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