Fiction

Gang Leader For a Day by Sudhir Venkatesh. “I thoroughly enjoyed this book.  Since I listened to an AudioBook, I felt like the reader truly captured the cadence and accents of the various people depicted, e.g. Miss Bailey, T-Bone and J.T.   At various times I was either laughing or practically crying at the depictions of life in the Robert Taylor Homes.  As Venkatesh was either called "A-rab" or "Injun," he was never completely trusted by the residents of the Robert Taylor Homes.    The gang members suspected he was working for the police.  The police thought he was part of the gangs and was documenting police corruption and various tenants thought he was a spy for JT, the gang leader.    While I know T-Bone died in prison, it would be fascinating to hear or read about the life in the Robert Taylor homes from the perspective of J.T., Miss Bailey or Officer Reggie --  all of whom grew up there.   P.s.   It will make you alternatively laugh and cry like Frank McCourt's Angela's Ashes.”

The Garden of Evening Mistsby Tan Twan Eng. "On a mountain above the clouds once lived a man who had been the gardener of the Emperor of Japan.... Eng's writing is poetic at times and full of beautiful imagery. The Malaysian settings of the Japanese garden and the tea estate are fully drawn and for the past few days my head has been filled with visions of lush jungle and a formal structured garden of rock and foreign plants - contrasting images that parallel life in a country controlled by outsiders, first by the British and then the invading Japanese during the war. Teoh Yun Ling is a retired judge who returns to the Cameron Highlands with aphasia - she will slowly forget how to speak and write and understand language. As a result, she starts to document her past and her story is told through her writing interspersed with episodes in the present day. The story unfolds slowly and while the book is character driven, the plot is generally compelling."

A Gate at the Stairs by Lorrie Moore. "An easy, enticing read, a bit odd at times, and a bit astute at most times."

Gaudy Night (and other “Lord Peter Wimsey” mysteries) by Dorothy Sayers. I’m getting into it, heeding all the Amazon reviewers’ warnings that it starts slow but gets great. But I hope to like it, as there are others in this series. Briefly, the protagonist returns to her alma mater, the fictional women’s “Shrewsbury College” at Oxford – to get to the bottom of some crimes being committed there. Written in 1936, it offers, in addition to a psychological thriller, an interesting view of a women’s college in the interwar period.

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles.  This isn’t exactly a revelation.  Amor Towles’ Rules of Civility was a previous top pick, and this book was much-anticipated and was an immediate hit.  But I can’t not include it as a top pick, because it just IS a top pick. The story follows an aristocrat who is sentenced to house arrest in a luxury hotel in Moscow during the Russian Revolution and stays there for decades.  "The book is a lot more fun than it sounds.  Well written and the narrator is quite an engaging character.  There are some implausible plot twists but otherwise a very good book."  “Loved it.  What a wonderful character.  So much to chew on and think about, but also just a rollicking good story.”  “Loved it. My whole book club loved it.”

Ghana Must Go by Taiye Selasi. "Kweku Sai is dead. A renowned surgeon and failed husband, he succumbs suddenly at dawn outside his home in suburban Accra. The news of Kweku’s death sends a ripple around the world, bringing together the family he abandoned years before. Ghana Must Go is their story. Electric, exhilarating, beautifully crafted, Ghana Must Go is a testament to the transformative power of unconditional love, from a debut novelist of extraordinary talent."

Gilead by Marilynne Robinson.  From Amazon:  "The narrator, John Ames, is 76, a preacher who has lived almost all of his life in Gilead, Iowa. He is writing a letter to his almost seven-year-old son, the blessing of his second marriage. It is a summing-up, an apologia, a consideration of his life.  Robinson takes the story away from being simply the reminiscences of one man and moves it into the realm of a meditation on fathers and children, particularly sons, on faith, and on the imperfectability of man." Won the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for fiction.

Gillespie and I by Jane Harris.  “I envy all of you who have not yet read Gillespie and I because you are in for such a treat!! This is one of those books that really cannot be reviewed because the joy of reading it is in the way that your perceptions of events and your interpretation of the narration change over the course of the book. I was fortunate enough to go into this novel with very little knowledge of the plot and was immediately intrigued by the early foreshadowing of a trial and mentions of white slavery and the artist Gillespie's death. It's set in the 1930's and Harriet is writing her memoirs of her time with the Gillespie family in the late 1800's so the book is full of Victorian settings, attitudes, and atmosphere - all of it tinged with a psychological tension that builds steadily throughout the second half of the book. Meanwhile, relations with Harriet's assistant from the agency grow stranger and stranger... I'm already saying too much. Make sure you have plenty of free time because once you get to the second half you will not want to put this one down.”  Her debut novel The Observations has also gotten great reviews on Goodreads, though none of our contributors have recommended it.

The Girl He Used to Know by Tracey Garvis-Greaves. "They met playing chess in college, and reunite years later.  She’s on the spectrum.  He’s not.  It’s a lovely story of friendship, love, college, and young adulthood.  Lovingly told, and beautifully written."