Have You Read...Gary Shteyngart

Last year, The New Yorker named Gary Shteyngart one of their “20 Under 40” writers to watch – and for good reason. He has published some exceptionally funny and compelling work in his relatively-young life. Shteyngart spent his first seven years in St. Petersburg before immigrating with his parents to the United States and settling in New York. Straddling both cultures, his literary voice is a pleasing blend of Russian severity and American frivolity - which he deftly uses to skewer the prevailing nonsense of our times.

	The Russian Debutante's Handbook In his debut novel, Gary Shteyngart introduces the first in a series of protagonists that share more than a passing resemblance to the author. The man in this instance is Vladimir Girshkin, a 25 year-old son of Russian-Jewish immigrants, living in New York City and failing to meet his parent’s high expectations. While working in a low-paying job helping recent immigrants, Vladimir meets Francesca, a girl from a wealthy family, and becomes involved in some shady activities to maintain the funds for an upper-crust lifestyle - dealings that eventually lead him to a troubled trip to Prava, “the Eastern European Paris of the Nineties.” More about the book
	Absurdistan Misha “Snack Daddy” Vainberg is a food coveting, hip-hop loving, would-be American from a prominent Russian family. Due to some fallout from his father’s nefarious business practices, Misha is unable to maintain his U.S. visa or his other-side-of-the-tracks Bronx girlfriend. Desperate to leave St. Petersburg, Misha sets out to buy a Belgian passport in the oil-soaked Caspian nation Absurdistan – but soon finds himself embroiled in a nascent ethnic civil war. More about the book
	Super Sad True Love Story Set in a dystopian, not-too-distant future New York, America’s character flaws have grown outsized and the nation is crumbling underneath them. The “Bipartisan” government has devolved into a despotic police state and is losing a war of choice with Venezuela. The country is well-passed default on its debt and the Chinese creditors are ready to repossess. Most of the citizenry is resigned to focus on their äppäräti (devices that are a few rungs up the evolutionary ladder from iPhones) and ogle each other’s credit scores. In this world, we find the unlikely coupling of homely, middle-aged Lenny and a brooding young beauty named Eunice. Their affair is an implausibility set against the stark backdrop of an America in rapid decline. More about the book

If you liked Harry Potter

Like the magic and wonder of the Harry Potter series? Sad that it has come to an end? Here are five other series that might also spark your interest:

	Green Rider series by Kristen Britain In the first book, Green Rider, Karigan G'ladheon meets a dying horseman in the forest on her way home from school. At his request, she takes on a mission to deliver a life or death message to the king. With the help of the ghost of the dead messenger and pursued by supernatural beings, she becomes a member of the Green Riders, an equestrian messenger corps that uses magic. More about Green Rider
	Ender’s Game and Ender’s Shadow by Orsen Scott Card Like Harry Potter, Andrew Wiggen, or Ender, is a child with a special destiny. An illegal third child, he is discovered by members of the International Fleet after a fight with a school bully and taken to a space station to train for military command. In the parallel novel, Ender’s Shadow, Bean is an orphan genetically engineered for extreme intelligence. He becomes Ender's friend and lieutenant. More about Ender's Game
	His Dark Materials series by Phillip Pullman Lyra Belacqua and Will Parry, two twelve-year-olds with daemon animal companions, travel between worlds to rescue kidnapped children from evil experiments, release captive spirits, and recover powerful magical weapons. They are aided by a bevy of beasts and wondrous creatures, including armored bears, former nuns, angels, and a Texas aeronaut. More about the first book, The Golden Compass
	Percy Jackson and the Olympians by Rick Riordan In the first book, The Lightning Thief, twelve-year-old Percy learns that he is the son of a mortal woman and Poseidon, god of the sea, and is sent to a summer camp for demigods like himself. He joins his new friends on a quest to prevent a war between the gods. More about The Lightning Thief
	The Lost Journals of Ven Polypheme by Elizabeth Haydon Venn Polypheme was a hobbit-like, Nain explorer who traveled much of the known and unknown world where magic thrives. Recently discovered by archaeologists, a few fragments of his original journals are reproduced the books The Floating Island, The Thief Queen’s Daughter, and The Dragon’s Lair. More about the first book, The Floating Island

Novel Destinations: Canada

CanLit is Eh-Ok! Chill this summer with a cool read from our northerly neighbors.

	The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood Spending her youth moving between disparate types of communities, including the backwoods of rural Ontario and the bustling streets of Toronto, has given Margaret Atwood a special insight into the Canadian identity – which she has characterized as an identity of survival. This and other themes are explored in her 2000 Booker Prize winning novel The Blind Assassin. Set in Ontario in the 1930s and 40s, this historical fiction begins with an account of a woman dealing with her sister’s death and then proceeds as a novel-within-a-novel about two unnamed lovers. The book then returns to interweave the storylines – depicting a family history of sex, death and political intrigue. More about the book
	Hey Nostradamus! By Douglas Coupland Having helped to define a generation with his slacker screed Generation X, Douglas Coupland also does his part in defining the Canadian character. His humor tends dark, or his darkness has a humorous lining, possibly a reflection of Vancouver’s extended gray and rainy winters. Coupland uses his hometown as the backdrop for 2003’s Hey Nostradamus! The novel depicts a Columbine-like shooting spree at a suburban high school. The story is told through the perspective of four characters (one from beyond the grave), and comes together as a biting commentary about religion, media, and contemporary culture. More about the book
	Too Much Happiness By Alice Munro For decades, Alice Munro has been publishing compelling, understated short stories, many of which take place in Southwest Ontario, the area where she was raised. In her most recent collection, Too Much Happiness (released in 2009, the same year she won the Man Booker International Prize for her body of work), Munro graces the reader with ten beautifully crafted stories. In addition to Canadian locales, the title story shadows a Russian émigré on a journey across late-nineteenth-century Europe. More about the book
	Barney's Version By Mordecai Richler A native of Montreal, Mordecai Richler uses the French-Canadian city as the setting for many of his novels. One of his most famous works, Barney’s Version , follows the title character, a roguish, whisky-swilling, failed-author-turned-TV producer, who sets out to pen a refutation of charges leveled against him (including, but not limited to, murder) in a rival’s autobiography. In doing so, Barney details the many self-induced failures of his life, producing a personal history that is as funny as it is heartbreaking. Recently, the book was adapted into a film starring Dustin Hoffman and Paul Giammati. More about the book
	A Complicated Kindess By Miriam Toews A huge best-seller in Canada, Miriam Toews’ 2004 novel A Complicated Kindness , tells the story of a young Mennonite girl living in a desolate area of rural Manitoba. Both her sister and mother were excommunicated for being unable to live under the strictures of the sect, leaving the girl with only her gentle, yet uncommunicative, father and no one to help her grapple with disquieting feelings of angst and isolation. More about the book

Like Father, Like Son…

In honor of Father’s Day, here are four pairs of fathers and sons who have both made their mark as modern authors.

	Kingsley & Martin Amis Kingsley Amis was a prolific British novelist, poet, and critic who was as famous for his love of women and English pubs as he was for his comedic novels. If you want a taste of his work, try Lucky Jim, a classic academic satire. Martin Amis is still writing today, with a new book out this month, titled The Pregnant Widow. Amis often uses black humor to highlight the alienation and emptiness that he sees accompanying modern life. Time’s Arrow and London Fields are two of his best-known works.
	William F. & Christopher Buckley William F. Buckley is well-known as the founder of The National Review, but is perhaps lesser known as a novelist. Getting It Right is a coming of age story set against the early years of the modern conservative movement, while Nuremberg: The Reckoning is a fictional account of the Nuremberg trials. His son Christopher is one of the best satirists of modern politics and culture writing today. For a cringe-inducing laugh at our modern world, try Thank You For Smoking or Boomsday.
	Stephen King & Joe Hill Stephen King, one of America’s best known novelists, has recently branched out into a career as pop culture commentator (check out his monthly column in Entertainment Weekly) and memoirist (his book On Writing is part autobiography, part advice to young writers). His son, Joe Hill, is touted as one of the freshest new voices in the horror genre. His books 20th Century Ghosts, Heart-Shaped Box, and Horns have all been critical and commercial successes.
	David & Nic Sheff Award-winning journalist David Sheff shares his struggle to help his meth-addicted son in his 2008 book Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through His Son's Meth Addiction. His son, Nic, writes of that very meth addiction, as well as his struggle to get clean, in Tweak: Growing Up on Methamphetamines. These two books give a rare and moving glimpse into the effects that drug abuse has on the addict and the entire family.

Recommendable Reads: Bird Songs by Les Beletsky

Dan Coleman's Recommendable Read is Bird Songs: 250 North American Birds in Song by Les Beletsky. Also, Inez the cat makes her movie debut.