Tuesday, December 26, 2006

The Long Night of Winchell Dear by Robert James Waller

"Winchell Dear is a professional poker player. Without cheating at cards (though he knows all the tricks), he has amassed enough wealth to live a good life on his ranch in Texas high desert country. Unbeknown to him, his housekeeper, Sonia, is an intermediary in a drug-smuggling scheme out of Mexico. One night while Winchell plays the fiddle and recalls the particulars of his past, a shipment of drugs arrives at Sonia's nearby cabin; Winchell's intuitions awake to the possibility of evil. Also sensing danger is Peter Long Grass, a recluse living primitively in far regions of Winchell's ranch. And barreling toward the ranch are a professional killer and his driver from Los Angeles. Waller successfully manages the intersecting arcs of these colorful characters as suspense builds. Displaying far different appeal factors than TheBridges of Madison County, his latest novel is a rugged Texas tale well told." ~ from Library Journal Review

Monday, December 11, 2006

How could you not love this cover?

Death in the Orchid Garden by Ann Ripley

"Louise Eldridge, cohost of the PBS program Gardening with Nature, is in Kauai, HI, to shoot a new segment of her show. Gathered there for a botanical conference are three divas of the plant world: Bruce Bouting, the head of the world's largest plant nursery; Matthew Flynn, a successful ethnobotanist who finds new plants throughout the world; and Charles Reuter, a vehemently focused environmentalist who wants to preserve the plant world. The three hate each other with a passion. Then one of them is murdered, and Louise, the consummate snoop of the cozy set, is reluctant to investigate. Ripley's gardening series (Summer Garden Murder), though gentle in its approach to murder, packs a wallop when it comes to the world of television programming and preserving the environment. "
~ from Library Journal Review

Wednesday, December 06, 2006

Pick Me Up: Stuff You Need to Know

Looking for that perfect gift book for that special preteen or teen in your life? Here's one that may never make its way to them once you pick it up, it's just that cool. Getting past the 3D cover is a challenge in itself, so make sure you have some time--like hours--to spend with this "un-cyclopedia for the Internet generation."

"This attractively designed, airily laid out volume — a departure from DK's signature look, but every bit as inviting — will be a hit with kids, especially those who love record books and almanacs. Organized randomly like the popular 'miscellany' books of the 19th century, the eclectic contents merge pop culture — music, fashion, movies, technology — with school topics such as nature, math, politics and geography. Thus, readers discover a book that asks the burning question — what would the blog of an 11th-century Viking contain? — and provides an answer, too, with a mock web page from Hilde Torfadottir, age 13, born during 'corn cutting time AD 988.' Yet nearly every brief essay includes a reference to a related topic on another page, simulating hyperlinks in book form. In addition to fun trivia, the resource includes useful instructions on how to make a sling, as well as provocative topics, such as a quote from Abraham Lincoln ('The ballot is stronger than the bullet'), followed by a single word in all caps: 'Discuss.' Full-color photos and eye-catching graphics give this 'un-encyclopedia' an engagingly fresh look, but the best feature is the tone of the writing, which winks at its audience and respects kids' intelligence. A timeline charting evolution notes three billion years of nothing but small complex cell organisms: 'All this time and still no fish.' Instructions on how to make a map begin: 'A map is a way of telling a story. What the story is about depends on who the map is for.' The title is an invitation; the challenge will be putting the book down. Ages 8-up." Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

A Whole New Life by Betsy Thornton

"Like Thornton's Chloe Newcombe mystery series (Dead for the Winter, etc.), this wonderfully old-fashioned stand-alone is set in Cochise County, Ariz. When Jackson Williams, an unambitious and washed-out poet, is arrested for the murder of his restless, dissatisfied wife, Jenny (who dies in a car accident after someone apparently spiked her "probiotics," i.e., herbal pills), Jackson's good friend and neighbor, Ruth Norton, hires ex-big-city lawyer Stuart Ross to head the defense team. Other supporters include an on-the-wagon, bright yellow Cadillac–driving, ex-cop PI; Jackson's recently returned, long-lost daughter, Mara; and Ruth's 11-year-old son, who may be harboring dangerous evidence. As the investigation proceeds, revelations about Jenny's secret life spill suspicion on several colorful locals. The plot corkscrews toward a surprising, satisfying conclusion that allows this motley alliance to move forward with their bumpy, imperfect lives. Seamless prose and intriguing characters whose complexities are presented with plenty of delicious ambiguity and occasional unexpected slaps of humor make this a stand-out." ~ Publisher Weekly Review

Monday, December 04, 2006

The Last Wife of Henry VIII by Carolly Erickson

"Erickson, known best for her lively and popular histories (nearly 20 of them, including The Girl from Botany Bay and Bonnie Prince Charlie) engages with this fictionalized, first-person life of Catherine Parr, who actually survived marriage to the dangerous and mercurial Henry Tudor (famously, of the six wives), and who is arguably his most interesting bride (not least because she had four husbands). Cultured, well-educated and beautiful, "Cat" catches Henry's eye as a young girl and variously benefits and suffers from his favor all her life. Often married to others when Henry is single, she is both attracted to and repelled by him, but understands him, she feels, better than most. The factional court tightrope Catherine walks is familiar, as is the religious one; her observations cast Princess Elizabeth (soon to be Elizabeth I) and Baron Thomas Seymour (a husband of Catherine's who wanted to marry Elizabeth) in a less-than-positive light, and the Church of England priests come off as corrupt as the Catholics they replaced. Catherine surprises and delights as her own woman, one who, in the end, gets everything she wants." ~ Publisher Weekly Review

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

The Long Run by Leo Furey

"In his debut novel, longtime Canadian English teacher Furey spins bleak material—orphans abused by sadistic priests—into a moving and uplifting story. Furey's tale takes place in a Newfoundland orphanage in the early 1960s. While the school is grim and the corporal punishment the students receive is brutal, the boys band together to create the families they all lack. The book is filled with vivid characters, like Oberstein, a bright Jewish kid who continually peppers priests with hypotheticals about church dogma, including whether spit could have baptismal uses. Hope is in short supply at the orphanage, and many of the boys fall victim to "the spells," dark periods of dread and depression. To create something to look forward to, a group of students decides secretly to train to run a marathon and they sneak out at night for training runs. The event creates a sense of drama and propels the story, but it also allows the boys to bond over a common cause. Inspirational without being mawkish, Furey's debut is a shoo-in for book clubs." ~ Publisher Weekly Review
Zoia's Gold by Philip Sington

"In this gorgeously written novel of suspense, which shifts between contemporary Sweden, czarist Russia and 1920s Paris, Sington uses the life of actual Russian-born painter Zoia Korvin-Krukovsky (1903–1999) as a puzzle—and fractured mirror—for the fictional Marcus Elliot, a British art dealer living in Sweden whose career is scuttled by his role in a scam importing undervalued icons. Commissioned to write a catalogue for an exhibition of Zoia's luminous paintings (gold leaf over gesso), Elliot becomes seduced across time by his subject, believing Zoia holds the key to the suicide of his Swedish-born mother. Sington beautifully captures the raw Baltic winter as Elliot delves into Zoia's correspondence, trying to determine whether her "Crimean" paintings are lost, destroyed or his own fevered fantasy. Elliot is unsure whether his work for another art dealer is part of a legitimate retrospective of Zoia's oeuvre or preparation for an illegal auction that will violate the old woman's will." ~ Publisher Weekly Review
A Day of Small Beginnings by Lisa Pearl Rosenbaum


"Rosenbaum's debut sets The Lovely Bones to strains of Fiddler on the Roof. In rural Zokof, Poland, in 1906, young Itzik Leiber protects three small Jewish boys from a beating, resulting in the accidental death of a menacing Polish peasant. Itzik hides in a Jewish cemetery where he unknowingly draws the soul of Friedl Alterman—who died the previous year at 83. Friedl, childless in life, protects Itzik as he flees Zokof for Warsaw, then America. Fast forward 86 years as Itzik's son, Nathan Linden (name change), a scholar of international law, is a guest of the Polish government. He is drawn to his father's hometown (via a still-protective Friedl), and there he comes upon Rafael Bergson, "the last Jew in Zokof," who forces Nathan to confront his ambiguous feelings about religion and begs him to help restore Friedl's spirit through prayer and ritual. But it may be up to Ellen, Nathan's free-spirited choreographer daughter, to come to Poland to liberate Friedl's soul. Friedl's voice retreats after the early chapters, and Rosenbaum handles the shifts in voice, time and place smoothly. She packs a lot of Jewish history, recent and otherwise, into this luminous tale, as well as joy in the arts and in prayer." ~ from Publisher's Weekly
The Deception of the Emerald Ring by Lauren Willig

A sequel for fans of The Secret History of the Pink Carnation and The Masque of the Black Tulip

"Harvard Ph.D. candidate Eloise Kelly continues her research of early 19th-century spies in the smart third book of the Pink Carnation series, following the well-received The Secret History of the Pink Carnation and The Masque of the Black Tulip. This installment focuses on 19-year-old Letty Alsworthy, who, after a comedy of errors, quickly weds Lord Geoffrey Pinchingdale-Snipe, her older sister's intended. Geoffrey, an officer in the League of the Purple Gentian, flees to Ireland the night of his elopement. Unbeknownst to Letty, his plan isn't to abandon her; it's to quash the impending Irish Rebellion. When Letty tracks down her prodigal husband in Dublin, not only does she learn of his secret life as a spy, she's sucked into it with hilarious results. Willig—like Eloise, a Ph.D. candidate in history—draws on her knowledge of the period, filling the fast-paced narrative with mistaken identities, double agents and high stakes espionage. Every few chapters, the reader is brought back to contemporary London, where Eloise gets out of the archives long enough to nurse her continuing crush on Colin Selwick." ~ From Publisher Weekly Review

Monday, November 20, 2006

Second chance at love?

Spring and Fall by Nicholas Delbanco

"A story of love interrupted by the mundane realities, bittersweet victories and disappointments of life, Delbanco's 24th book juxtaposes young infatuation with mature romance. Lawrence and Hermia meet as college students in the heady environment of 1962 Cambridge and begin a passionate love affair marked by the idealism and excitement of youth. Soon, however, they drift apart, he toward travel and a career in architecture, and she toward life as a political activist, then an heiress. Throughout their lives they think of one another often, and when they meet on a cruise ship in 2004, it seems like a second chance. Now in their 60s, the couple haltingly takes up where they left off, understanding that they might finally be getting a chance for the happiness that has eluded them thus far. Delbanco maintains a hopeful outlook on the surprises life brings. "

~ from Publisher Weekly Review



Monday, November 06, 2006

Dark Angels by Karleen Koen

"Raised in the exiled court of Charles II, later maid of honor to his queen and then to his sister, Alice Verney has known no other home than the palaces of Whitehall, St. Germain, and St. Cloud; no other family than the courtiers surrounding the French and English monarchs. She herself is the ultimate courtier—wily, ambitious, and fully alive to the subtle nuances of power, the shifting loyalties, the plots and cabals, and the danger and possibility behind every look, every gesture, and every conversation. At the same time, she is courageous, energetic, and fiercely loyal to her friends. In this prequel to her best-selling Through a Glass Darkly, Koen paints a fascinating and richly atmospheric picture of the court of the Merry Monarch as seen through the eyes of a sophisticated young woman whose frailties are all too human and whose worldly ambition ultimately underestimates her heart." ~ from Library Journal Review

Friday, November 03, 2006

The Expected One by Kathleen McGowan

"Thanks to the movie adaptation of Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code, Mary Magdalene and her relationship to Jesus is a hot topic in the fast-growing biblical/ancient mystery/thriller genre. In what is sure to be a big summer hit, journalist McGowan's page-turning debut introduces readers to Maureen Pascal, a journalist unprepared for the visions that haunt her as she researches her new book on misunderstood heroines of the past. In France, Maureen uncovers a family secret and a document that many have died to protect (both linked to Mary Magdalene) and becomes entwined with two secret societies whose rivalry has extended over centuries. McGowan's ability to create dimensional characters while sustaining multiple, fast-paced story lines is sure to win her many readers. This work, based on 20 years of research, may prove to be more controversial than Brown's book, as it addresses not only the possibility that Jesus and Mary Magdalene produced offspring but also that other biblical relationships may have differed from what the Catholic Church had ordained to be true. " ~ from Library Journal Review



Wednesday, November 01, 2006

All Mortal Flesh by Julia Spencer-Fleming

Book No. 5 in the
Clare Ferguson / Russ Van Alstyne mystery series

"When Millers Kill, NY, police chief Russ Van Alstyne tells his wife that he is in love with Clare Fergusson, the Episcopal priest for St. Albans Church, she throws him out. A few weeks later, her mutilated body is found in her kitchen, and suspicion falls upon Russ and Clare. What begins as a cut-and-dried murder mystery turns into something more complex. While Russ becomes too emotional to handle the investigation properly, Clare grows stronger in adversity, displaying remarkable resilience. In her fifth book in the series (after To Darkness and Death), the award-winning Spencer-Fleming is at the top of her game." ~ from Library Journal Review
Death's Witness by Paul Batista

"The verdict on Batista's debut legal thriller: guilty of delivering not only sharp courtroom drama but steamy romantic escapism as well. Vincent Sorrentino, a crackerjack Manhattan DA (not unlike Batista, a commentator on Court TV), is leading the legal team for 14 defendants accused of bribing Congressman Daniel Fonseca, including Selig "Sy" Klein, owner of a shady trucking empire personally represented by Sorrentino's colleague and friend, Tom Perini, a former Heisman Trophy winner. Tom's murder while running in Central Park shatters his wife and toddler's world and almost lands Fonseca a mistrial. Grieving Julie Perini suffers more shocks as she learns about her husband's secret underworld association connected to the ongoing trial. Batista provides a gripping, if sometimes confusing, insider look into the seamy side of justice and the politics behind criminal shenanigans." ~ from Publisher Weekly Review

The Uses of Enchantment by Heidi Julavits

On November 7, 1985, Mary Veal, 16, a not especially distinguished upper-middle-class girl, disappears from New England's Semmering Academy. A month later she reappears at Semmering, claiming amnesia, but hinting at abduction and ravishment. The events in Believer editor Julavits's third, beautifully executed novel take place on three levels: one, dedicated to "what might have happened," is the story of the supposedly blank interval; another is dedicated to the inevitable therapeutic aftermath, as Mary's therapist, Dr. Hammer, tries to discover whether Mary is lying, either about the abduction or the amnesia; and the present of the novel, which revolves around the funeral of Mary's mother, Paula, in 1999. There, Mary feels not only the hostility of her sisters, Regina (an unsuccessful poet) and Gaby (a disheveled lesbian) but Paula's posthumous hostility. Or is that an illusion? This structure delicately balances between gothic and comic, allowing Julavits to play variations on Mary's life and on the '80s moral panic of repressed memory syndromes and wild fears of child abuse. ~from Publisher Weekly Review

Monday, October 30, 2006

The Ghost at the Table : a Novel by Suzanne Berne

"This taut psychological drama by Orange Prize–winner Berne (A Crime in the Neighborhood) unfolds as San Francisco freelance writer Cynthia Fiske acquiesces to her maternal older sister, Frances, and attends the Thanksgiving family reunion Frances is hosting at her perfectly restored Colonial home in Concord, Mass. Cynthia believes her father, now 82, murdered their invalid mother with an overdose of pills when Cynthia was 13, and she has no wish to ever see him again. Within months after their mother died, their father packed Frances and Cynthia off to boarding school and married the much younger Ilse, a graduate student who worked as part-time tutor to Frances. But now he's suffered a stroke. Ilse is divorcing him, and the family is placing him in a home. Tension is high by the time the assorted guests, including Frances's complicated teenage daughters, her mysterious husband and the speech-impaired patriarch, are called to Frances's table, and it doesn't take much to fan the first flares of anger into the inevitable conflagration." ~ from Publisher Weekly Review

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

Book clubs abound in our town, and thanks to one of our patrons, Elizabeth, we now have this useful book in our collection and reading groups have a great new resource to use.

The Book Club Companion: A Comprehensive Guide to the Reading Group Experience by Diana Loevy is filled with suggestions for group reads as well as how to "sell" them to your fellow members. There are lists of books from beloved lit to guilty pleasures to decade by decade lists of titles and much more, and critiques of discussion questions are also included. In addition, because Loevy sees book clubs as groups that provide opportunity to socialize and make new friends, she includes suggestions from food to location to theme gatherings, to enrich the group's time together.

This is a fun and entertaining book (I bought my own copy), as well as a very useful one. Even if you don't belong to a book club, you'll enjoy the suggestions. Thinking of joining a group? Let us know, the library would like to schedule some upcoming discussions. Just email me: kvanlee@brookfieldlibrary.org and put "Brookfield Book Discussion" in the subject, and we'll keep you informed.

Monday, October 23, 2006


Hudson Booksellers, the company that runs bookstores and newsstands in airports all over North America, has announced their best books of 2006.

Hudson Booksellers' Book of the year is the newly published Thirteen Moons by Charles Frazier.

Best Fiction Books


The Meaning of Night by Michael Cox
The March by E.L. Doctorow
The Lay of the Land by Richard Ford
Thirteen Moons by Charles Frazier
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
The History of Love by Nicole Krauss
The People’s Act of Love by James Meek
A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore
Against the Day by Thomas Pynchon
Absurdistan by Gary Shteyngart

Best Nonfiction Books
The Great Deluge by Douglas Brinkley
The Devil’s Teeth by Susan Casey
Never Have Your Dog Stuffed by Alan Alda
Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
The Places in Between by Rory Stewart
Blind Side by Michael Lewis
Collapse by Jared Diamond
The Life & Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson
Thunderstruck by Erik Larsen
Leaving Microsoft to Change the World by John Wood

Thursday, October 19, 2006



If you like Alexander McCall Smith's Precious Ramotswe in the Ladies Detective series, several readers have said that you'll like these two books about Materena Mahi and her family and friends on the island of Tahiti.

Breadfruit by Celestine Vaite

Women who want romance, men who won't commit, interfering in-laws, making ends meet - some things never change, even in a tropical paradise.

Materena lives with Pito and their three kids in Faa'a PK5.5, behind the petrol station, and life is good. Until one day Pito comes home drunk and asks Materena to marry him. Materena wants a ring on her finger and a framed wedding certificate on the wall. But the father of her three children, Pito, thinks that when you give a woman a ring and a wedding certificate she's going to start acting like she's the boss. "Eh," he insists, "it's the rope around the neck." Then again, if there's no ring, a woman can tell her man to pack his bags and go home to his mama whenever she likes. So what does Materena really want? Becoming a madame, eh? Materena wouldn't mind that…But as she starts rounding up the relatives to organise everything she realises there's more to getting married than meets the eye. And that includes reminding the groom that he proposed in the first place. Warmly funny and full of unashamedly sexy strong women, Breadfruit is a delicious taste of life in the tropics.

Frangipani by Celestine Vaite

In Tahiti, some mothers say that daughters are a curse, others say they are a blessing.Aue, teenagers!

Materena is just about ready to throw her daughter Leilani into the street. 'It doesn't matter what I do,' she confides to Mama Teta. 'It's always the wrong thing. I'm going taravana!' And if that wasn't enough, now there's a boy on the horizon. Materena, champion professional cleaner of the Mahi family and the best listener in all of Tahiti, is usually the one solving the problems. Célestine Hitiura Vaite's irresistible follow-up to the much-loved Breadfruit is a book filled with wisdom, laughter and two of the stubbornest women you will ever meet. It's such a vibrant, colourful slice of Tahitian life you can almost smell the frangipani.


Saturday, October 14, 2006

Magic Study by Maria V. Snyder

"Family betrayal, a power-mad serial killer and a potential diplomatic crisis threaten the independent-minded heroine of Snyder's fine sequel to Poison Study (2005). With the overthrow of the royal family of Ixia, 20-year-old Yelena Zaltana, who was kidnapped as a child by the evil magician Mogkan, is now free to return home to Sitia. Her reunion with the family she hasn't seen in 14 years palls when her brother spreads rumors she's actually a spy from Ixia. At the Magician's Citadel, where Yelena enrolls to hone her prodigious magical talents, her powers raise concern that she might be a rare, powerful Soulfinder. Then a string of ugly murders reveals the presence of a rogue magician in the area. As Yelena joins the hunt for the killer, complications grow with the arrival of a diplomatic mission from Ixia—including her lover, Valek, a notorious spy and assassin, sure to be executed if anyone sees through his disguise. Snyder's lively, charming mix of romance and fantasy is sure to gain her new fans."

~from Publisher's Weekly Review

Thursday, October 12, 2006

What perfect timing for this new book by Sena Jeter Naslund with a new movie due out about Marie Antoinette--Abundance: A Novel of Marie Antoinette.

Here's what Publisher's Weekly has to say about this novel:

"The opening sentence of Naslund's fictional memoir of Marie Antoinette ("Like everyone, I am born naked") sets a hypnotically intimate tone that never wavers as the much-maligned Austrian princess recounts her life from baptism in the Rhine and rebirth as French citizen to appointment with the guillotine. In Naslund's (Ahab's Wife) sympathetic portrayal, 14-year-old "Toinette" arrives in France a pretty-mannered naïf determined to please the king, the court and, most importantly, her husband, the Dauphin. The novel provides a wealth of detail as Toinette savors the food, architecture, music and gardens of Versailles; indulges in hair and clothing rituals; gets acquainted with her indifferent partner and her scheming new relations; and experiences motherhood and loss. Her story unfolds like classical tragedy—the outcome known, the account riveting—as famous incidents are reinterpreted (the affair of the necklace, the flight to Varennes), culminating in a heartbreaking description of the bloody head of the Princess de Lamballe held aloft on a pike for the deposed queen to see. With vivid detail and exquisite narrative technique, Naslund exemplifies the best of historical fiction, finding the woman beneath the pose, a queen facing history as it rises up against her."

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

The Quill Awards have been announced! Did you vote?

Book of the Year:
Don't Make a Black Woman Take Off Her Earrings by Tyler Perry

Debut Author of the Year:
Julie and Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen by Julie Powell

Audio Book:
Marley and Me: Life and Love with the World's Worst Dog
by John Grogan

Check out the full list here:

http://www.thequills.org/2006.html



The winner of the 2006 Man Booker Prize is Kiran Desai, at age thirty-five the youngest woman to win, and also the first woman to win since Margaret Atwood took home the prize in 2006.

The Indian-born writer's mother has been shortlisted three times although she's never won, and this year daughter Kiran Desai's Inheritance of Loss, described by reviewers as "the best, sweetest, most delightful novel" is the prize winner.

Hermione Lee, chairman of the judges, commented, “We are delighted to announce that the winner of the Man Booker Prize for 2006 is Kiran Desai’s The Inheritance of Loss, a magnificent novel of humane breadth and wisdom, comic tenderness and powerful political acuteness. The winner was chosen, after a long, passionate and generous debate, from a shortlist of five other strong and original voices.”

Kiran Desai is also the author of Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard.

Warning: You probably don't want to read this one if you're alone....

Chasing the Dead by Joe Schreiber

"Abandon hope, all readers who enter Schreiber's taut, scary debut: you're not going anywhere until you devour every one of its tension-filled pages. Sue Young, a 34-year-old single mom living in Boston, gets a phone call from a man who informs her he's kidnapped her infant daughter, Veda, and chastises her for an ancient crime she committed with her childhood friend and mysteriously missing ex-husband, Philip Chamberlain. The creepy, psycho kidnapper soon subjects Sue to an agenda that includes grave robbing, child killing, shotgun murders, zombies and various other assorted undead. Sue, an ex-ambulance driver, is tough, smart and determined to rescue her daughter. With its rural New England setting, this horror-fest pays respectful, clever homage to Stephen King's backyard. The author adds his own fresh supernatural twists to what starts out as a conventional suspense thriller. Readers will anxiously await his next outing."

~ Starred review from Publisher's Weekly

Tuesday, October 03, 2006

The Thirteenth Tale: A Novel by Diane Setterfield

"A ruined mansion in the English countryside, secret illegitimate children, a madwoman hidden in the attic, ghostly twin sisters—yep, it's a gothic novel, and it doesn't pretend to be anything fancier. But this one grabs the reader with its damp, icy fingers and doesn't let go until the last shocking secret has been revealed. Margaret Lea, an antiquarian bookseller and sometime biographer of obscure writers, receives a letter from Vida Winter, the world's most famous living author. Vida has always invented pasts for herself in interviews, but now, on her deathbed, she at last has decided to tell the truth and has chosen Margaret to write her story. Now living at Vida's (spooky) country estate, Margaret finds herself spellbound by the tale of Vida's childhood some 70 years earlier...but is it really the truth? And will Vida live to finish the story? Setterfield's first novel is equally suited to a rainy afternoon on the couch or a summer day on the beach. "

~ from Library Journal Review

Monday, October 02, 2006

Piece of Work by Laura Zigmna

A new novel by the author who wrote Animal Husbandry, Dating Big Bird and Her.

"In her fourth novel, Zigman tells the story of thirtysomething Julia Einstein, who has put her career as a publicist on hold to be a stay-at-home mom. Julia loves spending her days with her young son, even though she'd be the first to admit she's not exactly a domestic goddess. Everything changes when her husband, Peter, gets fired from his high-powered job and quickly proves to be much better at the household chores. Soon, Julia has no choice but to rejoin the work force. She takes a job working for a firm that represents has beens, and her first assignment is to relaunch a difficult, elderly, once-upon-a-time movie star, Mary Ford. Mary's comeback vehicle is a perfume that, everyone agrees, literally stinks. Nonetheless, Julia ends up orchestrating the star's comeback—and her own. This is a humorous and well-written look at what happens when the girl with the great single life gets the hot guy and becomes a mom. "

~ from Library Journal Review
Are you a Jurassic Park fan?
The Flock , a new debut novel by James Robert Smith

"Stealth, cunning and killer instinct have ensured the survival of the flock of this gonzo eco-thriller's title, a population of prehistoric, predatory, highly intelligent giant proto-birds who've roamed for thousands of years in the trackless savanna of what's now a government military reservation in central Florida. Smith's entertaining debut kicks into high gear when the birds get caught between conflicting environmental and business interests. Vance Holcomb, a billionaire rogue environmentalist, is trying to protect the lurking creatures, while the Berg Brothers, a Disney-style entertainment conglomerate, crave the land as residential real estate. When a right-wing militia is hired to destroy the flock, a naïve young Fish and Wildlife officer and his girlfriend find themselves caught in the resulting melee....If the book's conclusion feels a bit cynically anticlimactic, it still shows that humans are the deadliest predators of all."

~ from Publisher's Weekly Review

Friday, September 29, 2006

A glowing recommendation of this debut novel from a Canadian author is well deserved. Don't plan on taking this book home unless you have some time to read--because you won't be able to put it down. It has been on Canadian best seller lists since it was published this past spring.

The Birth House by Ami McKay

"Canadian radiojournalist McKay was unable to ferret out the life story of late midwife Rebecca Steele, who operated a Nova Scotia birthing center out of McKay's Bay of Fundy house in the early 20th century; the result of her unsatisfied curiousity is this debut novel. McKay writes in the voice of shipbuilder's daughter, Dora Rare, "the only daughter in five generations of Rares," who as a girl befriends the elderly and estranged Marie Babineau, long the local midwife (or traiteur), who claims to have marked Dora out from birth as her successor. After initial reluctance and increasingly intensive training, 17-year-old Dora moves in with Marie; on the eve of Dora's marriage to Archer Bigelow, Marie disappears, leaving Dora her practice. A difficult marriage, many difficult births, a patient's baby thrust on her to raise without warning and other crises (including WWI and the introduction of "clinical" birthing methods) ensue. Period advertisments, journal entries and letters to and from various characters give Dora's voice context. The book is more about the texture of Dora's life than plot, and McKay handles the proceedings with winning, unsentimental care."

- From Publisher's Weekly

Thursday, September 28, 2006

Brothers by Da Chen
New Fiction 9/19/06

"Acclaimed memoirist Chen (Colors of the Mountain) draws on his experiences growing up during the Cultural Revolution for this arresting novel about two brothers negotiating the momentous changes that have buffeted China in recent decades. The protagonists are half-brothers: Tan, the privileged, legitimate heir of Gen. Ding Long, and Shento, the general's abandoned bastard child. While Tan is "groomed to be a leader," Shento is placed in a hellish orphanage where he plots revenge. Shento eventually escapes, joins the army and rises to the head of the president's security detail. Meanwhile, caught on the wrong side of the changes sweeping China following Chairman Mao's death, Tan's family is discredited and flees to their ancestral home in the south where Tan builds an economic empire. Tan also falls in love with the beautiful orphan, Sumi Wo, who has an illegitimate son by Shento. When Sumi and Tan become involved in the pro-democracy movement, they attract official attention, putting the estranged brothers on paths that will converge at Tiananmen Square. Chen's inventive and sprawling family saga eloquently recreates a time of enormous upheaval."

~Publisher's Weekly Review.



Wednesday, September 27, 2006

A Field of Darkness by Cornelia Read

"Read's impressive debut stars the unusual Madeline Dare, a jumble of contradictions who comes from an old-money Long Island family but is married to Dean, a railroad worker, in Syracuse, N.Y., which our heroine likens in a moment of exasperation to "some mental dust bowl." Dean's job requires frequent travel, while Madeline writes fluff features for the local newspaper. Nothing in her background prepares her for trying to solve the bizarre 20-year-old murder of two young women, a crime that her cousin, Lapthorne Townsend, might have been involved in. Read writes with verve and passion as Madeline sets out to clear her cousin's name, an effort that develops into a much larger, life-changing struggle. Some readers may find Madeline's volatile character less than credible, but the fine supporting cast—notably husband Dean and flaky, flamboyant friend Ellis—consistently delights. The author's sharp social commentary on everything from the idle rich to the environment adds to the pleasure." ~ Publisher's Weekly

The library also has this book on cd. This reader rates this new mystery a definite "thumbs up."

Friday, September 22, 2006


The 25th anniversary of Banned Books Week:
September 23-30, 2006

The American Library Association has information about the most frequently challenged books and authors, as well as an opportunity vote for your favorite banned book.

Google celebrates your freedom to read with a page dedicated to the 25th anniversary and Wikipedia has a list of books plus examples of banning around the world.

"All of us can think of a book... that we hope none of our children or any other children have taken off the shelf. But if I have the right to remove that book from the shelf - that work I abhor - then you also have exactly the same right and so does everyone else. And then we have no books left on the shelf for any of us." ~ Katherine Paterson, author of Bridge to Terabithia



Terrorism: A recurrent theme...

Spy, A Thriller by Ted Bell

"Things along America's southern border are rapidly reaching the boiling point. American girls are being snatched from their homes, ranches are burning, and the number of deadly confrontations along the Mexican border grows daily. At night, armed Mexican troops cross the border at will in support of narcotics smugglers and illegal immigrants. By day, Americans take up arms and plan reprisals. An all-out border war is no longer inconceivable. It's happening." - from the book jacket

Forgetfulness: A Novel by Ward Just

"Thomas Railles, an American expatriate and former "odd-jobber" for the CIA, is a respected painter living with his beloved wife, Florette, in the south of France. On an ordinary autumn day, Florette goes for a walk in the hills and is killed by unknown assailants. Her death devastates Thomas, and in the weeks and months that follow he struggles to make sense of a world that seems defined by violence and pain. Each night Thomas tracks the war in Iraq on the evening news while Florette's killers remain at large. When French officials detain four Moroccan terrorists and charge them with Florette's murder, Thomas is invited to witness the interrogation." - from the book jacket



Tuesday, September 19, 2006


"Ahoy me hearty!"

In honor of "
International Talk Like a Pirate Day," (invented by two Americans in 1995 who proclaimed September 19th each year as the day that everyone should talk like a pirate) here are a few books to get you started:

Captive of My Desires by Johanna Lindsay

Kingston by Starlight by Christopher John Farley

Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson

Friday, September 15, 2006


Are you a fan of high fantasy fiction?

Armageddon’s Children

by Terry Brooks

In this exciting first installment of a new trilogy, bestseller Brooks effortlessly connects the Tolkien-infused magic of his Shannara books (First King of Shannara, etc.) with the urban, post-apocalyptic world of his Word and the Void series (Running with the Demon, etc.). The author envisions a chilling near-future U.S., where civilization has collapsed from environmental degradation, plagues, global warfare and supernatural threats. The last surviving members of the Knights of the Word, Logan Tom and Angel Perez, seek to keep the “balance of the world’s magic in check” as they battle the Void-embodied by demons, their leader Findo Cask and their vicious human mutant counterparts known as “once-men." --From Publisher's Weekly

Here's an interview with Terry Brooks:

http://www.powells.com/biblio?show=HARDCOVER:NEW:0345484088:26.95&page=authorqa

Thursday, September 14, 2006

The Man Booker Prize is given to a citizen of the Commonwealth or the Republic of Ireland for the best novel of the year. Today six books, chosen from the long list of nineteen books, were announced as finalists for this prestigious award. The short list authors will gain worldwide attention and increased book sales, and the winner, to be announced on Tuesday, October 10, 2006, will take home the prize of 50,000 pounds.

The six books are:

The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai
In the north-eastern Himalayas, at the foot of Mount Kanchenjunga, in an isolated and crumbling house, there lives an embittered old judge, who wants nothing more than to retire in peace. But with the arrival of his orphaned granddaughter, Sai, and the son of his chatty cook trying to stay a step ahead of US immigration services, this is far from easy.

Kiran Desai was born in India in September 1971, and was educated in India, England and the United States. She is the daughter of the author, Anita Desai, who herself has been shortlisted for the Booker Prize three times. Kiran Desai’s first book was Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard (1998) which went on to win a Betty Trask Award. She is currently a student in Columbia University's creative writing course.

The Secret River by Kate Grenville
William Thornhill, happily wedded to his childhood sweetheart Sal, is a waterman on the River Thames. Life is tough but bearable until William makes a mistake for which he and his family are made to pay for dearly. His sentence: to be transported to New South Wales for the term of his natural life. On arrival in this harsh and alien land, William takes a hundred acres of land for himself and is shocked to find aboriginal people are already living on the river.

Kate Grenville was born in Sydney in October 1950 and spent seven years in Europe and the USA working and studying. She holds degrees from the University of Sydney and the University of Colorado and has worked as a film editor, journalist, typist and teacher. Her novels include The Idea of Perfection (2002) which won the Orange Prize for Fiction in 2001. The Secret River won the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize in 2006. Grenville has also written two non-fiction books and currently lives in Sydney with her husband and two children.

Carry Me Down by M.J. Hyland
John Egan has an unusual talent: he knows when people are lying. He hopes that one day this gift will bring him fame and guarantee his entry into the Guinness Book of World Records, but until then, he must deal with the destructive undercurrents of his loving but fragile family. However, John’s obsession with uncovering the truth soon becomes a violent and frightening fixation.

M.J. Hyland was born in London to Irish parents in June 1968. She spent her early childhood in Dublin and when she was eleven the family relocated to Australia and settled in Melbourne. Hyland worked as a lawyer for six years after completing an Arts/Law degree at the University of Melbourne in 1996. Her first novel How the Light Gets In (2004) was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize and she has also won the Sydney Morning Herald Award for Best Australian Novelist (2004). She currently lives and works in Manchester.

In the Country of Men by Hisham Matar (call library to request)
On a white hot day in Tripoli in the summer of 1979 nine year-old Suleiman is shopping in the market square with his mother. His father is away on business - but Suleiman is sure he has just seen him, standing across the street in a pair of dark glasses. But why isn’t he waving? And why doesn’t he come over when he knows Suleiman’s mother is falling apart? Whispers and fears intensify around Suleiman and he begins to wonder whether his father has disappeared for good.

Hisham Matar was born in New York in November 1970 and spent his childhood in Tripoli and Cairo before moving back to Britain. He studied architecture at Goldsmith’s College and in 1990, when he was a student, his father - a Libyan dissident living in Cairo - was kidnapped, taken back to Tripoli, imprisoned and tortured and there has been no word since 1995. In the Country of Men is his first novel. Matar has lived in London since 1986.

Mother’s Milk by Edward St Aubyn
The Melrose family is in peril. From young Robert, who provides an exceptionally droll account of being born, to Patrick, a hilariously churlish husband who has been sexually abandoned by his wife in favour of motherhood, to Mary, who is consumed both by her children and by an overwhelming desire not to repeat the mistakes of her own mother, St Aubyn uncovers the web of false promises that entangle this once illustrious family.

Edward St. Aubyn was born in 1960 in a part of Cornwall that has been inhabited by the St Aubyns since the Norman conquest. He was raped by his father as a child, abuse which continued until, at the age of eight, he confronted him. At the age of sixteen, he became a heroin addict and this habit continued at Oxford University. At twenty eight, he contemplated suicide but desperately wanted to write so sought the help of a therapist. In talking through the events in his life, he won a kind of freedom and was able to finally use the material to devastating effect in his fiction.

The Night Watch by Sarah Waters
This is the story of four Londoners - three women and a young man with a past. Kay, who drove an ambulance during the war and lived life at full throttle, now dresses in mannish clothes and wanders the streets with a restless hunger. Helen, clever, sweet, much loved, harbours a painful secret and Viv, glamour girl, is stubbornly loyal to her brother, Duncan, an apparent innocent who has had his own demons to fight during the war. Their lives and their secrets connect in sometimes startling ways; war leads to strange alliances.

Sarah Waters was born in July 1966 in Neyland, Pembrokeshire and went to the University of Canterbury. Her first book, the Victorian lesbian novel Tipping the Velvet won a Betty Trask Award in 1999 and was adapted into a three part television serial, taking the same title, on BBC2 in 2002. Fingersmith, published in 2002 was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize as well as the Orange Prize. This was also televised as a serial on BBC1 in 2005. Sarah Waters lives in London.

---from The Man Booker Prize Press Office

Friday, September 08, 2006



The Female Brain

by Louann Brizendine, M. D.

"Neuropsychiatrist Brizendine acknowledges she may be going out on a lonely limb by asserting that males and females have distinctly different brains. She says that, in addition to certain hard-wired dissimilarities, male and female brain chemistries differ in being powered by hormones so potent they can reshape each gender's conception of reality (which in no way is related to ability). Thanks to advances in noninvasive imaging technology, such as positron-emission tomography (PET) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans, scientists have been able to quantify the effects of hormones on brain receptors. They have also been able to study how and when surges of specific hormones "marinate" the brain, affecting everything from gender education to sexual responsiveness to aggression. Brizendine doesn't rule out socialization as a factor in gender identification, but she insists that biology must take at least half the credit. What with nearly 70 pages of references to the research upon which she constructs her argument, out on a limb Brizendine may be, but who's left to hand her a saw?"

Donna Chavez, Booklist

Thursday, September 07, 2006

Hungry yet?

A new addition to our collection, Brownies to Die For! by Bev Shaffer is a book you may have to spend some time with because there are just too many yummy sounding recipes, not to mention the mouth-watering photographs. Are you an inexperienced baker? Not to worry, the book begins with a chapter of baking basics and recipes run the range from suitable for novices to ones that will challenge the expert.

Just to tempt you, some of the brownies you'll find inside:

Your Momma's Buttermilk Brownies
Irresistible Praline Brownies
Chocolate Cappuccino Brownies with Coffee Frosting
Mocha Brownie Wedgie Sundae
Chipotle Brownies
Waiter, There's a Truffle in My Brownie!
Brownie Banana Split


Friday, September 01, 2006



How to Be a Perfect Stranger: The Essential Religious Etiquette Handbook.

Imagine yourself in one of these situations:

You're headed to the funeral of a family friend who was a devout Catholic and you have no idea what to expect or what to do.

Your new neighbor is Mormon and you've heard a lot about the Morman religion but you'd like to be able to separate fact from fiction.

A friend has invited you to attend her Baptist church and before you go you'd like to know what the service will be like and if there's anything that you can't take part in.

Your boss's daughter is getting married in a Hindu ceremony and you're wondering what to wear and whether or not you can take pictures during the wedding.

Most of us today live in a diverse society, but we're not always sure about what to expect when faced with a different faith. This book give helpful hints about what will happen at different ceremonies, sacraments and services. It covers basic beliefs and it will help you to avoid awkward situations as well as help you to be respectful of another's religious beliefs.