A Greyhound of a Girl by Roddy Doyle

Sometimes I find a book that I love, but I know it’s going to be a little difficult to recommend. For these books I just have to cross my fingers and hope hope hope that they will be discovered by the right readers and appreciated. A Greyhound of a Girl is one of these great books. The problem (for lack of a better word) is that it’s sad. It’s also funny and touching and well-written and life-affirming.
Mary's beloved Granny is ill and probably won’t live much longer. One day, Mary meets a mysterious woman on the way home from school who seems to know a little too much about her. She discovers that Granny, the mysterious woman, her mother, and she are all connected in a way she never could have imagined. This sets them all on a road trip that teaches Mary about love and mothers and death and life. It’s aimed at roughly 9 to 12 year-olds, but I recommend it for everyone open to a book like this.

Elegy for April by Benjamin Black

We put all of Benjamin Black’s (the pen name for Booker-prize winning author, John Banville) books in our Mystery section, but it’s more accurate to call them Crime Novels. There is a whodunit element, but their real strength is in atmosphere and character. In the opening pages of Elegy for April there is an unseasonable fog flooding the streets of 1950s Dublin. Black evokes it so well, with such gentle intensity, that I was sorry when the weather began to clear. This story again features the alcoholic, brooding pathologist Quirke from Christine Falls, his complicated family connections, and the power system in Ireland. Even in the moments when the pace began to almost lull me, I couldn’t put it down. I felt like I’d gone back in time, like I was right there at Quirke’s shoulder as he made a hash of his relationships, struggled to resist the Bushmills, and doggedly did not let anyone get away with murder.