the body of a fourteen-inch-tall "meat" waiting for his Buddhist nun girlfriend, Audrey, to find him a suitable new body to play host. To get to the bottom of this abomination, a motley crew of heroes will band together: the seven-foot-tall death merchant Minty Fresh; retired policeman turned bookseller Alphonse Rivera; the Emperor of San Francisco and his dogs, Bummer and Lazarus; and Lily, the former Goth girl. Now if only they can get little Sophie to stop babbling about the coming battle for the very soul of humankind...


LJ Express Reviews

Charlie Asher, widowed father, death merchant, beta male, is back. One year following his heroic death fighting harpies and saving San Francisco from the forces of darkness (A Dirty Job), Charlie finds his soul trapped in a 14-inch-tall body that looks like something out of a nightmare. Meanwhile, his sister Cassie and her wife are raising his young daughter, Sophie, who may be the living embodiment of Death. However, Sophie's protective hellhounds have disappeared, the deadly Morrigan are back, the souls of the dead go uncollected, and a man dressed in yellow seems to be everywhere, causing mayhem. Charlie needs a new body before he can reveal his not-dead state to his friends and family, figure out if Sophie can still kill with one little word, and save the day. Verdict Moore has written a solid and darkly funny sequel that will delight fans as they catch up with familiar characters and follow Charlie and his friends through another adventure. Expect demand from Moore devotees, and have the previous book ready for new readers, too. What's more, the cover glows in the dark, and who could resist that? [See Prepub Alert, 2/9/15.]—Jennifer Beach, Cumberland Cty. P.L., VA (c) Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

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Prelude to a Scream - Jim Nisbet

Prelude to a Scream - Nisbet, Jim

Summary: Near death, Stanley Ahearn awakes three days after meeting a tearful woman in a San Francisco bar to discover he is missing a kidney and vows to exact revenge.




Library Journal Reviews
Among the sudden rash of nephro-bandits in San Francisco, one-time local hero turned do-nothing-drunk Stanley Ahearn awakens to find himself with a faint memory of a green-eyed seductress, a splitting hangover, and one kidney missing. When doctors inform him that his remaining organ is all but shot with a rare disease, an unlikely investigator is born in Ahearn. Souped up on painkillers while he is assisted by two pubescent computer hacks, he searches the Bay Area streets for the body scrappers before his own time is up. Nisbet's latest work is macabre masquerading as chic, quick to the punch with a philosophical underbelly that questions the human propensity toward greed and revenge. Not for the faint of heart.

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The valley of amazement - Amy Tan

The valley of amazement - Tan, Amy

Summary: Spanning more than forty years and two continents, The Valley of Amazement resurrects pivotal episodes in history: from the collapse of China’s last imperial dynasty, to the rise of the Republic, the explosive growth of lucrative foreign trade and anti-foreign sentiment, to the inner workings of courtesan houses and the lives of the foreign “Shanghailanders” living in the International Settlement, both erased by World War II.


Kirkus Reviews
Tan, who made her name with The Joy Luck Club (1989), blends two favorite settings, Shanghai and San Francisco, in a tale that spans generations. Granted that courtesans and the places that sheltered them were (and in some places still are) culturally significant in East Asia, Tan takes what might seem an unnecessary risk by setting her latest novel in that too-familiar demimonde (Miss Saigon, Memoirs of a Geisha, etc.). Tan is a skilled storyteller, capable of working her way into and out of most fictional problems, but the reader will be forgiven a sinking feeling at the scenario with which she opens, featuring "the only white woman who owned a first-class courtesan house in Shanghai." Where are the Boxers when you need them? Said white woman, Lulu Minturn, aka Lulu Mimi, is in Shanghai for a reason--and on that reason hinges a larger conceit, the one embodied by the book's title. She has a daughter, and the daughter, naturally enough, has cause to wonder about her ancestry, if little time to worry overmuch about some of the details, since her mom leaves her to fend for herself, not entirely willingly. The chinoiserie and exoticism aside, Violet makes a tough and compelling character, a sort of female equivalent to Yul Brynner as played by Lucy Liu. The members of the "Cloud Beauties," who give Violet her sentimental education, make an interesting lot themselves, but most of the attention is on Violet and the narrative track that finds her on a parallel journey, literally and figuratively, always haunted by "those damned paintings that had belonged to my mother" and that will eventually reveal their secrets. Tan's story sometimes suffers from longueurs, but the occasional breathless, steamy scene evens the score: "He lifted my hips and my head soared and I lost all my senses except for the one that bound us and could not be pulled apart." A satisfyingly complete, expertly paced yarn. Copyright Kirkus 2013 Kirkus/BPI Communications.All rights reserved.

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The language of flowers - Vanessa Diffenbaugh

The language of flowers - Diffenbaugh, Vanessa

Summary:"The story of a woman whose gift for flowers helps her change the lives of others even as she struggles to overcome her own past"-- Provided by publisher.



Booklist Reviews
*Starred Review* Abandoned as an infant, Victoria grew up as a ward of the California foster-care system and, abused and neglected, turned into an angry, uncontrollable child. Deemed "unadoptable," she gets one final chance at a home life when she is placed with Elizabeth, a single woman running her family's vineyard in the verdant hills outside San Francisco. Days before Victoria is scheduled to be officially adopted by Elizabeth, a terrible misunderstanding violently tears them apart, and she is sent back into the system. Though the emotional damage seems insurmountable, Victoria's time on the farm taught her that there were other ways of getting her message across. Finally forced to support herself, Victoria lands a job with a florist and uses her knowledge of the hidden meaning of flowers to gradually and fitfully make her way back into the world—one that will include a career, motherhood, and the personal forgiveness necessary for her to love and be loved in return. Enchanting, ennobling, and powerfully engaging, Diffenbaugh's artfully accomplished debut novel lends poignant testimony to the multitude of mysteries held in the human heart. Copyright 2011 Booklist Reviews.

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Al Capone does my homework - Gennifer Choldenko

Al Capone does my homework - Choldenko, Gennifer

Summary: "Moose Flanagan, who lives on Alcatraz along with his family and the families of the other prison guards, faces new challenges when his father is promoted to Associate Warden"-- Provided by publisher.


Booklist Reviews
*Starred Review* In this final installment in Choldenko's Alcatraz series, Moose Flanagan has a mystery to solve. His father has been promoted to associate warden of the infamous island prison, drawing negative attention from cons and guards alike. When their family apartment is burned down, gossip points to Moose's older sister, Natalie, and it falls to Moose to discover the truth. With baseballs, bottle caps, and carrier-cockroaches, he and the other island kids take on gambling debts, missing knives, a murder plot, a counterfeit ring, even pixie secrets—any of which might or might not be related to the fire. Choldenko supports all of this with the strength of her generous narrative, weaving in resonant emotional elements like the complicated family dynamic circling Natalie's autism and Moose's budding romance with Piper. (Or is it Annie?) Especially noteworthy is the author's sensitive ability to humanize heroes and villains alike, grounding the tense action in palpable reality. With rich characterization, tender drama, and sleuthworthy clues, this poignant mystery makes for a thoroughly satisfying conclusion to the landmark historical trilogy. A detailed author's note highlights elements of truth uncovered in her research that made their way into the story. Copyright 2013 Booklist Reviews.

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Mr. Penumbra's 24-hour bookstore - Robin Sloan

Mr. Penumbra's 24-hour bookstore - Sloan, Robin

Summary: After a layoff during the Great Recession sidelines his tech career, Clay Jannon takes a job at the titular bookstore in San Francisco, and soon realizes that the establishment is a facade for a strange secret.

Staff Comments: This book almost lost me about 3/4 of the way in, but successfully pulled me back in the end, and with secret codes, covert orders, underground libraries, old mysterious eccentrics, and young programmers and hackers, what's not to love?

BookPage Reviews

A 21st-century tale of wonders

Robin Sloan’s funny debut novel, Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore, is both a celebration and a send-up of the clashing worlds of technology and those who cling to dead-tree books. After losing a job at the corporate headquarters of NewBagel, where “ex-Googlers” developed software to create the perfect bagel, Clay Jannon gets hired at an unconventional bookstore in San Francisco. Unconventional because it’s open 24 hours, has very few customers, is vertical—there are three stories worth of books you have to climb a ladder to retrieve—and the books are written in secret code. What at first seems to be a front for an illegal operation turns out to be connected with a cult, and Clay goes on a mission to solve the mystery that has been plaguing its members for centuries, enlisting the help of a quirky team, like the Google acolyte he’s dating, the friend who got rich by developing “boob-simulation software” and Mr. Penumbra himself, the hopeful store proprietor.

Though there’s a code to be cracked in these pages, the real treat of Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore is Sloan’s energetic storytelling—and the many, many lines that you will surely want to share on Facebook and tweet to the masses. (“He has the strangest expression on his face—the emotive equivalent of 404 PAGE NOT FOUND.” Or: “If fidgets were Wikipedia edits, I would have completely revamped the entry on guilt by now, and translated it into five new languages.”) Readers who don’t know a hashtag from a wiki will still appreciate the book’s ultimate message about friendship, and the conclusion that nothing—not even a world full of programmers and hackers—can substitute for a cunning mind.
Copyright 2012 BookPage Reviews.

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Homeland - Cory Doctorow

Homeland - Doctorow, Cory

Summary: When Marcus, once called M1k3y, receives a thumbdrive containing evidence of corporate and governmental treachery, his job, fame, family, and well-being, as well as his reform-minded employer's election campaign, are all endangered.


Staff Comments:  I always walk away from a Cory Doctorow novel feeling a little smarter and a lot more paranoid.

Booklist Reviews
*Starred Review* Marcus is back in this sequel to the crossover thriller Little Brother (2008). While attending the Burning Man festival, Marcus receives a USB drive from a hacker, Masha, with more than 800,000 incriminating government documents, and she advises Marcus to publish the material if anything happens to her. Meanwhile, a contact at the festival recommends Marcus to California Senate Independent candidate Joe Noss as a webmaster, and he has his first real job, but can he fulfill his promise to Masha and keep his new position? Doctorow sends readers into a world of Darknet secret websites, Occupy protests, kidnapping and interrogation, and hacking. The narrative is threaded with geek teen culture, economic problems, election strategy, corporate greed, government conspiracies, and privacy issues, and technology nerds will eat this for breakfast with a cup of really good coffee—Marcus says cold-pressed is the only way to go. Libraries are going to want to "pwn" multiple copies to meet demand, and hope that readers take up the activism call to use their "skillz" for good. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Doctorow's international following is already lining up for this long-awaited sequel. Copyright 2012 Booklist Reviews.

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Language of flowers - Vanessa Diffenbaugh

Language of flowers - Diffenbaugh, Vanessa

Summary: "The story of a woman whose gift for flowers helps her change the lives of others even as she struggles to overcome her own past"-- Provided by publisher.



Booklist Reviews
*Starred Review* Abandoned as an infant, Victoria grew up as a ward of the California foster-care system and, abused and neglected, turned into an angry, uncontrollable child. Deemed "unadoptable," she gets one final chance at a home life when she is placed with Elizabeth, a single woman running her family's vineyard in the verdant hills outside San Francisco. Days before Victoria is scheduled to be officially adopted by Elizabeth, a terrible misunderstanding violently tears them apart, and she is sent back into the system. Though the emotional damage seems insurmountable, Victoria's time on the farm taught her that there were other ways of getting her message across. Finally forced to support herself, Victoria lands a job with a florist and uses her knowledge of the hidden meaning of flowers to gradually and fitfully make her way back into the world—one that will include a career, motherhood, and the personal forgiveness necessary for her to love and be loved in return. Enchanting, ennobling, and powerfully engaging, Diffenbaugh's artfully accomplished debut novel lends poignant testimony to the multitude of mysteries held in the human heart. Copyright 2011 Booklist Reviews.

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The Buddha in the attic - Julie Otsuka

The Buddha in the attic - Otsuka, Julie

Summary: Presents the stories of six Japanese mail-order brides whose new lives in early twentieth-century San Francisco are marked by backbreaking migrant work, cultural struggles, children who reject their heritage, and the prospect of wartime internment.


Booklist Reviews
"*Starred Review* Otsuka's stunning debut, When the Emperor Was Divine (2002), a concentrated novel about the WWII internment of Japanese Americans, garnered the Asian American Literary Award, the ALA Alex Award, and a Guggenheim. Her second novel tells the stories of Japanese mail-order brides at the start of the twentieth century in a first-person-plural narrative voice, the choral "we." This creates an incantatory and haunting group portrait of diverse women who make the arduous ocean journey to California buoyant with hope only to marry strangers nothing like the handsome young men in the photographs that lured them so far from home. Prejudice and hardship soon transform the brides into fingers-worked-to-the-bone laborers, toiling endlessly as domestic workers, farmers, prostitutes, and merchants. Every aspect of female life is candidly broached in Otsuka's concise yet grandly dramatic saga as these determined, self-sacrificing outsiders navigate the white water of American society, only to watch their American-born children disdain all things Japanese. Drawing on extensive research and profoundly identifying with her characters, Otsuka crafts an intricately detailed folding screen depicting nearly five decades of change as the women painstakingly build meaningful lives, only to lose everything after Pearl Harbor. This lyrically distilled and caustically ironic story of exile, effort, and hate is entrancing, appalling, and heartbreakingly beautiful." Copyright 2011 Booklist Reviews.

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Shortcomings - Adrian Tomine

Shortcomings - Tomine, Adrian

Summary: Ben Tanaka, a confused, obsessive, twenty-something Japanese American, embarks on a cross-country search for contentment--or the perfect girl--in a graphic novel that tackles modern culture, sexual mores, and racial politics with honesty and humor. - (Baker & Taylor)

Booklist Reviews
After a decade's worth of pithy, finely observed short comics stories chronicling the rudderless lives of his alienated twentysomething contemporaries, Tomine stretches out a bit in a novella about Gen-Xer Ben Tanaka, a movie-theater manager whose attraction to white girls threatens his troubled relationship with Japanese American girlfriend Miko. The dislikable (selfish, snobbish, lacking self-awareness) Tanaka's a bold choice for a protagonist. But like the other, equally flawed characters, including Miko, who leaves Berkeley and Ben for an internship in New York, and Ben's best friend, Alice, a Korean American lesbian, he's strangely sympathetic as Tomine incisively portrays him. The low-key, understated artwork points up Tomine's perceptive characterizations, which are conveyed as much through facial expressions and body language as by the true-to-life dialogue. Shortcomings' greater length, deeper portrayals, and accuracy about sexual and racial politics constitute an advance by Tomine. Pehaps there will be a similar leap forward in subject matter next time. The gifted young artist has been mining this milieu long enough. Time for him to broaden his worldview. Copyright 2007 Booklist Reviews.

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