44 Scotland Street by Alexander McCall Smith

This is the first book in the delightful series by the author of The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency. It is set in a fictitious building in a real street in McCall Smith's home town of Edinburgh. It is full of characters very much a part of Edinburgh and yet recognisable to all of us - a good-looking young man, very used to getting what he wants, the young woman in her second gap year who falls for him though she knows she shouldn't, an eccentric widow, a pushy mother with a 'brilliant' son who just wants to be a little boy, the son of a wealthy man who just can't make a go of anything and many others.
You can borrow 44 Scotland Street at Wagga City Library (reserve it here) as well as the books that follow - Espresso Tales, Love Over Scotland, The World According to Bertie and The Unbearable Lightness of Scones.

Winter Close by Hugh MacKay

Hugh MacKay is a psychologist and social researcher who has written four best-selling books on social psychology and is also well known for his column in the Sydney Morning Herald. This, his fourth novel, is set in the Sydney suburb of Castlecrag and is a study of suburbia and the concept of neighbourhood.
That may sound a little dry but the novel is an engaging look at the residents of Winter Close, told by Tom, a counsellor who has his own inner demons. It is especially interesting if you are familiar with Sydney or have neighbours! Winter Close is one of the RRL Book Club titles.
You can borrow Winter Close, as well as other books by Hugh MacKay, from Wagga City Library - reserve it here.

March by Geraldine Brooks

March is the story of the absent father from Louisa May Alcott's Little Women. Mr March is a man of great conviction who goes as an army chaplain to support those fighting to abolish slavery in the American Civil War. The book tells of the harsh, ugly and life changing realities of the war both for those who experienced them first hand and for those who were left behind.

From the author's website ; October 21, 1861. March, an army chaplain, has just survived a brush with death as his unit crossed the Potomac and experienced the small but terrible battle of Ball’s Bluff. But when he sits down to write his daily missive to his beloved wife, Marmee, he does not talk of the death and destruction around him, but of clouds “emboss[ing] the sky,” his longing for home, and how he misses his four beautiful daughters. “I never promised I would write the truth,” he admits, if only to himself.
When he first enlisted, March was an idealistic man. He knew, above all else, that fighting this war for the Union cause was right and just. But he had not expected he would begin a journey through hell on earth, where the lines between right and wrong, good and evil, were too often blurred.
For now, however, he has no choice but to press on. He is directed to a makeshift hospital, an old estate he finds strangely familiar. It was here, more than twenty years earlier, that he first met Grace, a beautiful, literate slave. She was the woman who provided his first kiss and who changed the course of his life.
Now, he finds himself back at the Clement estate, and what was once the most beautiful place he had ever seen has been transformed by the ugliness of war. However, March’s sojourn there is brief and he finds himself reassigned to set up a school on one of the liberated plantations, Oak Landing—a disastrous posting that leaves him all but dead.
Though rescued and delivered to a Washington hospital where his physical health improves, March is a broken man, haunted by all he has witnessed and “a conscience ablaze with guilt” over the many people he feels he has failed. And when it is time for him to leave he finds he does not want to return home. He turns to Grace, whom he has encountered once again, for guidance. “None of us is without sin,” she tells him. “Go home, Mr. March.” So, March returns to his wife and daughters, and though he is tormented by the past and worried for his country’s future, the present, at least, is certain: he is home, he is a father again, and for now, that will be enough.

Brick Lane by Monica Ali

Brick Lane is an RRL Book Club book and was short listed for the Booker Prize. It tells the story of Nazneen, who, as a young woman, leaves Bangladesh for London with her new and much older husband. Together they struggle to find their place in a new country, dealing with racism and disappointment. A great look into the life of immigrants and their journey towards belonging. She keeps in contact with her sister in Bangladesh whose love marriage resulted in hardship and suffering. Nazneen is a traditional and dutiful Bangladeshi wife who ends up finding a place for herself.

You can borrow Brick Lane from the Wagga Wagga City Library or reserve it here.

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

Water for Elephants is largely set in America in the 1930s and is the story of a travelling circus. The story follows Jacob, a young man recently orphaned who was a veterinary student who finished just shy of his final exams. In desperation he jumps onto a train and discovers that it belongs to the circus. What follows is a tale of love, hate, friendship, betrayal and an elephant.

A fascinating look into the history of travelling circus' of the time with interesting characters and a satisfyingly clever ending.

You can borrow Water for Elephants from Wagga City Library or reserve it here.

How Proust Can Change Your Life by Alain de Botton

Marcel Proust's novel In Search of Lost Time (earlier translated as Remembrance of Things Past) is considered by many to be the best novel ever written. With seven volumes, many claim to have read it but have not quite managed to. Alain de Botton's book is about Proust and his novel, but it is also about all literature. Through extracts from Proust's letters, essays and novel, de Botton paints a picture of the eccentric author and shows the power of literature to change your life. While the theme is very literary, this book is delightfully readable and full of memorable quotes.

You can borrow the book at Wagga City Library (it is found at 843.912 DEB) or reserve it here.

The Various Flavours of Coffee by Anthony Capella

A lovely piece of historical fiction, set in England. This book, beginning in 1895, also takes us to Africa and Brazil. It is about a young dandy named Robert Wallis who wishes to be a poet but manages spend most of his time, and all of his money, drinking and misbehaving. Suffering a terrible lack of funds he accepts a position with Samuel Pinker, categorising the different flavours of coffee. He falls in love with one of Pinker's three daughters and is sent to Africa where he becomes obsessed with a beautiful slave.

The descriptions of the aromas and tastes of coffee are fascinating and the historical and business details are also very interesting. It is easy to forget the hardships women went through to get the right to vote. A book filled with wonderful characters.

You can borrow The Various Flavours of Coffee from Wagga City Library or reserve it here.