Book picks similar to
Floating Notes by Babak Lakghomi


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In the Cherry Tree


Dan Pope - 2003
    Twelve years old and full of boundless curiosity, Timmy lives an ever-expanding life of record collections (of which Elton John is king), neighborhood bullies (of whom Franky DiLorenzo rules), best friends, and the darker, more lasting secrets of family. Over the course of the summer, Timmy will kill a frog, lose his baseball-card collection, alienate a friend, and witness his parents' separation. An intruder will hide in his treehouse; his mother will threaten divorce; his father will move out and back in. Timmy's childhood will end and his adolescence begin.One of the most remarkable child narrators to come along in recent years, Timmy is the achievement of a stunning new voice in American fiction. In the Cherry Tree is an addictively clever and appealing novel of our universal coming of age.

Valiant Gentlemen


Sabina Murray - 2016
    Valiant Gentlemen takes the reader on an intimate journey, from Ward and Casement’s misadventurous youth in the Congo—where, among other things, they bore witness to an Irish whiskey heir’s taste for cannibalism—to Ward’s marriage to Sarita and their flourishing family life in France, to Casement’s covert homosexuality and enduring nomadic lifestyle floating between his work across the African continent and involvement in Irish politics. When World War I breaks out, Casement and Ward’s longstanding political differences finally come to a head and when Ward and his teenage sons leave to fight on the frontlines for England, Casement begins to work alongside the Germans to help free Ireland from British rule. What results is tragic and riveting, as both men are forced to confront notions of love and betrayal in the face of the vastly different tracks their lives have taken.Reminiscent of the work of Peter Carey and Michael Ondaatje, Valiant Gentlemen is a uniquely human account of some of early 20th century’s larger historical figures from a “ravishing” (O Magazine) and “brilliant” (The Boston Globe) voice in fiction today.

The Strange Death of Father Candy


Les Roberts - 2011
    His late parents were close to the ruling mob clan in Youngstown, his sister was a bad-tempered and dissatisfied nag, and his middle brother was a corruptible police lieutenant. But in 1985, their oldest brother Richard Candiotti---beloved by every Italian Catholic in Youngstown as "Father Candy"---dies, and Dominick returns home for the funeral.Dominick is greatly disturbed by Richard's death, which has been ruled a suicide. Dissatisfied with this answer, he sets out to find the truth, revealing secrets and coming face-to-face with brutality and violence.Award-winning author Les Roberts pens a riveting and moving tale about walking the fragile tightrope between love and hatred.

Hold the Dark


William Giraldi - 2014
    At the start of another pitiless winter, wolves have taken three children from the remote Alaskan village of Keelut, including the six-year-old son of Medora and Vernon Slone. Wolf expert Russell Core is called in to investigate these killings and discovers an unholy truth harbored by Medora before she disappears. When her husband returns home to discover his boy dead and his wife missing, he begins a maniacal pursuit that cuts a bloody swath across the frozen landscape. With the help of a local police detective, Core attempts to find Medora before her husband does, setting in motion a deadly chain of events in this “chilling, mysterious, and completely engaging novel” (Tim O’Brien) that marks the arrival of a major American writer.

Bad People: Four terrifying short novels of suspense


Jeremy Bates - 2018
    After a night out with his girlfriend in one of the country's remote provinces, he wakes to find himself in a pitch-black coffin—and quickly running out of oxygen. With only his cell phone and his own wits to rely on, it's a race against time to escape the claustrophobic death trap. SIX BULLETS The end of civilization arrived in the form of a giant asteroid thirteen months ago. For Burt James, a survivalist, it was not a complete surprise. He'd spent much of his adult life prepping for such a catastrophe. Consequently, while the majority of the population scoured the post-apocalyptic landscape for water and food, regressing into primitive killers, he bunkered down in his fortified hilltop home in a small town in the middle of the Australian Outback. But now he's out of food and down to his last six bullets, and he will have to make the most difficult choice of his life. THE MAILMAN Los Angeles, 1985. Never was the motto sex, drugs, and rock n’ roll more apt than the scene on the legendary Sunset Strip with the arrival of the underground Hollywood glam bands. While Mick Freeman, a record executive with a major label, works tirelessly to sign five toxic rockers whom he believes might flip the entire music world on its head, his wife, Jade, spends her days bored and alone at home, struggling with a midlife crisis that threatens to topple their twenty-year marriage. And then she meets the new mailman. Young and handsome, he sweeps her off her feet—straight into a nightmare the likes of which she could never have imagined. RE-ROLL In the near future, breathtakingly humanoid robots called Mechs are for sale, and they're designed to fulfill whatever role you want: husband, wife, best friend, slave. Manufacturers allow new owners one free "roll" to randomly determine their Mech's three leading characteristics. But as everybody knows, scoring your ideal traits is a crapshoot, though you can always re-roll—at a price.

Fall From Lace


Emily Claire - 2021
    Everyone knows it, from her dearest friends within the Spinsters’ Sewing Circle to her most distant acquaintances within the parish.So when the beloved new curate turns up dead the night before Valentine’s Day, stabbed through the heart with Lydia’s own knitting needle, not even Lydia’s closest friends expect her to do more than cry and perhaps arrange a luncheon after the funeral service. After all, the tragedy was only a robbery gone wrong, and how could any vicar’s daughter hope to bring the long-gone thief to justice?
But Lydia can’t shake the feeling that this crime was somehow personal. The clues suggest the curate was murdered for some terrible purpose, and everyone at the house party seems to have a motive. Was it the high-born lady whose charitable endeavors are at risk? The beautiful young lady of the house who's hiding an agonizing secret? Her mother, who had every reason to want the curate gone? Or even the butler, whose private life is more scandalous than it seems?
And that’s to say nothing of handsome Mr. Pemberton, a notorious gambler and infuriating flirt from London who seems equally likely to have killed the curate and to drive Lydia to commit a murder herself.
This cozy, romantic Regency murder mystery—full of strong female friendships, gripping twists and turns, and witty repartee sharper than a knitting needle—is sure to delight fans of Jane Austen, Lynn Messina, and Patricia C. Wrede.