Tag: debut

That old adage “write what you know” applies here. Tom Hanks’ debut novel showcases how legendary films with star-studded actors are made—basically on the backs of over-worked, highly skilled women. The multi-part story makes this novel feels like it’s actually a movie made into a book.

Part 1 is set in the late 40s, post-WWII. Bob Falls returns from war and meets his young nephew and namesake. Little Robert is a fantastic artist and uncle Bob takes Robby to Clarks Pharmacy and buys him comics and a milkshake—then he skips off to have a few beers with his motorcycle buddies and gets run out of town.

Cut to 1970 and Rob is an illustrator for an underground comic publisher in Oakland, CA, where he one day gets a letter from his long-lost uncle and it inspires him to draw his uncle’s story as a comic. In this case, flame-thrower Bob Falls becomes the alternative-comix antihero Firefall.

Cut to the present day and Bill Johnson, legendary director has optioned the rights to the comic book and is turning it into a superhero movie: Knightshade: The Lathe of Firefall.

Cue the cast: The rest of the book profiles various stars of the film, the director’s assistants, gofers, and everyone key to the production.

I think this would be a difficult book to read with the asides and footnotes, but Tom Hanks’ narration in the audiobook guides the way. As the creator, he emphasizes what’s important vs. an aside, and the myriad cast read their various parts, which helps this drama unfold in a comprehensible way.

It’s easy to see this as a story of men: Bob who goes to war, Robby who becomes the comic artist, Bill who directs the production with the original star OKB who gets fired in favour of Ike Clipper, etc. But I read this as a love note to the women who run the world. The opening part features Bob’s sister and mom to Robby. She nurtures the young boy’s artistic talent and looks after her brother. In following sequences, we meet Bill’s best hires: his director’s assistant Dace Mills (Candace, plucky shop assistant), who then hires superstar Al Mac-Teer (Allicia, hotel front desk staff extraordinaire), who then hires Ynes Gonzalez-Cruz (ride-share driver turned expert hand at problem-solving). We meet Wren Lane who is the title-lead Knightshade, and becomes part of the director’s inner circle. Each of these women are masters of their domain and they are rewarded for it. I wish more of the book’s reviews highlighted what I saw as a humble man bowing to the great women around him.

See the publisher’s description or check out the book on audible.

Two estranged siblings are reunited when their mother passes away and leaves them a parting message about family secrets and a lost daughter.

Charmaine Wilkerson’s debut novel is set in present-day California and 1950-1960s Caribbean and London. Benny and Byron have grown up understanding that their parents were orphans from the West Indies who met in London then moved to the US. Instead what they discover from their mother’s recording is that they were high school sweethearts in the Caribbean until she was sold off to a gangster, who ended up murdered at the wedding reception, from which she ran away and was presumed dead. This novel is a real rollercoast about friendship, loyalty, and what we choose to say or remember about our past.

If you liked Andrea Levy’s Small Island, then you’ll enjoy this novel too.

Snowflake by Louise Nealon is great craic. It’s the story of eighteen-year-old Debbie who has grown up on her family’s dairy farm about 40 min outside of Dublin. She’s a country girl. Everyone knows her uncle, who is frequently at the pub, and her mam, who’s shacked up with a younger man. Debbie’s uncle Billy lives in a caravan on the family property and, despite how transient that sounds, he’s a source of stability for Debbie. Her mom Maeve believes that she has other people’s dreams, she dances naked in the sea, and spends a lot of time in her bed or writing in her dream journals.

Being a special snowflake is a putdown, but each of these characters is unique and has their own quirks. Debbie feels like a country bumkin every time she’s in the city, but she figures out commuting, her coursework, making friends, and how to drive. There are a ton of Irish expressions and I feel like I met many of these people during my own time in Dublin teaching at the university. But I don’t think you need to have lived (or even visited) Ireland to appreciate this novel about growing up and accepting your crazy family.

Snowflake is published in Canada by HarperCollins

A quirky novel about a woman who works for a dictionary publisher.

Description: Mallory is a young woman who is a bit lost in her professional career. She’s taken an internship with the publisher of an encyclopedic dictionary that is being digitized. Through some happenstance the publisher discovers that there are a number of fake words throughout the dictionary and Mallory must uncover them. The fun twist is that her story is interspersed with that of Peter Winceworth, the 19th-century man who added the fake words.

This book was an Amazon recommendation. I’ve never bothered with the recommendations before but I loved the cover of this book and ordered it on a whim. So much of the novel is about people who follow a whim. It’s quaint, slightly absurd, and overall a fun read.

Favourite Moment: Peter Winceworth is invited to an office party and feels ill at ease. He works out a plan to circulate the room with intent so as to not have to chat to anyone. Eventually he decides to hide behind a large potted plant, but he sidles straight into a young woman already hiding there.

The woman was crouching slighting and caught in the act of eating a slice of birthday cake. They stared at one another—both of their eyebrows went up at the same time and tilted into identical angles of surprise. Their expressions changed simultaneously: their eyebrows were at once a grave accent, then acute, then circumflex ò ó ô signifying shock then furtiveness and then an attempt at nonchalance. She deposited her cake into a beaded purse without breaking eye contact and then set her shoulders, and Winceworth, drunk enough to interpret this as an invitation to dictate proceedings, cleared his throat.

H is for humbug (n.), page 101

The Liar’s Dictionary is the perfect read for anyone who likes books, libraries, publishing, slightly absurd storylines, wordplay and puns, and cats.

Andrew Sean Greer, author of Less, blurbs the book, and so does CS Richardson, author of The End of the Alphabet. Both are good comps.

Little Blue Encyclopedia (for Vivian) is a playful read about grief and the lost of a good friend. Plante structures the novel as encyclopedia entries for a TV show called “Little Blue.” Little Blue is set on an isolated island and is a quirky program that is part Robinson Crusoe, part Corner Gas, part Curb Your Enthusiasm. It’s Vivian’s favourite show.

Vivian is the narrator’s friend who has passed away. Vivian is the narrator’s truest friend, the person who she first confided to about being queer, the friend who made life worth living because she was fun and vivacious Vivian!

Perfect read for fans of Hannah Gadsby’s Nanette. Little Blue is disarming, it’s social commentary, it’s emotive—all the feels—and multi-layered. Plante is experimenting, and that’s a notable reason to give this one a read.