Best of 2013: Toronto Public Library Staff Choices #3
This is the third installment of our annual list of staff members' favourite books of the year.
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Irina
The Face of Another by Kōbō Ade
This book, whose protagonist loses his face in a scientific laboratory accident, is a thought experiment which contemplates the role of faces and masks in a society, it questions the society's emphasis on appearances and wonders what true identity of a human is. GoodReads called it "an intellectual horror story of the highest order".
Hellen
The Prince of Frogtown by Rick Bragg
• Large Print
Third in a trilogy about the author’s ancestral history in Alabama. In this book, Bragg writes about his father’s life and his relationship with him as well as Bragg’s own relationship with his stepson, questioning his own ability to be a father to this boy who is so different from him. Bragg’s writing is mesmerizing, taking the reader into the community from whom he is descended in the Appalachian mountains through the 20th century.
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce
• Audiobook
• eAudiobook
• eBook
• Talking Book (restricted to Print Disabled patrons)
My #1 choice – sad and uplifting, serious and very funny. Characters and settings so well drawn they could stand beside you while you read. Harold Fry is a sweetheart of a man I will never forget.
Kelli
Me Before You by Jojo Moyes
• eAudiobook
• eBook
• Large Print
Desperate for a job Louisa Clark, reluctantly agrees to work as a companion to Will Traynor. After a terrible accident that left him in a wheelchair, Will has lost all his enjoyment in life. When Louisa overhears his shocking plans, she sets out to show him that life is still worth living. A heartbreaking and wonderful novel.
The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal and the Real Count of Monte Cristo by Tom Reiss
• Audiobook
• eAudiobook
• eBook
• Talking Book (restricted to Print Disabled patrons)
The inspiration for some of the great adventure tales of Alexandre Dumas has long been a subject of curiosity and debate. According to Reiss, the inspiration was Dumas' own father, General Alexandre Alex Dumas. Born in Haiti, the child of an enslaved mother and an erratic French aristocrat, Alex found his way to Paris to became a skilled swordsman. He quickly rose in the reorganized army of the French Republic, where he served admirably during Napoleon's invasions of Egypt. Unfortunately, like his literary counterpart, Edmond Dantes, Alex incurred the hostility of powerful people, leading to his fall from grace and eventual impoverishment. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Biography.
One thought on “Best of 2013: Toronto Public Library Staff Choices #3”
Yes, Rick Bragg is a wonderful writer. I only read his first book “Bar the Shouting” and will never forget the account of his mother encountering stuff we take for granted – escalators, planes etc. I’m so glad to hear there are two more books by him.
I love librarians’ recommendations.