The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks, Rebecca Skloot; Crown Publishers

“Documents the story of how scientists took cells from an unsuspecting descendant of freed slaves and created a human cell line that has been kept alive indefinitely, enabling discoveries in such areas as cancer research, in vitro fertilization, and gene mapping.”
Robin’s Note: This is a gripping bestseller for a reason: while the summary here emphasizes the scientific side of the story, the engaging part is the story of Henrietta Lacks herself.  The complications of scientific research, racial prejudice, medical ethics, and a personal relationship with the Lacks family drove Skloot to write an astounding, affecting work.

1969: The Year Everything Changed, Rob Kirkpatrick; Skyhorse Pub.

“Chronicles American music, news, politics, art, publishing, and sports during 1969, from Woodstock to the Manson family and Richard Nixon’s presidency to the gay rights movement.”
Robin’s Note: Kirkpatrick is a free-wheeling writer, and this look at the end of the decade is both far-ranging and not too serious.  He addresses some grim moments (the Zodiac Killer, for example) but also rhapsodizes about the Mets and jazz.  As a journey through the last year of the decade, it’s a strong read, and while it doesn’t cover every aspect, it’s an enjoyable ride through some major historical beats.

On The Road To Freedom: A Guided Tour Of The Civil Rights Trail, Charles Cobb Jr., Cobb, Charles E. Jr; Algonquin Books

“An award-winning black journalist takes a pilgrimage through the sites and landmarks of the civil rights movement as he journeys to key locales that served as a backdrop to important events of the 1960s, journeying around the country to pay tribute to the people, organizations, and events that transformed America.”
Robin’s Note: For anyone interested in the 1960s and the struggle for civil rights, this personal view of history illuminates.  Cobb was a part of these events and has a vast memory for the people, places, and situations, and the narrative presented as a travelogue is an engaging and different way to present recent history.  If you’re curious for more, you might also try Freedom Riders by Raymond Arsenault.

Harriet And Isabella, Patricia O'Brien; Touchstone

“A novelization based on a nineteenth-century sex scandal traces how the downfall of Henry Ward Beecher divided the nation and severed the loving relationship between his sisters, author Harriet Beecher Stowe and suffragist Isabella Beecher Hooker.”
Robin’s Note: For anyone interested in American culture and history.  It’s part history, part gossip, and part biographical portrait.  The conflict of appearances versus fact and between two headstrong sisters (who are famous each in their own right) makes for a dramatic story.  The courtroom scenes as well as family betrayals are suspenseful, moving the story along, and the depth of the history lends weight to what could be just a scandal-driven tale.

The Inner Circle, T. Coraghessan Boyle; Viking

“In 1940, innocent young John Milk accepts a job as an assistant to Dr. Alfred Kinsey, an Indiana University zoologist studying human sexuality, and takes part, along with his wife, in sexual experiments that become ever more uninhibited.”
Robin’s Note: T. Coraghessan Boyle is an author highly recommend as a read-alike for John Irving given his evocative characters, settings, and his treatment of ideas both extraordinary and mundane.  This novel explores many of Irving’s favorite issues: fidelity, sex, and love.

The Foreshadowing, Marcus Sedgwick; Wendy Lamb Books

“Having always been able to know when someone is going to die, Alexandra poses as a nurse to go to France during World War I to locate her brother and to try to save him from the fate she has foreseen for him.”
Robin’s Note: This is a relatively short but evocative title and gives a strong sense of what it was like both on the homefront and in the trenches during World War I.  There’s a touch of the supernatural in Alexandra’s ability to sense who will die, and the suspense comes from whether she can change what she has seen, but the real story is in the conflict, especially between what the people at home believe is necessary in war and what the soldiers (and Alexandra, as a nurse) witness as the reality of modern battle.

Beethoven Was One-sixteenth Black: And Other Stories, Nadine Gordimer; Farrar, Straus And Giroux

“‘You’re not responsible for your ancestry, are you . . . But if that’s so, why have marched under banned slogans, got yourself beaten up by the police, arrested a couple of times; plastered walls with subversive posters . . . The past is valid only in relation to whether the present recognizes it.’ In this collection of new stories Nadine Gordimer crosses the frontiers of politics, memory, sexuality, and love with the fearless insight that is the hallmark of her writing.”
Robin’s Note: If you’re curious about South Africa, there are a few trademark writers, Nadine Gordimer being one of them.  Also check out Doris Lessing and J. M. Coetzee for excellent writers from the same region.  This collection of short stories will give you a taste of what her writing is like, and is a strong recent collection of her work.

Year Of Wonders: A Novel Of The Plague, Brooks, Geraldine., Geraldine Brooks; Viking

“This gripping historical novel is based on the true story of Eyam, the “Plague Village”, in the rugged mountain spine of England. In 1666, a tainted bolt of cloth from London carries bubonic infection to this isolated settlement of shepherds and lead miners. A visionary young preacher convinces the villagers to seal themselves off in a deadly quarantine to prevent the spread of disease. The story is told through the eyes of eighteen-year-old Anna Frith, the vicar’s maid, as she confronts the loss of her family, the disintegration of her community, and the lure of a dangerous and illicit love.”
Robin’s Note: If you like atmospheric historical novels, Year of Wonders is an evocative look at a terrible time (when the Black Plague was rampant throughout Europe) through the eyes of an 18-year-old.  Based on a true story, it delves into why a village would choose to quarantine itself and the difficulties the villagers face as they try to maintain order in the face of both death and society coming apart at the seams.  It’s beautifully written, and paints a rich and ultimately hopeful picture of a challenging time.

The Rule Of Four, Ian Caldwell; Dial Press

“An ivy league murder, a mysterious coded manuscript, and the secrets of a Renaissance prince collide memorably in The Rule of Four—a brilliant work of fiction that weaves together suspense and scholarship, high art and unimaginable treachery. It’s Easter at Princeton. Seniors are scrambling to finish their theses. And two students, Tom Sullivan and Paul Harris, are a hair’s breadth from solving the mysteries of the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili—a renowned text attributed to an Italian nobleman, a work that has baffled scholars since its publication in 1499.”
Robin’s Note: If you enjoyed the Da Vinci Code, there are a slew of books that are just as engaging and have a similar, addictive feeling.  Dan Brown’s other books, of course, are always worth checking out (Deception Point, Angels and Demons).  The Rule of Four was published just after the Da Vinci Code, and it has a very similar feel—secret codes, a murder mystery, and a puzzle from generations past.  The college setting makes it a bit younger (just in terms of the protagonists), and there’s a ring of truth to it all as the authors are college best friends.  Another one to try is Katherine Neville’s The Eight, a long but incredibly absorbing quest novel involving chess, mysticism, mathematics, alchemy, and everything in between.

Sorcery And Cecelia, Or, The Enchanted Chocolate Pot: Being The Correspondence Of Two Young Ladies Of Quality Regarding Various Magical Scandals In London And The Country, Patricia C. Wrede; Harcourt

“In 1817 in England, two young cousins, Cecilia living in the country and Kate in London, write letters to keep each other informed of their exploits, which take a sinister turn when they find themselves confronted by evil wizards.”

Robin’s Note: This Regency fantasy combines the best of Jane Austen with the charm of magical talents.  As with all of Austen’s novels, the romances are witty and compelling, and the added dash of magical adventure makes the tale all the more engaging for both fantasy and Austen fans.  This volume is followed by two sequels The Grand Tour and The Mislaid Magician.

The Bone Key, Sarah Monette; Prime Books

“An unwilling foray into necromancy makes Booth attractive to the creatures who roam the darkness of the world. Ghouls, ghosts, and incubi single him out as one of their own in these ten stories.”

Robin’s Note: This collection of interconnected short stories is fueled by an old-fashioned sense of horror, built around frightening ideas and situations rather than gore or violence.  Monette has a keen sense of atmosphere, and Booth, her lead character, is an appealingly awkward lead.  Lightened by flashes of humor, Booth’s entanglements with spirits and ghouls haunt the reader long after this collection ends.  If you like horror but not gore, these stories are a great new collection to consider, and the spookiness can’t be beat.

Alphabet Of Thorn, Patricia A. McKillip; Ace Books

“One of the most spectacular fantasists of our time, Patricia A. McKillip creates fairy tale worlds of wonder and magic. Now, she opens the page on a time and place where an orphan girl is haunted by thorns…a reluctant queen rules between sea and sky… and epics never end…”

Robin’s Note: As with all of Patricia McKillip’s fantasies, this title is full of evocative imagery and lush language.  This time around she zeroes in on the force of love, to both save and destroy.  Learning from your own and your culture’s history and the power of language is all important in this tale.  McKillip is talented as weaving together magic with relatable and endearing characters, from a lonely librarian to a skittish new queen, each coming in to their power.  This particular novel is one of her easier titles to get into, if you are not already a fan, and has a stronger romance element than her other titles.

The Red Necklace, Sally Gardner; Dial

In the late eighteenth-century, Sido, the twelve-year-old daughter of a self-indulgent marquis, and Yann, a fourteen-year-old Gypsy orphan raised to perform in a magic show, face a common enemy at the start of the French Revolution.

This title grabs you right from the beginning with its spooky atmosphere, intriguing characters, and strong sense of time and place (without overwhelming the reader with historical details.)