lean on pete

Vote for Willy!

February 2, 2011

Oh, Oregon, how do you consistently produce such fabulous writers? Here at Library HQ we've just received word that Willy Vlautin, author of Lean on Pete, is up for Oregon's Ken Kesey Award for Fiction. 43 works of fiction were nominated for this award, and the field has been narrowed down to five. Winners will be announced on April 27, 2011 in a ceremony presented by Literary Arts (www.literary-arts.org). If you loved Lean on Pete as much as we did, cast your vote for Willy here.

Praise for Lean on Pete:

"[Vlautin] unearths a world Steinbeck would have recognised…where the American underclass still resides. Lean On Peteis an archetypal American novel, Huck Finn for the crystal-meth generation." —Independent Extra

“Vlautin has created a convincing tragic hero, a dreamer and a survivor. Charley says more than Holden Caulfield ever did. This is a rare book because of its raw truth, its candour. It is a telling odyssey that stabs you in the heartand makes you consider every casual crime of neglect or cruelty ever committed against a child or animal…As one boy’s journey, Lean on Pete is as real as blood: as a novel it is remarkable. Willy Vlautin, romantic and realist, has written something special that will make you shudder, weep, rage and wonder at how such things happen and do, and how some individuals such as Charley can suffer them, absorb the grief, and somehow survive. How good is contemporary US fiction? This good: catch your breath good.— Irish Times, Eileen Battersby

-Kayleigh

Just Kids, Lean on Pete, Librarians, Libraries, Patti Smith, Robin Beerbower, Stiltsville, Susan Henderson, Susanna Daniel, Up from the Blue, Willy Vlautin

Robin Beerbower’s ‘Best’ List

December 28, 2010

Here's a list of top titles you won't find anywhere else! Over in Salem, Oregon, Fiction Selector Robin Beerbower makes it her business to choose the best of the best fiction. Sometimes, we're just lucky enough to land in her graces and get a shout-out! Here's Robin's full list of fiction favorites for 2010.

LEAN ON PETE by Willy Vlautin. Set in Portland, 15-year old Charley searches for a home with the help of a broken down race horse named Lean on Pete. Spare in its use of language, this is an amazing novel by an Oregon author.

CRASHERS by Dana Haynes. Wow! You may never want to fly again after reading this thriller about a jetliner that goes down north of Salem and the investigation that follows by the “crashers” who try to determine why it fell out the sky. The gross out factor is a little high at times but it is fascinating.

STILTSVILLE by Susanna Daniel. Absolutely terrific first novel about a long marriage set against the background of Miami and the now defunct summer community of houses in the water of Biscayne Bay known as Stiltstville. Why this novel is so effective is hard to say, but the setting and historical events form an effective background for the story. Keep a tissue handy.

THE GIRL WHO FELL FROM THE SKY by Heidi Durrow. After a tragic accident kills her two siblings and mother Rachel is sent to Oregon to be raised by her grandmother, but as she grows older starts to question her mixed racial heritage and the mystery of the accident. This is a great choice for book groups.

IN THE DARK by Brian Freeman. This is the fourth in the suspense/thriller series that features Jonathan Stride, a homicide detective in Duluth, Minnesota. These are fast-moving and best read in order (IMMORAL, STRIPPED, and STALKED).

PACKING FOR MARS by Mary Roach. This look at the mechanics and biophysics of traveling in space was my favorite nonfiction book of the year. I found myself giggling and chortling while reading various “who knew?” moments such as the description of burping toilets on the space shuttle, what the "vomit comet" plane is like when one is weightless for 20 seconds, and exactly how one eliminates in space. I'll bet you never thought of what could happen if a spacewalker hurled in his helmet (if you read this you will find out, and for the record, you don't want it to happen to you).

UP FROM THE BLUE by Susan Henderson. Told from the viewpoint of Tillie as an 8-year-old girl and also as a grown woman preparing for the birth of her first child, this haunting novel relates her struggle to make sense of her mother’s mental illness. An excellent choice for book groups.

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