5 Under-The-Radar Reads From Librarian Nancy Pearl

Transcript

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

Librarian Nancy Pearl joined us once again to talk about under-the-radar books. They are books, new and old, she thinks we would love to read but might not have discovered yet. As she often does, Nancy Pearl spoke with our colleague, Steve Inskeep.

STEVE INSKEEP, BYLINE: Hi, Nancy.

NANCY PEARL: Hi, Steve.

INSKEEP: And you've sent me another stack of books here. Thank you very much. Karen Karbo is the author of "The Diamond Lane." What is it?

PEARL: It's a fabulously funny satire on sisterly love, on marriage. But really her sharpest barbs are for what life is like in Hollywood, where your burning desire is to get ahead and to be a star. And maybe the best way to describe this is for me to read out loud...

INSKEEP: Please.

PEARL: A brief passage. So the main characters in this book are two sisters, Mouse and Mimi. And they grow up in Hollywood, in Los Angeles. And Mouse moves to Africa and becomes a documentary filmmaker. Then, a family emergency after more than a decade brings her back. Meanwhile, Mimi works for a Hollywood agent. And what she really wants to do is to write a blockbuster novel.

INSKEEP: Of course.

PEARL: Of course. So she's taking one of those classes where you learn how to write a blockbuster novel. And here is how the class is described.

(Reading) The class had not actually begun writing yet. First, they created the publicity campaign for their projected books. Then, they wrote what they considered were ideal, glowing reviews. Then, they did the dust jacket cover copy, then a plot outline, then character sketches, then the book. They were to think of it like eating an artichoke, the teacher said.

INSKEEP: Maybe if you're in Hollywood or trying to sell things, that's the whole point. You know...

PEARL: (Laughter). Exactly.

INSKEEP: You start with your market. Then, you try to satisfy the market if you can.

PEARL: Exactly. Anybody who appreciates very smart, funny novels will adore this book.

INSKEEP: What about this next book in the stack, "The Distance," by Helen Giltrow?

PEARL: Well, Steve, all the time I was reading it, I kept having to say to myself, breathe, Nancy. You have to breathe; you have to breathe - because I was so caught up in the suspense and what was happening to the characters. It's the story of a youngish woman who is a socialite, a British socialite. And that's her daytime life, if you will. Her other life, she is a woman named Carla. And as Carla, what this woman does is help criminals disappear. So only one person knows her real existence. And that guy is a former special ops sniper who is now a killer for hire. And he comes to her and wants her help to break into this maximum security prison. And it just goes on from there. There's some violence in here. I have to say, I read those pages with my eyes closed. But people who love, say, the novels by Lee Child, will love this book.

INSKEEP: Well, let's dive into some other fiction here. There's a novel by David Shafer, "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot." What's going on here?

PEARL: "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot" is one of those cautionary novels about the near future, a future that is within our sight.

INSKEEP: What future?

PEARL: It's a future in which a cabal of the industrialists coming from the great wealth in our country - who have decided that what they're going to do is privatize information. So everything that we so trustingly hand over via our credit card, the Google searches, what we put on Facebook, what we tweet, every online move we make is going to be privatized. And it's a way of making more money for those who have it.

INSKEEP: Yeah, somebody to this right now is saying, that's not a futuristic novel at all. That's just a description.

PEARL: Right. Well, I said it's within sight.

INSKEEP: Yeah.

PEARL: You know, it's one of those books that when you're reading it, you start feeling a little bit paranoid because there are things that these people try to do to write the ballads to stop this cabal from operating. And every move they make is predicted, and therefore they're able to stop it.

INSKEEP: Well, now we're getting darker and darker as we go book to book here, Nancy.

PEARL: Yes.

INSKEEP: So maybe it's a relief that the next book here has the word chocolate in the subtitle?

PEARL: (Laughter).

INSKEEP: "Sorcery And Cecelia Or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot." What's this?

PEARL: This is a novel that came out originally in 1988. And it's written in letters between two cousins, Cecelia and Kate. It's set in 1817. And it is written during - the letters are during a period when Kate has gone to London for her debut season. And Cecy, Cecelia, has stayed at home in Essex. This book is marketed for and written for teens. But I would say that anyone who loves Jane Austen and who doesn't mind a little bit of fantasy, hence "The Enchanted Chocolate Pot," this would be a perfect book for them.

INSKEEP: One more book, Nancy Pearl, "The Unsubstantial Air: American Flyers In The First World War." We've gone from fiction to nonfiction here, I trust.

PEARL: We have. And, of course, 1914 was the start of World War I. This is the 100th anniversary. So this year, of course, we saw a lot of books about World War I. And Samuel Hynes' "The Unsubstantial Air" I think is one of the best that we have. And it's a book that talks about the war in terms of those young men who came from American colleges to fly and to fight in World War I, who went via Canada, who had training fields and planes available. Samuel Hynes was able to access a treasure trove of journals and of letters from these young men, many of whom had never been to Europe before. And he writes in such a beautiful way. So the experiences of these young men is just so - it's so moving. And it's so - they were so brave. And he does a wonderful job honoring them.

INSKEEP: One of the books, flying under the radar, according to librarian Nancy Pearl. Nancy, it's a pleasure, as always.

PEARL: Oh, thank you, Steve, my pleasure.

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

And Nancy Pearl is the author of "Book Lust To Go." Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.