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Reviewed in 2004
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reads, visit the Reader Services Page,
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Recommended by Paula Marsh, Assistant Circulation Supervisor, McAuliffe Branch
Skipping Christmas by John Grisham. Fiction.
Wishing to escape this season from some holiday traditions that are out of control? Find out what happens to the Krank family when they try to make some changes. Grisham has given us a classic tale for modern times, mixing truth and humor in this treat for the holidays.
The Elegant Gathering of White Snows by Kris Radish. Fiction.
A weekly women's group goes for a walk and gains national attention. Meet eight women from Wisconsin who are walking their past, present and future together. The local community protects this group from the press and allows them the freedom needed to explore such issues as unwanted pregnancy, lost loves and lost dreams. This heart-heavy journey of walking, talking and healing will appeal and empower women of all ages.
The Passion of Artemisia by Susan Vreeland. Fiction.
The Passion of Artemisia is a fictional portrayal of the life and times of Artemisia Gentileschi, Renaissance painter and first woman to be elected to the Academia
dell'Arte. Rome, Florence and Genoa are the settings for the richly detailed second novel of author Susan
Vreeland, who enjoyed success with
The Girl in Hyacinth Blue. The social conditions of the 17th century including rape, trial, arranged marriage, single parenting and career success for this Italian woman artist should prove interesting reading for art history fans and feminists.
Recommended by Jenny Allen,
Main Library Circulation Department
From three local authors....
Mina by Jonatha Ceely (Fiction)
For those who love historical fiction, Jonatha Ceely's first novel is a delight. Meticulously researched, the story begins in mid-nineteenth-century Ireland during the potato famine where two siblings, sole survivors of their family, set out on a treacherous journey to America. Much of the novel takes place on a grand estate in the English countryside. Ceely brings alive the places and the time with vivid descriptions and convincing historical detail. In the face of relentless hardship and suffering, hope and perseverance prevail and leave the reader wishing for a sequel.
The Mt. Monadnock Blues by Larry Duberstein (Fiction)
Set in the South End and a small New Hampshire town, this is a compelling story about a man approaching middle age who suddenly finds himself "in loco
parentis" to his niece and nephew following an accident in which their parents have been killed by a drunk driver. There ensues a custody battle for the children between Tom and his remaining sister and her homophobic husband. The story is set in 1990 when ignorance and fear of AIDS underlie the hostility and negative attitudes towards the gay community that Duberstein explores in this, his sixth novel.
A Palestine Affair by Jonathan Wilson (Fiction)
The year is 1924, during the British Mandate in Palestine. An artist and his wife, the latter being a passionate Zionist, arrive from London and become embroiled in a murder case that is investigated by the authorities. Wilson evokes the cultural and political tensions between the Zionists, the orthodox Jews, the Arabs and the occupying forces. Still reeling from the horrors of the Great War, the British characters in the novel reflect a society that has been thoroughly shaken up.
In the hotbed of political unrest and intrigue that is Palestine in the 1920s, nothing is as it seems to be. Staggered accounts of events by each of the main characters form a prismatic tale of love and betrayal, giving the reader an insight into the complexities of an emerging nation which continue to haunt us today.
Recommended by Harriet Hodgdon, Main Library
Circulation Department
Books that are light and predictable can be a great comfort when our lives become difficult or complicated. Sometimes an author also surprises us with unexpected twists, and "light" becomes significantly more interesting than we anticipated.
Olivia Joules and the Overactive Imagination
by Helen Fielding (author of Bridget Jone's Diary) (Fiction)
An inept free-lance journalist turns into a competent writer, a woman of substance, and
. . . a spy. We find out how and why she has become the person she has chosen to be, the rules of life by which she lives and, in somewhat unsettling fashion, we cross back and forth between terrorism, romance, and comic fantasy as Olivia Joules discovers what is real.
Dating Dead Men by Harley Jane Kozak (Fiction)
An interesting mix of plots combines to create an overextended main character. Wollie Shelley is a greeting card artist who owns a small business. She is dating forty men in sixty days as part of a research project. Meanwhile, her paranoid schizophrenic brother is witness to a murder in which she becomes involved. She is willingly taken hostage by a very attractive man disguised as a doctor
- and then the fun begins.
Bet Me by Jennifer Crusie (Fiction)
Unlikely protagonists create a steamy atmosphere as Minerva Dobbs, on the heels of romantic rejection, overhears a bet being made about her to gorgeous Calvin
Morrisey. Minerva decides to string Cal along to suit her own purposes, but from a mutual distrust and dislike grows an attraction that is comic and lusty, enhanced by the involvement of a bevy of good friends and bitter enemies.
Dot in the Universe by Lucy Ellmann (Fiction)
A young, blonde, perky wife decides to end it all but comes back in several reincarnations - once as a possum - and eventually finds herself again as a young, blonde, perky wife-to-be. What at first seems quirky with a shallow main character takes on a depth that is cynical and poignant, goes off on taboo tangents, remains humorous yet disquieting, and finally comes full
circle.
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Recommended by Mary Wasmuth, Collection
Development Librarian
These original and surprising works enriched my appreciation of the varieties of ways stories can be told.
Any Small Thing Can Save You: A Bestiary by Christina Adam. Fiction.
These very short stories feature twenty-six creatures, from asp to zoo, but they are much more about the varieties of human connection and about the moments that shape us. It's the people that make this book memorable. Sometimes moving, sometimes funny, often surprising, the stories show us people stumbling into new understandings of their lives and relationships. Characters and vividly described settings weave in and out of the stories, creating a mosaic of feelings and places, most strikingly the American West.
The Great Fire by Shirley Hazzard. Fiction.
A traditional--almost formulaic--love story that takes place, and is transformed by, a world suffused with pain in the years following World War II. Aldred
Leith, a 32-year-old British major stationed in Japan, falls in love with Helen Driscoll, a precocious teenager devoted to her dying brother; her loathsome parents are determined to keep the couple apart. Their story is so intertwined with the suffering around them that when they're reunited, it feels like a miracle.
Shirley Hazzard's previous novel,
The Transit of Venus, also opens up a love story in unique and thought-provoking ways.
The Last Report on the Miracles At Little No Horse by Louise
Erdrich. Fiction.
Among the features of this compelling and lyrical novel: a woman who for more than half a century passes herself off as a priest in a remote Ojibwa reservation, a malevolent nun who just may be a saint, a hilarious death and funeral scene like no other, and a breakneck opening sequence that took my breath away.
In the midst of all this, Louise Erdrich portrays the complex weave of interlocking relationships over several generations in the quirky, tough,
heartbreaking North Dakota community that has itself become a central character in her work.
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Recommended by Kathleen Marscher, Reference Librarian
Prince Edward by Dennis McFarland (Fiction)
A story of a 10-year-old boy growing up in 1959 on a rural Virginia chicken farm where the character-building trials and tribulations of everyday life are added to the societal pains of a populace trying to come to grips with the mandates of the 1954 Brown vs. the Board of Education ruling. Rather than integrate the schools, Prince Edwards County stubbornly decides to close all public schools. A thought-provoking read based on historical fact.
The Clarinet Polka by Keith Maillard (Fiction)
A steel town in West Virginia in 1969 is the setting for this novel. Jimmy's life lacks direction and purpose after he returns home from the military. The opening scene in which he wakes up in a cramped attic room facing the posters left from his high school days symbolizes the claustrophobic life he now leads in this small town where Maillard's compassionately drawn heroes struggle. The larger issues Americans grapple with daily come into focus through the lives of these characters and Jimmy's ultimate transformation.
The City Below by James Carroll (Fiction)
Set in Charlestown's working class neighborhood, this story follows the lives of two brothers with strikingly opposite personalities throughout the 1960s, 1975, and 1984. Beyond thoughts of the Bulger brothers, this story twists through many of the moral headlines of the decades to give it the substance that only a master storyteller like Carroll can create. JFK's presidential rally at the Garden reveals the mob culture of small business protection, birth control mandates become a pivotal moral dilemma for Terry's pending priesthood, and busing issues create a conflict between the brothers' loyalty to their neighborhood and their friendship with a black classmate.
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Recommended by Judith Rosenbaum, McAuliffe Branch Library Circulation Staff
Breaking Her Fall by Stephen Goodwin (Fiction)
Tucker Jones, devoted single parent of Kat, 14, and her younger brother Will, answers the phone late one Friday evening, expecting to hear his daughter confirm that she has returned to the home of a friend after having gone to a movie. Instead, he is horrified to hear allegations from another parent that Kat was seen drinking and engaging in sexual games at a pool party with older students.
Enraged, frantic with worry, Tucker finds the party but discovers that Kat has already left. His highly charged interrogation of the boys escalates into a confrontation, and reverberations from this fateful night are
many--Tucker's attempts to reach his beloved daughter, make peace with his former wife, and redeem himself provide a read that is impossible to put down. This rich and wonderful book, Goodwin's first in 20 years, has it all: great characters, riveting plot, humor, suspense, and courtroom drama.
No Second Chance by Harlen Coben (Fiction)
The first chapter of this thriller immediately catapults the reader into one of Coben's most complex and unnerving plots. Dr. Marc
Seidman, a reconstructive plastic surgeon and an altogether decent man, is shot twice when his home is broken into and wakes up in the hospital to be told that his wife has been murdered and his small daughter has been kidnapped. The story follows his desperate search for his daughter over the course of a year, during which he becomes the prime suspect in his wife's murder.
Coben's characters are so well drawn that the reader becomes completely invested in the outcome of the story. Plot twists, offbeat secondary characters, and help from many intelligent and resourceful friends combine to keep the reader guessing until the very end.
A Grave Denied by Dana Stabenow (Fiction)
In the thirteenth mystery featuring Aleut private investigator Kate
Shugak, the body of Len Dreyer, town handyman, is found in an ice cave near the mouth of a glacier. When over-extended state trooper Jim Chopin, Kate's on-again, off-again romantic interest, hires Kate to partner with him on the investigation, she discovers that, although everyone in the area knew Len, no one really knew anything about him.
The story just gallops along, and as in every Shugak novel, the theme of wilderness preservation is very much present. As a bonus, we continue to discover more about Alaskan history, Aleut tribal culture, and the dedication of native Alaskans to their independent way of life.
The Quilter's Apprentice by Jennifer Chiaverini (Fiction)
This is the first book in the Elm Creek Quilt series (five more have followed). This light, charming series examines the lives of "ladies who quilt."
The Quilter's Apprentice introduces Sarah McClure, a burned-out accountant who follows her husband, a landscape architect, to a small Pennsylvania college town. He has been hired to revive the historic gardens at Elm Creek Manor, former home of Sylvia
Compson, a elderly, lonely widow and master quilter. Unable to find suitable work in her field, Sarah takes a temporary housekeeping job at the manor, assisting Sylvia as she readies the place for sale.
Although the two women are initially uncomfortable and prickly with each other, Sylvia agrees to give Sarah quilting lessons, during which Sarah learns of Sylvia's tragic past. A wealth of quilting lore, history, and the generous fellowship of quilters runs throughout this book. Later in the series,
The Runaway Quilt tells the intriguing story of the part played by quilts during the era of the Underground Railroad;
The Quilter's Legacy follows Sylvia as she tries to find five lost quilts made by her mother.
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Recommended by
Tim Hilton, Main Library
Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole (Fiction)
This is that rare novel where humor writing and great fiction coincide. With a voice reminiscent of Bill Bryson or Richard Russo, the author weaves scenes that are at once uproariously funny and difficult to watch. The story follows Ignatius Reilly, an obese medievalist malcontent, as he tries to convince a New Orleans that will not listen of his creative genius. Filled with tipsy mother figures, evil nightclub owners, misplaced police attention and one of the most unlikable protagonists in modern fiction,
Confederacy of Dunces provides you with the laughs you want with a plot worth reading. Published posthumously, this is the author's only public offering, but it is one not to be missed.
Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game by Michael Lewis (796.357)
Moneyball is more than a baseball book; it is a case study of how challenging assumptions can lead to success. The book follows Billy Beane and the Oakland Athletics as they use statistics, ingenuity and one of the smallest payrolls in baseball to challenge the notion that big money always wins. With unique insight, the author shows us the battle between strict logic and conventional wisdom that affects many of baseball's biggest teams, including our beloved Red Sox. You may not agree with Billy Beane's theory that statistics do not lie, but you will be left with a better understanding of the business of baseball and how it affects the team you love.
Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie (Fiction)
Although better known for his weightier novels, Midnight's Children and
The Ground Beneath Her Feet, Salman Rushdie remains, in essence, a master storyteller. In this novel a son aims to help his father, the local storyteller, regain his ability to spin tales. The ensuing quest blurs the line between parable and fairytale as the son finds where good stories come from, travels to Earth's second moon and meets those that would turn good stories bad. This novel may lack the intricacy and literary weight of the author's previous works, but it retains the fanciful characters, unimaginable settings and playful language that keep the reader in a state of suspended reality until the very end.
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Recommended by Jackie Barillet, Assistant Circulation Supervisor
The Lady and the Unicorn by Tracy Chevalier (Fiction)
This light and enjoyable read is the most recent book by the author of Girl with a Pearl
Earring. Set in medieval France and Holland, the story is woven around the famous unicorn tapestries. The tapestries are commissioned by an ambitious nobleman, and the long process of creating them causes emotional turmoil in the lives of his wife and daughter, their servants and the craftspeople. Insight into life in 1490s Europe is combined with multiple appealing characters who tell their own stories and interact in sometimes surprising and yet familiar ways.
Absolution by Murder and other Sister Fidelma mysteries by Peter Tremayne (Fiction/Mystery; Y
PB)
Readers of medieval mysteries such as those by Ellis Peters and Sharan Newman might want to check out this series about a detective nun referred to as "Brother Cadfael on the distaff side." Set in the seventh century, they illuminate the development of Christianity across the British Isles, and provide insight into the advanced level of Irish civilization during the Dark Ages. Sister
Fidelma, an Irish nun, and her partner-in-detection, Brother Eadulf, navigate doctrinal controversy and ecclesiastical intrigue to solve mysteries in abbeys and courts across Europe.
Since The Da Vinci Code, have you wanted to know more about the early Christians? For more information on the ideas in that book,
consult:
The Woman with the Alabaster Jar by Margaret Starbird (232.9)
This book by a religious scholar brings together evidence from many fields for the idea that Mary Magdalen went to Europe with Jesus' child, and ensuing historical events. While not an easy read, it is full of interesting ideas regarding this and other aspects of the "forgotten feminine."
For scholarly, well-written information about other early Christians, see the following two books:
Lost Christianities by Bart D Ehrman (229.92)
Among the early Christians were many different groups with vastly differing ideas about who Christ was, what it was to be a Christian, and how to live according to the faith. They left behind many differing written records, most of which were only known from writings by their opponents until the discovery of the Nag Hammadi documents. This book explores these groups, their ideas and their writings in a clear and fascinating way.
Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas by Elaine Pagels (229)
Elaine Pagels, an esteemed scholar famous for writing The Gnostic Gospels almost thirty years ago, and more recently interviewed by Peter Jennings for
Jesus and Paul on network TV, has written this new book further elucidating the struggle between the ideas in Thomas, one of the Gnostic Gospels, and John of the canonic Gospels. She explains the eventual triumph of orthodoxy over the more mystical approach in Thomas, and offers much food for thought for today.
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Recommended by Wendy Singleton,
McAuliffe Branch Circulation Staff
The Seduction of Water by Carol Goodman. Fiction.
Iris Greenfelder is an aspiring writer and teacher. She feels the "buts" are taking over her life. All but published, all but a professor, all but married! She lives in New York City's Greenwich Village, with a view of the Hudson River from her five-story walk-up, but her roots are in the Catskills, in a resort hotel called the Equinox, where her parents were the managers. Her mother, Kay, wrote two novels there, and was rumored to have written a third before her untimely death in a fire there over thirty years ago.
Iris finally finds some success when one of the stories she has written about her mother is picked up by a small literary journal with a well-connected editor. She is convinced that leaving the city and going back to the Catskills will be the perfect setting for the biography she wishes to write about her mother. Driving the plot is the not-so-simple question: did Kay write a third manuscript? When Iris starts retelling the Irish tale of the
Selke-part woman, part seal-that her mother used to tell, she opens a Pandora's box containing false identities, missing manuscripts and an old murder mystery.
The hotel has been bought by a famous hotelier, who is trying to make it profitable again. Many of the old guests are invited back. As Iris talks to the guests who knew her parents, she begins to suspect her mother's death was not an accident.
This mystery combines a thoroughly modern story with dark fairy tales, suspense and romance.
The Seduction of Water is a thriller that will grab you on the first page and hold your interest throughout.
The Turtle Warrior by Mary Relindes Ellis. Fiction.
In northern Wisconsin, inhabited by working-class European immigrants and the
Ojibwe, a family is torn by war from within and without. The father, John Lucas, is a failed farmer. He's an abusive, violent drunk feared by his wife Claire and their children, Jimmy and Bill. Claire is an educated woman who fears she is losing her mind. Her marriage has broken her spirit. Jimmy, 18, the older brother and protector, is a gifted outdoorsman who likes to play pranks on his younger brother, Bill, a sensitive, vulnerable eight-year-old. Jimmy is goaded by his father to "be a man." To escape his unhappy life and prove something to his father, he enlists in the Marines to fight in Vietnam. He does not survive. Young Bill is left to protect his mother with the help of his own inner strength and the spirit of his dead brother to guide him. Bill fashions a warrior shield from a giant turtle shell, which he believes will protect him.
The story is told from many perspectives. It explores the themes of war, loss and family, the paralysis of grief and the healing power of nature. It weaves a haunting tale of an unforgettable world where the spiritual, physical, past and present merge.
The Turtle Warrior is a truly moving, sensitive novel that will speak directly to the hearts of readers everywhere.
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Recommended
by Diane Zisk, Technical Processing Department, Main Library
These three historical novels transport the reader into dramatically different American experiences.
Dreamland
by Kevin Baker (FICTION Baker)
Combining history and romance, Dreamland draws a picture of New York City
circa 1910 that is both exciting and frightening. Its strength lies in the
vivid depiction of a Coney Island amusement park and the people who loved,
worked, and died within that brilliant playground of unreality. Each
character represents a different walk of New York life, including factory
workers, gangsters, politicians and sideshow freaks both real and
imagined. Baker's descriptions evoke the hurly-burly of heat, light and
noise and a glimpse into the powerful imaginations of those who dreamed up
such a world.
In the Fall
by Jeffrey Lent (FICTION Lent)
Just after the Civil War, a wounded soldier, an escaped woman slave, and
an interracial marriage make for a dark but strongly moving story. The
painful mysteries of one family's history advance through the generations
and influence actions and events into the present time. The writing is
lyrical and moving, and the book is a solid achievement of storytelling
that addresses the serious subjects of race and slavery.
Ahab's Wife, or the Stargazer: a Novel
by Sena Jeter Naslund (FICTION Naslund)
If you've ever found yourself resenting Ahab for his relentless pursuit of
Moby Dick, take the opportunity to humanize him by reading this intense
novel that centers on Ahab's spouse. Una Spencer is a strong and powerful
woman who rises above many extreme circumstances to find happiness in the
harsh climate of the Cape Cod islands in the early nineteenth century.
Naslund's depiction of Uma's passionate love for Ahab and for life makes
reading this novel a soaring adventure.
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Recommended by Lucy Loveridge, Tina Mullins and Elise MacLennan, Main Library
These three well-written books have strong female protagonists. They were written for young people, but can be appreciated by any reader who is young at heart.
Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine (J Fantasy Fiction Levine)
In this amusing Newbery-Honor-book version of Cinderella, Ella has been cursed with the gift of obedience by Lucinda, a foolish fairy. She has a happy childhood despite her compulsion to obey any order addressed to her, but when she is fifteen, her mother dies and her father, a selfish and greedy man, sends her off to boarding school. But Ella, despite her gift of obedience, is an independent, even rebellious person. When her curse is discovered and misused by her future stepsister, she runs away from school in hopes of finding Lucinda and convincing her to remove the curse. Many adventures ensue and many meetings with Prince Charmont occur before the final denouement -- which almost matches the classic fairy tale.
Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo (J Fiction DiCamillo)
This year's Newbery-Award-winning author entered the children's literature field with this heartwarming novel. The main character, Opal, is a shy, motherless girl who has moved to a new town with her distant, preacher father. A stray dog with a winning smile helps her adjust to her new home. From the unforgettable first sentence, Opal's voice rings true and makes the reader want to know more. Although a short novel, the story is rich and the characters are appealing.
Catherine Called Birdy by Karen Cushman (J Fiction Cushman)
"12th Day of September -- I am commanded to write an account of my days: I am bit by fleas and plagued by family. That is all there is to say."
Catherine of Stonebridge is an ordinary thirteen-year-old in 1290s England, and her diary is revealing and amusing. Based on historical research, the descriptions of medieval life are authentic, and Catherine is an endearing, if sometimes sulky and rebellious, young lady-in-training.
Cushman draws a plausible picture of medieval family life that is fascinating. Every family is different and every person an individual just as they are today. Catherine's father is a knight only just important enough to require her to behave like a lady and to marry whomever her parents decree.
Readers will quite easily relate to Catherine's resentment towards embroidery, spinning, and making soap when she would rather be reading or playing outdoors. Catherine's coming of age as told through her journal entries is sometimes surprising, sometimes funny, and always captivating. This
Newbery-Honor book is a thought-provoking and satisfying read for historical fiction fans of all ages.
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Recommended
by Deborah Kelsey, Reference Librarian, Main Library
An Unquiet
Mind by Kay Redfield Jamison (616.85 1995 Jamison)
This insightful, inspirational, and educational memoir chronicles the life
of a psychologist and professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University
who suffers from manic depression. As an international authority on
bipolar disorder (manic-depressive) she suggests her illness is well
managed with medication, psychotherapy, peer support, and love.
Blankets: An Illustrated Novel by Craig Thompson (Y GRAPHIC NOV
Thompson)
Thompson recalls growing up in a religious family in rural Wisconsin with
his younger brother, experiencing first love, struggling with religious
faith and identity, and becoming an artist. This sensitive,
autobiographical novel is conveyed graphically with fluid line work,
assured compositions, and powerful use of solid black areas and negative
space.
The Gates of Hell: A Mystery of Alexander the Great by Paul C.
Doherty (FICTION MYSTERY Doherty)
It is 334 B.C., and Alexander the Great has marched southward through Asia
Minor to the outskirts of the Persian city of Halicarnassus, overlooking
the Aegean sea and the Greek islands. Paul Doherty, British author and
historian, integrates his research from primary sources to create the
third story of his series on Alexander. His descriptions of costume,
customs, weaponry, and battle are stunning and give a riveting sense of
reality. Alexander's trusted boyhood friend and personal physician,
Telamon, uses his powers of detection to solve a "locked room"
death and decipher a mysterious manuscript.
Angels and Demons by Dan Brown (FICTION Brown)
This is the first story by Dan Brown featuring Robert Langdon, a religious
symbolism specialist, with the second being the best seller, The Da Vinci
Code. There is a secret society, a papal conclave, an assassin, mysterious
ambigrams, antimatter, a plot against the Vatican, and philosophizing on
the eternal conflict between religion and science. This is a fast-paced
thriller.
Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas by Tom Robbins (FICTION Robbins)
Robbins wrote a multi-layered, Zeitgeist-rich, phantasmagorically funny
story featuring, among other things, a stock market crash, a born-again
monkey, tarot cards, Timbuktu, a unique piece of art, and frogs. The book
is a whirlwind of mad incidents and semi-profound observations on life,
love and global issues.
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Reviewed in 2003
Carol Maloney, Reference Department, McAuliffe Library
Addictive Reading - Unconventional stories of
addiction and recovery
A Million Little Pieces by James Frey (362.29 Frey)
With an unexpected, stylized structure that is brutally descriptive,
energized and engaging, James Frey’s A Million Little Pieces
leads the reader through an odyssey of detoxification and recovery. Only
twenty-three, Frey has consumed heroic amounts of drugs and alcohol since
childhood, and touches bottom when he awakes on a plane with his face
swollen shut, teeth crushed, covered in muck, and no memory of the events
that put him there. His mantra is simple: “I am an Alcoholic and I am a
drug Addict and I am a Criminal.” His story is alternately shocking and
pitiful. His style is offbeat and unconventional.
Running with Scissors: A Memoir, and Dry. Both by Augusten
Burroughs (B/Burroughs, A.)
In Running with Scissors, Burroughs introduces himself and his
decidedly twisted “family.” His alcoholic father is mostly absent and
his mentally unstable mother ultimately gives him away to her therapist,
whose household includes several wild children, biological and found; some
patients; and an adopted 33-year-old pedophile with whom the
then-13-year-old Augusten has his first affair. School is not mandatory,
and free time is spent experimenting with everything that surrounds him in
this madhouse of squalor: prescription drugs, sexuality and the vintage
electroshock machine under the stairs.
The adult Augusten picks up the story with Dry, which finds him
constantly and excessively drunk, yet surprisingly successful as an
advertising executive in New York City. The two-martini happy hour is
something to which he aspires: dozens of drinks and endless nights and
days of blacked-out binges prevail. Once his employer forcibly suggests he
enter rehab, Burroughs faces self-discovery he hadn’t anticipated. Upon
his release after 30 days, the challenges of returning to life sober
nearly consume him. Burroughs’ flip, candid delivery engages humor
rather than self-pity to convey his fantastic story.
Sherry Baker, Assistant Branch Librarian
Crow Lake by Mary Lawson (Fiction)
This beautifully written first novel, set in rural Ontario, is a story of
family dynamics, sibling relationships, tragedy and redemption.
Seven-year-old Kate, her toddler sister and two teenaged brothers are
suddenly orphaned and left to fend for themselves. Twenty years later
Kate, now a successful zoologist and professor, reunites with her siblings
and finally comes to terms with her past.
Chili Queen by Sandra Dallas (Fiction)
Dallas brings 1860s New Mexico to life in this entertaining historical novel. The story is told in four parts, each by a different narrator. The main characters are Addie, a brothel madam,
Ned, a handsome bank robber, Emma, a jilted mail-order bride and Welcome, a former slave employed by Addie as a cook. Together they weave a story filled with humor and
charm.
The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio: How My Mother Raised 10 Kids on 25
Words or Less by Terry Ryan (Biography/Ryan Family)
Terry Ryan tells her mother's true story with humor and admiration. To support her growing family and alcoholic husband, Evelyn Ryan wrote jingles and entered contests, winning
everything from candy bars to a convertible. Family photographs and contest entries add
extra interest to this story of one woman's determination in the face of adversity.
Good in Bed
by Jennifer Weiner (Fiction)
Cannie Shapiro, a 28-year-old reporter, is humiliated when her
ex-boyfriend writes about their relationship, and her weight issues, in
his magazine column (called “Good in Bed”). Her entertaining, and not
very realistic, adventures help her make peace with her plus-size body.
Rebecca Berkowitz, Main Library Reference Department
Abraham: A Journey to the Heart of Three Faiths
by Bruce Feiler (221.9Feiler)
Bruce Feiler explores the biblical figure of Abraham, patriarch of Christianity, Islam and
Judaism in this highly readable combination of history, travel and spiritual memoir. Feiler
diligently researches Abraham as he is understood and experienced in all three faiths by
interviewing, studying and visiting with clergy and religious scholars from each religion.
There is much divergence and dispute uncovered here but also common reverence for the
first monotheist and the metaphor he has become. This short accessible book is witty,
passionate, and articulate in seeking mutual respect and peace.
Tepper
Isn’t Going Out by Calvin Trillin (Fiction Trillin)
This laugh-out-loud account of Murray Tepper’s attempt to park in New
York City and read the newspaper in peace pokes gentle fun at the culture
and mores of the Big Apple and its denizens. The book is a short easy
read, which harkens back to an era before 9/11 when life, if not simpler,
was certainly sillier.
In Revere, In Those Days
by Roland Merullo (Fiction Merullo)
This coming-of-age story of a boy growing up in an Italian neighborhood of
Revere, Massachusetts, in the 1960s has something for everyone. Boomers
will love the nostalgia. Many grandchildren of immigrants will recognize
their grandparents. Local history buffs and sociologists can trace the
evolution of neighborhoods and class distinctions. Young adults will
relate to the challenges of growing up. Besides all that, this is a great
story beautifully written which explores life and death, love and loss,
choices and consequences. How’s that for three hundred pages?
Lost in America: A Journey with My Father by Sherwin
Nuland (B Nuland, S. Nuland)
Sherwin Nuland is a Yale-trained physician who has had a successful career
as a surgeon and as a writer of award winning nonfiction. Those are the
facts and “here’s the rest of the story.” Nuland has written a
highly personal and unflinchingly honest memoir of growing upin the Bronx
with immigrant parents. His mother dies when he is eleven leaving him and
his surviving brother to grow up with his father and an embittered maiden
aunt. His father is limited by lack of education, much personal loss and
debilitating illness. His brother spent adolescence recovering from
rheumatic fever. The resulting relationship between father and son was
complex and ambivalent. Lest you think this book is all angst, Nuland has
a wonderful way with words and despite his own challenges certainly
prevails in life and makes a kind of peace with the past.
Kristine McElman, Periodicals
Supervisor
Life in the Middle East
Here are
a few titles to help understand the world we live in during these
turbulent times.
The
Nine Parts of Desire: The Hidden World of Islamic Women by
Geraldine Brooks (305.48)
Geraldine Brooks was a foreign correspondent for The Wall Street
Journal in the Middle East. While on assignment, her Egyptian
translator and friend suddenly decided to “adopt the veil” and
declined an opportunity to study at Harvard University. Why would a woman
in these modern times choose such a restrictive life? This question
prompted the author to explore Islam, the worlds fastest-growing religion,
and how it is affecting the lives of women worldwide.
A Sky So Close by Betool Khedairi (Fiction)
A young girl with an Iraqi father and English mother comes of age in
Baghdad. When war breaks out, she and her mother move to England where she
tries to adjust to the differences between the East and the West and
wonders which world she really belongs in.
My Forbidden Face: Growing Up Under The Taliban: A Young Woman’s
Story by Latifa (305.42)
This is the story of “Latifa,” a 16-year-old girl from Afghanistan and
how her life changed when the Taliban took control of the country. She is
now 23 years old and living in exile in Paris.
If these books sound interesting, you might want to consider these as
well:
West of Kabul, East of New York
by Tamim Ansary (973.04927)
Honor Lost: Love and Death in Modern Day Jordan by Norma
Khouri (305.42)
Neither East, Nor West: One Woman’s Journey The Islamic Republic
of Iran by Christiane Bird (955.054)
Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books by Azar
Nafisi (Biography)
The Price of Honor: Muslim Women Lift the Veil of Silence on the
Islamic World by Jan Goodwin (305.48697)
Also,
don’t forget to check out our magazine
collection for up-to-date information on our ever-changing world
Elise MacLennan, Assistant Director
Ready to be immersed in the details of another world? This pair
of historical novels has much in common although they are very different
in style. Both are lengthy; just perfect for a week at the beach!
The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber (Fiction)
This story of an intelligent young woman named Sugar, forced into
prostitution at age 13 by her mother, is set in 1870s London. William
Rackham, a young and confused perfume business heir, falls in love with
Sugar and makes her his exclusive mistress. Sugar’s intelligence becomes
useful to William on many levels, and he seeks her advice about matters of
business, removes her from poverty and the public eye, and finally
installs her in his home as a governess to his daughter Sophie. This
arrangement leads to complication and their familiarity to the proverbial
contempt. Faber’s attention to the minutia of daily life and to
character development make this a “can’t-put-down” novel.
Memoirs of a Geisha by
Arthur Golden (Fiction)
The
tale of the slow transformation of nine-year-old Chiyo, sold by her father
after her mother's death, into Sayuri, a beautiful geisha accomplished in
the art of entertaining men. Sayuri is trained to dance, sing and perform
the tea ceremony, all with the purpose of attracting men to pay money for
her company. With age, experience, and some powerful friends, Sayuri
becomes a tremendous success in the realm of the okiya. As modern life
interferes with age-old traditions, Sayuri must then call on her natural
intelligence to succeed in the outside world as well. This fascinating
peek into the details of the culture will cure your curiosity about the
mysterious and private world of geishas.
Paula Marsh, McAuliffe Branch
The Life of Pi
by Yann Martel (Fiction)
Shipwrecked with a 450-pound Bengal tiger, a wounded zebra, a spotted
hyena and a seasick orangutan is Pi Patel, 16, son of a zookeeper from
Pondicherry, India. Pi struggles to survive for 227 endless days at sea.
An award-winning adventure tale, Martel’s second novel has a magical
quality interwoven with the grisly truths of the animal world. His
rescuers do not believe this outrageous menagerie so Pi creates a more
convincing, very plausible tale. The reader is left to decide which is the
truth.
The Secret Life of Bees
by Sue Monk Kidd (Fiction)
With the passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Rosaleen, black
caretaker of fourteen-year-old white Lily Owen, goes to town to register to vote. She
ends up jailed, then hospitalized. Lily decides to leave town with
Rosaleen to find answers about her mother who died 10 years before. Lily
has a picture, once her mother's, of a black Madonna with the words “Tiburon, South Carolina”
written on the back. They arrive in Tiburon and
are taken in by May, June, and August Boatwright, three loving and eccentric
black sisters who keep bees. Lily’s questions about her mother are
finally answered while she learns life’s lessons on race and gender.
Female friendships, the black Madonna and the healing power
of honey all play a part in this Southern Gothic novel.
The Dive from Clausen's Pier
by Ann Packer (Fiction)
Carrie Bell, 23, is engaged to her high school sweetheart. She
has grown disenchanted with her life in small town Madison,
Wisconsin, where a diving accident has left her fiancée a
quadriplegic. Torn between being selfless or selfish, she chooses to go to
New York City, and discovers a different life – one filled with fashion,
friendships and love. It is not clear until the very end what Carrie will
do. Will she choose New York City or Madison? Her moral dilemma will have
readers turning inward for their own resolution.
Disobedience: A Novel
by Jane Hamilton ( Fiction)
Get to know the Shaws of Chicago - Kevin,
a high school history teacher; Beth, a pianist and antique music
specialist, their children--Henry, a lonely high school senior and Elvira,
13, a Civil War enthusiast. Analyzed through the character of Henry, this
mid-western family proves to be anything but ordinary. Henry looks at his
mother’s email and discovers she is having an affair. Elvira insists on
wearing only hand sewn Union Soldier uniforms. This quirky family’s
fascination with the past will amuse you in this, the author’s fourth
novel. Also by Hamilton: The Book of Ruth,
A Map of the World and The Short History of a Prince.
Emily
Center, Assistant Supervisor, Children's Services
Murder,
Mayhem, Crime, and Punishment…stories with a flair for the treacherous
The Dante Club by
Matthew Pearl (Mystery Pearl)
1865, Boston – The
plans of the Dante Club, a group of intellectuals preparing the first
American translation of Dante’s The Divine Comedy, are brought to an
abrupt halt when a series of brutal murders mirroring the punishments of
The Inferno break out in Boston. Matching wits against the police force,
the Harvard highbrows, and the murderer, The Dante Club furiously seeks to
connect the literary murders with a perpetrator, before their scholarly
world comes tumbling down. www.thedanteclub.com
The Princess Bride
by William Goldman (Y Fiction Goldman)
After Stew and Taxes but before
Glamour, Florin – Buttercup’s
near-tragic story is well known—how she is engaged to the rapscallion
Prince Humperdink, how she is kidnapped by Vizzini to start a war, how the
Dread Pirate Roberts, who killed her true love, rescues her and lands her
in the perilous Fire Swamp. It’s a classic faery tale, setting schemes,
mayhem, vengeance, and torture (coupled with daring swordfights,
treacherous landscapes, and royal villains) against imperfect magic and
true love.
Island of Lost Maps
by Miles Harvey (364.162 2000 Harvey)
Since Cartography, the World of Maps – Maps! Kings killed for
them, explorers thieved them, cartographers counterfeited them, and
Gilbert Bland, Jr., stole them, slash-and-dash, from research libraries
across the continent. In this piece of investigative writing, Miles Harvey
reveals the intriguing subculture of map aficionados, tracing the history
of cartography, exploration, the lure of the unknown, and the villainy
that has always accompanied them. “A True Story of Cartographic Crime.”
Holes
by Louis Sachar (J Fiction Newbery Sachar)
Summer, Camp Green Lake – Nothing about Camp Green Lake is
green, and there is no lake. And it isn’t much of a camp, just a lot of
trouble-making boys with names like Armpit and X-Ray digging holes day
after day in the hot, hot sun under the watchful eyes of the Warden and
the yellow-spotted lizards. But there is more to this narrative puzzle
than holes and lizards—there are truth and fate, punishment and
redemption, onions and spiced peaches, and a
no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing great-great-grandfather….
Kathy Marscher, Main Library Reference
Librarian
The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency by
Alexander McCall Smith (Fiction)
Read this heart-warming and humorous story about Mma Ramotswe’s moral
tenacity at “fixing” the problems that arise when modern culture
clashes with Botswana’s heritage of witchcraft, arranged marriages, and
defined gender roles. The heart of Africa symbolically beats in the soul
of the charming main character Mma Ramotswe, who proudly succeeds “by
the seat of her pants” as her country’s first woman private detective.
Dealing effectively with the business’s colorful customers helps her to
slowly embrace the possibility of a future that will neither compromise
her new confidence nor take her back to the struggles of her past. The fun
continues in several sequels.
Nothing That Meets the Eye: The Uncollected Stories of Patricia
Highsmith. (Fiction)
Posthumously released, these brilliantly crafted and powerful short
stories by Patricia Hindsmith are well suited to the busy reader with a
taste for Hitchcock-style suspense. She masterfully develops tantalizing
psychological portrayals of seemingly innocent characters and everyday
events. It is difficult to predict the twist each story will take,
sometimes with shocking results. Pick and choose from 23 crisply written,
subtly bizarre stories.
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay
by Michael Chabon. (Fiction)
Set in pre-WWII New York City, Chabon’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel
tells the story of Samuel Klayman (Clay), a writer who teams up with his
artist cousin from Prague, Josef Kavalier, to become cartoonists for the
popular super-hero world of “Empire Comics.” Originally written for
adults, the cartoons serve as a balm against the “evil empires” of
WWII for both the creators and their fans. Of note is the mentoring role
that the Hungarian escape artist Harry Houdini plays for Kavalier. This
super-hero world provides a rich backdrop for the character development of
the Kavalier/Clay team. Revealing and heart wrenching, this lengthy story
spans decades, yet deserves a sequel.
Kelly Sprague, Main Library Circulation
Department
Eagerly awaiting the rebirth of
spring?
Keep company with Anna Quindlen’s characters who are
full of renewal and reawakened expectations of life and love. Celebrate
the vernal equinox! All of these titles
are by
Anna Quindlen.
Blessings (Fiction)
An act of child abandonment launches this tale of redemptive love. The
usual blessing seems not to be one for a teenage couple who leave their
newborn on the garage steps of Blessings, an old family estate. A troubled
young groundskeeper finds the infant and chooses the life of care and
devotion that the baby’s parents have rejected. Lydia Blessing, the
octogenarian who presides over the old house and its history of secrecy
and sadness, joins him in this secret endeavor. Quindlen’s characters
are interesting and her view of love and family compelling.
One True Thing
(Fiction)
Ellen Gulden is a bright, hard-charging 24-year-old when she is called
home to care for her mother after a cancer diagnosis. Her much-admired
father has summoned her for this job with no thought for Ellen or her
budding career. In the weeks that follow she discovers the depth she didn’t
know her mother possessed. The novel opens with Ellen’s thoughts from a
jail cell after being accused of a mercy killing. Ellen’s transforming
journey is a tale of awakening and insight into the life of the heart.
Living Out Loud
(Nonfiction 081)
This is a collection of Quindlen’s work from her days as a columnist for
the
New York Times. It is a lovely collection of reflections on
family, work, and life. Susan Isaacs summed Quindlen’s work up nicely:
“Anna Quindlen’s beat is life, and she’s one hell of a terrific
reporter.”
Black
And Blue (Fiction)
Quindlen writes about big moments in life, moments of chaos and crisis and
conflict. She tackles the subject of domestic abuse with a keen eye in the
story of Fran and her abusive husband Bobby. She takes a steady look at
the loss in a child’s world when violence forces a family apart and
leaves 10 year old Robert with a new, and unchosen, life. There is renewal
and hope in a different and safer life, but shadows of that former
existence live on.
Also by Quindlen:
Thinking Out Loud (Nonfiction 814.54)
Object Lessons (Fiction)
How Reading Changed My Life (Biography)
Wendy Singleton, McAuliffe Branch
Circulation Department
Traveling Light
by Katrina Kittle. Fiction.
Summer Zwolenick, a 26-year old ex-ballet dancer whose career was cut
short by a riding accident, is now a high school teacher. She is called
home to help care for her brother Todd, who is dying of AIDS. She moves in
with her brother and his lover Jacob, who is unfailingly supportive,
always by his side. She watches her brother share both his struggle and
his joy with Jacob. As these difficult days pass slowly, Todd's condition
deteriorates. Summer will come to terms with life, death, relationships,
and her father's enigmatic, long ago injunction to "travel
light." She will learn that true love transcends all illness and the
cruelty of time. But it will be when she tries to fulfill the promise her
brother asked of her years ago that Summer will meet her greatest
challenge–and realize how truly fortunate she is. This is a wonderfully
moving story of love in all its variations.
Durable Goods by Elizabeth Berg. Fiction.
Elizabeth Berg’s passion for writing is evident in this first novel. It
is a particularly lyrical coming-of-age story narrated by a 12-year- old
named Katie. Katie’s mother died of cancer. She and her older sister
Diane are now at the mercy of their father, an army officer with an
explosive temper and a heavy hand. The reader struggles along with the
girls as they cope with the burdens of growing up with a volatile father
and no mother.
Accustomed to the military lifestyle, Katie leads a fairly normal life.
She spends time writing poetry, swimming and discussing boys with her best
friend Cherylanne. However, Diane longs for love and adventure, and she risks
getting beaten to sneak off with her boyfriend every night. Then the
inevitable happens… the military has reassigned them to a Missouri Army
base. While Katie tries to accept the change, 18-year-old Diane rebels.
She can no longer tolerate her father’s abuse, and runs away with her
boy friend. Katie’s admiration for her strong-willed sister leads her on
an adventure that transforms her life. While traveling with her sister,
she realizes how much she loves and misses her father and returns home.
Katie epitomizes the quality her father prizes: emotional durability.
Stephen Russell, Main Library
Circulation Department
The Barbarians
are Coming by David Wong Louie (fiction)
It is 1978 and Sterling Lung, the 26-year-old American-born son of Chinese
immigrants, has been rebelling against his culture and his parents his
entire life. Unfortunately, everywhere he turns he is forced to confront
his heritage. Instead of going to medical school, as his parents wanted,
Sterling becomes a chef and gets a job at an affluent ladies club in
Connecticut. Sterling wants to cook French cuisine but the club members
only let him cook Chinese food. His parents want him to marry the Chinese
picture-bride they have chosen for him even as his girlfriend announces
she is pregnant. When the rights to his cable TV cooking show are sold,
Sterling is forced to play the stereotypical Chinese cook, complete with
phony accent.
This novel is written with wit and humor, but its true power lies in
Sterling’s troubled and distant relationship with his father. His
parents are dismayed that Sterling is so Westernized, but ironically this
is precisely why they chose “lean lives among the barbarians” so
Sterling would be spared “Mao and dreary collectivism, shared destiny,
rationed rice and the communal butt-rag." In the father and son
scenes, Louie captures the bitter irony and complex realities of
Chinese-American life.
The Middle Son by Deborah Iida (fiction)
Set in the sugar cane fields of Hawaii during the 1950’s, this story
revolves around the Japanese tradition of the oldest son giving “extra"
sons to childless siblings. Spencer Fujii is the “middle son” of
first-generation Japanese-American sugar cane plantation workers. Spencer,
bound by honor and family, returns to his childhood home on Maui to aid
his dying mother. While taking care of her he is forced to confront the
facts of his elder brother’s childhood death, for which he is
responsible, and also to come to terms with the past and the ghosts that
haunt him. Iida expertly portrays the hardship of living with a burden of
guilt and poignantly plunges the depths of familial love.
Edinburgh by Alexander Chee (fiction)
Edinburgh is a stunningly poetic novel that deals with the legacy of child
sexual abuse in a frank but unsensational manner. It tells the story of
Fee, a 12-year-old Korean-American boy living in Maine. The lives of Fee
and his friends are destroyed by a pedophile, their choir director, who
goes by the name Big Eric. Fee evades Eric’s advances but he does not
tell his parents or his other friends. Although Big Eric is finally
caught, the boys cannot escape the effect of what has happened. Fee’s
best friend, Peter, becomes self-destructive and eventually kills himself,
as does Zach, another one of Eric’s victims.
The second half of the novel takes place years later when Fee is an adult.
He returns to Maine to teach high school. Fee has lived with guilty
feelings of complicity in the victimization of his friends, and their
deaths. Outwardly he explains his failure to report Big Eric as based on the
fear that Big Eric would kill him. Inwardly he believed that exposing Big
Eric would expose his own homosexuality, even though he knows there is a
difference between what Eric is and what he is. The story comes full
circle when Big Eric’s son shows up and Fee is instantly attracted to
him. Chee balances the heavy material in this book with beautiful prose
and animal imagery from Korean folklore.
Top
Reviewed
in 2002
Recommended by Phyllis
Clopper, Assistant Circulation Supervisor, Main Library
Turncoat by Aaron Elkins (Fiction)
In the wake of President Kennedy’s assassination, a European history
professor in New York City is jolted out of his ordinary existence by
the sudden arrival and subsequent murder of his French father-in-law.
When Pete Simon’s wife Lily disappears, he begins a dangerous journey
that takes him through Europe where he comes face to face with the
horrors of the Nazi regime, the world of collaborators, saboteurs and
his wife’s wartime past. Elkins, the author of “Loot,” has written
another intelligent and unpredictable, but not frenetic, thriller with
extraordinary plot twists that will keep the reader in suspense to the
end.
No Stone Unturned: The Story of NecroSearch International by Steven Jackson (363.25 Jackson)
This is a fascinating account of the founding of NecroSearch
International by a dedicated group of scientists, behavioralists,
criminalists and other specialists who together use their expertise and
the latest technology to locate missing bodies. Jackson chronicles the
creation of this organization by an extraordinary team, dubbed the Pig
People, who began by burying pig carcasses in order to develop new and
better techniques for finding missing victims, analyzing evidence and
solving crimes. This is a very well-written and compelling book that
will appeal to readers of True Crime as well as mystery buffs.
Open Season by Linda Howard (Fiction)
This is a fast-paced, highly amusing tale of a stereotypical small-town
librarian who is dissatisfied with her boring life. Daisy Minor decides
to transform her drab appearance, her hum-drum lifestyle and her slim
prospects for romance. Likeable characters, witty dialog, and a
contemporary, suspenseful storyline with a satisfying ending all
combine to make this a very entertaining novel.
Jane
Peck, McAuliffe Branch Librarian
Food, Glorious Food!
Although November is the month that promises great feasts and lots of
comfort food, many of us have little time to cook. Reading about food
can be just as rewarding and is certainly better for our waistlines!
Here are several books guaranteed to please both your culinary and
reading palates:
Ruth Reichl presents essays and recipes from Gourmet magazine in Endless Feasts: Sixty Years of Writing from Gourmet (641.5). The essays are from such culinary luminaries as James Beard and M.F.K Fisher and from literary stars including Pat
Conroy, Madhur Jaffrey and E. Annie Proulx.
If escaping to sunnier climes from the cloudiest month of the year is
not in your budget this November, join other armchair travelers and
gourmands who have loved the book Under the Tuscan Sun: At Home in
Italy
(914.55) by Frances Mayes. Join Mayes on her travels through the
Italian countryside as she creates fabulous food and renews her spirit
in the warmth of Tuscany. Then, read Peter Mayle’s A Year in Provence
(944.9), which features less food and more house restoration! Both
books capture the history and charm of popular sunny European locations
and are a great antidote to too many cloudy days.
Those who prefer lost love and family turmoil with their feasting can try
Like Water for Chocolate
(Fiction), a magical novel by Laura Esquivel. Each chapter begins with
a recipe and careful instructions but the amazing and passionate events
that develop flood this delightful tale with heartbreak and true love.
Suddenly your own family seems quite charming! Happy Thanksgiving.
Heather Pisani-Kristl, Young Adult Librarian
Muddling Through Middle School
It’s the best of times; it’s the worst of times… read about middle school in all its hormonal glory.
Born Too Short: The Confessions of an Eighth-Grade Basket Case by Dan
Elish. Y Fiction.
Even perfect people can run into bad luck. Matt finds this difficult to
believe, though. When his superstar friend Keith shoots an air ball
during the final seconds of the school basketball tournament, Matt is
sure he’s put an evil spell on Keith… by being completely, totally,
obscenely jealous of him. Combine this with Matt’s sudden good luck in
the girl department, and you’ve got one confused guy on your hands.
Will Matt be able to lower his Jealousy Quotient to restore his
friendship with Keith, or will he revel in his own good fortune and
leave Keith to suffer alone in Loserhood?
Just Ask Iris by Lucy Frank. J Fiction.
12-year-old Iris Diaz-Pinkowitz has three big problems. First, she
can’t leave the apartment without her older brother. Second, she has to
learn Dr. Mildred Dornbush’s typing method before she starts school
next month. Third, she needs a bra, but Mami won’t admit it. In the
face of these obstacles, Iris begins her own business on the fire
escape and helps the residents of her New York apartment building.
The Misfits by James Howe. Y Fiction.
The Gang of Five – of which there are four members – have been
considered outcasts since kindergarten. When they write down a list of
insults they’ve had thrown at them (“fatso, fairy, beanpole,
nerdette”), they come up with more than 70 names. They’ve been told
that names will never hurt them, but when the Gang of Five becomes the
No-Name Party and runs for student council at Paintbrush Falls Middle
School, Addie, Bobby, Skeezie and Joe find out just how much
name-calling has affected them and their friendships with other people.
Jacqueline
Barillet, Assistant
Circulation Supervisor, Main Library
One new book, and three on a theme.
True to Form by Elizabeth Berg. Fiction.
This is the third (after Durable Goods and Joy
School)
in Berg’s series about Katie, a thirteen-year-old who loses her mother
and lives with her abusive father while dealing with teenage struggles.
What makes the story wonderful is the humor, sweetness and wisdom of
the girl as she learns from friendships, a priest, neighbors and the
elderly couple she cares for as a summer job. Readers will be touched
and inspired while laughing out loud.
If
readers of Anne Perry, the celebrated writer of Victorian mysteries, find themselves looking for something similar but
different, they might try these three:
White Crow by Cynthia Peale (aka Nancy Zaroulis). Fiction/Mystery.
The best so far of a series (Death of Colonel Mann and Murder at Bertram’s
Bower)
set in Victorian Boston. The brother-sister detectives live on Beacon
Hill, and it’s fun to follow the familiar locations. This one concerns
a death during a séance - these were apparently popular at the time -
and includes questions of truth or fakery as well as the portrayal of
the social classes and roles of the time.
Thief-taker: Memoirs of a Bow Street Runner by T. F. Banks. Fiction/Mystery.
This is set in London earlier in the 19th century, around 1815, and
portrays the Bow Street of Anne Perry fame at an earlier stage of its
development. The detective is required to investigate the death of a
young gentleman against the wishes of his superiors, and becomes
involved with quite a rough element. He offers a fascinating insight
into the world of Victorian class, crime and police corruption.
Daughter of the Game by Tracy Grant. Fiction.
Also set in the early 19th century during and after the Spanish war
against Napoleon, this is a light, swashbuckling sort of mystery. An upper-class London couple must find the kidnappers of their
young son, who demand an unusual ransom. The story involves multiple
layers of wartime heroism and romance, treachery and betrayal, and dark
secrets on the part of both man and wife. Although not deeply written,
the action and plot twists are entertaining and the history intriguing.
Mary
Wasmuth, Collection
Development Librarian
Community
Reads. Books that touch on the meaning of community have found a large
audience in recent years. Here are some you may have missed.
A Gathering of Old Men by Ernest Gaines. Fiction.
A Cajun farmer is killed. When the sheriff arrives, he’s met by dozens
of elderly African-American men and one white woman—all carrying shotguns and claiming to be the killer. As the
confrontation evolves, a great deal is revealed about the nature and
loss of the area’s black sharecropping community, and about human
dignity. This complex novel about racially intertwined lives and
hostility in 1979 rural Louisiana provides no easy answers. Gaines’s A
Lesson Before Dying deals with a similar community in the 1940s.
Blue Diary by Alice Hoffman. Fiction.
When the hero of a small Massachusetts town is arrested for a murder
he committed long ago, the reaction of the townspeople differs sharply
and painfully from that of his wife and son, in this novel by a fine
writer with mixed feelings about small-town life. Other Alice Hoffman
books that touch on community: Seventh Heaven, River King.
That Night by Alice McDermott. Fiction.
A long, leisurely suburban summer night is shattered when a teenaged boy
appears, along with his gang, to fight for the girl he loves. McDermott
recreates life in a hopeful 1960s suburb in loving detail as she unfolds
the story of how the pain of adolescent longing and loss pierces the
innocence of the community and of the novel’s ten-year-old narrator.
Mohawk by Richard Russo. Fiction.
A decaying manufacturing town. A varied cast of flawed, endearing
characters connected by geographic proximity, shared history, and a web
of secrets. These hallmarks of Richard Russo’s fiction characterize
his first novel, set in late-1960s Mohawk, New York, where the leather
tanneries are in decline, and the emergency room, the town diner, the
bars and late-night poker games form the heart of community life.
Community is a theme of all of Richard Russo’s novels.
Some other books that deal with community: Plainsong and Where
You Once Belonged by Kent Haruf, The Bean Trees
and Pigs in Heaven by Barbara Kingsolver, Where The
Heart Is by Billie Letts, the Big Stone Gap
trilogy by Adriana Trigiani, River Cross My Heart by
Breena Clarke, and The Bird Artist by Howard Norman.
Elise MacLennan, Assistant Director
Three
Big Fat Juicy Novels
Like your books to go on and on (and on)? Want to take “just one”
for a week away? Try these three on for size…sometimes, good things come in large packages.
The
Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver (Fiction) 560 pages
This Oprah pick is the story of the family of Nathan Price, a fierce,
evangelical Baptist who takes his family and mission to theBelgian Congo
in 1959. Reverend Price's mission is to convert the natives in a small
village where the Price family is assigned. The novel is set during the
Congo's fight for independence from Belgium. As the political climate in
the Congo deteriorates, the family is warned that they must leave;
however, Reverend Price will not go until the villagers are baptized.
Orleanna Price and her daughters-- teenaged Rachel; adolescent twins
Leah and Adah; and five year old Ruth May, narrate the forty-year saga
that the Prices and the Congo share.
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon
(Fiction) 656 pages
This imaginative novel traces the fantastic adventures of two Jewish
cousins, one American and one Czech, who grow up to create comic books
in 1939 New York. During the rise of Nazism, Joe Kavalier escapes from
Prague and immigrates to America. He teams up with his Brooklyn cousin,
Sammy Clay, to create comic book characters that act out the dreams of
their creators. Meanwhile, both men become involved with the same woman,
the alluring Rosa Saks. Joe and Sammy’s story is a riveting look at
the immigrant experience as well as a fascinating introduction to the
golden age of comics.
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy (Fiction) 1002 pages!
The biggest, baddest, and saddest of them all, Anna Karenina has been
called both the greatest novel ever written and anineteenth century Russian soap opera. You decide! Anna, her serious
husband Karenin, and her dashing lover Count Vronsky, make a tragic triangle set against the Russian societal taboos
of the time. When Anna fights Karenin for a divorce and custody of their
son, she comes up against the truth of her own helplessness. Get out
your handkerchiefs!
Kelly Sprague, Main Library Circulation Department
Consider
These, Oprah!
The library has launched its campaign to urge Oprah Winfrey to
reconsider her decision to stop her on-air book club. To help with that
effort, here are my suggestions for a few titles she could use to get
the club rolling again.
Meeting
Of The Waters by Kim McLarin.
Fiction.
Meeting
of the Waters is both a love story and a study of race in America.
McLarin explores the fabric of relationships complicated by the haze of
race. Divided allegiances, split loyalties, and the pain of confronting
one's own prejudice fuel the emotional fire of this fine novel.
The
Many Lives And Secret Sorrows Of Josephine B.
by Sandra Gulland. Fiction.
In
this first of three novels inspired by the life of Josephine Bonaparte,
Sandra Gulland spins a rich and detailed version of this historic
figure's life. Told in the form of journal entries, Josephine's story
begins in exotic little Martinico and leads across oceans to the drama
of Europe in the time of Napoleon. This very engaging character has a
remarkable tale to tell and tells it well. Happily, Gulland finishes the
journey so nicely begun with Tales Of Passion, Tales Of Woe and The
Last Great Dance On Earth.
Empire
Falls by Richard Russo.
Fiction.
Empire
Falls is a clear look at a hardscrabble Maine town through the eyes
of a decent man. Miles Robey sees the web that previous generations have
spun around him, and has to decide what to accept and what to reject
from the way of life that his hometown offers. The characters spring to
life for the reader, and the atmosphere of Empire Falls comes fully
formed to the page. It is at once a very personal tale and a social
commentary on smalltown America.
Miriam Achenbach, Community Services Librarian
Twisted Sisters: The women in these books are all heroines in their own way…
Liar’s Club: A memoir by Mary Karr (B/Karr, M.)
About Liar’s Club, Molly Ivins wrote, “To have a poet's precision of language and a poet's insight into people applied
to one of the roughest, toughest, ugliest places in America is an astonishing event.” Mary Karr’s description of the
childhood provided by her dangerously whimsical, hard-drinking mother and tough/sweet, hard-drinking father is
breathtaking in its honesty. Followed by Cherry, the equally compelling story of Karr’s teen years.
Stern Men by Elizabeth Gilbert (Fiction)
This engaging first novel revolves around eighteen year old Ruth
Thomas, “an Austen heroine in a lobster boat.” Ruth is a sharp observer
of the Maine island on which she lives, but doesn’t completely belong.
On her return to her tiny native town after four years of boarding
school, her time on the fringe of the social life, politics and family
power plays around her give way to an almost inevitable, but
nonetheless satisfying, conclusion.
“Anita Blake, Vampire Slayer” series by Laurell K. Hamilton (Fiction)
Anita Blake raises the dead for a living. She lives in a world peopled by humans, vampires, trolls, were-wolves,
were-leopards, were-swans…well, you get the idea. In addition, she is one third of a potent triangle along with her
lovers: suave master vampire, Jean-Claude, and Richard, “sexy boy-scout” leader of a were-wolf pack. To appreciate
Anita’s evolution from simple zombie animator to potentially immortal power, start with
Guilty Pleasures, the first in the series, and follow through all ten titles to the most recent, Narcissus in
Chains. (Not for sissies, puritans, or those with a low tolerance for the undead.)
Carol Maloney, McAuliffe Branch Reference Department
Juneteenth by Ralph Ellison. (Fiction)
Ralph Ellison spent decades building an elaborate narrative, rich with memory and loaded with the vernacular of the
black church and jazz rhythm. When Ellison died in 1994, he left around 2,000 pages of manuscript for
Juneteenth,
his second novel. Ellison’s literary executor and editor, John
Callahan, culled this tome into the story of two characters: Adam
“Bliss” Sunraider, a white New England senator, and Alonzo “Daddy”
Hickman, the black Baptist minister who is part paternal figure to
“Bliss” and part political nemesis to Senator Sunraider. Yet when the
Senator is wounded by an assassin’s bullet, it is Daddy Hickman who is
summoned to the hospital, and it is in that room that the journey of
memories begins. We learn of the pair’s shared past and struggle with
them to figure their current predicament, both personal and political.
Juneteenth, or June 19, 1865, is considered the day when the last
slaves in American were freed, and for many African-Americans this date
is as symbolic of freedom as the Fourth of July.
All Over But the Shoutin’ by Rick Bragg. (070.92/Bragg, R./Bragg)
In this memoir of his childhood struggles in the poverty of Alabama, Bragg illuminates the worst of white southern
poverty, yet maintains a powerful respect for those who remain there, unable or uninterested in moving away as he did.
Bragg’s story is alternately humorous, wistful, angry and at times sad and regretful, but always engaging. He recalls his
mostly-absent, cruel, alcoholic father and the iron-willed mother who was left to raise three boys on the menial work she
could string together between her husband’s brief appearances. Winner of a Pulitzer Prize for feature writing in 1996,
Bragg crafts a compelling story that is rich with imagery.
The Story of Jane by Catherine Cusset. (Fiction)
Jane Cook, professor of French at an Ivy League college, discovers an
unsigned manuscript on her doorstep. This manuscript is a chronicle of
Jane’s love life, from her one-night stands to her unsuccessful
marriage. We read along with Jane, learning seemingly as she does at
times of the range of her exploits. The device of story within a story
successfully draws the reader into Jane’s quest to uncover the
manuscript’s author, with Cusset’s own voice coming through the
narrative as a commentary on self-image and self-knowledge.
Rebecca Berkowitz, Main Library Reference Department
Becoming American: Personal Essays by First Generation Immigrant Women, edited by Meri
Nana-Ama Danquah (305.48)
Every school child knows that America is a nation of immigrants. But, for the many of us who are now generations
removed from the immigrant experience, there is no collective memory. This book of essays written by first generation
women immigrants returns us to the process of “becoming American." The twenty-three authors, regardless of race or
ethnicity or the circumstances left behind, all experience America as home and not home. They strive to create an identity
that remains unique even while they struggle with being different. Their backgrounds are quite varied and their countries
of origin span the globe. Anyone could find much to think about and admire in their stories.
The Unknown Errors of Our Lives by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni. Fiction.
“Mrs. Dutta Writes a Letter” is my favorite story from this collection
of nine short stories. A young man’s mother comes to visit him and his
family in California. She is from India and brings with her vastly
different customs and expectations. Divakaruni masterfully presents the
disparity through the older woman’s eyes; her good intentions run
amuck, her daughter-in-law's frustration, her grandchildren’s
alienation, her son’s dilemma. She illuminates for us the eternal tug
between tradition and change--a dichotomy even more exaggerated by the
challenges of immigration to America from such a different culture.
Most of these stories address the conflicts created by familial love, duty and the havoc time wreaks with memory. They
are beautifully written, each independent and satisfying.
Mukiwa: A White Boy in Africa by Peter Godwin. B/Godwin.
This “coming of age story” is a heart-gripping account of much of what
happened in southern Africa in the second half of the twentieth
century. Peter Godwin, a white boy born of English parents living in
Africa, spent his childhood in Rhodesia in the waning days of white
rule. He shares matter-of-factly his adventures and experiences in this
land of wonders. Unfortunately as the political situation deteriorates,
war ensues. Godwin and his family will feel its full impact and the
reader will gain an unsentimental view free of nostalgia or hindsight
of the bloody transition to majority rule and the birth of Zimbabwe.
This is a noteworthy personal and historical saga, which remains
sensitive, intelligent, insightful and humane even in the heart of
darkness.
Maureen McCaffrey, Main Library Circulation Department
Bark If You Love Me by Louise
Bernikow. 636.7.
A not-so-classic girl-meets-boy story. Happily independent and single, writer Louise Bernikow has a chance encounter
while running along the river in New York City that changes her life. She finds herself captivated by warm, dark brown
eyes set in a ruggedly handsome face. He is homeless and she brings him into hers, breaking all her rules. She knows
nothing about his past, nor what a future with him will bring, but there is something about the way he licks her hand and
wags his tail that makes her fall in love at first sight with this four-legged boxer.
This is the delightful true tale of their first year together, getting to know each other and the world of dog-people, one
that was completely foreign to her before. Libro, as she named him, changes Louise’s outlook on life and the world
around her. He introduces her to the angst of parental separation when she leaves him for the first extended period, to
comparison shopping for dog food and to early morning walks regardless of the weather. He broadens her social circle
and eventually brings an introduction to another handsome stranger; this time the ruggedly handsome face belongs to a
man.
It is a story filled with humor and fascinating characters, a wonderful romp through the streets of New York. It’s a grin
from beginning to end.
Wish You Well by David Baldacci. Fiction.
In a departure from his usual thrillers, David Baldacci takes the story to coal country in the Appalachian Mountains. It is
a coming of age for 12-year-old Lou Cardinal and her younger brother, Oz. Tragic circumstances cause them to be sent,
with their ill mother, to live with their great-grandmother on the farm of their father’s childhood.
Lou has difficulty with her new environment; she greatly misses her beloved father and her life in New York City. Life in
the post-depression 1940’s in the rural farming community is difficult, money and education are scarce. She struggles
with learning to cope with no heat, no indoor plumbing and never-ending farm chores. All the while, she and her brother
wait for their silent mother to return to them. Slowly, they adjust and begin to heal.
The story takes a turn when a large natural gas company tries to buy the farm, but Lou’s great-grandmother refuses to
sell. With the powerful gas company and some of her greedy neighbors plotting against her, she digs in. Not all survive
the ensuing battle, which, in true Baldacci style, ends in a gripping courtroom struggle.
Written in a gentle style, Wish You Well is rich with interesting characters and a storyline that keeps the pages turning.
Resistance by Anita Shreve. Fiction.
Set in a small farming village in south Belgium during World War II,
the story is of love, survival, betrayal and the horror of war. Claire
and Henri Daussois are part of the underground resistance, hiding and
caring for Jews, Allied pilots and Belgian soldiers in their small
farmhouse. Claire acts as nurse and interpreter.
A 10-year-old local boy finds a downed plane in the fields near the
village. He discovers the pilot, Ted Brice, is seriously injured but
still alive. The boy, Jean Benoit, turns to Mme. Daussois for help and
she takes the pilot home to nurse him back to health, as she has done
for so many others. While Henri is away, Claire hides Lieutenant Brice
in their attic crawl space which is well hidden from the view of
possible village collaborators.
In the midst of the nightmare of Nazi occupation, Claire and Ted find a love that is doomed from the beginning but which
transforms their daily fear to a renewed hope for joy. They manage to forget the war for a brief time until it is brought
back with a shocking suddenness and dreadful horror.
Anita Shreve transports you to the village. You feel fear for young Jean watching from a hiding place as Nazi soldiers kill
villagers in an effort to locate the pilot. You experience the hope of the lovers, and the pain of betrayal.
It is a richly textured story. The ending will stay with you for a long time.
Top
Reviewed in 2001
Sherry Baker, McAuliffe Branch Reference Department
Ten Thousand Sorrows: The Extraordinary Journey of a Korean War Orphan
by Elizabeth Kim. 973.04957.
The child of a forbidden union between a Korean woman and an American
soldier, Kim is considered a non-person in her culture. She relates a
story of unimaginable suffering, including the "honor killing" of her
beloved mother by family members as she watches in horror.
Lost Bird of Wounded Knee: Spirit of the Lakota by Renee Sansom Flood. B/Lost Bird/Flood.
Following the massacre at Wounded Knee in 1890, Lost Bird is taken as a
"souvenir" by a Brigadier General Leonard Colby and raised by his
suffragist wife Clara. This is a fascinating story of her tragic life,
with much historical material about the women's movement-Clara was
closely associated with Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton-and
the exploitation of Native American culture.
Road Song: A Memoir by Natalie Kusz. B/Kusz, N.
Modern pioneers, the Kusz family, including six-year-old Natalie, moves
from Los Angeles to Alaska in 1969. Their story of struggle and
hardship begins, during their first winter, with the mauling and near
killing of Natalie by a neighbor's sled dog.
The Shelter of Each Other: Rebuilding Our Families by Mary
Pipher. 306.85.
A psychologist explores how families have changed in the last 20 years,
the new challenges parents face and ways families can become and remain
strong.
Jackie Barillet, Circulation Department. February
2001
Open House by Elizabeth Berg. Fiction.
At
the beginning of this quick, sweet story, a woman left by her husband
is wallowing in self-pity. As she starts to come out of it, she tries a
number of approaches, including opening her house to boarders and
working different odd jobs, and the results become funnier and lighter.
After some amusing twists and misunderstandings, she comes to a happy
ending.
Plain Truth by Jodi Picoult. Fiction.
A
young Amish girl is accused of killing a baby. Drawn into this
astounding situation is a worldly and disillusioned lawyer, who has to
figure out what happened as well as try to help. As this fascinating
plot unfolds, we think a good deal about how differently Amish people
see the world and human relationships. The characters are diverse and
appealing, the story touching, and you will probably be surprised at
the end.
Bee Season by Myla Goldberg. Fiction.
Liza,
the nine-year-old heroine, is the daughter of brilliant parents but is
considered a mediocre student until the spelling-bee season, when she
wins one bee after another. During the upheaval this causes in her
family, we are drawn into the inner worlds of Liza, her parents and her
older brother. Her struggle to overcome the various family pressures
and to find her own way is both heartwarming and uplifting.
Lying Awake by Mark Salzman. Fiction.
This
small gem of a book tells the story of a nun whose visions of God are
an inspiration to her sisters until the question arises whether they
are related to a medical condition. The detailed portrayal of her
day-to-day life and her experience of faith is vivid, luminous and
deeply touching. The process of resolution could be thought-provoking
and inspiring to readers of many backgrounds.
Phyllis Clopper, Main Library Circulation Department.
Code
to Zero by Ken Follett. Fiction.
This is a fast-paced tale of espionage, conspiracy, the Cold
War, the race for space, Harvard love and betrayal. Even the chapter
headings add to the tension as they lead us to the lift-off of Explorer I
from Cape Canaveral. Luke, a brilliant rocket scientist, wakes up in a
train station with no memory of who he is or how he got there. His search
for his identity is unique in its suspense as Luke manages to uncover his
background and expose the conspiracy to undermine America’s space
program. This intelligent thriller, with its memorable characters and
great plot twists, is Follett at his best.
The
Last Jew by Noah Gordon. Fiction.
In this remarkable historical novel of the Spanish
Inquisition, Noah Gordon brings to life the adventures of a young man,
alone in the world, who has vowed to honor his family and his faith by
remaining a Jew. As Yonah Toledano zigzags across Spain to evade his
Inquisitors, he earns his livelihood as shepherd, armorer, swordsman and
finally as respected physician. The compelling story of Yonah's survival
and his dual life as Old Christian and Secret Jew, the well-researched
background, wonderfully drawn characters and a highly satisfying
resolution all combine to make this an extraordinary work.
Death
of Innocents by Richard Firstman and Jamie Talan. 364.1523/Firstman.
When a 1978 crib death triggers a criminal investigation of a
family who has experienced multiple SIDS losses, the prosecutor uncovers a
long history of deceptive medical studies, misguided research projects, a
multi-million dollar SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) industry and
probable murder. Husband and wife journalists, Firstman & Talan, have
collaborated on a truly riveting and passionate true-crime narrative .
Dating
Big Bird. by Laura Zigman.
Fiction.
This contemporary novel about a successful 35-year-old career
woman who wants to have a child is handled with wit and wisdom. Ellen
Franck’s dissatisfaction with her life, her complicated personal and
professional relationships, her fervent desire to become a mother and the
steps she considers to achieve her goal all make this an intelligent,
touching and thought-provoking story.
The
Terrible Hours by Peter Maas. 359.93/Maas.
In
1939 the US Submarine Squalus with 53 men on board was grounded on the
ocean floor by a catastrophic malfunction of its equipment. This is the
fascinating true account of the heroic rescue of the surviving submariners
due to the genius and stubborn dedication of Swede Momsen, a Naval
engineer who had spent most of his career developing equipment for just
such a crisis. Peter Maas, a gifted investigative journalist, has made the
reader an eyewitness to the desperate mission to rescue the doomed men.
Harriet Hodgdon, Circulation Department. January
2001
My Cat, Spit McGee by Willie Morris. 636.8.
Author
Willie Morris (My Dog Skip) writes of his miraculous transformation
from cat hater to cat lover. He is at once perplexed, mystified and
awed as he immerses himself in cat personalities, human and feline,
particularly his adored all-white cat, Spit. Informative for the
"unenlightened"; a tender, amusing read for those already in love.
The PMS Outlaws by Sharyn McCrumb. Fiction.
Lawyers,
oblivious and otherwise; old men with a past; young women with a
grudge; psychiatric patients and husbands lost at sea connect three
ongoing story lines with a fine balance of suspense, humor and
compassion.
The Girl in Hyacinth Blue by Susan Vreeland. Fiction.
A
Dutch painting, perhaps by Vermeer, is the common thread binding the
chapters of this sensitive book into a cohesive whole. Beginning in the
present, the stories trace the painting back in time through its
various owners to its inception. The revelations and insights of the
characters are emotional and often heartbreaking. Well-written and
captivating.
My Grandfather's Blessings by Rachel Naomi Remen. 296.72.
An
ontological physician and counselor, the author writes with deep
feeling of the lifelong influence of her grandfather, an Orthodox
rabbi. Using stories and anecdotes, she distinguishes between helping
and serving others and describes the joy of blessing others through
word and deed.
Ruth Hurley, Main Library Circulation Department
Cause Celeb by Helen Fielding.
Fiction.
Written before Fielding’s two Bridget
Jones novels, Cause Celeb gives us another plucky heroine, who
becomes a relief worker in Africa after leaving behind a job in London’s
public relations world, and an unresolved relationship. When famine and a
massive refugee influx threaten her camp, she organizes a celebrity
fundraiser with both serious and comic results. A must-read for Bridget
fans.
Circle of Three by Patricia Gaffney. Fiction.
This is a warm novel about three
generations of women living in rural Virginia. Carrie is dealing with
grief and guilt after her husband’s unexpected death, Dana (Carrie’s
mother) is dealing with her own marriage and old age, and Ruth (Carrie’s
precocious daughter) is missing her father and trying to understand her
life. It’s moving yet humorous as the three women learn more about
themselves and each other.
The O’Reilly Factor by Bill O’Reilly. 979.929.
As the host of the Fox Channel news
program, O’Reilly takes on people, places, and things to reveal the
state of America. Telling it like it is with insight and humor, he makes
his book a fast read that makes you think.
Acts of Malice by Perri O’Shaughnessy. Fiction.
Nina O’Reilly is a tough but tenderhearted attorney
practicing law in Nevada. She
takes a case defending a prominent member of a Tahoe Ski Resort family
accused of murdering his brother. Some
characters from O’Shaughnessy’s previous books appear while Nina works
a case that becomes one of her most terrifying. The book moves at a breakneck speed, loaded with as many twists and
turns as an expert ski trail!
Recommended by
Sande
Marchetti, Main Library Circulation Department
The mystery novel is a favorite genre
with many of our patrons, including myself. Often in these books a
recurring character, “the detective,” (investigative journalist,
lawyer, forensic pathologist, etc.) will bring us instant recognition with
each consecutive book. We feel ourselves back in familiar territory with
an old friend. The following are three excellent examples of the best in
this field.
Margaret Maron’s popular Judge Deborah Knott series is set in the
Colleton County district of North Carolina. In Storm Track,
the seventh book of this series, the residents are contending with dual
threats. Hurricane Fran is gearing up offshore and the body of promiscuous
Lynn Bullock is found strangled in the Orchid Motel. Judge Knott, the
youngest of twelve children and the only girl, knows everyone in the
county and is never shy about poking her nose in all manner of suspicious
happenings. Maron immerses her readers in the colorful rural south where
intertwined family histories are common knowledge and some old-timers,
like Deborah’s unrepentant bootlegger father, still live by obsolete
customs. As the storm bears down more bodies turn up and Deborah slowly
learns the truth behind the killings. A rousing combination of natural
disaster and creative narrative make this book a recommended read.
William Tapply’s likable lawyer/sleuth Brady Coyne is featured in an
enjoyable series set in and around Boston. Preferring fishing to
practicing law, nevertheless Brady always makes time for helping out his
troubled friends. In Scar Tissue, the 17th in this series,
Brady is called in when a friend’s son mysteriously dies in a car
accident. Subtle investigations in the placid Boston suburb of Reddington
soon unearth a cover-up by local authorities and another death, this one
definitely a murder. Despite ominous warnings Coyne persists in his
sleuthing, earning our admiration for his perseverance and integrity.
Finally, a personal favorite of mine is Kathy Reichs’ Temperence
Brennan. Tempe is a forensic anthropologist who in Fatal Voyage
is once again called in to “tease posthumous tales from bones.”
Investigating a plane crash in the Smoky Mountains, Tempe stumbles across
a foot that doesn’t belong to any of the crash victims. When she tries
to identify its owner, she’s smeared by a politician desperate to
preserve the secrets of a group of power brokers who have gathered for
years at a nearby hunting lodge. Something sinister is going on, and Tempe
must unravel the mystery to save her reputation and her life. This is the
fourth involving novel featuring this sleuth and I can only hope she will
write more.
Recommended by
Paula
Marsh, McAuliffe Branch Circulation Department
Stretching Lessons by Sue
Bender. 291.4.
Stretching Lessons reacquaints us with the author of Plain
and Simple and Everyday Sacred. Bender shares
personal experiences whereby her spirituality has grown or
“stretched.” Her simple essays are honest, clear and insightful.
Anecdotes and affirmations abound. Simple illustrations add to the charm
of this book that is inspiring as well as healing.
The Christmas Box by
Richard Paul Evans. Fiction.
A quick read for the busy holiday season. Mary, a lonely, terminally ill
widow, has a young couple, Rick and Keri, along with Jenna, their
four-year-old daughter, move into the east wing of her Victorian mansion
in exchange for household chores shortly before the holiday season. Their
relationship develops into a special friendship while the enigma of the
Christmas box allows Mary to share with Rick, a very busy young
entrepreneur, “the first gift of Christmas.” This beautifully
descriptive short story is a seasonal treasure. With Timepiece
and The Letter, Richard Paul Evans continues to touch us
with his trilogy of love.
The Diagnosis by Alan Lightman. Fiction.
A disturbing commentary on modern day life set in Boston. Bill Chalmers, a
junior executive for an information company, loses his memory and endures
several terrifying mishaps. His memory returns and he is left with
tingling in his arms. He makes an appointment with his doctor, who is
unable to make a diagnosis despite many tests. Chalmers’ condition
deteriorates, as does his world around him. His wife, Melissa, is having
an Email affair with a married professor; his “computer geek” son,
Alex, who is taking an E-class on Plato, is growing distant. The death of
Socrates and Chalmers’ demise leaves the reader with much to ponder. A
winner of the 2001 Massachusetts Book Award.
Trans-sister Radio by Chris Bohjalian. Fiction.
A fascinating look at sex reassignment surgery and a very private decision
that turns public. Dana Stevens, a college professor in a small Vermont
town, and Allie Banks, a long-divorced 6th-grade teacher, are a couple
whose relationship is challenged by Dana’s transformation into a woman.
Outside pressures cause Dana to appear on Vermont’s National Public
Radio where Allie’s ex-husband, Will, is president. Provocative
questions on gender, sexuality and relationships arise with Dana’s
metamorphosis. Sensitive and caring, this book is informative as well as
entertaining.
Recommended
by Kristine McElman, Main Library Circulation Department.
The
Public and Private Worlds of Elizabeth I by
Susan Watkins. B/Elizabeth I, Queen of England.
See
a pair of Queen Elizabeth’s riding boots! Here is a unique portrait of
this beloved queen, seen through the eyes of the people she knew, the
great houses she lived in, the things she made, and the clothes she wore.
This lavishly illustrated book gives you a glimpse of what this great
lady’s life was like.
Daily
Life in Elizabethan England by
Jeffrey L. Singman. Y942.055.
Did
you know that in the late 15th
century a pair of scissors cost the modern day equivalent of $12.00? That
was one full day’s wages for the average farmer or soldier then. Go back
in time to Elizabethan England, and see what kind of food people ate
(includes recipes!), the games they played and how they lived.
Virgin:
A Prelude to the Throne by
Robin Maxwell. Fiction.
This
is an interesting retelling of what Queen Elizabeth’s life might have
been like as a teenager. This well-researched volume explores how the
teenaged princess handled her turbulent family life, social scandals and
her stepfather’s attempted rebellion against her younger brother, King
Edward VI.
Mary,
Bloody Mary by
Carolyn Meyer. Y Fiction.
Princess
Mary Tudor, daughter of King Henry VIII, is suddenly banished from her
home when her father takes a fancy to the beautiful Anne Boleyn. Separated
from her mother, Queen Catherine, young Mary must now be a serving maid to
her new baby sister, Princess Elizabeth. Here is another fascinating look
into the life of a teenaged Tudor royal, Princess Mary, who later becomes
the queen known as Bloody Mary.
Recommended by Judy
Noonan, Circulation Supervisor, Main Library
Survival
– Fact and Fiction
Longings
of Women by Marge Piercy. Fiction.
Leila
Landsman is the pivotal character for the three very different women in
this story. She becomes interested in Becky Burgess, who has murdered her
husband with the help of her teen-age lover. While Leila is researching
Becky’s case she employs Mary Burke as her housekeeper. Mary, who once
lived a middle-class life, finds herself alone and homeless. Each character will remind you of someone you know or have read
about.
Woman
of the House
by Alice Taylor. Fiction.
Country
life in Ireland is the setting for this novel. After the father of the
family dies in an accident, the women of the family step up to be the
strong influence. Trying to keep the house becomes the primary theme of
the women. (If you like Catherine Cookson, this story will interest you.)
The
Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio
by Terry Ryan. B/Ryan Family.
This
biography has real-life humor and sadness. Evelyn Reed helps support her
family by entering contests and writing jingles, a popular feature of
commercialism during the 1950’s and 1960’s. Her winnings brought many
essentials to this family of ten children.
A
Cambodian Odyssey by Haing Ngor. 959.6.
A
devastating story of a Cambodian doctor who survived the four years under
the brutal regime of the Khmer Rouge. This book gives you an insight into
the courage and the strength of what the human spirit and body can
withstand.
Recommended by Heather Pisani-Kristl, Young Adult Librarian
The
"problem novel" is a staple of young adult literature, usually
combining deep emotions and a serious life problem with a bittersweet
ending. During Teen Read Week, consider reading one of
these novels with a friend or parent and talking about the book
afterward. You may find that you have different approaches to solving
the central crisis, even while you feel for the characters.
Dancing in Cadillac Light by Kimberly Willis Holt (ages 10-14).
Y/Fiction, J/Fiction.
Aunt Loveda says that Grandpap was crazy, but from what Jaynell can
see, he just liked to do nice things for people. He gave the old
homestead to the Pickens family, even though they’re so dirty that Mama
won’t let Jaynell eat or drink anything that Lily Belle Pickens offers
her. Jaynell knows that there’s another reason why her mother and aunt
don’t like the Pickens, but with Grandpap gone, the truth is hard to
find out.
Quinceañera Means Sweet 15 by Veronica Chambers (ages 11-15).
Y/Fiction.
Marisol Mayaguez thinks that turning 15 may not be much fun after all. She and her mother don't have the money for the
traditional quinceañera celebration, and even if they did, Marisol
knows that her long-absent father won't be there to dance with her.
Worse yet, her mejora amiga Magda has new friends who make fun of
Marisol and her hard-working mother. But the Panamanian community in
New York is close-knit, and Marisol soon finds that she has support
from many people as she celebrates her womanhood.
You Don't Know Me by David Klass (ages 14-18). Y/Fiction.
"Among the Lashasa Palulu – that tribe that is not a tribe – it is
considered wise to hide one’s weaknesses at all times, for enemies
often disguise themselves as caring human beings. After all, if I told
you what I suffer at the hands of the man who is not my father, you
would never believe me, so I keep it to myself. When you see me at this
school that is not a school, playing a tuba which is really a frog in
disguise, dodging Mrs. Moonface’s algebra attacks, you think, ‘John’s
doing just fine.’ But you don’t know me at all.”
Stephen
Russell, Circulation Department. March 2001.
Losing Nelson by Barry Unsworth. Fiction
Every
day Charles Cleasby, amateur biographer, relives the events of Lord
Horatio Nelson's life. Madly obsessed, Cleasby lives vicariously
through Nelson and considers himself Nelson's 'land-shadow' stating: "I
was his heir, I had inherited his being." Cleasby meticulously
recreates each of Admiral Nelson's battles with model fleets on the
very days and at the exact hours of the original conflicts. He is
determined to disprove Nelson's involvement in the 1799 massacre of the
Neapolitan republican leaders. Cleasby's madness becomes worse as
doubts and questions begin to crack his divine image of Lord Nelson.
Unsworth delicately balances both the comic and tragic aspects of a
man's descent into madness and his twisted struggle to come out of the
darkness. A taut, suspenseful psychological thriller with an unusually
effective surprise ending.
A Close Run Thing by Allan Mallinson.
Fiction
This
novel follows the fortunes of young Matthew Hervey and Wellington's
army during the last years of the Napoleonic wars. Mallinson recreates
the life of a cavalry officer as war takes him from France to Ireland
and eventually to Waterloo. Mallinson expertly portrays cavalry life on
and off the battle field. An excellent and accurate historical
adventure novel.
The Battle by Patrick Rambaud. Fiction
This
historical novel follows a group of soldiers during the battle of
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