Books of the month for April

General Fiction: Rufi Thorpe – The Girls From Corona del Mar

Mia and Lorrie Ann are lifelong friends: hard-hearted Mia and untouchably beautiful, kind Lorrie Ann. While Mia struggles with a mother who drinks, a pregnancy at fifteen, and younger brothers she loves but can’t quite be good to, Lorrie Ann is luminous, surrounded by her close-knit family, immune to the mistakes that mar her best friend’s life. Then a sudden loss catapults Lorrie Ann into tragedy: things fall apart, and then fall further—and there is nothing Mia can do to help. And as good, brave, fair Lorrie Ann stops being so good, Mia begins to question just who this woman is, and what that question means about them both.

Long listed for the 2014 Dylan Thomas Award
Long Listed for the 2014 Flaherty-Dunnan First Novel Prize

The Modern fiction Reading Group Uppsala meets: 22/4 and 23/4.
The Modern fiction Reading Group Stockholm meets: 28/4.

British Crime: Matthew Frank – If I Should Die

Vicious, apparently motiveless attacks begin on down-and-outs in South London. But when someone dies from their wounds, it's murder… For Afghan army veteran and Trainee Detective Joseph Stark, death is all too familiar. Injured in an attack that killed his colleagues, it's enough just trying to recover without enduring the rigours of a murder investigation.When a victim retaliates it becomes clear that there's more at stake than gangs preying on the vulnerable. But with the truth in sight Stark's strength is fading, and his formidable determination to see justice done may not, this time, be enough.

Tough Crime: Salar Abdoh – Tehran at Twilight

Yuri Herrera does not simply write about the border between Mexico and the United States and those who cross it. He explores the crossings and translations people make in their minds and language as they move from one country to another, especially when there’s no going back.

Traversing this lonely territory is Makina, a young woman who knows only too well how to survive in a violent, macho world.  Leaving behind her life in Mexico to search for her brother, she is smuggled into the USA carrying a pair of secret messages – one from her mother and one from the Mexican underworld.

Science Fiction: Ursula K. Le Guin – The Left Hand of Darkness

Caeli-Amur: an ancient city perched on white cliffs overlooking the sea; a city ruled by three Houses, fighting internecine wars; a city which harbours ancient technology and hidden mysteries. But things are changing in Caeli-Amur. Ancient minotaurs arrive for the traditional Festival of the Sun. The slightly built New-Men bring their technology from their homeland. Wastelanders stream into the city hideously changed by the chemical streams to the north. Strikes break out in the factory district.

In a hideout beneath the city, a small group of seditionists debate ways to overthrow the Houses. How can they rouse the citizens of the city? Should they begin a campaign of terror? Is there a way to uncover the thaumaturgical knowledge that the Houses guard so jealously? As the Houses scramble to maintain their rule, it becomes clear that things will change forever in Caeli-Amur.

The Science Fiction Reading Group Uppsala meets 5/5
The Science Fiction Reading Group Stockholm meets 22/4.

Fantasy: Stephen Leigh – Immortal Muse

The youngest, half-goblin son of the Emperor has lived his entire life in exile, distant from the Imperial Court and the deadly intrigue that suffuses it. But when his father and three sons in line for the throne are killed in an "accident," he has no choice but to take his place as the only surviving rightful heir.

Entirely unschooled in the art of court politics, he has no friends, no advisors, and the sure knowledge that whoever assassinated his father and brothers could make an attempt on his life at any moment.

Surrounded by sycophants eager to curry favor with the naïve new emperor, and overwhelmed by the burdens of his new life, he can trust nobody. Amid the swirl of plots to depose him, offers of arranged marriages, and the specter of the unknown conspirators who lurk in the shadows, he must quickly adjust to life as the Goblin Emperor. All the while, he is alone, and trying to find even a single friend … and hoping for the possibility of romance, yet also vigilant against the unseen enemies that threaten him, lest he lose his throne-or his life.

Paranormal/Urban Fantasy: Lynsay Sands – The Immortal Who Loved Me

A few hours ago, Sherry Carne would have sworn that vampires didn't exist. That's before rogue immortals rampage through her store, leaving bloody chaos (literally) in their wake. The kicker comes when Sherry learns that one of the vamps on the bad guys' trail may be her life mate. Her head says it's impossible. The rest of her takes one look at Basileios Argeneau, and has much more interesting ideas.

Whatever Basil expected in a life mate, funny, outspoken Sherry isn't it. But mind-blowing chemistry and instinct don't lie. They tell him something else too - that Sherry's connection to the immortal world goes deeper than she knows. And that she's in the kind of danger only Basil can save her from - if she'll just trust him, now and forever…

Classic of the Month: William Shakespeare – Macbeth

Lucy Snowe is alone, without friends or family. When she sets sail from England to find work at a girls' boarding school in the town of Villette, she struggles with unruly pupils, and with her own troubling passions: first for the school's English doctor and then for dictatorial professor Paul Emmanuel.

The Classic Reading Group Uppsala meets the 29/4 at 19.00
The Classics Reading Group Stockholm meets 16/4

Teen reading: Jandy Nelson – I'll Give You the Sun

Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird.' A lawyer's advice to his children as he defends the real mockingbird of Harper Lee's classic novel – a black man charged with the rape of a white girl.

The Teen reading group Uppsala meets the 26/4 at 13.00