Friday, December 31, 2010

Rec. #1: The Good Thief


What: Have you been wanting a new Dickens novel, but one that's set in the U.S.? With orphans making good, con artists who are intermittently trustworthy, dead murderers who don't stay dead, and a deaf landlady who speaks in all caps? Well, here it is. Hannah Tinti's debut novel can be deep, dank, and dark, but it's also surprisingly fun.

Comparable to: The orphans-on-the-streets bits in Oliver Twist, but with a strong underpinning of the absurd, macabre humor that seeps in from the edges of Bleak House.

You might not like it if: You hate orphans. Or Dickens. Or both.

How to get it: It's fairly recent, so it should be readily available at your library and most bookstores.