The Literary Arts

From the New Shelf

2010-04-05T11:53:00.009-04:00

I Never Fancied Him Anyway
Claudia Carroll

Cassandra has a gift. Born with the ability to see glimpses of the future, Cassie settled into life as a successful psychic advice columnist for one of Ireland's biggest papers. Although she has no problem seeing other people's futures, she has a blind spot when it comes to her own, particularly when it comes to men. But with the help of her hilarious and diverse pack of friends and their complicated love lives, Cassie finds herself with a new career as a television psychic and a new man in her life, who happens to be dating her best friend. If only she had seen that coming. Carroll brings her characters to life with biting wit and honest humor, and the story is as funny as it is relatable. Although the tale of a famous psychic may not sound realistic, Carroll's lively and captivating novel is delightful and authentic.
Booklist Review; September 2009.

To Heaven By Water
Justin Cartwright

Whitbread winner Cartwright offers his latest saga of flawed relationships and unfulfilled dreams. David Cross is a retired celebrity news anchor and a widower of 11 months. To his friends, he remains witty and erudite; to his older brother, he is merely 'the lackey of the international media'; and to his children, Ed and Lucy, he is now an enigma. They still mourn their mother but have the distinct feeling their dad is happier now than when she was alive. Ed and his wife are depressed at remaining childless, while Lucy feels abandoned, both by her deceased mother and her most recent boyfriend. But David, instead of standing firm as the stalwart father, exercises to excess and contemplates selling the family home, for which he has lost all affection. He then departs for a sojourn in the Kalahari Desert to try to bond with his dying brother--a brilliant vehicle for Cartwright's pondering of how we all wonder whether our lives could have been better, or at least different. A beautifully told story of the fragility of love, aging, and memories.
Booklist Review; July 2009.

Everything Matters!
Ron Currie

In Curie's curious second novel (after NYPL Young Lion Award-winning God Is Dead), a young man nearly succeeds in his attempt to inject meaning into a doomed world. A mysterious voice has accompanied Junior Thibodeax all his life, having chosen the moment after Junior's birth to tell him that a meteor will destroy Earth in 36 years. The voice also tells him secrets about his father, his girlfriend and his brother, as well as providing a cure for cancer and sage advice against bombing a federal building. From modest beginnings, Junior descends into violent insanity before finding himself lifted to a position of supreme importance. But even with his foreknowledge, the prophet cannot win every battle, and the ones he loses are more than sufficient to break his heart. Curie shows an appreciation for whimsical storytelling, leaning on unlikely chains of events and multiple perspectives to tell what could otherwise be a very dark tale, and though the omnisciently narrated portions come off as heavy-handed, the big decision he makes toward the end recasts the story in a strangely hopeful light and lends a pile of emotional currency to the book's title.
Publishers Weekly Review; April 2009.

Homeland
Barbara Hambly

Two women, one a Northerner with a husband fighting for the Confederacy, and one a Southerner yearning to attend art school in Philadelphia, exchange letters and find in their unlikely friendship the strength to survive the Civil War, and though shades of Scarlett O'Hara occasionally pop up, Hambly manages a mostly original take on a much-covered era. Newly wed to Tennessean Emory Poole, Cora Poole retreats to Deer Isle, Maine, to remain true to her husband among friends and relatives who abhor his allegiance and suspect hers. In Greene County, Tenn., Emory's neighbor, Susanna Ashford, dabbles in the arts while facing an increasingly dire reality. The correspondents share feelings, views of current events and accounts of their respective tribulations: Susanna nurses the wounded, hunts and sews to pay for her sister's midwife. Cora raises her infant daughter, cares for her demented mother and also sews as the war exhausts resources. The leads are three-dimensional, occasionally surprising and always sympathetic as they find in their unlikely friendship the strength to accept the loss of their ways of life and to seek new ways where they both might thrive.
Booklist Review; September 2009.

Big Machine
Victor LaValle

LaValle has garnered critical acclaim for his previous works (a collection, Slapboxing with Jesus, and novel, The Ecstatic), and his second novel is sure to up his critical standing while furthering comparisons to Haruki Murakami, John Kennedy Toole and Edgar Allan Poe. Gritty, mostly honest-hearted ex-heroin addict protagonist Ricky Rice takes a chance on an anonymous note delivered to him at the cruddy upstate New York bus depot where he works as a porter. Quickly, Ricky finds himself among the 'Unlikely Scholars,' a secret society of ex- addicts and petty criminals, all black like him, living in remote Vermont and sifting through stacks of articles in a library devoted to investigating the supernatural; the existence of a god; and the legacy of Judah Washburn, an escaped slave who claimed to have had contact with a higher being that the Unlikely Scholars now call 'the Voice.' Ricky's intoxicating voice--robust, organic, wily--is perfect for narrating LaValle's high-stakes mashup of thrilling paranormal and Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man, as the fateful porter--something of a modern Odysseus rallied by a team of 'spiritual X-men'--wanders through America's 'messianic hoo-hah.'
Publishers Weekly Review; June 2009.

Murder Takes the Stage
Amy Myers

More than 20 years ago, Rick Marsh disappeared while on a backpacking trip. Despite the best efforts of his father and sister, true-crime writers Peter and Georgia, no trace of him was ever found. Never giving up, Peter and Georgia are following a new lead when Georgia has one of her 'fingerprints in time' episodes--an eerie sense of evil done years earlier. Making no progress on Rick, Peter and Georgia decide to investigate the 'fingerprint.' They become involved in the case of Tom Watson, a circus performer accused and then acquitted of murdering his wife decades earlier. Despite Tom's acquittal, his friends and neighbors were sure he was guilty, so they weren't surprised when he disappeared. But there were plenty of people who had a motive for wanting Tom's wife dead and Tom out of the way permanently. Can they uncover the long hidden truth? As usual in this series (Murder and the Golden Goblet, 2007), Myers produces an entertaining, cleverly plotted mystery starring an engaging duo.
Booklist Review; October 2009.

Wench
Dolen Perkins-Valdez

In this memorable first novel by Memphis-born Perkins-Valdez (English, Mary Washington Coll.), four friends meet each summer at a resort in Ohio but can share only snatches of time. Lizzie, Reenie, Sweet, and Mawu are black slaves brought to the resort each year by their vacationing Southern masters as personal servants and sexual companions. Their presence discomfits the Northern whites and black servants in the free state of Ohio, but the real angst lies within each woman's struggles: Mawu is determined to escape her sadistic master; Lizzie admires Mawu's independent spirit but concentrates her efforts on wheedling her master into granting freedom to her own children. Readers of historical fiction centering on Southern women's stories like Lalita Tademy's Cane River or Lee Smith's On Agate Hill will be moved by the skillful portrayal of Lizzie's precarious situation and the tragic stories of her fellow slaves.
Library Journal Review; December 2009.

Murder on Astor Place
Victoria Thompson

Sprinkled with fascinating details of turn-of-the-century New York City, Thompson's old-fashioned mystery takes the reader from the mansions of Fifth Avenue to the flophouses of the Lower East Side. Sarah Brandt is a midwife who has been estranged from her wealthy family for years. When Alicia VanDamm, a young woman from a prominent family, is murdered, Sarah must return to the upper-class society she has scorned to find the killer. Haunted by her past and disgusted by police department corruption, Sarah takes it upon herself to avenge the girl's death. Annoyed at first by her interference, Detective Sergeant Frank Malloy asks for Sarah's help only when he has been taken off the case at the request of the victim's scandal-fearing family. The feisty midwife and the ambitious policeman grudgingly become allies in their search for justice. Sarah and Frank are appealing characters, and the author develops their rapport subtly and believably. In this first installment in a new series of historical mysteries, Thompson vividly re-creates the gas-lit world of old New York, concluding her mystery with revelations that will shock even 20th-century readers.
Publishers Weekly Review; April 1999.

From the New Shelf

2010-03-29T12:05:00.004-04:00

Sunflowers
Sheramy Bundrick

In a knockout debut novel, art historian Bundrick (Music and Image in Classical Athens) brings Vincent Van Gogh's paintings and personal story to vibrant life. While Bundrick takes many liberties (recorded in an author's note) in her fictionalized account of Van Gogh's affair with her narrator, fille de maison Rachel Courteau, she gives Rachel such a believable voice that the proceedings seem genuine. At 35, Van Gogh meets lovable spitfire Rachel while surreptitiously sketching her in a garden. Having taken refuge in an Aries brothel after the death of her parents, Rachel greets Van Gogh as a customer not long after, and soon feelings blossom between them. Visiting friend Paul Gauguin and the cloud of Van Gogh's madness undercut the couple's bliss, as do financial troubles and Rachel's life at the maison, where she's kept a virtual prisoner. While infusing well-known historical moments (like Van Gogh's infamous self-mutilation) with vivid details, humanizing Van Gogh and putting his famous works in context, Bundrick generates an impressive volume of suspense, delight and heartbreak. Publishers Weekly Review; August 2009.

The Wildwater Walking Club
Claire Cook

The rest of your life starts with one step. Noreen Kelly learns this the hard way when she takes a buyout offer at her small shoe company and wakes up the day after--jobless, dumped by her slick co-worker, and wondering who she is and what she wants. She becomes tentative friends with Tess and Rosie, and together the women form a walking club, each step bringing them closer together and closer to the life solutions they all seek. Cook creates likable female characters with realistic flaws. The plots are marked with Gilmore Girls-type dialogue and settings, utterly charming from beginning to end. There's plenty of laughs, anger, sorrow, and rage to keep the story moving along at a breezy pace; and all the subplots involving the multigenerational characters and their kooky suburban antics are tied up nicely. There's a little more edge here than in a typical "gentle" novel, but more softness than in an edgy "hen-lit" novel. Miss Julia would be proud to be friends with these women.
Booklist Review; April 2009.

The Last Bridge
Teri Coyne

Coyne's compelling debut shines an unnerving light on the fallout from a childhood rooted in abuse. Alexandra "Cat" Rucker, an alcoholic strip club cocktail waitress, returns to her childhood home after her mother kills herself. She's been gone 10 years and is now uncomfortable around her brother, Jared, and sister, Wendy; while confronting her past, she also tries to discern the meaning of her mother's suicide note: "He isn't who you think he is." Alternating between the complicated present and the horrific past, Coyne portrays the myriad ways family members cope with abuse. Cat's mother lived in a world of her own; Cat, the oldest, bore the brunt of her father's attacks; Jared buried himself in school sports, occasionally coming to his sister's defense when it was safe to do so; and Wendy focused on being the perfect daughter. Then there's Addison Watkins, the son of a family friend who at once offered a haven and a challenge to teenage Cat. Though the occasional one-liners distract rather than enhance, Coyne's prose effortlessly carries the reader through a thorny history and into possible redemption.
Publishers Weekly Review; March 2009.

Once on a Moonless Night
Dai Sijie

The spell cast by Dai Sijie's novels, beginning with his bestselling Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress (2001), is attributable, in part, to his work as a filmmaker (his fiction is strikingly visual) and his bicultural and bilingual experiences. Sijie left China for France at age 30 in 1984. The unnamed narrator in his third bewitching novel, a French college student, makes the reverse trip. Inspired by Paul D'Ampere, a gifted French linguist who retraced the steps of Marco Polo and then disappeared, she goes to Peking to study Chinese in 1978, learns about a long-missing ancient Buddhist scroll, and falls in love with Tumchooq, who is named after "the language in which Buddha preached." Tumchooq's connection to D'Ampere and the lost Buddhist sutra is slowly revealed within a finely embroidered sequence of flashbacks and testimonies. As impressionistically historical as it is imaginative, Dai's dreamlike tale of epic quests and love put to the test is exquisitely structured to illuminate "Hell, the earthly world, and Paradise" within the Forbidden City, a Chinese prison camp, Paris, Mali, and Burma. Sijie's dazzling and magical saga intimates that language is transcendent; books are precious; translation is a noble art; stories are the key to freedom; and truth prevails.
Booklist Review; September 2009.

Season of Water and Ice
Donald Lystra

Named by the Library of Michigan as a Michigan Notable Book for 2010, SEASON OF WATER AND ICE is the unforgettable story of two young people confronting life during a tumultuous few months of 1957. In quiet but searing prose it explores the enduring issues of love and family, the destructive forces to which these ideals are exposed, and the healing powers which can restore them. Danny DeWitt, aged fourteen, lives with his father in a rural area of northern Michigan following the family's abrupt move from the city and the unexplained departure of his mother. Bookish and friendless--and wanting to "stand at the side of things for a while"--Danny becomes acquainted with Amber Dwyer, a pregnant teenager abandoned by her boyfriend and rejected by her family and community. Both outsiders--one by choice, the other because of social stigma--Danny and Amber form an unusual, openhearted alliance which helps each to deal with their separate challenge. Amber must build a life for herself in the face of intolerance, and Danny must come to terms with his mother's rejection and his father's growing isolation. The friendship is tested when Amber's abusive boyfriend returns and Danny's mother draws further away, leading to a crisis which threatens Amber and her unborn child, as well as Danny's conception of love and manhood. Reflecting the political and social climate of the 1950s, Season of Water and Ice is underscored by themes of independence and obligation, love and sexuality, courage and surrender. This realistic work will appeal to both adult and young adult readers.
Book Description

Little Bird of Heaven
Joyce Carol Oates

Oates once again takes us to deteriorating upstate New York, this time the city of Sparta, where, as in We Were the Mulvanys, a tragic incident has devastating effects on two families. When Zoe Kruller is found brutally murdered, suspicion falls on husband Delray and on lover Eddy Diehl. Neither man is arrested, but each is forced to live under a veil of continued suspicion. In this story, it's the children who suffer the most, and they also narrate: first Eddy's daughter Krista and then Delray's son Aaron. Eddy separates from his wife and family and leaves Sparta, but Krista believes in her father's innocence, recounting life before and after the crime and offering her recollections of Zoe. Aaron recounts finding his mother's body and the bitterness of living with such notoriety. In typical Oates irony, Krista develops a crush on Aaron, climaxing in a deeply emotional scene; 15 years later they find out who killed Zoe. Readers will find the psychological suspense combined with tragedy and redemption a good read.
Library Journal Review; September 2009.

There Once Lived a Woman Who Tried to Kill Her Neighbor’s Baby
Ludmilla Petrushevskaya

A novel and a book of stories in Petrushevskaya's exceptionally bleak realist mode have been published in the U.S., but she remains obscure here, whereas, her translators say, she is the best-known living writer in Russia. Her fantasies play out in the same totalitarian atmosphere of scarcity, suspicion, hopeless ness, and fear as does her realist fiction. The purely descriptive subtitle calls them all fairy tales, but according to the titles of the four sections into which they're sorted, they're "Songs of the Eastern Stars," "Allegories," "Requiems," and finally, "Fairy Tales" and if it's true that those in the final group contain the most supernatural events, there are plenty of inexplicable things in the others (quite often, the dead return bodily to their loved ones). All are told as if by a plain tale-teller, whether in first or third person: that is, directly, specifically, and concretely, without explicit interpretation. Sometimes, the density of action and the fact that characters are called only by first names, sobriquets, or functions (the father, the doctor, etc.) obscure the personae and encourage thinking of them as Everymen, Everywomen, and Everychildren, not singular personalities. If most of the stories end sadly, some at least suggest that better things may come. The auras of Samuel Beckett and the baleful Albanian magic realist Ismail Kadare blend in Petrushevskaya's work.
Booklist Review; October 2009.

The Tourist
Olen Steinhauer

Superbly accomplished at both plotting and characterization, Steinhauer, in a change of pace from his series of Eastern European thrillers (e.g., The Bridge of Sights; Victory Square), offers an emotionally damaged protagonist who is an experienced spy or "tourist" but now a family man and desk-bound agent of the post-9/11, scandal-ridden CIA. When Milo Weaver is called back to fieldwork and assigned to capture an international assassin, it sets off an investigation into one of Milo's colleagues. The story is long and complicated but compelling and hard to put down. As is true of the better spy novels, the theme here is betrayal. Forays into blind alleys, puzzling clues, lapses of judgment, narrow escapes, and ingenious attainment of objectives establish Milo as a skilled operative performing difficult tasks while being systematically deceived by compatriots and adversaries. Accepting the contemporary story as potentially realistic, readers are led into hoping that their country's intelligence-gathering leadership is actually in better hands--and performing for less venal reasons--than the novel suggests. Appropriately, this story includes a full measure of cynicism, very little humor, and a tender conclusion.
Library Journal Review; November 2008.

From the New Shelf

2010-03-22T12:27:00.011-04:00

Paganini’s Ghost
Paul Adam

A day after a heavily promoted violin recital in Cremona, Italy, at which prize-winning Russian prodigy Yevgeny Ivanov plays the priceless violin once owned by Paganini, a visiting French art dealer is found murdered in his hotel room. When a scrap of paper torn from a Paganini piece played by Ivanov seems key to opening an ornate gold box found in the victim's possession, violin maker Gianni Castiglione (introduced in The Rainaldi Quartet, 2006) is called into the case by his friend, police detective Antonio Guastafeste. Castiglione cracks the code to find that the now-empty box once housed a small violin, setting him-- with Guastafeste--on a cross-continental search, during which other murders are committed, and Castiglione must call on his knowledge of history, genealogy, and provenance to find long-missing treasures and solve the crimes. In this stylish mystery, widower Castiglione is further humanized by his developing romance with Margherita Severini and his relationship with young Ivanov. An intriguing puzzle combines with an enthralling mix of Italian ambience, history, and--most of all-- music.
Booklist Review; January 2010.

Rainwater
Sandra Brown

Bestseller Brown (Smash Cut) brings Depression-era Texas to vivid life in this poignant short novel. At the recommendation of Dr. Murdy Kincaid, Ella Barron, a hardworking woman whose husband deserted her, accepts David Rainwater, a relative of the doctor's, as a lodger at the boarding house she runs in the small town of Gilead, Tex. As the local community contends with a government program to shoot livestock and the opposition of racist Conrad Ellis, a greedy meatpacker, to poor families butchering the meat, Ella grows closer to David. Meanwhile, David becomes a special guardian angel to Solly, Ella's nine-year-old autistic son. Dr. Kincaid has gently suggested Ella put Solly in an institution, but she refuses to do so. Brown skillfully charts the progress of Ella and David's quiet romance, while a contemporary frame adds a neat twist to this heartwarming but never cloying historical.
Publishers Weekly Review; October 2009.

The Frightened Man
Kenneth Cameron

Cameron, who also writes military thrillers with his son under the name Gordon Kent, launches an impressive historical-mystery series. It's 1900, and London is a bustling, crowded metropolis--the perfect place for an American named Denton to lose himself. Seeking to escape his tragic past, Denton has moved to London after writing a series of dark, atmospheric novels that have been best-sellers in America. One evening, he receives a mysterious visitor. The man is stuttering with terror, swearing he's just seen the Ripper. Denton discounts the man's hysterical claims, but when he learns that a teenage prostitute has been brutally murdered not far away, he wonders if there's a connection. When Denton talks to the police, they give him short shrift and seem to want to wrap up the murder with minimum fuss. This only makes Denton more determined to seek the truth. Along the way, he encounters London's seedy underbelly and meets the brusque but oddly charismatic Janet Striker. Together, the pair begins to unravel a shocking and horrifying story. A gripping page-turner, Cameron's novel combines a devilishly clever plot, enigmatic characters, a foreboding atmosphere, and a shocking finale. A top pick for all crime collections.
Booklist Review; May 2009.

The Butterflies of Grand Canyon
Margaret Erhart

Erhart (Bully Creek) steers clear of the earnest obsessions that weighed heavily on her early books in her fifth outing, a quaint novel of the American West enlivened by a quirky mystery. En route from St. Louis to visit her in-laws in Flagstaff, Ariz., young Jane Merkle meets two women botanists on the train. Their paths cross again after Jane, having lost her luggage and traded her fancy dresses for dungarees and a butterfly net, becomes enthralled with her new surroundings and ranger Euell Wigglesworth. As it turns out, Elzada, one of the botanists, is in town to help investigate a 13-year-old murder, and as the mystery unfolds and dark secrets come to light, the canyon works its magic on Jane. Erhart, a river and hiking guide, teases her readers about the sweet silliness of human affairs in the face of the magnitude of nature, and the cleverly plotted mystery becomes a lark of a vehicle for Erhart's thoughtful prose. This novel is light and agreeable, touched with just the right amount of awe at the splendors of nature.
Publishers Weekly Review; September 2009.

Arcadia Falls
Carol Goodman

Goodman (The Night Villa) delivers the goods her fans expect in this atmospheric and fast-moving gothic story: buried secrets, supernatural elements, and a creepy setting. Following the death of her husband, Meg Rosenthal accepts a job teaching at an upstate New York boarding school and moves there with her teenage daughter, Sally. The school, Arcadia Falls, also happens to be central to her thesis, which focuses on the two female coauthors of fairy tales: Vera Beecher, who founded the school, and her friend Lily Eberhardt, who died mysteriously in 1947. While the campus is bucolic, school life proves anything but--Meg thinks she sees ghosts and Arcadia's brightest and most ambitious student, Isabel Cheney, is found dead in a ravine. Feeling Sally drifting further from her each day, Meg finds refuge in Lily's preserved diary and begins to unravel the secrets behind Isabel's death. Goodman doesn't do anything new, but her storytelling is as solid as ever, and the book is reliably entertaining.
Publishers Weekly Review; November 2009.

Darkness Visible
J M Gregson

Gregson's Lambert and Hook series keeps getting better. The trademark meticulous descriptions of police investigative techniques are still there, but Gregson is fleshing out his characters more, making them feel absolutely real and adding warmth and humanity to his stories. Lambert and Hook's latest case concerns the death of one Darren Chivers, a despicable character if ever there was one. Chivers wasn't content with pushing drugs; he'd also launched a lucrative sideline in blackmailing. So when he is found shot dead in a remote country lane, it's up to Lambert and Hook to figure out whether it was drug related or whether one of Chivers' blackmail victims murdered him. As the two go about checking motives and alibis, they find themselves wrestling with too many leads: all of their suspects have a motive, none of them has an airtight alibi, and all of them have plenty to gain and little to lose from Chivers' death. But nearly two weeks after the murder, despite their long years of experience and their finely honed coppers' intuition, Lambert and Hook still haven't solved the case. A cracking good read for fans of British police procedurals.
Booklist Review; September 2009.

Nocturnes
Kazuo Ishiguro

A once-famous crooner believes he must destroy the very core of his life to achieve a comeback. A young songwriter excels at selfishness rather than creativity. A gifted yet unheralded saxophone player is persuaded to undergo plastic surgery to enhance his visual appeal in a world that values image over talent. As a recipient of the Booker Prize and the Order of the British Empire, Ishiguro is no stranger to the vagaries of fame, nor, as a Japanese British writer, is he unfamiliar with the misapprehensions one's appearance can arouse. Questions of identity, artistic integrity, and success shape each of the five meshed stories in this droll and enrapturing collection. Each tale of musicians, muses, and users is funny and incisive; each is a fable about the dream of mastery and the nightmare of pragmatism; and each dramatic story line delivers arresting psychological transformations. Encompassing a palatial hotel in the insomniac dead of night and sun-kissed hills, an immigrant journeyman guitar player weathering prejudice in Venice and a young cellist enthralled by an unlikely mentor, dissonant marriages and shattering recognitions, Ishiguro's stories are at once exquisite and ravaging. Much like the haunting music of down-and-out jazz great Chet Baker, whom Ishiguro names to strike just the right crepuscular note.
Booklist Review; August 2009.

The Vintage Caper
Peter Mayle

Mayle uncorks a winning wine caper in the tradition of To Catch a Thief. When a hot-shot Hollywood lawyer's most treasured and expensive wines are stolen, his insurance company calls in Sam Levitt, a gourmand and lawyer-of-all-trades with a varied background, to investigate. The investigation takes Sam to Paris and Bordeaux, where he hooks up with the elegant insurance agent Sophie Costes, a fellow wine and food snob. The trail finally leads them to a man named Francis Reboul in Marseille, and soon, with the help of Sophie's journalist cousin, Phillipe, they get an in with Reboul and close in on closing the caper. While the plot may be predictable, the pleasures of this very French adventure--and there are many--aren't in the resolution, of course, but in the pleasant stroll through the provinces and in the glasses of wine downed and decadent meals consumed.
Publishers Weekly Review; June 2009.

From the New Shelf

2010-03-15T17:05:00.012-04:00

The Book of Fires
Jane Borodale

Borodale deftly conjures up mid-eighteenth-century London in her spectacular debut. The premise is a familiar one--pregnant and unwed, an impoverished young county girl sets out for the big city desperately seeking to hide her disgrace--but the story that unfolds is also a fresh and fascinating investigation into the art and the science of pyrotechnics. When fortune lands desperate Agnes Trussel on the doorstep of an embittered fireworks maker, she becomes Mr. J. Blacklock's apprentice. Teaching her the tricks of his trade, he also works feverishly on an innovative formula to infuse color into fireworks. As her condition becomes increasingly difficult to hide, a world rife with new possibilities seems to dangle just beyond her reach. In addition to her pregnancy, Agnes also harbors another shameful secret that threatens her precarious security and gnaws away at her soul. Readers who loved Jane Eyre will appreciate the atmosphere of tension and foreboding that permeates the narrative.
Booklist Review; December 2009.

The Red Velvet Turnshoe
Cassandra Clark

Set in 1383, Clark's compelling second historical (after Hangman Blind) takes Sister Hildegard, healer and sleuth, to Italy on a secret mission 'to bring back the legendary cross of Constantine,' a powerful relic coveted by the archbishop of York. In the guise of a pilgrim, Hildegard joins an armed baggage train that includes a shipment of wool. When the stinking corpse of a clerk with his throat slashed turns up in a crate of wool on the travelers' arrival in Flanders, Hildegard has to wonder who would want to murder a lowly clerk. With England in the middle of the Hundred Years' War and Europe divided between rival popes, everyone's allegiances and loyalties are uncertain. The author paints an authentic picture of late medieval life as Hildegard journeys from the Yorkshire moors to thriving Flemish towns and on to alpine passes leading to the wealth of early Renaissance Italy. Enough questions remain at the end to leave readers eagerly anticipating the next installment.
Publishers Weekly Review; October 2009.

The Ingenious Edgar Jones
Elizabeth Garner

Misunderstood, misfit hero Edgar Jones, a boy who revels in invention, who literally wants to fly, whose very body marks him as strange, will grab your heart. Edgar's personality rivals that of John Irving's Owen Meany--a brilliant, odd little boy with a naive trust in human nature and a childish thirst for adventure that sets him apart from the staid Victorian world. Edgar's inquisitiveness lands him in trouble with his masters: first the blacksmith; then the ironworkers; then his beloved professor, an inventor; and finally his own father. Like any inventor, Edgar must first learn to take things apart, and that's what he does; but it's what he creates and why he does it that make him so compelling. Garner uses Edgar's character as a way of exploring the ideological revolution in Oxford during the early 1800s, as science battles religion for supremacy. Edgar's parents find themselves trapped in this changing world, first encouraging their son's ingenuity and boldness, then shocked by the outcome. The lovely cadence of Garner's language and her careful attention to the physical world as a story mirror create an atmosphere of excitement and wonder.
Booklist Review; April 2009.

The Listener
Shira Nayman

Word for word, sentence for sentence, paragraph for paragraph, Nayman creates a gripping narrative with style and depth. Set in a post-World War II asylum, the cast of characters interact within their defined roles of clinicians, nurses, and patients. However, when Dr. Harrison encounters a mysterious patient with a dark secret in his counseling sessions, the well-defined boundaries that separate the characters slowly erode as their lives intertwine. In the process, the arbitrary lines between sanity and insanity are exposed. Nayman paces the narrative well, with thick, sensuous writing throughout, developing each character with a compelling reality. Much like her collection of short stories, Awake in the Dark, this novel continues to explore the ways in which individuals negotiate and construct their sense of identity. Featuring a plot as rich as the characters, this is a thought-provoking and psychological exploration of love, war, and human identity. Readers who enjoyed Ian McEwan's Atonement will enjoy the introspective tone of Nayman's work.
Library Journal Review; October 2009.

The Bride’s Farewell
Meg Rosoff

Pell Ridley is the adventurous heroine in this serviceably told tale, the fourth novel for London-based Rosoff, who has written successfully for the YA market. On her wedding day, Pell leaves town on her faithful horse, Jack, grudgingly bringing along her mute younger brother, Bean. Pell shirks expectations and jilts her childhood beau, Birdie, with an oddly modern defiance of 1850s England convention. No matter that Birdie seems a nice enough man, unlike her abusive father-- Pell is stubborn in her desire to flee the domestic life in Nomansland that mires her mother in a sea of children and overwork. Pell arrives at the Salisbury horse fair and her adventures begin. She is separated from Bean and her horse but meets a poacher she dubs Dogman (he travels with a pack of dogs) and together they wander the countryside living on bread crusts and flickering hope. Pell's love and knowledge of horses factors largely in her fight for survival, but it's human love-- romantic and familial--that drives plucky Pell and leads us to this simple but satisfying story's happy if unsurprising conclusion.
Publishers Weekly Review; June 2009.

Lady Vernon and Her Daughter
Jane Rubino

Inspired by Jane Austen's novella Lady Susan, this biting social comedy from mother-daughter duo Rubino (the veteran author) and Rubino-Bradway (the first-timer) is a delightful, worthy homage to Austen. In 19th- century England, Lady Susan Vernon is left nearly penniless after her honorable, wealthy husband dies and his unscrupulous little brother, Charles, bilks Susan and her daughter, Frederica, of their share of his fortune. Forced to rely upon the kindness of friends, the two spend several months bouncing from home to home. Subjected to the two-faced machinations of her social circle (particularly from Charles's wife, Catherine), Susan cleverly (and believably) turns several of her enemies against each other, using their own words. As in Austen's novels, securing a generous dowry and a 'good' marriage (that is, one with money and status) is the all-important goal of every woman, but Susan is a dynamic character more than capable of delivering a shocking surprise.
Publishers Weekly Review; August 2009.

Tomato Rhapsody
Adam Schell

It takes a lot of confidence to encroach on Shakespearean territory, but Schell displays sufficient moxie in this delectable debut. The lush Tuscan countryside is the predictable yet appropriate setting of his sixteenth-century romp through a multitude of humorous scenarios involving both forbidden love and the introduction of the tomato into the heart, soul, and stomach of the Italian populace. At the core of the novel is a deceptively simple boy-meets-girl plot featuring a lovelorn Jewish tomato farmer and the beautiful Catholic daughter of a devious olive magnate. Of course, anyone who knows their Shakespeare knows that the course of true love never runs smoothly, and Schell displays the finesse of a master chef as he spices up the story with a delicious array of humorous subplots--ranging from the bawdy to the sweet--guaranteed to appeal to discerning literary palates.
Booklist Review; May 2009.

The Penny Pinchers Club
Sarah Strohmeyer

Kat's incurable shopping habit and her husband Griff's enabling have driven them into serious debt. When she discovers Griff's secret bank account and condom wrappers in his pocket, her friends are certain he is planning to divorce her, suspicions further fueled by Griff's whispered conversations with his attractive assistant. To survive a divorce, Kat needs to shape up her finances. She joins the Penny Pinchers Club, a quirky support group, and soon she gives up Starbucks and buying in bulk. As she adopts more drastic measures, a wealthy former boyfriend hires her to decorate his historic home. When Griff confronts her about their spartan lifestyle and the time she is spending away from home, she has no choice but to reveal her fears. Strohmeyer, author of The Cinderella Pact (2006), creates a relatable protagonist with a timely problem. The twists are predictable, but the ending is satisfying.
Booklist Review; June 2009.

From the New Shelf

2010-03-08T11:40:00.009-05:00

The Anthologist
Nicholson Baker

Baker has a gift for writing novels about the unlikeliest of subjects. In his first novel, The Mezzanine, he wrote about buying new shoelaces, while Vox concerned an intimate phone conversation. His newest work of fiction is about poetry. The narrator, Paul Chowder, is a poet who is struggling to write the introduction to an anthology of rhyming poems he's collected. He's also trying to win back Roz, the woman who has just left him. These dilemmas make for some enlightening, absorbing reflections on poetry, the creative process, and life itself. While Chowder admits that he despises teaching, the narrative offers a wonderful explanation of what poetry is and the relationship between form and meaning. In the process, Chowder comes to understand himself better and pulls out of a slump. The novel's subtle sense of humor comes through as Chowder deals with injured fingers, a misbehaving dog, and the perils of reading his poetry in public.
Library Journal Review; August 2009.

The Day the Falls Stood Still
Cathy Marie Buchanan

Buchanan's first novel illuminates the beginnings of hydroelectric power in Canada during World War I. Fortunes are made and lost on electricity supplied by Niagara Falls, and Bess's family suffers particularly--her father loses his job at the local electric powerhouse, and her sister Isabel loses both her rich fiance and her life, drowning in the river. Bess and her mother turn to tailoring to make ends meet, and Bess continues with her work when her naturalist husband, Tom, goes off to fight. Returning from the war, Tom goes to work for the electric company to support the family, although he deplores the effect of the generators on the Niagara River. In the end, this conflict between the natural world and progress leads to tragedy. Historical fiction readers will appreciate the excellent period detail, especially the depiction of the era's social mores, and the romance between Bess and Tom is also a high point.
Library Journal Review; September 2009.

The Guinea Pig Diaries
A J Jacobs

Jacobs, the author of The Know-It-All (2004) and The Year of Living Biblically (2007), could be the funniest nonfiction writer this side of Bill Bryson. His latest book comprises a collection of experiments: living according to George Washington's 110 rules of civility; following the tenets of Radical Honesty; outsourcing pretty much his entire life to Bangalore, India; unitasking (doing only one thing at a time); and so on. The experiments themselves are fascinating and lead to genuinely surprising conclusions--you can't really predict, for example, what will happen when you decide to tell the unvarnished truth all the time--and Jacobs' storytelling is lighthearted and frequently laugh-out-loud funny. With the publication of his first two books, he carved for himself a niche as a journalist who undertakes mammoth projects (reading the Encyclopedia Britannica cover to cover; living according to the tenets of the Bible); here he demonstrates that he's an eager and willing subject for pretty much any sort of journalistic experiment, even one as potentially humiliating as having his photograph taken, in the nude, for Esquire. There aren't a lot of nonfiction books you want to read over and over, but this is certainly one of them.

Booklist Review; July 2009.

Ransom
David Malouf

Revisiting scenes from The Iliad and delving into the hearts of two ancient heroes, Malouf (Remembering Babylon) evokes the final days of the Trojan War with cinematic vividness. After Achilles withdraws his forces from combat, a move that cripples the Greek army, his best friend, Patroclus, persuades Achilles to let him take the Myrmidons back into combat and to wear Achilles' armor. After Trojan king Priam's beloved son, Hector, kills Patroclus, guilt, rage and grief drives Achilles on a frenzied quest for revenge that sees him slay Hector and then tie Hector's corpse to his chariot and drag it around the besieged city. Priam, desperate to stop the desecration, decides to visit the enemy camp and offer money in exchange for Hector's body. He hires a humble cart driver and, aided by Hermes, they set out on a journey that takes Priam into the unknown and toward a meeting with Achilles. Though Malouf's sparingly deployed details, vigorous language and sly wit humanizes these tragic heroes, the story is unmistakably epic and certainly the stuff of legend.
Publishers Weekly Review; October 2009.

The Affinity Bridge
George Mann

In this intriguingly bizarre version of 1901 London, Sir Maurice Newbury, ostensibly an academic, is a trusted agent of the Crown. The ailing Victoria charges him and his assistant, Veronica Hobbes, with discovering the cause of an airship crash, which may be linked to innovative automata now acting as servants all over London. Meanwhile, Scotland Yard is dealing with numerous strangulations perpetrated by a glowing policeman and an outbreak of a 'revenant plague' that turns people into mindless, murderous zombies. Readers should not be put off by the introduction of several apparently unrelated investigative threads; Mann brings them together and ratchets up the action as the story progresses. Although the imagery is occasionally repetitive and some loose ends are tied up rather abruptly, overall, this series launch by the editor of The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction is a strong addition to the 'steampunk' subgenre and one that creates a lively alternative world.
Library Journal Review; June 2009.

The Invisible Mountain
Carolina De Robertis

The history of Uruguay through the 20th century sparks personal tragedies amid political intrigues and cultural upheavals in this enchanting, funny and heartbreaking debut novel. Three generations of women populate this sweeping saga: Pajarita, the miracle child who at the dawn of the new century disappears and then reappears in a tree, born twice, as the residents of her small town say; Eva, Pajarita's daughter, who suffers a cruel childhood and learns to spin her painful experiences into a new life of art and adventure as a poet; and Salome, seduced by communism and nearly losing everything fighting for the cause she believes will save her country. This novel is beautifully written yet deliberate in its storytelling. It gains momentum as the women's lives spin increasingly out of control while Uruguay sinks into war, economic instability and revolution. An extraordinary first effort whose epic scope and deft handling reverberate with the deep pull of ancestry, the powerful influence of one's country and the sacrifices of reinvention.
Publishers Weekly Review; June 2009.

The Corner Booth Chronicles
Mimi Thebo

Eudora, a quintessentially Middle-American small town, teems with the sort of characters who value both convention and predictability. Polite, patriotic, and plainspoken, they take pains to preserve a patina of peace among the populace. But change nevertheless arrives in Eudora. Recent immigration has given the town a Latino mayor, and old verities and customary social order can no longer be taken for granted. When the first copies of a novel by one of Eudora's native daughters arrive, inbred aversion to public scrutiny competes with equally irresistible curiosity and lust for celebrity as townspeople try to identify themselves among the fictional characters. Thebo sketches her characters as if an artist in a portrait gallery, showing not only their external appearance but also the conflicted emotions and impulses that seethe just below the skin and cannot be indefinitely suppressed.
Booklist Review; June 2009.

The Kids are All Right
Dan Welch

'We all wanted to go home, but none of us could because we had no home to go to.' Like Dave Eggers' A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius (2000), this frank, wry, aching memoir follows children of privilege in the 1980s who lose everything after the sudden deaths of both parents. In alternating narratives, four siblings describe life after their father is killed in a car crash and, months later, their mother dies from cancer. After being shuttled off to different East Coast homes and colleges, they try to maintain their connection, particularly with the youngest child, Diana. As the authors build on each other's memories, they find contradictions: 'Actually . . . the grapefruit-size tumor came later,' says Amanda as she tracks their mother's illness. 'I don't remember any of that,' says Liz, after Amanda finds her grieving and barefoot, surrounded by shards of a broken bathroom mirror. Starting with the title's pun, this unusual account will leave readers musing over memory's slippery nature; the imperfect, enduring bonds of family; and the human heart's remarkable resilience.
Booklist Review; September 2009.

From the New Shelf

2010-03-01T14:14:00.011-05:00

The Broken Teaglass
Emily Arsenault

Fresh out of college, Billy Webb becomes an editor for a dictionary publisher in a small town, where he struggles with learning to live as a 'real adult' and enduring his stultifying job. When coworker Mona shares an oddity she finds in the reference citations, the two follow clues to a mystery secreted in the dictionary's archive. Verdict Debut author Arsenault is being compared with Jasper Fforde and Marisha Pessl; while she is less playful than Fforde, she shares his love of wordplay and metafiction. Like Pessl, Arsenault focuses on smart characters who don't realize they are in a mystery until it is almost too late. A good read for anyone who loves puzzles wrapped around a solid story and appealing protagonist.
Library Journal Review; September 2009.

In This Way I Was Saved
Brian DeLeeuw

DeLeeuw's debut novel is a riveting exploration of the dark side of self. Six-year-old Luke is playing in a park when he discovers a new friend, whom he names Daniel. Although no one else can see Daniel, he is not imaginary. He lives with Luke and his unstable mother, Claire, in a luxury apartment in New York. Daniel's existence waxes and wanes, depending on whether Luke needs a companion or is the recipient of his mother's sporadic attention. But after Claire attempts suicide when Luke is a teenager, he allows Daniel to be a stronger presence in his life. Through the end of high school and on into college, Daniel pushes Luke to experiment with drugs and alcohol, to have sex before he's ready, to frighten people, and to cheat and steal. Luke struggles to retain control over his own life while also trying to keep Claire from succumbing to her own doppelganger.
Library Journal Review; June 2009.

Bryant & May on the Loose
Christopher Fowler

Fowler's unique blend of the comic and the grotesque is on full display in his excellent seventh Peculiar Crimes Unit mystery (after 2008's The Victoria Vanishes). With the special police unit shut down, Arthur Bryant is feeling withdrawn and depressed while his partner, John May, is considering PI work. When a former team member stumbles on a beheaded corpse in the heart of London's King's Cross neighborhood, May artfully uses the discovery to gain the PCU another lease on life. He persuades the higher-ups that unsolved gang crimes in the area could threaten the economic benefit anticipated from the 2012 Olympics. Given one week to solve the case, without any official sanction or access to police resources, May pulls Bryant out of his doldrums and reassembles the unit. To May's dismay, his colleague is more interested in reports that a man wearing a stag's head has been seen in the area. The pacing, prose, planting of clues and characterizations are all top-notch.
Publishers Weekly Review; August 2009.

Emily’s Ghost
Denise Giardina

William Weightman's arrival in Haworth to serve as curate in Patrick Bronte's parish thrusts him into the life of the Bronte family as well as the broader community. Charlotte considers Weightman a potential husband whose clerical advancement could take them away from the district's poverty. However, his determination to work with the poor springs from both spiritual and political commitment. Slowly, he draws close to another sister, Emily, who shuns drawing-room flirtations in favor of tramping the moors and caring for animals. Yet she can't deny her growing attraction to Weightman. Giardina masterfully weaves biographical facts into the plot, including brother Bramwell's addictions and dissipation, Anne's work as a governess, and Charlotte's flirtations with a married professor. In the end, what engages readers are not these details but the imagined conversations and encounters, the developing romance, and the hope that somehow history might change.
Library Journal Review; June 2009.

It’s Beginning to Hurt
James Lasdun

This accomplished poet, novelist, and story writer's collection packs a devastating punch. Lasdun peels back the facades of middle-aged, middle-class types through their run-ins with cancer, infidelity and loss that lead them to deal with unexpectedly large and often ugly recognitions. The title story is less than three full pages, but generates near-boundless futility and regret as a businessman, having just attended the funeral of a long forgotten former lover, can't help falling back into the old habit of lying to his wife about how he's spent the day. 'The Incalculable Life Gesture' builds to a climax of relief as an elementary school principal, feuding with his sister, follows through a series of tests that indicate he has lymphoma--until a specialist reveals the truth of his ailment. In 'Peter Kahn's Third Wife,' a sales assistant in a jewelry boutique models necklaces for a wealthy wine importer who brings in a series of successive wives-to-be over the years. Jewels of resignation and transformative personal disaster, these stories are written so simply and cleanly that the formidable craft looks effortless.
Publishers Weekly Review; June 2006.

The Calligrapher’s Daughter
Eugenia Kim

This debut novel, inspired by the life of the author's Korean mother, is a beautiful, deliberate and satisfying story spanning 30 years of Korean history. The tradition-bound aristocratic calligrapher Han refuses to name his daughter because she is born just as the Japanese occupy Korea early in the 20th century. When Han finds a husband for Najin (nicknamed after her mother's birthplace) at 14, her mother objects and instead sends her to the court of the doomed royal Yi family to learn refinement. Najin goes to college and becomes a teacher, proving herself not only as a scholar but as a patriot and humanitarian. She returns home to marry, but her new husband goes without her to study in America when she is denied a visa. As the Japanese systematically obliterate ancient Korean culture and the political climate worsens, so do Najin's fortunes. Her family is reduced to poverty, their home is seized and Najin is imprisoned as a spy while WWII escalates. The author writes at a languorous pace, choosing not to sully her elegant pages with raw brutality, but the key to the story is Korea's monumental suffering at the hands of the Japanese.
Publishers Weekly Review; June 2009.

A Long Long Time Ago & Essentially True
Brigid Pasulka

Pasulka's delightful debut braids together two tales of old and new Poland. The old is the fairy tale love story of the Pigeon, a young man so entranced by village beauty Anielica that he builds her family a house to prove his devotion. When war comes to Poland, the Pigeon works for the resistance, guarding the town and his Jewish sister-in-law with creativity and bravery. After the war, he and Anielica get engaged and the Pigeon brings his family to Krakow, but the fabled promises of the golden city and the glories of communism prove hollow. The new tale is about Anielica and the Pigeon's granddaughter, Beata, whose plainness has earned her the nickname Baba Yaga. Now living in a much-changed Krakow, Beata is a bar girl with no hopes of love or plans for the future. When tragedy strikes and Beata uncovers family secrets, she brings together the old and new to create her own bright future. Pasulka creates a world that's magical despite the absence of magical happenings, and where Poland's history is bound up in one family's story.
Publishers Weekly Review; April 2009.

The Girl with Glass Feet
Ali Shaw

Combining magic realism, the conventions of a romance novel, and a British sense of practicality, this charming first novel creates a new fable. After visiting a family friend on a remote island, Ida Maclaird finds herself strangely and literally turning to glass. When she returns to try and find the mysterious scientist who may have an answer, she stumbles on old love triangles and Midas, a lonely young man trying to find a way to heal his own mysterious pains. As Ida and Midas try to unravel mysteries from the past generations, they also try to unravel the mystery of Ida's affliction and slowly find a connection to each other.
Booklist Review; October 2009

From the New Shelf

2010-02-22T11:41:00.011-05:00

The White Garden
Stephanie Barron

Barron, known for her mysteries featuring Jane Austen, now focuses on another literary figure, Virginia Woolf. American gardener Jo Bellamy is commissioned to research Sissinghurst Castle's White Garden, created by Woolf's lover Vita Sackville-West, where she also hopes to discover why her grandfather committed suicide (decades earlier, he had tended the garden). Uncovering what appears to be Woolf's final diary with the first entry dated the day after the author apparently drowned herself, Jo enlists the assistance of manuscript expert Peter Llewellyn to verify its authenticity--but the diary is stolen. Jo and Peter follow literary clues to libraries and historical homes and attempt to recover the diary and solve mysteries past and present. Verdict Fans of historical mysteries and literary suspense novels will enjoy this entertaining read. Jo and Peter are engaging characters, and readers will be drawn into their adventure.
Library Journal Review; September 2009.

Generation A
Douglas Coupland

It's been 18 years since Coupland (JPod) identified and deflated Generation X in his 1991 debut. Now he blends the end with a new beginning, taking on Generation A. Set in a deteriorating near future, it's the story of five young people: an Iowan who farms nude; a New Zealander whose parents have abdicated belief; a sullen Parisian addicted to World of Warcraft; a Tourette's-afflicted Canadian dental hygienist; and a Sri Lankan telemarketer whose family was erased by a tsunami. Digitally plugged-in but otherwise isolated, they rise from obscurity when stung by bees, creatures that everyone thought extinct. Brought together on a remote island, they are asked by a shadowy scientist to, of all things, tell stories. With deft twists, seemingly random details are melded with grace. With strands of humor, sf, and social commentary, Coupland melds Chuck Palahniuk's wild imagination with Nick Hornby's character ensembles. This clever send-up of modern culture will send readers racing to the beginning to see what they missed on first pass. Lightning strikes twice! Coupland defines another generation and crafts a satisfying ode to the power of story.
Library Journal Review; October 2009.

Delilah
India Edghill

Most people have at least a passing acquaintance with the biblical story of Samson and Delilah--the warrior bent on slaying as many Philistines as possible and the temptress willing to betray her lover for money. Edghill (Queenmaker) takes this ancient tale from the book of Judges and turns it on its end. Her Samson is a generous man of goodwill and kindness who longs for nothing more than to live in peace with his neighbors, Hebrews and Canaanites alike. Delilah is a young and devout temple priestess whose beautiful dancing attracts Samson's attention. The lovers are caught between the machinations of the rulers of the Five Cities and the Israelites who fight to claim Canaan, the land promised to them by God. Edghill has crafted a powerful, lyrical novel and created two unforgettable characters.
Library Journal Review; October 2009.

The Kingdom of Ohio
Matthew Flaming

Flaming's debut mixes time travel, historical grit and an alternate history of the American frontier in a romance with a fantastic bent. A contemporary antiques dealer, after coming across an old photo, unspools the story of Peter Force, newly arrived in 1900 New York from Idaho, as he joins a crew of laborers toiling in grim conditions to build the subway system. A chance encounter throws Peter into the path of Cheri- Anne Toledo, a troubled woman who claims to have traveled seven years into the future from the Lost Kingdom of Ohio, a small frontier kingdom over which her father reigned. Cheri-Anne's plight, and his feelings for her, drags them into the orbits of a crusty J.P Morgan and of dueling inventors Thomas Edison and Nicola Tesla. As Peter and Cheri-Anne evade the powerful forces invested in Cheri-Anne, the moment when their lives and the contemporary narrator's intersects looms closer and closer, creating palpable suspense. The journey through the seedier side of New York's Gilded Age, with reprisal killings for labor agitators and nights spent in drunken dance halls, is an arresting contrast to classic time- travel themes. This is a real crowd-pleaser.
Publishers Weekly Review; September 2009.

When Autumn Leaves
Amy Foster

In the tiny town of Avening in the Pacific Northwest, life hums with a peculiar sort of energy. Some call the town enchanted; others call it quirky. But all would agree that it is a special sort of hamlet, populated by some rather intriguing people. Perhaps the most intriguing is the town witch and wise woman. An individual of extraordinary, even magical talents, Autumn Avening is ready to retire--and must find a replacement from among the local denizens. With one year to choose, Autumn begins keeping an ever closer watch on her friends and neighbors, looking for just the right candidate. Through her eyes, we get intimate glimpses of the locals of Avening--strong men and women whose stories are both heartwarming and heartbreaking. Loose ends in Foster's strong debut indicate sequel potential for those who enjoy following characters from book to book. Fans of Alice Hoffman (Practical Magic) and Joanne Harris (Chocolat) will love getting to know the residents of this cozy, charming little town. Highly recommended.
Library Journal Review; September 2007.

Unfinished Desires
Gail Godwin

Bestselling author Godwin (Evensong; The Finishing School) brings readers back in time to the early 1950s in this endearing story of Catholic school girls and the nuns who oversee them. As Mother Suzanne Ravenel begins a memoir of her 60-plus years at Mount St. Gabriel's School in Mountain City, N.C., she's forced to re-examine the 'toxic year' of 1951-1952, one of her worst at the school--beginning with the arrival of ninth-grade student Chloe Starnes, who's recently lost her mother, and Mother Malloy, a beautiful young nun assigned to the freshman class. Starnes and Malloy's arrivals presage a shift in the ranks of freshman Tildy Stratton's cruel clique, with significant consequences for all involved. Change, when it finally comes, stems from the girls' attempt to revive a play written years before by Ravenel. Godwin captures brilliantly the subtleties of friendships between teenage girls, their ambivalence toward religion and their momentous struggle to define people--especially themselves. Poignant and transporting, this faux memoir makes a convincing, satisfying novel.
Publishers Weekly Review; September 2006.

A Good Fall
Ha Jin

In The Bridegroom (2000), his last collection of short stories, Ha Jin, a National Book Award winner, captures the paradoxes of life under China's Communist regime. In his new stories, sharply etched works remarkable for the contrast between their directness of expression and complexity of feelings, he creates a mirror-image set of tales about a Chinese immigrant community in Flushing, New York. Ha Jin's ear and eye for Chinese American life are acute, as is his sense of how one life can encompass a full spectrum of irony, desperation, and magic. The advent of e-mail enables a sister in China to blackmail her sister in America. A struggling composer develops a remarkable rapport with his absent lover's parakeet. Marriages come under duress, one due to the almost surreal insensitivity of a visiting mother, the other to the husband's suspicions about his wife and the strange truth they reveal. A classic story about grandparents from the old country appalled by their Americanized grandchildren is balanced by the startling title story, in which a young kung fu master and monk achieves an unforeseen form of enlightenment. The quest for freedom yields surprising and resonant complications in Ha Jin's sorrowful, funny, and bittersweet stories.
Booklist Review; November 2009.

True Confections
Katharine Weber

In her fifth novel, after Triangle (2006), Weber unleashes a wacky comic sensibility. Ostracized by her high-school clique and denied admission to college after accidentally setting fire to a classmate's home, Alice Tatnall applies for a job at Zip's Candies on a whim and finds her life's calling. Immediately taken under the wing of candy magnate Sam Ziplinsky, Alice learns the ins and outs of the candy-making business, from mixing the proper proportions of the ingredients to repairing the ancient production line that churns out the company's reliable moneymakers, Little Sammies, Tigermelts, and Mumbo Jumbos. She further cements her place within the company and the family by marrying Sam's son and heir Howard 'Howdy' Ziplinsky and bearing him two children. Billed as an affidavit, Alice's slyly funny, frequently self-serving, and perhaps unreliable narration leads to some unexpected surprises when Alice's old nickname, Arson Girl, comes back to haunt her in a big way. Filled with candy lore, impassioned critiques of chocolate, and Alice's one-of-a-kind takes on marriage and family, this is sweet reading for fans of the offbeat.
Booklist Review; December 2009

Laugh and Love: Romantic Comedies

2010-02-15T11:41:00.010-05:00

Life’s a Beach
Claire Cook

At age 41, Ginger Walsh is unemployed and still living in an apartment above her parents' garage. She dabbles in making jewelry but realizes that her cat has more artistic ability when it accidentally creates a sculpture out of her beach glass materials. When a movie crew comes to her small Massachusetts coastal town, Ginger and her precocious nephew audition to be extras. The director loves the kid, and Ginger jumps at the chance to act as his on-set guardian. After all, she can't wait to get away from her boyfriend, who is so noncommittal he doesn't even know her phone number; her sister, who is having a mid-life crisis; and her parents, who are arguing about whether or not to sell the family home--and Ginger's apartment--out from underneath her. In this lighthearted, breezy read, Cook (Must Love Dogs) displays a wry sense of humor and knows how to write realistic characters.
Library Journal Review; May 2007.

Agnes and the Hitman
Jennifer Crusie

Food writer Agnes Crandall knows how to use a frying pan to create delicious meals and to deal with difficult men. It's that second skill that gets her into trouble. When a masked intruder tries to take her bloodhound Rhett, Agnes whacks him with a frying pan full of hot raspberry sauce. The teenage dognapper ends up dead; but before the police arrive, Shane, the nephew of an old family friend, turns up at Two Rivers, the faded southern mansion Agnes calls home, to offer his professional services. Shane quickly discovers that while Agnes certainly seems capable of taking care of herself, she could use a little help dealing with a two-timing fiance, a local crime family determined to kidnap Rhett, and a long-lost fortune. A southern, Mob- flavored, flamingo-motif wedding provides the richly comic setting for the second literary collaboration between the highly entertaining team of Crusie and Mayer. Generously seasoned with an acerbic wit and graced with a wonderfully original pair of protagonists and a wickedly amusing cast of secondary characters, Agnes and the Hitman is fabulous fun.
Booklist Review; July 2007.

Second Thyme Around
Katie Fforde

This sixth novel by British author Fforde (Life Skills) is a good-natured and utterly charming romance about Lucas, a handsome, talented, somewhat prickly chef, falling back in love with his ex-wife, Perdita, whose small produce operation supplies fresh vegetables for his restaurant. Lucas and Perdita struggle to keep the past, and their increasing attraction to each other, under wraps. Various subplots and characters make this novel stand above run-of-the- mill romantic comedies. Thus, the elderly Kitty, who virtually raised Perdita, is losing her struggle to remain independent a predicament Fforde handles with candor and authenticity, as doctors, hospitals, home healthcare aides, and even greedy relatives appearing at the last minute cause Perdita and Kitty undue strain. The courtship between matchmaking Janey, one of Lucas's assistants, and William, an employee of Perdita, adds depth and a bit of suspense to the story.
Library Journal Review; June 2001.

Olivia Joules and the Overactive Imagination
Helen Fielding

More than anything, freelance journalist Olivia Joules wants to write serious news stories, but because of her 'vivid' imagination, Olivia instead finds herself relegated by her editors to the style section. While in Miami covering the launch of a new face cream, Olivia meets mysterious, sexy Pierre Feramo, the scientist responsible for developing the cream, and once again Olivia's imagination takes over. Is Pierre really a cosmetics-developing, movie- producing international playboy or could he be an al-Qaeda agent in disguise? Olivia, who knows a thing or two about changing one's identity, can't decide if her suspicions about Pierre are correct or merely a product of her fertile imagination. What is even worse is that if Olivia turns out to be right about Pierre, it means she might be falling in love with a terrorist! The author of the phenomenally popular Bridget Jones's Diary (1998) gifts readers with another endearing, irrepressible heroine, who, armed with her lists and survival kit, discovers in this deliciously fun novel that she has a natural talent for spying. Fielding's latest has all the ingredients of a good thriller--exotic locales, a resourceful heroine, intrigue, and a touch of sexy romance--but the book is also electric with Fielding's wry wit, and the combination is simply delightful.
Booklist Review; July 2004.

Toehold
Stephen H Foreman

The Alaskan wilderness provides a formidable backdrop for Foreman's detail-rich though meandering first novel. In Toehold, with a population of 200, an Arctic 'bush village,' a collection of surly characters have their quirks, but this is no quaint Northern Exposure hamlet. Subsisting on a diet of moose, caribou and the beer down at the Pingo Palace, the town's citizens see simply surviving the winter as a source of pride. Like many residents, fiery Mary Ellen 'Mel' Madden, originally from Mudsuck, W.Va., came to Toehold with 'just no place left to go.' But thanks to Cody Rosewater, the town's taxidermist and 'go-to' guy, Mel soon learns how to track, hunt and trap. She puts her new skills to work by hanging out her hunting guide shingle. But her first client, a smarmy Hollywood producer, may prove to be more dangerous than the golden grizzly they set out after. Plenty of shots get fired, and somewhere in the harsh landscape love starts to bloom.
Publishers Weekly Review; July 2007.

Cross My Heart
Carly Phillips

Escaping her abusive uncle's clutches in the only way she could, teenager Lilly Dumont staged her own accidental drowning--with the help of fast friends Tyler Benson and Daniel Hunter--and headed for New York to be reborn as Lacey Kincaid. Now, ten years later, Lacey's uncle is going to have her declared legally dead in order to claim her substantial trust fund, so Ty must give Lacey the unwelcome news. Unwilling to let her uncle steal her parents' legacy, Lacey reluctantly heads back to Hawken's Cove, but if someone has his way, Lacey will go back to being dead--this time for real. Sizzling sexual chemistry, fast-paced action, and a few unexpected twists will keep readers turning the pages of this sassy, upbeat story.
Library Journal Review; August 2006.

Match Me If You Can
Susan Elizabeth Phillips

Annabelle Granger has no idea why rich, gorgeous, and successful sports agent Heath Champion needs a matchmaker, but she is more than happy to take the job. Annabelle, who recently inherited her beloved Nana's matchmaking business, sees Heath as the key to her economic future, so she uses a connection with a friend to set up a meeting. It only takes a few minutes with bold, brash, and work-obsessed Heath for Annabelle to understand exactly why her new client might have had trouble finding the woman of his dreams. With a wicked wit and saucy charm, RITA Award- winning and best-selling Phillips fashions a deliciously fun romance between a testosterone-rich, irresistibly sexy hero and a sweetly endearing, yet feisty-to-the-core heroine who proves to be more than his match. A secondary romance between rival matchmaker Portia Powers and Heath's business associate, Bodie Gray, adds another measure of sexy humor, and readers familiar with the Chicago Stars series will especially enjoy the appearances of characters from those books in Phillips' latest dazzling contemporary romance.
Booklist Review; May 2005.

The Cinderella Pact
Sarah Strohmeyer

With her double chin and double-XL wardrobe, it's doubly appropriate that Nola Devlin leads a double life. In reality, she's the overworked, underappreciated editor of 'Sass!' a sleazy celebrity tabloid whose most popular columnist is sexy, slender, saucy Belinda Apple, Nola's alter ego. Nola, however, soon finds she's too clever for her own good when one of Belinda's columns on weight loss inspires her two equally overweight best friends to coerce her into following this diet-to-end- all-diets, a 'Cinderella Pact' they hope will transform their lives into a Belinda-like orgy of physical, romantic, and career success. Meanwhile, Belinda's popularity soars to the point that 'Sass!' management decides it's time to meet their star attraction in the flesh, as it were. As Nola slims down, the quest to find Belinda heats up, causing Nola to jump through more hoops than any personal trainer could possibly dream of. As a discerning observer of cultural folderol, Strohmeyer nonetheless softens her trenchant satire with obvious compassion for her lovable characters.
Booklist Review; June 2006

Murder Takes a Vacation

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Borderline
Nevada Barr

Unable to shake the despondency and self-doubt that settled on her after her horrific experiences at Isle Royale (Winter Study, 2008), Anna is put on administrative leave. In a move designed to help her recover, her husband arranges to take her on a guided rafting trip in Big Bend National Park, which straddles the border between Texas and Mexico. Their companions are four college students. Within hours of their departure, the raft careens into rocks and is lost. The occupants have barely recovered from the shock when one of them makes a gruesome discovery: the body of a very pregnant woman caught among tangled branches. Though unable to save the woman, Anna saves the child, whose welfare becomes her mission. Unfortunately, some people have other plans for the tiny new life and the struggling rafters. A riveting series of gut-wrenching events heads the book, winding down about midway as the personalities on shore and the mystery surrounding the child come into focus. Barr is less successful than usual in masking her evildoers, but her extraordinary ability to create electrifying drama in the natural world is unequivocal, as is her compelling portrait of Anna--real enough to touch as she struggles to regain her confidence, her enthusiasm, and her sense of self.
Booklist Review; March 2009.

Killer Knots
Nancy Cohen

In Cohen's laid-back ninth mystery (after Perish by Pedicure), hairdresser and sleuth Marla Shore takes a cruise with her fiance, police detective Dalton Vail, and his parents and teenage daughter. Shortly after boarding, Marla receives a threatening note addressed to 'Martha Shore.' At dinner, she and Dalton find themselves seated with a tense group of museum employees, all of whom were sent on the cruise by an anonymous benefactor and received similar notes. When a piece to be sold at the cruise's auction turns out to be the work of an artist who died under unusual circumstances, Marla decides to do a bit of digging. Her detecting is complemented by a more personal subplot: how she will get along with her soon-to-be in-laws. Fans of vacation mysteries will enjoy watching Marla find her way through this light whodunit.
Publishers Weekly Review; September 2007.

Obsessions
Marshall Cook

Small-town newspaper editor Monona Quinn and her husband, Doug, are vacationing in the Northwoods of Wisconsin. Monona is attending a writers' conference, while Doug is there to relax and learn to fish. The trip is also a chance for the two to reconnect and smooth over problems in their marriage. The conference has barely begun when Fletcher Downs, the obnoxious, best-selling mystery author who was brought in to headline the conference, disappears and is later found dead. Who killed him? Was it a disgruntled student or a local resident? Is this murder connected to two previous deaths that have occurred in the area, but were ruled accidents? The small-town environment and the writers'- conference milieu are carefully described and well integrated into the story, and Monona and Doug's relationship is nicely developed.
Booklist Review; May 2008.

Holy Terror in the Hebrides
Jeanne Dams

To escape the turmoil of home remodeling, Dorothy Martin, a sixtyish American expatriate, plans to visit the Scottish island of Iona, home of Saint Columba and the awe-inspiring Fingall's Cave. At the last minute, her friends cancel and she ends up touring the island's religious sites with seven of the most sanctimonious ugly Americans imaginable. At Fingall's Cave, Martin sees one of these tourists, slip, fall, and drown--spectacularly and suspiciously. Avoiding the cliches that plague mysteries starring pert retirees, Dams' third novel freshens the English whodunit with a clever plot, snappy pace, and spirited dialogue. The book exudes the atmosphere of the British Isles: quiet village churches, chases across the moors, and stormy nights with trees crashing through stout, shuttered walls. Through all this mayhem, Dorothy Martin presses on, good natured, insightful and gently poking fun at others--and herself.
Booklist Review; September 1997.

Winter of Secrets
Vicki Delany

The discovery early one Christmas morning of the bodies of best friends Jason Wyatt-Yarmouth and Ewan Williams, two privileged young men from Toronto, in an SUV sunken in an ice-covered river propels Delaney's stellar third mystery to feature constable Molly Smith of Trafalgar, B.C. (after Feb. 2009's Valley of the Lost). Molly investigates what at first appears to be an accident, but when the times and manner of Jason's and Ewan's deaths turn out to differ, she and her colleagues have a murder case on their hands. Whether at the Glacier Chalet B&B, on a black diamond ski trail or in the police station, Delaney glides between scenes with ease. She uses a bare-bones style, without literary flash, to achieve artistry as sturdy and restrained as a Shaker chair. Warmth and menace, past and present, are nicely balanced, with a denouement that's equally plausible and startling.
Publishers Weekly Review; September 2009.

Set Sail for Murder
Carolyn Hart

Retired newswoman Henrie O Collins sails on a two-week Baltic cruise to help out an old friend and former boyfriend, James Lennox, who is concerned that someone is trying to kill his wife, documentary filmmaker Sophia Montgomery. James believes that there have already been two attempts on Sophia's life, and he suspects that one of her second husband's children is out to kill her because she controls when they will receive their inheritance. The whole family is required to go on the cruise, during which Sophia will announce her decision regarding the inheritance. James wants Henrie O to help protect Sophia, who believes James' concerns are ridiculous, and to determine which child is the would-be killer. Framed by descriptions of the lovely Baltic ports of call, Hart's seventh in the Henrie O series combines engaging subordinate characters and surprising plot twists with the charms of Henrie O herself, who grapples with her past feelings for James while trying to solve the case.
Booklist Review; February 2007.

A Rule Against Murder
Louise Penny

Readers who haven't discovered Louise Penny and her Armand Gamache series yet are in for a treat. In the latest entry, Chief Inspector Gamache of the Surete du Quebec has traveled to the luxurious and remote Manoir Bellechasse with his wife, Reine-Marie. Each year they return to the manor to celebrate their wedding anniversary on July 1, Canada Day. This year they are fellow guests with the Finney family. Two of the members of that family are old friends Peter and Clara Morrow from the village of Three Pines on the Riviere Bella Bella, where the first three books in this series took place. Not only are we treated to Penny's usual rich characterizations, but the atmospheric and beautiful language will make you want to take your next vacation at the manoir. Of course, a crime does occur, and Gamache ends up on a busman's holiday. One of the eccentric Finney family members dies in a very grotesque manner, and Gamache calls in his team to help solve the mystery. First, Armand has to figure out why the victim was killed, and, in fact, it wouldn't hurt to determine how the deed was done. Suspects abound, naturally, and Gamache sorts through them with aplomb.
Booklist Review; January 2009.

Shark River
Randy Wayne White

The skeletons in Doc Ford's closet are on the loose. The marine biologist's former career as an operative in a covert wing of the CIA has a way of breaking in on his quiet life gathering specimens on Florida's Gulf Coast, but this time it's a full-frontal assault. Doc and his hippie pal Tomlinson (his closet isn't skeleton-free either) are enjoying a working vacation on Guava Key when Doc stumbles on a kidnapping-in-progress. Drawing on remembered tradecraft, he foils the plan but soon finds himself on the hit list of a Colombian drug lord. Not to mention that the father of one of the women whom Ford rescued seems inordinately interested in the biologist's past life. The skeletons in Ford's personal closet want equal time, too, as seen by the arrival of a black woman who claims to be Doc's sister. It all comes together in a rousing finale in which Ford, Tomlinson, the drug lord, the would-be sister, and all the skeletons gather at in a tropical island version of the OK Corral. Ford remains the most consistently entertaining of the latter-day Travis McGees, as White continues to mix action and introspection in just the right proportions.
Booklist Review; May 2001

The Forgotten Garden

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The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton is an absorbing story that spans three generations as well as three time periods.

The year is 1913 and Nell, a four year old little girl, finds herself all alone on a ship bound for Australia. Miraculously, she survives this sea voyage to arrive all alone at the docks at the end of this long journey. The dock-master, having no children of his own, does not report this lost child but instead takes her home with him and raises her as his own. Years later, when Nell is told of her adoption, she tries to go back to England and discover her roots. Sadly she never finishes this search but upon her death many years later, Cassandra, her granddaughter, discovers this secret and decides to finish her grandmother's quest. This intriguing story is told in alternate chapters covering the three time periods - the story of Nell's parents, Nell's search to solve the mystery of why she was abandoned on a ship and Cassandra's journey back to England to finish her grandmother's search. I thoroughly enjoyed this gentle mystery and hope you will too.

Archaeology in Fiction

2010-01-25T11:44:00.012-05:00

The Alexander Cipher
Will Adams

In a welcome respite from the glut of Christendom-shattering, artifact- protecting, Secret Order thrillers, debut author Adams offers up something new. A cobbled-together team--a Greek archaeologist, her French assistant/language specialist, and quasi-corrupt Egyptian antiquities officials--finds a clue that, when deciphered, leads them to the real tomb of Alexander the Great. Here's the twist--the whole operation is funded by a wealthy Macedonian nationalist who will use Alexander's body to mobilize his compatriots to wage war against Greece for sovereignty. Rival archaeologist Daniel Knox is our misunderstood action hero and romantic lead in the style of Indiana Jones and Dirk Pitt, fractionally more skilled at eluding peril than becoming ensnared in it. Adams racks up a generous body count; some victims we have grown to like. The violence is graphic and the language at times coarse, though commensurate with the world of baksheesh, graft, and unchecked power depicted here. Not literature, but a plausible, fun heist- thriller that compels the reader to wonder, What if?
Library Jounal Review; February 2009.

The Bone Garden
Kate Ellis

Past and present come together in Detective Sergeant Wesley Peterson's latest case. In the course of restoring the gardens at historic Earlsacre Hall, three skeletons are uncovered. The bones appear to be centuries old, but they hold an interest for Peterson, whose degree is in archaeology. But despite the attraction of the skeletons, Peterson has more pressing concerns. A decomposing body with multiple stab wounds is found at a local campsite, and shortly afterward, the body of a local lawyer is discovered, his head bashed in by a cricket bat. Peterson's intuition tells him the two murders are connected, and he also suspects a link with Earlsacre, but he has no evidence to back up his hunches. Then his colleague, Detective Rachel Tracey, is kidnapped, drugged, and left for dead, and the intrepid Peterson has a more pressing reason to connect all the dots. Capable plotting, an absorbing story line, and a cast of appealing characters make this fifth entry in the Peterson series a good choice for British procedural fans.
Booklist Review; July 2003.

Findings
Mary Anna Evans

Archaeologist Faye Longchamp's friend, mentor, and father figure, Douglass Everett, is murdered the night that he and Faye realize that she has found a huge emerald in an archaeological dig on a site that once belonged to her family. The murderers miss the emerald but steal Faye's notes from the site. Then another friend is killed, and the danger becomes apparent to all. Faye's friends rally to protect her and Douglass's widow, but the situation involving greedy people who desecrate Confederate archaeological sites soon spins out of control. Evans always incorporates detailed research that adds depth and authenticity to her mysteries, and she beautifully conjurs up the Micco County, FL, setting. This is a series that deserves more attention than it garners. Fans of archaeological mysteries by Lyn Hamilton, Sarah Andrews, and Aaron Elkins will enjoy.
Library Journal Review; May 2008.

The Moon Tunnel
Jim Kelly

At the start of Kelly's superb third mystery to feature Cambridgeshire journalist Philip Dryden (after 2004's The Fire Baby), an archeological team discovers human remains in the remnants of what appears to have been an escape tunnel from a WWII-era POW camp in England's fen country. That the victim was shot heading toward the camp piques Philip's interest. When forensic evidence dates the victim's death to well after the war, Philip sets out to find the corpse's identity. His search leads to the local Italian community, academics at Cambridge University, the proprietress of a nearby landfill, and to his intellectual and emotional reawakening after a period of feeling half alive. Kelly excels at depicting landscapes (his descriptions of the marsh-like fens rival those of Dorothy L. Sayers) and also rendering eccentric and troubled characters. But what could easily have been a depressing story instead shows the underlying good to be found in most people, that compassion and generosity can motivate as much as lust or anger. Kelly has produced another story rich in plot and character, with a bit of history as well.
Publishers Weekly Review; September 2005.

Silence and Shadows
James Long

The ability to evoke both present-day and historical events, signaled in his praised Ferney, is evident in Long's new novel, again a mixture of contemporary and flashback scenes. Patrick Kane, aka notorious British rock star Paddy Kane, has retreated from his former celebrity life to repent the violent excesses on which his career was based, and the harm he did his late wife, Rachel. Having totally left the music world, he's now burying himself in archeology his first love in a dig-for-profit run by a corporation in the tiny village of Wytchlow. Profit is much more the company's concern than archeology, so Pat and his ragtag band of volunteers must try to preserve their integrity. Moreover, inexperienced Pat is feeling insecure about leading the dig, and his grief has been reawakened by the appearance of a young woman named Bobby Redhead who reminds him of Rachel. Rachel had a nearly mute brother, Joe, who communicates only through singing. After Joe appears in Wytchlow singing a ballad about a legendary red- haired Saxon princess called the German Queen, rumored to be buried there, the team discovers what may be her grave, arousing the interest of a TV crew, whose producer has secret plans to exploit Pat's unsavory past. Pat's resistance to sharing himself with others again is melting in the warmth of his circle of diggers, and he finds himself drawn to Bobby, whose resemblance to Rachel is echoed by her similarities to the tragic Saxon princess. Long does a fine job of juxtaposing modern scientific investigation with the mysteries of ancient history, especially the heyday of the Saxon tribes in Britain.
Publishers Weekly Review; February 2001.

Labyrinth
Kate Mosse

Mosse's epic adventure weaves together the present and the past in an entertaining Grail-quest tale. In the present, Alice Tanner, a volunteer at a French archaeological excavation, stumbles across the skeletal remains of two people in a cave, as well as a ring with an intricate labyrinth engraved on it. Her discovery attracts the attention of two unsavory figures: Paul Authie, a sinister police inspector, and Marie-Ceile de l'Oradore, a wealthy, powerful woman. When the ring that Alice discovered and the friend that invited her out on the dig both disappear, Alice begins to fear for her safety. Interlinked with Alice's story is that of 17-year-old Alais, newly married to a handsome chevalier and living in thirteenth-century Carcassonne. The threat of French invasion grows every day, but Alais and her father are more concerned with protecting three sacred books that reveal the secret of the Grail. The Crusaders want the books, but two people much closer to home are working against Alais and her father, desirous of the promise of eternal life that the Grail offers. Although the novel contains lulls in places, the medieval story is exciting.
Booklist Review; January 2006.

The Serpent on the Crown
Elizabeth Peters

Peters delivers another winner that you can't put down and yet don't want to see end, the 17th entry in her bestselling series to feature Egyptologist Amelia Peabody Emerson and her extended family (after 2004's Guardian of the Horizon). Early in 1922, novelist Magda Petherick, the widow of noted collector Pringle Petherick, interrupts the tea that the Emerson clan are enjoying on the veranda of their house by the Nile. Mrs. Petherick wants Emerson, Amelia's eminent archeologist husband, to dispose of a beautiful golden statuette that Pringle acquired shortly before his death because she believes it carries a curse. All are intrigued. News travels fast, and such a magnificent artifact soon attracts all manner of collectors, museum authorities, journalists and evildoers. Emerson's illegitimate half-brother, Sethos, formerly a dealer in illegal antiquities, arrives in disguise, but unfortunately he's followed by the gentleman he's impersonating. Tomb excavations, mountain treks, brutal attacks, an abduction, an exorcism and murder keep the plot hopping. The author's droll sense of humor and picture of a leisurely and less complicated age add to the appeal.
Publishers Weekly Review; March 2005.

Land of Marvels
Barry Unsworth

Well known for the widely acclaimed novel Sacred Hunger, which received the Booker Prize, and his well-crafted Morality Play, Unsworth here offers historical fiction at its best. It provides some insight into current political divisions in the Middle East as it explores the power and limitations of storytelling. While the publisher characterizes this novel as a thriller, and it certainly has a compelling plot, Unsworth exceeds the limitations of that genre by drawing characters with depth and complexity. As several Western countries do their best to exploit the looming prospect of war and potential oil reserves in 1914 Mesopotamia (now Iraq), a British archaeologist races against time to uncover the secrets of an Assyrian site before construction on the new railway flattens the site and his hopes for further expeditions. Consumed with worry, he doesn't realize who, among his growing party, has betrayed him, who is working undercover, and who is just lying.
Library Journal Review; October 2008.

If you liked "I'm Not Scared" . . .

2010-01-21T17:36:00.009-05:00

If you liked I’m Not Scared by Niccolo Ammaniti:

Try these other books with boys facing moral decisions.

Boy in the Striped Pajamas

John Boyne (2006)

YA FIC Boyne

Poland, World WarII. Innocent and naïve 8-year-old Bruno is bored and restless in his new home. Ignoring his mother, he sets off on an adventure in the woods. He comes across a high fence which separates him from the people he can see through it. Soon, he meets a young boy in striped pajamas, and a surprising and tragic friendship develops.

Good Night, Mr. Tom

Michelle Magorian (1981)

FIC Boyne & YA FIC Boyne (1 c each location)

A battered child learns to embrace life when he is adopted by an old man in the English countryside during the Second World War.

Kite Runner

Khaled Hosseini (2003)

FIC Hosseini

Amir is the son of a prominent and wealthy

man, while Hassan, the son of Amir's father's servant, is a Hazara--a shunned ethnic minority. Their intertwined lives, and their fates, reflect the eventual tragedy of the world around them. When Amir and his father flee the country for a new life in

California, Amir thinks that he has escaped his past. And yet he cannot leave the memory of Hassan behind him.

The Story of Lucy Gault

William Trevor (2002)

FIC Trevor

Nine-year-old Lucy Gault is devastated when her parents plan to leave their ancestral estate in Ireland for a new home in England. As the servants are let go and the house is boarded up, Lucy decides to run away. But her disappearance sets off a series of misunderstandings that will change her family forever and will touch each inhabitant of her village.

Three of these books have been made into movies. Do you know which ones?

New Bestsellers in Book Express 1/19/10

2010-01-20T09:22:00.008-05:00

These books were put out Tuesday.

Merry Wives of Maggody by Joan Hess -- Mystery

When the winner of the local golf tournament is found dead in his awarded bass boat, Sheriff Arly Hanks has a host of jealous suspects.

Death of a Valentine by M C Beaton -- Mystery

Amazing news has spread across the Scottish countryside. The most famous of highland bachelors, police sergeant Hamish Macbeth, may actually marry at last. The wedding wouldn't be happening if it weren't for the murder of a beautiful woman in a nearby village. After the gorgeous woman receives a deadly Valentine's Day gift, Hamish and Josie take on the case. However, they soon discover that the list of the victim's admirers is endless. The case confirms Hamish's belief that love is extremely dangerous, but he still can't avoid the events that lead up to his celebrated engagement. #26 in Beaton's Hamish Macbeth series.

Doors Open by Ian Rankin -- Mystery

Three friends descend upon an art auction and concoct a plan to "liberate" several paintings from the National Gallery. As enterprising girlfriends, clever detectives, a crime boss, seductive auctioneers and a Hell's Angel named Hate enter the picture, this fast-paced story of second guesses and double crosses keeps changing the picture.

Kisser by Stuart Woods -- Mystery

When P.I. Stone Barrington crosses paths with a fetching Broadway actress--and sometime lip model--Stone gets a little more deeply involved with business than he'd expected. When his new lady love turns out to be a lady with a shady past, Stone and downtown cop Dino Bacchetti realize that her beauty may have an unusually high price.

Wolf at the Door by Jack Higgins -- Thriller

Who's knocking off members of a special intelligence unit known as the prime minister's private army? Only Sean Dillon has a clue.

Find these books on the 7-day Book Express display, or place a hold on the 2-week New Fiction copies.

On the High Seas

2010-01-18T11:53:00.010-05:00

Sea of Gray
Tom Chaffin

Chaffin chronicles the remarkable story of the 'Shenandoah''s 58,000- mile voyage around the world during the Civil War. Along the way, it sunk 334 Union merchant and whaling ships heavily laden with cargo, including brandy, rum, and whiskey. After the vessel rounded Africa's Cape of Good Hope, it stopped in Australia and then navigated the ice floes of Siberia's Sea of Okhotsk, the Bering Sea, and the Arctic Ocean--much of it through gales, ice fields, subfreezing temperatures, fog, and rain. The ship's crew hoped to destroy the Yankees' western Arctic whaling fleet, but four months after the war ended, the Shenandoah's captain learned that he had been fighting a war 'without cause or state.' He had gone from being an enemy combatant to a pirate, an offense that could get him hanged. He camouflaged the vessel, circumnavigated the globe, and attempted to surrender in England. Chaffin drew on hundreds of original documents in researching this riveting narrative of one episode of the Civil War.
Booklist Review; December 2005.

Captain James Cook
Richard Hough

Is James Cook to be best understood as an explorer and scholar or an agent of European imperialism? This comprehensive biography by a noted writer of popular maritime history tells Cook's story without taking much of a stand. Even as a junior naval officer, his abilities secured him one key appointment after another on exploration and survey expeditions between 1763 and 1779. Hough emphasizes the importance for military, commercial and scientific purposes of the accurate charts and maps produced by Cook. Anthropological investigations were by-products of Cook's usual primary missions. A mixture of arrogance and innocence led him to ignore signs of increasing friction between British sailors and Pacific islanders. His death by stoning at the hands of Hawaiian warriors on Feb. 14, 1779, heralded the end of the Age of Reconnaissance in the Pacific and the beginning of an age of conquest.
Publishers Weekly Review; January 1995.

Barrow’s Boys
Fergus Fleming

With no enemy to fight after the defeat of Napoleon in 1815, the British Navy was drastically reduced. Ships were laid up and crews discharged; thousands of officers lingered on the beach on half pay with nothing to do. John Barrow, second secretary of the Royal Navy, was also an enthusiastic supporter of travel and exploration and a writer for the geographical press. He had the brilliant idea of using some of the idle ships and men to explore the world, which in the early 19th century had not been adequately mapped. What was at the North Pole? Was there a Northwest Passage? What lay at the heart of Africa? From 1816 to 1857, Barrow organized 30 expeditions; many were unsuccessful, but they did fill in some blank areas of the globe. In his extensively researched effort, Fleming follows each exploring party. The result will be enjoyed by anyone with an interest in true adventure; Fleming has saved John Barrow from undeserved neglect.
Library Journal Review; February 2000.

The Way of a Ship
Derek Lundy

Lundy (Godforsaken Sea), an experienced amateur sailor, offers a gale-force recreation of a late 19th-century square-rigger voyage. He begins by introducing his Irish-Canadian great-great-uncle, sailor Benjamin Lundy. Since little information about Benjamin was available, the author combines the few facts with what he learned about life on square-riggers from maritime museums to fabricate an imaginary voyage and a fictitious ship, the Beara Head. Benjamin sets off on the Beara Head in 1885 amid 'the smoky mist and watery sun of a Liverpool spring day.' While charting the ship's course (around Cape Horn to Valparaiso and on to San Francisco), the author shares details of ship construction, food, equipment and the routine tasks of those onboard. He depicts the romance and tranquil beauty of square-riggers, along with the intense physical challenges the exhausted, sleep-deprived seamen deal with. Under 'the black, boiling clouds of the storm,' they wrestle with the topsail: 'The fight to control the sail becomes nightmarish toil without end.' Musical sea chants pitch and roll with gusto throughout this adventure tale, along with Lundy's personal sailing experiences, plus literary references from Conrad, Melville and others. Convincing dialogue crests on rippling waves of fiction, yet readers will surface with a strong sense of seagoing history, a knowledge of the specialized skills involved in keeping square-riggers afloat and a respect not only for the fierce power of the elements but also for Lundy's considerable talent as a writer.
Publishers Weekly Review; February 2003.

Over the Edge of the World
Laurence Bergreen

Ferdinand Magellan's ship was the first to circumnavigate the globe. While the accomplishment is recognized as a historic milestone, less known are the details of that voyage around the world. Magellan spent years trying to win the favor of the king of Portugal, and failing that he swore loyalty to the Spanish crown. After finally receiving Spain's backing for a trip to the Spice Islands, the king imposed numerous stipulations that would affect Magellan's crew and his authority over them. Once his fleet finally embarked, he had to contend with violent storms, mutinous crewmembers, and hostile natives. Bergreen tells a well-rounded story of Magellan, not just that of the romanticized hero but also that of the explorer's darker side. He also puts the voyage into its historical context, going into detail about what was known of the world at the time (and what was still uncharted), the rivalry between Portugal and Spain, and the church's attempt to divide up the New World between them. Fascinating reading for history buffs, and a great story that rivals any seagoing adventure.
Booklist Review; September 2003.

In the Heart of the Sea
Nathaniel Philbrick

It's the story Melville drew on for Moby Dick: an enormous whale bent on the destruction of the whaling ship that is chasing it. But Philbrick delves much deeper into the actual history of the nineteenth-century ship, the Essex, and the 20 sailors aboard, many of whom died when the vessel was tragically sunk. The details about the whaling industry in Nantucket and how oil was extracted from the huge creatures are fascinating, as are the facts and speculation about the physical and psychological ramifications the disaster had on the crew. It's a riveting, tale of struggle, heroics, and cowardice, vividly told.
Booklist Review; April 2001.

Resolute
Martin Sandler

Though there are plenty of detailed works about specific Arctic expeditions, a general history suffices for some readers. Sandler surveys the famous quest for the Northwest Passage, which the British navy actively pursued from 1818 to the early 1850s, when Robert McClure and crew made the first complete passage. But his renown was then and has ever since been eclipsed by the man he and several other commanders were dispatched to find: Sir John Franklin, whose disastrous fate is relayed in 'Ice Blink,' by Scott Cookman (2000). Among the many stories Sandler tells, the strangest concerns a ship, the 'Resolute', which was abandoned by another of Franklin's would-be rescuers. Somehow, the 'Resolute' drifted back to civilization, was discovered by an American whaling ship, and was returned to an appreciative Britain obsessed with any trace of Franklin. Later, Queen Victoria had a desk hewn from the 'Resolute' and given to President Rutherford Hayes; it today occupies the Oval Office. Endowed with dozens of images, Sandler's enticement to a popular topic in exploration history is well suited to library requirements.
Booklist Review; October 2006.

Longitude
Dava Sobel

While sailors can readily gauge latitude by the height of the sun or guiding stars above the horizon, the measurement of longitude bedeviled navigators for centuries, resulting in untold shipwrecks. Galileo, Isaac Newton and Edmund Halley entreated the moon and stars for help, but their astronomical methods failed. In 1714, England's Parliament offered £20,000 (equivalent to millions of dollars today) to anyone who could solve the problem. Self-educated English clockmaker John Harrison (1693-1776) found the answer by inventing a chronometer a friction-free timepiece, impervious to pitch and roll, temperature and humidity that would carry the true time from the home port to any destination. But Britain's Board of Longitude, a panel of scientists, naval officers and government officials, favored the astronomers over humble 'mechanics' like Harrison, who received only a portion of the prize after decades of struggle. Yet his approach ultimately triumphed, enabling Britannia to rule the waves. In an enthralling gem of a book, former New York Times science reporter Sobel spins an amazing tale of political intrigue, foul play, scientific discovery and personal ambition.
Publishers Weekly Review; September 1995.

The Big Thrill

2010-01-13T10:50:00.001-05:00

The Big Thrill -- check out this blog. It's all about Thrillers and their authors.

New Bestsellers in Book Express 1/13/10

2010-01-13T10:11:00.005-05:00

These new books will be put out today on Book Express. 14-day New copies also begin circulating -- they have holds on them.

Watchlist based on an idea by Jeffrey Deaver
TWO SERIAL THRILLERS IN ONE KILLER BOOK

from International Thriller Writers -- Linda Barnes, Brett Battles, Lee Child, David Corbett, Jeffery Deaver, Joseph Finder, Jim Fusilli, John Gilstrap, James Grady, David Hewson, Jon Land, David Liss, Gayle Lynds, John Ramsey Miller, P. J. Parrish, Ralph Pezzullo, James Phelan, S. J. Rozan, Lisa Scottoline, Jenny Siler, Peter Spiegelman, Erica Spindler.

Sounds fascinating! Call number will be M Watchlist because the book has multiple authors.

First Rule : a Joe Pike novel by Robert Crais

Frank Meyer had the American dream-until the day a professional crew invaded his home and murdered everyone inside. The police think Meyer was hiding something very bad, but Joe Pike does not. With the help of Elvis Cole, Pike sets out on a hunt of his own--an investigation that quickly entangles them both in a web of ancient grudges, blood ties, blackmail, vengeance, double crosses, and cutthroat criminals. (book summary)

Treasure Hunt by John Lescroart

When the body of Dominic Como, one of San Francisco's most high-profile activists--a charismatic man known as much for his expensive suits as his work on a half dozen nonprofit boards--is discovered, P.I. Mickey Dade and P.I. Wyatt Hunt investigate Como's business associate, Alicia Thorpe--young, gorgeous, and the sister of one of Mickey's friends. (book summary)

Into the Wild: Survival Stories

2010-01-11T11:57:00.010-05:00

Dead Lucky
Lincoln Hall

In May 2006 on Mt. Everest, veteran climber Hall was left for dead because, to his fellow climbers, he appeared to have died. But the following morning, members of another expedition found him, sitting on a rock and very much alive. Hall's story made headlines around the world--not too many dead men walk down off the tallest mountain in the world--and now Hall, the author of seven previous climbing-themed books, tells us the full story. It is a remarkable account. Hall's ordeal is the stuff of nightmares: collapsing from altitude sickness, slipping into unconsciousness, waking up all alone at the top of the world, left behind as though he were a corpse. As a storyteller, Hall has a tough job: to convey to the reader what was going on inside his head as he slipped in and out of hallucination until the line between fantasy and reality was so blurred as to be nonexistent. He does this with a grace and sense of drama that befit a novel: we feel we're there with him, seeing and hearing things that can't possibly be real. There have been a great many Everest-themed books lately, but this one stands alone, the first-person account of a climber's journey into, and back out of, death itself.
Booklist Review; May 2008.

Hell or High Water
Peter Heller

Dedicated kayakers have long had their hearts set on the Tsangpo River, which cuts a gorge through Tibet many times deeper and steeper than the Grand Canyon; successfully navigating it is akin to snowboarding down Everest. The last major expedition of the 1990s ended when one of the kayakers drowned in the raging currents, but in 2002 a group led by adventure filmmaker Scott Lindgren, one of the extreme sport's most prominent heroes, gave it another shot. Heller was assigned to cover the expedition for Outside and, despite having completely worn out the cartilage in one hip, he decided to go for it. The story takes him to one of the most beautiful spots on the planet, still almost entirely untouched, but also subjects him to the ugliest aspects of human nature. Heller is unflinchingly honest about the hostility he faced from Lindgren and his companions, who openly attack the journalist for 'getting rich' from their story, as well as the resentment that begins to well inside him at their condescension. Meanwhile, the locals hired to carry the equipment realize they have the upper hand and start extorting more money for their services. The drama on shore, however, is easily matched--sometimes surpassed--by the action on the river, which includes a few chilling brushes with death. Heller nimbly blends the history of the region into his gripping modern trek, as the crew lives up to the legacy of the great explorers before them. An offhand remark made to the paddlers early in the journey--that their story could be the kayaking equivalent of Into Thin Air--has come true in the best possible way.

Publishers Weekly Review; August 2004.

Where Hell Freezes Over
David Kearns

In 1946, the U.S. Navy sent warships to Antarctica to conduct the Antarctic Development Project, codenamed Operation Highjump, a major survey of the continent. The 12 ships involved included several seaplane tenders carrying aircraft for aerial surveys. On December 30, 1946, one of the planes from the tender USS Pine Island crashed into a mountain on Thurston Island off the Antarctic shoreline. Of the crew of nine, three died in the crash. The six survivors, including the Pine Island's captain, Henry H. Caldwell, waited 14 days until rescue by the navy. Freelance reporter Kearns, son of the plane's copilot, Lt. Bill Kearns, presents this story based on interviews with the expedition's participants, periodical articles, and government documents. He shows that the U.S. Navy was unprepared to operate large numbers of ships in the harsh Antarctic seas. Operation Highjump suffered numerous serious problems, including the death of another sailor in a separate accident. However, the most important part of Kearns's tale is his discussion of Captain Caldwell's efforts to keep his men going while waiting rescue. Kearns takes the story up to the present to track the accident's impact on the survivors and their families. This excellent tale of tragedy and heroism is recommended for public libraries.
Library Journal Review; October 2005.

Facing the Extreme
Ruth Anne Kocour

Kocour, a medical illustrator and veteran mountaineer, was part of a team that set out to climb Mt. McKinley, North America's highest peak, in 1992. This book, written with the assistance of outdoor author Hodgson, is the account of that harrowing experience. On the ninth day of the climb, the worst storm in recorded Alaskan history trapped the party at an elevation of 14,000 feet for 11 days, subjecting the climbers to raging winds of over 110 mph, temperatures plummeting to 47 degrees below zero, and snowdrifts that threatened to entomb them. Kocour passionately recounts how all ten members of her team survived the storm that took the lives of 11 other climbers on the mountain, and how, in fact, they ultimately reached the summit. Readers interested in climbing details will be disappointed, but those looking for a human adventure story of extreme physical and mental challenges will not be.
Library Journal Review; February 1998.

Into Thin Air
Jon Krakauer

A handful of people have stood atop Everest, and Krakauer is one of them. Sent to Nepal in May_ 1996 after his success with Into the Wild (1995), he was to report on the commercialization of ascents of the mountain but was instead compelled to tell an icy story of survival and death. As an inquiry into the outer limits of human strength and into the inner turmoil of survivor's guilt, Krakauer's narrative leaves a reader virtually breathless, sweating as he sweats, gasping as he gasps, crying as he cries over dying friends. The disaster made worldwide headlines last year, and its immediate cause was natural--a freak blizzard caught dozens of people near the summit. But the enabling condition was the mere presence at Everest of amateurs, some with minimal mountaineering skill. Guides, Sherpas, and $65,000 was all one needed to make the attempt. At the summit, the pressures of the guide-client relationship were immense, even overwhelming the imperative to flee the storm that overwhelmed the victims. Krakauer's eyewitness to the unfolding tragedy makes a transfixing drama of hubris, responsibility, and sacrificial heroism, which will mark the memory of all who read it.
Booklist Review; April 1997.

Shattered Air
Bob Madgic

Madgic claims that 'in the annals of hiking tragedies caused by lightning,' an ill-fated climb up Yosemite's famed Half Dome mountain by five experienced hikers in 1985 was 'one of the most calamitous... of all time.' Two of the hikers were killed and three sustained life-altering injuries after they decided to ignore signs of an oncoming thunderstorm and continued climbing a mountain whose peak had been struck by lightning during every month of that year. Madgic, a writer on the outdoors and a Half Dome climbing vet, delivers a well-written and thoroughly investigated account, but his real subject is less the hikers and more the 'raw, fearsome power' of lightning. While he provides in-depth profiles of each hiker and their shared enthusiasm for risk taking as a way of conquering 'personal fear,' he makes it clear from the start that none of them 'really knew the capacities, behaviors and dangers of thunderstorms.' Madgic provides a fascinating, if somewhat stomach-churning, account of how the walls of a cave the hikers took refuge in conducted the electrical charge that devastated them, and his contribution to the adventure category is at once a terrifying story and an urgent cautionary tale.
Publishers Weekly Review; April 2005.

Between a Rock and a Hard Place
Aron Ralston

The world knows the outlines of Ralston's extraordinary story: with precious little water or food, his right arm pinned for nearly five days by a boulder in a narrow canyon shaft in central-eastern Utah, Ralston amputated the arm with his pocketknife, then rappelled and hiked his way to his own rescue. What makes his account of his ordeal extraordinary, too, is the detail and precision Ralston, a former mechanical engineer, brings to the telling, from the almost minute-by-minute chronology of his ordeal to topographical descriptions of the ground he's covered in his life as an outdoor adventurer. It's also the extremes of failure and achievement we see forged in this life-or-death crisis: carelessness at not telling friends where he was going, despair as he wrote his epitaph on the canyon wall, even a certain unthinking in taking five days to figure out his deliverance. But those were all trumped by Ralston's amazing resourcefulness in prolonging his supplies and finding a way out, his boundless enthusiasm for life, and his dogged force of will at enduring far longer than anyone could have expected.
Booklist Review; August 2004.

Beyond the Deep
William Stone

Set in stygian gloom, this account of a 1994 caving expedition in southern Mexico produces what adventure readers crave: danger, dissension, death, and ultimate success. Led by author Stone, the spelunkers sought the furthest reaches of a cave system, the Sistema Huautla, which plunged a kilometer and a half down and stretched out for tens of kilometers. To go the deepest, the coveted 'booty' in the caving community, Stone developed a special 'rebreathing' apparatus for swimming through submerged passages called sumps. As the saga unfolds (dramatically assisted by admittedly reconstructed dialogue), the riskiness of the enterprise becomes apparent as the cavers survive various snafus, which rattle some group members who come to resent Stone's hard-charging style. A cheerful wisecracker named Ian Rolland is not daunted--but soon pays the final price for this adventure. After much acrimony about whether to continue, Stone and his then-girlfriend press on, their course marked by helpful diagrams of their progress. The technicalities of this death-defying recreation, and the raw honesty with which this episode is depicted, will win over extreme- sport fans.

Booklist Review; June 2002.

More New Bestsellers 1/6/10

2010-01-06T11:39:00.004-05:00

These books were added to Book Express this morning. Book Express books check out for 7-days, cannot be renewed and cannot be placed on hold. The library also has 14-day copies of all Book Express books, which can be placed on hold. Just click the title links below.

Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier.

A voyage of discoveries, a meeting of two remarkable women, and extraordinary time and place enrich bestselling author Tracy Chevalier's enthralling new novel.

5 Greatest Warriors by Matthew Reilly

Sequel to the 6 Sacred Stones (2008)

New Bestsellers in Book Express 1/5/28

2010-01-04T13:51:00.010-05:00

The following new books are now available in Book Express:

Days of Gold by Jude Deveraux

The second book in the multi-generational Edilean series, Days of Gold is a sweeping romance set in 1766.

Matter of Class by Mary Balogh

In this Regency romance, wealthy, untitled Reginald Mason consents, and enters into a hostile engagement in which he and his prospective bride--Lady Annabelle Ashton, daughter of the Earl of Havercroft--are openly antagonistic, each one resenting the other for their current state of affairs while their respective fathers revel in their suffering.

Crawlspace by Sarah Graves

A Home Repair is Homicide Mystery.

Hidden Empire by Orson Scott Card

In this sequel to Card's bestselling novel "Empire," President Averell Torrent launches America into a get-tough, this-world-is-our-empire foreign policy stance. When Captain Bartholomew "Cole" Coleman sees the danger Torrent poses to American democracy and the potential disasters involved in his foreign military adventures, he quickly runs afoul of Torrent and, while on the run, finds proof that Torrent orchestrated a presidential assassination.

Sizzle by Julie Garwood

After she unwittingly captures a shocking crime on camera, a rash of mysterious, treacherous incidents convince Lyra Prescott that she's trapped in a sinister scenario headed for a violent ending. As the noose of deadly intrigue tightens around her, she turns to her best friend, Sidney Buchanan, whose connections bring dauntless and devilishly handsome FBI agent Sam Kincaid into Lyra's running scared life.

Impact by Douglas Preston

from the author of Cemetery Dance and Blasphemy.

Noah's Compass by Anne Tyler

From the incomparable Anne Tyler, a wise, gently humorous, and deeply compassionate novel about a schoolteacher, who has been forced to retire at sixty-one, coming to terms with the final phase of his life.

Not My Daughter by Barbara Delinsky

A pregnancy pact between three teenaged girls puts their mothers' love to the ultimate test in this emotionally wrenching story of love and forgiveness.

About Those New Year Resolutions...

2010-01-04T12:03:00.011-05:00

Family Health Cookbook
Melanie Barnard

Happily, the AMA's concern for healthful meals is matched by the cookbook writers' regard for flavorful ones, making this dull-sounding collection in fact a most engaging cookbook. Following the government-promulgated Food Guide Pyramid recommendations explained in the introduction, the 350 recipes feature wholesome grains, fruits, vegetables and beans, often in unusual combinations. For example, strawberries are a surprise ingredient in Very Cool Beet and Berry Borscht, and jicama and currants jazz up a cole slaw. Mexican, Mediterranean and Asian seasonings abound, with sun-dried tomatoes, black olives, jalapeno peppers and green chiles punching up many of the dishes. While the meat section is modest, included are such old favorites as stews, pot roasts, a Contemporary Shepherd's Pie and a Five-Alarm Firehouse Chili. The dessert section gently modifies some traditionally richer offerings: Deep-Dish Apple Pie has no bottom crust, and Double Chocolate Brownies have apple sauce substituting for some of the shortening. All recipes have a nutritional analysis, and a back-of-the-book chart identifies dishes especially high in vitamins A and C, calcium, iron and fiber. Extensive and reliable, this collection will suit home cooks who hope to fix healthful meals but refuse to sacrifice the pleasures of taste.
Publishers Weekly Review; September 1997.

Real Simple: The Organized Home
Kendell Cronstrom

With its seductive images of pristine closets, dazzling sink faucets, impeccably organized refrigerators and clutter-free bookshelves, the Real Simple world beckons to readers everywhere. The photos inside this luxuriously straightforward guide to straightening up one’s house make organization into an art form: nicely arranged pillows on a sofa become a palette of bright color blocks; towels piled atop a hamper turn into an inviting display; and compact discs line up to form vertical bisectors on a horizontal rack. Using a combination of photographs and sketches, the editors explain how to spiff up every room in the house, and even go so far as to give instructions on organizing one’s organizational spaces (such as drawers and medicine cabinets). Inspiring and comprehensive, this guide should appeal to both compulsively ordered and chronically messy homeowners.
Publishers Weekly Review; September 2004.

America’s Cheapest Family Gets You Right on the Money
Steve Economides

There's no doubt that today's families can use some help in balancing the household finances, and the Economides family, headed by a former ad sales exec and his homemaker wife, deliver the goods here. To an extreme. As founders of the 'HomeEconomiser 'newsletter, the couple offers plenty of helpful tips on shopping and menu planning, saving, reducing debt, and cutting back on utilities. Most of Middle America, however, will probably find their habits overly harsh. Take, for instance, their shopping routine: they make one monthly trip to the grocery store, which takes up to five hours but costs them only $350. By freezing such items as milk, bread, and cheese for later in the month and using the more perishable fruits and veggies early in the month (saving such things as apples and carrots for the latter weeks), the Economideses feed themselves 'and their five children' based on this one trip. Even though some tips advocate what others might consider garbage picking and mooching, any family with money issues will find useful information here. Especially helpful are their household budgeting techniques, adaptable to any home.
Booklist Review; October 2006.

Your Body, Your Life
Kim Lyons

Lyons was a personal trainer for years before she was asked to become a trainer on the popular NBC reality television program The Biggest Loser, in which overweight contestants compete to lose weight. The fitness plan she describes here involves three increasingly challenging levels of circuit training (cardio, resistance training, and flexibility training); a nutrition plan based on high-quality complex carbohydrates, lean proteins, and healthy fats; and a basic focus on goals, positive attitude, and journal keeping. Lyons clearly describes and illustrates (with photographs of the fit author) dozens of exercises and shares several of her clients' individual weight-loss experiences throughout. Information and motivation are key to a successful fitness program, and Lyons provides both in this helpful new book.
Library Journal Review; November 2007.

Time Management from the Inside Out
Julie Morgenstern

Best-selling author of Organizing from the Inside Out, Morgenstern takes a similarly practical approach to time. If one thinks of time has having 'edges' (rather than being amorphous), she explains, then it becomes as finite as space and, consequently, just as manageable. Morgenstern believes that there are three primary reasons why people have difficulty managing time: 'technical errors' (miscalculating the length of a task); 'external realities' (new baby, new job) and 'psychological obstacles' (perfectionism). What makes her program work, she attests, is that instead of trying to change people's natural behaviors and preferences, she encourages them to expand upon whatever is working already, no matter how overwhelmed they may feel. It all starts with knowing what one's big picture values and goals are (e.g., maintaining a happy marriage, excelling at one's career) and prioritizing those with the help of an ingenious device she's created called a 'Time Map.' Then, Morgenstern helps the reader apply her 'SPACE' system ('sort, purge, assign a home,' containerize and equalize') the nitty-gritty of time management to align one's to-do list with the Time Map. Everything one does (from important phone calls to major projects) must have its time and place even relaxation and fun (‘there is no such thing as spare time'). Morgenstern's simple book presents a superb, sound program for 'creating a life that nurtures you and makes you feel good.'
Publishers Weekly Review; August 2000.

Superfoods RX
Steven Pratt

Broccoli, blueberries and soy . . . oh my! Dr. Steven Pratt and Kathy Matthews present their powerhouse prescription in SuperFoods Rx. Fourteen 'super' foods each pack a hefty nutrient wallop that works synergistically to reduce heart disease, diabetes and cancer. Add regular exercise, sufficient rest and fluid intake, positive socializing and stress management, and the blueprint for health is complete. This compendium gives uncomplicated eating guidelines and devotes individual chapters to the eatables on the SuperFoods list. There is nutrition information on each specific food--from salmon to spinach--an explanation of its health benefits and suggestions for incorporating it into your daily diet. The book's bibliography is impressive; read a fraction of the material and you'll be nutrition-savvy in no time.
Bookpage Review; January 2004.

Cleaning Plain & Simple
Donna Smallin

Self-described 'organizing strategist' Smallin offers an indispensable tome packed with hundreds of useful, insightful cleaning tips that would please even the fussiest and particular of house cleaners. She opens with a succinct history of cleaning that provides perspective on this dirty work. Despite modern conveniences, we spend just as much time cleaning today as our foremothers (sorry, guys, women outnumber men five-to-one as household cleaners); our standards are high and problematic. Who wants to spend most, if not all, of their free time washing, sweeping, dusting, organizing, and throwing things out? This is where readers will find the author's expertise most effective. Smallin's spirited approach is warm and inviting; her easy-to-recall advice ('A clean home is a healthy home') is both refreshing and cost- effective ('Frequent upkeep helps appliances, furniture, and carpets last longer'). Organized into four sections, the book is an all- encompassing reference tool that will not dust up anyone's bookshelf.
Library Journal Review; January 2006.

Let’s Get Real About Money
Eric Tyson

Tyson, syndicated columnist and bestselling author of Dummies guides to personal finance, investing and mutual funds, provides a solid guide to breaking counterproductive money habits and adopting a healthy approach to personal finance. His first suggestion--assess your money knowledge- -is simple for readers to implement, thanks to several handy quizzes that identify the gaps that lead to common mistakes. Tyson offers tips for dealing with procrastination, money avoidance and disorganization, as well as assessing money beliefs and practices. The book's gem is a personal financial action plan that allows easy assessment of current assets and retirement goals. Common sense advice on budgeting strategies, reducing expenditures and taxes, and borrowing and debt management adds up to an effective, if familiar, plan for achieving control over and maximizing financial assets. Chapters on investing, managing risk, insurance and hiring financial help round out this comprehensive approach. This book demystifies the many obstacles--from the logistical to the conceptual--to smart financial planning.
Publishers Weekly Review; August 2007.

New Bestsellers in Book Express

2009-12-29T08:45:00.005-05:00

Today, the following three books are being put out on Book Express:

Deeper than the Dead by Tami Hoag

California, 1984. Detective Tony Mendez, fresh from a law enforcement course at FBI headquarters, is charged with discovering the identity of a brutal, calculating psychopath. His search pushes him ever deeper into the lives of three children, and closer to the young teacher whose interest in recent events becomes as intense as his own.

Honor of Spies by W.E.B. Griffin

August 6, 1943: In his brief career in the Office of Strategic Services, twenty-four-year-old Cletus Frade has already been involved in a lot of unusual situations, but nothing like the one he's in now, standing with a German lieutenant colonel named Wilhelm Frogger in a Mississippi prisoner-of-war detention facility. Frade's job? To help Frogger escape so the OSS can use Frogger's knowledge and connections to kill Adolf Hitler.

Fired Up by Janye Ann Krentz

Jack Winters, descendant of genetically altered Nicholas, has been experiencing nightmares and blackouts--just the beginning, he believes--of the manifestation of the Winters family curse. The legend says that he must find the Burning Lamp or risk turning into a monster. But he can't do it alone; he needs the help of private investigator Chloe Harper who possesses the gift to read the lamp's dreamlight.

In the Winter

2009-12-28T16:46:00.010-05:00

The Dead of Winter
Rennie Airth
Set in London and rural England in 1944, Airth's fine third mystery to feature ex-Scotland Yard inspector John Madden (after The Blood-Dimmed Tide) shows how five years of war and an overstretched police force have brought 'a new dimension to lawbreaking,' with a serious rise in murders, thefts and extortion. Even decent citizens aren't above black- market dealings. The murder of Rosa Nowak, a young Polish woman, on a deserted London street during a blackout appears to be another act of random violence. Since Nowak worked on Madden's farm, his reputation ensures that his former colleagues thoroughly investigate the case, which leads to continental Europe, stolen diamonds and a string of murders, including that of a Jewish furrier. Airth takes a perceptive look at the frayed emotions of his fully realized characters as he carefully lays the groundwork for the next book in this rewarding series. Publishers Weekly Review; May 2009.

Winter Run
Robert Ashcom
Rural Virginia in the 1940s was a magical place into which modernity had not yet crept. This attracted city dwellers Charles and Gretchen, who moved there after World War II with their precocious son, Charlie. Charlie was inquisitive about everything, especially nature. He had a knack with animals, almost uncannily knew what they were thinking. He also had a knack for seeming more grown-up than he was, which endeared him to the adults of the community. Especially since there were few other children around, the adults took care of Charlie--he was always around, and they didn't mind. Charlie also had a knack for mixing equally well with the black folks who worked on the farm and in the town, along with the white landowners and the professor-patriarch of the community. Ashcom creates a very sweet, almost mystical tale of a boy who was amazed by what nature brought him, his growing up, and his understanding that all things, even life as he knows it, are passing.
Booklist Review; September 2002.

Winter Study
Nevada Barr
In bestseller Barr's chilling 14th mystery thriller to feature National Park Service ranger Anna Pigeon (after 2005's Hard Truth), Anna joins the team of Winter Study, a research project intended to study the wolves and moose of Michigan's Isle Royale National Park, the setting for 1994's A Superior Death. Complicating the study is Bob Menechinn, an untrustworthy Homeland Security officer assigned to shadow the research. Crowded into inhospitable lodgings and persecuted by unrelenting cold, Anna is far from her comfort zone as nature turns awry with a series of bizarre events. The team stumbles upon the tracks--and the mutilated victim--of a preternaturally large, unidentified beast, and local packs of wolves descend on human- populated areas, a behavior out of step with their species. The campfire legends of youth metastasize into adult fears as Anna must piece together a connection between these anomalies while guarding herself from the strangers around her. Barr's visceral descriptions of the winter cold nicely complement the paranoia that follows the appearance of the mythic monsters at play.
Publishers Weekly Review; February 2008.

Blackthorn Winter
Sarah Challis
When her famous and unfaithful husband is sentenced to prison for fraud and divorce proceedings are under way, Claudia Barron eschews the London scene and moves to a modest cottage in the Dorset hills. Anonymity is her goal, but Claudia quickly discovers the alacrity of village gossip: her previous life soon becomes the focus of discussions in upper-class dining rooms and the local pub. Aided by her two grown children, Lila, a vivacious free spirit who lives in New York, and Jerome, just returning from a year in India and his own personal tragedy, Claudia forges a new identity in her adopted village. She makes ends meet first by picking mushrooms, then by cooking at the village school; she even manages to find a couple of romantic interests, as her spunky attitude attracts both a local dandy and the quiet widower next door. Inspired by the farms, fields, and stables she so obviously loves, Challis has crafted another charming village tale spiced with just the right amounts of near tragedy and romance.
Booklist Review; September 2004.

The Hounds of Winter
James Magnuson
As brooding and lethal as a Wisconsin winter storm, this taut thriller puts small-town relations into frightening relief. College senior Maya Neisen arrives a bit early to a Christmas reconciliation at a cabin in her father's hometown of Black Hawk, Wis., and is brutally murdered just minutes before her father, New York literary agent David Neisen, arrives. Finding his daughter slain, he hastily dials 911, then, hearing the screen door slam, chases a figure in a blue ski mask into the woods, to no avail. Returning to the cabin, he is confronted by sheriff Doug Danacek, who, after 35 years, still thinks David could have saved Danacek's brother from drowning. Noting Danacek's pants are wet up to his knees, and convinced that Danacek killed Maya as payback, David flees, steals the sheriff's Jeep and drives off, determined to find Maya's killer. Scrambling from pillar to post in the frozen wilderness, trying to find help among his old friends, David slowly uncovers a conspiracy among the denizens of the tiny, heavily Scandinavian backwater. While not terrific on the mechanics of the chase, Magnuson (Windfall; Ghost Dancing; etc.) keeps the psychological tension high, right up to the satisfying denouement. Publishers Weekly Review; July 2005.

The Winter Vault
Anne Michaels
Profound loss, desolation and rebuilding are the literal and metaphoric themes of Michaels's exquisite second novel (after Fugitive Pieces). Avery Escher is a Canadian engineer recently moved to a houseboat on the Nile with his new wife, Jean, in 1964. Avery's part of a team of engineers trying to salvage Abu Simbel, which is about to be flooded by the new Aswan dam. His wife, Jean, meanwhile, carries with her childhood memories of flooded villages and the heavy absence of her mother, who died when she was young. Now, the sight of the entire Nubian nation being evacuated from their native land before it's flooded affects both Avery and Jean intensely. Jean's pregnancy seems a possible redemption, but their daughter is stillborn, and Jean falls into despair, shunning the former intimacy of her marriage. When the couple returns to Canada, they set up separate lives and another man enters the picture. Michaels is especially impressive at making a rundown of construction materials or the contents of a market as evocative as the shared moments between two young lovers. A tender love story set against an intriguing bit of history is handled with uncommon skill.
Publishers Weekly Review; March 2009.

The Edge of Winter
Luanne Rice
Rhode Island teenager Mickey and her best friend, Jenna, have shared a love of bird watching, but now they are growing apart as Jenna becomes part of the cool crowd and Mickey clings to her love of nature. She also has to deal with the finality of her parents' divorce and her burgeoning feelings for an outcast surfer. When Mickey finds a snowy owl at Refuge Beach, she brings together her mother and the park ranger Tim O'Casey, a World War II hero and raptor expert. When the owl is injured, and the beach is threatened by a developer who is attempting to dig up a sunken U-boat that is a treasured part of the community's history, a bond forms between adults and teens as they try to save the owl and the refuge, and maybe even heal themselves. Once again Rice weaves together an involving tale of love, loss, and redemption, then deepens the story with a resonant appreciation for nature. Booklist Review; January 2007.

The Winter Queen
Jane Stevenson
Exiled in 17th-century Amsterdam, Elizabeth of Bohemia, sister of England's King Charles I and widow of the dethroned Elector Palatine, spends her days in an agony of rumor and worried uncertainty about her children, who are scattered across Europe. Pelagius van Overmeer, ex-slave and formerly a prince of the Yoruba tribe of Oyo, comes to her attention as a learned and pious man whose arcane skill as a seer may give assurance of her sons' safety. Aside from such insights, Pelagius gives Elizabeth his companionship and his love, and when they secretly marry, he is installed in Elizabeth's household. History mentions no royal prince of Africa, no slave lover, and no black physician in the life of the Winter Queen, but readers will be glad to believe that Pelagius existed for her as they read this well-crafted, moody portrait of royal striving and human need. While this novel is not as thickly plotted as Dorothy Dunnett's masterly Niccolo series, fans of Dunnett will enjoy Stevenson's (London Bridges) complex characterization and marvelous rendering of the dark ambiance of the Dutch Golden Age. Readers will be impatient for the second book in a projected trilogy so that they can find out what will happen to the secret harbored in Middleburg. Highly recommended for most fiction collections.
Library Journal Review; October 2002.

The Art Student's War

2009-12-28T13:02:00.006-05:00

The Art Student's War by Brad Leithauser

You will have seen this book on several Best of 2009 lists and on the Michigan Notable Books list for 2010. Detroit in WWII was a machine. Every factory was running day and night producing tanks & planes for the war. Bianca Paradiso, daughter of Italian immigrants, is an 18-year-old art student who is asked to draw "uplifiting" portraits of wounded soldiers. Despite family turmoil, Bianca is exploring her feelings for life, men, and work.

An evocative novel with insight into a young woman's innermost desires at a turning point in her life. The depiction of life in wartime Detroit is riveting (ha, ha).

Cat Stories

2009-12-21T16:37:00.010-05:00

Baseball Cat
Garrison Allen
Thirtysomething Penelope Warren owns a mystery bookstore in Empty Creek, Arizona, and does some amateur sleuthing on the side. When the owner of the Empty Creek Coyotes, a minor-league baseball team, is found murdered, police chief Dutch Fowler asks Penelope to help find the killer. Penelope, her cat Big Mike, Dutch, and two doughnut-eating detectives have a fine time plowing through clues on their way to solving the crime. Set against a background of beautiful scenery and minor-league baseball (described in a manner that would please W. P. Kinsella), the novel moves briskly, with Allen supplying plenty of entertaining banter. What makes it all work, though, is the cast of well-drawn characters, especially Penelope herself, surely one of the wittiest and most intelligent women ever found in a cozy mystery. (Even Big Mike the cat works--and not just for cat people.) If P. G. Wodehouse had liked baseball and hung out in the Arizona desert, he might have written a novel much like this one.
Booklist Review; May 1997.

Only the Cat Knows
Marian Babson
The diverting new feline-themed cozy from British author Babson (Please Do Feed the Cat) takes readers to a remote castle where a wealthy business tycoon, Everett Oversall, lives surrounded by a harem of female employees. One of them, Vanessa, takes a fall and lapses into a coma. Vanessa's twin brother, Vance, who happens to work as a female impersonator, is sure that someone tried to kill his sister, so he dons her clothes, fakes amnesia and infiltrates Oversall's compound. There, Vance-as-Vanessa encounters a host of eccentrics, all of whom might have been jealous of his sister, who was Oversall's personal assistant. The only trustworthy member of the household is Vanessa's devoted cat, Gloriana, who proves crucial in sniffing out whodunit. If character development is a tad weak, Vance's constant efforts to keep up his feminine persona will keep readers' attention.
Publishers Weekly Review; April 2007.

Curiosity Killed the Cat sitter
Blaize Clement
Clement's assured cozy debut introduces an appealing heroine, 32-year- old Dixie Hemingway, who's given up her stressful job as a sheriff's deputy in Sarasota, Fla., to become a professional pet sitter. When Dixie calls early one morning on her latest client, a silver-blue Abyssinian named Ghost, she finds a dead man face down in the cat bowl. The contact person (a requirement when you leave an animal with a sitting service) has no clue where Ghost's owner, gorgeous Marilee Doerring, could have gone or why her locks were changed before she left. Unfortunately, when Dixie locates Marilee, she, too, is dead. And that makes Dixie suspect number one. With sensitivity and insight, Clement develops a plot line involving a bigoted, radio psychologist, Carl Winnick; his repressed wife, Olga; and their gay teenage son, Phillip, who's a talented pianist. The difficulties and humor inherent to the pet-sitting business, a local law-enforcement hunk with romantic potential and crisp writing all bode well for future entries in the series.
Publishers Weekly Review; November 2005.

Scratch the Surface
Susan Conant

Fans of Conant's Dog Lover's mysteries (Bride and Groom, etc.) will lap up the first installment of a new series, which introduces Felicity Pride, the author of a mystery series about cats. When Felicity returns to her Boston-area home from a book signing, she's a little freaked out to stumble on a very dead corpse, and a very live cat, in her vestibule. Her shock, however, doesn't prevent her from trying to get as much publicity as possible from her discovery. Envisioning her book sales skyrocketing after she catches the killer, Felicity learns that solving a murder in real life is a lot harder than writing a mystery novel. Yes, the setup, a cat mystery about a cat mystery writer who finds a real body, is a trifle meta. But Conant, never precious, takes the opportunity to poke gentle fun at some of the conventions of the cozy genre. Side-splittingly funny and very clever, this book is just about purr-fect.
Publishers Weekly Review; May 2005.

Cat Stories
James Herriot

Books by the beloved Yorkshire veterinarian, best-selling author of such titles as All Creatures Great and Small, Every Living Thing, and James Herriot's Dog Stories, are always welcome. Cat lovers in particular will cheer this collection of favorite cat tales from Herriot's veterinary practice. Retired after over 50 years in practice, Herriot continues to entertain young and old alike with his storytelling ability. His current collection includes 'Alfred, the Sweet-Shop Cat,' 'Boris and Mrs. Bond's Cat Establishment,' 'Moses Found Among the Rushes,' and others. Guaranteed to warm the hearts of readers of all ages, this book is sure to be in demand.
Library Journal Review; August 1994.

The Unscratchables
Cornelious Kane

In a world inhabited entirely by animals, Max 'Crusher' McNab is a bull terrier working in the San Bernardo Slaughter Unit (homicide). He's a good cop, dedicated and hardworking, but when three local goons for hire (Rottweilers) are torn apart and the evidence points to a cat as the killer, McNab is assigned a partner. Part Siamese Cassius Lap works for the FBI (Feline Bureau of Investigation), and he is McNab's opposite in every way: shiny clean, always dressed in a stylish suit, and a dedicated soy milk drinker. Not only is the unlikely duo of McNab and Lap one of the best new pairs in detective fiction, but The Unscratchables is a perfect mix of wit, classic hard-boiled style, and perceptive commentary on modern society, all coming together to create one of the best mysteries of 2009. What makes this novel stand out is the fully fleshed and utterly believable world created by Kane. Every detail of his fantastical setting is clearly thought out, from locales to the noirish slang of the cops; yet the reader is never subjected to an info dump: all the details are neatly parceled out along with the compelling and fast-paced plot.
Booklist Review; May 2009.

My Cat Spit McGee
Willie Morris

The New York Times obituary for Morris, who died August 2, stated that he was survived by his wife and son but failed to mention Spit McGee, the author's beloved white cat. After reading this slim, sentimental memoir (made poignant by Morris's death), one wonders what is going to happen to Spit now that his master is gone. As he recounted in his best-selling My Dog Skip, Morris had always been a dog man; in his hometown of Yazoo, MS, he and his boyhood friends considered cats to be 'dumb, vain and coldhearted, not to mention remote, calculating, and sinister.' What changed his mind was the Cat Woman, Morris's second wife and a true ailurophile, and a little white kitten with one blue and one gold eye. Saving Spit's life at his birth, Morris became a fascinated cat watcher but not always a responsible owner; he often neglected to have his pets neutered. Believing that Spit was the reincarnation of Skip, Morris tried to teach him a few tricks but soon learned that 'cats ain't dogs' and that Spit McGee was Spit McGee.
Library Journal Review; October 1999.

Cat Fear No Evil
Shirley Rousseau Murphy

Once again sleek feline sleuth Joe Grey and his tabby partner, Dulcie, prove to be the best snitches the Molena Point, Calif., police ever had in this superior cat cozy, the ninth entry in Murphy's popular series (after 2003's Cat Seeing Double). A sophisticated thief has been targeting the small coastal town, stealing prize jewelry and paintings, despite elaborate security measures. Also missing is a vintage 1927 Packard belonging to Joe's owner, Clyde Damen. The ante is raised when a waiter at an art gallery opening suddenly falls dead and a local realtor gets blown up in a gas explosion. Meanwhile, someone is stalking interior designer Kate Osborne, whose apartment is invaded by ferocious tomcat Azrael, an old adversary of Joe's, and the avaricious Consuela Benton is leading astray troubled teenager Dillon Thurwell, whose mother is having an affair with a suave art collector. As usual, the relationships between the lively human characters and the talking cats in whom they confide their problems provide as much interest as the crime solving. The intricate and absorbing plot keeps the reader in suspense throughout.
Publishers Weekly Review; February 2004.

Classic Christmas Music

2009-12-17T18:19:00.012-05:00

EmmyLou Harris. Light of the Stable.

Emmylou Harris’ 1978 masterpiece was reengineered in 2004, providing it with a cleaner sound and three additional tracks. A must hear for the holiday season.

Bob Dylan. Christmas in the Heart.

Bob Dylan’s latest finds the cultural icon giving some of the most famous holiday carols his uniquely introspective treatment. Oddly enough, O' Little Town Of Bethlehem sounds as honest and as bewildering as Dylan’s most experimental work. Well worth a play thru at your holiday party.

A Jolly Christmas from Frank Sinatra.

The Chairman of the Board croons his way through all the standards on this album. Nothing enhances a festive holiday evening at home more than a good martini and Mr. Sinatra’s version of Silent Night. A sure way to put even the most un-festive in a cheerful spirit.

Vince Guaraldi. A Charlie Brown Christmas.

The Vince Guaraldi Trio turns in a history making performance on this essential holiday album. Listen to it straight through and you will recall all those times in your childhood you watched with wonder as Charlie Brown and the gang made the saddest looking Christmas tree seem like a thing of sheer beauty.

Bing Crosby. White Christmas.

White Christmas. What more can you say? Probably the most famous and definitive of any holiday recording. The other entries on this collection aren’t too shabby either. Listen while you put up the tree and you’ll experience a complete holiday immersion.

Mariah Carey. Merry Christmas.

Mariah Carey’s Merry Christmas deserves a listen as well. Carey was noted in the New Yorker magazine as having written “one of the few worthy modern additions to the holiday canon, the charming “All I Want for Christmas Is You”

Dog Stories

2009-12-14T11:57:00.012-05:00

Timbuktu
Paul Auster

Meet discerning and sympathetic Mr. Bones, a dog who is unconditionally faithful to his troubled master, Willy G. Christmas. Auster's leading human character is a tormented writer from Brooklyn who blindly believes in his ideals and willingly chooses to become a vagabond. But the real hero is the four-legged creature who follows him on his impromptu journeys and leads readers through the story. Yes, he thinks and he understands, and although he cannot speak, he keenly observes and contemplates the questionable logic of human behavior. The beginning of the story is promising; the middle gets suspiciously trivial but is rescued by a clever and moving ending. This is not the kind of work Auster has been praised for, but it proves his hunger for innovation once again. Timbuktu will undoubtedly provoke mixed responses, but that is the price of originality. There is something plain yet mysteriously intricate beneath Auster's trademark smooth writing.
Library Journal Review; May 1999.

Jingle Bell Bark
Laurien Berenson

In Berenson's delightful holiday romp, the 11th entry in her popular canine cozy series (Best in Show, etc.), trainer Melanie Travis investigates the suspicious death of her eight-year-old son's school-bus driver, the personable and reliable Henry Pruitt. Melanie rescues the victim's two golden retrievers and takes them to the kennel run by her bossy Aunt Peg, who's keen to learn what really happened to Henry. As Melanie delves into Henry's background, his two disagreeable and greedy daughters arrive on the scene with the outrageous idea of selling the pair of aging dogs on eBay. Preparing for an important dog show, trying to find time for her fiance and dealing with her ex-husband further complicate Melanie's busy life. Oh, and then there's Christmas. Despite all the demands, Melanie manages to hang the wreath, decorate the tree, finish the shopping and collar a murderer. As ever, the author provides a captivating behind-the-scenes look at the world of show dogs.
Publishers Weekly Review; August 2004.

Jenny Willow
Mike Gaddis

A remarkable grouse-hunting dog undergoes a difficult transition from old master to new owner in Gaddis's debut, a compassionate, heartwarming story that begins with octogenarian Ben Willow facing the prospect of spending his twilight years without his late wife, Libby. Willow is rescued from his nostalgic ennui when a neighbor in his West Virginia hamlet offers him a young pointer pup named Jenny. Willow quickly realizes the implications of the dog's lineage as well as her remarkable hunting skills, but when he goes to hunt with her, he finds himself frustrated by his own decline. To compensate for his limitations, he loans her out to another trainer, and Jenny goes on to become a national champion. When she retires, still in her prime, she returns to Willow; on their reunion hunt, however, has a fatal heart attack. After being mauled by a pack of wild dogs and imprisoned by a nasty local redneck who wants to sell her, Jenny is finally rescued by Willow's best friend, Clyde Wood. He fulfills his friend's final request, passing her on to a local boy who promises to train and care for her. Gaddis's decision to eliminate his human protagonist halfway through the book is a risky gamble that pays off with his riveting account of Jenny's dangerous adventure, although the story of her recovery is overwrought and overwritten, and there's never much doubt about a happy ending. Gaddis wears his heart on his sleeve, but despite the occasional mawkish passage, his obvious love of the land, its creatures and his characters makes this book an endearing read.
Publishers Weekly Review; March 2002.

The Labrador Pact
Matt Haig

In the second novel by British author Haig (The Dead Fathers Club), morality is left to the dogs. Prince, the Labrador narrator, lives by the creed, 'Duty over all.' At the beginning of the novel, it seems that Prince has failed all of humanity and disgraced Labs for all time, and, as he is about to be put down, he tells his own tragic story. Although he clings to the teachings of his mentor, Henry, a former police dog, Prince can't keep his married master Adam's eye from roving toward Emily, the new gal in town who just happens to be married to old schoolmate Simon. Further puzzling Prince are the aromas of fear and desire that Adam's wife, Katie, exudes whenever Simon comes around. And he certainly can't seem to sniff out a fix for the teenage woes encountered by Adam and Katie's two kids. With dogged determination, he sacrifices his own pleasure to protect and serve the family that can neither understand his entreaties nor appreciate his level of commitment. Although a little heavy-handed and arguably gimmicky, readers can't help feeling bad for Prince, a good dog just trying to do the right thing.
Publishers Weekly Review; November 2007.

Buster’s Diaries
Roy Hattersley

Pet 'memoirs' can often be silly, but certainly not this one. Books purporting to tell an animal's story in its own 'voice' are often simply too gimmicky and cute to be taken seriously. British writer Hattersley tells the story of his dog, Buster, as if through Buster's own consciousness and voice, and it is actually a charming tale, one that seems 'authentic.' Hattersley has a knack for investing Buster with a perfect mix of human savvy and canine unknowingness. Buster relates his life story as 'the account of an odyssey which took a crossbreed orphan from living rough on a public park to the comfort and security of South West London.' The most troubling moment in Buster's rags-to-riches life was the time when he killed a goose in St. James' Park, which brought him trouble but also fame. Buster is sanguine about his lot in life. Granted, he is 'domesticated and needs to be reminded of the wolf that sleeps inside him,' but that situation 'means that almost everybody loves him.'
Booklist Review; August 2000.

James Herriot’s Favorite Dog Stories
James Herriot

In this sequel to his 1994 Favorite Cat Stories, the estwhile veterinarian spins more loving yarns of the animal world; this time, though, the heartwarming tales are about dogs, and dog lovers will certainly be satisfied. The nine stories that make up this slim volume range from moving and poignant (old dogs, dying dogs, dying dog owners) to clever and silly (fat, spoiled, pompous little dogs, absurdly doting owners) to fond reminiscences of Herriot's own pets. Herriot, who died in 1995, was the author of several books both for adults and for children and is popular for the love, warmth, and humor expressed in his work and the keen insights inherent in his writing, derived from years of veterinary work. This posthumous piece is no exception; fans of Herriot's previous works and animal lovers everywhere will enjoy this collection.
Booklist Review; September 1996.

Nose Down, Eyes Up
Merrill Markoe

Jimmy, the canine star of Merrill's second fun-loving doggie novel (after Walking in Circles Before Lying Down), is the Tony Robbins of the dog world and holds informal seminars with the neighborhood dogs to instruct them in the art of manipulating their human masters (the key, he intones, is nose down, eyes up). Jimmy's poochly wisdom--spot-on and hilarious throughout--is made available courtesy of his owner, Gil, an unlucky in love handyman who learns how to communicate with dogs. This launches the novel's plot, as Gil shoots down Jimmy's idea that he is Gil's biological son. Soon, Jimmy is intent on meeting his birth mother, who happens to belong to Gil's now-remarried ex-wife. A series of setbacks beset the duo, and the tribulations provide lessons in life, love and finding happiness. The conversations with the wry, wise and lovable Jimmy (and his three other oddball dog pals) comprise the novel's heart and comedic through-line--discourse ranges from business matters to why dogs pee so many times during walks. Markoe's hilarious dialogue should be a must-read for dog lovers.
Publishers Weekly Review; October 2008.

Dog On It
Spencer Quinn

An exciting new mystery series debuts with this first Chet and Bernie novel. Chet the Jet is a dog who failed K-9 school (cats in the open country played a role in his demise), but now he is a dedicated PI and works with Bernie, owner of the Little Detective Agency. The story is told entirely from Chet's point of view, which will delight dog-loving mystery readers, but the book is also an excellent PI tale, dogs aside, as Chet and Bernie investigate the disappearance of a teenage girl whose developer dad may be up to no good. Chet may not understand things like maps (he doesn't need them, as he can sniff his way home), but he is a great sleuth who finds the girl and solves the case. The always upbeat Chet may well be one of the most appealing new detectives on the block, but conscientious, kind, and environmentally aware Bernie is a close runner-up. Excellent and fully fleshed primary and secondary characters, a consistently doggy view of the world, and a sprightly pace make this a not-to-be-missed debut. Essential for all mystery collections and for dog lovers everywhere.
Booklist Review; December 2008.

Books on Your Christmas List?

2009-12-14T10:15:00.003-05:00

Do you need a gift for that someone who has everything? A special child in your life? A father or grandfather? Lists of selected books for gift giving are everywhere this time of year. Here are links to a few:

Nancy Pearl's Under-the-Radar Holiday Books. Nancy Pearl, librarian and author of Book Lust, recommends books on NPR. This list includes books for adults, teens & children. NPR's best lists for 2009 are listed by critic, so you know who is recommending what.

The New York Times prefers to list the 10 Best Books of 2009 for different categories: children, graphic novels, crime novels, cookbooks, and many more.

Publishers Weekly Best Books of 2009. These are the folks who review books for the bookselling & library world. They present an exhaustive list of adult books divided by type/genre, for example Fiction, Non-Fiction, Mystery, Comics, etc. The only hitch is toward the bottom of the list where Religion runs right into Cookbooks without a break. I am religious about cooking, but I don't think that's what they meant. They have another list of Best Childrens Books.

Amazon gives us two top books lists: Top 100 Editor's Picks and Top 100 Customer Favorites. The customer favorites are decided by books sold by the end of October, 2009, at Amazon.

BookPage's Book Case blog lists the top ten in categories: Fiction, Picture Books, Cookbooks, Audiobooks, Middle Grade Books.

And how do these lists help? They give you a quick blurb about each book. You will see books that you may have missed or that are outside your normal reading interests. Soon we'll be seeing best books of the decade lists.

New Bestsellers in Book Express 12/8/09

2009-12-08T13:43:00.004-05:00

Put out this morning:

Divine Misdemeanors by Laurell K. Hamilton.

Someone is killing the fey, which has left the LAPD baffled and Merry Gentry, Los Angeles private eye and princess of faerie, determined to get to the bottom of the case even if means going up against Gilda, the Fairy Godmother. But even stranger things are happening. Mortals Gentry once healed with magic are suddenly performing miracles, a shocking phenomenon wreaking havoc on human/faerie relations. (book summary)

La's Orchestra Saves the World by Alexander McCall Smith.

It is 1939. Lavender--La to her friends--decides to flee London, not only to avoid German bombs but also to escape the memories of her shattered marriage. Settling in as small town, she organizes an amateur orchestra from the village and the local RAF base and falls in love with one of her prized recruits. (book summary)

Book Express copies go out for 7 days, no renewals, no holds, no overdue grace period. The library also has 14-day copies of these same books, which you can place on hold, renew, etc.

Theft in the Art World

2009-12-07T11:47:00.012-05:00

The Promise of Happiness
Justin Cartwright

Cartwright's hilarious, despairing, rapier-sharp third book (Leading the Cheers) delivers a great deal of the absent titular emotion. The five members of the Judd family, reeling from a series of personal and professional blows, have each retreated into a private world. But the impending release of eldest daughter Juliet, an art historian incarcerated in an upstate New York prison for helping to sell stolen Tiffany windows, sets the plot, and the family, in motion. As Juliet, once the apple of her parents' eye but now the family's black sheep, drives to the city with brother Charlie, her father mulls his own professional disgrace, her mother looks to home cooking as a salve, sister Sophie continues to wean herself off drugs (and a married man) and Charlie, the rock of the family, has doubts about his impending marriage to a South American socialite. Each sees their efforts as 'the secretion of human folly,' but the novel retains a measure of hope for the very thing it despairs of: family. Happiness may be too much to ask for, but its chase, Cartwright suggests, can be at the best of times a family pursuit.
Publishers Weekly Review; November 2005.

The Good Thief’s Guide to Amsterdam
Chris Ewan

This impressive debut, a comic whodunit from British entertainment lawyer Ewan, owes much of its charm and success to its compelling antihero, Charles Howard. An established author of mysteries featuring a burglar-detective, Howard himself is a successful burglar. While finishing his latest novel in Amsterdam, Howard receives a cryptic invitation via his Web site and follows his curiosity to a meeting with a mysterious American who somehow knows of the author's secret profession. Howard initially declines the commission to steal two small plaster monkeys, but when he succeeds in his assignment, he finds his client has been brutally bludgeoned. After becoming a suspect, Howard scrambles to understand the link between the monkeys and a diamond heist over a decade earlier. The ease with which Ewan creates a memorable protagonist and pits him against a plausible and tricky killer will be the envy of many more established authors. The detection is first-rate, and Howard is a fresh, irreverent creation who will make readers eager for his next exploit.
Publishers Weekly Review; September 2007.

Museum of the Missing
Simon Houpt

Houpt is best known for his vibrant arts and culture column in Canada's Globe and Mail. This, his first book-length production explores the subject of art theft and its multivalent consequences, from its historical and ethical implications to the complexity of post-recovery restorations. It is one of the first books to cut such a wide and incisive swath across the subject, addressing everything from wartime looting and collector-initiated heists to the motivations behind other historically documented cases of art larceny. Each chapter contains three to four full-page, illustrated features that highlight thefts of exceptional infamy, profile the detectives and agencies working on art crimes, or provide a glimpse of the contemporary technologies employed to facilitate the recovery of stolen work. The concluding 'Gallery of Missing Art' serves as a visual reprise of the thefts discussed in previous chapters and offers a valuable record of many works still unaccounted for. Informative and insightful, this book is highly recommended for art history and cultural history collections. With a foreword by Julian Radcliffe, whose London-based Art Loss Register reunites stolen artworks with their rightful owners.
Library Journal Review; August 2006.

Artistic License
Julie Hyzy

Artist Annie Callaghan, on the verge of divorcing her grammar- challenged, on-the-make, burglar husband Gary, sleeps with him one last time and winds up pregnant, and even worse, saddled with him and his smelly pal Pete in her nice house. Still, some things are looking up. She's been hired to paint a mural in Sam Morgan's ice cream parlor, and when two bratty kids deface it, their mom, Gina DeChristopher, asks Annie to paint a dinosaur mural in the kids' playroom. Three floors down, the very wealthy Mr. DeChristopher has decorated his private study with purloined Fabergi eggs and a Durer etching stolen from Chicago's Art Institute and valued at ten million dollars. In typically dumb fashion, Gary and Pete naturally plan a heist that winds up with Gary dead, Pete on the lam, and poor Annie weeping all over nice Sam Morgan's shirt. Annie almost comes to a bad end when DeChristopher tries to get his goodies back, but not to worry: Sam to the rescue.
Kirkus Review; December 2003.

Chasing Cezanne
Peter Mayle

Mayle gets better with each book, creating even more inventive plots and fashioning even more delectable characters. In his latest wonderful novel, Andre Kelly does substantial freelance photography for Camilla Porter, editor of the splashy New York magazine DQ. Camilla sends Andre to the South of France on a particular assignment. With time to kill, he ventures to a local villa to pay his respects to the owner, but, instead, observes a Cezanne painting being removed from the premises. Curiosity aroused, Andre pursues the story and inadvertently gets himself involved in a complicated art-forgery scam. With the enlisted aid of his assistant back in New York and a sophisticated art dealer only too thrilled to be involved in such a delicious caper, Andre successfully circumvents all attempts to do him bodily harm and finds out exactly what is going on. And who turns out to be up to her exquisitely plucked eyebrows in the art fraud? DQ editor Camilla Porter herself. At once breezy and intelligent, Mayle's novel is absolutely pleasurable reading.
Booklist Review; May 1997.

The Man Who Stole the Mona Lisa

Robert Noah

Based on an actual 1911 attempt to steal the world's most famous work of art, this intricate, fable-like yarn concerns the Marquis de Valfierno, an urbane Buenos Aires swindler, and his partner in crime, a master painter who can only copy other people's work. After the duplicitous duo successfully steal and forge several prominent masterpieces in Mexico City, Valfierno sets his sights on the Mona Lisa. The plot acquires a romantic angle when the marquis marries a much younger Brazilian and finds himself providing for a family. Noah's (All the Right Answers) descriptions of the cat-and-mouse games of an art thief are consistently entertaining, but it's the elaborate fantasy atmosphere that makes the machinations work. The intriguing cast of secondary characters includes the young cripple who performs the actual thefts, the barber who organizes the marquis's affairs and the blackmailer who tries to capitalize on the loss of the Louvre's showcase piece. The decision to present the climactic theft before the final resolution robs the book of some momentum, but this charming tale should delight art lovers as well as readers who love a creative caper.
Publishers Weekly Review; September 2001.

The Pieces from Berlin
Michael Pye

This human drama unfolds as Nicolas Muller-Rossi, an elderly Swiss academic, attempts to attend his estranged father's funeral, only to be shunned by the deceased's second family. The reason? During World War II, his mother, Lucia, now a frail antiques dealer, used her mercenary charm to collect and sell the art treasures 'abandoned' by Jewish German residents. When a former neighbor passes by Lucia's store and recognizes a valuable table once held in her own home, it catalyzes the long delayed process of bringing Lucia's actions to justice. As Lucia's trial approaches, each character must grapple with his or her (often repressed) memories of the war. Pye fully fleshes out his characters, never allowing them to slip into easy stereotypes: Lucia is both a selfish flirt as well as an intelligent businesswoman who struggled against the constrictions society placed on her gender; Nicolas is a thoughtful professor as well as a frightened old man who selectively ignores key moments from his past.
Booklist Review; January 2003.

The Chrysalis
Heather Terrell

Attorney Mara Coyne's firm is hired by the venerable art-auction-house Beazley's to defend the ownership of 'The Chrysalis,' a seventeenth- century Dutch painting by Johannes Miereveld. The owner, who purchased the painting through Beazley's, is ready to sell, but Hilda Baum, whose parents died in the Holocaust, says the Nazis stole the painting from her family, and she wants it back. Working with Beazley's employee Michael Roarke, a former college classmate, Mara prepares the case, certain a positive outcome will guarantee her a partnership in her prestigious law firm. Then, when Mara finds some irregularities in Beazley's way of doing business, she works to unravel the truth-- perhaps at the expense of her career. Jumping between present-day New York City and Holland, both in the seventeenth century and during World War II, the story starts slowly but builds in intensity to an exciting climax. Rich details about the art-auction business and case law are woven throughout this fascinating debut.
Booklist Review; May 2007.

New Bestsellers in Book Express

2009-12-02T16:43:00.008-05:00

Just added this week:

Too Many Murders by Colleen McCullogh

The call number is FIC McCullogh. There are 3 copies in Book Express and 2 copies in New Fiction (14-day). Holds may be placed on the New Fiction copies.

On a beautiful spring day in the little city of Holloman, Connecticut, home to prestigious Chubb University and armaments giant Cornucopia, chief of detectives Captain Carmine Delmonico has more pressing concerns than finding a name for his infant son: twelve murders have taken place in one day, and Delmonico is drawn into a gruesome web of secrets and lies. (book summary)

U is for Undertow by Sue Grafton

The call number is M Grafton. There are 10 copies in Book Express and 10 copies in New Fiction (14-day). All are checked out at the moment, but click on the title above to see when they are due. Holds can be placed on the New Fiction copies.

After a recent reference to a kidnapping triggers a flood of memories, unemployed college dropout Michael Sutton hires Kinsey Millhone to locate a four-year-old girl's remains and find the men who killed her. (book description)

Remodel and Renovate in Fiction

2009-11-30T11:43:00.009-05:00

Restoring Grace
Katie Fforde

Grace lives on a lovely but crumbling English estate. Newly divorced, she has no prospects for getting the money it will take to repair the dry rot that's threatening to ruin the house. Ellie, a newly single and pregnant artist, has nowhere to live. When Ellie tries to sell Grace a painting of the house, the women form a fast friendship and quickly realize they can help each other out if Ellie were to move in. Then Ellie uncovers antique wall murals in the house that could be valuable, and unexpectedly falls for the restoration expert on whom she calls. Meanwhile, Grace finds herself attracted to the handsome new stranger in town. London Times best-selling author Fforde (Paradise Fields) has crafted another charming, lighthearted romance that belongs in most public libraries.
Library Journal Review; June 2006.

Wreck the Halls
Sarah Graves

Pairing home repair and murder may seem a bit of a stretch, but Graves hits the nail square on the head in her Home Repair Is Homicide mysteries. Even those who don't own a screwdriver will be hooked by this fifth installment in the series. Graves' oddly named but thoroughly likable female protagonist, Jacobi 'Jake' Sorenson, left a lucrative career as a New York financial advisor and moved with son Sam to the tiny island of Eastport, Maine, where she devotes her days to the never-ending repairs on her 1823 Federal clapboard home. Jake's enjoyment of the Christmas season is interrupted when she drops in on her friend, Faye Anne Carmody, and finds Faye's abusive husband dead and Faye covered in blood and unsure what happened. With the encouragement of her best friend, Ellie, Jake agrees to help Faye Anne prove her innocence. Meanwhile, domestic tranquility between Jake and husband Wade is threatened by the annoying presence of Jake's ex-spouse, Victor. Graves paints a compelling portrait of small-town Maine in this entertaining cozy.

Booklist Review; November 2001.

Murder at Five Finger Light
Sue Henry

At loose ends because she is unable to race her dogs this season due to an injury, Jessie Arnold heads to Five Finger Light Island to help friends restore an old lighthouse. On the way to the island, Jessie meets Karen Emerson, who is on the run from a persistent stalker, and invites her along on the trip. Once on the island, Jessie's idyllic getaway turns deadly as a body is found, a woman disappears, and an extensive search of the tiny island fails to find her. Jessie and her companions realize they are on their own when they discover that all means of communicating with the outside world are either missing or destroyed. Alternating chapters from Jessie's and the stalker's points of view keep motives hidden and readers guessing as the plot moves briskly along. The unspoiled Alaskan setting, and Jessie and her boyfriend Alex's somewhat uneasy relationship, add to this eleventh in the series.
Booklist Review; March 2005.

The Renovation
Terri Kraus

Kraus, an interior designer who has coauthored multiple inspirational novels with her husband, Jim, offers a fairly standard but likable romance in her first solo effort. Ethan Willis is a 40-ish widower in small town Franklin, Pa., who builds his life and his living around holding on to the past. As a restorer of Victorian homes, Ethan craves historical accuracy. In his personal life, he cherishes the memory of his beloved wife; he has neither recovered from her tragic death nor discussed it with his young teenage son. Cameron Dane is a pretty young newspaper reporter doing a story on Ethan's current restoration project, with a tragic past of her own. Of course, a newspaper interview leads to lunch, which leads to dinner, and readers will be able to do the math and find everything they expect and nothing they don't. (There's no sex, and there's a simple but sincere conversion story as the characters recover their faith.) Kraus focuses on the theme of forgiveness throughout, with quotes at the beginning of every chapter. Ethan's incessant insistence on historical detail may grate on readers' nerves the way it does his client's, and the comparison between holding on to the past in his work and his life is a bit overdone, but the story is enjoyable and will please Christian romance enthusiasts.
Publishers Weekly Review; January 2008.

Castle
J Robert Lennon

Eric Loesch, the narrator of this fifth novel from Lennon (Mailman), returns to rural upstate New York to buy land near where he grew up. He finds the town rundown, the ramshackle house on his property in need of major renovation, and his childhood neighborhood blighted with abandoned cars and weed-filled yards. Eric himself is a disagreeable loner, rebuffing the friendly locals, sometimes violently. Then he makes a startling discovery--a parcel of land with a large rock formation and the ruins of a castle sits in the middle of his property but is not part of his deed. His obsession to find its owner not only opens doors into a dark relationship with his father and a peculiar psychologist named Avery Stiles but also discloses Eric's own violent past in command of a U.S. Army prison in Iraq. The appearance of his estranged sister, Jill, helps him sort out sinister elements in his past that he does not understand. This gripping novel will solidify Lennon's reputation; highly recommended for all public libraries.

Library Journal Review; March 2009.

Midnight Bayou

Nora Roberts

When wealthy Boston attorney Declan Fitzgerald discovers that Manet Hall, a dilapidated mansion on the bayou just outside New Orleans, is for sale, he leaves his practice and moves in to renovate, restore, and redecorate. Independent and tough, bar owner Lena fascinates him from the minute he lays eyes on her. Believing that he's incapable of romance, he's amazed by how quickly and overwhelmingly he falls head over heels in love with her. But he worries about his own sanity when he experiences fugue states that leave him with memories of events and people who lived in the mansion more than 100 years earlier. Are there ghosts about? Or could it be that he is the reincarnation of one of the players in a century-old mysterious disappearance? Roberts has cleverly crafted an enticing tangle of times and relationships featuring characters whose pain and triumphs are palpable and has also created a hero who is strong enough to carry off being well mannered, sensitive, and interested in antiques without diminishing his manly charms.
Booklist Review; September 2001.

Fire Point
John Smolens

Tensions simmer among the residents of a small resort town on Michigan's Upper Peninsula until a young man from Chicago moves in and stirs the situation to a boil. After Martin Reed buys and restores a dilapidated house, he becomes involved with 19-year-old Hannah LeClaire, who is finishing high school after complications from an abortion. Even though Hannah is nearly a decade younger than Martin, their romance quickly heats up. But then Sean Colby, the classmate who fled into the army after getting Hannah pregnant, returns to town; soon, Martin and Hannah face a growing threat from Sean and his policeman father. Smolens proves especially adept at illustrating the tenuous alliances and small fissures that form between townies when the tourists have all gone home. In a quiet, assured fashion, he sets up a series of inevitable confrontations that don't usually turn out the way one would expect--just like in real life.
Booklist Review; August 2004.

The Sleeping Beauty Proposal
Sarah Strohmeyer

Admissions counselor Eugenia 'Genie' Michaels has dated professor- turned-author Hugh Spencer for four years, patiently waiting him out. When Hugh's bestselling novel lands him on TV, Genie's loved ones tuning in are surprised to see him make an on-air proposal to 'the love of his life.' All assume it's Genie, but off camera, Hugh confesses to an affair, escapes to England for the summer and leaves Genie to do the explaining. Best friend Patty proposes that, rather than moping, Genie keep her mouth shut and enjoy being 'engaged' while it lasts. Soon, Genie's sporting a giant, self-purchased cubic zirconia ring, and masses of wedding gifts begin to arrive at her office. As the inevitable approaches, there's plenty of opportunity for sticky situation comedy, including handsome, charming carpenter Nick, and Strohmeyer nails it at every unpredictable turn.
Publishers Weekly Review; April 2007.

Happy Thanksgiving

2009-11-25T16:02:00.002-05:00

Library Hours Thanksgiving Weekend:

Wed, 11/25 ~ Close at 5pm
Thu, 11/26 ~ Closed
Fri, 11/27 ~ 9:30am - 5pm
Sat, 11/28 ~ 10am - 5pm
Sun, 11/29 ~ 1pm - 5pm

Our web page is open 24/7.

At the Lake

2009-11-23T11:40:00.011-05:00

A Dance In Deep Water
Doug Allyn

Families are never what they seem, either from the inside or the outside. Michelle 'Mitch' Mitchell, a café owner, deep-water diver, and sometime detective, is slowly pulling her life together on Michigan's Upper Peninsula, where she grew up. Her mother died in childbirth, and she and her late father were emotional strangers. She senses it's now or never with her precocious teenage son, Corey, who's been away at boarding school while mom worked offshore oil rigs in the Gulf. A chance meeting at an isolated gas station leads Mitch and Corey to relatives of Mitch's late mother. They're unpleasant folks and obviously have something to hide. Mitch senses it may have to do with her mother's death. Suddenly obsessed with her family history, she plunges deeper into her past, meeting a man who was a foxhole buddy of her father in Vietnam and who now runs a school for the Amerasian descendants of that war. She also runs afoul of a nasty militia group, attracts the attention of the FBI, and learns an awful secret that is contained in an abandoned mine on the school's property. But those are just bumps in the road in Mitch's journey to understand her past.
Booklist Review; December 1997.

The Glass Lake
Maeve Binchy

Bestselling novelist Binchy again explores the passions and priorities of Irish women in a seductively written tale that's a bona fide page-turner. She sets this story in the small village of Lough Glass, the 'glass lake' of the title, in Dublin and in London, animating each place more by the robust characterization of the people who live there than by the use of descriptive detail. When Kit McMahon is 12, her sad and distant mother disappears while walking along the lake. Authorities find the family's boat overturned, and, when Kit discovers a sealed letter addressed to her father, she fears that the suicide confession will keep her mother from a consecrated burial. She burns the letter, adding another burden to her misery. Helen is not dead, however. She has run off to London for great and compelling reasons, where she adopts the name Lena Gray and eventually becomes the director of an important employment agency. When Kit discovers her there years later, the anguish of both women is intensified by the complex situation, and the secret they now share eventually explodes in a way neither could have foreseen. If some aspects of the plot are contrived and the narrative overtold, the richness of Binchy's characters makes these drawbacks easy to forgive.

Publishers Weekly Review; January 1995.

Lake News
Barbara Delinsky

Falsely implicated in a scandal by an unscrupulous reporter, Lily Blake returns to Lake Henry, her small New England hometown. She is devastated by the loss of her job, privacy, and reputation and struggles to regain control of her life. Although distrustful of the media, she is drawn to John Kipling, the editor of the local Lake News. A wounded soul himself, Kip has also returned home to exorcise personal demons. Together they find justice for Lily and healing for themselves. Prolific novelist Delinsky (Coast Road, LJ 7/98) spins another engrossing story of strength in the face of cataclysmic life changes. Her picture of the ease with which one can lose all privacy and the damage caused by an irresponsible and out-of-control media, while perhaps exaggerated, is nevertheless chilling.

Library Journal Review; June 1999.

The Draining Lake
Arnaldur Indridason

Missing persons particularly pique the interest of Reykjavik police inspector Erlendur, still haunted by the loss of his younger brother in a blizzard that he survived as a child. When the mysteriously draining Lake Kleifarvatn reveals a skeleton tied to an old Russian radio transmitter, Erlendur and colleagues Elinborg and Sigurdur Oli delve into the cold war era, when promising young Icelandic socialists were sent to Leipzig to study, and one of them lost the woman he loved in the atmosphere of 'interactive surveillance.' Considering himself a failure in family relationships, the introspective and dogged Erlendur is motivated to bring closure to a 70-year-old woman still waiting for her long-vanished lover; even a missing hubcap is a key to this case. Erlendur's developing relationship with a married woman, Elinborg's newfound success as a cookbook author, and Sigurdur Oli's phone calls from a troubled man add depth and texture to the fourth in Indridason's award-winning Nordic series (after Voices).
Library Journal Review; September 2008.

Your Oasis On Flame Lake

Lorna Landvik

Landvik was a stand-up comic, and she writes like one: her characters are clever and offbeat, like Garrison Keillor's or Fannie Flagg's. In a small Minnesota town, two friends chafe at being voted 'Least Changed' at their twentieth high-school reunion. Timid Devera has an affair with her night-school teacher; BiDi, known for her still-perfect figure, gets pregnant by Sergio, her second husband. Devera's husband, Dick, a car salesman who dreams of performing his joke songs in a cabaret, opens 'Your Oasis' in their basement and provides a town gathering place. When opposing hockey players ambush BiDi's daughter, Frannie, the hulking product of her first marriage and the town mascot for making the varsity team as a freshman and a girl, the families and town must make peace with the fragility of loved ones. The most captivating narrator is Devera's precocious daughter Darcy, a hat aficionado and self-appointed defender of justice. She and this book should delight most readers.
Booklist Review; June 1997.

Crow Lake
Mary Lawson

Kate Morrison, the quietly complicated narrator of this lovely first novel of tangled tragedies, relives childhood events in the small Canadian farming community of Crow Lake, Ont., during a family reunion. When Kate is only seven, her parents are killed in a car accident, and her 19-year-old brother, Luke, relinquishes academic success to keep the siblings together. Instead, it is Matt, 17 and brilliant, who reluctantly and guiltily agrees to finish high school and go on to college, all the while sharing in the care of Kate and her baby sister, the hilarious, scene-stealing Bo. The violent, secretive history of the neighboring Pye family intrudes into the Morrisons' fragile system, detonating Matt's plans, and it is ultimately Kate who escapes into an academic career of challenge and respectability. Elegant, beautifully paced, and deeply resonant of the fears of children too young to have a vocabulary to express such feelings, this is a terrific debut. Nine countries were wise enough to buy the rights.
Library Journal Review; February 2002.

The World Below
Sue Miller

Miller (While I Was Gone) has a remarkable talent for paying scrupulous attention to the details of domestic life and nuances of personal relationships and then, with such seeming ease, relating them both truthfully and lovingly. Here she also shows the timelessness of the courses that human lives can take and the events that shape them. At 52, twice-divorced Cath Hubbard takes a sabbatical from her San Francisco teaching job to take possession of her grandparents' home. Contemplating starting a new life there in small-town Vermont, she uncovers truths about her beloved grandmother, Georgia Rice, on whom much of the story centers. Confined to a tuberculosis sanatorium before she was 20, Georgia found a different world with rules of its own where people behaved 'scandalously,' and her life was irrevocably changed. Cath finds parallels between her life and that of her Gran and insight into her grandparents' marriage that sheds light on her own failed ones, as events take the path of her own life out of her hands. A beautifully crafted and supremely satisfying work of fiction.
Library Journal Review; September 2001.

Lost Girls
Andrew Pyper

In a small Canadian town, two 14-year-old girls are missing and presumed drowned. Toronto attorney Bartholomew Crane arrives to defend Thom Tripp, the girls' English teacher, who is accused of first-degree murder. At first the egocentric, caustic Crane doesn't care about the truth he just wants to get the job done. The more he probes, however, the more he comes across the legend of the Lady in the Lake, who drags her victims down to the watery depths. Disturbing visions and voices unnerve him. Once he faces his own grief-stricken past, he emerges as a likable human being. Debut novelist and lawyer Pyper writes his murder mystery in a Tom Wolfe style of luxuriant hyperbole, portraying outrageous yet believable characters. His fast-paced present tense is well suited to the antic, first-person narrative of the coke-addicted Crane.

Library Journal Review; May 2000.

National Book Awards 2009

2009-11-20T15:58:00.007-05:00

The National Book Awards program was held Wednesday night. Jeff Vandemeer of the Omnivoracious Blog gives a newcomer's account of the event.

The winner in the Fiction category is Colum McCann, author of Let the Great World Spin, a deft portrait of decaying New York City.

The winner in the Non-Fiction category is T.J. Stiles, author of The Last Tycoon: the Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt.

The winner in Young People's Literature is Phillip Hoose, author of Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice.

These books are chosen because they represent the best of the year in their categories. Among so many great books published each year, these have that something extra that makes them stand out.

In the Golden Years

2009-11-17T09:57:00.010-05:00

Dearest Dorothy, Help! I’ve Lost Myself!
Charlene Ann Baumbich

Fans of Jan Karon's Mitford or Philip Gulley's Harmony will revel in the antics of the residents of Partonville, Baumbich's imaginary village in 'the northern part of southern Illinois.' Alongside various familiar faces (the prickly mayor, the garrulous salon owner and the city slickers who've recently moved in from Chicago), the town boasts an individual who is anything but a stock character: Dorothy Jean Wetstra, an 87-year-old spitfire with a heart of gold. As the town gears up to celebrate its 130th anniversary, Dorothy helps new resident Katie Durbin come to terms with an unsettling revelation about her family, while Katie's son Josh winningly navigates the turbulent waters of adolescent dating. The novel has some mechanical problems, with sudden and inexplicable shifts in point of view, but the characters are quirky and charming; there are several laugh-out-loud moments; and Baumbich offers gentle inspiration without hammering readers over the head with God, whom Dorothy delightfully calls 'The Big Guy.'
Publishers Weekly Review; August 2004.

Agatha Raisin and the Haunted House
M C Beaton

Agatha Raisin, snug and warm in her Carsley cottage, has that same old feeling-boredom-until a report of a haunted house sends her and new neighbor, handsome Paul Chatterton, to investigate. Suddenly, middle-aged Agatha is aglow with romance and excitement. But the glow fades fast. It turns out Paul is a cad. The victim of the haunting is a universally disliked old biddy. And the ghost is most likely someone playing a dirty trick. Then an old lady is soon found murdered. But never fear! For Agatha, solving a homicide is more fun than hunting a ghost. She quickly has a theory and a risky scheme. And she is about to make a startling discovery which can be her greatest triumph...or leave her heartbroken, in trouble with the police, and in danger of losing her reputation-or her life.
Book Description.

Turning for Home
Sarah Challis

The ties between generations are at the heart of this romantic saga set outside London. At 84, Lady Pamela desperately wishes to remain in her home, but her calculating daughter-in-law wants to send her away so she can modernize the charming cottage. To the rescue comes 26-year-old Maeve Delaney, a companion whose headlong approach to life is just what Pamela needs to get her out of the doldrums. Maeve feels emotionally abandoned by her own parents, who divorced when she was 12, and Lady Pamela has always longed for a daughter to replace her Lizzie, who died much too young. Into the mix are thrown Maeve's best friend, Sophie, a single mother with twins; Matt, the handsome local vet who loves them both; Sam, Pamela's beau of over 50 years, whom she should have married; and Irish Dancer, the injured horse Pamela longs to bring back for one last race. Challis' second novel reads like a sexier Rosamunde Pilcher, packed with robust characters, romance for both young and old, and heart-tugging tragedy.
Booklist Review; May 2003.

Jane Austen in Boca
Paula Marantz Cohen
A clever update of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, this first novel is set in a Jewish retirement community in Boca Raton, FL. Carol Newman is obsessively seeking a mate for her widowed mother-in-law, May. When Carol decides that the recently bereaved and very wealthy Norman Grafstein is the ideal candidate, the resulting comedy of manners is worthy of Austen herself. The author's perceptive observations of life among the retirees of Florida are combined with skillful parallels to the plot and characters of the original novel. The narrative flows, and the reader will be chuckling, trying to guess who from Boca is a character from Austen. Particularly delightful is Flo Kliman, the contemporary Elizabeth Bennett character, a retired librarian from the University of Chicago with a keen intellect and acerbic wit. Although certain aspects of the plot seem contrived, this fiction debut by humanities professor Cohen, who has written scholarly studies such as Silent Film and the Triumph of the American Myth, will amuse readers everywhere.
Library Journal Review; September 2002.

Loop Group

Larry McMurtry

In his 28th novel, Pulitzer-winner McMurtry again displays his knack for compelling characters and plots, this time as two women of a certain age take a road trip through Texas. Sixty-year-old widow Maggie Clary hasn't felt like herself since her hysterectomy; though her Hollywood company, Prime Loops, is doing well--they dub in the grunts and groans for movie soundtracks--she secretly wonders if she's going 'bats.' Maggie's three well-intentioned daughters have appeared on her doorstep for a Sunday morning 'intervention.' Though Maggie's diminutive Sicilian psychiatrist has improved her mood, she decides to follows the advice of a flirtatious waiter and try a change of scenery. Maggie invites fellow 'looper' and best friend Connie (the two have been inseparable--and boy crazy--since they were 14), to join her on a drive to her octogenarian Aunt Cooney's Texas chicken ranch. Despite family troubles that threaten to sabotage their trip, the two stay the course on a road rife with reprobates, from a relentless 'professional' hitchhiker to a mild-mannered car thief forever violating his parole. Aunt Cooney's brief appearance is among the high points of McMurtry's life-affirming tale: sporting an 'old mashed-up' cowboy hat and an abundance of rouge, the gregarious granny greets her city slicker niece by yanking a pistol out of her pocket and firing shots into the sky.
Publishers Weekly Review; November 2004.

Julie and Romeo

Jeanne Ray

This is a short, sweet love story for the 60-plus set by a talented first novelist who is, according to the publicist's blurb, a nurse living in Nashville. Romeo Cacciamani and Julie Roseman are rival florists in Somerville, MA, whose families have feuded for three generations. Romeo's son Tony and Julie's daughter Sandy attempted an elopement in high school but were thwarted. Now it's the turn of widowed Romeo and divorced Julie, who meet at a small- business seminar and fall into a passionate love affair that their families are determined to thwart as well. This is a funny book, and Julie and Romeo are lovable protagonists, but the underlying premise is serious: can deeply held antagonisms be overcome, or are some relationships simply impossible? Ray comes up with some unforgettable characters, including Julie's aggressive real-estate agent daughter, Nora, and Romeo's equally aggressive 90-year-old mother, the witchlike matriarch whose 'poke' has unmanned many a Cacciamani and whose rosebush-killing method harks back to Rome's destruction of Carthage. The abrupt ending (and revelation of the basis for the family animosity) may disappoint slightly, but this would still make a terrific movie.
Library Journal Review; May 2000.

Miss Julia Paints the Town
Ann Ross

Julia Springer Murdoch has survived widowhood, scandals and her share of delightfully harebrained adventures in eight previous Miss Julia outings; here she tackles a town's worth of problems. Smarmy New Jersey developer Arthur Kessler plans to tear down the old Abbotsville, N.C., courthouse and replace it with condos, but more pressing is the fact that three of Julia's friends' husbands have decamped or gone missing, including Richard Stroud, who may have absconded with a great deal of money. Everyone's turning to Julia for advice except for Richard's wife, Helen, who's getting too cozy for comfort as she cries on the shoulder of Miss Julia's good-natured second husband, Sam. Julia rallies her friends to convince Kessler that Abbotsville is too full of Southern eccentricities for him, but those eccentricities may be too real for the plan to work. The memorably droll Ross has a gift for elevating such everyday matters as marital strife and the hazards of middle age to high comedy, while painting her beautifully drawn characters with wit and sympathy.
Publishers Weekly Review; January 2008.

The Three Miss Margarets
Louise Shaffer

Secrets are kept in small southern towns as they are nowhere else. In Charles Valley, Georgia, it is the three Miss Margarets-- 'little old ladies with pedigrees'--who not only held secrets but also lied to do what they thought was right. Li'l Bit Banning and Dr. Maggie Harris are from old families, and Peggy Garrison married into the town's wealthiest clan. Things come to a head when Vashti Johnson, an African American who became a renowned scientist, comes home to die at the same time a New Yorker writing a biography of Vashti turns up asking questions. And Laurel McCready, whose poor, white-trash, unwed mother blamed the three Miss Margarets for the ills in her life, wants the truth about how her father was killed before she was born. Shaffer unravels this tale with skill, building enough sense of foreboding to be enticing as she reveals the backgrounds of the major characters and the decades-old rape and murders and brings it all to a satisfying conclusion. This has likely appeal to book groups.
Booklist Review; February 2003.

Veterans, At War and At Home

2009-11-10T12:45:00.013-05:00

In honor of Veteran's Day, here are some books that concern the experiences of men & women in war and at home after the war.

Ordinary Heroes by Scott Turow. Stewart Dubinsky plunges into the mystery of his family's secret history when he discovers his deceased father's wartime letters to his former fiancee, revealing his court-martial and imprisonment during World World II.

Mudbound by Hillary Jordan. In 1946, Laura McAllan tries to adjust after moving with her husband and two children to an isolated cotton farm in the Mississipi Delta. The experience of an African American soldier in Europe leads to the final tragedy.

No Graves as Yet by Anne Perry. First book in series. Set in England just before England joins WWI, Cambridge professor Joseph Reavley investigates the death of his parents in a motor accident. He and his sister and brother prepare for war. In the remaining books of the series, the siblings enter WWI, each in their own way. These books present a strong vision of the hardships of war, and of WWI in particular.

The Names of the Dead by Stuart O'Nan. At 34, Larry Markham seems to be going nowhere fast. The only people he can talk to are a group of disabled Vietnam vets whose gut-wrenching stories feed his imagination. Over and over he is brought back to 1968, to the jungles of Southeast Asia where, as a young medic he had to find a way to keep his platoon alive. But now, in the present, a more imminent danger arises, and his struggle to survive a deadly threat forces him to confront the battles that rage within him. (book summary)

Rules for Old Men Waiting by Peter Pouncey. A brief, lyrical novel with a powerful emotional charge, Rules for Old Men Waiting is about three wars of the twentieth century and an ever-deepening marriage. In a house on the Cape “older than the Republic,” Robert MacIver creates a list of rules by which to live out his last days. He invents a tale of the Great War, which prompts MacIver’s own memories of his role in World War II and of Vietnam, where his son, David served. Both the stories and the memories alike are lit by the vivid presence of Margaret, his wife. (from book summary)

Holiday Entertaining

2009-11-09T12:01:00.013-05:00

How to Cook Everything Holiday Cooking
Mark Bittman

Enjoy cooking for the holidays this year! Roast Turkey and Gravy. Baked Ham with Maple Glaze. Traditional Apple Pie. Death-by-Chocolate Torte. Holidays are when you pull out all the stops, and with How to Cook Everything: Holiday Cooking, you can make your special feast or buffet spread without stress. Mark Bittman, the award-winning author of the bestselling kitchen classic How to Cook Everything, shares his favorite simple–and infinitely flexible–holiday recipes. You’ll be able to cook for big feasts and parties from Thanksgiving to New Year’s and for other holiday gatherings all year-round. To inspire you and help you plan your meals, you’ll find Bittman’s straight talk on cooking and special features, including: Creative recipe variations and ideas, Tips for shopping, preparing, and cooking the recipes, Illustrations to demystify trickier techniques, Menu suggestions for a Traditional Thanksgiving Dinner, a Tree-Trimming Party, an Easter Feast, and more, At-a-glance icons highlighting recipes that can be made ahead.
Book Description.

Gourmet Meals in Minutes

Having trained thousands of professional chefs, the Culinary Institute of America addresses home cooks here in an effort to "cultivate a passion for cooking" despite today's hectic pace. With an emphasis on a multiplicity of ethnic flavors, the recipes are largely familiar and manageable. In fact, many of the simpler ones (Vichyssoise, Romaine and Grapefruit Salad with Walnuts and Stilton; Ratatouille; and Tiramisu) may be found in scores of other cookbooks. However, such dishes as Lobster and Roasted Red Pepper Salad, and Pesto-Stuffed Chicken Breasts with Tomato Relish seem rather ambitious when described as "meals in minutes." And suggesting the use of premade phyllo dough as a prime ingredient in Fennel and Chorizo Strudels, or packaged puff pastry dough in Fresh Fruit Galette, undercuts the book's premise. Oddly for home cooking, nearly every recipe serves eight. Still, there are dozens of quick and easy recipes, such as Niçoise-Style Grilled Tuna and Cider-Braised Pork Medallions. Presentation is often a key aspect, as in Haricots Verts with Prosciutto and Gruyère, in which prosciutto slices are twisted into spirals to resemble roses. CIA fans, who include viewers of PBS's Cooking Secrets from the CIA, will turn to this book.
Publishers Weekly Review; August 2004.

Entertaining 101
Linda West Eckhardt

Dinner parties are back. But some things have changed forever. There was a time when celebration meant days of planning, days of cooking, and days of recuperation. But no more! Today, the very thought of preparing one of those sumptuous multicourse extravaganzas has become no more than a fleeting nightmare. For special events, however, there is still nothing quite so welcome as a home-cooked meal. In Entertaining 101, mother and daughter Linda West Eckhardt and Katherine West DeFoyd provide all the information anyone will need to throw a terrific party at home. Each of the recipes has been tested not only by the authors but also by less experienced cooks. Each one has been simplified to eliminate all unnecessary steps. Each menu is accompanied by a carefully worked-out timetable so that every dish will be ready when it should be. And no menu requires more than an hour's preparation time in the kitchen, although some dishes may cook longer unattended--while you set the table or enjoy a cocktail with your guests. The fifty-two seasonal menus--from a Winter Solstice Formal Sage Chicken Dinner to a Summer Supper from the Farmer's Market--will allow anyone to entertain "with style and grace" every week of the year. Each menu includes wine suggestions and useful tips for serving and decorating (although the authors emphasize that there are no absolute rights or wrongs). This may not be the age of Aquarius, but it is certainly the age of liberation--in the kitchen as well as everywhere else.
Book Description.

The Art and Craft of Entertaining
Kimberly Kennedy

Where do I begin?That's the question we start with when thinking about throwing a party -- and for many of us, that's the question we end with, too. We may like the idea of entertaining friends and family in our home, but the details -- those how to's of planning the party, making the food, and playing hostess -- can quickly overwhelm us, prompting us to tuck away the idea, waiting for another, better time. But it doesn't have to be that way. With The Art and Craft of Entertaining, author Kimberly Kennedy provides all the information and inspiration you need to plan, organize, and carry out a successful no-stress event. Marry some of her ideas with your own, and you'll be on the way to developing your style, gaining confidence as a hostess and elsewhere in your life. Whether you're throwing a cocktail party, a baby shower, or an intimate dinner for two, The Art and Craft of Entertaining will take you there, step-by-step. Instructive and encouraging, this essential book lays the groundwork for entertaining with style, demonstrating how to craft a perfect invitation for any occasion, organize your supplies into versatile and efficient arsenals, and plan a satisfying meal without breaking your budget. The Art and Craft of Entertaining shows how to mix passion with planning so that you can throw the party of your dreams.
Book Description.

Semi-Homemade Gatherings
Sandra Lee

Sandra Lee, host of the ever-popular Food Network show Semi-Homemade Cooking with Sandra Lee, knows how to make meals and menus memorable, whether it’s dinner for two or for ten! Sandra’s combination of 70% ready-made foods and 30% fresh ingredients makes every day a culinary celebration. More than 40 party themes featuring easy to duplicate, beautifully decorated and artfully arranged tabletop settings for every celebratory occasion imaginable. Sandra offers 100 sensational Semi-Homemade recipes for quick and delicious appetizers, desserts, and signature cocktails-perfectly suited for each specific party theme.

The Hassle-free Host
Christopher Lowell

Television's ever upbeat designer and decorator Lowell shows in pictures and text how to throw a memorable party. In this volume, he expands his horizons to include food as well as decoration. He wants to make a party fun, freeing the host from exhausting pre-event preparation but still making the scene one that guests are unlikely to forget. For a simple design concept, Lowell places flowers, vegetables, and fruits around a table, noting, "There are no mistakes in nature." Even apples make good place-card holders. Painted dowels glued to candle holders make elegantly tall rose holders for a more formal look. Lowell's recipes call for ready-made foods and mixes that gain individuality and creativity by addition of a few extra ingredients. Frozen macaroni-and-cheese stirred with some roasted red peppers and added cheeses easily fools guests. Frozen peas whipped with dill and cream make a simple starter. But some dishes require fresh ingredients, so Lowell does a veal stew from fresh meat and then simplifies it with frozen pearl onions and some canned white beans.
Booklist Review; September 2004.

Real Simple Celebrations

If only it were as simple as popping open a bottle of Champagne. But as every hostess knows, life's myriad celebrations - whether they come in the form of a big holiday blow out or a small birthday party - require planning and effort to pull off. And in the midst of all that hors d'oeuvre making and centerpiece arranging, it can be easy to lose sight of what you're actually celebrating (whose birthday is it, anyway?). "Real Simple Celebrations" is filled with smart solutions to take the hassle out of entertaining. Each chapter is dedicated to a different occasion - such as Easter, New Year's Eve, a child's birthday party - and guides you every step of the way, from inviting the guests to cleaning up after they've gone. With its handy checklists, foolproof game plans, practical advice, and truly doable ideas, "Real Simple Celebrations" will make all your parties a lot easier to pull off. So, you can stay focused on what you're celebrating-and, more important, why.
Book Description.

Come for Dinner
Leslie Revsin

Revsin, the former owner and chef of Manhattan's celebrated (but now defunct) Restaurant Leslie, offers a collection of over 150 recipes designed for small get-togethers of friends and family. While Revsin's recipes aren't necessarily innovative-they rely primarily on favorite comfort foods, often borrowing flavors from Italian cooking-her unique twists on classics should make this book very appealing to home cooks seeking "sophistication that doesn't bonk you over the head." Readers will find enticing recipes for every course, including Roasted Mushrooms with Lemon Oil, Chicken Cutlets with Fresh Tomato-Shallot Sauce and Brown Sugar Bananas in Phyllo. Revsin celebrates desserts as much as main courses, and bakers will find quite a few worthwhile recipes. Some of the recipes have quite a few steps, which the experienced Revsin (Great Fish Quick) sometimes shrugs off; for one salad, she writes, "When you've peeled, cut and dressed the beets beforehand...it takes only a few minutes to put together." But she does include "Do-Ahead Options" for each dish, which note the steps in the recipe that can be completed days-or even weeks-ahead. Such planning hints help assure that delicious meals can be made from scratch, and that the cook will get to sit down with guests when it's time to dine. Revsin also includes several dozen helpful menu suggestions, which will help readers put together a dinner party from the grill, a picnic or a perfect meal for cool weather.
Publishers Weekly Review; July 2003.

The Future is Bleak: Dystopias

2009-11-05T18:42:00.016-05:00

To borrow from Robert Burns, "the best laid schemes of social planners aft gang a-gley." Whenever leaders endeavor to prevent pain, hunger, civil unrest, inequality, there is a danger of oppression and scapegoating. Dystopian literature reflects this reality. The appeal of these books is that they let us explore different societal norms and what happens when pushed to the extreme. In all of these books, a teenager sees through the adult curtain of reality, and through a test of courage or morality, becomes the catalyst for change.

The classic is, of course, The Giver by Lois Lowry. It is now an assigned reading in high school (not sure if that's a plus or not).

At the Ceremony where each 12-year-old is given their career assignment, Jonas has been chosen for something special. He will be the next Giver, who makes this perfect society possible. Jonas must reach deep inside himself to come to grips with the truths he is being told. Told with deceptive simplicity, this is the provocative story of a boy who experiences something incredible and undertakes something impossible. In the telling it questions every value we have taken for granted and reexamines our most deeply held beliefs.

The most popular book at the moment is The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. It has been number 2 on the NY Times Chapter Books Bestseller List for 52 weeks. The second book of the trilogy has just been released, Catching Fire.

In a society reminiscent of The Lottery by Shirley Jackson, each summer in Panem, a boy and girl teenager is selected from each of 12 districts to participate in the hunger games. The survivor is guaranteed fame and fortune for life. The games are said to remind everyone of the realities of war in order to prevent another one. A skilled outdoorswoman, Katniss takes her younger sister's place because she cannot bear to have another loss in her family.

The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer. This book was a Newbery Honor Book for 2003.

In a future where humans despise clones, Matt enjoys special status as the young clone of El Patron, the 142-year-old leader of a corrupt drug empire nestled between Mexico and the United States. To most people around him, Matt is not a boy, but a beast. Everyone around him understands the purpose of a clone, but as a young boy, he cannot imagine what it is. As Matt struggles to understand his existence, he is threatened by sinister characters. Around every turn in this vivid, futuristic adventure is a heart-stopping surprise with unforgettable consequences. (book summary)

The Uglies by Scott Westerfeld.

Another great adventure story set in a futuristic world of hoverboards and uglies and pretties. The premise of this society is to prevent the excess that led to the end of the "rusties". Just before their sixteenth birthdays, when they will be transformed into beauties whose only job is to have a great time, Tally's best friend runs away and Tally must find her and turn her in, or never become pretty at all. Until the end, when she must choose her path, Tally's choices belie her stated goal of becoming "pretty".

Unwind by Neal Shusterman

In a future world where those between the ages of thirteen and eighteen can have their lives "unwound" and their body parts harvested for use by others, three teens go to extreme lengths to uphold their beliefs--and, perhaps, save their own lives.

Colonial America

2009-11-03T12:08:00.011-05:00

Into the Wilderness
Rosanne Bittner

Sixteen-year-old Jessica Matthews and her family live in splendid isolation in the Allegheny Mountains in 1753 until one fateful day when the usually peaceful Indians attack. Luckily Noah Barnes is traveling in the area and fights off the warriors, sustaining an injury. While recuperating in the Matthewses' cabin, the 29-year-old hunter cum English spy and Jessica fall in love, but Noah must travel to Virginia to warn the governor that the French are rallying the tribes to fight the English settlers, even though he faces imprisonment. While he's away the Matthewses are attacked again, and Jessica is taken prisoner and led into French territory. Bittner's gripping love story features actual historical characters and brings the bravado and daring of the early American settlers to life. This is the first in a planned series of romances about the westward expansion, and if the rest are as good as this one, they shouldn't be missed.
Booklist Review; March 2002.

Remember the Morning
Thomas Fleming

Reaching deeply into the Colonial past of the United States, this sixth volume in the Stapleton series chronicles the turbulent life of Catalyntie Van Vorst; her fated friend and ex-slave, Clara; and their mutual lover, Malcolm Stapleton. Kidnapped as youngsters by the Seneca, Catalyntie and Clara are returned to their Dutch family at age 17, but they can never totally shed their Indian personas. Forced by circumstances to become self-sufficient, Clara becomes half-owner of a tavern where anti-monarchical conspiracies are hatched. Catalyntie is a businesswoman, too, trading with Indians and setting up a store in New York City. Malcolm successfully lives his life as a fearsome warrior or soldier, depending on which affiliation brings him closer to his lifetime goal to build an American consciousness. Infused with Fleming's (Loyalties: A Novel of World War II, LJ 5/1/94) thorough command of history and his stereotype-smashing insights into the psychology of ambitious, conflicted young people, this historical saga is a marvelously fresh reinterpretation of an era.
Library Journal Review; August 1997.

Drums of Autumn
Diana Gabaldon

Gabaldon continues her series of massive time-travel romances starring Claire Mackenzie (nee Randall) and her beloved Highlander, Jamie. Although parts of the book take place in the present, most of the tale is laid in Charleston, South Carolina, before the American Revolution--in the 1760s, to be precise. There the Scots exiles live under the long shadow of Culloden and the gallows and sense the first political winds that eventually turned into revolution. Gabaldon is clearly trying to write on the same scale as Margaret Mitchell, and in terms of length and of thoroughness of research, largely succeeds (this is no Braveheart: Gabaldon has done her historical homework). She has also created a large cast of characters, most of them archetypal but good of their kind, and has achieved pacing that is sufficiently brisk to help rather than hinder her plethoric tome's other qualities by holding reader attention. Furthermore, it is quite possible to start the Outlander saga with this book, although dedicated followers of this giant among time-travel romances will enjoy it even more.
Booklist Review; November 1996.

The Widow’s War
Sally Gunning

In 1761, Massachusetts-born attorney James Otis challenged the British government's right to impose legal writs on the American Colonies. He was also an outspoken abolitionist and supporter of women's suffrage. In her latest novel, Gunning (Fire Water) uses Otis as a catalyst for change in the life of Lyddie Berry. While most people find the lawyer's sentiments appalling, she is quietly thrilled - in fact, Otis's speeches inspire Lyddie to defy her son-in-law, a pompous businessman who assumed legal responsibility for her following the accidental death of her fisherman husband. Gunning exposes the sexism of the era - married women were denied the right to own property and were barred from signing contracts, while widows were under the thumb of male heirs and granted use of only one-third of their deceased husband's property- and juxtaposes it with the racism of the white Colonists against Native Americans. By merging historical fact with riveting fiction, she offers readers an intimate peak into the daily life of pre-Revolutionary War Satucket, MA. Along the way, they'll get a vivid sense of the race, gender, and class dynamics of America's foreparents while enjoying a wonderful story. This is historical fiction at its best; highly recommended.
Library Journal Review; January 2006.

The Rising Shore - Roanoke
Deborah Homsher

Owing to perpetual interest in the subject matter, the 2007 release of the English film Roanoke: The Lost Colony, and the 400th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown, this first novel about one of American history's most enduring mysteries may appeal to the literary and book club set. The author's two nonfiction books--Women & Guns and From Blood to Verdict--revealed her interest in feminism and crime. Here, too, she is careful with her facts, using as narrators the famous Eleanor Dare (nee White), daughter of Colony leader John White and the mother of the first English child born in the New World, and Margaret, a documented Colony member. The invented portions are believable, including the ending--you can debate the details, but it seems quite logical. The events of 1587 are viewed from the perspective of the women, both of whom are all but powerless as they are carried across the Atlantic and into the New World, one by her longing for recognition from her father and the other by a notion that it had to be better than London, for she'd 'never met any beggar girls from Virginia.' Lots of violence and tragedy in this version of early American history.
Library Journal Review; August 2007.

The Jamestown Project
Karen Ordahl Kupperman

In the four hundredth anniversary year of Jamestown, historian Kupperman enlarges its story to encompass the Atlantic world that gave rise to it. The view from England toward the New World is what the author strives to reconstruct, successfully so. A century behind rival Spain in colonizing ventures, English captains eyed the east coast of North America with myriad possibilities in mind: as a base for raiding Spanish ships, as harboring a water route to the East Indies, and as an opportunity for reestablishing Christianity on a purified footing. The encounter of these concepts with the reality that was America--its people, climate, and landscape--is where Kupperman's account thrives, as she explores the experiences of various colonizing ventures, of which Jamestown was but one. Kupperman argues that Jamestown survived by attracting tremendous public interest in England, which translated into sustained supply for a decade, and by a trial-and-error method for motivating settlers through incentives rather than compulsion. A fine contextualization of the oft-told Jamestown epic.
Booklist Review; February 2007.

American Heros
Edmund S. Morgan

Despite the lowbrow title, these are intelligent, opinionated essays on America between 1600 and 1800. Morgan, a revered historian and the bestselling author of Benjamin Franklin, wrote the earliest chapter in 1937, the latest in 2005. Many describe obscure events but pack a surprising punch. In 'Dangerous Books,' the author tells the story of Yale (where he is professor emeritus), founded in 1701 as a bastion of Puritanism, but with a library of works by English Enlightenment intellectuals. In 1721 six members of the faculty, including the rector, horrified the community by publicly renouncing Calvinism. The last official American execution for witchcraft occurred in 1692, but the popular belief in witchcraft continued well into the 19th century: in a marvelously recounted vignette, Morgan describes Philadelphia in 1787, where a few miles from the halls where America's elite were debating our Constitution, a mob abused and finally killed an old woman accused of witchcraft. Three of the 17 essays are previously unpublished. Happily, all are up to the standards of this wise, venerable (now 93) and deeply thoughtful historian.
Publishers Weekly Review; March 2009.

Mayflower
Nathaniel Philbrick

In this remarkable effort, National Book Award-winner Philbrick (In the Heart of the Sea) examines the history of Plymouth Colony. In the early 17th century, a small group of devout English Christians fled their villages to escape persecution, going first to Holland, then making the now infamous 10-week voyage to the New World. Rather than arriving in the summer months as planned, they landed in November, low on supplies. Luckily, they were met by the Wampanoag Indians and their wizened chief, Massasoit. In economical, well-paced prose, Philbrick masterfully recounts the desperate circumstances of both the settlers and their would-be hosts, and how the Wampanoags saved the colony from certain destruction. Indeed, there was a first Thanksgiving, the author notes, and for over 50 years the Wampanoags and the Pilgrims lived in peace, becoming increasingly interdependent. But in 1675, 56 years after the colonists' landing, Massasoit's heir, Philip, launched a confusing war on the English that, over 14 horrifying months, claimed 5,000 lives, a huge percentage of the colonies' population. Impeccably researched and expertly rendered, Philbrick's account brings the Plymouth Colony and its leaders, including William Bradford, Benjamin Church and the bellicose, dwarfish Miles Standish, vividly to life. More importantly, he brings into focus a gruesome period in early American history. For Philbrick, this is yet another award-worthy story of survival.
Publishers Weekly Review; February 2006.