Current Staff Favorites

Ford County by John Grisham

"Returning to the setting of his first novel, A Time to Kill, longtime bestseller Grisham presents seven short stories about the residents of Ford County, Miss. Each story explores different themes-mourning, revenge, justice, acceptance, evolution-but all flirt with the legal profession, the staple of (former attorney) Grisham's oeuvre. Fans will be excited to settle back into Grisham's world, and these easily digestible stories don't disappoint, despite their brevity. Full of strong characters, simple but resonant plotlines, and charming Southern accents, this collection is solid throughout..." PW Annex Reviews (November 2009) Copyright 2009 Reed Business Information.

Still Alice by Lisa Genova

"In a highly readable form of bibliotherapy, first-time novelist Genova, who holds a doctorate in neuroscience, meticulously traces the downward spiral of a woman suffering from early-onset Alzheimer's disease. ....Still Alice, however, is far from bleak as it depicts both the unalterable course of the disease and the various ways family members can cope with it. Clearly explaining the testing, treatment options, and symptoms of the disease within the context of an absorbing family drama, Genova has written an ideal primer for anyone touched by Alzheimer's."-- Booklist (November 15, 2008) Wilkinson, Joanne Copyright 2008

The Last song by Nicholas Sparks

"#1 bestselling author Nicholas Sparks's new novel is at once a compelling family drama and a heartrending tale of young love.Seventeen year old Veronica "Ronnie" Miller's life was turned upside-down when her parents divorced and her father moved from New York City to Wilmington, North Carolina. Three years later, she remains angry and alientated from her parents, especially her father...until her mother decides it would be in everyone's best interest if she spent the summer in Wilmington with him. Ronnie's father, a former concert pianist and teacher, is living a quiet life in the beach town, immersed in creating a work of art that will become the centerpiece of a local church.The tale that unfolds is an unforgettable story of love on many levels--first love, love between parents and children -- that demonstrates, as only a Nicholas Sparks novel can, the many ways that love can break our hearts...and heal them." - Synopsis

Gabriel García Márques: A Life, by Gerald Martin

If you are a reader who loves to unearth the story behind the story, and if you have read García Márques, as well as other Latin American literary giants, you will truly appreciate Gerald Martin’s masterful biography of the one and only Gabriel García Márques (GGM) - Gabo to his friends and aficionados. You will find this volume in the “New Non-fiction” shelves at EWML.

Martin’s amazingly readable narrative is as well written as any of the works of his subject. He breathes vivid life into decades of the intellectual and political conflicts of an entire continent.

It has never been a secret; GGM managed to keep centered into the thick of things, both literary and political. His official biographer, as he is referred to by Gabo, treats his subject’s trials and triumphs, fame and foibles with fairness and dexterity.

Martin’s masterpiece gathers many literary giants between its covers, (Mario Vargas LLosa, Alvaro Mutis, Carlos Fuentes, to name only a few) much as they gathered together in life. He delves for insight into Gabo’s controversial relationship with politicians such as Cuba’s Fidel Castro, his conflict with the government of his native Columbia, including the conflicts with his closest family members and friends.

Without succumbing to the temptation to insert literary criticism into the pages, Martin, nevertheless, succeeds in unlocking the vault of García Marques’s inspiration. The story of the man who wrote the stories is as mind boggling as the works of fiction he produced.

In spite of his comprehensive volume, Gerald Martin leaves me wanting to read more, not only about Gabo or his literary output, but more of Martin’s own works. One reading of “Gabriel García Márques, A Life” is not enough; what greater compliment exists than “asking for seconds?”

Patricia Salerno

"How to Read Literature Like a Professor" by Thomas C. Foster

When should a book that resides in the “Teen” section of the library present itself in the Adult Book Blog? In this reader’s opinion, it has its place when the book is “How to Read Literature Like a Professor” by Thomas C. Foster (Call number: Teen 808 Foster).

In spite of the somewhat intimidating tone of the title, this 299 page soft cover volume is fun to read, especially for readers of all ages who love to read about reading. Author Thomas Foster, Professor of English at the University of Michigan at Flint, writes in a conversational style that makes some of us wish we could be a “fly on the wall” in his lecture hall. Those adult readers who often re-read literature will enjoy Professor Foster’s take on works that challenged us as teen readers, some of which selections continue to present less than an “easy read” for mature bibliophiles.

The author includes a suggested reading list ranging from familiar fairy tales to Joyce’s “Ulysses.” He also offers a few titles he terms as “Master Class,” as well as secondary sources to guide the reader through literary pilgrimages. It’s a short, funky, do-it-yourself travel guide through a few fields of the Western Canon, a place to begin- to either explore their mysteries or to revisit them in order to unravel the maze.

I give it a thumbs-up and will re-read it in portions as time goes by.

However, witty and lighthearted as Foster’s style may be, some young teens may not have yet been introduced to enough of the literary examples used throughout his book to induce them to read it through. Therefore, if for no other reason, I believe “How to Read Literature Like a Professor” should share the spotlight in a blog designated for those of us who once were “teens.”

Patricia Salerno

Vampires for Adults: Review of Dead Until Dark, by Charlaine Harris

Edward who? True vampire connoisseurs know that before Twilight, there were many other vampy reads out there that stole our hearts and made us wish to be children of the night. Having read vampire fiction for almost twenty years, I’ve tried to sop up everything I could, starting as a teen with Annette Curtis Klause’s The Silver Kiss (1990) and Vivian Vande Velde’s Companions of the Night (1995), and then into adulthood with Bram Stoker, Anne Rice, Chelsea Yarbo, Brian Lumley just to name a few. Vampire fiction sure is hot right now, and those of us who can’t get enough are eager to try to sift through the wreckage to find the wonderful. Charlene Harris’s Sookie Stackhouse novels are just that: wonderful. It’s time to set aside your copy of Twilight, soccer moms, and pick up an adult vampire story that will have you falling in love all over again.

Harris’s series has been out since 2001, but has only recently received great acclaim as HBO’s new series, True Blood, and is loosely based on the novels. Based in Louisiana, the homel of all things undead, Dead Until Dark introduces us to Sookie Stackhouse, a perky, blonde, cocktail waitress in her early twenties with the “disability” to read minds. Sookie dreams of meeting a man whose thoughts she can’t hear; as it seems to be a deal breaker in most of her relationships. Her wishes finally come true when Bill Compton, a 150 year old vampire, walks into the bar where she works. She can’t hear one bit of Bill’s thoughts, and falls instantly in love with him. Bill is striking, charming, stoic and best of all: a ruthless defender of Sookie. But these books are more than romance. Bill isn’t much liked by the local human community and, as a murder mystery unfolds, becomes the number one suspect. It’s up to Sookie to figure out “who-dun-it” and help clear Bill’s name. Filled with humor, thrills, delight, romance and terror, this series is not just great for vampire lovers, but mystery lovers as well. Don’t be scared off or enticed by HBO’s retelling of this story. These books stand on their own and offer readers of both genres something wonderful to wrap their hands around. I stand my ground…Edward who?

Adrienne Wilson

Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger, by Stephen King

Being a huge fan of all things dark and brooding, I’m surprised that I never had the interest to pick up this book before. The Gunslinger is first part in a seven book series entitled “The Dark Tower.” Since The Gunslinger’s debut in 1970 and the Dark Tower Series completion in 2004, thousands of people have enjoyed this trek through time and space that King claims was inspired by the poem “Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came” by Robert Browning. The story centers on Roland, a gunslinger (think Clint Eastwood) and the last of his kind. Roland’s journey begins with a single sentence: “The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed.” We know little of Roland, but as the story unfolds so does Roland’s history. Soon the reader understands more of what is going on than the main character himself. King does an excellent job of keeping the story moving swiftly and intertwining a variety of details and allusions. The reader is allowed to form their own conclusions of where Roland might be, what his quest might lead to. Mixing the genres of fantasy, horror and western, The Gunslinger is unlike any other piece of fiction I have read to date. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a complex story filled with intrigue, desire, terror and consequence. I find myself eager to move through the series at lightning speed. I now hold in my hands the Drawing of Three which will continue the journey of Roland and his pursuit of the Dark Tower.

Adrienne Wilson

Staff Recommendation: The Help, by Kathryn Stockett

"Set in Stockett's native Jackson, MS, in the early 1960s, this first novel adopts the complicated theme of blacks and whites living in a segregated South. A century after the Emancipation Proclamation, black maids raised white children and ran households but were paid poorly, often had to use separate toilets from the family, and watched the children they cared for commit bigotry. In Stockett's narrative, Miss Skeeter, a young white woman, is a naive, aspiring writer who wants to create a series of interviews with local black maids. Even if they're published anonymously, the risk is great; still, Aibileen and Minny agree to participate. Tension pervades the novel as its events are told by these three memorable women. Is this an easy book to read? No, but it is surely worth reading. It may even stir things up as readers in Jackson and beyond question their own discrimination and intolerance in the past and present. " Library Journal, January 1, 2009

Review: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

Looking for something out of the ordinary?
“It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains. Never was this truth more plain than during the recent attacks at Netherfield Park in which a household of eighteen was slaughtered and consumed by the living dead.” And so begins the classic tale by Jane Austen, retold and edited by Seth Grahame-Smith. This new retelling of the timeless romance novel is wacky as ever, but fans of the book will find it a welcome tongue-in-cheek revision that adds a little spice, a little gore, and a whole new outlook on the Sisters Bennett! Smith delightfully interweaves a zombie thriller into the plot of this well known story so well that the reader has a hard time figuring out where the lines are drawn. Perfect for anyone who’s never read the original novel because they feared it a tad boring, or for high school students who might need a little push, or for the average reader who is looking for something new and different! High society finally gets what’s coming to them-and it’s not just a snide remark.

Adrienne Wilson

Review: Half Broke Horses, by Jeannette Walls

Jeannette Walls is back in top storytelling form after her bestselling memoir Glass Castles. Half Broke Horses is billed as a true-life novel in which Walls tells the tale of her tough-as-nails grandmother, Lily Casey, from a first person perspective, piecing together stories she has gathered from family and friends. Original photos bring the narrative to life.

Lily grows up helping her crippled father raise carriage horses on a barely surviving ranch, taking on the hard work her gently raised mother is above doing. At the age of 15, after a brief stint of boarding school education, Lily obtains a teaching position in Arizona, 500 miles away from her home in New Mexico. To get to the job, she travels fearlessly for a full month alone on her horse over rough back country. This is just one of many adventures in Lily's full-tilt, no-nonsense life that moves back and forth between rough ranching and small town teaching during the Great Depression. Through it all, her positive attitude and ingenuity in the face of adversity make her a strong and likeable character.

Later in the book, we hear of the upbringing of Walls' mother Rose Mary. There's no need to have read Glass Castles to appreciate this story, but the insight into the hard living, fun loving personality of Rose Mary adds depth to the author's memoir. This is a gritty, fast-paced read that should not be missed.

Lorna Rhyins

Highly recommended by Two Patrons: Homer and Langley, by E.L. Doctorow

" Doctorow, whose literary trophy shelf has got to be overflowing by now, delivers a small but sweeping masterpiece about the infamous New York hermits, the Collyer brothers. When WWI hits and the Spanish flu pandemic kills Homer and Langley's parents, Langley, the elder, goes to war, with his Columbia education and his "godlike immunity to such an ordinary fate as death in a war." Homer, alone and going blind, faces a world "considerably dimmed" though "more deliciously felt" by his other senses. When Langley returns, real darkness descends on the eccentric orphans: inside their shuttered Fifth Avenue mansion, Langley hoards newspaper clippings and starts innumerable science projects, each eventually abandoned, though he continues to imagine them in increasingly bizarre ways, which he then recites to Homer. Occasionally, outsiders wander through the house, exposing it as a living museum of artifacts, Americana, obscurity and simmering madness. Doctorow's achievement is in not undermining the dignity of two brothers who share a lush landscape built on imagination and incapacities. It's a feat of distillation, vision and sympathy." (Publisher's Weekly July 6, 2009)

Review: Finally Thin! by Kim Bensen

This is not just a diet book, but offers a story that anyone can relate to. The author herself went through years of yo-yo dieting before finally losing over 200 pounds and keeping it off. Bensen's book is divided into three parts. The first part is a memoir of her struggle with weight loss that is told with such directness and honesty that anyone will enjoy reading it. She describes the stress of juggling parenting and work and offers up painful anecdotes of times she was humiliated by her size that take the reader directly into her experience. Her sense of humor and the support she feels from her family thoughout lifts her story up and makes it one of courage rather than self pity.

In the second part of the book, Bensen goes through a list of the many different types of diets out there, explains how each one works, and describes their pros and cons. Although she herself finally managed to keep her weight off using Weight Watchers, she does not support any one plan and is fair in her assessments. She then describes ten elements needed to follow a diet to the point where it becomes a maintainable lifestyle. Finally, she offers her own list of healthy recipes with nutritional information included for each.

Bensen's suggestions are common sense and useful and the fact that they come from the voice of experience make them particularly inspirational. If you've read every diet book out there, this is definitely still worth the read.

Lorna Rhyins

Kim Bensen will be visiting the library this Monday, September 21st at 6:00 p.m. for an author talk and book signing. Registration is required. Visit our Adult Programs page to sign up.

Review: It's Not That I'm Bitter: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying About Visible Panty Lines and Conquered the World, by Gina Barreca

This is definitely a book that will be appreciated most by middle aged women. Since I fit into that category, I enjoyed it thoroughly. Gina Barreca, a professor of English and Feminist Theory at the University of Connecticut, writes a series of short essays about the things women think and worry about. Some of them are about silly things with laugh out loud one-liners: "once we hit forty, women have only about four taste buds left: one for vodka, one for wine, one for cheese, and one for chocolate." Others consider more meaningful issues, such as the decline of the women's movement. Barreca's essays are funny and thoughtful as well as quick and easy to read.

For anyone who enjoyed Nora Ephron's I Feel Bad About My Neck, this is a must read.

Lorna Rhyins

Review: Fragment by Warren Fahy

If you liked Jurassic Park you will love this book. All plot, with lots of science theory; it’s a roller coaster read. An island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean is found to contain deadly animals and plants that have evolved differently from the rest of our planet. If they should get loose in our ecosystem, it will be the end of life as we know it on this planet.

-Margaret Borchers

Moloka'i, by Alan Brennert

Definitely a 10 in my book.
Reads smoothly—memorable characters
I now plan on doing some research on Hansen’s disease and the lepers of Moloka’i

Pat

Still Alice, by Lisa Genova

I just finished reading this great book by Lisa Genova. Alice Howard, a professor of psychology and linguistics at Harvard is diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's at 50. Her story is frank, poignant, and believable. The author, Lisa Genova, graduated valedictorian from Bates College with a degree in Biopsychology and has a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Harvard University.

The author's credentials give an insight and element of truth that adds to the essential believeablity of the story. Although this story is about tragic loss the protagonist is not a tragic hero. Instead it is a story about facing each stage of life with honesty and self-determination. http://www.stillalice.com/

Kathy Fedor

Review: Nothing To Be Frightened Of, by Julian Barnes

In telling you about Julian Barnes’ new book Nothing To Be Frightened Of I’ve tried to show restraint in excessively quoting from it, but as you’ll see, it isn’t easy.

It’s contradictory to think of a book about dying that ends up celebrating living, but Barnes accomplishes this with gracious and infectious good humor. Yes, it is elegiac, but it doesn’t hurt.

It’s not that, like W.C. Fields supposedly replied to a friend’s astonishment at finding him reading the Bible on his deathbed, “I’m looking for a loophole,” Barnes is looking for another way out of the predicament of living. It’s rather that his examination is so much better, amusing, and thoughtful than we could manage (or at least I could manage) on our own. He writes deprecating newspaper headlines about his own demise, as “London Man Dies, Not Many Hurt.” Many authors have discovered the mirth in non-existence; Woody Allen, saying “I don’t fear dying, I just don’t want to be there when it happens.”

Barnes seems to be saying that the idea of dying is a lot worse if you haven’t been busy living as well as you can. He quotes a rather unsolicitous Julius Caesar answering one of his old soldiers who asks for permission to end it all, “What makes you think you have a life worth living?” In other words, why bother. He has Arthur Koestler asking “Is it better to die before all your works are forgotten, or after?”

In pondering the deaths of his mother and father, Barnes recalls them as parents and how he responded, liking or disliking, protesting or agreeing. So, he sees himself as reflected in their lives through the years as he matures.

Barnes instructs us: “We live, we die, we are remembered, we are forgotten. We remember our parents through most of their adult lives; our grandparents through their last third; beyond that, perhaps, lies a great-grandfather with a scratchy beard and a rank odor.”

Near the end of the book Barnes reminds us that with possibly six billion more years for the earth to run, no living thing remotely like us will be alive to see it.


Lou Wallis

Highly recommended by a patron: Serena, by Ron Rash

From Booklist*Starred Review*: Rash’s short stories and previous novels are all set in Appalachia and enriched by the region’s unique history. This is his most gripping work yet, a sweeping saga of unfathomable greed and revenge that grabs the reader’s attention from the first page. The Depression-era tale is centered on newly married George and Serena Pemberton, owners of a logging company in the mountains of North Carolina. Their operation is aimed strictly at maximizing profits, with no regard for either the safety of their workers or the future of the land they’re pillaging. The tragic result of environmental disregard looms large in all of Rash’s fiction, and the Pembertons are his worst villains to date in that respect—leaving behind a “wasteland of stumps and slash and creeks awash with dead trout.” Side plots involve the drastic means, including murder, the couple employs to avoid losing land to environmental groups and Serena’s unflagging pursuit of the young girl who bore George’s son shortly after he and Serena were married. With a setting fraught with danger, and a character maniacal in her march toward domination and riches, Serena is a novel not soon forgotten. --Deborah Donovan

Review: The Hungry Tide, by Amitav Ghosh (Book on CD)

This was a wonderful novel to listen to. It is set in India and the reader is amazing. He narrates in perfect American-English then performs the voices of the various characters in mellifluous, Indian-accented English. The reader pronounces the names and other Bengali words and phrases with confidence and fluidity.

The story is set in the Sundarbans, an archipelago in the Bay of Bengal, at the mouth of the Ganges River. A young, American, marine biologist, Piya, and a businessman from Kolkata, Kanai, meet on a train. Both are headed to the Sundarbans, one to study dolphins and the other to visit his aunt and retrieve the personal journal left to him by his uncle. When Kanai and Piya cross paths again, we learn that Kanai is in love with Piya who appears to be in love with Fokir, the fisherman who saved her from drowning. But, alas, the fisherman has a wife. I’m making The Hungry Tide sound like a superficial romance and it is anything but.

The characters are interesting and their stories involving, but what makes The Hungry Tide special is the setting. The Sundarbans are geographically and culturally very different than anything we know and every page transports the reader to this exotic location. The tide country, as it is called, is an unforgiving environment that looms very large in the lives of the characters and is, in my opinion, as important as the plot and the characters to the novel.

I recommend this audio book for readers who might like to escape to a very different place and way of life.

Karen Recine

Review: Happy at Last: The Thinking Person's Guide to Finding Joy, by Richard O'Connor

Go ahead! Pick up this book. Whether or not you are in need of joy in your life, this is a book that will do anyone good. This is quite an informative book ... though facts and opinions given could be subject to debate. I have to admit that I pick up self help and do-it-yourself books to read them like fiction; but I would be willing to bet that anyone who starts implementing the strategies offered in this book for rewiring the brain towards happiness will see great improvement in their brains - ergo their lives.

Maria Dawis

Review: Street Gang: The Complete History of Sesame Street

When I was a high school student I had the challenging assignment of writing a paper on the positive effects of television on children--a topic still debated today, some 30 years later. The television show Sesame Street figured prominently in my report. This groundbreaking television show will be celebrating its 40th anniversary this November. Jim Henson, Frank Oz and the many Muppets they brought to life were just a few of the many talented people who made, and continue to make Sesame Street so unique. Street Gang: the Complete History of Sesame Street by Michael Davis is a fascinating look behind this phenomenon. It chronicles the show from its beginning as an idea mentioned during a dinner party conversation, to all the efforts to find funding and staff, and through its metamorphosis over nearly 40 years of broadcast. As a big fan of Jim Henson, I was interested to read about his life, work and early death. Fans of television, as well as anyone who works or lives with children will enjoy this book. I only wish it had been around when I had to write my English paper.

Joan Clark

Review: It Only Takes a Moment, by Mary Jane Clark

This book is about the kidnapping of a seven year old girl. I liked the suspense and the fact that the book kept me guessing as to the identity of the kidnapper. I thought it was a quick paced and gripping novel.

Sharon Shanley

James Patterson's Run for Your Life: Review

I just finished Run for your Life by James Patterson. I thought the pace was a little slow and dull in the beginning, but then it got much better and I enjoyed it.

Sharon Shanley

Patron Review: The Journal of Helene Berr, by Helene Berr

I just read this new book at EWML library and was deeply moved by it.

The diary of a holocaust victim in WWII Paris, this rich, unforgettable account reveals a twenty-three year old Sorbonne graduate's struggle with the Nazi persecution of Jews in the "occupied" section of France. Southern France was the hated Vichy regime's domain. Her very personal reflections of daily life begin in 1942, and end early 1944. Her growing awareness of just who she is and her deepening love for the man to become her fiance is is oppressed by the darkening outside world. The Journal was never intended to be published, but miraculously survived.

We find in the Journal an immensely appealing, intelligent, musically-gifted woman enjoying her circle of friends, and her wealthy, adoring family. She was fluent in English and loved English literature. Her family were all born in France and had long a part of cultivated life in Paris. Her fatherwas the managing director of a large chemical company, with connections to many influential people.

When she learns of Jewish children in desperate straits because of parents who were "deported" she actively serves in an organization to help them. Near the end of the story, all forty-three persons who worked in this endeavor were seized and sent to Aushwitz.

We see in the Jounal an enormously charming, serious person who would be an ornament to any time, era, or place. Concern for her own safety, when she is urged to "go south" is submerged in the care of others, children, whom she sees as more needy, knowing full well that it will lead to her ultimate destruction. It does in March, 1944 when the Gestapo comes to their house at 7:30 am and arrests her and her family. Her fiancé escaped to the south of France and was still living when this Journal was translated and published. Helene's father and mother never lived to see the end of 1944.

What can one take away from yet another devastating account of senseless Nazi murder? The gratuitous and uselsss elimination of a beautiful person; a life cut short far too soon. What is left to say? To me it expresses the painful fragility of the very existence of a fellow human whose generosity and sympathy probably exceed our own, and whose rarity is still, to me, disheartening. I recently clipped a "letter to the editor" in which the writer reflected on exiting the National Holocaust Museum in Washington DC. It recalled that it was impossible to "know what it was like." But continued that "as human beings, we have a duty to realize how little we know about what it was like."

Lou Wallis

Review: Life After Genius, by M. Ann Jacoby

I loved this book and thought it would become the next big book club sensation all the way up to the last two pages. Then I felt terribly let down.

The story begins with eighteen year old Mead Fegley returning home one week before graduating from university with his bachelor's degree. He is a math genius and has spent his life pursuing academic excellence, but something has gone terribly wrong. Whatever it is is so awful that he has decided to quit school and return to work at his father's business. The story skips around in time, between Mead's childhood as a genius/social outcast and the events that led to his leaving college.

I found myself caught up in this story, wondering what had caused him to quit school when it was so important to him. It was actually suspenseful, but in an interesting rather than heart-pounding way. His relationship with his family was another involving aspect of the story. In the end, the author does not handle the final scene well, so I was very disappointed.

Was it worth the time spent reading? I guess, but be ready for a very open ending.

Lorna Rhyins

Review: Terminal Freeze, by Lincoln Child

A fan of Lincoln Child’s books in collaboration with Douglas Preston I decided to give this book a try. An interesting combination of Native American legend, science, and pure fear; don’t read it alone in the dark. I think you will enjoy it. The characterizations are weak, but the plot moves right along and I found myself racing along to see who makes it out alive!

Margaret Borchers

The School of Essential Ingredients - Reviewed by Margaret Borchers

The School of Essential Ingredients
by Erica Bauermeister

This is a story that makes you feel warm and comfy, like being wrapped up in a nice soft blanket. It’s the kind of story that doesn’t come around very often, but when it does I stop and sigh; “Isn’t life wonderful”.
Lillian runs a cooking school and the students that start her new class each have a story; one chapter for each person. The writing is simple and direct, but so soulful it made me stop often to savor the pleasure of the words.

Library Staff Favorites

I did a survey of the Library staff and here are some of our all time favorite books:

Too Soon Old, Too Late Smart: thirty true things you need to know now, by Gordon Livingston - calls for more responsibility in our lives.

Lonesome Dove, by Larry McMurtry - the classic western

Water for Elephants, by Sarah Gruen - a young veterinary student travels in the brutal and enchanting world of the circus during the Great Depression

True Notebooks, by Mark Salzman - the author teaches writing classes to talented inmates in a juvenile detention center

Every book by Tom Tryon

Poisonwood Bible, by Barbara Kingsolver - a family of missionaries in the Belgian Congo in 1959 is ruled by a domineering father.

Year of Wonders: a novel of the plague, by Geraldine Brooks - a closeknit community is ravaged by the plague in 1600s England.

Secret Life of Bees, by Sue Monk Kidd

Pillars of the Earth and World Without End by Ken Follett

A Town Like Alice, by Neville Shute

Broken for You, by Stephanie Kallos

Middlesex, by Jeffrey Eugenides - a warm and humorous story of a hermaphrodite.

Savage Garden, by Mark Mills

Me Talk Pretty One Day and When You Are Engulfed in Flames , by David Sedaris - David Sedaris' books are wonderful to listen to in audio format. He reads his own work and his renditions are laugh-out-loud funny and deeply touching.

Angela's Ashes, by Frank McCourt - a memoir of growing up desperately poor in Ireland during the Great Depression.

Broken for You, by Stephanie Kallos

American Gods, by Neil Gaiman

In the Company of the Courtesan, by Sarah Dunant

The Tender Bar, by J.R. Moehringer

Lorna Rhyins

Adult Services Librarian

Review of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
Book on CD read by Paul Biehmer, Susan Duerden, Rosalyn Landor, John Lee, and Juliety Mills

This book was recommended to me; I would never have picked it myself because of the title, it is just too strange. Then when I found out it is written in the form of letters, that too was a turn off for me. But I was willing to give the audiobook a try and am I glad I did. This recording is done in multiple voices, which make it even more of a treat!

The story takes place right after WW2 and follows a new author’s efforts to promote her book. When she receives a letter from a man she never met who lives on the British island of Guernsey, she begins to correspond with him, and the other island residents. That’s how she finds out about the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, which was started by accident one night to protect the islanders from a German curfew order. As Juliet reads letters from them about the story of the German occupation, she feels she must visit the island to meet these people, and when she does their stories will pull you in and make you wish you could be part of their family. The characters are finely drawn and so real I could almost reach out and touch them. The war story they tell makes history come alive, brutal and horrific, but filled with acts of courage and love. I highly recommend this book. Listen to it if you can, but read it if not.

Margaret Borchers

Discussion of Canvey Island by James Runcie

It is 1953 and a storm surge has flooded the streets of Canvey Island off the coast of Britain. Nine-year-old Martin and his mother struggle to escape the flood while his father and his Aunt Violet are out dancing. When his mother dies in the flood, the tragedy is a turning point for the family.

Family relationships become complex when Martin's father and Violet become involved shortly after the mother's death despite the fact that Violet's war-traumatized husband is still alive. Martin develops an obsession with the sea that evolves later into a career as a water engineer. As he grows up, his relationships with his girlfriend and later with his wife are both affected by the loss of his mother and his experiences on Canvey Island.

The story is told in first person from the various perspectives of the characters, allowing the reader to empathize with each indiviual. It makes for a tale with no villains; just people who respond to their situations in a human way. This not an action story, but a it is a very enjoyable read for those who love to experience everyday life through elegant language.

There is a reading group guide at the back of the book to prompt discussion. If you have read Canvey Island, please voice your opinion in the comment link. If you have not, please consider reading it and joining this online discussion.

One question for consideration: The novel touches upon the delicate balance between public and private. The author's continual shift in perspective gives the reader an opportunity to see all the angles, a peripheral view of each character and situation. What does Runcie manage to show us about the nature of communication and the relationship between one's inner life and outer life?

Lorna Rhyins, Adult Services Librarian