Off the Shelf: National Curmudgeons Day

January 29th is National Curmudgeons Day. I find it fitting for this day to be in January because if any month is going to make me a cantankerous, crotchety, irascible grouch, it's January. Let's face it, the month lasts forever; it's dark and then it gets darker because all the holiday lights get taken down; there is the fallout from holiday spending, and then, if you are like me, you will 100% get sick with something. Just thinking about it is making me feel cross.

When compiling this list, I realized that I seem to have a soft spot for curmudgeons as I have a lot of favorites here, starting with A Man Called Ove by Backman, Fredrik

Meet Ove. He's a curmudgeon; the kind of man who points at people he dislikes as if they were burglars caught outside his bedroom window. He has staunch principles, strict routines, and a short fuse. People call him 'the bitter neighbor from hell'. But must Ove be bitter just because he doesn't walk around with a smile plastered to his face all the time? Behind the cranky exterior, there is a story and a sadness. So when one November morning a chatty young couple with two chatty young daughters move in next door and accidentally flatten Ove's mailbox, it is the lead-in to a comical and heartwarming tale of unkempt cats, unexpected friendship, and the ancient art of backing up a U-Haul. All of which will change one cranky old man and a local residents' association to their very foundations.

Britt-Marie Was Here by Backman, Fredrik

When Britt-Marie walks out on her cheating husband and has to fend for herself in the miserable backwater town of Borg--of which the kindest thing one can say is that it has a road going through it--she finds work as the caretaker of a soon-to-be demolished recreation center. The fastidious Britt-Marie soon finds herself being drawn into the daily doings of her fellow citizens, an odd assortment of miscreants, drunkards, layabouts. Most alarming of all, she's given the impossible task of leading the supremely untalented children's soccer team to victory. In this small town of misfits, can Britt-Marie find a place where she truly belongs?

Where'd You Go Bernadette by Semple, Maria

When her notorious, hilarious, volatile, talented, troubled, and agoraphobic mother goes missing, teenage Bee begins a trip that takes her to the ends of the earth to find her.

The 100-year-old man who climbed out the window and disappeared by Jonasson, Jonas

After a long and eventful life, Allan Karlsson ends up in a nursing home, believing it to be his last stop. The only problem is that he's still in good health, and in one day, he turns 100. A big celebration is in the works, but Allan really isn't interested (and he'd like a bit more control over his vodka consumption). So he decides to escape. He climbs out the window in his slippers and embarks on a hilarious and entirely unexpected journey, involving, among other surprises, a suitcase stuffed with cash, some unpleasant criminals, a friendly hot-dog stand operator, and an elephant (not to mention a death by elephant). It would be the adventure of a lifetime for anyone else, but Allan has a larger-than-life backstory: Not only has he witnessed some of the most important events of the twentieth century, but he has actually played a key role in them. Starting out in munitions as a boy, he somehow finds himself involved in many of the key explosions of the twentieth century and travels the world, sharing meals and more with everyone from Stalin, Churchill, and Truman to Mao, Franco, and de Gaulle.

Olive Kitteridge

and

Olive, Again

by Elizabeth Strout

The Storied Life of A.J . Frikry by Zevin, Gabrielleby

When his most prized possession, a rare collection of Poe poems, is stolen, bookstore owner A. J. Fikry begins isolating himself from his friends, family, and associates before receiving a mysterious package that compels him to remake his life.

Florence Gordon by Morton, Brian

"Meet Florence Gordon: blunt, brilliant, cantankerous and passionate, a feminist icon to young women, invisible and underappreciated by most everyone else. At seventy-five, Florence has earned her right to set down the burdens of family and work and shape her legacy at long last. But just as she is beginning to write her long-deferred memoir, her son Daniel returns to New York from Seattle with his wife and daughter, and they embroil Florence in their dramas, clouding the clarity of her days with the frustrations of middle-age and the confusions of youth"-- Provided by publisher.