45. The Dewey Decimal System of Love by Josephine Carr

Librarian Ally Sheffield is a 40 year old librarian who has been celibate for 15 years. A self-described happy loner, she soon finds herself falling in love with a world famous orchestra conductor new to Philadelphia, Aleksi Kullio. The only problem is that he is very married, and things begin to get strange when his wife starts frequenting Ally’s library doing research on poisons for a supposed mystery novel. Should Ally tell Aleksi about his wife? Meanwhile, when Ally takes a position volunteering at the Philharmonic doing archival work for them and discovers some rare Stravinsky material, she is forced to decide if Aleksi is interested in her or her musical finds.

Part romance, part mystery, this is an odd little book. It was recommended to me a few years ago by a fellow librarian and I only recently read it. While Ally is supposedly a modern librarian who is full of quirky, cute little habits, I found her to be a stereotypical librarian character, especially since her 15 years of celibacy is mentioned repeatedly in the book. She also exhibits pretty unprofessional behavior behind the reference desk not only with patrons, but especially her conveniently hunky boss, Gordon Albright. This novel got pretty good reviews from various journals, but I was disappointed with it.

44. Beyond Reach by Karin Slaughter

Slaughter returns to her popular Grant County mystery series after her stand alone novel last year. Beyond Reach is the sixth novel of the Georgian series that features pediatrician/medical examiner Sara Linton, Detective Lena Adams, and Sara’s husband, police chief Jeffrey Tolliver. Sara Linton is fighting a malpractice lawsuit when her husband gets a call that his detective Lena has been involved in a possible crime in her hometown of Reese, Georgia. When Sara and Jeffrey go to interview Lena, who isn’t speaking after being involved in a car explosion that killed a local woman, they find a small town riddled with problems. There is a major methamphetamine problem, drug dealing run by skinheads, and Lena’s uncle who raised her and has fought addiction for years is now back on meth. When Lena escapes from the hospital and is on the run, Sara and Jeffrey must sift through not only Lena’s secrets, but also the secrets the town is hiding.

This is a mystery series that keeps getting better and better with each entry. While extremely dark and graphic at times, the characters are very realistic and gritty. The rural Georgia setting adds to the dark atmosphere and sucks readers in to the story. This is one of the few American mystery series I read and I loved the timeliness of the meth and skinhead story line. Slaughter also offers readers a major shock at the end of this mystery that I truly did not see coming and it will be interesting to see how she continues the series.

43. The Pesthouse by Jim Crace

Whitbread winning author Crace explores a postapocalyptic America in his newest novel. Set sometime in the future, readers are not sure of why America is in the state it is in. People have reverted back to an almost medieval way of life, with machinery abandoned on long forgotten highways and people making their living by fishing and farming. As supplies dwindle, people naturally start heading east to try to join ships heading to Europe, where life is rumored to be better. Two of these travelers, Franklin and Margaret meet when Margaret is hiding in a pesthouse, recovering from the deadly flux. Franklin has injured his leg and joins Margaret to rest up for his journey when most of the inhabitants of the nearby town, Ferrytown, are killed overnight. Being the only survivors, they head on towards the sea, encountering harsh conditions such as being abducted by people seeking out work slaves, and trying to survive on barely any food.

Crace will unfortunately have comparisons made to Cormac McCarthy’s powerful The Road, which came out in 2006. While both books dealt with people making a journey to the sea, and in both books readers never completely know what has happened to make America like it is, this book shows how people revert back to an “old-fashioned” way of life to survive. It is also a subtle love story between the two characters that grows stronger as the novel progresses. While I liked the emotionally powerfully McCarthy book slightly more, this is still an excellent representation of apocalyptic fiction. For similar books on this subject check out this reading list: http://www.booksite.com/texis/scripts/bookletter/showarchive.html?sid=6631&nlid=46a4cc1f5%20

42. Last Seen Leaving by Kelly Braffet

Anne Cassidy is living a quiet life in Sedona, Arizona, where she has devoted her life to New Age practices. Years ago, her husband, Nick, went missing while flying cargo somewhere in Central America. There have always been questions as to who her husband really worked for, and why his body has never been found. These questions have disturbed their child, Miranda, and as a result, she and Anne have not seen each other in three years. A college dropout who drifts around, Miranda always spoke to her mother every couple of months. When Anne realizes that she hasn’t spoken to Miranda in two months, and finds out her apartment in Pittsburgh has been abandoned, Anne fears the worst for her daughter.

While Anne searches for Miranda, the novel also tells Miranda’s side of the story. Involved in a drunken car crash, she is picked up on the highway by a stranger, George, and has him drop her off in Virginia, where she soon becomes a maid in a seedy hotel and lives the boardwalk life. Someone starts killing women in the seaside community, and it seems that a body appears every time, George re-enters Miranda’s life. Is George the killer? Will Miranda ever reach out and reconnect with her mother? This is at times an emotional novel and a novel of suspense. Full of wonderfully written characters, it explores the roles of family and what secrets can do to relationships over the years.

41. My French Whore by Gene Wilder

Life is pretty dull and boring for Paul Peachy at the start of Wilder’s debut novel. A train conductor who finds joy being an amateur stage actor, his marriage is falling apart. Since it is 1918, and Paul sees many soldiers going off to war at his train station, he decides to leave his marriage and enlist. Fighting in France, he is soon put to use interrogating the captured German spy, Harry Stroller, as Paul is fluent in German thanks to having immigrant parents. When a battle breaks out the next day, and his friends are killed immediately, Paul deserts the army and flees into the woods. Caught by German soldiers, he cries out in German, and takes on the persona of the German spy, Stroller. Life becomes very easy for the new “spy” and he is even given a French whore, Annie Breton. The two slowly fall in love with each other, but the truth about who Paul really is destroys everything.

A simply written book, it is at times funny, sweet, and sad. While the title may not be the greatest, this is truly a small gem of a book. Readers could picture this being a Wilder/Brooks movie and some may be surprised at how well Wilder writes. Wilder is also the author of the marvelously written memoir, Kiss Me Like a Stranger, which I read last year and highly recommend.