Adult Fiction Staff Picks: I'm Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom by Jason Pargin

 I'm Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom by Jason Pargin

Reddit rumors spiral wildly out of control when an anxious vlogger goes offline to transport a strange woman and a mysterious sealed box from California to Washington D.C. 

Unaware that he’s the subject of internet speculation or that he's being pursued by a large, angry, tattooed motorcyclist, Abbot Coburn and the woman known to the Reddit community as GSG (Green Sunglasses Girl) bond in real life while traveling through middle America discussing their differences in this satirical novel that's equal parts smart and silly.

Staff Picks: You Dreamed of Empires by Álvaro Enrique - Adult Fiction

You Dreamed of Empires by Álvaro Enrigue

In 1519 two worlds collided when Spanish conquistadors led by Hernán Cortés entered the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan. Álvaro Enrique’s novel You Dreamed of Empires describes the encounter from both sides, interjecting humor, hindsight, and modern perspectives.   

Arriving at Tenochtitlan, the Spaniards are amazed to find towering step pyramids, painted stone pathways, ornate palaces, pools, and gardens. The Aztec city is the largest and most impressive city on Earth, and the Europeans are offered fine robes, unusual local delicacies, and a sweet drink that is as treasured as gold. 

While Cortés and his entourage make themselves at home in luxury palace suites, Montezuma spends his time napping, dosing with hallucinogenic mushrooms, ordering executions, and frustrating his inner circle. Tactically, the Europeans' only advantages are their obedient antlerless deer and firepower.

You Dreamed of Empires humanizes the story's central players, including Montezuma’s sister/wife Atotoxlit and Gerónimo de Aguilar, the Franciscan friar who serves as a translator for the Europeans. The novel also richly imagines the lives of prisoners, confidantes, advisors, servants, and priests. 

Enrigue’s vision of the epic culture clash, skillfully translated into English by Natasha Wimmer, is both illuminating and wildly entertaining. Álvaro Enrigue is a award-winning Mexican writer who has authored novels, short stories, and essays. Enrigue lives in New York and teaches Latin American literature. 

Alicia Cavitt

Information Specialist 

Aztec Step Pyramid
Image credit: Forsyth County Public Library created in Canva.com

Novel Realties Book Discussion: How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe by Charles Yu

 

How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe by Charles Yu

Many books about time travel focus on fixing the past or averting disaster. In Charles Yu's How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe, changing the past is a moot point—you can’t change it even if you try. But that doesn’t stop people from attempting it. And when amateur time travelers invariably get stranded in a time loop of their own making, time travel repairmen are called in to set them free. 

Fixing time machines for users trying to alter their past gives time machine technician Charles Yu (a character named after the book's author) a unique perspective on human nature and time manipulation. 

Fans of science fiction stories that raise provocative questions about human nature and highlight the humor in fanciful possibilities will appreciate this witty novel. If you enjoy the classic science fiction stories of Douglas Adams, Philip K. Dick, and Kurt Vonnegut, you'll love How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe by Charles Yu. 

FCPL's Novel Realities Book Club will discuss this unique How to Guide, the implications of time travel, life with a visionary entrepreneur, and why so many time travelers try to kill their own fathers or relive the worst moment of their lives. 

Please join FCPL's Novel Realities book discussion on Thursday, May 9th at 7 p.m. at Sharon Forks Library. There's no knowledge of quantum physics required, and time travelers are welcome to attend. 

As part of FCPL's Celebrating Asian Pacific American Heritage series, this month's Novel Realities discussion will showcase speculative fiction by Asian and Asian American authors like Haruki Murakami, Matthew Salesses, Kōbō Abe, Toshikazu Kawaguchi, and Sayaka Murata.   

Staff Picks Cat Out of Hell by Lynne Truss

Cat Out of Hell by Lynne Truss 

For cat lovers, the prospect of communicating with our feline companions is an intriguing idea.  In the hands of author Lynne Truss, the premise takes a dark turn when a British librarian, grieving his wife and suddenly unemployed, discovers that his sister has gone missing.  An unusually perceptive cat seems to know something and reveals a mesmerizing story about a worldwide cat conspiracy. Fans of literary fiction, mysteries set in quaint British towns, Gothic tales, dark humor, and cat stories will love this grim, witty tale. 

Keep your friends close, your enemies closer, and never let your cats out of your sight because they are definitely plotting something.  

Alicia Cavitt
Information Specialist

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