New Leaf Nominations for June 2018 • I'll be There for You: Best Friends

[JSWolf]

I'm going to nominate My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry AKA My Grandmother Sends Her Regards and Apologises by Fredrik Backman.

Elsa is seven years old and different. Her grandmother is seventy-seven years old and crazy—as in standing-on-the-balcony-firing-paintball-guns-at-strangers crazy. She is also Elsa’s best, and only, friend. At night Elsa takes refuge in her grandmother’s stories, in the Land-of-Almost-Awake and the Kingdom of Miamas, where everybody is different and nobody needs to be normal.

When Elsa’s grandmother dies and leaves behind a series of letters apologizing to people she has wronged, Elsa’s greatest adventure begins. Her grandmother’s instructions lead her to an apartment building full of drunks, monsters, attack dogs, and old crones but also to the truth about fairy tales and kingdoms and a grandmother like no other.

Everyone remembers the smell of their grandmother's house.

Everyone remembers the stories their grandmother told them.

But does everyone remember their grandmother flirting with policemen? Driving illegally?
Breaking into a zoo in the middle of the night? Firing a paintball gun from a balcony in her dressing gown?

Seven-year-old Elsa does.

Some might call Elsa's granny 'eccentric', or even 'crazy'. Elsa calls her a superhero. And granny's stories, of knights and princesses and dragons and castles, are her superpower. Because, as Elsa is starting to learn, heroes and villains don't always exist in imaginary kingdoms; they could live just down the hallway.

As Christmas draws near, even the best superhero grandmothers may have one or two things they'd like to apologise for. And, in the process, Elsa can have some breath-taking adventures of her own . . .

Overdrive
Amazon US
Kobo UK
Kobo US
Kobo CA
Kobo AU
Amazon CA
Amazon AU

[latepaul]

I will third My Brilliant Friend and second My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry

[Bookpossum]

I will third Absolute Friends.

[Catlady]

I'm nominating The Orphan's Tale by Pam Jenoff.

From Goodreads:

A powerful novel of friendship set in a traveling circus during World War II, The Orphan's Tale introduces two extraordinary women and their harrowing stories of sacrifice and survival

Sixteen-year-old Noa has been cast out in disgrace after becoming pregnant by a Nazi soldier and being forced to give up her baby. She lives above a small rail station, which she cleans in order to earn her keep… When Noa discovers a boxcar containing dozens of Jewish infants bound for a concentration camp, she is reminded of the child that was taken from her. And in a moment that will change the course of her life, she snatches one of the babies and flees into the snowy night.

Noa finds refuge with a German circus, but she must learn the flying trapeze act so she can blend in undetected, spurning the resentment of the lead aerialist, Astrid. At first rivals, Noa and Astrid soon forge a powerful bond. But as the facade that protects them proves increasingly tenuous, Noa and Astrid must decide whether their friendship is enough to save one another—or if the secrets that burn between them will destroy everything.

Amazon US $9.99
Kobo US $9.99

Amazon Canada $9.99 CAD
Kobo Canada $9.99 CAD

Amazon Australia $11.99 AUD
Kobo Australia $11.99 AUD

Amazon UK £2.99
Kobo UK £2.99

Audio version also available at Audible, Downpour, Libro.fm.

E-book and/or audiobook can be borrowed through Overdrive, Hoopla, Axis360, and Scribd.

[Catlady]

My second nomination is Greyfriars Bobby by Eleanor Atkinson, because a topic devoted to best friends simply has to include at least one dog story.

From Amazon:

The classic true story of a lovable Scottish dog whose loyalty knew no bounds

Each day, the cannon of Edinburgh Castle blasts a shot across town. It never fails to surprise Bobby, the silver-haired Skye terrier of Greyfriars Kirkyard, who fires back with a flurry of indignant yips. He always quiets down, though, because he knows it means it’s one o’clock—and one o’clock is when it’s time to eat. Bobby’s master, the shepherd Auld Jock, feeds the dog well, and Bobby repays him with limitless devotion. Everyone in Edinburgh knows that Bobby is a fine dog, but they have no idea just how loyal he really is.

When Jock dies, Bobby refuses to abandon his master, standing guard over his grave through wind and sleet and snow. No matter what obstacles stand in his way, Bobby remains steadfast—inspiring a city, a country, and the world.

A timeless tale of the special relationship between a man and his dog, Greyfriars Bobby has inspired generations of readers and was adapted into the Disney film of the same name.

Public domain.

[gmw]

I'm going to nominate The Little White Bird by J.M. Barrie (First Pub. 1902)

MobileRead PCM Library EPub Free | MobileRead PCM Library Kindle/azw3 FREE | Or very cheap in most stores

The best description I've found is from GrannyGrump's post in the MobileRead thread linked above:

“The Little White Bird” is a novel for adult readers, ranging in tone from fantasy and whimsy to social comedy with dark, aggressive undertones.

This book is a series of short episodes, including accounts of the narrator's day-to-day activities in contemporary London, as well as fanciful tales set in Kensington Gardens and elsewhere; with the two main characters being the first-person narrator Captain W—— (“Barrie thinly disguised”), and the boy David (based on George Llewelyn Davies, one of several children of the Davies family who provided inspiration for many characters in Barrie's writings). The main theme of the book is an exploration of the emotional relationship of the narrator, a childless Victorian-era retired soldier and London bachelor, with a young boy born to a working-class married couple in his neighbourhood.

Many places emphasise that the middle chapters of this book were extracted to be published as Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens, but for me those chapters are less of a draw than the developing relationship between the narrator and the young couple. The early chapters and the final, in particular, I found quite touching.

I'm nominating this on the basis of "I'll be There for You" aspect of the theme rather than the "Best Friends" aspect. And...

I wanted an excuse to nominate it because I would like to hear others thoughts about this story. I'm guessing that the narrator's motives and morals could - in these modern cynical times - come into question, because there is something of the stalker in the man's behaviour. But can we see him as a well intentioned stalker? There is, I think, much to talk about in this book.

[issybird]

The heck with it!

I'm going to nominate The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas. I've always meant to read it. I know it's long and that most will have read it already, but on the other hand, it's free and it sounds a ton of fun.

This swashbuckling epic of chivalry, honor, and derring-do, set in France during the 1620s, is richly populated with romantic heroes, unattainable heroines, kings, queens, cavaliers, and criminals in a whirl of adventure, espionage, conspiracy, murder, vengeance, love, scandal, and suspense. Dumas transforms minor historical figures into larger- than-life characters: the Comte d’Artagnan, an impetuous young man in pursuit of glory; the beguilingly evil seductress “Milady”; the powerful and devious Cardinal Richelieu; the weak King Louis XIII and his unhappy queen—and, of course, the three musketeers themselves, Athos, Porthos, and Aramis, whose motto “all for one, one for all” has come to epitomize devoted friendship. With a plot that delivers stolen diamonds, masked balls, purloined letters, and, of course, great bouts of swordplay, The Three Musketeers is eternally entertaining.

Lots of public domain options, copyrighted translations, and audioversions.

[gmw]

My third and last vote goes to second: The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas. This has been on my list for a long time.

[orlok]

I'll third The Three Musketeers.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by gmw

My third and last vote goes to second: The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas. This has been on my list for a long time.

Originally Posted by orlok

I'll third The Three Musketeers.

Well, yay!

I'll update sometime this afternoon (my afternoon), folks. Carry on.

[astrangerhere]

Originally Posted by issybird

Well, yay!

I'll update sometime this afternoon (my afternoon), folks. Carry on.

This terrifies me a little as I still 20 chapters from finishing the 117 chapters of The Count of Monte Cristo.

[CRussel]

OK, I've only got a single ticket left, and I'm torn many ways with it. Even though I tried to read it once, and gave up, I'm going to try again with a second to Anne of Green Gables. This book is so much a part of the Canadian psyche that I really feel like I should read it. And perhaps, with the Club as incentive, I'll both get through it and enjoy it.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by astrangerhere

This terrifies me a little as I still 20 chapters from finishing the 117 chapters of The Count of Monte Cristo.

Well, I read it in my youth, and what memory I have of it is completely coloured by the various screen/TV adaptations of it, so I'm game to give it a go if we end up selecting it. But I'm still pulling for M&C. It's such a great book/series that I want everyone to read it.

[Dazrin]

It looks like The Three Musketeers is significantly shorter than The Count of Monte Cristo - like 1/2 the length - so shouldn't be as daunting.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by Dazrin

It looks like The Three Musketeers is significantly shorter than The Count of Monte Cristo - like 1/2 the length - so shouldn't be as daunting.

Ah, but only if you limit yourself to the first book of this positively gargantuan series. By my count, the MR Patricia Clark Library version, in four volumes, is ~4600 pages!! (Page counts courtesy of the Count Pages plugin to Calibre, of course.)

None the less, a worthy book and no one will be able to say it's boring, at least!