–> The Almost Archer Sisters by Lisa Gabriele
Publishers Weekly
There were never such devoted sisters, or ones so hilariously and heartbreakingly conflicted about loyalty and love as the ones in Gabriele’s brisk second novel (Tempting Faith DiNapoli). Thoughtful, married-mom Georgie Peachy Archer and big-city-girl Beth, her older sister, grow up on a Canadian farm with their hairdressing, Vietnam draft–dodging dad, Lou, and share the pain of their mom’s suicide. But that’s where the similarities end—until the sisters swap lives for a weekend. Walking in Beth’s shoes around New York City, Peachy meets Beth’s discreet doorman, snarky friends and disapproving ex-boyfriend, and gets a crash course in understanding what her brash sister’s really about. Here is a charming, smart and honest story of two sisters who learn to embrace the lives they have. Gabriele’s writing is sharp and her heart is pure gold. This honest tale of passionate, mixed-up and forgiving families is hard to put down.
–> Kerplunk!: Stories by Patrick F. McManus
Publishers Weekly
This gently humorous essay collection by Outdoor Life columnist McManus (The Bear in the Attic) explores hunting and fishing in the Pacific Northwest. As he wryly explains in The Kind of Guy I Am, McManus’s literary persona is an aw-shucks middle-aged married guy with four daughters who dreams of his flies, reels, waders and snowshoes while on vacation with his wife in Venice. Hoping to someday be like Rancid Crabtree, an old man who lives in a slab shack against the mountain and does nothing all day but hunt and fish (The Ideal Life), McManus and his buddy Fenton Quagmire jettison the high-tech camping gear and attempt to rough it Thoreau-style (Back to Basics), with predictably hilarious results. Other tales involve learning how to be patient while fishing (A Dimple in Time) and enlightening one’s fishing partners on how the moon determines the tides (Where’s Mr. Sun?). McManus narrates his woodsy stories with a laid-back style that will earn many smiles of fond recognition from anyone who’s heard a guide say, I know there used to be a trail here.
–> The Isle of Dogs by Daniel Davies
Description
A cool, dark, sexy nightdrive of a novel. . . . A new J.G. Ballard.”-Toby Litt
Jeremy Shepherd has relinquished his London life and moved back home. By day, he has a boring desk job, but Jeremy soon finds a way to break the monotony through illicit sex with strangers in public places. As the police close in, tensions rise.
