Recommended Reads:
What You Lose on the Roundabout (Infinity Publishing, 2007) is Christine Weaver's compelling memoir detailing her diagnosis of Parkinson's and her fight to keep a sense of normalcy while her body begins to shut down. Taking it in turns being both funny and painful, Weaver tells her story with a no-holds-barred honesty and a clear and engaging narrative voice. Combining photographs, poetry, and lucid scenes of struggle and redemption, Ms Weaver's story illuminates the difficulty of overcoming illness while bolstering an innate spirit of survival that, in the face of the most adverse conditions, makes humans of us all. - Aimee LaBrie
A.F. Rutzy's End Credits (Casperian, 2008) offers an imaginative romp through the mysteries of the afterlife. The fun begins when the novel's narrator, Raymond Kessel, dies while crashing the wrong funeral. The only problem is that the afterlife isn't remotely like anything his Sunday school teacher, Mrs. Simmons, promised. Instead of plucking a harp behind the pearly gates, he finds himself desperately trying to get a straight answer from a Grim Reaper named Cleo while inhabiting the body of a wealthy advertising executive. From here, the novel only grows curiouser and curiouser (to borrow a phrase) as Rutzy introduces us to a wide cast of memorable characters including (but not limited to) the previously mentioned angel of death, a desperate would-be rock star, a bumbling accountant, and a pair of wild hogs with an apparent fondness for sunglasses and shopping malls. Conjuring his vision of American excess with a careful balance of exuberance and aplomb, the Finnish author weaves an intricate web of characters and amusingly outlandish scenarios that had me hooked from the word "go." - Marc Schuster